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“Are you sitting down?”
“No.” Fae bared her teeth, eliciting a grin from me. “I’m up on both feet, dancing the Copacabana.” She jerked her thumb to the leather upholstery behind us. “What do you think?”
Guess she hadn’t forgiven him for blowing her cover and triggering the media storm.
Tom shrugged, going for the kill. “Vera hired someone to kill your father.”
Silence.
Utter silence.
The kind that penetrated through eardrums.
“I’m sorry,” Tom added, as an afterthought.
The words floated in the air, choking us like nerve gas. I searched Fae for signs of pain, recognition, agony.
All I could find was bitterness.
Tom scratched his temple. “Are we good to continue?”
Deanne stopped typing. “Let’s give her a minute.”
But Fae didn’t need a minute.
She shot up, pacing. “That’s impossible. Dad died in an accident. The valet?—”
“Knew exactly what he was doing.” Tom reached for a folder, flipping it open. “A man by the name of Eugene Thomas. He was the valet involved in the alleged accident, as I’m sure you know.”
“Alleged?” Fae closed her eyes. “He didn’t even know Dad or Vera. His foot got stuck on the accelerator.”
Tom flipped through pages, yanking out a sheet.
“I found a burner phone Vera purchased two months prior to the incident.” He held up the paper as if we could make out the tiny print. “These are records I pulled from it.”
Fae stopped pacing. “What do they say?”
“Vera withdrew 200k from a secret savings account. She alsoshared multiple brief conversations with a number that tracked back to Thomas’ wife.”
Farrow squeezed the bridge of her nose. “What does his wife have to do with this?”
“Nothing. She had stage 4 cancer. Needed a pricey experimental drug.” He set the paper down. “Gene did it for the fast cash.”
“He was counting on being charged with involuntary manslaughter.” Farrow planted her fists on the table, piecing the rest together. “He knew they’d give him a light sentence in minimum security. Why wouldn’t they? He has a baby and a wife with cancer. It was an ‘accident.’”
“Precisely.” Dan’s face popped up. “Records show Mrs. Thomas made a full recovery after the treatment. While her husband is locked up, various charities help her with bills, groceries, and childcare. She even has a new house.”
Tom whistled. “Five years is a small price to pay for all that.”
Bryan adjusted his camera, finally giving us his face. “We have all the evidence. The receipts. The written communication. Vera thought using a burner phone and VPN would cover her tracks. Turns out, she still missed a few steps.”
The six of us simmered on the info.
Fae broke the silence with a whisper. “But… why?”
“Insurance money.” Tom waved his folder. “I looked through Vera’s joint tax returns with your dad, along with their financial statements. They spent more than they made.” He paused. “Vera liked to buy pretty things.”
Farrow plopped onto the seat opposite me, staring at the ceiling without really looking. “She still does.”
