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“I…don’t know.”
“I have Reid’s key. I’ll take you up,” Rock said. “Will you be okay here for a half hour or so, Lace?”
“I’ll be fine, but get right back, will you? Please? The fact that someone was here has me freaked.”
“I will, baby. Let’s go, Zee.”
I stood. “Where is Reid? Moira said he wasn’t answering his cell phone.”
“I don’t know,” Rock said. “He usually responds. Must be in an important meeting. Come on.”
44
Reid
“Irene Lucent?” My mother’s eyes popped wide. “I’m your father’s first wife.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure. Don’t you think I’d know if my husband had been married?”
Her tone sounded almost sincere, but I was so used to her lies I didn’t believe her for a second.
“Nice try, Connie. Maybe if you weren’t such a pathological liar, I might give you some credence.”
“Look, Reid. I have no idea who this Irene is. Your father and I were young when we married. He couldn’t possibly have been married to someone else.”
“I have a marriage certificate that says otherwise,” I said.
“Then it’s a forgery.”
“Could be.”
“It is. Where did you find it?”
“None of your business.”
“Of course it’s my business. What if it’s real? That means…” Her face went white.
“Right you are, Mom. It means your marriage to Dad was never legal, and the four of us are bastards.”
Oh, she wanted to reply to that with some smartass comment. So apparent in her eyes. But I’d give her credit. She let it pass.
“Even if it is legal, he obviously divorced her.”
“Did he?”
She stood. “This is completely ridiculous. I’m done here.”
“Sit, Mother.”
To my surprise, she sat.
“Don’t you think it’s odd,” I said, “that all four of your children are implicated in Dad’s murder but you, his ex-wife, are not?”
“I don’t find it odd at all,” she said. “I didn’t kill him.”
“Neither did I, and neither did Rock, Roy, or Riley.”
“Talk to Rock,” she said with a sly smile.
“We have. He told us everything, Mom. How he caught Dad in Riley’s room and tried to off him with a kitchen knife. How the two of you sent him away to Buffington Military School and how he had to keep from being molested himself.”
Mom kept her face rigid. Good. This got to her.
“Rock has an alibi. I figured it out. You conned him into continuing to pay you off by saying you’d go to the cops with your story of his youth. Too late. We’ve already been to the cops. They know everything, and so much has gone on in such a short time that Rock hasn’t even thought about rescinding his payments to you.”
“You’d see your mother starve?”
“Of course not. But I don’t think my mother needs to be paying for cunnilingus, either.”
“I didn’t pay—”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes. “Let’s not go there again.”
She harrumphed.
“Now, I want the truth. Tell me about Irene Lucent.”
“Reid, I honestly don’t know anything about her.”
“How about if I make it worth your while. A couple hundred mill in the bank, and you can go live happily on some Greek isle with as many whore masseurs as you want.”
She bit her lower lip. She wanted to take the offer. Would she make up a story to do it? Or would she stick to her guns, in which case she probably didn’t know anything about the first marriage.
“All right, all right,” she said, finally. “I want it in writing.”
“The money? My word is good, Mom.”
“Fine.” She huffed. “Irene Lucent was your father’s first wife.”
“Nice try.” I couldn’t help a bristling laugh. “You really didn’t know.”
“I—”
“Save it. The Connie Wolfe I know would never have married a budding billionaire knowing another woman was out there who could get a hand on his fortune. I gave you an offer you couldn’t refuse, and you took the bait. Now I know the truth. You actually weren’t lying when you told me you didn’t know anything about Dad’s first marriage.”
She shook her head. “You are definitely your father’s son, Reid.”
“Don’t insult me, Mom.”
“That’s not an insult. He always saw right through me, and so do you. I give up.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Okay, I don’t. But please. I did give birth to all of you. I don’t deserve to live like a peasant.”
“You won’t. But we need your help, Mom. If you ever cared even the tiniest bit about your children, please find it in your heart to help us.”
“I’ve always loved all of you. I did the best I could.”
I regarded my mother. For the first time, a look of pure defeat swept over her face. Did she love us? Maybe she did, in her own warped way. Maybe she had been molested as a child. I didn’t know, and she’d given up any chance of sympathy from me long ago.
“Then help us, Mom,” I said. “Help us find out who killed Dad.”
“All right, Reid. I’ll help you.”
