Page 76 of Dead Drift

“Stacey was cheating on him?”

“He didn’t know, but I did.”

Griffin was a bit afraid to ask how, but it was crucial information. “How did you know?”

“We come from money.” Veronica smiled. “Lots of it. When I realized Joel was getting serious about Stacey, I had someone keep tabs on her.”

“Someone?”

“Yes, Albert. He is our estate manager and serves a variety of essential duties.”

“And he saw Stacey with another man?” Finley asked.

“Oh, yes. Intimately with another man.”

“Did you tell Joel?” Griffin asked.

Veronica’s hand shifted to her purple blouse as she clutched the linen fabric. “Oh no. I would never harm him like that.”

“But weren’t you concerned about him marrying her?” Finley asked, his wife’s thoughts no doubt mirroring his own. Was it possible the mother had Stacey removed from their lives?

“Albert reported that Stacey actually had shown up the night Joel planned to propose. She turned him down, of course, so I decided not to hurt him further by telling him about the other man. But, honestly, I couldn’t blame her.”

Griffin tried not to gape. She didn’t blame Stacey for cheating on her son? “Why’s that?”

“Because she and I were very much alike. Joel didn’t deserve her.”

This woman was beautiful on the outside, but absolutely cruel on the inside.

“Did he date again?” Finley asked. “I mean, did he recover?”

“Oh yes. He dated here and there, but to this day, I don’t think he’s had another serious girlfriend. Then again, his work consumes him.”

And his murders.

“It seems we’ve gotten off track,” Veronica said, patting her styled gray hair. “As I was saying, at least Joel visits and brings gifts for my birthday and at Christmas. They are never worthwhile, but he rarely does much that is.”

Definitely overbearing.

“That must have been hard as a mother,” Finley said, “having a son who didn’t excel.”

“Goodness knows I tried. Hired him the best tutors. Sent him to the best schools, but he was just like his father—mediocre.”

“How terrible for you,” Finley said, knowing how to play the interrogation game, how to get to the heart of people, even if it was an ugly heart down deep. She had a way of encouraging them to share what mattered most.

Veronica sighed. “It certainly wasn’t easy being surrounded by those who couldn’t rise up to the privilege afforded me.”

Finley tilted her head. “The privilege?”

Veronica reached across the space separating them and placed her age-spotted hand on Finley’s for a moment. “The money, dear. I came from it. Not my husband. I came from a family with a grand heritage of accomplishment.”

“How nice for you.”

“It was a marvelous upbringing. We had the best of everything. We were the best. But Howard, Joel’s father . . .” She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to refer to him as her husband. “Fool that I was, I married him for love—or what a silly seventeen-year-old girl thought was love—but he turned out to be nothing but a disappointment.”

“And Joel?” Finley asked.

“Ha!” Veronica released an amused exhale. “He was even worse. Oh, he put in the work. Got decent grades. Worked while he was in college—as a travel agent, of all things. He dreamed of traveling. That was his problem. He was a daydreamer rather than a doer. Then he met Stacey Marsden and everything shifted. He became distracted and obsessed.”