Page 97 of I’ll Be Watching You

“Aunt Mildred. I’m sure they’re still in touch.”

Tess frowned. She mouthed, Willa is an only child.

Luisa asked, “Is she your mother’s sister? Do you have a last name?”

“She’s my mom’s aunt, but they’re only, like, ten or twelve years apart. Mildred Maddox. Last I heard she had retired. Ms. Angelhart, I really have to go. I have a patient waiting for me.”

Annette hung up without a goodbye.

But they got what they needed.

“Mildred Maddox is Willa’s aunt? They’re related?” Tess was excited. She ran back to her computer to see what she could learn from the public databases. “They knew each other before Willa started working on the trial. Did Maddox specifically want Willa in there? Or did Willa use her aunt to smooth the way for the trial here? Did anyone know they were related?”

Of course, Luisa didn’t have the answers, but Tess would find out.

Luisa whistled softly. “Wow, nice place.”

Tess looked up from her own computer screen and Lu turned her computer to reveal a beautiful home on a bay surrounded by water and trees.

“Gorgeous,” Tess said. “Where is it?”

“About twenty minutes north of Sydney. The median home price in Sydney, Australia, is 1.3 million dollars.”

“They sold their house in New York. They could probably afford it.”

“They lived in Syracuse,” Luisa said and typed. “They sold their house for just over seven hundred thousand. I don’t know what they owed the bank, but they had lived there for over twenty-five years, so we can assume they had ample equity. But this house on the water?” More typing. “Last sold—three years ago—wow. Nearly four million Australian dollars. The exchange rate is roughly 1.5 Australian dollars for every US dollar, so going there they’d benefit, but still, that’s a lot of money for a teacher who made ninety thousand a year and a research scientist who made—based on average salary for the industry in her position and experience—maybe 130 a year.”

“They could have family money,” Tess offered.

“Or they were paid off by someone who didn’t want her exposing the corrupt trial. Maddox is wealthy. Didn’t you say her house here is two million and her house in Wyoming is close to five?”

“Yes.”

“And what does her husband do?”

“He was the CEO of a company. I don’t remember which one. He retired at the same time she did. They could easily have ample resources to own both properties.”

“So maybe Maddox gave her niece the money, but why?” Luisa wondered. “Devin was dead, Dad was in prison, why did Willa leave?”

“Send everything you have to Margo and Jack. Maybe they should go back to Mildred and ask about Willa Blankenship.”

Luisa sent the info to Margo, then asked Tess, “Have you heard from Mom?”

Tess shook her head. “Not since last night.”

“I’m worried about Dad.”

Tess was too. But Luisa rarely said she was worried about anything, so her voicing it made Tess doubly worried.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ava Angelhart

Ava was grateful Quincy had managed to find her a small room at the prison where she could wait in private, though the guards watched her like she was the problem. Maybe she was, in her own way. She wanted answers, and no one had any. These guards were nothing like the guards at Eyman, where she’d built a respectful rapport with the staff. Where she had people she could call to make sure her husband was safe. Where she could visit almost anytime she wanted.

Here, she was an outsider.

She hadn’t slept well. She hadn’t slept well since Margo confronted her Tuesday afternoon. Guilt, anger, sadness . . . her emotions were a mess. She had been questioning every decision she and Cooper had made since the minute he told her about the threat to their family.