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Stephanie had mentioned something like that the first time we’d met but she’d only assumed it, but then last night she said she’d moved back into their house, so I assumed she got everything.
“Even before probate is over?”
“I don’t know, dear. I’m not a lawyer. But it seems reasonable to me. Marital property is marital property, after all.”
“Only if she has access to it already,” Ash said quietly. “He used to give her money, like an allowance. Would she even have access to their assets outside of living expenses granted by the estate?”
I pressed my lips together. That was a good point. She’d told us everything. “Declan controlled her entire life. She was hiding money from him by pretending that her hairdresser had upped her prices. That’s how she got out,” I told the older ladies. “So, she probably doesn’t have access to any of the marital money. Certainly not the amount she’d need to pay Alan off, even partially.”
“Just because she wasn’t able to access it doesn’t mean shecouldn’t,” Gwen said sagely, looking over at us as Tofu hopped up onto the table and made himself comfortable between their paint pallets. “Tierney was a rotten old git, but he was a smart man. I’d wager Stephanie’s name is on at least one of his bank accounts, whether she knew about it or not. After all, someone has to run his business, don’t they? And to do that, they need access to his money. Regardless of probate, if she’s on the account, the money is hers.”
Ash narrowed her eyes. “You think she’s on an account and didn’t know? That’s insane, even for you.”
“No, it’s not,” Barb replied. “It makes perfect sense. If he controlled all the finances to the extent that he gave her an allowance and she had to hide money, there’s a whole financial side to her life she doesn’t know about. A joint bank account would be one of those things.”
“But don’t you need two people to open a joint account?” I asked. “Even to just add someone’s name to one?”
“You and I need two people to open a joint account,” Viv said bitterly. “But we’re normal people, Charlotte. Multimillionaires like Declan Tierney do not have to play by our rules.”
I dropped my gaze to the order book, reaching for another Jelly Baby, but I was out.
This was crazy, and it was one hell of an assumption. Could there really be a bank account in both Declan and Stephanie’s names that Alan knew about but Stephdidn’t? If so, how? Why? Alan was barely involved in the business’ finances, why would he know about the Tierneys’ personal finances?
How could he know?
How could Steph not know?
And if Steph did know…
“Well,” Ash said after a moment of silence. “How do we find out if that account exists? And more importantly, who knew about it?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Icouldn’t shake the feeling that I’d made friends with a murderer.
As much as I couldn’t bring myself to blame Steph if she was responsible, it was still rather unsettling.
If she knew about the hypothetical joint bank account, Alan wasn’t the only one who’d benefit from Declan’s death. A quick Google search this morning and far too many visits to various lawyer’s websites had given me the information I’d been looking for: if they had a joint account, the money was hers, and she could do whatever with it, even during probate.
Same with the house. If she was on the deed, she was now the sole owner of their marital property, regardless of probate.
I already knew she planned to pay Alan off—more than his share was worth, even. Whether she’d be able to do that in one lump sum or in two or three smaller payments, I didn’t know, and it wasn’t really my place to ask.
We weren’tthatclose.
As for Alan… He once had a good relationship with Declan. It was reasonable that Declan had discussed their marital finances with his friend and business partner. I knew Alan didn’t like Steph, and if he knew about that bank account, he might have once tried to warn his old friend away from such a thing.
That would now benefit him greatly.
If Alan was in as much debt as it sounded he was, he was going to bully his way into getting his money from Steph. He would get it come hell or high water, and he probably wouldn’t be very nice about it.
I couldn’t decide who I suspected more.
Realistically, it was Alan, but that was only because a part of me didn’t want to think my friend was capable of such a violent act. Declan had been stabbed thirteen times after all, which was most definitely a crime of passion, so it had to have been someone close to him.
The fact was, Alan and Steph were the closest people to Declan, and they both had excellent reasons to want him dead.
One for the money he’d pissed away at the bookies and desperately needed to replace, and the other because of the abuse he’d unleashed on her.
