Page 115 of Devious Lies (Cruel Crown)
Original. I’ve only been asked that by literally everyone I’ve ever met.
“Shocking revelation. No wonder you’re a P.I.” I cut to the chase, “Emery Winthrop is paying a Lithuanian shell company around $20,000 a year.” My eyes inspected his face, taking the time to search him for signs of distress, a spark of knowledge. Anything. “Do you know where the money is going to?”
He did.
It was obvious.
Stiffened shoulders.
Heavy sigh.
Resignation written between the grooves of wrinkles across his face.
“Yeah.” He paused and scrubbed his eyes, aging again before me. “It’s for a scholarship fund at Wilton University. The only recipient is this kid. Demi Wilson.”
“Who is she?”
“Angus Bedford’s daughter.”
I leaned forward in my seat until the edge of my desk pressed hard against my abs. “Angus Bedford didn’t have any kids.”
“He did with his first wife. They divorced while she was a couple of weeks pregnant. She put her last name on the birth certificate over his. He didn’t learn until later in life. His ex-wife passed away, and the kid lived with her uncle but went searching for her Dad.”
“She find him?”
“When Angus figured it out, he started making trips to New York every weekend to meet with Demi and help pay the bills. Had to stop after he lost everything he invested in Winthrop Textiles. Didn’t have the money for the trip or the bills. Life kinda spiraled for him. Then, he…”
“Killed himself,” I finished.
The newspapers blamed it on the Winthrop Scandal.
I had, too.
Still did.
Emery’s involvement, on the other hand, remained fuzzy. Mostly, I couldn’t pinpoint her motivations. She reminded me of time—out of reach, always changing, never conforming to my needs.
“Yeah.” Fika clutched the chair handles, the same exact spot Dick had after picking at his nose. “Yeah, he did. Shit, this is depressing.”
“And Emery is paying for his daughter to go to college?”
“Yeah, Demi’s a good kid. They both are. Don’t go after Emery, Nash.” His hesitation invaded the space between us. “She has no money.”
I could list Emery’s sins, but I locked my jaw, counted down from three, and said, “She has a massive trust fund.”
“She doesn’t touch it.” He leaned forward until the only thing that separated us was the ebony-stained desk. “I know that makes her an easier target, but don’t you dare touch her. You get away with a lot of shit when it comes to me, but I wouldn’t be okay with it if you hurt her. Not one bit.”
“She knew about the embezzlement while it was happening.”
“No way.”
“I heard Virginia say it.”
She already knows. Why do you think I sent her to that shrink to set her straight?
Word for word, I remembered it.
“Well, you heard wrong.” A sigh laced his words, along with a determination I recognized but not on him. “Poor girl can’t even afford a damn meal.”
