Page 27 of Nasty
“Her mom’s medical reports. When you saw hermom’smedical reports.”
“No. When I saw thesister’smedical reports. What was her name? Amanda?”
“Amy.”
“Yeah. Whatever. Amy. When I sawhermedical reports, in conjunction with her mother’s medical reports, it seemed as though they were both being poisoned by the same person. And since their father no longer has any contact with either of the girls, the only common denominator in both scenarios was Sera. There were no family friends still on the scene. No boyfriends, or neighbors. No one else that was around for both Mrs. Lafferty’s death and Amy’s worsening sickness. Ergo,” she said, widening her eyes at me meaningfully, “Sera was responsible for her mother’s death. And she’s responsible for poisoning her sister, too.”
“How could that even be possible? Before the road trip she went on to the wedding, Sera hadn’t left Seattle in eighteen months. She couldn’t have done anything to poison Amy.”
Monica regarded me as if my IQ had just dropped dramatically. “She could have easily poisoned her without leaving Seattle. Use a little imagination, Fix. Fuck. She could have sent her something in the mail. Something she could have inhaled. Perfume. Plenty of toxins can be breathed in and have dramatic consequences. Or she could have applied something to paper. Three seconds’ contact with bare skin would be enough to make someone terminally ill, if the toxin was potent enough.”
I shook my head, staring up at the ceiling. “Sera loves Amy. There’s absolutely no fucking way she would try and kill her. She’s the only family she has left.”
“Wrong. She has her father.”
“Sixsmith’s a deadbeat piece of shit that can’t keep himself straight for more than twenty-four hours. Sera wouldn’t have anything to do with him if you paid her.”
“Does she have a lot of money, Fix?”
“What?”
“Sera. Does she have a lot of money?”
“I don’t think she’s struggling.”
“Well, she’ll certainly have a lot of money when Amy shuffles loose the mortal coil.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Amy has a life insurance policy. A big, fat, prize turkey of a life insurance policy. If and when she dies, a grand total of three point one million dollars gets paid out to Sera.”
I blinked at that. I was still processing the news that Amy was sick. She hadn’t seemed ill in any way at the wedding. I hadn’t really met her, but she’d seemed in perfect health from a distance. But a life insurance policy? With such an unbelievably high payout? That was concerning news. “If the policy’s new, her husband’s probably the one making her sick,” I said. “Now that they’re married, he’s her next of kin. He’d be the recipient of any pay out, not Sera.
“It’snota new policy. It’s been in effect since the day Amy was born. Some small, Podunk company that got bought out a decade ago. They’re honoring the old policies, which cannot be amended by the way. It doesn’t matter who Amy’s married to. If she dies, the policy states her sister will receive the money no matter what. And besides, I looked into the husband. His family has lots of money. Old oil money. Three point one million is a drop in the ocean to them. The guy looked like a total asshole, but it’s highly unlikely he’d commit murder for what would be such a meaningless amount to him.”
I scoured Monica’s face, hunting for the slightest hint that she wasn’t being honest with me. There was no sign of hyperbole or deception playing across her features, though. Monica had told me plenty of lies over the years, and I’d gotten really fucking good at catching her out. I rarely confronted her about the mistruths, it generally served no purpose, but if she was fucking lying about this…
“I know Sera,” I growled. “She loves her sister. She wouldn’t try and kill her,” I repeated. “Not for any amount of money. Now give me the laptop, Monica.”
“You know her, do you? During the short time you tailed her across the country, you figured out everything there is to know about her. You didn’t evenspeakto her until recently. You’re fucking crazy if you expect me to believe that you know her. You knowme. And when have I ever gotten something like this wrong?”
Something rankled inside me, something nasty and uncomfortable. I shoved the feeling aside, inhaling deeply through my nose. “I don’t have to answer to you, Monica. I never have, and I never will. I don’t need to justify a single thing to you.”
She rocked back an inch, pain flickering in her eyes. “You’re going to regret this madness,” she said softly. “You’re going to get locked up or wind up dead. Just cut ties with the girl. Take her to the airport, kiss her goodbye, and move on to the next job. It’s for the best.”
I thrust my hands into my pockets, digging my fingernails into my palms. There had been times when Monica and I had failed to see eye to eye. More times than I could count, actually. But this was different. This time, she was really worried, and I knew exactly why. If I was locked up, or dead…then Monica would be on her own. Truly on her own, for the very first time since she was attacked. My old friend guilt tried to whisper in my ear, but I clenched my teeth together and banished the motherfucker. There was no room in my life for guilt. Guilt was the most hazardous thing in the world to a man like me.
I just stared at her.
Monica returned my gaze, her eyes pleading. When I didn’t move, speak or breathe, she loosed an uneven, ragged sigh and turned away from me, leaving the room. When she returned, she had a silver MacBook in her hands. She thrust the laptop into my chest, and I had just enough time to grab hold of it before she let go.
“Rabbit’s hosting a party tonight. He’s not going to be back at the warehouse until later.” She went to her bedside table and retrieved a small envelope, which she then thrust at me,too. The envelope had been opened, though the word Fix had been messily scrawled onto the front of the card. Monica had opened it?Monica had lost her goddamn mind. “If you go tonight, I’d think long and hard before taking Sera as your plus one. Rabbit’s mad at you. He’sreallyfucking mad, and he doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Even pretty ones with great tits. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
TWELVE
DIMPLE
SERA
