Page 54 of Coveted Justice

“For some couples, arguing is how they communicate,” Ava replied. “Did your dad say that he was planning on divorcing Abby?”

“Well…once. A few years ago. They were going through a particularly rough patch with the development project he was working on, and Abby wouldn’t let him get a bit of rest. She was dragging him to parties every single night. He always looked so exhausted. She didn’t care about him.”

Logan had already talked to Tanner and Jared. He knew about the swingers club and the nightly parties, but he had a feeling that Trisha Parnham didn’t know. He was walking a fine line here. If he told her, he’d be a total shit. If he didn’t tell her, she might find it out from some sleazy reporter who was only looking for a reaction and a quote for their story.

“Did you know his neighbors are suing them for damage done to their property during one of their parties?”

He kept the question neutral, sussing out what the daughter did know.

“I did.” Her tone was dismissive. “It wasn’t a big deal. Some plants and a few bushes. Dad offered to pay for them, but the neighbors wanted an exorbitant amount for them. Dad told them to take him to court. He wasn’t going to be blackmailed by people looking for an easy payday.”

“The neighbor said they had wild parties almost every night of the week.”

“They never had a party when I was over there,” Trisha said with a definitive shake of her head. “It was always very quiet.”

“You were over there a lot? How many times a week?”

Her cheeks turned pink and she shrugged.

“Actually…maybe more like once a month or so. We usually went out to dinner together if we were meeting up. Abby can’t cook at all, you know. I ate a meal she made once and that was enough for me. Totally bland.”

Trisha wasn’t hiding the fact that she didn’t like her father’s choice of a wife.

“Can I ask when was the last time you talked or saw your father?”

“The day before he died. I wanted to ask him some questions about a few potential investments. We had lunch together.”

“Did he say anything about his marriage or his development project? Was he unusually happy or sad? Was there anything different about him that day?”

“He was just the same as he always was.”

“What else did you talk about?”

Her lips turned down and Logan would have sworn anger flashed in her eyes before she hid it behind a placid expression.

“You know…family stuff. The usual.”

Considering Logan’s family was a fucking disaster of monumental proportions, he wasn’t sure that he did know. Ava’s family was only marginally better.

“Did you talk about your brother Drew?” he asked, watching her closely to see her reaction to his question.

Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, her gaze darted around the room before coming back to him.

“I guess we did. For a little while. Not the whole lunch. It was really nothing.”

What the hell? He was going to go for it.

“Was your dad tired of funding Drew’s lifestyle?”

Trisha’s body tensed, her lips pressed tightly together so they were a thin line.

“What do you know about my brother?”

“I know that he drinks and gambles. I know that he’s been kicked out of school several times and has never held a job of any kind. I know that your father was funding your brother’s lifestyle.”

Now that Logan had revealed what he knew about Andrew Parnham, it was as if he’d opened the floodgates and the truth came rushing out. Trisha’s expression had changed from guarded to anger in less than ten seconds.

“He’s such a loser. My god, he’s had everything in the world handed to him on a platter and he can’t do one thing right.” Now that Trisha had started, she couldn’t seem to stop the flow of words. She was getting progressively heated the more she spoke. “Dad said that he’s tired of Drew messing everything up, and I agreed with him. I told my dad he needed to be tougher on him. That’s the only way that he’ll ever learn. He needs to just cut him off, once and for all. If he has to get a job to eat or have a place to live, then he might actually get one. Dad wasn’t sure that he was ready to go that far, but I could see that he wanted to. He and Drew had a huge fight a few weeks ago and he didn’t talk to my dad for days. Unless something drastic changes, my brother is never going to amount to anything. Dad knew it, too.”

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