Page 55 of Coveted Justice

“They argued? Did they argue a lot?”

“Not all the time, but lately…yeah, they’ve had several fights about what Drew needed to do. Dad was up in arms about his latest escapade.”

“The latest? What was that?”

Trisha exhaled noisily, almost sounding like she’d growled.

“He got some girl pregnant. She’s eighteen, for god’s sake. Practically a child. He kept saying that she’s going to be nineteen in a few months. Well, whoop-de-do, she’s still far too young for him. I asked him what they had in common and he said that she understands him. I guess my brother has never matured past high school. That’s why he keeps dating females far too young for him. When Dad found out he was livid. He told Drew that he would take care of it but it was the last time.”

“Take care of it?” Logan echoed. “I think I know what you mean by that.”

“Abortion,” Trisha replied bluntly. “It didn’t come to that, though. The girl miscarried a few days later. The whole damn situation was simply sad. I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone, but I can say with absolute certainty that my brother wasn’t ready to be a father.”

“Your brother wanted the baby?”

“Yes, he did. He and the mother were planning to get married. He was not, however, planning to get a job or anything. He just assumed that Dad would start supporting her, too.”

This sounded like a shitshow of major proportions.

“And he wouldn’t have stayed faithful to that poor girl,” Trisha went on. “He’s never been faithful to any girl his entire life. Bless her, she thought she was in love and that Drew was her prince. She would have had a rude awakening eventually. No way was my brother going to sit home and watch television when she was nine months pregnant or had an infant. He’s just not the type.”

Logan hadn’t exactly been the type to settle down. Not until he’d found Ava. Before her, getting married and having a family had sounded like a prison sentence. Now he was happily married and couldn’t imagine his life any other way.

People could change. It was clear that Trisha didn’t think that her brother was capable of it.

Was he capable of murder?

“Did your father have any enemies? Anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?”

“Janice Gates,” Trisha replied without skipping a beat. “She’s worked with my father on some real estate projects, but after the last one he said he wouldn’t work with her anymore. There were some schedule delays and some minor budget overruns which is normal and expected. She went ballistic and accused my dad of skimming money from the budget, putting in false invoices and having them paid to a dummy corporation. I know he wasn’t doing that, and neither were his partners. It wasn’t even that much money, but she was just unhinged. She threatened his life at a cocktail party about a year ago.”

“What did your father do about that?”

“He and the other investors bought her out so no one had to deal with her anymore.”

“Had she acted like this on the other deals?”

Trisha shook her head. “I don’t think so. Dad was shocked about her behavior, but he didn’t want to deal with it for several more months.”

“What happened to that deal? Did it make money?”

“Tons. I’m sure Janice is kicking herself right about now. She was stumbling over dollars to get to pennies as they say. It came back to bite her.”

Was Janice Gates kicking herself enough to try and get revenge on Marty? Logan needed to have a talk with her.

And Andrew Parnham, as well. Either one of them could have had a strong motive.

Did they have means and opportunity?

There was no shortage of suspects in this murder. Who else didn’t like Marty?

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