That doesn’t make any sense.
“Not all. But I will tell you about Ted’s involvement. Something tells me you want to know.”
Ted was involved with the hockey team? Shit, he’s right. I do want to know. I let out a breath. “All right.”
The man doesn’t know I’ve signed more NDAs than I can count; knowing what to keep to myself is what has kept me alive all these years.
He hands me the papers, and I look them over. They’re standard. I sign them, but I hold on to them. “Tell me about Ted.”
Chip returns to his chair. “I thought Joseph borrowed money from the hockey team to pay off some gambling debts. He did, but only a small portion. It turns out Ted had gained access to Sam’s secretary’s computer and transferred the remaining funds from the hockey team to an untraceable account. Apparently, he hoped Joseph would be blamed for all of it and it would anger Mr. Gardiner enough that he would do something about it.”
“Do something?”
“Kill Joseph.”
“What do you think Ted’s motive was?” I ask. How much does Chip actually know about what is going on under his nose?
“Lucy Taylor. As you are aware, he was obsessed with her. You sat in jail, framed, because of him.”
Damn, I guess he knows a lot. I shift in my seat. “How do you know all of this?”
“I spoke with Margaret the day after Ted died. She filled me in. Apparently, the two were spending time together.”
Margaret and Ted?
Then I remember the woman up against the car outside Ted’s house. The dress was tight and revealing, just like Margaret’s dresses. Brother, my ass. That had been Ted, I saw. If only the fucker had moved his head.
“According to Margaret, Ted would drone on about Lucy and Joseph, and how Joseph had spent all her money and left her in a bad way.”
So, Ted used Margaret to go after Joseph. “How do you know Ted took the money? Maybe Margaret is lying, and she took it. Or maybe she helped him. You said he used Margaret’s computer, but she must have had passwords in place.”
Chip sighed. “Once we discovered the funds were transferred from Margaret’s computer, she told me everything to avoid jail time. She said Ted tricked her into getting time alone on her computer.”
“But Sam said she didn’t have access to withdraw the money.”
Chip leans back. “Later that day, I spoke with Sam, and that is what he claimed. But the University police discovered Sam kept his online banking password on a piece of paper in his desk. Along with all his other passwords.” He sighs. “We are still working out what else Margaret has had access to.”
“Margaret lied and actually helped Ted, then?”
“I believe so.”
Ted framed me and Joseph? “Did she say why? She helped him?”
Chip sighs. “No, she didn’t.”
“Have the police picked her up for questioning?”
Chip runs his hands over his face. “No. After she confessed everything, she went missing. The next day, the police went to her apartment, and the landlord said she moved.”
“I know where her brother works—”
“The bar? Yeah, Sam told us about that. The bartender is gone too. According to a server there, they weren’t brother and sister.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
“She walked in on them getting cozy in the back room one time.”
They lied about being brother and sister. Why? I think back to how the man made it sound like she brought men there all the time. But that was a lie. A distraction. But from what?
