“Like what?”
Linking her fingers with mine, she looks up. “It doesn’t matter.” She stares past me. “Ted wrote me a letter before he died.”
I sit up straighter. “What?”
“The police found it at his house. They gave me a copy today.”
“What does it say?”
She leans into me and sighs. “A lot. It’s seven handwritten pages of rambling.”
“Wow.”
“He said he has to leave the country because he killed Randy, but that he’d be back for me.”
“He admits to killing Randy?”
She nods. “He said he overheard Randy talking to his friends about me. He didn’t include what they said, but he said it was very offensive.”
I rub her back. “Did he mention what he was doing with Vince?”
“No. And I don’t know why he wanted money from him either. He said he had enough cash stashed for us to live on for a while. Then he went on about losing his brother when he was young, and how he was never the same. Then three pages were about what he thought should be taught for the lab class.”
I pull back. “He really had a brother?”
She frowns. “I guess he did at one point. He lied about the woman kissing his brother, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he did.”
She groans. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Sure. Want something to drink? I’m going to have a beer.”
“Sure, thank you.”
Knowing that Ted wrote such a long letter bothers me more than it should. But why should it? The man is dead. We have nothing more to worry about. I step away, then return with the beers.
“Thank you,” she smiles. “Oh, my mom called. She wants us to come to dinner this weekend.”
I stop mid-stride. “What? You two made up?”
“No, but she keeps trying. I told her I’m not ready.”
I twist the caps off the drinks and hand her one. “Do you think you ever will be?”
She shrugs. “She’s my mom. And maybe with my dad and all of his dealings out of the picture, we can have a normal relationship.”
Her mom. The dealings. She has no idea. “What if your mother takes over your father’s business?”
Lucy laughs. “That’s a good one.”
“I’m serious.”
She stares at me for a beat. “You are. Look, I can understand why you might think that, but my mom isn’t business savvy.”
She has no idea what her mother is doing. And with Lawrence out of the way, she might start working with Vince in whatever scheme he has. Then it all comes together. Oh no. Please let me be wrong.
“Cody? What’s wrong? You’re frowning.”
