"You already knew about Briggs. And he hadn't been lying about not being involved the whole time. There was video footage of the nurse slipping something into his coffee to upset his stomach. Her name is Linda Vega. She's the mother of Brian Vega, one of the guys on James' threat list. We were aware that James had gotten numerous death threats from him after Hunter Tech's advancements had tanked Vega's stock price. But no one had put it together because Linda got the nursing job under a fake name. She told Isabella what to do in order to make James' lung collapse again. And she fed her information on his health status and injected James with that slow release sedative."
I squeezed James' hand. His face looked a little pale. It was a lot to take in.
"Brian Vega was involved too," Detective Lee continued. "He hacked into the bank transfer to make it seem like the money had been sent to an account owned by Tyler Stevens. But it really went into an offshore account that your lawyer, John Litt owns. Litt had a copy of the restraining order against Vega, which was how Isabella was able to find someone else who wanted James dead. Apparently John Litt and Isabella had been sleeping together ever since James and her divorce hearing. Litt will almost certainly be disbarred for accepting bribes, releasing personal information, and forging the DNR. Or just for the scandal. He's already hired the best defense lawyer in the city, but don't worry, I'll make sure he sees jail time for this.
"We took your information about the threats against Briggs' family and have decided we agree that he acted upon duress. He was an unwilling accomplice. We are all set to drop the charges against him if that's what you're sure you want to do."
Without hesitation, James nodded.
"We have already dropped the charges against Melissa Monroe and Tyler Stevens. Is there anything you would like to add about Linda or Brian Vega?"
"No," James said.
Detective Lee nodded as if expecting that. "They've both plead guilty already. They'll be behind bars for a long time."
James exhaled slowly. I hadn't realized how much stress he was still holding on to. "Thank you," James said and stuck out his hand to Detective Lee.
"Just doing my job, sir." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Jon," he said, turning to my father in law, "you said there was one more thing you'd like to discuss?"
"Yes, actually, I was hoping it would come up in the briefing. But since Officer Daugherty was the only one I ever told, I feared it might not. I had talked to him the other day, and I wasn't sure why nothing was being done about what we discussed," he said. "I thought it was the proof that we needed. And if I had known he was dirty...if I had talked to someone else...maybe none of this would have happened." He shook his head. "Penny, that's why Susan and I were fighting the other day in James' room. I was confronting her about something. And she stormed off. I had to go after her. I had to confirm my suspicions. And I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I left him alone." He shook his head again and looked back down at his hands.
"And what exactly did you tell Officer Daugherty?" Detective Lee asked.
I grabbed James' hand. I knew this was going to be bad. I knew this was going to hurt him.
"About all the texts between Susan and Isabella."
Shit. James' mother helped her?
"He didn't divulge that information during his questioning," Detective Lee said. "What texts?"
Jon looked at James for a second and then looked back at the detective. "There are texts on Susan's phone encouraging Isabella to do whatever it took to stop the wedding fromhappening. They never mentioned violence, and I'd like to think she didn't know what was going to happen. But even after James was shot...she kept Isabella informed on what was happening in the hospital. She fed her delusions. She encouraged her. She was a part of all of this."
Detective Lee looked up from his notes. "Do you want to press charges against your wife?"
I noticed Jon glance at my stomach.
"Yes," Jon said. "I want to press charges."
"Dad?" James said. "You don't have..."
"She encouraged Isabella even after she stole from you. Even after she hurt you. I know that Susan didn't believe Isabella was behind that. In part because Officer Daugherty insisted that Isabella wasn't. But, James, she knew. Or she at least should have been concerned. She put us all in danger." He glanced at my stomach again.
"We'll go talk to her now. If you're sure," Detective Lee said.
"I'm positive," Jon said.
The detective nodded. "I'll go tell her she needs to come in for questioning."
"And I'll get out of your way," Jon said and started to follow Detective Lee out.
"Dad." James got up and walked over to him. "Thank you." This time James hugged him.
Watching their exchange brought tears to my eyes. I could feel that this was the start of something better. Maybe Jon would start being a good father right before James became one. I put my hand on my stomach.Be okay. Please be okay.
It looked like they said something else to each other, but I couldn't make it out. James sat back down next to me with a smile on his face.
"Are you okay?"
