Chapter 9 - MASON BREAKS
Mason lasted three hours in interrogation.
Then he cracked.
I wasn’t in the room.
But Daniels told me afterward.
“He says he didn’t know the brake line would kill you.”
I stared at him.
“That’s his defense?”
“He claims Teresa told him you wanted insurance fraud.”
I laughed.
“Insurance fraud.”
“She allegedly told him you planned to fake an accident, collect disability insurance, and split the payout.”
“That makes no sense.”
“We know.”
“What else?”
“He says your mother planned everything.”
“Convenient.”
“Very.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Parts of it.”
Daniels opened a notebook.
“Mason says your mother started talking about your assets after Frederick was born.”
“Why then?”
“He said she believed Amy was replacing her.”
I stared.
“Replacing her as what?”
“The most important woman in your life.”
I sat back.
That sounded exactly like Teresa.
Growing up, she always said, “Nobody will ever love you like your mother.”
When I got engaged, she cried for three days.
Not happy tears.
When Amy and I bought the house, she complained we had moved “too far away.”
It was eighteen minutes from her place.
When Frederick was born, she tried to be in the delivery room.
Amy said no.
My mother never forgave her.
“Mason said Teresa thought Amy would eventually convince you to cut the family off.”
“The family?”
“Financially.”
I stared at Daniels.
“What financial support?”
He turned the notebook around.
My mother had apparently been telling relatives for years that I had promised to “take care of everyone.”
I had never said that.
But because I made good money, people believed her.
She had borrowed against imaginary future money.
Promised Betsy a new car.
Promised Dean help with debt.
Promised Mason capital for a landscaping company.
“And when I didn’t give it?”
“She used your monthly transfers.”
I felt sick.
“The three thousand.”
“Yes.”
“She was paying them?”
“Some of it.”
“So the party…”
“Was partly funded from money you thought was supporting Amy.”
I looked away.
Then Daniels said, “Mason gave us something else.”
He placed a phone on the table.
A recording.
My mother’s voice.
“If Connor keeps letting that woman poison him, we take control before she does.”
Mason asked, “How?”
“House first.”
“And the money?”
“Once we have legal authority, everything gets easier.”
“What if he fights it?”
My mother laughed.
“He won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Connor still thinks family means loyalty.”
The recording stopped.
Daniels looked at me.
“There’s another minute.”
“Play it.”
His hesitation scared me.
He pressed the button.
Mason said, “And if he finds out?”
My mother answered.
“Then we make sure he can’t prove anything.”
A pause.
Then:
“And if that doesn’t work, accidents happen every day.”
I couldn’t move.
Daniels turned off the phone.
Before I could speak, another detective rushed in.
“Daniels.”
“What?”
“We found Richard Sloan.”
“Where?”
The detective looked at me.
“In his car.”
“Alive?”
May you like
He nodded.
“Barely.”
