Page 20 of One Last Lie

“What’s that?”

“It’s a flash drive,” he says. He plugs it into his laptop and starts the computer. “This is what I want to show you.”

It takes about a minute and a half for the computer to boot up and Elijah to log in and open the first file on the flash drive. My eyes widen when I hear Doctor Harrow’s voice.

“And you’re sure you’re not overexaggerating the risk?”

“How could I be? You heard the voicemail. You tell me that means something other than what I think it does.”

The voice that answers is a baritone, deeper by far than Elijah’s. But its inflections are the same, and there’s a slight broadening of the vowels that indicate the New England ancestry of its owner.

Those qualities are a perfect match for Elijah’s own speech. Am I listening to the voice of Johnathan Ashford? I glance at Elijah, and he confirms it. He pauses the tape and says, “This is my father’s therapy session tape from a month before his death.”

I redden. “Oh, I can’t listen to this.”

“You want to know how he died, right?”

I hesitate. It’s absurdly inappropriate of me to involve the children in this. I’m to care for them, and that means helping them find closure for their father’s death, not fueling rumors that may not have any foundation in truth.

Then again, Isabella shows me that note from her father’s desk, and now I’m listening to the man himself confirm his fear of Elena’s intentions.

I meet Elijah’s eyes, and the boy’s expression tells me that he shares my suspicion and has held that suspicion for far longer than I have. I’m not sparing him anything by pretending I don’t want what he already knows I do.

“Yes.”

“Then listen.”

He presses play and Doctor Harrow says, “Those could simply be the vented frustrations of a business rival.”

“We’re not supposed to be rivals,” Johnathan replies. “We’re supposed to be partners.”

“Why not fire her?”

A pause. “It’s not that simple. Removing one of the partners requires a board vote. She has a lot of the board on her side.”

“You don’t think you’d succeed?”

“I think I would succeed,” Johnathan counters, “and I wonder if that’s more dangerous.”

“I don’t follow.”

“She has friends in high places. Friends in high places have friends in low places.”

This time, Doctor Harrow pauses. “That’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, Johnathan. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Johnathan pauses for a much longer time. “Yes. It is.”

“Speaking of that, have you spoken to Simon about reducing your dependence on opiates?”

I stiffen and look at Elijah in shock. The boy smiles ruefully. “Ol’ Dad and his demons.”

After a moment of silence on the tape, Doctor Harrow says reprovingly. “You haven’t.”

“I’m going to,” Johnathan replies defensively, “but I can’t risk another enemy right now.”

“Is he that dependent on your business?”

"He's… I just… the thing is, if I stop buying from him, he's going to try to pressure me. He knows things about me that could ruin things with Cecilia and the kids. I'm already in hot water with her, I don't need to be in hotter water."

---