Page 21 of One Last Lie

“But you know things about him, don’t you?”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that perhaps it would be prudent to expose Simon’s activities to the proper authorities in exchange for immunity from legal repercussions to yourself for partaking of his extralegal products.”

I stiffen again. It is horridly improper of a psychologist to offer a patient legal advice. Then again, if Johnathan felt his life was in danger, he should have gone to the police. I relax a little.

“So, blackmail him?”

“Convince him that it’s in his best interests to leave you alone.”

“You don’t understand. People like him don’t leave people alone. People like Elena don’t leave people alone. When they want something from you, they take it, and if they can’t take it, they keep fighting for it until they can. They won’t stop, and if they have to get someone out of the way, they’ll do it.”

“Johnathan, do you really feel that your life is in danger?”

“Yes, I do.”

A chill runs through me. I have suspected foul play in his murder but hearing that he worried of the same thing only weeks before his death is still shocking.

“Hell, I can’t even trust the staff,” Johnathan continues. “You know Theresa’s been stealing from us for years?”

“No, I wasn’t aware.”

“Well, she has. I found a nice little stash of jewelry and dresses in a storage closet in the North Wing. Probably half a million dollars’ worth.”

“Oh my.”

“Oh my is right. That’s enough for her to retire on.”

“Have you confronted her?”

“Are you kidding? Hell no.”

“But Johnathan, that is your house. That is, I assume, your wife’s property.”

“The jewelry is. The dresses are all custom made. Not sure what she uses them for since I’ve never seen her leave the house, and she definitely isn’t wearing that stuff in front of us.”

“So why not tell her? Or at least tell your wife?”

He laughs. “Cecilia barely talks to me anymore. There are days when I wonder if she even still loves me.”

I reach forward and stop the tape. “There’s no need for me to listen to any more of this,” I say. “Or for you. Your father loved you very much, and your mother still does.”

“Mom loves herself,” Elijah counters, “but that’s about all that’s useful, anyway.”

He ejects the flash drive and returns it to the closet. “You know what Dad’s official cause of death was?”

“A heart attack, I believe.”

"And a stroke. Officially, they called it a massive ischemic event. Basically, his blood pressure skyrocketed, and a bunch of arteries exploded at the same time."

“My word.”

“Yep. They ruled it natural causes, but I don’t think it was.”

“What could have caused that, though? I mean, without being detected.”

I don’t mean to think out loud in front of Elijah, but this tape is the most sobering evidence yet that there was foul play in Johnathan’s death, and since I’m asking nothing that Elijah hasn’t already asked, I’m not sparing his feelings. After all, it was he who wished to talk to me. It’s a thin excuse, I suppose, to use Isabella and Elijah’s overtures as a reason to involve myself in an investigation that I’m very much not qualified for, but if Johnathan was murdered, and no one else is looking into this, then don’t they deserve to have someone on their side? On their father’s side?

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