Page 29 of What the Wife Knew

“Kind of kills the wholeshe married him for his moneytheory, right?”

“Technically, you do, or will soon, have access to all of his assets and property and be a rich woman, so your argument is not as compelling as you might think.”

“Killjoy.”

“You recently paid household and funeral expenses. Nothing unusual except one six-thousand-dollar withdrawal for you, which is inconsequential compared to the multimillion-dollar estate.”

Nosy bastard. “And?”

“Paying for the children’s expenses would go a long way to smoothing some of the rough feelings between you and Kathryn.”

“I’m actually not interested in smoothing Kathryn.”

“She is threatening to sue Richmond’s estate. That doesn’t mean she’d win. She very likely wouldn’t because of the divorce agreement, but a lawsuit takes time and money.” He leaned back in his chair. “As you’ve pointed out, my hourly rate is not inconsequential.”

“Happy you finally admit that.”

“Keep in mind, to Kathryn you’re the other woman. The mistress who stole her husband of over twenty years and turned her life upside down. She views herself as your victim.”

“Clearly.” What the hell. Why not? What else would I do with that much money? “Fine. You can pay the kids’ school expensesfrom whatever joint or Richmond account works best. Mostly because I believe the kids are better off being away from this town and their father’s overblown reputation. And if they’re gone they can’t drop in and visit me.”

“Good, I’ll tell—”

“On one condition.”

Elias let out a woe-is-me exhale. “I’m listening.”

“Peter Cullen. I want info. Talk.”

Chapter Twenty

Her

Present Day

Elias groaned and shifted in his chair. Even took a minute to stare out the window, deliberately prolonging his response. “I heard you went to Richmond’s medical office this morning.”

So that was it. The gossip had found its way back to him. “People in this town are very chatty. Funny how they all chat to you.”

“Thomas contacted me because he was trying to figure out what obligation he had to share information with you.”

Squirrelly bastard. “Are you his attorney, too?”

“No.”

“Then I hope you told him to open the verbal vault and answer my questions.”

“Since it’s possible you’ll need to deal with the collateral damage, I’ll answer questions, if I can.” Elias brushed a piece of lint, or something visible only to him, off his navy dress pants. “What do you want to know?”

Every last thing. “What were Peter and Richmond fighting about?”

“Peter blames Richmond for the death of his son, Ben. He died during a complex surgery. A radical neuroblastoma excision.”

I regretted starting with that question. “One of those words sounds like cancer.”

“Yes. The procedure was made more difficult due to Ben’s age and the tumor’s location in his abdomen.” Elias stopped and took in a long breath, as if he dreaded the rest of what he intended to say. “There were complications. Ben lost a lot of blood and then went into cardiac arrest. He was six when he died.”

My conversation with Peter outside the café hinted at a horror but hearing it spelled out in detail was so much worse. Traumatic, shitty, and unfair. “Now I understand why Ben’s father is a mess. He’s claiming this is a case of medical malpractice?”

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