Page 47 of Control

“Yeah. Dad worked his ass off all his life, and Annie would have blown the entire fortune on everyone in Steel Ridge and beyond.”

There were at least a dozen things I wanted to say in response, but I refused to interrupt what was clearly a family issue. In fact, in any other situation, I would have excused myself and offered to come back at another time. But considering my real reason for being here, I didn’t want to miss this.

“That’s enough, Reed.”

He grunted. “Whatever.” Reed didn’t give us a second glance as he stormed out of the room.

“I’m so sorry,” Monica lamented.

Shaking my head, I insisted, “Please don’t apologize. I can only imagine how everyone’s emotions must be at a time like this.”

Her expression turned grave. “Yes, that is true.” After letting out a deep sigh, Monica said, “I don’t know what information you’re looking for me to give you for your story. I’m a little out of sorts. While we’ve had some wonderful moments over the years, the truth is that Annie was always so busy helping everyone out, trying to fix all the wrongs in the world, I’m not sure we saw her more than some of the people you may have spoken with already.”

“I understand.”

“If you’d like to know more about her day-to-day, you’d probably have more success with her closest friends, Clover Moran and Bethany Daniels. I’d be happy to give you theircontact information, and I’ll even let them know to expect a call from you.”

Nodding, I smiled. “That would be wonderful. I appreciate that.”

“Sure.” When she stared back at me with an expectant look on her face, I said, “Okay, well, I guess we should get going. I apologize for intruding on you like this, Monica, but I do appreciate your time.”

I set my coffee mug down on the tray, Ty doing the same. We stood as Monica did, and we all moved toward the front door.

“Let me grab you the numbers for the girls,” she said. “Please give me one moment.”

“Absolutely. Take your time.”

Standing alone with one another in the foyer, Ty and I exchanged uneasy looks. This hadn’t gone anything like I’d planned, but I couldn’t say it was a total waste of a trip. It was the most eye-opening interview we’d had with anyone since we started.

Monica returned with a slip of paper containing the names and numbers of Annie’s friends. I took it and thanked her again, and before I knew it, I was back in Ty’s car.

The second he got in and closed his door, we both let out a sigh of relief. “Well, if nothing else, I can at least say we’re making progress.”

“Yeah, no kidding. There’s something seriously weird going on in that house,” he returned.

“I want to believe they’re just overwhelmed with grief, but I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that it’s much deeper than that.”

Ty put the car in drive and turned around in the driveway to leave. As he approached the end of the driveway, he said, “Reed Sanders gives me a bad vibe.”

“That much was obvious. Something is off with Monica Sanders, if you ask me.”

Coming to a stop at the end of the driveway, Ty looked over at me and asked, “Yeah? What are you thinking?”

I shook my head slowly. “I’m not sure. But let me ask you this. If you were brutally murdered, how would your mom be?”

Understanding dawned in Ty’s expression. “Yeah, she’d be a mess. That woman might have been a mess, but she’s trying to appear the very opposite. Why would that be?”

I shrugged and held up the piece of paper Monica had given me. “I don’t know, but maybe Annie’s friends will have some answers.”

With that, Ty turned out of the driveway and drove us to Grant’s Deli, where he refused to let me buy us both lunch. And since I’d been so rattled by what we’d just witnessed, I couldn’t bring myself to fight him on it.

FOURTEEN

Alana

“Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us today.”

A pleasant expression marred by a hint of sadness stared back at me. “Thank you for calling me. I’m happy to be here to talk about Annie. I’m just sorry that Bethany declined.”

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