Page 72 of Ghostlighted
“That might be why. You know what Carson was like. Liam is cut from the same cloth. Their image of themselves is more important than anything else.”
I froze. “Carson. Crap.Carson. One second.” I scrabbled my phone back into my hand and called Taryn.
“Maz—”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever I’m interrupting, I’m sorry, but this is critical andreallytime sensitive. You know how Sofia shelled out for Harvard tuition for Liam?”
“Yeeeaaahh,” she drawled, aggravation giving the word about six extra syllables.
“Short story—he’s not now and never has been a student. He’s been living in Seattle this whole time on her money.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Not even a little. Plus, tuition checks were made out to Liam, not the school, and Sofia never mailed them.” I scrunched up my face and slapped my forehead. “Ofcoursehe wouldn’t let her mail them. He didn’t have a Cambridge address.”
“Still in the dark here,” Taryn said.
“Right. Sorry. The way Liam got those checks? Sofia gave them to Carson--whoallegedlywas attending annual conferences in Boston—to pass along.”
There was a moment of silence, and then—as I knew she would—Taryn got it. “Carson was complicit in the fraud.”
“Exactly. I don’t know how possible it is for someone to speak to Carson like in the next hour, but I suspect he’d turn on his ol’ buddy in a heartbeat if it means he can cut a deal on his own charges.”
Taryn literally growled. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll make some calls.”
“Could you make one of those to Kamilla? She’s already on her way, but she may need more to make the arrest.”
“On it.”
After she hung up I took a deep breath, letting the tension—a very little bit of the tension—drain out of me. But then I got a good look at the grim lines bracketing Avi’s mouth.
“What?”
“I think I know how Liam was planning to get away with it. How he still might, if Taryn can’t get to Carson in time.”
I gritted my teeth. “This is bound to be good.”
“The big light box was a tight fit in his messenger bag, and when he finally wrestled it out, some… other things spilled out too. A pill bottle.”
“Prescription?”
Avi nodded. “The patient name on the label was smudged, but the expiration date was over a decade old. I recognized the drug because my father had a heart condition. It increases the heart rate.”
A couple of memories pinged my brain. “Liam’s father. He died because of heart disease.”
“He did. He had the same issues as my dad and ignored them just as resolutely.”
“Dammit!” Slapping the counter wasn’t enough, but punching it wouldn’t do anything but break my knuckles. “Not only did he monkey with Sofia’s meds, he did it with expired drugs. Whoknowswhat that could have done? Were you able to”—I made a shooing motion with both hands—“nudge thebottle under a chair or something so there’s evidence withhisfreaking fingerprints?”
He shook his head. “You know I can’t affect physical objects. Much. But a lot of papers spilled out too.” He waggled his fingers. “Papers I can handle, so I looked while he was setting up his little forgery workshop. On… on her kitchen table.” Avi’s voice broke, and my own throat seized up.
The kitchen table. Where Sofia set a place for Liam—forGuillermo—at every freaking meal.
“Go on,” I managed to choke out.
“A conservatorship petition, citing a danger to herself or others. An advanced directive plus medical power of attorney. In other words, he’d have sole authority over Sofia’s assets and medical care.”
“No way.Gilis more a danger to others than she is. And Maria has her medical POA. Sofia would never sign anything like that.”
