Page 124 of A Breath of Life
When my cousin immediately opened a new tab, located the correct website, and inputted the coded information Kitty had handed him without asking her to clarify, I felt like an outsider. I glared at my nefarious co-worker, but the hunched elderly persona she typically wore was nowhere to be found.
Despite her silver curls and wrinkles, a spark of youth gave her an energy I had never witnessed. Gone were the crossword puzzles, knitting needles, and shakes. Kitty Lavender was not and had never been a senile old woman.
She must have felt the heat of my scrutiny and caught my eye. I earned a sly wink. “Something wrong, Tallus?”
“You’re a scam artist.”
“Am I? I thought I was a witch.”
“That too. A scam artist witch. You’re not human.”
She cackled.
Costa tapped away at the keyboard.
“Here,” she said to my cousin, pointing. “That’s the one.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, but neither Costa nor Kitty responded. Both were consumed with the laptop screen as another account in Clarence’s name appeared.
I moved behind Costa, leaning over his shoulder to be part of whatever Kitty unveiled. Recognizing the typical bank account layout, I swiftly located the spot that indicated the balance.
“There’s less than a hundred bucks in there. I don’t get it.” I glanced between Kitty and Costa. How was this impressive?
My cousin glanced at Kitty, who smirked with that all-knowing expression she sometimes wore.
I narrowed my eyes, whispering, “A time-traveling witch from another dimension.”
“October eleventh,” she said, grinning. “Last year.”
“Is that when you landed among us? I’ve known you longer than that. Are you a body snatcher too? Interesting disguise.”
My cousin elbowed me in the ribs. “Would you shut up.”
“Why am I the only one who sees through her?”
I earned another wink from the Kitty doppelganger.
Costa located the correct month in a pull-down menu and scrolled. When he landed on October eleventh, all humor evaporated. My lips parted. “Holy shit.”
A deposit of one and a half million dollars and change had been made to the account on that day by a company called Sun Life.
“Wait. Isn’t Sun Life a—”
“Life insurance company,” Costa said before I could finish asking the question.
I gasped. “Oh my god. Clarence had his wife killed for insurance money. That is… not at all original. It’s the plot of way too many movies.”
Costa snorted a laugh. “That might be the case, but if he killed his wife for insurance money, this fucker got screwed.”
I guffawed. “I’m sorry, what? How is one and a half million dollars getting screwed? In fact, if that’s the case, I need someone to screw me pronto. Seriously, my wardrobe wish list would love for me to be that kind of screwed.”
No one cracked a smile, and I sneered. “Diem thinks I’m funny.”
Ignoring me, my cousin glanced at Kitty, who filled in the blank. “That’s not the full amount. Janessa’s sister received the lion’s share. She got the house, which was in Janessa’s name, the cars, all other major assets, and twenty-seven and a half million dollars. The will was changed four months before Janessa’s death. Prior to that change, Clarence was the sole beneficiary.”
To me, Costa said, “You see? One and a half million may sound like a lot of money, but it was a slap in the face for dear old Clarence. It was not enough to pay whatever his debt was to Ace and have anything worthwhile left over. I’m guessing he counted on paying his bill and walking away with padded pockets.”
“So he reneged?”
