Page 14 of The Perfect Revenge
They weren’t in the best part of town.
Jessie took note of the dilapidated surroundings as Susannah drove to the home of Veronica Sterling’s brother, Michael “Mickey” Flanagan.Unlike his sister, who lived in a Brentwood mansion, Mickey had an apartment about forty-five minutes away, in Little Bangladesh.Just before they headed over, they’d called the team from HSS’s dedicated research staff and asked for everything they could find on Flanagan.There was a lot.
They’d only been on the road to Flanagan’s for about ten minutes when they got a call back.Jessie put it on speaker.
“Got stuff for us already?”she asked.
“Yes, Ms.Hunt,” said Jamil Winslow, the head of the research department.Despite her repeated requests for him to call her Jessie, he remained stubbornly formal.
“Tell us,” she said, not pushing the issue.Sometimes she liked to tease the kid about his strict adherence to propriety, but not today.
“Michael Flanagan isn’t doing that well,” he said matter-of-factly.
Jamil was always direct, even when subtlety was preferable.His relentless, driven nature, combined with his introverted disposition, sometimes left a little to be desired on the social front.But that was a small price to pay, considering that he was a real-life genius, capable of filtering through massive databases, sorting surveillance video into manageable buckets, or making complex financial records understandable, all seemingly in the blink of an eye.His small stature, physical fragility, and thick glasses gave the impression that he could be overlooked, but when he wielded his computer like a knight would a sword, he was formidable.
“How exactly is he not doing well?”Susannah asked.
“He’s bounced around jobs for the last decade,” Jamil explained.“He’s 31, two years younger than Veronica.Since he dropped out of college, he worked as waitstaff in over a dozen restaurants.He’s also worked in retail and construction.”
“He even tried his hand at acting,” added Beth Ryerson, the other paid member of the research team.
“How did that go?”Susannah asked.
“Not great.It looks like his brother-in-law bankrolled some headshots and even got him a few auditions.But he never landed a role.”
Beth could always be counted on to give helpful human context to the information they uncovered.She wasas adept with people as Jamil was with numbers.Her perpetually chill, friendly vibe was the complete inverse of Jamil’s jittery intensity.And while not a human supercomputer like him, she had an incredibly sharp mind, which people tended to underestimate because she was an attractive, six-foot-plus former college volleyball star.
"The Sterlings' nanny mentioned that he might have had some drug problems, too," Jessie noted."Did you find anything on that front?"
As she said that, she caught sight of a drug deal taking place in an alley just off the street they were headed down.It seemed like Flanagan wouldn’t have much trouble scoring in this neighborhood if he was so inclined.
“I was just about to get to that,” Jamil said.“He’s been cited for possession of a controlled substance on at least six occasions.He’s been on and off probation for most of his adult life.He even did a brief stint in county jail.He was there for nineteen days before they released him due to overcrowding.I also count three trips to rehab, the most recent time last spring.”
“It looks like he also stole some jewelry from his mother about five years ago,” Beth said.“The estimated total was in the $4,000 range.She initially pressed charges but then changed her mind.”
“I wonder why?”Susannah mused.
“Possibly because if convicted, he could have served up to nine months,” Beth suggested.“Maybe that was a bridge too far for mom?”
“Maybe,” Jamil added.“But if so, she got over it by the time she made her will.”
“How so?”Susannah asked.
“It expressly prohibits Michael getting any proceeds from her estate.It even states that if Veronica tries to disperse funds to him, her portion will be rescinded.”
“Is that even legal?”Beth wondered.
“I think it was probably intended more to make a point about how serious she was,” Jessie gathered.“How much was she worth?”
“Nothing crazy,” Jamil said.“The entire estate was valued at just over $150,000.I’d estimate that’s about one percent of what the Sterlings are worth.”
"But as with denying Mickey any money, it sounds like mom was making a point here too," Jessie pointed out."It was like she was rubbing his nose in it.'You're sister is filthy rich, but I'm still giving her everything and you nothing.'Pretty rough."
"I guess we're about to find out how rough Mickey thought it was," Susannah said, pulling to a stop in front of a run-down two-story apartment complex."We're here."
“Okay,” Beth said.“We’re also going to send you a voicemail from Flanagan that we just pulled off Veronica’s phone.You might find it interesting.”
"Okay, thanks, guys," Jessie said to the researchers."One last thing: has Hannah come in to the office yet?"
