Page 59 of The Nature of Secrets

18

The Receptionist

11:30 p.m.

The Murder House

Shelby Avenue, Nashville

So this was where the hotshot investigator lived. Lena had seen some dumps in her day, but this one took the cake. Based on what she knew of the clever Finley O’Sullivan, it suited her. Her highly publicized big fall made this address the perfect landing.

Or maybe it was a disguise for whatever she was hiding.

Lena knew all about the things people hid. The secrets and lies. Everyone did it. And she was really good at spotting those lies. For years she had read the patient files of their targets. Oh, the lies they told ... the secrets they kept. Life truly was stranger than fiction. All those years of experience had made her quite adept at reading those around her. Like the jerk neighbor who bugged the shit out of her. The man was a perv with nothing better to do than to watch other people’s lives.

She saw through the group who worked for Ellen Winthrop too. So high and mighty. So self-righteous. Some people thought money made them better than everyone else. Lena laughed out loud. They thoughtthey knew it all. But they were wrong. They didn’t know Lena. She had recognized the trouble was not going to just go away, and she had tried to warn Jarrod. The idiot wouldn’t listen. She’d even told him again when he dropped the half mil off on Saturday. He’d told his stupid wife that his flight was delayed, but that had been a lie. He couldn’t exactly take the money home with him, he’d said with a laugh.

Lena had given him one last chance. Take the money and run. But he’d wanted to finish his little game. Fool. He’d always been obsessive like that. She’d had to clean up his messes before. That last one had required drastic measures. Lena was not going down that road again.

The whole situation, then and now, had escalated completely out of control.

Jarrod should have spotted this ruse a mile away. Lena had tried to tell him it was too easy. But he’d thought he was so smart, and yet he’d missed all the signs. He’d gotten them into one hell of a mess. If that weren’t bad enough, he’d stupidly thought another woman—one right under his new wife’s nose—was the answer.

What a fool.

Lena had recognized where the game was headed a month ago, and she’d hedged her bets. Unlike Jarrod’s, her backup plan was a good one. He liked going straight to the top, going for the brass ring. But Lena had a different approach. She looked for the weakest link ... the person who had the most to gain.

She had been right in her choice.

Honestly, when all was said and done, it was a miracle her and Jarrod’s partnership had lasted this long. They’d had some good times and come out ahead every single round. Lived the good life between gigs. But she understood now that trusting him so completely for so long had been a mistake. Trustinghermight have been an even bigger mistake. Lena couldn’t be sure on that one just yet.

The twitch of a smile tickled her lips. Well, there was that little matter of the insurance policy Lena held on to. The 7.8 mil combined with the half mil equaled a hell of a lot of money.

No one would just turn their back on that kind of cash. Only J.Grady could access the money. Lena had half the necessary PIN. Without her, no one was touching that money. She and Jarrod had always shared their accounts without the worry of codes or PINs. They trusted only each other with the money.

But now it was different.

If this thing went south, there was only one thing she could do: disappear and live happily and wealthily ever after with the money she and Jarrod had stashed away over the years.

Not a hardship.

Lena might be what those bitches considered plain white trash, but she had learned from the best.

The investigator’s visit to the clinic and then to her home had warned Lena she had been made. Finley O’Sullivan would figure out her game in a heartbeat. No problem. Lena knew just what to do. She would give the dogged investigator a little something to shake things up.

It was the first rule of high-stakes grifting.

Always have a backup plan to your backup plan.

19

Wednesday, September 21

6:28 a.m.

The Murder House

Shelby Avenue, Nashville

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