by M T Stone
“My attorney’s actually,” he admits. “Mom wasn’t happy with it, but luckily she has been focused on Tyler all day.”
“Well, I am just glad it wasn’t about me.” She pats him on the arm and shakes her head. “Are you here to see Tommy?”
“If he’s not busy,” he replies casually. “Otherwise, it can wait until tomorrow.”
“I’ll let him know you are here,” she says, picking up the phone and calling him.
Within seconds Tommy emerges from his office. “Hey, it’s the dynamic duo! Come on in!” He reaches out to shake Trey’s hand and then proceeds to put his arm around me to personally usher me inside. I’m completely shocked by his chipper demeanor.
“It looks like you must have hit the ground running, huh?” Trey asks as we both look across at the mess of papers on his desk.
“There is a lot going on,” he replies, quickly organizing them into several piles. “Sit down you two, make yourself comfortable. I’m sure it’s a little weird to see someone else in your dad’s office.”
“It’s actually harder than I thought it would be,” Trey replies, slumping into one of the leather chairs. “I always hated coming here. It usually meant that I was in trouble for something.”
By the way he is gripping the arms of the chair, I can tell he’s not feeling the least bit comfortable. My heart is still pounding too, so apparently Tommy is the only one who is calm, cool and collected. He smiles as he takes a chair facing us and asks, “What can I do for you guys?”
Trey
After the way Tommy acted on the phone yesterday, I’m a little surprised to see him acting this way. Poor Becky looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, but he seems like he just got back from a week at the spa.
“How is Liv? Did you guys have fun in Monaco?” I begin the conversation on what I thought would be a benign note.
“Liv? I have no idea,” he replies with his expression growing darker. “She disappeared Saturday evening, so I came back without her.”
“Disappeared?” His words completely shock me. Mandy’s jaw just drops as well.
“Yeah, we were out on the Lady Castillo partying with a bunch of friends and when it came time to go back to the hotel, she was no where to be found,” he says casually.
“Did you report her missing?” Mandy gasps.
“Not until the next day,” he replies with a shrug. “I thought maybe she was shacking up with someone else, but after not being able to reach her all the next day I filled out a missing persons report before flying back.”
“So you came back without her?” I ask in amazement.
“Hey, what was I supposed to do?” He looks at me as if my question is ridiculous.
“Well, hopefully she is okay,” Mandy, adds with an unsettled look crossing her face. “You still haven’t heard from her?”
“Not a word.” Tommy shifts in his chair. “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,” he says turning his focus back to me. “Did she ever disappear on you?”
“Only after Dad’s funeral,” I admit. “Mom told her that I was only interested in her because of her looks.”
“It was brutal,” Mandy adds with a cringe.
“She was good looking,” Tommy muses. “Reminded me of Vanessa, but a lot more fun in the sack.”
I throw Mandy a look of disgust. “It just occurred to me that she ended up with you that night.” I shift in my seat deciding to get down to the issues at hand. “What do you know about Dr. Potaturri?”
“Dr. Potaturri?” he asks, seeming to not have a clue.
“He’s the doctor who you told Vanessa could help Tyler,” I tell him bluntly. He knows damn well who I’m talking about.
“Oh, him.” He flinches as if someone just pinched him. “A friend of mine told me he was a pain management specialist, so I thought he might be helpful. How is Tyler doing?”
“He’s doing better now that we switched doctors. He finally came out of his coma,” I inform him, wanting to see his response.
“Oh really?” he replies. “That’s good news. Have you talked with him?”
“A little bit, but he doesn’t know any of us. Dr. Pot did a pretty good job of fucking up his brain.” I fold my arms and glare across the desk at him.
“So he doesn’t remember anything?” He tries to play it cool, but I swear I can see the relief in his eyes.
“No, his short term memory has been wiped but they are hopeful that the long term will come back at some point,” I tell him, hoping that it will keep Tyler off of Tommy’s radar.
“Wow, that’s crazy,” he says lying back in his chair.
“What’s really crazy is that the cops went over to talk to Dr. Potaturri, but they found him dead.” I add, still trying to gauge any change in his demeanor.
“Really?” he asks, leaning off to the side and rubbing his chin with his hand. “Do they have any idea what happened?”
“No, we just heard about it on the way out of the hospital,” I say, letting it go.
“Why did Tyler call you a fraud?” Mandy asks, apparently tiring of my laidback approach. She was the one who had warned me to tread lightly.
“A fraud?” he laughs. “Tyler hates my guts. Especially after he found out that Vanessa and I had dinner while he and Victor were out of town.” He shakes his head, continuing to laugh. “I don’t know why she even told him about that.”
“She probably didn’t want him to find out on his own and think she had something to hide,” Mandy counters, sitting up and taking a more defensive posture.
“Well, there was nothing to hide… not that I didn’t try. She’s still looking good,” he adds with a chuckle.
Tommy’s phone beeps and Becky’s voice comes across the intercom. “Tommy, Carly is on the phone for you.”
“You’ll have to tell her I’ll call her back in a half hour,” he snaps. His demeanor changes so dramatically that I instantly know this is an important bit of information.
“Carly Snow?” I ask, referring to Dad’s former fiancé.
“Yeah, she had a couple questions on something. I haven’t had time to get the answers for her,” he says, picking up a folder and popping out of his chair. “I better go do some research, so I can get back to her. I see it’s already five o’clock.” He proceeds to show us to the door.
“Do you still want to have lunch tomorrow?” I ask on the way out.
“No, I think we’re good. I’ll catch up with you down the road,” he replies, holding out his hand and flashing us a TV smile. “It was wonderful to see you again, Mandy. Have you decided to stay in the city?”
“For now,” Mandy tells him. “Trey needs me.” She jabs me in the ribs and smiles up at me.
“Yeah, she’s a pro at stress relief,” I tease back.
“I’ll be she is,” Tommy sneers. “I could use some stress relief after the day I’ve had.” He moves up along side her and puts his arm around her again.
Mandy
I can’t believe he just did that. What a creep. I simply shake my head as we walk back out into the reception area. Becky pops up from her desk and quickly grabs her purse.
“It’s after five, so I’m going to go down with you,” she tells Trey.
“Great, I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you for a long time,” he replies with a smile. He has wanted to find out if Becky knows anything.
I glance over at Tommy and his expression tells me that he is not happy about this latest development. “I need you to help me with this file,” he says, giving her a glare.
“I have a dentist appointment at 5:30, so can it wait until morning?” she asks.
“Uhmm, I guess,” Tommy mumbles, seeming to be at a loss for words. “Yeah, that’s fine. Go ahead.”
CHAPTER 18
T rey
“So how are the kids?” I ask Becky as we head out the door. Tommy is still lurking in the reception area, so I want him to hear us discussing something totally benign.
“Oh, they are all grown up and have their own busy lives.” She sighs.
“Any grandkids?” Mandy asks.
“Not yet, but I’m still hopeful,” she laughs as the elevator dings and the doors open.
We all stand in silence as the elevator doors close. However, I’m chomping at the bit to see what Becky was so eager to talk to me about. It’s not until the elevator begins to descend that she finally begins to talk.
“There is something really wrong,” she begins. “I have never seen Bill Gleason so upset.” Bill is the chairman of the board and was one of Dad’s biggest allies.
“About what?” I ask, wanting her to elaborate.
“I only heard bits and pieces, but Bill was accusing Tommy of doing something. I didn’t hear enough to know exactly what,” she whispers. “But based on how angry he was when he left, it was something major.”
“Well, we both have suspicions that Tommy has something to do with Tyler’s near death,” I reply. “As soon as we are in the car, I’m going to give Bill a call and see if he will tell me anything.”
“I’m feeling a little uneasy about everything,” Becky says as the elevator stops at the lobby. “Sam is in Seattle on business, so I think I’m going to spend the night with my sister.”
“Why don’t you come with us,” I suggest. “We can talk a little more and then we will drop you off at her place. If we all put our heads together maybe we can figure this out.”
“That would be wonderful,” Becky exclaims, looking back over her shoulder as if she thought someone might be watching her.
Mandy
Becky and I make small talk while Trey gives Bill a quick call. Becky totally reminds me of my second grade teacher. She’s about five feet tall, salt and pepper hair and reading glasses that hang on a chain around her neck.
“Hi Bill, this is Trey Addison. Would you give me a call when you get this message?” he asks before hanging up.
“He’s probably out to dinner,” Becky speculates after looking at her watch.
“So has anything else been going on that seems strange?” Trey asks her.
“No, other than Bill being so upset earlier the only other thing that stands out is the fact that Carly called several times. She has never called three times in one day before,” she says with a perplexed look.
“Tommy said she was just looking for some information,” I reply, knowing that he was probably downplaying the situation.
“No. She was upset, I could tell it in her voice. She’s normally as cool as a cucumber, but she definitely wasn’t today.” She shudders and folds her arms across her chest.
“Did she and Tommy know each other before now?” Trey asks, seeming immediately suspicious.
“Oh, yes. She’s the one who introduced Bill and your dad to Tommy. She knew him from their college days at Yale,” she informs us. “Carly is just a year older than him,” she adds with a funny grin.
“Really… that’s interesting.” My mind immediately starts re-evaluating everything in relation to this new bit of information. Tommy and Carly have known each other for years; both her and Bill Gleason were upset with him today. Why?
“Why would both Bill and Carly be upset with Tommy?” Trey asks, reflecting my line of thinking.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Becky says with a twinkle in her eye. “I was trying to figure out what they were arguing about, but they never gave it away.”
“Well, hopefully Bill will get back to me later tonight,” Trey replies. “It must have been something major, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bill upset.”
“No, it takes a lot,” Becky quickly agrees.
Trey
After dropping Becky off, the limo heads back toward the hospital and I pull Mandy closer to my side. I can’t stop thinking about the relationship between Carly, Bill and Tommy and the fact that both Bill and Carly were mad at him. Maybe it has nothing to do with anything, but the way Becky was acting it definitely seems to be related. I find it shocking that Tommy and Carly have known each other for years, but now that I think about it… things are beginning to make sense.
“Are you going to let me in on what you are thinking?” Mandy asks, becoming impatient with my silence.
“Yeah, I’m just trying to fit it all together,” I tell her. “Why would both Carly and Bill be mad at Tommy?”
“Because he did something that pissed off both of them,” she replies, stating the obvious with a laugh.
“I know, but what’s the connection?” I start thinking out loud.
“Their common connection was your dad,” she says with a shrug, again pointing out the obvious.
My phone rings just as we are beginning to brainstorm. I pull it from my pocket and I tilt it toward Mandy showing her that it’s Detective Kelly. “Hopefully we sold him,” Mandy whispers with a glimmer in her eyes.
“Hello, detective. What’s going on?” I ask, assuming that he is calling to tell me that I’m no longer the target of his investigation.
“That was quite an article on the front page of the Times this morning,” he says getting right to the point. “I can’t imagine your mother and Mr. Greyson are too pleased about it.”
“Yeah, that’s an understatement. Mom was not impressed,” I admit. “But like I told her, it wasn’t my idea. I thought Perry was just going to send a copy to you guys.”
“He likes to be dramatic, but I’m not sure why he would feel the need to publish them,” he says suspiciously twisting it into a question.
“Well, I wanted him to get the media off my back, so I guess he thought this would be a way to discredit future stories,” I speculate. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it.”
“You can tell him congratulations from me. It made for an entertaining read.” He laughs. “I don’t know what to think about it though. It kind of makes sense to me, but I don’t totally buy it.”
“Okay. What doesn’t make sense to you?” I ask, feeling a nervous pang in my stomach.
“Why didn’t you tell officer Martello and me about them if they were just love letters?” he asks, catching me a bit off-guard.
“I was still in denial about it all. I wasn’t even sure if they were real yet,” I protest.
“My gut tells me that you didn’t murder your father, but I still think you were up to something,” he replies coldly. “But more importantly, I need you to fill in a few blanks for me.”
“If we can sit down with you, we’ll tell you everything we know,” I reply, knowing that we need his help more than he needs ours. “Mandy and I have been playing detective all day, but we are definitely in over our heads.”
“I can’t imagine why.” Detective Kelly laughs. “Where are you headed now?”
“Back to the hospital,” I tell him. “My brother woke up today, so we will be up there for the next few hours.”
“I’ll stop up there with the FBI agent that has been assigned to the case,” he replies. “Right now, he is following up with the medical examiner to see if there are any preliminary results on Dr. Potaturri.”
“Okay, I think all of this is connected to Dad’s murder,” I add, anxious to get him moving in that direction. “I think Tyler found out what was going on and that’s why he was poisoned.”
“After seeing the toxicology profile, I have to agree,” he replies, throwing me a bone. “It looks to me like Potaturri was trying to scramble his brain a little and when that didn’t work, they decided to take him out.”
“Exactly! I think he had figured out who killed Dad or at least he thought he knew.” I ease in the seat a bit, thinking we were finally making headway.
“But if that’s the case, why did he accuse you?” he asks, sending it right back to where we had begun.
“I have no clue,” I tell him honestly. “I just felt better about it once I found out he was basically on roofies and pain killers.”
“That’s true!” he laughs again. “I’ll see you up at the hospital in an
hour or so.”
CHAPTER 19
M andy
Following an up and down conversation with the detective, Trey drops the phone between his thighs and leans into me. His eyes look as tired as mine feel, but we both know that things will probably get worse before they get better. I run my hand along the top of his, thinking about how it felt to have them on me earlier. I don’t know how long either of us can keep up these stress filled days. Thank God for the sex filled nights.
“All we have to do is tell the detective everything we know and let them handle it from here,” I tell him, wanting to take some of the burden off of us.
“Yeah, you and I are pretty smart, but we have no business being so wrapped up in this,” he replies in full agreement. “I just wanted to make sure things got moving in the right direction and away from me.”
“After we lay everything out for them, hopefully they will see it as clearly as we do,” I tell him clutching his hand in mine. “Then we can focus on our families.”
“Ray needs to come for a visit,” he suggests. “Mom could really use a night on the town.”
“What about Charles?” He has been on my mind ever since I found out he lives with Silvia.
“He is not the one for Mom. He is fifteen years older than her, but acts like he’s eighty.” He rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a subtle smile on his face. “Mom needs to have a little more fun in her life.”
“Dad does too,” I reply, knowing that he has basically been a nursemaid for years. “I just hope he still has it in him. He seemed like the wind had been taken out of his sails after Mom died.”
“He just needs to get off the farm and back in the swing of things,” Trey tries to assure me. “He’ll be fine.” Trey’s phone buzzes and lights up between his legs. “Tommy is wondering if Becky is with us,” he says, reading the message.
“Don’t tell him anything,” I say, having an instant gut reaction. “He probably doesn’t know how much she has overheard. I could tell he wasn’t happy that she was leaving with us.”
“I’m not going to even open the message. I’ll just leave him squirming.” Trey’s eyes grow dark. “Actually, I’m going to send him something fun,” he adds, picking his phone back up and clicking on the message.
