He held up one of the photos that Renee had taken of Darlene and her son, just that morning. Mona couldn’t prevent the full range of emotions that crossed her face, from rage to love to worry.
“I will take you down and then who will support your sister? Especially when she has to deal with the fallout of your criminal enterprise. Because not only have I traced your money, but I’ve traced every dime that’s gone to your sister. The government will want it back. She’ll lose her house. She’ll lose the trust fund. She’ll lose little Bobby’s college fund. And she’ll know that you supported her off the backs of women just like your pathetic mother.”
He hadn’t traced her money—he hadn’t had time. He knew that he could do it, just like he’d tracked the businesses, but money and banking issues would take far more time to dig into.
But Sean was a very good liar.
“I will kill you,” Mona whispered.
“Then my partner will go to the FBI with the evidence I’ve accumulated. And my partner will also go directly to Darlene with proof of everything you’ve done.”
Her chin trembled but she didn’t say anything.
“Who wants the video?”
She didn’t say anything for a long minute. Sean saw the inner debate.
“You’ll never survive,” she finally said. “He’s powerful. He’ll beat you to a pulp and have his gangbangers cut off your dick and shove it down your throat.”
“Who?”
“If I tell you, I’ll have to run. He’ll know. He knows everything.”
Sean slammed his fist on the table. She jumped. “Name!”
“Promise me you won’t go after my sister. She doesn’t know anything.”
“If you lie to me, I’ll tell her everything. If you tell me the truth, I’ll lose her file.”
Through clenched teeth, Mona hissed, “Tobias.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Lucy decided that the best thing to do was to ignore her previous conversation with Barry about Rick Stockton and Matt Slater. She wished it had never happened. Fortunately, Barry seemed to agree because he didn’t bring it up, either.
It was twelve thirty, and Tia had just sent them a message that the doctor was currently checking on Elise Hansen, but she should be released within an hour.
“Elise didn’t tell us she’d recorded Everett,” Lucy said, focusing on the case. That was where she and Barry worked best. She could never be friends with him, not anymore. That saddened her.
Never say never.
It wasn’t likely.
“I noticed,” Barry said.
“It’s something I can push her on. She implied she took photos, but didn’t say it outright. Not about Everett.”
“If you’re ready to go after her.”
“I’m ready.” She sounded defensive, which was the last thing she wanted. “Elise knew that Worthington was dead when she left the motel. She staged the scene to make it look like he’d received oral sex, but we know that he wasn’t sexually aroused. Yet, less than an hour later, what did she sound like to you on the tape?”
“Like she was playing a part. Having fun.”
“There are cruel people in this world,” Lucy said. “But it takes an especially cold person to leave one man dead and then play sex games with another. To create an audio recording and, presumably, take pictures. But I’m wondering if those pictures even exist. Elise was vague, upset, and calculating all at the same time. Everett would have noticed being photographed, wouldn’t he?” She didn’t wait for an answer, and continued. “She didn’t drug him—we saw him leave the hotel looking fine only hours after they had sex.”
“She lied to us. Repeatedly.”
“Whether out of fear of someone else, or fear that she was going to be caught, I’m not sure yet.”
“Still, someone shot her.”
“What is that expression? No honor among thieves? Maybe she actually told the truth, that she took Worthington’s phone and they were angry about it. Or maybe she made a mistake we have yet to uncover. Maybe she wanted more money. Maybe whoever hired her didn’t want a witness.”
“I’m going with the latter. She’s the only connection between Worthington and Everett. Someone gave her the curare to inject into Worthington. That’s not a poison you can buy on the street.”
“Mona Hill knows,” Lucy said. “If we can’t break Elise Hansen, we have to go back to Mona.”
“We should be able to break her,” Barry said. “Are you really up for this?”