Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 78227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Fine. I still don’t trust you. You’ve got stuff on me, I’m sure. I know you had this place searched. Mrs. Mayer’s too. But your sleuths didn’t come up with anything, did they?”
I’d honestly forgotten that we’d had our PIs checking out the two places, but if anything important turned up, Dad or Donny would have told me.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I haven’t heard.”
“Liar,” he says again.
I curl my hands into fists. I don’t like being called a liar. I take honesty seriously. Our whole family does.
“Call me that again, and I’ll fucking put you on your back.”
He opens his mouth, but I gesture him to be quiet.
“I’m not your enemy right now,” I continue. “I’m trying like hell to find some common ground between us. I’ll tell you what I know about your lack of birth certificate, but only after you give me everything you have on Rory and Callie.” I take a step backward so I don’t seem as threatening. “I’m serious. You want this to go away? You want my help? You need to make sure all those photos are destroyed.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I don’t have any more photos.”
“I don’t like liars either, Pat.”
“I don’t expect you to believe me. I’ve been telling Rory and Callie the opposite, but it’s not true. They found all of them. Brittany found out where they had hidden their safe-deposit key, and that’s how I found it. I buried all the evidence I had—the last photos—underneath their box, figuring they’d never look there.”
“But they did.”
“Apparently they’re smarter than I gave them credit for.”
“Rory and Callie are both very smart, but so are you.”
“Did you just compliment me, Steel?”
“I did. Which is why I don’t buy it. I think you’re lying.”
“I’m not. I have nothing more to hide. Search this place again. Search my room at Mrs. Mayer’s. Search my last known addresses. You won’t find anything.”
“What if I do? What if I already have?”
His eyes widen. “Then you’re either a liar or it was planted.”
I don’t trust this man as far as I can throw him.
“I can tell you this: If those pictures ever see the light of day? Not only will you go down for child porn, you’ll go down for a lot more.”
He drops his mouth open. “What the fuck? Child porn?”
“Callie was underage in those pictures, dumbass. It’s illegal for you to even possess them.”
“I don’t possess them. They do.”
“Actually, they don’t. They destroyed them.”
“Man, you’ve got to believe me. I don’t have any more. They got my only copies.”
“You had better be telling the truth, because I will see you go down on child porn charges. And you know what happens to guys in prison who like little girls…”
“Oh my God, I’m not a pedophile.”
“Doesn’t really matter. Go down on child porn, and the guys in there will have certain preconceived notions about you.”
“I’m totally serious, Steel. I don’t have them. Look everywhere. Tear this whole house apart. I don’t fucking care anymore.”
Damn. He looks genuinely frightened. He’s breaking out in a sweat, and he’s trembling, raking his fingers through his hair. If I weren’t such a skeptic, I might actually believe him.
Luckily, I am a skeptic.
“You’d better be telling the truth, because as we speak, I’ve got people looking everywhere. And I mean everywhere. If it weren’t for other more pressing things going on, I would’ve done it long before now.”
“You won’t find anything. I promise.”
“You’d better not be lying to me.”
“I’m not. Rory and Callie found everything. I’ve got nothing.”
“Then why did you tell them otherwise?”
“Because I had to make them believe I still had the upper hand.”
“Why? Why would you want the upper hand with them? It’s not like they can get you for poisoning Diana. The statute of limitations has passed.”
“I know that, but your family can still get me.”
“Did you know you might be a member of our family when you poisoned Diana?”
“I was a kid. I made a stupid decision.”
“That’s not answering my question.”
He nods. “Yeah. I had gotten some anonymous tips.”
“What do you mean anonymous tips?”
“I mean what I said. Anonymous tips. Emails.”
“From what email address?”
“From a different email address each time. Whenever I tried to email them back, the emails bounced.”
“Do you still have copies of those emails?”
“Yeah. I do. I have hard copies of everything.”
“Good. I’m going to need to see those.”
He sighs. “Fine. At this point, I have nothing to hide. I have no more photos of Rory and Callie. And apparently I don’t even have a birth certificate.”
“These emails you got when you were a kid, did they include a birth certificate?”
“No.”
“Then why did you give them any credence?”
“I was a kid. I thought I might be related to the Steels. I didn’t have to have the horrible existence I had. So I got pissed. Pissed at the Steels because you guys had everything that I might be entitled to.”