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)
And what do we do with Doc and Brittany Sheraton?
Man, our family needs a break. A big damned break.
Brittany needs help. Big-time help. How can you have someone committed against his or her will? I begin a Google search when—
The doorbell rings. Sammy barks.
I rise from the kitchen table, where I’m working on my laptop, go to the door, and gaze through the peephole.
Seriously?
I open the door.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Pat Lamone stands outside, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I need to talk to you.”
I begin to close the door. “I think we said all that needs to be said earlier.”
“Hey, I was serious when I said I don’t have anything more regarding Rory and Callie. If they destroyed what they found buried, then everything is destroyed.”
“So why are you here, then?”
“There’s something else you ought to know.”
“Something else you couldn’t be bothered to tell me earlier?”
“Yeah. I mean you kind of caught me off guard.”
“For Christ’s sake.” I hold the door open. “Make it quick. Rory is performing with Jesse’s band tonight in Grand Junction, and I want to catch the second set.”
Normally I would offer someone a drink when they show up at my house, but that’s not happening tonight. I don’t even ask him to sit down.
“What is it?”
His hands are still shoved in his pockets, and his facial features are tense. “I used to think, once I found out I might be related to the Steels, that you guys would come out of the woodwork and rescue me from my shitty life.”
“You kind of made that impossible when you poisoned one of our own.”
“I told you. I didn’t mean to poison her.”
“What did you think would happen when you laced her drink with PCP and meth?”
“I thought she’d get high.”
“This was Diana Steel. Our family doesn’t do drugs. She was a freshman in high school, and she had no tolerance.”
“Well, I was a junior in high school. I’m not saying it’s an excuse, but I wasn’t thinking clearly either.”
“You made it pretty clear that you resented the fact that the Steels had everything and you had nothing, when you might actually be related to us.”
“Right. I was seventeen years old, Brock. What the fuck did you expect?”
“I expect a seventeen-year-old guy to know better than to put drugs in a fifteen-year-old girl’s drink.”
He says nothing.
“Anything else? Because I’ve heard this before.”
“Yeah. That’s not why I came here. I… I no longer care about your fortune.”
I raise my eyebrows.
He drops his gaze. “Okay, that’s not true.”
“I didn’t think it was for a minute.”
“But I care more about my grandmother, who’s a complete mess.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name is Sabrina Smith. I didn’t even know about her until a couple of years ago. All I knew was that I was adopted, and I might be related to the Steels.”
“And who is Sabrina Smith exactly?”
“Like I said, she’s my grandmother. My biological grandmother. And she suffers from some serious mental illness.”
“I figured that out when I saw she was strapped down.”
Pat’s eyebrows rise. “How do you know she’s strapped down?”
“Oh, save it. That night at the hospital, when Frank Pike had his heart attack, Donny and I followed you. And once you left, we paid your grandmother a little visit.”
“You went into her room?”
“Yeah, we did. And do you really want to go there, Pat? After everything you’ve done?”
He doesn’t reply.
“I thought so.”
He shuffles his feet. “Like I said, I only found out about her a few years ago. So I sit with her. I ask her questions.”
“And has she ever answered you?”
“Sometimes she says a few garbled words. None of it makes any sense.”
“What kind of garbled words?”
“If they made sense, I’d tell you.”
“Would you? Do you know her diagnosis?”
“I’m not technically a relative. I’m a blood relative, but legally my parents are the Lamones. Or as you say, the Clarks.”
“So”—I clear my throat—“you say you care more about your grandmother than our fortune. What are you here for, then?”
“I’ve thought a lot about this. I’ve been thinking about it ever since Callie and Rory found the evidence against them that I buried. I’ve told you before, that was all of it, so now I have nothing.”
“Nothing to extort money from us with. Right. Got it.”
“For God’s sake, Steel.”
“Give me a break. You expect me to be all lovey-dovey Hey, newfound cousin after all you’ve done?”
“No. I don’t expect any of that.”
“Continue, then.”
“I’m willing to sign a document. A document relinquishing any claims I have to any of the Steel money.”
“Okay, but I’ll have to check my driver’s license first. Make sure I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“Well, sure,” Pat says. “I do have a condition.”
“I was pretty sure you would.”
“I want your family to take care of my grandmother. She’s a ward of the state right now, and she needs help. Like I said, I don’t even know what her diagnosis is.”