I’d just picked up the last empty bottle when Maddox’s cell phone rang. I threw the bottle in the recycling as he took his phone from his back pocket.
“I don’t recognize the number,” he said.
“Put it on speaker.”
He swiped to answer. “Hello?”
“Maddox?”
“This is he.”
“This is Detective Porter.”
Maddox and I met each other’s eyes.
“What can I do for you?” Maddox asked.
“I need you to come down to the station. I have some more questions for you.”
I had no idea what this meant. Detective Porter had a voice I couldn’t read. It was probably one of the things that made him a good detective. He didn’t give anything away.
I nodded to Maddox.
“I’ll be there in about a half hour. I need to call my lawyer and have her meet me there.”
“See you then.”
Maddox hit End on his phone and looked at me again.
“I’ll call Olivia,” I said.
Maddox and I walked into the station a half hour later.
When I’d called Olivia, she’d chewed me out for not giving her more of a head start. I’d told her I could handle things until then. I might not be a trial lawyer, but I wasn’t going to let my boyfriend say anything stupid.
Once inside, Sheriff Whitlock didn’t take me and Maddox to the interrogation room. Instead, we were both directed toward a different area that said Conference Room.
“What is going on, Sheriff?”
He held up his hands. “I don’t know, missy. Since I was taken off the case, they’ve been doing things without me. I’m not privy to this little meeting,” he said with narrowed eyes.
“Hey, I didn’t call in the state police.” Only because I hadn’t thought of it.
He opened the door. “Just get in there.”
When we walked in, I was surprised to see my father and Simon standing in the room. Detective Porter was also there, sitting in the corner, looking over some paperwork.
The sheriff closed the door from the other side.
“My daughter is finally present. Can you please tell me why you called us all here?” my father said impatiently.
The detective rose from his seat and shot a look at my father. He immediately stepped back, and I had to disguise my laughter with a cough.
“I have some news,” Porter said. “Brandon Taylor is awake.”
I clapped my hands over my mouth as a tear slipped down my face. I dropped my hands as Maddox pulled me into his arms and kissed my head.
“Please tell me he’s going to be okay.”
“I don’t have all the news, miss, but it looks like he’s getting better.”
“Thank God,” I said. I looked at Maddox and gasped. I turned back to the detective. “Does this mean he told you who really shot him?”
He looked disappointed, and my hopes fell. “That’s why I wanted you all here.”
My father’s chin lifted. “Why me? Why Simon? We don’t have anything to do with this case.”
“Because I have a question for you.”
“What?” My father sounded like his time couldn’t be wasted any more than it already had been. He was so rude.
“Who inherits your fortune and all your businesses if you die?”
“Addison, of course.”
“But is it true that you’ve made hints that Mr. Deavor would inherit them if he married your daughter?”
My father looked guilty. “Perhaps things of that nature have been said. It’s not a secret that I’ve been hoping Addison would take an interest in Simon,” he said defensively.
“But then you’ve also insisted that Brandon Taylor head up your current project because he and your daughter had a romantic history?”
My father’s spine straightened. “I just wanted to get her away from the Wolfe boy.”
“Dad, how could you?”
My father pointed at him. “You can do better than him.”
I was ready to yell at him, but Maddox said, “He’s not worth it.”
“What does any of this have to do with Brandon Taylor?”
“I was making sure that you didn’t set up Mr. Wolfe for the murder of Mr. Taylor.”
My father sputtered, “What-what-what—I would never do something that despicable.”
No, he would just spy on me, try to bribe my boyfriend, and send someone innocent to prison.
Asshole.
Detective Porter nodded. “I really didn’t think it was you. Besides, Mr. Taylor already told us who tried to kill him.”
I gasped.
“Then, why are you asking me all these questions?” my father asked, outraged.
“Because I had to make sure you weren’t the one behind your assistant trying to commit murder.”
My father took a step away from his protégé. “Simon?”
Simon was as white as my bathtub.
“I also wanted to see all four of your reactions when you found out that Mr. Taylor was alive. Mr. Deavor, you are the only one who looks like you are going to shit a brick.”
“Fuck all of you,” Simon said, exploding. “Fuck you for leading me on like I might have a chance at inheriting your business,” he said to my father. “Fuck you for not just marrying me when it’s what your father wants,” he said to me. “Fuck you for coming back here and not staying away. I would have worn her down eventually,” he said to Maddox.
“Yes, because that’s the kind of girl you want. One who barely tolerates you.”
“Fuck you.”
“You already said that,” Maddox said with a bored expression.
“Well then, fuck you,” he said to Porter, “for figuring it out. I was so close to getting rid of Maddox and Brandon. I have waited on this man hand and foot”—he pointed to my father—“and done everything he asked for. And, when his daughter pretty much walked out of his life, you know what he said to me?”
No one answered.
“He said, ‘Thanks, but I can’t leave anything to you when I pass.’ I’ve bent over backward while you two hate each other.” He pointed to me. “And you’re still getting everything when he dies. He couldn’t even leave me one little part.”
Detective Porter took out his handcuffs and swung Simon around. “You have the right to remain silent…”
Fifty
Maddox
I listened to Detective Porter read Simon Deavor his rights. I was trying to pretend like his confession didn’t bother me. But I barely knew the guy, and he had set me up for murder. He had been willing to take someone’s life.
All because he wanted Addison’s father’s money.
As the detective was leading Simon out the door, he turned to me. “I’ll contact the DA to drop all charges against you as soon as I can.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
And then it was just Addison, her father, and me in the room.
Brantley cleared his throat. “I apologize for my assistant,” he said to me. “I had no idea he would do something like this.”
“Maybe you should be more careful about who you hire. And who you select to marry your daughter.”