An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (ebook reader wifi txt) 📗

that. He said that it wasn’t fair to do that after everything Daddy had done to him. He’s an ungrateful brat!”

She was seething with anger, but something about what she’d just said gave me pause.

“Why was he going to write Shane out of the will?” I asked. I was hung up on what she’d said about how Shane had accused his father of doing something to him. If that was true, maybe money wasn’t the primary reason that Shane would want his father dead.

“Because he wouldn’t break it off with his trailer trash girlfriend!” Marina scoffed. “Some nobody who he met on spring break. She told him that she was a ‘nomad’ and that she spent all her time hopping from place to place. She was living in a dingy little motorhome, and she convinced Shane to take a year off from college to ride around the country in it with her. Dad was furious when he found out.”

“Is that right?” I asked, barely managing to suppress the disgust I felt at her. It was becoming increasingly clear just what kind of people Marina and Carlisle Rutherford were.

“First, he tried cutting him off,” Marina explained. “He said he wouldn’t give him any more allowance and that he wouldn’t pay for him to start college again next year unless he broke up with her. He told Daddy that he didn’t care! After that didn’t work, Daddy decided to threaten him with the inheritance. That finally got Shane’s attention.”

“But he still didn’t leave her?” I guessed. Considering things have escalated to the point of murder, obviously, they hadn’t been able to reach an amicable agreement.

“No,” Marina huffed. “That little gold-digger got pregnant. Shane told Daddy there was no way he was going to choose money over his own baby and left. I haven’t seen him since.”

“I see,” I replied quietly. It never ceased to amaze me the lengths people were willing to go just for money, even to the point of hurting their own family.

“So, what’s the new lead?” Marina demanded impatiently. “Didn’t you say you had some new information about who killed my father?”

“We do,” I replied as I stood up. “I’m afraid we can’t divulge much else, though, since it’s still an open investigation.”

“What?” she squawked indignantly. “That’s ridiculous. I spoke to you because I thought you would tell me--”

“Have a nice day, Ms. Rutherford.” I smiled as charmingly as I could manage under the current circumstances. “Let’s go, Agent Park.”

Jase was shooting me a confused glare too, but he just sighed and stood to follow me out.

“Are you serious?” Marina scoffed behind us as I hurried out the door. She kept talking, but I tuned out everything that came after that.

“What was that about?” Jase asked as we got back into the car.

“She was irritating me,” I grumbled. “Wasn’t she annoying you, too? All that elitist crap about her brother dating someone beneath their family.”

“I guess that’s true.” Jase shrugged as he started the car and pulled away from the house.

“Anyway, I don't think we could have gotten much else out of her, anyway,” I said as we got back onto the street. “We should go speak to Shane. It sounds like he has a pretty strong motive, and his family might suck, but that still doesn’t excuse murder.”

We now had a concrete motive, but we still needed to figure out how Ryan Rothschild was connected to all of this. The only way we would figure that out was by speaking with Shane.

18

Jase

The neighborhood Shane lived on was a classic, family-friendly subdivision. All the houses looked similar, and all the lawns were tidy and well-kept. Personally, it wasn’t the kind of place I would have liked to live, but I could see why it would be appealing to a young family.

“It’s that house with the green roof,” Nick suddenly interrupted my stream of thought.

“Oh, right.” I nodded as I hit the brakes before we rolled right past it.

“You’re going to get into an accident one day,” Nick chuckled.

“Don’t say that,” I frowned as I turned into the small driveway. “You’ll jinx it into coming true.”

Shane’s house was a stark contrast to the Rutherford mansion we’d just left. The house in front of us was a tiny, single-story ranch house with a worn shingle roof and aged, yellowing exterior walls. The front yard was just a tiny patch of grass, and there were a few small potted plants by the front door.

As I got out of the car, I could hear children playing and yelling somewhere in the distance. Overall, this seemed like an adorable little neighborhood for a small family.

I waited until Nick was out of the car before walking up to the front door and knocking.

“One second!” Someone called from inside. A few moments later, the door swung open, and a rosy-cheeked and heavily pregnant woman stepped into view.

“Oh,” she yelped, her eyes wide with surprise. “I thought you were my husband. He usually gets home around this time for lunch. Can I help you gentlemen with something?”

She was smiling politely, but I could tell from her guarded posture and the way her eyes kept shifting between us that she was nervous.

“My name is Agent Park,” I said. “I’m with the SDCT, and this is Costa P.I. We were actually wondering if we could speak to Shane about something.”

“Oh,” she sighed, all the tension leaving her shoulders as soon as she saw my SDCT identification. “Come on in, then. He should be home soon. I was worried you were a pair of door-to-door solicitors, or something. I’m Ellie, by the way. Would either of you like something to drink?”

“I’m fine.” I smiled at her.

“And you?” She nodded and then turned to Nick, who also refused. “All right then. Why don’t we have a seat on the couch then?”

“Actually, now that we’re here, would you mind speaking to us while we wait for Shane?” I suggested. It might be good to get the opinion of someone outside