Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
“The first method is crazy loud, and the second method takes crazy long. Either way, you’d be caught before you finished.”
I’d be honest, I was a bit impressed with my mother’s ingenuity on that one.
“So... you’re not lying to me,” I said softly. “You were in her office and only her office?”
“Baby, I swear.” Rhodes took a step. Then, another. “I can show you the password taped to the cabinet. I can prove it gets me into the computer.”
“No, that’s okay. I already know it,” I mumbled. “The lawyer gave it to me so I could start gathering all the documents he needed. As much as she must’ve disliked him for carrying out Appa’s harsh terms, she also liked him for the same reason you gave. He’s fanatical about carrying out his clients’ wishes. He’s her executor too.”
I put up a hand, stopping Rhodes in his tracks when he tried to get closer—tried to take me in his arms.
“Say the password, Rhodes—if you really know what only me, my mother, and her lawyer should know—”
“SarangSooMin3467,” he rattled off without pause. “Or the translated version, LoveSooMin3467. I guess it’s nice to know in the end that your mother could be sweet and sentimental.”
Not so sweet, since Sarang was my name, and not a term of endearment attached to Soo Min, but there wasn’t any need to explain that to Rhodes.
Sighing, I dropped my hand.
Rhodes bounded up and hugged me so fast, I squeaked as he crushed me to his chest. “Fuck’s sake, woman.” He held me tighter, sinking waves of love and comfort into my cold and brittle bones. “You know there’s only so many times you can accuse a man of murder before he starts to get offended.”
A soft laugh escaped me. “Ditto on how many times you can lie to a woman before she starts withholding blowjobs.”
“Whoa, don’t even joke about that.”
We smiled at each other, the tension leaking from our bodies just a little bit.
“Well, then, in the spirit of honesty, I need to tell you that I... lied about one more thing.”
My smile burned right off my face. “Are you serious? What now!”
He had the decency to look sheepish. “I didn’t see Reynard in the garden that night—from the second floor or the third floor. I didn’t see anyone,” he said to my slackening jaw. “I made it up because I wanted you to suspect him, question him, even give his name to the police.”
“What? Rhodes,” I cried. “Why would you want that? Reynard is innocent—”
“He’s not innocent.” The look in his eyes silenced me. “Sue, when I went snooping through your mother’s computer, I went through her emails. I don’t think Reynard knows this, but the estate lawyer sends her a copy of every medical bill the estate pays on her behalf. It’s all there in a million unread email invoices she never bothered to look at, but I looked.”
“I— I don’t understand. Was something wrong?”
“You know how it works,” he said. “Staff submit the bills directly to the estate. We don’t even need to see them. Well, in the last few months, our good nurse Reynard has been loading the invoices with fraudulent charges and no doubt pocketing the difference.”
“What!” I lurched back, gaping at him. “Are you sure? How do you know this?”
“I’m sure. I saw all these treatments and services that I know for a fact Omma never received. Weekly acupuncture sessions, weekly massages, tai chi at the Coldstone Wellness Center in upstate New York, and the best one, Eversaic medicinal pills at five thousand dollars a fucking bottle,” he tossed out. “The thing is, I looked into Eversaic when a client asked me if it was a good idea to invest in their growing company, and I told them no, because Eversaic sold nothing more than overpriced multivitamins. And even if they didn’t, I’ve never seen a bottle of the stuff on your mother’s pill caddy. Have you?”
I stiffly shook my head, throat tight.
“Just like I’ve never seen her allow a stranger to give her a massage, let alone stick needles in her body.”
“The lawyer trusted her nurse,” I squeezed through dry lips. “If he said she needed it or she did it, he just believed him and paid the money. That piece of shit used my dying mother to make himself rich.”
“Sue...” Something in his eyes chilled me. “I’m afraid there’s more.”
“More? What else could there be?”
More sympathy stole across his face for the first time since our conversation began. For me?
No, I thought, backing up farther. For my mother.
“I saw a lot of charges on those invoices,” he began, “but none of them were real drugs needed to fight nausea, pain, fatigue, bone loss, or weight loss.”
My brain went offline, refusing to supply an explanation. “What does that mean?”
“It means that when he started working for your mother, she was on all of those things, but in the last couple months, she was still on the cancer pills, but he wasn’t giving her anything to combat the effects. I think...” The pity in his eyes ripped my heart out. “I think he was purposely denying her the meds she needed to be well. He was making her sicker, weaker, and basically medically torturing her to keep Omma dependent on him, and therefore keep the money coming.”