Pounced by Christy Barritt

Author:Christy Barritt [Barritt, Christy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Fiction, Christian, Suspense
ISBN: 9781495388521
Google: w9w-nwEACAAJ
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
Published: 2014-01-30T16:45:42.141757+00:00

Chapter Ten

I pictured young, twenty-something Sage. Then I looked at forty-something Tom, and a very strange family picture formed in my mind.

Knowing that they were related, I came clean about what had happened. I explained to Tom that I had to know for sure I could trust him before sharing that news and apologized for my ruse.

Either Tom was a great actor or he’d truly had no idea she was dead. He claimed his family hadn’t watched the news all week, that they’d been trying to unplug and spend quality time together while here on vacation.

“The police don’t know who did it?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Who are you again?” His eyebrows wrinkled together.

“I’m a friend of hers from work. I found the email from you, and I wondered if she had some unfinished business.” I shrugged. “I was just trying to help out, since Sage couldn’t be here herself. I didn’t want you to hear about this through the grapevine.”

“I tell you what. I gave Ani—I mean, Sage, a hard time. I really thought she’d only married my dad for his money.”

So, her husband had been rich! That could cause some problems.

“But when he died, she gave all of his money to charity. Which may have proven that she wasn’t after his money, but initially it made me equally as mad. That money should have been mine.”

The mystery just continued to deepen. Sage was married to an older, rich man who’d died and left her a hefty sum of money. I had trouble picturing this alter ego of Sage’s, though. Nothing about her screamed rich or privileged or gold digger.

I needed more information. “Why the change of heart? What made you decide to give your stepmom another chance?”

“I realized that money was making me miserable. It might sound crazy, but I realized that I have enough. I’m a successful businessman, and it feels good to have earned my money myself.” He shook his head. “You want to know the whole truth?”

I nodded. Duh. Of course!

“My friend won the lottery. Sounds great, huh? But after he won, his life fell to pieces. Everyone wanted a piece of what he had. He ended up divorced. Two of his kids aren’t speaking to him. It was just terrible. That’s when I realized that not getting the money may have been the biggest blessing of all.”

I remembered that Donnie said he’d heard Sage arguing with someone about money. With one of her stepchildren maybe? Tom?

“Is that what your brothers and sisters think too? That they’re okay without the money?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to them in a while.”

“Can you think of anyone who’d want to hurt Sage?”

“To hurt her? Plenty of people. Back in Montana, people still think she killed my father.”

I gulped. Killed? There was so much more to this story than I thought. “But she didn’t take his money. What other motive could she have?”

“Maybe she was just sick.”

I shifted as I sensed the hostility in his words.

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