Page 32 of The Newcomer
“That little one about broke my heart with that picture she drew of her mama. Do you think she really understands what happened to your sister?”
Letty busied herself stacking the assembled flyers. She wanted desperately to confide in someone, and Ava seemed like a person with a genuinely good heart, but she knew she couldn’t divulge what was troubling her, especially to a woman whose son was an overly inquisitive cop.
“No,” she said finally. “I’ve told Maya the truth, or as much of it as I think she can handle. I’ve told her that her mother has gone to heaven and isn’t coming back, but she doesn’t really believe it. She keeps thinking she sees her mama, on the beach, on the television. I keep thinking it too.”
“Can I ask?” Ava said gently. “How long since your sister died? How did it happen?”
Letty shook her head. “I can’t… I’m sorry. I can’t talk about it. It’s too soon. I haven’t really processed it myself.”
“I understand,” Ava said, patting her hand.
“I wish I could say the same,” Letty whispered.
Evanarranged to meet Vikki Hill in an apartment he’d just purchased in SoHo. “Nice place,” she said, running her hand over the marble countertops in the kitchen. They were seated on chrome-and-acrylicbarstools in the kitchen. “How much does a place like this rent for?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” he said, feeling rising irritation. He gazed out the floor-to-ceiling window.
“It’s been nine friggin’ days now.”
“Yep.”
“And yet you still can’t find her?” He turned and fixed her with a cold stare, but she was not a woman to be intimidated.
“I warned you from the beginning, these things take time,” she said.
“The police have been all over me, asking questions,” Evan snapped. “It’s total harassment and it’s affecting my business. I need this thing settled.”
“What’s the hurry?” she asked. “They haven’t said you’re a suspect, right?”
“They haven’t really told me anything. The big problem is, several of my most valuable properties were in Tanya’s name. For tax purposes, of course.”
“Ahhh,” she said. She let that hang there in the air.
Evan tugged at his ear. He did that, she noticed, when he was agitated.
“Tanya left a will,” he continued. “Her attorney drew it up, and I wasn’t even aware of it, until recently. Everything she had goes to Maya, our daughter, of course. But Letty is listed as her guardian.”
“Not you? Her domestic partner? She chose a sister who wouldn’t even speak to her for a couple years?”
“Yes.”
She bit back the sarcastic comment that came immediately to mind. “Just how much property are we talking about?”
“A lot. Several million dollars’ worth. The most valuable portion of my investment portfolio.”
“But in the eyes of the law, it’s not actually yours, right? It’s her kid’s now. And the aunt’s, by default, because the kid is a minor. Although,if this aunt is charged with murder, by law she wouldn’t be allowed to profit from her crime.”
“True,” Evan said.
“Do you think the sister is aware of this will? Of what she and the kid stand to inherit?”
He tugged at his ear again. “I don’t know.”
12
LETTY HAD ONLY HERSELF TOblame. Moving to New York had been Tanya’s idea, but Letty hadn’t exactly discouraged her. She offered the pull-out sofa in the Tribeca apartment, loaned her money and clothes, showed her how to buy a MetroCard.
And the first night Tanya was in town, she introduced Evan to her little sister.
