“Really?” Cora says. “You don’t think you’re taking this too far now?”
“She has one of those kids’ debit cards where you guys can monitor the account and put money in. It’s called Greenlight, right? Well, the next day, five hundred dollars is transferred into her Greenlight account. Did you give her that much money for anything?” Paige asks, and for the first time, Cora looks horrified.
“Oh, my God.” She takes the printout, and Paige knows she cannot believe the intrusion into her personal life even though it was about Finn and not her, but what she’s looking at is suddenly too disturbing for her to worry about that now.
“I didn’t know about this.”
“Is it possible he wanted her to take the fall for the car and he paid her off? And I’mnotsaying Mia knew anything, of course...”
“Of course not, she was out on a date that night. I...”
“Right, but maybe it was a way Finn could cover up the repair. He could use Mia without her even knowing. Look.” She hands her Finn’s day planner.
“Jesus, Paige. How the fuck did you get all of this stuff?”
“Just look. January 17. It saysDrinks with C. I thought it was Charlotte, so I met with her, but she was out of town that weekend. I think it was Caleb.”
“But why? Why would he have any reason to—I need a minute. This is nuts. Why?”
“Here’s why. Here’s the whole goddamn thing. Caleb saw Finn getting a blow job in his car down somewhere at the edge of the neighborhood. He must have told Finn he knew about it, and Finn must have tried to pay him to keep him quiet like he did to Mia. Caleb received a thousand dollars through Venmo the day before he died. We never knew from who. The police think it was an accident. They never investigated this. Guess where it came from?” Paige says.
“No, please. Oh, my God,” Cora says, burying her head in her hands as Paige smacks down another page of Finn’s bank records. Cora stands. She waves her hand in front of her face and tries to catch her breath.
“If I take this to the police, it’s more than enough for an arrest. Look what Finn had to lose if he were caught...”
“I know,” Cora practically whispers. “I just can’t take any more. I can’t hear one more thing. Jesus Christ!”
“Okay,” Paige says, packing the things back into her box. Cora walks to her wineglass on the coffee table and downs her drink in one long gulp and then walks over and looks out the French doors to the backyard. After several minutes, she says, “Let me talk to him before you report all this. I need to hear it from him, to see if he’s lying.”
Paige doesn’t want to say that she’s been pretty lousy for a long time at telling when he’s lying.
“Of course,” she says instead. “Ask him about his alibi. He says he got home at ten that night, and you couldn’t verify it because you were asleep, but he was out for drinks with Lucas Kinney, and his wife confirms Lucas was home at that time. Seems like she’ll say whatever he wants, so maybe talk to her,” Paige says, and after a couple minutes, Cora turns.
“Did you do all this spying on everyone, or just Finn?” she asks, and Paige isn’t sure why that matters, considering. Cora knows she spies on everyone, but not to what extent.
“I just kept finding more on him, so I stopped needing to look at other people.”
“What about Lucas Kinney? He was with Finn that night. What if he’s involved? Did you go to these lengths to look at him?”
“Sort of. For a while. I dropped a recording device in his briefcase last month but I couldn’t retrieve it again.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t easy with this fucker either. I had to follow him to work and spend half the day in the cafeteria hoping he’d eat there for lunch, which he did not. But he did go to the Starbucks, and I had to cut in line to get behind him and drop it in. I had a whole spiel ready about what a coincidence it was seeing him here and how my CPA’s office is on the sixth floor, but he didn’t even notice me. Shocker, right? That guy’s so in his own creepy world.”
“Jesus,” Cora says.
“I got a little dirt on a lot of people, but he was harder because he’s so private and closed off. It’s not easy unless you get close to a person and have a place to start, so nothing really.”
“If you could get that recording device back, could you still recover what’s on it?” Cora asks.
“Yeah, but I don’t think I need it anymore. You think...what? That he was involved, too?”
“I don’t know what I think. I just need a little time.” Cora looks out the window again. She looks small and ghostly, like someone who’s lost everything in a matter of moments, which is exactly what she is. The seething anger Paige came into this with is making way for something else: absolute heartbreak for Cora.
“I’m so sorry, and I’m sorry I lied to you, but this was the only way.”
“No,” Cora says sharply, and Paige is taken aback a moment. Then Cora turns to her. “You’re not the one who needs to be sorry.” Cora embraces Paige and lets the tears flow as she holds on to her friend.
