“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “Is there anything else?” Not that she didn’t care that he was stressed out, but she had paid him a lot of money, and there was no way he was more stressed than her. She wanted to be sure there was nothing else he needed to talk about, nothing that more directly impacted her.
“Everything is going all right with the whole ruse, but I lost my entire weekend between interviews about you and the vigil. I’m not sleeping, I’m worried. It’s all beena lot.I’m calling because I think I deserve another fifty thousand… for my troubles. I went in too low. The ME got a hundred thousand and I think I should too. I am asking you and Hope to wire me more money.”
Faith’s hands turned so cold she wondered if a person could get frostbite indoors in the summer.
“Are you kidding me? You’re kidding, right?”
“I think you know me well enough to know that I’m notthe type of person to joke about something like this. I’m dead serious.”
Faith was stunned into silence. Her friend was trying to milk her for more money. She opened her mouth to form words but nothing came out.
“Faith? Are you still there?”
She had to clear her throat. Her fingers remained ice.
“I’m here.”
“I trust Hope will take care of it by tomorrow? Since she’s still in Detroit it should be an easy wire transfer. You have my account number. I would like it by noon.”
Anger started to bubble up from every corner of Faith’s belly. Who thehelldid Tom think he was?
“This is insane, Tom. We agreed on a price. Hope and I can’t just give you fifty thousand more. Money is tight. We have to live within our means. I know it’s stressful but you are one hundred percent in the clear. I’m not giving you more money and there’s no debating.”
Silence. Faith could feel the anger coming from his end too.
“Faith, you realize I’m in the driver’s seat here, right? I am one of only four people outside of Hope who know you’re alive. What if I went to the police?”
Faith thought of all of the things she had told Tom during this conversation alone: the fake name Hope had used, the nanny-cam teddy bear, Hope’s attendance at the FWFFC meeting at the coffee shop that night. What if he’d recorded it?
“Are youblackmailingme? You would be implicated too. Lose your job, your reputation, the ME’s job and reputation ruined, the police officers, are you insane? You can’t be doing this. You were in on it as much as me.”
“I hold all of the cards, Faith. I don’t have to implicate myself or anyone else but I could make your life very miserable.”
“Oh yeah, how?”
“For starters, watch me play around with your pregnancy rumor. The station pushed it out today and you’re getting mountains of goodwill. I know the assistant ME very well too. I might just put in a call and slide her a little cash to cast some doubt on the report. Just enough to get everyone rattled.”
Tears came into Faith’s eyes. She was so tired of people doing this sort of thing to her. Taking advantage of her, pushing her in ways she didn’t want to be pushed. Tom, who had suggested this whole thing. Tom, who had been a friend, or so she thought. It went back to her dad pushing her around, punishing her with clothes.
“No,” she whispered, a sob threatening her throat. At least her fingers were regaining some normal warmth. “Just stop this, Tom.”
“Fifty K by tomorrow at noon, Faith. That’s all I’m asking. I know you both have plenty of money now from that jewelry heist and a lot more coming from insurance. Tell Hope.”
He hung up on her. Faith let herself cry for several minutes, and then she screamed until she had nothing left. Curling into a ball on the bed, she felt sorry for herself for a while, lost in pity, but then started thinking.
Hope would go ballistic. Money was everything to her, and they didn’t have 50K just lying around. Yet their lives would be ruined if Tom ever went to the police with the real story.
Slowly a solution started to form. It was not a perfect plan, but it was as close as she could get. Glancing at the clock, she realized that Hope would be in the middle of the FWFFC event. Faith turned on her nanny-cam app and peeked at the meeting through the teddy bear’s stomach camera, but it seemed ratherboring, as they were all just talking about where to give donations in honor of the baby.
She had to text Hope right then what was happening and the plan she came up with. Tom wanted his money by noon Tuesday, but she was fairly confident she could hold him off at least a day and put the wheels in motion.
Sending the text to Hope, she watched through the nanny cam. The camera went sideways and upside down, and then showed nothing but black. Faith knew Hope had likely thrown the bear into her purse and rushed out. She waited for her sister to call, and Hope did about forty-five seconds later.
“I just got to the car,” Hope said, panting. “That jerk-off Tom is asking us for more money? Are you frickin’ serious?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. I have a plan. It took me all afternoon but I came up with something that gets us even more in the clear.”
“Do tell, Sis, do tell.”
