“Will the partnership insurance cover it?” I asked.
“What partnership insurance?” Flint swiveled to me.
“We had a ‘key man’ policy,” Keeton explained. “It’s like a life insurance policy on a business partner. If someone dies, there’s insurance so the business can continue. It will cover most of the loss, but it won’t cover the continuation of the business.”
“Spell it out for those of us who aren’t financial planners,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was giving me a headache.
Keeton sighed. “It means instead of using that money to buy out the widow. I now have to use it to make up for the losses. And it also means I’m in business with the current Mrs. Cruz, who knows nothing about financial services.”
“Dang,” I shook my head. “But don’t you have an insurance policy against theft?”
“We do,” Keeton said slowly. “However, that insurer told me if I make a claim on that amount, there’s a chance it could be denied since it was a partner in the business who did it. And we should be doing independent audits to prevent this sort of thing. If they did rule in our favor and paid us out, it would be a double-edged sword. We’d make up the losses but receive a huge increase in our insurance premiums or lose coverage altogether.”
Flint let out a low whistle. “That’s a pretty good motive for murder.”
Keeton smirked. “Yeah, it would be, except I was meeting with the church board when Cruz was murdered.”
“Pretty good alibi,” I laughed. “The house of God, and all.”
He grinned at me. We were all probably going to be struck by lightning for making fun of it. But then again, I deserved a little levity at Octavio’s expense. Lord knows he had plenty of laughs behind my back since our marriage exploded.
A thought occurred to me. “Did Octavio have life insurance?”
Keeton bit back a smile. “He did.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re the beneficiary,” Keeton snorted.
“No fucking way!” Flint’s jaw dropped.
“Way!” Keeton nodded. “I think Octavio was too busy wooing younger women and fleecing our clients out of their life savings to change the beneficiary on his life insurance.”
I was in utter shock. That can’t be right. No way that was right. Octavio never did anything right by me.
“How much?” Flint raised an eyebrow at Keeton.
“Twenty million dollars,” Keeton blurted out.
“No fucking way!” Flint yelled again.
“Way!” Keeton answered.
I’m dead. That’s the only explanation for this. Or hallucinating. Or, maybe I’m still asleep, and my subconscious is creating ridiculous circus worlds in my mind. There’s no way under the sun that I am about to inherit twenty million dollars from Octavio’s life insurance. No way at all.
I blinked. Flint was on his knees in front of me. “Are you okay?”
My mouth was suddenly dry. “Water.”
Keeton hopped up to grab a glass for me.
Flint rubbed my arms. “It’s okay,lalelei. Breathe. Breathe.”
Keeton returned with water. I sucked down most of it in one go, splashing water on my silk suit. When the water was gone, I pressed the glass toward Flint, then tried to stand. The dizziness in my head caused black spots to appear in my vision. I sunk back into the chair.
“Easy, there,lalelei,” Flint peered into my face.
I squinted at him. “I’m fine. I’m hallucinating. But, I’m fine.”
“You’re not hallucinating,” Keeton stated. “Well, at least not about the life insurance policy. That part is true.”
“I’m going to need a moment to digest this,” I glanced at Flint. “Take me home.”
Flint gathered me up in his arms, and I let him. That should let you know just how exhausted this whole thing made me.
Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be in the field anymore.
Yeah. That must be it.
