He leans back in his chair with a sigh, his elbow on his armrest, rubbing his fingers over his lips in thought. “I was hoping the news was wrong. I tried to call him, but when he didn’t answer... Tried to call you, too.”
My nod is slow and cautious. “Yes, it’s true. I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I needed a day to myself.”
The hand on his face drops to his lap. “Did you do it?”
I school my features. “Vern, you of all people should know, it’d be stupid for me to discuss this case while the police are still investigating.”
He huffs a laugh. “Good answer. You get an attorney?”
“Chris Rivers.”
A look of surprise crosses his face. “Rivers? I didn’t think he was doing criminal defense work anymore.”
I shrug because I have no idea what to tell him. “Well, I guess he does now. Or again? I don’t really know.”
Leaning forward, he rests his elbows on his desk. “If that’s the case, good for you. You certainly have one of the best in your corner.”
This conversation is somewhat confusing. I came here prepared to face Vernon’s wrath over his friend being dead, but now he’s complimenting me on my choice of attorney? I’m unsure how to interpret this.
He starts typing as he goes on, “I know Blake wasn’t always…forthcoming with you about things. I’m guessing you want to know about your assets?”
I fidget in my seat.Not forthcomingis a very nice way to put how Blake withheld all information from me that would be common knowledge in most marriages. “Yes. I don’t know if Blake would have left me anything with the prenup. I’ll be honest, I never read the whole prenup because, at the time, I didn’t care. But I don’t really want anything of his. I needed to know about our bills. Especially about our mortgage. I never took care of anything, so I’m at a loss.”
Vernon frowns again. “You signed a legal document without reading it?”
I lift my hands. “In my defense, I was very young.”
More typing. “Don’t do that again.”
I nod, and he continues. “But that really doesn’t matter much, because the only clauses in there that prevented you from receiving any money were divorce or infidelity on your part.”
I can’t stop the eye roll. Of course, there was something about my cheating because Blake knew he wouldn’t have been able to abide by that part of the agreement if it had been both of us.
Vernon looks at me over the top of his glasses. “Thereisn’t anything about murder, so you should be good. Well, except for his life insurance policy. They probably won’t pay until the cops completely clear you. And even then, they might push back.”
“I told you, I don’t care about that.”
Vernon appears to be in pain. “You don’t care about getting the money from that?”
Even with Blake gone, this makes me nervous to admit to Vernon. “I’ve been saving almost every penny I’ve made since we moved to Nashville. I don’t need Blake’s money. I just need to know about things like the house and cars, so I can figure out what to do with them.”
The pinched expression he levels me with has me confused.
“Vern, just spit it out, please.”
He takes off his glasses and rests his clasped hands on his desk. “So he never talked to you about your finances?”
His question throws me off even more. Vernon already admitted to knowing Blake didn’t tell me important information. “No, Vernon. They were his finances. They certainly were not mine.”
He sighs. “Blake made some very poor financial decisions over the last few years.”
For some reason, I’m not surprised by that news, but it does make me disappointed that Blake would be so careless. His business partner, Bob, is passionate and driven, and all I can hope is that Blake’s poor decisions don’t impact him. “Okay, what does that mean exactly?”
“He was broke.”
My eyes widen as I shake my head in disbelief. “How broke?”
His eyes turn to slits as he clarifies, “If you want to keep anything, like the house, you’d better be prepared to pay alot of money to do that. I don’t think he’s been making all the payments.”
