Summer's End (Wildflowers #5) - Jill Sanders Page 0,72
their father, Leo, or his company, Pelican Investments.” He shrugged. “Didn’t ask. We were in a hurry to get to the city, since we believed that Harold had passed away.” He picked up Aubrey’s hand in his.
“Right.” Rhodes wrote something down in her file. “And you are staying at Isaac Andrew’s residence?”
“He lives at River Camps,” Aubrey answered. “He only keeps this place for when he and his wife return for the holidays,” she supplied. “We didn’t even know…” She stopped and shook her head.
“No, please.” Rhodes motioned for her to go on.
Aubrey sighed. “We didn’t even stop to ask where we were staying. Hannah arranged everything. She and Isaac are long-time family friends.” Aubrey shrugged. “We only realized it was Isaac’s place after we arrived.” She smiled. “I called him, and he assured me he was happy he could help out during this crazy time.”
“But when you found out that your father wasn’t dead, why stick around?” Rhodes asked.
“As I said, I was shocked to find out about Bridgett. He said that they were hosting a party that night and…” Aubrey took a deep breath. “When my father says my attendance is required…”
“You jump?” Rhodes asked.
Aubrey’s eyes grew sad, and he squeezed her hand. “More like fall in line since I’ve seen what happens when I don’t. He hasn’t given me much of a choice over the years.”
Rhodes leaned forward, her hands on the desk as her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying your father was abusive to you?”
“God, no.” Aubrey frowned. “Not in the physical sense, in any way.”
“In any sense, then?” Rhodes asked.
Aubrey bit her bottom lip before answering. “Harold Smith was an absentee father. He threw money at anyone he thought could raise his daughter to be what he wanted.”
“And what did he want?” Rhodes asked.
Aubrey’s eyes locked with the other woman’s eyes. “Obedience.”
Rhodes leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yet, shortly after his seventy-seventh birthday, he meets a woman in her mid-thirties, who for all practical purposes is a hot mess, and decides he wants to marry her. That must have pissed you off?”
Aubrey leaned closer. “Detective, are you asking me if I poisoned my father?”
Rhodes remained perfectly still. “Did you?”
“No.” Aubrey sighed. “I won’t deny that I’ve thought of what life would have been like without him, but he’s the only blood I have. I didn’t want him dead.”
“Even if he had something to do with your mother’s death?” Rhodes shocked them by asking.
Aiden felt his stomach roll. The way the detective was questioning Aubrey made it seem like she believed Aubrey had something to do with her father’s condition.
What had Bridgett told the police to turn the tables?
“Detective,” he started only to have Rhodes throw up her hand to stop him.
“I’ll get to you in a moment.” She turned back to Aubrey. “Well?”
He could see Aubrey choosing her words carefully before she finally spoke.
“If my father had anything to do with my mother’s death, I’d want to see the old man rot away in a cell like the one he put me in for most of my childhood. I’d want to see everything he’d worked for, everything he’d lied to get, taken away.” Aubrey held up her hands to stop the detective from talking. “No, I wouldn’t want a cent of his money. His money has always been tainted to me. Just ask any of my friends. I haven’t touched a dime of his since I’ve been out on my own. Not one cent of Harold Smith’s has ever gone into River Camps, nor will it ever. That place is pure, it’s the only place I’ve ever felt accepted or loved.” Aubrey’s eyes darted over to him for a brief moment. “I would never do anything that would put my business or my friends in jeopardy or in his debt. If you would do some looking into Bridgett’s life…”
Rhodes held up her hands to stop Aubrey.
“I have,” she said with a smile. “This”—she motioned between them—“was nothing more than a technicality.” She moved to write something else in the folder.
“You…” Aubrey glanced at him and then back at the detective. “You don’t really think I had anything to do with poisoning my father?”
The woman looked up from her desk. “No,” she said with a smile. “Not at all. I do believe that Bridgett is a few cards shy of a full deck. I’m having her evaluated at the moment.” Rhodes sighed and wrote something else down.