Part 17 (2/2)
”Weston put up the first month at closing. I paid the next two, but when the three months stretched into four, five, and six, I started to wonder what was going on. So I went to Weston to find out if he had heard from Walker. He said he hadn't but that he'd try to track him down.”
Alice drew a deep breath. ”Another month went by, and Weston still hadn't been able to reach Walker, so I decided to search for him myself.”
”A private investigator?” Nick posited.
”No, I had a mortgage-broker friend of mine do a check on the t.i.tle. The building had been resold ninety days after I had signed the quitclaim, at a price $300,000 more than what we had paid. The entire thing, the whole blasted plan, was a flopping scheme.”
”Okay, again, in English.”
”Flopping is like flipping, except you're ripping off the bank and your investors by buying below market value and then reselling for way more. And Weston was in on the flop from the beginning. He and Walker probably split the proceeds of the sale.”
”Do you have proof Weston was in on it?”
”No, and I couldn't think of a way to get any either. But it's the only way the whole thing makes sense. Why else would he have been so willing to front his own money? And why was he so reluctant to track down Walker?” Alice blinked back the tears. ”Weston had me as their mark from the beginning.”
”Did you contact the police about your suspicions?”
”How can I?” Alice's tears broke free and streamed down her round, pink face. ”Not only don't I have proof, but I'm guilty of mortgage fraud. Aside from losing my business and my broker's license, I could ... I could go to jail. Weston knew it. He knew that even with the proper evidence, I couldn't blow the whistle.”
”Did he tell you that when you asked him for money?”
Alice's tears dried and her pink face grew bright red with rage. ”How did you-? That b.i.t.c.h Bunny told you, didn't she? She listened in during my meeting. I knew it! That nosy old bag! Why, I could-”
”It wasn't Bunny,” Stella lied to diffuse the situation. ”Weston wrote the meeting on his calendar.”
Alice quieted down but was still highly skeptical. ”And you just a.s.sumed I asked for money?”
”Given the circ.u.mstances you described, why else would you meet with him?”
”Okay, you're right: I did ask him for money. He refused. He said he didn't owe me anything and then started crying poverty because he had lost his down payment. When I told him I thought that he had been in on the scheme, he smiled. Can you believe it? The son of a b.i.t.c.h smiled and said that I was a businesswoman who should have known the risks.”
”How did you react?” Nick asked.
”How do you think I reacted? I lost it. I started screaming, crying ... I may even have hit Weston. I don't remember. All I know is that if Bunny weren't already listening at the door, she would have heard me, along with half the town.”
”And Weston? What did he do when you starting yelling?”
”He was smooth, cool, as usual. He didn't lose his temper or shout back, he just laughed.” Alice began to cry again. ”The b.a.s.t.a.r.d laughed, asked me if my husband knew about our business arrangement, and then left.”
”Did your husband know about the condo deal?”
”No, he would have talked me out of it, and I was ... I was desperate to keep my agents working. I probably should have told him, but at the time I didn't think he needed to know. I hadn't used any of the household money, and I hadn't gambled our home. I figured if things went well, I could tell him when the money came rolling in. G.o.d, what a fool I was.”
”And if Weston were to have told him about you committing mortgage fraud?”
”I don't know what he'd do. Him finding out was my worst fear. It still is. To have lost most of my business and my self-respect is one thing, but to lose him, the kids ...”Alice ran a hand over her face. ”When Weston left here that day, I was in a panic. I was so afraid he'd tell my husband what happened, I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep.”
”Did you talk to Weston when he was working at our house?”
”Yes, I did. How did-?”
”Your timeline doesn't quite work out,” Stella explained. ”If you had left our house when you claim, you would have had plenty of time to make our closing. But instead you were late, out of breath, and more than a little bit frazzled.”
”When I learned that Weston would be working on your well, I saw my chance to talk to him again. I begged him not to tell my husband, Tim, about the flop scheme, and then I asked him what it would take for him to keep his mouth shut.”
”Is that why our appointment was rescheduled?” Nick asked. ”So that you could meet up with him?”
”No, that was Weston's doing. If anything, I had more time to talk to him on Wednesday than on the day of your closing.”
”But you still managed to find some time to talk to him, didn't you?”
”Yes. I had to.”
”And how did it go?”
”How do you think? Weston didn't care that I could lose everything. He just didn't care. I was so mad, I could have-” Alice's testimony was interrupted by the loud ring of a telephone.
”Vermont Valley Real Estate,” she answered in a perfect telephone voice. ”Oh, yes ... yes ... no, I'm not busy. Just let me finish up with my secretary, will you? Thanks. Hold a moment, and I'll be right back.”
Alice pushed a red b.u.t.ton and covered the receiver. ”This is an important call. I have to take it.”
Nick looked at Stella and then rose from his chair. ”We understand. I think we're pretty much done anyway.”
”I suppose you're going to tell Mills everything I told you.”
”I'm afraid we have to, Alice,” Stella frowned.
”I didn't kill him. I swear I didn't.”
”That's up to the sheriff's office to decide.”
Alice nodded somberly. ”I'll be here waiting for them. It's funny-as hard as I tried to keep Tim from finding out what happened, now that I'm here, on the verge of everyone finding out the truth, I'm relieved.”
Nick smiled weakly. ”I guess, deep down, part of you is tired of lying.”
”I guess so. But that doesn't mean all is forgiven.”
”What ... ?”
”If you see Bunny this weekend, let her know she's fired.” Alice, her eyes an icy blue color, let her finger hover over the red hold b.u.t.ton. ”Oh, and tell her to watch her back.”
CHAPTER.
13.
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