Want me to get it?”

They look surprised. Rudd says, “Please.”

I locate the piece of paper that contains the fund’s name, Michael’s account number, and all the prompts and passwords.

Broadus looks at it and frowns, then hands it to Rudd.

“Mind if we call them?”

“Suit yourselves.”

Rudd takes out his phone, punches in the numbers, and after a few minutes of dealing with the automated phone prompts he gets a human on the phone who verifies the account, the balance, and the sole owner: Michael Thorne.

“When did you open this account?” Broadus asks.

“The day after David wired me the money.”

He tells Rudd to hand him the phone. Rudd does, and Broadus asks the rep for the date the account was set up and the amount of the initial deposit. Then he hangs up.

“Satisfied?” I say.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You told Alison Thorne you lied to me about setting up this account.”

“Did I?”

“According to Mrs. Thorne, you told her you kept the money for yourself. You said if you had put it into Michael’s name you would have had to pay the gift taxes and wouldn’t have had the money to do that.”

I shake my head. “I love Alison, but I think between David’s death and finding out that I’m the daughter she gave away at birth, she’s been through a lot. I think it’s taken quite a toll on her.”

“So you’re saying you never told her that?”

“That’s what I’m saying. But even more to the point, why would I tell her I kept the money for myself when clearly I had given it to Michael weeks earlier?”

“Good question, and here’s another: why haven’t you told Michael?”

“I did. In fact, you were right there in the hotel lobby when I told him.”

“But you haven’t told him since then. According to Michael, you’ve never identified the account.”

“Well surely he admitted the $200,000 was in the joint checking account.”

“He did. But why haven’t you given him the mutual fund information?”

“We haven’t actually been speaking. But when we do, I’ll be glad to tell him, or you can, if you like. Meanwhile, the money’s sitting there, building up value for him. And if he hasn’t received the first monthly statement by now I’m sure he’ll get it soon, since I put his address on the account.”

“With Michael out of the picture, how do you intend to pay the gift tax on the initial wire transfer?”

“I was hoping to inherit money from my father’s estate.”

“My understanding is, you made a five-million-dollar deal with Mrs. Thorne.”

“That’s correct. She offered me five million not to contest the will or sue the estate. But a few minutes ago she rescinded that offer, so I guess I’ll have to sue.”

“Why did you give Michael the money?”

“I trusted him. At the time, I thought we were going to get married.”

“According to Mrs. Thorne, you had sex with her underage daughter.”

“I know.”

“Excuse me?”

“She told me the same thing on the phone just now!”

“What’s your response to that accusation?”

“It’s the first I’ve heard of it. Like I said, I think the strain of David’s death has gotten to her. First she claimed I lied to you and kept the money for myself. Well, you just cleared that up, didn’t you? Then she claimed I had sex with her daughter. Surely you asked Jessie if that’s true.”

They say nothing, which tells me what I already knew: there’s no way in hell Jessie would rat me out. When I told her I was Michael’s sister she didn’t bat an eye. She’s tough as nails. And, she’s in love.

I laugh.

“What part of this strikes you as funny?” Broadus says.

“Think about it: I’ve been accused by Alison of having sex with everyone in her family except her.”

“You knowingly had sex with your biological brother.”

“I wouldn’t call it having sex, and I doubt he would, either.”

“You certainly lived together as a romantic couple. Why?”

“Michael and I were like roommates. If you ask, he’ll tell you we were never officially engaged. That’s just a story I agreed to let him tell people so they’d stop bothering him about it.