“How long have you known Tyler,” I asked her directly.
“Long enough.”
“Rachel works in my office,” Tyler offered weakly, as though that explained something important.
“For how long, exactly.”
Rachel waved a hand vaguely through the air. “A while now. I started right after they brought on the new VP, so.”
“That was over a year ago,” I said.
Something flickered briefly behind her eyes.
“And when exactly did you first learn about my father’s inheritance,” I asked, keeping my voice perfectly level.
The flicker widened into something closer to a genuine crack. “I don’t know what you’re.”
“You mentioned the house specifically,” I said. “Not Tyler’s salary. Not the cars in the garage. The house. You knew it was already paid off. You knew precisely where that money had originally come from. Tyler complained about that inheritance to anyone within earshot at the office holiday party two years running. I heard him do it myself, whining into his bourbon about money he felt should have belonged to him. You were standing there too, weren’t you, Rachel. Quietly taking notes the whole time.”
