Wired (Buchanan-Renard #13)(90)

“Why are you here?” Allison demanded. “I’ve already told you you’re getting nothing more from me.”

Jane glanced at Liam, who was standing by the door and watching her like a hawk. She hesitated before answering Allison, as though she was carefully measuring her words before speaking. “We received a summons of a sort just a few days ago, and we were shocked. Really shocked. It all happened so long ago.”

“What happened so long ago?”

“Your dear parents died.” Jane shook her head and pulled a tissue from her purse, trying her best to act sincere. “We still mourn them.”

Allison thought her performance was nauseating. “No, you don’t mourn them. My father didn’t like either one of you, and for good reason.”

Uncle Russell pushed himself upright. “No, no, that’s not true. They loved us.”

Allison wasn’t going to argue. “You still haven’t explained why you’re here.”

“We received a summons that says they want an account of every dollar we spent on you and Charlotte. That’s simply impossible,” Jane huffed. “Who saves every little receipt for all those years?”

“And you spent a lot of money on us, did you?” Allison asked, doing her best to hold her temper under control.

“Of course,” Jane insisted. “It cost a lot of money to feed and clothe and educate you two girls.”

“Five hundred thousand?” Allison asked.

Jane was taken aback. “What?”

“Did you and Uncle Russell spend all of the insurance money on Charlotte and me?”

“Of course we did,” Jane countered.

“Stop,” Allison demanded in a near shout. “Just stop. You didn’t spend any of that money on us. We know where it all went. You purchased your house and the land around it. You paid off your bills. You—”

“All right,” Jane cried out. “We were wrong, and we’re very sorry.”

“You were horrible to us. You know that, don’t you? You kept threatening that you would put me in foster care without my sister if I acted up. And we had to work to pay for anything we wanted, even school. Remember? And God help me if I was ungrateful. Those terror tactics started when I was four years old.”

Seeing her approach wasn’t succeeding, Jane decided to double down. There was a sigh and a contrite lowering of her eyes when she said, “We realize now how insensitive we were. We really are ashamed of our behavior, and we’re so very sorry.”

It was the most insincere apology Allison had ever heard. “What is it you want?” she asked, her voice flat and emotionless. “Or did you come here just to apologize?”

“Actually . . . ,” Jane began. She looked at her husband.

Russell teetered when he stood. “We want you to go to court with us and testify on our behalf,” he said.

They had rendered Allison speechless. Several seconds passed before she responded. “You want me to lie for you.”

“It wouldn’t be a lie,” Jane insisted. “No, no. We did give you a place to sleep, and we fed you.”

“What happens if I don’t go to court?”

Jane dabbed at the corners of her eyes, pretending to keep the tears at bay. “We could end up in prison.”

“Think of the positive,” Allison said. “You’d get to see Will more often.”

Liam coughed to cover his laughter. He had to admit that the utter audacity of Jane and Russell’s plea was impressive, but even more impressive was the way Allison stood up to them.

“You would let us go to prison?” Jane demanded.

The sneer that Allison was accustomed to seeing on her aunt’s face was making its way to the surface once again. So much for acting timid, she thought. She went to the door and Liam opened it for her. “It’s time for you to leave,” she ordered. “Don’t come here again. If you do, I’ll get a restraining order and call the police. Now, get out.”

There was fire in her uncle’s bloodshot eyes. “You’ll go to hell for this,” he mumbled as he stormed past.

Aunt Jane made it to the doorway and then stopped. “Why are you doing this to us?”

“Why?” Allison smiled. “I guess I’m just ungrateful.” She slammed the door shut and fell back against it, taking a long, deep breath. When she was calm enough to speak again, she looked at Liam. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” she apologized.

“I’m not,” he said. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Proud?”

“Yes,” he answered. “You stood up to them, and they deserved it. The way I figure it, there are three kinds of people. The first kind are the good people who mostly do good things with their lives. The second are good people who sometimes get off track and do bad things. And then the third kind are the bad people who do bad things. I’d put your aunt and uncle in that category. I don’t think they’ll ever see the error of their ways.”

“You’re right. I’m sure they still think they can badger me. I haven’t heard the last of them.” She straightened her shoulders. “But I can handle it,” she said with assurance.

“Good girl,” Liam said as he gave her a hug.