The Last Lie Told (Finley O’Sullivan, #1)(17)

“Finley will leave her number with you,” Jack said. “It will be best if you provide the information to her.”

Sophia nodded.

“What sort of matter does Mr. Collins recall?” Finley prodded.

“Lance had a number of private investors.” Sophia angled her head slightly. “Those who prefer to stay out of the limelight but who want to be a part of the industry.”

No surprise. Most large corporations had private or silent investors. Finley was familiar with the strategy.

“Seth Henderson was one of those investors. He had been friends with my husband for decades. When the label was started, Seth was the first one to throw in his support, which makes what happened all the more egregious.”

“What is it you believe Mr. Henderson did?” Finley asked. It wasn’t unheard of for long-term business relationships to end badly. In fact, it happened more often all the time. The world changed too fast for some to keep up. Emotions often filled the gap. Rarely a good thing in business.

“Alex didn’t think much of it at the time,” Sophia explained, “but with this latest drama, he believed it best that he mention what happened. Seth was having an affair with a younger woman. She really wanted to work for our label. She was . . .” Sophia exhaled an impatient breath. “A wannabe singer and thought perhaps Seth could be her ticket in. To make her happy, he asked Lance to give her a job that would expose her to the artists. Lance didn’t like doing that sort of thing, but for Seth he made an exception.”

The entertainment business was full of stories exactly like this one. There were those who would do anything for a chance at their fifteen minutes of fame. Finley refrained from commenting, waiting for Sophia to go on instead.

“Turns out she was a spy for a competitive label. Lance lost one of his biggest artists because of her.”

“He never mentioned this to you?” Seemed like a rather big deal for him not to tell his wife about the loss.

“Not a word. Those things happened in the business. Still do. Social media is filled with what this or that celebrity did. Though my husband never spoke of this betrayal to me, I did notice Seth was no longer invited to business dinners. Lance made some excuse about the divorce that followed the affair having torn Seth apart and that he had withdrawn from everyone.”

“I’ll need Mr. Henderson’s contact information as well.” Finley removed a card from her bag and placed it on the coffee table between them.

“Unfortunately, he passed away year before last.”

“What about his wife?” Jack asked. “What was her name?”

From time to time, Finley glanced at Cecelia. She kept her head down, picked at her cuticles. She hadn’t once changed position. Not the first squirm. Perhaps there was something to the rumor of agoraphobia.

“Gloria,” Sophia said in answer to Jack’s question. “I can provide her information as well. I’m not sure how much help she can be. Neither of us were involved with the business at the time. My girls were in their senior year of high school, and Gloria was struggling with a new career of her own.”

Silence held the conversation on a sort of pause for several seconds.

“There is one other question I’d like to ask,” Finley said.

Sophia met her gaze and waited, her face still an unreadable mask.

Finley shifted her attention to the daughter. “Cecelia, is it true that you don’t leave the house?”

Her fidgeting fingers stilled. Five beats passed before Cecelia looked up. “I never leave the house.”

“It’s another aspect of this tragedy,” Sophia said. “I lost one daughter to geography and the other to an illness I can’t understand. She has no friends. Never talks on the phone or has visitors. It’s so sad for her.”

Cecelia had already gone back to studying her hands.

Strange as it was, Finley completely understood.

Jack offered another assurance that he and Finley would find the answers they needed. He tossed in that there would likely be more questions. Sophia thanked him repeatedly as she showed them to the door.

The walk to the car was rife with tension, but Finley wasn’t saying a word until they were out of there.

As she slid behind the wheel of her car, she glanced back at the house. Cecelia stood at a window staring out at her. Finley waved, and the curtain fell in front of the other woman, blocking her from view.

Since she’d been overwhelmed with her final year at law school, Finley remembered very little about the Legard sisters . . . or the murder, for that matter. But, for now, it was the mother who intrigued her most.

Sophia didn’t appear nearly as upset about the accusations against her daughter as Finley would have expected. She was calm and businesslike. Stated the facts. Offered opinions.

Sophia Legard was either incredibly confident or lying through her perfect teeth.

But she wasn’t the only one.

When the gates opened and Finley drove away from the property, she shot her boss a look. “What the hell, Jack?”

“Don’t start,” he warned as he shoved his sunglasses back into place. “It was five years ago.”

Holy shit. “You had an affair with her.”

“I wouldn’t call it an affair.”

“Oh my God.” Finley’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “You should not be representing this family.”