I turned to look at her and took her shoulders in my hands. “Be honest with me. Do you think Tyler was trying to frame you for Gene’s murder?”
Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “No. No! Of course not. Why would he do that?”
“I... I don’t know. But it all seems really strange and coincidental.”
She wrenched out of my grip. “He wouldn’t do that.”
I wasn’t so sure. “Has he said anything weird, done anything weird, in recent weeks? Think, Vera.”
She shut her eyes. Shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. We don’t usually talk about politics when we’re together.”
“Beyond politics. Think about whether he’s acted strangely in any other way.”
“I’ll try,” she said in a voice clogged with tears. Her entire body crumpled into the sofa, as if my news had sucker-punched her.
“We need to clear your name, Vera. We can’t have this cloud of suspicion hanging over you, or the store, as we’re about to open.”
“I know that.” Tears streamed down her face. “But there is something else I didn’t tell you.”
I stroked her long, silky blonde hair. “What’s that?”
“I accepted a personal loan from Tyler.”
I let out a gasp. “You what? Why?”
“Because the bank would only give me so much, and we needed more.”
“Oh shit. Why didn’t you tell me this?” I was incredulous. It was as if the woman sitting next to me was someone I didn’t know, and not someone I’d shared a womb with. “What’s going on with you, Vera? Now I’m really worried.”
She let out a snort and I jumped up to grab some tissues off the counter. She blew her nose with a honking sound and turned to me, her face blotchy and red.
“You’re not angry?”
“I don’t know enough to be angry. I’m shocked. Maybe I’ll be angry later. How much money are we talking?”
“Twenty grand.”
I huffed out a little sigh. It was awful, but not catastrophic. Maybe. It was an amount that we would almost certainly get once our father’s estate was settled in probate court. But who knew when that would happen? “OK, we can work with that. It’s not awful, unless the terms are. But honestly, now I really don’t like Tyler and I question your sanity about mixing business with pleasure.”
“It just sort of happened. He made it seem like it was the most natural thing in the world, like he wanted to help.”
“Or he wanted you to not protest the zoning of the Covington property,” I muttered.
“No. He wouldn’t—” She stopped speaking.
“He wouldn’t what?”
“He has made little comments about how I’m his activist girlfriend and has mentioned that if we were together long-term, things would have to be different. He has his eye on Congress, maybe even the Senate.”
“Just what Florida needs. One more corrupt politician in DC.”
“We don’t know he’s corrupt.”
I rolled my eyes. “All signs are pointing to yes. And I really hate how he’s gotten you into an ethical quandary, too. It’ll be really difficult for you to have any credibility protesting any development now, if you took money from him. Did you ever think of that?”
She shook her head and let out a sob.
“OK. Look. We’re going to pay the money back as soon as we can. Tonight, we’re going to go over all the finances together, and I want you to explain everything that you’ve spent and borrowed so far.”