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let the sarcastic remark pass and took a puff of his cigarette, holding the smoke in before releasing it in a long, slow stream. “Maybe you should talk to Earl, Abbie. You should let him tell you how Irene contacted him through the classifieds, where they met and how she explained that she wanted my father killed but it had to look like an accident.”
    “He must have agreed to do the job for free, then, because we both know my mother didn’t have any money.”
    “Wrong again, sis. She still had money left over from the insurance policy on your dad. That’s what she used to pay Earl. Twenty-five hundred dollars up front and the other twenty-five hundred after the job was done.”
    “You expect me to believe that my mother would know how to get in touch with a hired killer?”
    He shrugged. “I’m sure she didn’t. That’s why she put that ad in the newspaper. It’s done all the time. Take a look when you get a chance.”
    “I don’t know who’s lying here, you or your prison buddy, but one of you is.”
    “You know something? At first I didn’t believe him either. Then it hit me that Earl was telling the truth. The bastard was actually responsible for my father’s death. I
    wanted to kill the son of the bitch,” he continued in a thin, angry voice Abbie was sure was a put-on. “I wanted to end his miserable life right there and then. I wanted him to pay for killing my father, for all the misery I had to endure after Irene abandoned Liz and me.” His voice dropped a notch. “Unfortunately, he was protected by two inches of safety glass and two armed guards. And even if I could have killed him, I wouldn’t have. I wasn’t about to risk going back to prison for a vermin like him.”
    She had to admit, it was a good act, but not good enough. “Sorry, Ian,” she said with a smile she hoped looked as condescending as she intended it to be. ‘ ‘I may have been gullible as a child, but I’m all grown up now and I’m not buying your pathetic tale. If you were as smart as you think you are, you would have realized that before you came here and made a fool of yourself.”
    This time, her words seemed to strike a chord. His mouth compressed to a thin line and his eyes went flat. “Oh, I’m smart all right,” he said harshly. “Smart enough to know that if I went to the Palo Alto police with my story, as pathetic as it sounds, they’d listen. And what do you think they’d do next?”
    He didn’t wait for an answer. “They’d go and question Earl, and then they’d come and question Irene. No matter how much she denied Kramer’s accusations, they’d dig into her past, and her relationship with my father. That wouldn’t be too good, would it, Abbie?” He looked smug again. “From what I remember, those two were fighting all the time—loud, nasty rows that could be heard all over the neighborhood. Irene even threatened to leave my father once and that sent him into a rage. You remember that night, don’t you, sis? Sure you do. You ran into your room in tears. Oh, yeah, the cops are going to love hearing all that dirt. And since there’s no statute of limitations on mur
    der, my guess is that Mommy Dearest is going to find herself in deep shit.”
    Abbie fought back the panic that threatened to shatter her composure. Whether or not Ian was lying, he was right about one thing. If Earl had even one ounce of credibility, the police would have no choice but to check out his story. And turn her mother’s quiet life into a living hell.
    “The way I see it, sis,” Ian continued, “I’m entitled to some kind of compensation for losing my father, for Irene leaving me with an aunt who only wanted our inheritance, for my life turning shitty when yours turned out so right. I would have gone to Irene for the money, but from the look of her place, she doesn’t seem to have much. You, on the other hand, seem to have a lot—probably more than you need.”
    The realization he had gone to her mother’s