Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92668 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Did Steph know about any of this?” I asked, propping my chin up on my hand. “Or Alan’s wife?”
“From what we know, no. Declan kept all his business affairs apart from her, and Alan certainly wasn’t about to tell his own wife that he’d lost all their money at the bookie.”
Ash wrinkled up her face. “I don’t blame him. How do you even tell your spouse that?”
“Okay, but what does killing Declan achieve?” I tapped my fingers against Ash’s order book. “It doesn’t hurry up the process, does it? Declan’s estate has to go through probate, presumably, so is he going to get his money any faster?”
“Well,” Barb said slowly. “Separated or not, he and Stephanie were still married. Unless he has a will saying otherwise, it’s all marital property, including the money. She can, realistically, access it all and pay him off.”
Stephanie had mentioned something like that the first time we’d met but she’d only assumed it, but then last night she said she’d moved back into their house, so I assumed she got everything.
“Even before probate is over?”
“I don’t know, dear. I’m not a lawyer. But it seems reasonable to me. Marital property is marital property, after all.”
“Only if she has access to it already,” Ash said quietly. “He used to give her money, like an allowance. Would she even have access to their assets outside of living expenses granted by the estate?”
I pressed my lips together. That was a good point. She’d told us everything. “Declan controlled her entire life. She was hiding money from him by pretending that her hairdresser had upped her prices. That’s how she got out,” I told the older ladies. “So, she probably doesn’t have access to any of the marital money. Certainly not the amount she’d need to pay Alan off, even partially.”
“Just because she wasn’t able to access it doesn’t mean she couldn’t,” Gwen said sagely, looking over at us as Tofu hopped up onto the table and made himself comfortable between their paint pallets. “Tierney was a rotten old git, but he was a smart man. I’d wager Stephanie’s name is on at least one of his bank accounts, whether she knew about it or not. After all, someone has to run his business, don’t they? And to do that, they need access to his money. Regardless of probate, if she’s on the account, the money is hers.”
Ash narrowed her eyes. “You think she’s on an account and didn’t know? That’s insane, even for you.”
“No, it’s not,” Barb replied. “It makes perfect sense. If he controlled all the finances to the extent that he gave her an allowance and she had to hide money, there’s a whole financial side to her life she doesn’t know about. A joint bank account would be one of those things.”
“But don’t you need two people to open a joint account?” I asked. “Even to just add someone’s name to one?”
“You and I need two people to open a joint account,” Viv said bitterly. “But we’re normal people, Charlotte. Multimillionaires like Declan Tierney do not have to play by our rules.”
I dropped my gaze to the order book, reaching for another Jelly Baby, but I was out.
This was crazy, and it was one hell of an assumption. Could there really be a bank account in both Declan and Stephanie’s names that Alan knew about but Steph didn’t? If so, how? Why? Alan was barely involved in the business’ finances, why would he know about the Tierneys’ personal finances?
How could he know?
How could Steph not know?
And if Steph did know…
“Well,” Ash said after a moment of silence. “How do we find out if that account exists? And more importantly, who knew about it?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d made friends with a murderer.
As much as I couldn’t bring myself to blame Steph if she was responsible, it was still rather unsettling.
If she knew about the hypothetical joint bank account, Alan wasn’t the only one who’d benefit from Declan’s death. A quick Google search this morning and far too many visits to various lawyer’s websites had given me the information I’d been looking for: if they had a joint account, the money was hers, and she could do whatever with it, even during probate.
Same with the house. If she was on the deed, she was now the sole owner of their marital property, regardless of probate.
I already knew she planned to pay Alan off—more than his share was worth, even. Whether she’d be able to do that in one lump sum or in two or three smaller payments, I didn’t know, and it wasn’t really my place to ask.
We weren’t that close.
As for Alan… He once had a good relationship with Declan. It was reasonable that Declan had discussed their marital finances with his friend and business partner. I knew Alan didn’t like Steph, and if he knew about that bank account, he might have once tried to warn his old friend away from such a thing.