Early Sunday Afternoon

Mandy

Leaving the farm in Dad’s pickup truck, I’m struck by the realization that another chapter of my life is officially closing. There is little doubt that Dad will clean out the house and put it on the market now that Mom has passed. I know the past few years have been especially tough on him as he watched the continual decline of her health. He deserves to find some happiness.

“When are you coming to New York?” I ask, figuring that will be his next move.

“Oh, after spending so much time out here I’m not sure I can handle the big city anymore,” he replies with a reminiscent tone in his voice. “I’m getting too old to deal with all that traffic and crap.”

“Really?” Trey asks, seeming shocked by his admission. “What about Mom?”

“We had a nice talk last night,” he says with a sigh. “I’m just not ready to pull up roots and leave right away. She understands.”

“But you two have been pining for each other for years,” I say, turning in my seat. “Now you don’t think you are ready? What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know.” He raises his hand and rubs his forehead trying to come up with a good answer. “I guess I’m a little afraid of jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.” He smirks and leans forward to give Trey a sideways glance.

“I know Mom has had her issues over the years, but after learning about her relationship with you, I think that has been the source of her issues,” Trey tells him with utmost confidence. “I think you need to at least give her a chance. I don’t think she is tied to New York, she just hasn’t had a good reason to leave.”

“Good point,” Dad replies, staring straight ahead through the bug splattered windshield.

“I’m glad Mom knew about everything and had come to terms with it,” I tell him. “I would still be awfully mad at you if she hadn’t cleared the air the other night. I could barely stand to look at you when you picked me up at the airport.”

“I know, I’m glad too. I don’t think I would’ve been able to live with you hating me.” He turns and gives me a sad smile. “You’ve always been my little girl and I just didn’t want you to think less of me,” he says, apologizing with his eyes.

“One thing I’ve learned Dad, is that you rarely lose the respect of someone by telling them the truth. It’s usually the other way around.” I reach over and pat him on the arm. “I’m still your little girl.”

“You always were the smart one, Amanda.” He leans forward and looks over at Trey. “You take good care of her.”

“I plan on it,” he replies, slipping his arm around me.

By the time we reach the airport I’m feeling at peace with everything. Even though everything is changing, it’s probably all for the best. Mom is no longer suffering, Dad can move on with his life and I think there is something very special growing between Trey and I. We probably won’t know for sure until we work through everything and let the dust settle. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later though, I’m getting emotionally drained.

Trey

After Ray drops Mandy and I off at the airport, my phone begins to ring obsessively. I look down and there are several missed calls in a row from Tommy. He has either been drinking or something must really be urgent. Immediately after boarding the plane, Tommy’s number pops up on my screen for the fifth time.

“Hey Tommy, is there a problem?” I answer, feeling a little annoyed by his persistence.

“Where are you?” he asks in a scolding voice.

“I came to Tennessee for a memorial for Mandy’s mom,” I reply matching his derogatory tone.

“Oh, I was wondering why you keep disappearing. First you leave Monaco in the middle of the night and now you’re not in the city,” he replies, acting like I owe him some sort of explanation. “You’re a hard guy to nail down.”

“Do you need something?” I ask after a several second pause.

“Yeah, I have a few things that I need to go over with you,” he says, not offering any specifics.

“Okay, I’m going to be flying for the next hour, so I have time to talk.” I walk to the back of the plane and take my usual seat.

“There are things I would like to discuss in person. What time do you land?” he asks, seeming rather edgy. “Have you had a chance to talk to your brother?”

“They are keeping him sedated, so no, I haven’t talked to him. Why?”

“I was just wondering if he had come around at all. Vanessa hasn’t been answering her phone,” he says nervously. “I thought maybe he had come out of his coma.”

“Her and Mom have been taking turns staying with him, so she’s probably trying to get some sleep. She’s been staying nights and Mom has been taking the day shifts.”

“Okay, maybe she was just sleeping then. When are you going to be back?” he asks for a second time.

“I’ll be landing at JFK in a little over an hour,” I tell him, lying through my teeth.

“Okay, do you need a ride?” he asks eagerly.

“No, everything is covered. Can we meet at the office tomorrow morning?” I ask, not wanting to meet with him on a Sunday evening. “I’m assuming you will be there.”

“I would rather meet privately,” he says suspiciously. Leaving me wondering about his true intentions.

Right from the start this conversation has been giving off a weird vibe, so I continue to follow my gut. “I’ll stop in at eleven thirty tomorrow. That way if you don’t want to talk in the office, we can go have lunch somewhere quiet.”

Tommy pauses, making it obvious that he is trying to think of a reason why that won’t work. “So, you are busy tonight?”

“More tired than busy, but if I do anything it will probably be going up to the hospital,” I reply, curious to see what comes out of his mouth next.

“Where are you staying?” he asks sounding even more pensive.

“I think we’ll stay at Dad’s place, since it’s been sitting empty.” There is silence again at the other end, so I add, “I hope to be there by about ten o’clock tonight. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I was just wondering if you needed a place to stay,” he replies, seeming a bit distracted. “If you’re sure we can’t get together tonight, I’ll plan on seeing you for lunch.”

“Sounds good. By the way, I think you should quit calling Vanessa,” I tell him, considering how conflicted she has become lately. “She’s got enough going on right now, she doesn’t need you messing with her mind.”

“You have no idea what is or isn’t going on between us, so why don’t you just mind your own business,” he snaps. “I’ve always considered her a close friend.”

“Well, I’ve known her since fifth grade and I can tell she is really in a bad place right now. She doesn’t need any additional stress,” I blast back at him.

“If she wants to get rid of some stress she needs to dump your brother,” he counters snidely. “He’s a fucked up mess.”

I click the hang up button, ending the call. I’m not going to listen to him taking shots at my brother. We all know that Tyler needs some help, but Tommy doesn’t need to kick him while he’s down. I’ll bet he has been putting ideas in Vanessa’s head. That would explain why she has been acting so weird lately. I send Vanessa a quick text telling her to call me when she has a moment. My phone rings before I even have a chance to get up out of my seat.

“What’s up?” she asks, sounding as if all is well.

“I don’t know. I just got off the phone with Tommy and our whole conversation just left me with the weirdest feeling. Have you been talking to him lately?” I ask, still feeling uneasy as a result of my conversation with him.

“Yeah, I talked to him on Saturday. He was just wondering how Tyler was doing and whether or not you were at the hospital. I told him that Tyler was still in a coma and that I didn’t know where you were,” she explains.

“Why was he wondering about me?” I ask, hoping she might be able to provide me with a little insight.

“I don’t know. He just was wondering if either of us had talked to Tyler,” she further elaborates.

“He asked me the same thing. That’s a little weird.” The sick feeling in my stomach begins to return. “Are you with Tyler now?”

“No, your Mom is. I’m going back up there in a couple hours and staying the night again.” She sighs. “Do you think he is going to come out of this?”

“I think so, but I don’t want him to be left alone. I’m going to stop up there when I get back. I’ll probably get there about the same time as you.”

“Okay, see you there,” she replies and the line goes dead.

Mandy

Trey comes back to the front of the plane and plops into the chair next to me. Judging by the look on his face, he has gone right back to dealing with his brother’s situation.

“How are things in New York?” I ask, hoping he will let some of it out.

“I honestly don’t know,” he replies with a vacant look in his eyes. “I keep going over things in my head, but I can’t figure out exactly what is bothering me. Tommy is acting really strange and so is Vanessa.”

“Okay, lets just write down everything we know.” I reach down into my bag to pull out a notepad and a pen. “Someone, other than you, hired a hit man to kill your father.” I jot that down on the top of the list. “Someone poisoned your brother and made it look like he confessed to killing him in a suicide note.” I jot that down as well. “Do you still have the voice mail message that Tyler left you?”

“Yeah, I kept it just in case it was the last time I heard his voice.” A sad look crosses his face as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. I know he still regrets not talking to his dad one last time.

He clicks to play the message. “I know you are pissed at me, but this is so fucked up. First Vanessa and now he’s taking over the company. I told Dad that Tommy was a fraud. He’s such a fucking fraud.” Then there is a noise that sounds like his phone hitting the floor and him grunting.

“Tommy got pissed when I told him to stop calling Vanessa,” Trey immediately goes to that aspect of the call. “I wonder what has been going on between them?”

“Why does Tyler call him a fraud?” I point out the obvious fact that not only did Tyler believe Tommy was a fraud, but he had also told Victor. “If Tommy is a fraud and Tyler found out about it…”

“Tommy needed to shut him up!” he says, completing my sentence.

“Exactly! And he also says that he told your dad about it.”

“You think that explains why dad was killed?” he asks, acting like it’s a real stretch. “Would Tommy really kill dad and Tyler over a stupid job?”

“It’s a CEO job, plus you said he gains control of the company because of the voting rights. That wouldn’t have happened if Victor was still alive,” I blurt out as thoughts pour into my head. “Besides, you said yourself that he has a gigantic ego. If he was exposed as a fraud it would be devastating both professionally and personally.” I sit back in my chair and stare at him, convinced that I am definitely onto something.

“Good point. With all the shit swirling around me I hadn’t really thought about the fact Tommy had gained so much control over the company. I was thinking maybe that was an oversight on Dad’s part,” he says, looking up at the ceiling. “But why would control over the company be so important to him? It’s not like he can do anything dramatic. Everything has to approved by the board members and voted on by shareholders.”

“I really don’t know, but if there is an answer to that question… there is your motive,” I tell him, giving him a self-satisfied smile.

“God, you are smart… and beautiful,” he adds as an afterthought.

“You’re obviously a smart man as well.” I pat him on the knee and smile back at him. “I think you and I would make a good team.”

“You and I make a great team. That’s why you need to go to California and have that conversation with Harris,” he says, lowering his head and glaring at me.

“Once things stabilize, I will make that decision,” I counter. “We need to get a few things resolved before I can take such a drastic step.”

Trey shakes his head at me before closing his eyes and leaning back into the seat. I know he is used to flying by the seat of his pants and that he has never experienced a lack of financial security, but I know what it’s like to have nothing. After four years of college and three years of law school, I am up to my eyeballs in student loans. After those payments, a ridiculously high apartment rent and my car insurance there isn’t much of anything left. Thinking about my life prior to this, I suddenly wince.

“Have you received the money from Monte Carlo yet?” I ask, as my thoughts drift to the fact that all my troubles would be over if he would share some of those winnings with me.

“It should be in my account by Wednesday,” he says. “That’s one reason why I keep telling you not to worry. Regardless of what happens, we have that as a safety net along with all my other investments.”

“We?” I ask, my hopes suddenly soaring.

“Yes, we. You and I won that money together, so it’s half yours,” he replies calmly without even opening his eyes.

I lean over and give him a kiss, “Thank you. I’ll go to California later in the week and set everything straight with Harris.”

“Good.” He cracks his eyes open and smiles before closing them again.

“Did I hear you say that we are landing at JFK instead of LaGuardia?” I ask, puzzled by the fact, because he always says it’s too much of a hassle.

“Yeah, but we’re not. I just wanted to throw Tommy off; he’s the last person I want to see when we land. I also told him that we were staying in Dad’s penthouse, so I’m going to contact the doorman and tell him to keep an eye out for any strange visitors. For all I know, I’m next on his hit list,” he speculates wearily.

“We better be careful while we put the pieces together.” A pang of fear suddenly surges through me. “We don’t want him to know we have any suspicions.”

“Yeah, I’m going to act like its business as usual when I meet with him tomorrow. I’ll just keep my eyes and ears open for any clues.” He reaches over and takes my hand in his. “I want to go to the hospital and check on Tyler when we get back, so I’m going to catch a little nap.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you alone.” My mind is going a thousand miles an hour so there is no way I can take a nap. The bloodhound in me keeps looking at the list of things we know and going through different scenarios. If we figure out his motive, then the rest will fall into place. I really don’t like Tommy or Liv, so hopefully he is guilty of something.

Trey

Just as I feel myself beginning to drift off, my phone rings again. I pick it up in disgust thinking that it’s probably Liv or Tommy again, but it’s my attorney, Perry. Since he is someone who I actually want to talk to, I take his call.

“I got the letters and this is totally plausible,” he confirms. “Judging by the dates, they could’ve exposed you to line of succession issues, especially since Victor was engaged to be married. This is genius. I can run with this,” he says, his voice exuding confidence.

“That’s great!” I reply, happy to be receiving some positive news. “We thought it made sense and would put the briefcase issue to bed.”

“I think it will, but I would like to use this to squelch all the media hoopla in addition to the police investigation,” he replies in a more serious tone.

“Hey, I trust your judgment. If you can get TMZ off my back, more power to you,” I tell him, excited by the prospect of being out of the spotlight for a while.

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure I have free reign to distribute these letters since they are of a very personal nature.” He pauses, waiting for confirmation on my end.

“Yeah, I think you need to have a conversation with Us Weekly and TMZ at the very least,” I reply, wanting to put an end to all the unending allegations. “At the same time, I’m getting a good idea of who might be behind all of this. I’m going to start digging as soon as we land.”

“Great! I’ll get things rolling on my end,” he confirms. “By tomorrow evening you should no longer be a murder suspect or a media target.”

“That sounds great to me!” I let out a huge sigh after hanging up the phone.

“So Perry liked our letter idea?” Mandy smirks.

“He loved it.” I lean in giving her a kiss. “We definitely are a great team.”

Reclining once again, I am more confident than ever that everything is going to work out. I desperately need some rest, but all the loosely collected facts and suspicions continue to swirl through my mind. My gut tells me that Tommy is at the heart of this and that there has to be a rational explanation for all that has happened. I just need to put all the pieces together before anyone else gets hurt.