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“No. That was Aaron.”
“Well, him too. But Aaron got caught. So did Ivan, but he brought in a lot more money than Aaron. The firm didn’t want to lose him and Ivan knew it. So Ivan made a deal. The firm fired Aaron and paid his debts and let everyone think that Ivan was the whistleblower, which was kind of true. An internal auditor found Ivan’s thefts and the firm confronted him. That’s when Ivan gave Aaron up, to help save himself. The firm agreed that they could lose Aaron, but wanted to keep Ivan. So Ivan kept his job and looked like a hero to his coworkers but paid his own debts. He was broke after that. He was about to lose his house.”
The house that Val now lived in. Kaj sighed. Oh honey.
“So Van just... started selling drugs?”
“He’d been using before. Coke and H. Some meth during the busy season, but mostly at parties during the rest of the year. He made a deal with Dewey Talley. Dewey had been his dealer. Ivan would sell to his rich friends and clients and he and Talley would split the profits. Ivan was good at business and grew Sixth Day’s. He and Talley became full partners.”
Val’s hand shook as it lifted to cover her mouth.
That explained a lot, Kaj thought. Aaron wouldn’t have had access to the rich clients after leaving the firm, so he couldn’t have developed that part of the business. He’d inherited Ivan’s clientele.
Sandra sighed. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. You can ask Talley, if you can find him.”
“He’s dead,” her attorney said.
Sandra’s eyes widened, shocked. “How? When?”
“His body was found Wednesday morning,” her attorney told her.
“Holy shit,” Sandra murmured, then shrugged. “Well, the asshole lived a lot longer than I thought he would.”
Val was visibly trembling, her voice thin. “If Van was the boss, who was Rico Nova?”
“One of his managers. Rico owned the café on paper. He was really one of Ivan’s front men.”
“All right.” Val lifted her chin. “You said you had information about a murder. I assume you meant Van’s murder. Why did Rico Nova kill Van?”
“He didn’t.” Sandra pressed her lips together, then whispered in her attorney’s ear once more.
“Oh,” the attorney said. “I don’t think Mr.Hogan will allow that.”
“It’s not like it’s connected to Dr.Singh,” Sandra argued.
Val gasped again, this one small. Like it was her final breath. “Aaron killed Van?”
Sandra just stared at her.
“But why?” Val demanded brokenly.
Sandra looked up at Reuben. “Your call. I can tell her or not. No skin off my nose either way. But I want it on the record that I’ve been a virtual ray of cooperative sunshine. I want credit for this, and I want it to reduce my sentence.”
Reuben took out his phone and started to record, giving the date, time, and participants. “Please proceed, Miss Springfield. I’ll consider incorporating whatever you share today into a plea deal, but I’m not promising anything until I hear what you have to say.”
“Tell them,” her attorney urged. “It can’t hurt.”
Sandra’s expression grew hard as she returned her focus to Val. “Remember, Ingrid, you asked for this. Aaron had lost his job at the firm because he’d been caught embezzling. He started his own firm, but he was struggling. I left him because...” She lifted a shoulder. “I was accustomed to a certain lifestyle and he could no longer provide it. Then his son got sick.”
“Liam,” Val whispered.
“Yes. Aaron was desperate because Liam was going to need expensive treatment that his insurance wasn’t going to cover, so he went back to the firm to beg for his old job.”
Kaj held his breath, waiting. All of this was consistent with what Van’s old friend had shared that morning.
“But the partners said no,” Sandra went on. “One of them said that they’d all had to give up their bonuses that year to replace the money he’d taken. Like I said, Aaron was desperate. He told them that Ivan had been stealing, too. And the partners said they already knew. One of them told Aaron that Ivan had paid back everything he’d taken from his own pocket. Aaron hadn’t been given that option and demanded to know why. They told him that Ivan brought in more money. Aaron told me that he’d been ready to get down on his knees and beg. He offered to be an assistant, to take a pay cut. Anything to get back onto the firm’s payroll and insurance policy. He asked them to bring Ivan in to vouch for him, that he’d do a good job. And that’s when one of the partners—one of the five-martini-lunchers who was always a little drunk in the afternoons—laughed and asked Aaron who he thought had turned him in. That’s when Aaron realized that Ivan had thrown him under the bus.”
She paused, then sighed sadly. “You gotta realize—I loved Ivan like I never loved anyone else. Aaron was a pale replacement. Ivan and I were going to get married, and he was going to quit the drug business. He kept saying so, anyway, but I doubted it. He was making way too much money, plus he was back in the black at the firm. Earning again even after repaying what he’d stolen. Most of Aaron’s clients at C&S had gone to Ivan and were doing better. Ivan was simply better with money. Aaron was good, but Ivan was something special.”
