27
Tanner was halfway through lunch with Maddie at the local cafe when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Maddie had taken the afternoon off so they could spend some time together. He was glad that she had hired another doctor for the practice. Soon he’d be busy every day until the election, so every moment was precious.
“I need to take this. Marty’s attorney is finally calling me back.”
The man had taken his sweet time about it, too.
“It’s fine,” Maddie said with a smile, spearing a piece of chicken with her fork. “I know you’ve been wanting to talk to him.”
“Tanner Marks,” he said into the phone.
“This is Garth Webber,” the attorney said. “You wanted to speak to me.”
“I do. I’m helping in the investigation of Marty Parnham’s murder.”
“Marty was a good friend of mine. I was sorry to hear about what happened to him. It’s a tragedy, really. He was a good person and a hell of a businessman. I hope you find who did this terrible thing. I swear, society has gone crazy. What’s the world coming to?”
Tanner wasn’t in the mood to wax philosophical with this guy. He’d already had a shitty morning having all of his other suspects knocked out at one time. The case had gone from bad to worse.
“It is a shame,” Tanner replied. “Listen, I have a few questions about Marty. Was he contemplating divorce? Had he spoken to you about it?”
There was a silence on the other end of the phone before Webber spoke again.
“I’m not sure that I’m comfortable talking about Marty’s personal affairs. It’s privileged information, you know.”
“Privilege died with Marty,” Tanner said. “I know that these are personal questions, but the answers just might make the difference as to whether we find out who did this or whether the case goes unsolved.”
“I read in the papers that his wife Abby is the main suspect.”
“She is, at this point. However, she maintains her innocence.”
“I know that she’s your ex-wife. I know that you’re running for governor. I don’t think I’m going to vote for you.”
“That’s fine if you don’t. This call isn’t about my campaign. It’s about finding justice for Marty Parnham. I’d think you’d want that for your friend.”
“Fine,” the other man said with a loud sigh. “No, Marty never discussed getting a divorce with me. Although everyone knew that they fought quite a bit, he actually seemed happy most of the time in his marriage. I think he really loved her, although at times he didn’t like her much. His children are another story completely. They hated Abby with a passion. Absolutely despised her.”
“Both of them?”
“Well, I probably overstated. Drew wasn’t fond of Abby, but they got along okay. They were civil to one another and as long as she didn’t interfere in his relationship with Marty, he didn’t much care. Trisha, however, hated Abby with the passion of a thousand suns. She didn’t have anything good to say about her, and she was always trying to get Marty to dump Abby. He told me once that he had to have two separate Christmas celebrations because Trisha refused to be in the same room as Abby. It was crazy.”
“Do you know why Trisha felt that way about Abby?”
“Marty said that Trisha thought that Abby married him for his money, which I doubt. It wasn’t like she was going to become super wealthy from the relationship.”
“They’d signed a prenup.”
“They did,” Webber confirmed. “If they divorced, Abby would get a lump sum settlement that I thought was quite generous, to be honest. Marty didn’t want to leave her destitute. If she lived frugally and didn’t spend money like water, she’d be comfortable for the rest of her life.”
“And if they didn’t divorce? If Marty died?”
“They had insurance policies on each other. Plus, Abby would get a small bequest in his will. She’d of course get to keep the house, the cars, the clothes, and jewelry.”
That would be news to Drew and Trisha. They were planning to kick Abby out of the house with nothing. They were going to be disappointed.
“What about the rest of Marty’s estate?”
“A few small bequests to his favorite charities and some of his long-time staffers. Everything else is to be split between Trisha and Drew. It’s been like that for years. Marty updated the will when he married Abby.”