“An investigator needs all sides of a story,” Anna replied. “By the sound of it, Wolf and Jonathan left out choice details, details you need if you’re going to solve this case.”
“Why are you so eager to give them to me?”
“Because I have suffered at the hands of Wolf Godfrey long enough,” she said. “I spent the last decade dragging this company out of the mud, and I won’t have my ex-family’s chaotic tendencies ruin my business a second time. Here.” She stood up and pushed the office chair to my side of the desk. “You might as well get comfortable.”
As I took my seat, Anna took a tube of ointment from a drawer, squeezed a huge dab of it onto the back of her hand, and rubbed it into her ravaged skin.
“Despite knowing of Wolf’s money hunger, I continued to love him.” She laughed at herself. “I was a lonely woman, and I convinced myself that he could learn to love me back. He played the part of doting husband well. On the days we weren’t fighting, he held me tenderly and insisted all couples go through such troubles. Our friends admired our relationship, never understanding its true nature. They always asked us what the secret was to a successful marriage.” Despite the ointment, Anna did not appear to find relief from her eczema. She began to scratch again. “Imagine their surprise when we announced our divorce.”
“Wolf told me you left him because he finally accepted himself.”
Anna whirled around. “I left him because he’d lied to me for years on end. He married me knowing what he was.” She scoffed and threw her hands in the air. “Don’t mistake me for a homophobe. I don’t give a damn that Wolf’s gay and ‘in-between’ as he likes to call it. I care that he played me for a fool for nearly twenty years. He took advantage of me. He used my money and our relationship to make himself more comfortable, at my expense. Do you know what that felt like?” Her voice hitched, and she turned to the window to hide her vulnerability. In the reflection, her bottom lip wobbled. “To be used by the one person who agreed to love me for eternity?”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I can’t imagine what that was like for you.”
She angrily swiped at the tears forming in her eyes. “Then there was the matter of Wolf’s diagnosis. When he told me he could no longer work—that he would be a disabled homeless man in a matter of months if I divorced him—I had half a mind to let him suffer. I longed to be free of him and to watch as he slipped into poverty, but I couldn’t do it. Despite everything, a part of me was stuck in the past. A part of me was still that moony-eyed college girl who fell in love with the handsome surgical resident.”
“So you let him stay at the Saint Angel.”
“I made him a deal,” she said. “If he agreed to never contact me again, to never meddle in my affairs, and to never associate himself with the Bianchi name ever again, I would give him a monthly allowance to cover his medical bills and allow him to stay in the penthouse at the Saint Angel for as long as he pleased.”
“That was very big of you.”
“I couldn’t abandon him,” she replied. “It was not in my nature.”
“What about Jonathan?” I asked. “You mentioned he was a troubled kid. What kind of things did he do?”
“He abused his teachers, started numerous fights with other students, committed arson, and stole preserved animals and parts from the science classrooms,” Anna said. “It wasn’t long before I felt uncomfortable around my own son. When his father and I separated, Jonathan took it particularly hard. That was when he began spending. I legally disinherited him to prevent him from completely ruining my company.”
“You didn’t feel any obligation to your son?”
“He felt no obligation to me,” she said. “Why should I have afforded him the same privilege? Like his father, he betrayed me and took advantage of me. He caused me undeniable mental stress and pain. I did what was best for myself in cutting him off.” She matched the tips of her fingertips together and stared at me over them. “I can see the judgement on your face, but you don’t understand what I went through with Jonathan.”
“It’s just—” I struggled to form words. “I spent time with him. He was nice. It’s hard to believe his past was so marbled with trouble.” I hesitated before asking another question. “Did you mourn Jonathan?”
She pinched her bottom lip as if she were about to insert a wad of tobacco there. “I mourned the son I wished I’d raised. I did not mourn the man Jonathan had become.”
“Where were you on the night of his death?”
Anna’s keen silver eyes bore into mine. “I was with my partner and his family. I can give you their contact information if you like.”
“Please.”
She scribbled a few phone numbers on the back of her business card. “Here. But you won’t find answers with them. You should look closer at those who still live at the Saint Angel.”
“Speaking of, why did Jonathan live at the hotel if you disinherited him?”
She sighed heavily as she handed me the list of numbers. “Wolf wanted Jonathan to love him. After I cut ties, he continued to give Jonathan money. Jonathan, being the man he is, took it without remorse. I believe my monthly allowance to Wolf often went to Jonathan instead.”
“Why are you trying to sell the Saint Angel?” I asked. “Did your deal with Wolf go bad?”
“My deal with Wolf had a time limit,” she replied. “I gave him so many years to get his life together. That time is up. He’s on his own now. Though I surmise he’s not so alone anymore.”
“What’s that
