“Jack, Miss Hilliard, please have a seat.” Rick’s booming voice pulled her from her half-formed appraisal of the room. She sat in a chair and stared at the handsome cop. “Thanks for coming in to make a statement. I was willing to go back to your place, but this is easier since we have a few questions about the events leading up to the arrests.”
“Okay,” Gillian squeaked. “I don’t know very much.”
“That’s all right. We have a pretty good case, but we’d like to get a few more details from you about the accounts your mother was draining.”
“I didn’t know anything about them until you told me.” Gillian glanced at Jack. “If I’d known about that money, I wouldn’t have taken out student loans. I could have just paid for my tuition.”
“There are documents bearing your signature from the lawyers dating back to your eighteenth birthday. Apparently, you were able to access the funds then.”
“I didn’t sign them. I’m sorry, Constable Feller, but I don’t have any answers in regards to the accounts. I don’t even know who set them up.”
“If you recall, when I first told you about the investigation, I mentioned your father had set things in motion. We were able to ascertain the how. He took out a rather large life insurance policy on himself with you as the full beneficiary. From the records we were able to obtain it looks like he set it up to allow you to take out living expense money each month in the amount of six thousand dollars. Apparently your mother took out just under that amount and deposited it into her own account.”
“So what are my options then? I don’t expect I’m ever going to get the money back.”
“It’s unlikely.” Rick leaned forward, a frown on his face as he looked from Gillian to Jack and back. “Due to the recent intelligence we were able to obtain, your car accident was brought under the umbrella of this investigation.”
“Why?” Jack demanded. “Granted the car was in good shape, but why would that have any bearing on a fraud case?”
“We got a call from an informant just before your accident, several weeks ago. He advised us he’d been contacted on the inside by a fellow inmate to do a job. The person who contacted us was fresh from prison, on parole, and feared he’d be sent back for his involvement. We set things up so one of our undercover officers could meet with the persons looking for a killer for hire.”
Cold terror gripped Gillian as she gaped at the cop. “Why kill me?”
“Because, Miss Hilliard, you’re worth more dead than alive.” Rick sighed. “At the present moment, you’re worth almost two million dollars, even with what your mother stole.”
Gillian gasped, her heart stumbling in her chest as she gaped at Rick. “Two million … oh my. I, uh, I don’t know…”
“The money’s yours. We will be releasing a bit of it for you to live on.”
“That’s a lot of money, which would explain why they’d want to kill her, but it doesn’t answer my question. Who arranged for the hit?” Jack’s grip tightened around her fingers.
Gillian ignored the question and sank deeper into her chair. Bile rose, scalding the back of her throat, bitter and acidic on her tongue as she strove to keep the meager contents of her stomach down.
“Don’t answer that,” Gillian pleaded. “I think we all know who. I just don’t understand why? Was my car tampered with?”
“No. It hadn’t been tampered with. Your accident was caused when you swerved in the road. There were no indications of foul play involved. We had several experts go over the car, just to be certain.”
“At least the deer got away.” Gillian’s laughter sounded forced to her own ears. She exhaled slowly. “Is there still a danger to me or Jack?”
“No. Mister Kilpatrick has been remanded in custody on a rather extensive list of charges. He’ll be transferred to a federal maximum security facility within the next couple of days. He’s telling everything he knows in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.”
“And Barbara?”
“She’ll be held until the judge either grants her bail or her trial date. She hasn’t said anything at this point, not that we needed her to. Do you wish to see her?”
“No.” Gillian shook her head. “I have no desire to see her ever again. It won’t solve any problem.”
“I would like you to write up a statement on all this. Think of it as a victim impact statement. We’ll enter it into evidence and let you know. I expect you’ll be hearing from the prosecutor within the next few weeks.”
“Thank you.” Gillian made to get up. She paused, her gaze darting between the two men. “Is there any way I could access some of my money? I need to get a few things I just don’t have the funds for at the moment.”
“I’m not sure if you could. I can certainly ask for you.”
“What do you need, baby?” Jack rubbed her back. “Whatever it is we’ll get it.”
“Just things.”
“We’ll get them. Come on. If there’s nothing left, Rick, we’re going to head home.”
“Nope, nothing here. If I need anything more, I’ll be in contact.”
Snuggling into Jack’s side, Gillian allowed him to guide her back through the station. The warmth of his embrace eased the chill clinging to her as they walked. She shivered, her eyes burning. No matter how she thought, she just didn’t get why. Somehow she doubted she ever would.
“You okay?” Jack asked as he held the truck door open for her.
Gillian nodded quickly. “Yes, just shocked. Never thought I’d see the day when someone would hate me so much.”
“I don’t hate you.” Jack cupped her cheek with his palm and pulled her close for a slow, hot kiss. His tongue slipped past her
