Free Dead Dreams by Emma Right Page B

droop.
    Sarah glared at me. “I know it looks pathetic, but you’re the only friend I have. I have other…associates. Jackson, Megan, the K twins, but you’re the only person I truly trust.”
    I sighed.
    “Please, Brie. Hear me out—this will be good for you. I’m not just thinking about myself.”
    Her eyes were already moist. “And how did you hear about my uncle?”
    “Jackson may have mentioned it,” I said.
    “Really?” She looked quizzically at me.
    “You don’t want me to know he’s after your wealth?”
    She sat up straight and stared at her French-manicured fingernails as if they were not quite the shade she’d asked for. “I s’ppose you’d find out. But I’m surprised Jackson took such liberties to tell you about Stu.”
    “If you don’t trust me….”
    “It’s not that. But anyway, will you help me? Now that you know what I’m up against?”
    “Shoot.” I couldn’t believe I said that.
    With her petite frame, I felt like an older sister; for even though she was only a couple of inches shorter, she had frail bones and mine were thicker. I also had wider shoulders, possibly from the hours of gymnastics, ballet, and swimming I’d reveled in. Not that I had time for any of those things anymore.
    Sarah rubbed the heels of her palms on her eyes. “If we can carry out this plan, you could be financially stable. Independent. Free to accomplish your dreams. Always have the means to do whatever you want, when you want. You’d never have to worry about money, or your mom bugging you, or your dad hounding you about speaking to that Pastor Jerry, or becoming a doctor, like him.”
    “It’s Perry, Pastor Perry. PP.” Maybe it was worth listening to her proposal. I could always refuse.
    “Jackson wants to control me. I need to disappear, the way Todd did. We, you and I, need to make him, them all, think I’m dead, or kidnapped, or something, so I can live my life the way I want. And I’ll reward you generously for your help.”
    “ We ? I’m not going to partake in murder. Or kidnapping. I watch—correction, used to watch—TV detective shows. I’ve learnt a lot from 24, and CSI . And FBI Most Wanted . These are federal offences you are suggesting. I could be jailed for life. Hello? This tiny apartment is still bigger than a prison cell.”
    “Ridiculous.” She waved her hand at me as if I were a gnat. “Nothing like that.”
    “And, what about your inheritance? You’re adamant your brother, or your uncle, doesn’t get your share, and you want yourself dead? Or kidnapped?” I gestured back at her, as she did me.



Chapter Nineteen
     
    Sarah laid out the facts. She would get the inheritance, due in a few days, even if she disappeared and were presumed dead, as long as her body remained unfound, and she hadn’t committed any crime. Technically. The inheritance would sit in the bank, and no one but she, or the person authorized with the series of numbers and security measures, could touch the loot. It was a loophole in the will her grandfather, Lucas, had drawn up six decades ago. Jackson had explained. She’d double-checked this with at least one other attorney.
    “Wouldn’t Jackson suspect something?” Never fool around with lawyers, I’d been told.
    “He might, but what could he do?”
    On the day Sarah turned twenty-one, in ten days, she said, the inheritance would automatically be deposited into a Swiss bank account and access to the wealth could be via the Internet or in person. But, she thought her uncle or her brother, or both, as they might be working in collusion—and never mind that they hated each other—would try to foil things for her or, worse, get rid of her. Take her out and they’d only have to deal with one another. Maybe Todd had made a pact with Stuart to get the uncle off his own back. Her best bet would be to make them both think she was dead on the day of her birthday and have her body disappear.
    “We’d make it seem as if it was a kidnapping