Chapter 10: The Call That Ended It
Roy called back in eleven minutes.
"Heather is fine," he said.
"She's with a colleague of mine tonight.
She's not alone."
Nora sat on the edge of the hotel bed.
"Did she still want to make the call?"
"She insisted on it." A beat.
"She said, and I'm quoting, 'He's been threatening people my whole life.
I'm done letting him.'"
The call was made the following morning at 10:04 a.m.
Nora wasn't in the room — Roy had been clear about that.
But he called her at 10:51 and said three words: "We have him."
She asked him to play her the relevant section over the phone.
She heard Heather's voice first, steady and careful: "Dad, I'm scared.
Edgar's attorney is pushing back and I don't know what to do.
Did you tell Kristina to do something to Nora?
Because if you did, I need to know."
A pause.
Then Warren Perkinson's voice — low, unhurried, the voice of a man who had never once believed he could be caught.
"Kristina did what she thought was best.
I may have suggested the timing.
That's all."
"Did you know what she was planning?"
Another pause.
Shorter.
"I knew it would be resolved.
I didn't ask for specifics."
"Dad.
She put a snake in her bed."
"And Nora Preston is still alive and causing problems, so clearly it didn't work." His voice shifted — impatient now, the patience worn through.
"Stop asking questions you don't want answered.
This is almost over.
Let Edgar's attorney handle the divorce and stay out of the rest of it."
"What about the break-in at her office?"
The line was quiet for four full seconds.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Perkinson said.
"The laptop," Heather said.
"Her supplier files."
"Heather." His voice went flat and cold.
"This conversation is over."
The line clicked.
Roy was back on immediately.
"That's enough.
The DA agrees.
We're moving today."
Warren Perkinson was taken into custody that afternoon at his Scottsdale offices.
His attorney arrived within the hour and said nothing publicly.
The arrest was quiet — no cameras, no statement — but by evening it had reached the financial news, and by the following morning it was on the front page of the Arizona business section.
Kristina's plea arrangement was finalized the same week.
Her full statement confirmed that Perkinson had told her the insurance policy made the situation urgent, that he had suggested the timing, and that he had told her Edgar would bring Heather to the house so Nora would be distracted.
She received a conviction on reckless endangerment.
Eighteen months of supervised probation.
No prison time — a fact that sat uncomfortably with Nora, until Roy reminded her that Kristina's statement was what had put Perkinson in a position where he could not negotiate his way out.
Edgar signed the divorce papers on a Tuesday.
He did not contest the house, the vehicles, the business, or the accounts.
He retained his personal savings and the furniture from his old apartment, most of which had been in storage since he moved into Nora's house ten years ago.
He called once, the day after he signed.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I know that doesn't fix anything."
"No," Nora said.
"It doesn't."
"I told myself I didn't know what my mother was going to do.
But I knew something was going to happen and I didn't stop it.
I have to live with that."
She thought about saying something.
She thought about the dinner table two years ago, his hand over hers, telling her they would get through it together.
She thought about twelve years of work and a house in Paradise Valley and a man who had let his mother and his girlfriend's father arrange the end of her life while he looked the other way.
"Take care of your child," she said.
May you like
"That's the only thing I have to say to you."
She hung up.
