18
Soon after Shay left, Rebecca received a phone call from Gebran Najjar. He made it a point to tell her that he was only talking to her, a woman, because Sutter wasn’t in the office.
“Fine,” was her clipped, cold response.
“I called to tell you,” Gebran said, “my mother passed away last night.”
Rebecca was stunned…at first. His mother wasn’t that old, and Rebecca's normal inclination was to suspect most anything and everything. His mother might have had dementia, but no one indicated she was close to death. It all sounded too opportune. Still, she couldn't come right out and accuse him of anything, especially something as nefarious as killing his own mother just to avoid questioning. For now, she'd take his story at face value. “I’m sorry to hear it. What happened to her?”
“She died
