by Mara Webb
“Leslie and I were together that night. She had come over to my room and we were hanging out and then I went for a shower. When I got into the water this crazy vision started, I was being rushed at by a hundred dentists all screaming about root canals and I remember feeling afraid of it, as if it was real.
“I think I fell over or slipped or something because I came around on the bathroom tiles and I could hear screaming. I grabbed a towel and ran out to the bedroom; Leslie was there, and she was sweating. I think she had a bad vision too, but the screaming carried on and I looked out of the peephole and I saw that Steph had been stabbed. I reached for the doorknob, but Leslie told me to stay out of the way and let Rose help her. She was right, so I stayed in the room.”
“You and Leslie seemed to have reconnected very quickly following the death of your father,” I said.
“We didn’t technically end our relationship. Look I know it’s messy and gross, but we love each other and want to have a good life, we couldn’t do that with no money. I was written out of the will; I was going to get nothing.
“My dad wasn’t going to live too much longer anyway; he has had a few heart attacks in the past and with his ability to tune into other people’s feelings it has affected his quality of life. Did he ever seem to sort of read your mind?” Jonathon asked. I thought back and remembered how Nicholas had anticipated a question I was about to ask. “Yes, actually.”
“He’s an empath, more of a curse than a gift. Well we thought that if Leslie got together with my dad, he would eventually just die and leave everything to her, then we could go back to our life together. Simple, right?” Jonathon looked at both of us for reassurance that this wasn’t the maddest plan ever created. “Love makes you do crazy things, sometimes those things include letting your fiancé pretend your relationship ended so that she can marry your father.”
“What about the drinking?” I asked.
“Which one of them ratted me out? The girl, right?” he snapped, clearly guessing it was Kimberly that had told me. “All I had to do was pretend to be heartbroken over Leslie, act like we were really broken up. Turns out that I can’t handle my drink all that well, and I was clocking up the calories, so I found a potion to stop it knocking me completely out. It meant I could still get the taste and some of the buzz, but it wouldn’t stop me being able to work or whatever.”
“So, you were just lying there, conscious?” Ryan asked.
“I had to put on a show. I would just pretend to be asleep and lie still for like thirty minutes and people would keep talking. It’s how I found out the zinger. Dominic acts like the perfect husband, but the fact of the matter is that he betrayed my sister.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“He’s a thief. Dominic was trying to sell an idea of Steph’s to Pint Sized Ocean.”
16
A bell rung out across the yacht to alert us all to dinner.
Jonny looked over at the officers guarding him and they produced a PB&J sandwich for him to eat while Ryan and I made our way out of the brig and up past the murder deck to sit down for food. Dominic was looking shifty as he pulled out a seat for a weary Stephanie to lower herself onto, I suspected that she was taking some pain medication to ease the discomfort in her shoulder, but there was also a half empty glass of wine in front of her so it could be the alcohol.
This family was hard work.
I sat down next to Ryan and nudged him with my elbow to get him to try and ease up a little, I knew he was mindful of the recent murder attempt that Dom had launched against me, but he was unlikely to kill me in front of all these people at dinner, right?
Monty and Rose took their places and Leslie slumped down into the chair that Nicholas had been sitting in only a couple of days earlier. Jonny had been arrested for attempting to kill his sister, Dominic had tried to kill me, Nicholas was dead, and we still didn’t know how or why.
Sean and Kimberly were serving freshly made pizza with salads, the air was filled with the strong scent of roasted garlic, tomatoes and melted cheese. If anything can bring people together, surely it is pizza. Sean placed a tray of pull-apart garlic knots down on the table by my own plate, cheese had been melted over the entire dish and my mouth was watering so much, almost dying in the sea really makes you hungry.
Once the last dish had been placed down, we were offered refills on our drinks and jugs of water were brought over, as well as another whisky for Monty. No one was speaking. Stephanie and Leslie were both taking large mouthfuls of food which was nice to see as I feared I would be eating my dinner to the soundtrack of one of them lecturing us all about saturated fat.
“Are you reading the will out tonight then Mr. Hughes?” Leslie asked. She was trying to brush it off as a casual question and continued to load her plate with cheese covered carbohydrates. The ‘clink’ of silverware on crockery rang out as Steph dropped her fork in disgust.
“Oh, you couldn’t even wait until dinner was over to try and snoop around to see if you and my freaky brother managed to squeeze any coins out of the old man. Why would he love you? I don’t understand it. You couldn’t be less subtle if you had ‘gold digger’ tattooed across your forehead.” Stephanie remained seated for her short speech but was putting a lot of energy into grimacing and accusatory pointing.
“What makes you think that I would care what your brother has in the will? Surely, he was excluded, I thought that was established a while ago,” Leslie replied. I could see a vein in her temple pulsating wildly as she tried to control her response.
“You think it’s a secret that you two never broke up? Come on, I’ve caught the two of you with your hands on each other at least three times since we got onto this yacht. I caught you kissing at Daddy’s birthday party for crying out loud. I told him; you know. He knew all along what a little leech you were,” Steph snapped.
“Is that so? Then why am I wearing an engagement ring? I think you’ll find that Nicholas had caught on to your misplaced jealousy, he knew that you were making it all up to try and get some attention. Obviously, you aren’t getting enough attention at home, so you had to come crawling back to your elderly father to fill the gap in your life.”
Leslie was smirking now. Steph made an attempt to scooch the chair back so that she could jump up to yell more, but the chair was heavy. She shuffled back slightly but stayed seated.
“My father loved me. How dare you suggest I had an agenda; we were a family long before you came along and sunk your claws into the Blatham-Ford men!” Steph shouted.
“Is that why he turned a blind eye as you tried to sell him out?” Monty mumbled from the far side of the table. We all turned to look at him, the conversation was like a tennis match where players took turns to launch harsh truths at each other.
“What do you mean?” Steph asked.
“Pint Sized Ocean. I had people on the inside that told me they saw your car parked in the ‘visitors’ section on numerous occasions. Little whispers about how a Blatham-Ford had finally succumb to a price tag and handed over intellectual property, designs, ideas…you name it.” Monty wasn’t looking up at Stephanie anymore, he finished his whisky in one more mouthful and tapped the top of the glass to indicate that he would like a refill.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Steph said. She was doing a fairly convincing job of pretending to be confused by Monty’s accusations.
“Those poor fools at Pint Sized were courting you, trying to win you over. You finally gave in and then spent most of your time trying to sour everyone against me, trying to convince your father that I had sold him out. You wanted his approval so badly that you would pump him full of lies, he knew that I had nothing to do with it.
“Pint Sized clearly didn’t realize what a colossal idiot you truly are, Nicholas only gave you a job so you would keep him company and you quickly made it clear that you were a nuisance,” Monty paused. “I assume that’s why you killed him Stephanie, because he confronted you about your
betrayal.”
I gasped loudly and eyes turned to me before turning to Steph who looked horrified. It was like having front row seats to a telenovela and my hands continued to push pizza towards my mouth as I stared, unblinking, at the unfolding events.
“I…I didn’t kill him. I swear. I didn’t go to Pint Sized Ocean to meet them, I didn’t sell him out, I didn’t do any of those things,” Steph sniffed through tears that were now rolling down her cheeks.
“Your car was there; people were talking about it. How else do you suppose that happened?” Monty asked.
There was a pause as we all started to piece things together. Dominic. He had taken Stephanie’s last name, so that would explain why Monty heard rumors of a Blatham-Ford defecting. He would be able to drive Stephanie’s car easily and he was treated so badly by Nicholas he might be looking for a new job somewhere that respected him.
One by one we all came to the same conclusion.
“Did you do this?” Steph said, turning to her husband. “Did you do this? Is this serious right now, are you kidding? Dom, did you freaking murder my father and sell us out and just sit there and let me take the heat?”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Dom protested.
“Not through lack of trying,” Ryan interrupted. “There is CCTV footage of you jumping into the water with the weights that you attached to Nora, and the knife you used to slash her oxygen supply.” Another gasp rang out around the table.
Stephanie pushed herself up onto her feet and started to walk backwards away from the group, she looked truly heartbroken. “You are truly the dumbest man I’ve ever met,” she barked.
I smirked as I realized she was referring to him trying to kill a witch by drowning. Dominic knew I had magic so surely he could have figured out that his plan wasn’t going to work, but maybe he just wasn’t that smart.
“Who are you?” she said, looking at Dominic. “How could you do all this?”
I saw Ryan pushing buttons on his cell phone and then the stomping of boots coming up the stairs. Clearly in this case the justice department figured they may as well just send one of the officers that was already here, so one uniformed guy walked up from the brig and grabbed hold of Dominic’s arms.
“No wait! Listen to me. Yes, I attacked that woman,” he said, turning to me, “and I’m sorry. But hey, you’re alive, right! Steph, I took your idea to Pint Sized, the glass letters thing, they loved it. They were going to pay out big time and we would have had way more than your father would ever have paid us.
“He talked to me like I was something he stepped in, I thought it would be better for both of us if we got away. I promise you though, I did not kill him. I just tried to kill her…which I probably shouldn’t have said out loud.”
“Mr. Hughes,” the officer said. We all looked away from Dominic to see the pale faced man behind him. “Are there any other crimes you want to report while you have me up here? They probably won’t send more officers as you will be shoring up to your final destination soon and I’ve got a problem with my knee, so I don’t want to have to go up and down these stairs again if I can avoid it.”
“I think that’s all the illegal activity I can think of at the minute,” Ryan answered.
Handcuffs appeared around Dominic’s wrists and he was escorted away, he didn’t seem to protest much but there wasn’t much he could say in his own defense after just admitting to a crime that we had caught on camera anyway. Stephanie sat back down and grabbed another bite of her pizza.
“I think you were working together, either your stupid husband killed Nicholas, or you did,” Leslie sneered. “You just wanted to be top dog, going around pretending you are a strong, female titan of industry when you are just on daddy’s pay roll with nothing to contribute. So, who was it then, you or him?”
Stephanie finished chewing her pizza, never taking her eyes off Leslie. There was about to be some real trouble now, even I had stopped eating.
“Ladies let’s just all agree that you are both horrible people and finish up our dinner. The quicker you learn to tolerate each other, the better for everyone,” Monty said.
I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but he took another drink of his whisky and I suspected that his inhibitions had just completely disappeared. Leslie and Stephanie then started to simultaneously hurl insults at each other as loud as they possibly could. They were screaming at each other but neither of them seemed to be interested in this conflict evolving into a physical fight.
Ryan announced to the group that he would speak to the officers of the justice department and arrange for the will reading to take place in the morning, with a view to include Jonny and Dominic. No one was listening so we sloped away unnoticed. We got back to our room and Ryan pulled out his cell phone to make a call when I put my hand on his arm.
“Leslie hates Steph, right? Enough to hurt her?” I said.
“I’d say so,” Ryan replied.
“Leslie was in Jonny’s room, I think she ordered the room service with the ingredients for the distraction magic then stabbed Stephanie when Jonny was in the shower having his nightmare,” I explained. Ryan paused as he thought about it.
“Does that mean she killed Nicholas too?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe the will can make things clearer in the morning.”
17
Breakfast was uncomfortable.
Stephanie and Leslie were refusing to look at each other but both kept looking over to see if the other one was looking at them and they would occasionally have their eyes meet, pull a face of disgust, then turn away.
Everyone was waiting for the reading of the will and Ryan had made it clear that he would eat first, ensure Jonny and Dominic were present and that he would not be pushed to speed things up. I could see that he was relishing the slow eating of his pancakes, I smiled a little as I watched him reach over for another helping.
Ryan had asked that chairs be set up in two corners of the room so that Jonny and Dominic could be seated separately and escorted by officers of the justice department. Two more officers had appeared during the night and the two incarcerated men were brought up from the brig to the dining room area just in time to watch Ryan contemplate grabbing a fourth serving of pancakes.
Rick suddenly wandered in from the labyrinth of hallways behind the bar.
“Hey guys,” he said, causing us all to turn in his direction. “So, I made some turns this way and that, took a few shortcuts, a little bit of the old you know what, and long story short, we will be arriving at the final destination today. Everything has been shuffled about to make sure it’s all right and proper, it will all be ready. No disappointment for anyone, just like he said. Okay, see you later.”
I didn’t have a single clue what he was talking about but apparently our yacht vacation had been cut short slightly and we would be ending our trip in the next few hours.
“We should try to arrange a plane home,” I whispered in Ryan’s ear.
“I am way ahead of you,” he replied. “Okay, should we get on with this thing then?”
At Ryan’s voice, the group of gathered family and friends twisted their chairs so that they could look at him. He walked around to stand at the front of the room like he was about to give a press briefing and opened the large envelope that he had been holding on to. I could hear the faint squeaking of chairs as people re-arranged themselves awkwardly out of nervousness.
“I had a brief look at the package inside, it was a second envelope with instructions written on the outside for me to read the letter before the will itself, so here goes.”
Ryan tore open the second envelope and pulled out the papers inside. He placed the empty envelope down on the floor beside his feet and straightened up to start reading, these extra seconds as he prepared himself were clearly irritating everyone waiting to hear what they had inherited.
To the gang that has gathered,
As a man that has his health in good order, I can only assume that thi
s is being read following my murder. A heart attack or two couldn’t take me down, but I’m sure one of you found a way to see me off.
This has been the price I have had to pay to keep any of you in my life, the constant fear that someone would decide they wanted more and more slices of my pie until there was nothing left. I guarantee that someone’s greed has caused my death, but who’s?
To my son, Jonathon:
I put hundreds of thousands of dollars into your private education and you still came out stupid. I love you because I have to, not because I want to.
After your mother died you became a person, she would have been ashamed of, but I know that you can still change into a wonderful man.
You are too good for Leslie; I want you to know that. I am an old man, not a blind man, my advice is to stay away from her, she will be the death of you.
Stephanie, your husband is useless and a waste of oxygen, get out of there. You could marry a fire hydrant with a better personality, stop looking down your nose at people and open your eyes to the privilege you have.
Dominic, stop using my last name. Your presence in my family tree is an embarrassment to the noble line of the Blatham-Ford house. I know you sold ideas to Pint-Sized Ocean and I have already instructed lawyers to take you to the cleaners, I hope you enjoy jail.
Monty and Rose, two finer people I never did meet. I hope to play golf with you again one day, and Rose your cooking was a heaven on earth.
Leslie, my dearest Leslie. You may not have been perfect, but I loved you with all of my heart and soul. That may seem an unlikely thing, but you saved me from a darkness I thought I would never crawl out of. Thank you.
You may now read the will.
The chair creaking got louder as everyone leaned forward to hear clearly what was said. Ryan looked up from the letter and studied the crowd. “Okay. Here we go. Everyone ready? Here we go.”
The controlling shares of the company are to be distributed evenly between my two children, Jonathon and Stephanie Blatham-Ford. Just kidding, you get the minimum amount required that you won’t contest the will, $10,000 each. My golf equipment is to be delivered to Mr. Montgomery Talbot, or it is to remain at my country estate in North Shevton as I am giving that to Mrs. Rose Talbot, a dear friend.