by Beth Ziarnik
Jill sank down beside him. “But what if she did get over her anger? What if her sole motive is to help Dad? It seems all too convenient to suspect her. And both of my sisters seem too eager to cast her in a negative light.”
Sifting through what they had discovered so far, Clay wasn’t convinced. “Seem is the key word here. We need concrete evidence, and all we have so far are suspicions.”
Jill tapped her chin. “Kat is pretty intelligent, and if she believes Alice no longer holds a grudge, that leaves her without a motive, right?”
He had to agree. “Let’s say Alice doesn’t have a motive. Where does that leave us?”
Jill glanced up at him. “What about Dora? I doubt she’s ever forgiven Dad for betraying her only daughter.”
“Strong motivation, but why wait so long?”
“Because both granddaughters are grown women and don’t need their father the way they did when they were children.”
“Seems reasonable,” Clay said. “But it has a couple of flaws. “You said Lillie still needs care, and though Dora owns the house, she can’t afford its upkeep without your father’s financial support, right?”
“Excellent memory, but how about this take? Dad must realize Dora and Hannah won’t be around forever. Kat obviously has her own life, and Lillie, even if she inherited the house from her grandmother, couldn’t live here by herself.”
“Makes sense.”
“I think Dad made provisions for her care elsewhere when Dora and Hannah are gone. Maybe earlier if they become too old or incompetent.”
Clay rubbed his chin. “Just what a wise father might do, but that still leaves the house. If he made no provisions for its upkeep after his death, would it make sense for Mrs. Gates to harm him and risk losing this house?”
“No, I think she intends to die here, and I do believe that if Dad has the means, he would attempt to see that she could have that wish.”
He admired Jill’s ability to believe the best about others. “Okay, I’ll concede that point. Which leaves us with Caldwell.” He braced himself and wasn’t far off the mark.
Jill bristled and sat up to stare at him. “What in the world would he have to do with it?”
Yep, she was still defending the man. He’d have to repeat the facts. “He has plenty of opportunity. He makes himself an almost daily fixture even though he doesn’t live here.”
“For a very good reason. He’s helping with the law firm.”
She sure had the capacity for loyalty, but she’d still have to face the possibility. “What if there’s more to his visits than that? By your own admission, he’s ambitious, and being a man, I think he would like nothing better than to take over your father’s firm.”
“Someday maybe, but really, Clay, he wouldn’t have to kill Dad to accomplish that.”
“No, he might only have to marry the boss’s daughter.”
“What a terrible thing to say. I can’t believe you—”
He put up the palms of his hands like a barrier. “Let me finish. I was going to say if she were willing.”
“Well, she’s not.”
“I know.”
“And I believe I’ve made that more than clear.”
“Yes, but you’re not the only daughter.”
“You’re kidding. Kat or Lillie? For heaven’s sake, neither of them would make a good match for Brian. He wouldn’t stand for being bossed around by Kat. As for Lillie, an ambitious lawyer needs a wife who is a confident and able hostess.”
“Okay, you have me there. Caldwell has plenty of opportunity but probably no real means.”
Jill stared at the carpet as if in deep thought. “What about Kat? She pops in on Dad whenever it suits her.”
“And she doesn’t like you, but that’s no reason to harm her father. She has quite an attitude, but do you think she’s capable of murder?”
“I’ve asked myself that question. She’s a little intimidating, but murder … I don’t know. On the other hand, the first time I saw her, she made such a fuss about my showing up at a convenient time, as if I were looking for money. But what if it’s more about her needing money. What if it’s more about making sure I don’t wind up in Dad’s will?”
“Didn’t Caldwell say you’ve been in your father’s will for a long time?”
“Something she wouldn’t know unless she’s read the will … or someone told her. Something we wouldn’t know unless we asked her.” Jill yawned, trying to hide it with her hand. “I’m so tired I can hardly think.”
“We’re both tired.” He kissed her pert nose, wishing they had more conclusive suspects. Maybe Alice was wrong, and no one was trying to kill John.
“We should both go up to bed,” she said. “Maybe in the morning we can make better sense of all this.”
If there was anything to make sense of. But if there wasn’t, why was John so frightened and insisting that Jill needed to go. Unless Jill was … the only one in danger.
His skin prickled at the thought.
Jill startled from sleep as sirens wailed up the driveway, cutting off beneath her bedroom window. Doors opened and slammed as she jumped up from her bed.
She snatched her robe from the foot of the bed, slipped it around her, and dashed into the hall. The door to her father’s room stood open while footsteps pounded down the stairs from the third floor. Her sisters arrived in pajamas and robes, wide-eyed with alarm.
Clay followed right behind them, hurrying over to Jill. “What’s going on?”
“I … I don’t know. I just got here myself.”
At the slamming of a door on the first floor and hurried footsteps, they all turned toward the stairwell. Hannah spoke from the first landing below. “This way. Quickly.”
Two paramedics bounded up the stairs and hurried past Jill, carrying their equipment bags. She froze in place as they sped into her father’s room. Clay slipped a protective arm around her. Her heart hammered as she prayed for her father.
Dora emerged from her room. “Is it John?”
“Yes, Grandma,” Lillie said.
Dora paled and sagged, and Kathryn hurried to steady her. “Alice and the paramedics are with him.”
When Alice appeared at the bedroom door, about to close it, Dora’s facial muscles tensed. “What can you tell us?”
“Nothing at the moment. We should know shortly.” The nurse cut her eyes at Jill and shut the door.
Clay whispered in Jill’s ear, his warm breath flowing over it. “I don’t like the way she looked at you.”
Why had Alice seemed displeased—almost hostile toward her?
The minutes ticked by in agonizing slowness before the paramedics emerged. “Keep an eye on that drip,” one said to Alice. “We’ll be right back with the gurney.” The two skimmed down the stairs.
In unspoken union, Jill and Clay, her two sisters, and their grandmother converged outside her father’s room. He lay in the bed, hooked up to a drip line while Alice hovered nearby.
A clattering of metallic noise on the first floor preceded heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs. The paramedics appeared with the gurney, released its wheels to meet the floor, and guided it toward her father’s room. Jill and the others stepped out of the way. She could barely breathe as they placed her father on it. The whole scene seemed so surreal.
Clay snugged her close. Lillie whimpered, and Kathryn hushed her. Dora stood in stony silence as if wrapped in disbelief.
With great efficiency, the paramedics prepared her father and wheeled him from the room. Reducing the gurney to a stretcher, they proceeded down the stairs while Alice followed in their wake. As they passed, Jill had only a moment to take in her father’s unconscious form. If she had not seen the slight movement that indicated he was still breathing, she would have thought him already gone.
She pulled away from Clay. “I’m getting dressed and going to the hospital.”
“Right with you.” He sprinted toward the stairs to the third floor.
Chapter Twe
nty-One
Ten minutes later, Jill grabbed her coat and purse while holding her phone to her ear and scanning the disheveled room. She’d straighten up when she returned. “I’m ready, Clay. Are you?”
“Almost. Be there in a minute.”
“Wait. Someone’s at my door.”
Yanking the door open, she gasped under her sister’s venomous glare. Kathryn jerked her head toward Jill’s coat. “Going somewhere?”
“The hospital.” When Kat’s eyes narrowed, Jill stumbled back a step. “Oh, no. He’s not … dead, is he?” Please, Lord, no.
“We’ve received no such news, but Grandmother would like a word with you.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, it can’t.” Kathryn’s sharp tone dared her to argue.
What was so important to keep the family from rushing to the hospital?
Impatient to get this over with, Jill tossed her coat on the bed and fumbled with her phone. “Clay, Dora wants to see me before we leave.”
“I’m on my way.”
A thumping of footsteps descending from the third floor sounded as Jill hurried in Kathryn’s wake. Clay caught up with them at the open door to her father’s room. His empty, rumpled bed pulled at her heart.
Her sister turned sharply into the adjacent sitting room and joined Alice and the others huddled at the far end of the room. Not one friendly face. A chill raced down Jill’s spine. She attempted to shake the niggling sense of unease that permeated the room.
“Would you two please come into the room?” Dora’s voice held an irritated edge. She sat on a short couch beside Lillie, patting her sobbing granddaughter’s back. They were both still wearing pajamas. “Everyone, please sit.”
Jill lowered herself into a chair near the arched doorway. Why was no one rushing to the hospital? While Clay claimed the chair next to her, she drew in a bracing breath and waited.
Lillie’s sobs reduced to soft sniffles. Dora checked her watch and grimaced, then looked to Jill. “Alice informed me that John’s sudden need for the hospital was the result of an attempt on his life.”
“What?” Jill flicked a wide-eyed glance at the nurse. “Did you call the police?”
“We won’t involve them until absolutely necessary,” Dora said.
“But if she knows who—”
“Alice seems to think it was you.”
“Me? You’re accusing me?” Incredible. Were they all insane?
The nurse fidgeted in her chair. “Last night I left John for a few minutes. When I returned, you were forcing him to drink while he tried to fight you off.”
Jill jumped up and glared at Alice. “That’s not true, and you know it.”
“You said John was restless, and you were trying to help him. I was immediately suspicious. Anyone would know better than to give a delirious person something to drink. John might have choked. At the moment, I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but later thought about it and saved the glass.” She held it up in a ziplock bag. “For fingerprints and traces of poison.”
“But … but none of this is true,” Jill sputtered. “What are you trying to do?”
The nurse stood, her nostrils flaring. As she opened her mouth and took a menacing step forward, Jill flinched.
“Enough!” Clay snapped, tension radiating from him as he stepped between Jill and Alice. “It’s obvious what you’re attempting to do with your lies. I’m certain John would not appreciate this despicable meeting to malign his daughter. Someone, by the way, who would never harm anyone. Come on, Jill. We’re done here.”
Dora put up a hand, signaling them to stop. “I see no reason to get so angry, Mr. Merrick. And, Alice, as I already told you, we will not invite scandal by involving the police unless we have no choice. But do keep the glass should we need it.” With a nod toward Jill, Dora continued. “Your friend is right. John will want to know we treated you fairly. We are willing to hear your version.”
Alice and the family eyed her with suspicion. All except a red-eyed Lillie, who appeared heartbroken. Was it worth a try? Would any of them believe her? Jill turned to Clay.
“You don’t have to,” he whispered.
“Yes. Yes, I do. Whether they believe me or not, they have to hear the truth.”
“Go ahead then.”
With Clay at her side, Jill offered a silent prayer and plunged in. “Alice sent me to my room for the night to get some rest, but I was so worried I couldn’t sleep. I returned, but Alice wasn’t there. I stayed in this sitting room far enough in the shadows where I wouldn’t disturb anyone.”
She paused to catch her breath and look at Clay. He barely dipped his head, encouraging her to go on.
“Alice returned. A short time later, I heard Dad thrashing about. She told him if he wouldn’t drink, she would have to give him a shot. She was having such a hard time, I went to see if I could help.”
“A likely story,” Kathryn mumbled.
Jill blinked hard and went on. “She said he was in a sleep-walking state, and she needed to calm him.”
“Lies!” Alice shouted.
“She asked me to hold his arm while she gave him a shot.” Bewildered, Jill turned to the nurse. “What exactly was in that shot?”
“You’re accusing me?” The nurse glared at her. “I gave him nothing that would harm him.”
“This is taking much too long. Is there anything else?” Dora directed her question to Jill.
“Dad calmed down after the shot, and I went back to my room.”
“No, you didn’t,” Kathryn bit out. “When I came in last night, you and your friend were hiding in the music room.”
“We weren’t hiding. We were talking,” Clay said.
Dora looked at Jill suspiciously. “About what?”
Kathryn crossed her arms tightly across her chest. “About us.”
Alice twisted toward Kathryn. “Did you hear what they said?”
“Enough to know they were trying to decide who to blame if Father dies.”
Panic rose in Jill’s throat. “We were trying to figure out who’s been poisoning him.”
Kathryn fisted her hands on her slim hips. “Then you knew he was being poisoned? How convenient.”
Observing Lillie’s frightened eyes, Jill swallowed hard. Even her innocent sister appeared to be leaning heavily toward believing Alice. For Lillie’s sake, Jill could not let Kat’s innuendo go unchallenged. “Alice suggested it my first night here.”
Aghast, Dora swung toward Alice. “And you never mentioned it to us?”
“She’s making all this up to save herself,” the nurse snapped.
Dora looked to Jill and back to Alice. “Even if you are right—”
“Dora, you … you know me,” Alice sputtered.
“I do, but we have two stories … and no proof.”
Alice held up the glass. “Yes, we do.”
Dora frowned at the distraught nurse. “We will wait to hear what the hospital says. If they say poison, the police will naturally become involved.”
Alice glared at Jill. “When I brought you here, I never thought you’d try to kill John.”
“You know I did no such thing.” Jill balled her fists, her nails biting into her palms.
“Enough!” Dora said. “We are here to gather facts—not to accuse anyone. It’s time we dress and go to the hospital. By now, the doctor should know something. Kathryn, wait for Lillie and me. We will go with you.”
Somehow, Jill’s feet carried her back to her room where Clay closed the door. She picked up her coat, still trying to wrap her mind around what had just taken place. “I trusted Alice.”
“She’s clever, and you wanted to believe her—just as the family wants to believe her.” He helped her into the coat.
“Can’t they see how wrong they are?”
“People believe what they want to believe. Alice knew she could count on that.” He looked at her pointedly. “That’s not all. She was setting you up from the moment you arrived.”
Jill stumbled back and against the bench at the foot of the bed. “You mean, inviting me here before Dad knew anything about it, then sneaking me in through the back door when Dora refused to let me in—”
“And pretending to be your friend while planting evidence to make you look guilty.” He ground his teeth. “She’s clever, but we have the truth on our side.”
“Oh, no,” Jill moaned.
He raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“The glass in that bag can’t be the one she used last night. She must have saved one with my fingerprints on it.”
“Did you handle anything else?”
“Not that I recall. But it’s still obvious she was setting me up.” No doubt about it. “I refuse to let her get away with it.” Jill bolted toward the door and pulled it open, then stepped back quickly. “Dora!”
The woman stood before Jill, still not dressed to leave the house. “And where do you think you are going?”
“I have to talk to Alice.” Jill tried to brush past her father’s mother-in-law.
Dora blocked her way. “Alice is on her way to the hospital.”
“You have to stop her.”
“She works there.”
“But she intends to kill my father.”
“Really, Jill, there is no reason for hysterics. Alice is no danger to John. She’s practically family.” Dora pressed her lips together as if deciding on her next move. “And now, since John is no longer here, it is time for you and Mr. Merrick to leave. Please pack and depart immediately.”
“Of … of course.” Jill shut the door and leaned against it, breathing deeply to steady herself. She looked up at Clay. “She didn’t believe a word I said. And with Alice at the hospital where they’ve taken Dad, there’s no telling how soon she might act. We have to move fast.”
“Any ideas?”
“Not yet, but we have to find a way to prove our suspicions before Dora turns Alice’s evidence over to the police. First, we’re going to the hospital. I want to see for myself that Dad is out of danger. Let’s get out of here.”
She grabbed her suitcase from the closet and began packing.