Zoey shrugged at that. "It's what we do."
"What do you think about having a girls' night in at your place, with the good wine, that good birthday cake, the really good quiche my daughter made, and as many really, really bad romantic comedies as we can stand to watch?" Beth looked like she was prepared to argue or comfort.
Kevin felt Zoey's look on him. He thought real fast to figure out what it meant. He nodded when he got it. She made that quiche for him, so he could finally taste her cooking. He saw her turn and nod at her mother who had communicated with her eyes like he wished he could learn to do.
"I think that—" Kate was a little choked up, but she looked like it was a thought that interrupted her answer instead of an emotion. "Frank, will you be okay if I leave?"
Frank smiled and nodded. "Drinking liquor, smoking cigars, and eating big greasy steaks. How could I not be alright?"
Kate looked at her kids. "Will all of you be okay? It is ... It is ... His day."
"We'll be okay, Mom," Kaley said.
"Seriously, we will," Kami seconded.
"We'll be more than okay if those old men let us drink," Kevin said.
There was a hearty round of laughter after that.
****
The men were busy smoking, drinking, and grilling, while the teenagers floated in awesome floating chairs in the awesome pool at the McConnell's awesome home. Kevin held Zoey's hand to hold her floating reclining chair in place next to his in the pool. He debated which man to ask the question on his mind before he went with his uncle because he was family. "Uncle Frank, can I have a beer?"
Frank shared a grin and a head shake with Taylor before he looked at Kevin. "You know your mother would skin me alive if I did that."
Kevin shared looks with Kami. He didn't get the look but thinking about his sister made him think. She was the most prolific liar in the family. Kaley was a better liar, but Kami got more out of it from the sheer volume. He didn't have to think. The lie just came to him. "Dad told me we could share a drink this birthday." He saw all the young women looking at him, but he ignored that and looked at his uncle to sell the lie that was out there and couldn't be taken back. "And you know how I remember everything."
Frank looked at Taylor.
Taylor grinned a big grin at Frank. "I'm not sure whose profession he'd do better in, yours or mine."
Frank grinned before he looked back and shook his head but he probably knew Kevin wouldn't catch that his grin negated what he was about to say. "Bringing in your Dad, that's pretty low Kevin."
"I'm sorry Uncle Frank." Kevin had to gulp air to get the rest of the apology out. "I'll never—" He stopped when his uncle's palm went up.
"But, it's also pretty clever." Uncle Frank held up one finger. "One beer."
Kami had her hand up instantly. "Uncle Frank?"
Frank saw the hands of the other two raising, so he looked to Taylor since it included his daughter.
Taylor turned and put his hands on his hips. "I need to know that you, all of you and each of you, can keep a secret since it's my ass on the line."
All the teens in the pool affirmed they could keep a secret vigorously and sincerely.
"Dad, can I have a glass of wine instead?" Zoey saw Taylor's nodding head and made it more specific. "Red wine. A good red wine."
"I want wine too," Kami said.
"A beer is twelve ounces and that works out to five ounces of wine or a shot and a half of whiskey," Kevin said in his flat voice he usually voiced facts with.
"No whiskey," Frank said, "except for the grownups."
"I'll take a beer gentlemen." Kaley thought and refined her order. "A dark stout if you have it."
Taylor looked up at Frank from the outdoor refrigerator he opened near the grill. "I think that girl's ready for college."
Taylor and Frank passed out the beverages as the teenagers paddled over.
Kevin put his beer in the slot for it in the floating chair. "Now I know what that's for." He took his beer out when his uncle raised his tumbler of scotch.
"To the best man I ever knew," Frank said honestly and emotionally.
"Hear, hear," Taylor said convincingly even though he never met the man.
While there was a respectful time of silence out of respect for his father, Kevin had an idea. He paddled closer to the men as the idea fleshed itself out in his mind. He could tell the women knew he was up to something. He gave them a look that he hoped let them know that.
Uncle Frank smiled at Kevin taking as much of a swig of the bitter beer as he could stand.
"Uncle?"
"Yes, Kevin?"
"You know the odds against Mom finding another dude as good as Dad are pretty high." Kevin thought he could've said that better, but it was what it was.
"You got that right, Son." Frank looked and sounded completely sincere.
"I've seen some of those losers at the country club—" Kevin saw Taylor turn and smirk at him over that. "Present company excepted, Sir." He took Taylor's hearty laugh as forgiveness for what he said. "When Mom's ready to date again, if you're not doing anything or anyone—" He felt a brow raise at the way he said that. He heard the girls giggling hard at that. He was in too far, so he had to finish it. "Why don't you date her? I mean, you're cool and we're all cool with you."
There was a long pause where the only sounds were the sounds of the lapping pool waves and the sizzling meat.
Kevin realized during that pause that he was the only Riley who could get away with blurting something like that out. That was one of the advantages of having what he had. You could say something no one else could and get away with it. He saw Frank looking nervously at his sisters.
"Really, Uncle Frank." Kami pointed. "You're a slight boozer, but Mom would probably pick a big loser."
Frank's nervous look changed to an amused look.
"Yeah," Kaley said, "Mom's a catch, but I bet she wouldn't mind you catching her." As Kaley's floating chair floated around, she winked at Kevin.
"You all know, your mother is a smart, strong, and lovely woman. Down the road, when she's ready and I'm ready, I'd be blessed to have a woman like that." Frank smirked before he spoke, "It's not Kate I have to think about, it's her spoiled rotten kids."
Kevin laughed hard along with his sisters. He exchanged an eyebrow flash with Kami as she floated around. He felt Zoey's pat on his hand before he looked into her eyes. He got it from all of them. They were glad he brought the subject up. He was glad it worked out better than he expected.
****
About a half an hour later, Zoey paddled over to the edge and got out of the pool. Kevin thought the speed she walked with might mean something.
Zoey looked into the kitchen through the big window.
Kevin got his chair around to see what she was looking at.
The two men were drinking, laughing, and having a good time together.
"What's wrong, Honey?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, Honey," Kaley mocked.
"Yes, Honey-Bunny," Kami mocked too.
Kevin gave them looks, but when he looked back at Zoey, he saw she was laughing at that.
"It's been a half an hour." Zoey pointed to her expensive waterproof wristwatch. "And all they had to do was take out the baked potatoes Mom put in the oven and pour the dressing she made over the salad." Zoey shook her head.
Kevin didn't think she looked really mad. She was probably just complaining. Complaining like his sisters did. He wondered if that was a teenaged girl thing. Then, he wondered if thinking that was a male sexist thing. He quit wondering when he saw Kami get out of the pool and put her palms up.
"Wait, if those sweet older dudes party so hard they drop—" Kami said.
Kaley finished it as she got out of the pool. "We can get the real party on."
Kevin felt that new conspiratorial sense with them. It felt good and at least they weren't conspiring for killing. Not yet anyway. He got out of the pool.
Zoey looked through the window, bu
t the men were nowhere to be seen. "Kami!"
Kevin snapped his head at Kami who was about to walk inside through one of the French doors.
"Mom goes crazy if you wet-walk on the hardwood floor." Zoey looked around. "No towels."
"See, there's no underage drinking when the Moms are gone, but everything else runs smoother," Kevin said.
Zoey laughed along with his sisters. She looked in the kitchen again before she walked over to the intercom on the wall. She pressed the button.
Frank's voice could be heard through the intercom speaker, "You would've loved Jeff too Taylor."
Taylor responded, "What was he like?"
Zoey looked around to make sure before she kept her finger on the button for the malfunctioning intercom that should be letting them speak instead of listen in.
Frank spoke fondly of his brother-in-law, "Jeff was the most likable guy you'd ever meet. No matter what crap was coming down on me, he made me laugh."
There was a pause on the patio and all the Rileys got closer to the speaker.
Kevin found his sisters arms around him and it was anything but uncomfortable.
Frank had more to say, "I thought of him the first time I came to this house. Holden Hills. People criticized Jeff for being more of a dreamer than an earner, but he had one dream that could have ... Should have earned him a fortune."
Kevin and his sisters all looked at each other to see if anyone had heard that story before.
A sipping sound came through the speaker before Frank continued, "It was nothing more than small wires attached to a bigger wire with a plastic flower thing on top. It was simple, but genius."
"What did it do?" Taylor's voice sounded smooth and charming even over the small crackling speaker.
Frank answered the question readily, "It stopped hair and other things from going down the drain and clogging the drain." There was another sipping sound. "Jeff had some failures along the way. Poor guy took that personally. Like he was a failure. Long story short, that made him keep that great idea under wraps. He didn't even tell his family."
"And what's the tie-in with Holden Hills, Frank?" Taylor asked.
"Some guy," Frank answered, "Lives on the South shore of the fake lake. I think his name's Zelman."
"Sounds familiar," Taylor said, "If it's the guy I met, I knew he was a self-centered asshole by his fifth word."
There was a pause and Kevin scooted up with his sisters in tow, so he could get a hand on Zoey and get her into the group hug.
"Does Zelman have a bad comb-over?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah," Frank picked up where he left off, "Jeff showed the invention to Zelman who invests in things like that and moves them with hokey TV commercials."
"I think I saw a commercial for that, Frank." Taylor said.
"Right, Zelman ripped Jeff off," Frank said, "I went with him to the guy's house to try and put some lawyering into the threat, but he just laughed at us. He's no stranger to a lawsuit."
"Didn't Jeff have drawings? Prototypes?" Taylor asked.
"Sure, but nothing was time-stamped or dated." The sound of Frank's deep breath in was followed by a sad sigh out. "If only he'd shared that idea with the family." A deeper breath was followed by a sadder sigh. "I know I would've supported him." He cleared his throat. "My wife would've given him a hard time."
"You having a hard time over her, Frank?" Taylor asked.
"At first I was, but I figure as rotten as she was, I deserve a fresh start." The sound of ice rattling in a glass followed Frank's last words.
"Looks to me like you deserve a fresh Scotch," Taylor said.
Zoey released the button.
"Let's encourage those sweet guys to drink more," Kevin said as they made their way to the door to wait for towels.
"So we can drink more?" Zoey asked.
Kevin shook his head. "No, so we can kill more."
****
It was a little past midnight when they all made their way downstairs. Kevin had to go back and pull Kami away from watching the two older men who had bonded that night before they fell asleep in the recliners in the family room watching the recap of the ball games.
"I'm glad Uncle Frank found a buddy," Kami whispered.
"Me too," Kevin whispered back.
They rounded up the floating chairs from the pool.
They all hopped the short fence and walked the short distance across part of the golf course to get to the shore of the man-made lake.
"This is kind of cool," Zoey said as she got hers in the water and sat on top of it.
"Nothing like an amphibious assault." Kevin got on his raft face down and paddled past Zoey with a few strokes. "It's faster this way."
Zoey nodded and turned over to use his position.
Kami and Kaley followed on their flotation devices a few strokes behind them.
"The plan tonight is purely reconnaissance, unless we see an opportunity," Kevin said in a loud whisper. He realized he didn't need to whisper. There was enough summer wind and water noise to speak louder than that, so he made note of that.
"Reconnaissance?" Kami asked.
Zoey had fallen behind, so she was even with Kami while Kaley had caught up to Kevin.
Zoey turned and smiled at Kami. "I don't know what it means either." Her sad look gave way to a thinking one. "Wait! Recon!"
"I think I know what that means." Kami got her thinking look. "Is recon short for reconnoiter?"
"That's a funny word," Zoey thought harder, "I think it means checking it out before you attack."
"Yeah, that's it. That has to be it." Kami seemed confident.
Kevin looked at Kaley and spoke loud enough to be heard behind them, "Kaley, I think the days of us pretending to be the smart ones are numbered."
"Maybe so, but I'm the oldest and you're the baby, so we still got game," Kaley said.
As they all laughed at that exchange, Kevin had to look back at the two young women who didn't think they were smart, and he was glad he got to catch the looks he guessed were looks of self-pride.
****
Not much later, they waited by the boat dock behind the fabulous home of the man who screwed their beloved deceased father out of a fortune. "It really isn't my first beer talking," Kevin said, "I think it's a simple plan and sometimes, simple is best."
Kaley blew out a breath. "Okay, run it by us again."
Kevin pointed up the hill to the mansion. "The old asshole is sitting in that pool chair, but barely. He's so wasted, he's going to think he's either dreaming or the luckiest man on earth when they walk up."
A portly man with a bad comb-over, was slouched in a pool chair, and when he moved, his intoxication was abundantly clear.
Kami pointed toward the big kitchen window over the sink. "You watch his blonde bimbo wife and watch out for anything else, Kevin."
A thirtyish blonde was on the phone inside the home.
Zoey squinted. "The way she's holding the phone. Watching the back door, it's like she's—"
"Like she's on the phone to her boyfriend," Kami concluded.
"Come on, with a hunk like that Zelman, do you really think she'd have a boyfriend," Kaley said very sarcastically.
Kevin laughed, but got back to the last of his plan. "I'm close to the bait, and you're close to the boat in case we have to make a quick getaway, Kaley."
Kaley looked at the expensive speedboat and grinned. "Okay, I'm on board."
Kevin pulled the plastic baggy out of the pocket of his swimming trunks. He pulled out the syringe. He looked at Zoey and Kami.
"Zoey, it's the exact same spot where you stabbed Rob. Straight to the heart."
Zoey nodded. She poked a finger under Kevin's rib cage.
He moved her finger over. "Right there."
Kami waded in closer to Kevin when Zoey moved away. It took her several tries to get the right spot.
Kevin rubbed his face and thought. "Zoey, you were behind Rob when you pulled the steak knife in and hit the right spot.
Get behind me."
Zoey did as he asked.
Kevin pulled her hands to the right spot. "Right there." Since Zoey knew where to inject, it was time to give Kami a quick injection lesson. He waded and turned.
Kami put her arms around him. "This is a little weird, isn't it little Bro?"
They all laughed breathy laughs to keep the sound below the wind and water sounds mixed with the easy listening music the rich drunk had playing from his patio speakers loudly.
"Right there." Kevin had Kami's hands to the right spot.
"I feel it. Right under where it's hard and boney." Kami seemed excited she found the right spot.
Kaley and Zoey were snorting into laughs. They put their hands over their mouths to keep it in.
Kevin couldn't believe he got the joke before Kami did.
When Kami got it, Zoey had to put her own hand over Kami's mouth to suppress the laughter.
Kevin put his hand out. "One!"
The girls parroted what he said in near perfect unison.
****
Kevin was proud of the way he snuck up the hill and crawled as fast as a brisk walk to a position close to Zelman. He looked up at the house and could see the man's wife in the kitchen. He guessed she had checked on her husband and deemed him drunk enough she could focus on the phone conversation. Her back was to the window as she leaned against the kitchen counter. He was glad the girls had guessed what kind of conversation she was having. It made sense to him now as he saw her gestures and the way she touched her hair as she spoke. It did look like she was talking to a lover. He turned to watch from the perspective of the man they were targeting.
Kami and Zoey came out of the lake and walked seductively up the hill.
Kevin felt something wet on the back of his neck and it almost made him yell. He turned and was face-to-face with the big head of a big dog. He knew it was a German Shepherd. He knew the dog could hurt him. He knew something more. Dogs loved him. His father had told him years ago there was a reason for that. Animals sensed his honesty. He hoped this big dog had enough sense to sense that. He put his hand on the dog's head and scratched vigorously. He saw the big tongue come out. He accepted the lick of gratitude the dog gave him before he pulled it down to his side as he got back down flat on the ground.
The Killing Rileys- First Love, First Kills Page 10