by None
“Not in any way, shape, or form,” he said with a smile, “but I appreciate you saying it.” He took a heavy breath, and then said, “Putting things in order before I go is the most important thing in the world to me right now.”
“Have you decided on what you’re going to do yet?” Maddy asked innocently.
“That’s no concern of yours,” Gina snapped.
Nathan patted her knee. “Now, Gina, be civil. We invited these folks here, remember?”
“Sorry,” she said, though it was clear from her expression that she wasn’t remorseful at all.
“It’s accepted,” Maddy said with just as much guile. “We’re curious about your plans. It’s a fair question, Nathan.”
“I’m not sure that’s entirely true, and though my niece shouldn’t have snapped at you, she was right about one thing; it’s family business,” he said.
After Nathan spoke, he turned to Nancy and smiled.
She looked at him so adoringly that I felt myself growing uncomfortable from the warmth. If I had to guess, I’d have to say that Nancy was going to figure prominently into the new plan. From the expression on Gina’s face, it was pretty clear that she was beginning to realize it as well.
“You might as well go on and tell them what you have in mind, Uncle Nathan,” Gina said. “Everyone is going to know soon enough, and you’ve kept all of us in the dark long enough.”
He frowned at her, and then asked the other woman beside him, “Nancy, do you mind? This concerns you as well.”
“Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Uncle Nathan,” she said.
Gina cringed visibly as Nancy called him uncle.
He nodded. “Very well. As I said before, I decided that it was time to set things right, so I’m going to tear up my old will and write a new one.”
“Who was the beneficiary before?” I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else. There was a fortune at stake, and I couldn’t help wondering who was going to miss out on it.
He shrugged. “I don’t suppose it hurts to tell you now, since it was written before Gina and Judson came into my life, not to mention Nancy. I left everything to my relative in Timber Ridge.”
“I didn’t think you knew who that was?” I asked.
“I didn’t, and I still don’t, but I left a provision in my will for Bob Lemon to track my heir down and give them everything I own.”
“But that’s all changed now,” Maddy said.
“Indeed it has,” Nathan said. “As soon as Bob and I have hammered out the details of an exact listing of my assets, I’ve decided to divide my estate into three equal shares.” He turned to Gina and said, “You’ll get a third,” and then he looked at Nancy and added, “You’ll get a third, and your baby will get the remaining third.”
That struck like a slap in the face to Gina. “She gets more than me, and she’s not even blood family?” Gina shouted, clearly blindsided by the new order of things.
“She’s carrying Judson’s child,” Nathan said, clearly hurt by her reaction. “I thought you’d be pleased.”
“Have you lost your mind? In what world would I be happy with that?” She looked harshly at Nancy. “We don’t even know if that’s Judson’s kid she’s carrying.”
“I’ve never been with anyone but him, not that way,” Nancy said, the level of her voice increasing to match her accuser’s.
“Save it, lady, nobody here believes you.”
Nathan said calmly, “I do.”
I wouldn’t have been surprised if Nancy had stuck her tongue out at Gina at that moment.
“Then you’re nothing but an old fool,” she shouted as she stood and stomped off the porch and into the house, “and I’m going to prove that she’s lying.”
“I’d better go talk to her,” Nancy said as she started to get up.
“Do you think that’s the wisest course of action at the moment?” I asked her.
Nancy stood and looked at the door as she spoke. “We may not agree about everything, but these two people are the only family I have in the world, and I can’t stand the thought of something like money coming between us.”
She smiled once more at Nathan, and then disappeared inside.
“Should you leave them alone like that?” Maddy asked.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said as he stood as well. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sure that once I explain it to Gina, she’ll accept it as the right thing to do. I want to get this settled so I can destroy the current will and replace it with something that means more to me.” He looked at the pizza sleeves at my feet. “I hate that we didn’t touch those. I’d be happy to pay you for your trouble.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “They were a gift.”
“Then I want to thank you for the thought,” he said. “Can you two see yourselves out? I’d better go inside and make sure everything’s okay.”
After he was gone, I started for the back steps when Maddy grabbed my arm.
“We should go out through the house,” my sister said.
I couldn’t believe that my sister was suggesting that we intrude on their family’s difficulties. “Are you insane? He wants us to leave them alone. That much was pretty clear.”
Maddy’s eyes were gleaming as she asked, “Aren’t you the least bit curious what they’re saying right now to each other?”
I shook my head. “We’re not doing it, so forget it. Now come on. We have three pizzas we need to get rid of.”
Maddy shrugged. “Is there anyone else we need to go see? We could offer these as a bribe for information.”
“If there’s anyone who can be swayed by pizza, I haven’t met them yet,” I said as we walked around the house to her car.
I saw the workmen diligently toiling to make an old house beautiful again, and I suddenly knew the perfect thing to do with the pizzas in my arms.
I approached them and asked, “Would you gentlemen be interested in some pizzas, free of charge, to a good home?”
“Are you kidding? We’d love it,” one man said.
I handed them the pizza boxes out of the sleeves, and said, “I’m sorry I don’t have anything to offer you to drink.”
“We’ll manage,” the man said. “Guys, go get the crew inside. I’m declaring a break.”
As they gathered around the food, Maddy smiled at me.
“What?” I asked. “I couldn’t bear to see it go to waste.”
“And that’s one reason I love you, Sis,” she said.
“I thought you had to because we’re family,” I replied with a grin.
“You think so? Ask them in there, and then come back and talk to me. Let’s go back to the Slice and get ready for the evening crowd. You need to make more dough for deep dish pizzas, you know that, don’t you?”
“I don’t mind,” I said. “It’s what I do.”
“It’s what we do, Sis,” she said as she drove us back to the Slice.
I wouldn’t have minded being rich. There were a lot of things I might buy, including a new pizza oven, but if I had to choose between wealth and my friends and family, it would be an easy decision. Love trumped everything else, at least in my book, and I’d lived my life by that rule.
It was the only way I knew how to be, and I was thrilled by that realization.
When we got back to the Slice, I was surprised to find a large, muscular man in a dark coat and hat standing with his back to us waiting at the door.
I felt the muscles in my stomach begin to tighten, and then I realized that it was Art Young’s driver.
“I’ve got a message for you,” he said without preamble as he turned to face us.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Mr. Young would appreciate it very much if you would join him in his automobile over there.”
I looked in the direction where he was pointing and saw the long, black vehicle parked on the edge of the promenade.
Maddy asked, “Both of us?”
He shook his hea
d. “No, ma’am. Sorry, but the invitation is for Mrs. Swift alone. My apologies.”
Maddy looked as though she’d just gotten a get-out-of-jail-free card. “No offense taken. I’ve got work to do inside.” As she started to unlock the door to the pizzeria with her own key, she said, “Don’t be long. Remember, you’ve got dough to make.”
Maddy was inside before we made it to Art’s car, and I glanced back to see her face pressed up against the glass, watching my every step. There was no doubt in my mind that my sister’s cell phone had the first two digits of 911 already punched in and waiting to be completed.
As the driver opened the door, I looked inside the car to find Art waiting for me.
“This is an odd summons,” I said as I looked in.
“Would you join me for a moment?” he asked.
“What’s the matter, are you afraid of being seen in public with me now?” I asked him. “You’re not still upset with me, are you?”
He shook his head. “You know better than that, Eleanor. It is your reputation that I’m concerned about.”
“It’s nice of you to think of me, but don’t do that again. I’m not afraid who knows we’re friends, so it shouldn’t matter to you.”
Instead of answering, Art got out of the car and said to his driver, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
The driver looked at me with a hint of disbelief in his expression, though I was certain Art couldn’t see it from where he was standing. Or so I thought.
“Save your opinions of my behavior for your own time,” he said softly, and I saw the large driver stiffen.
“I’m sorry, sir. No disrespect intended.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” I said.
Art simply shrugged in my direction, and then turned and stared at the man for a second and a half before dismissing him completely.
We moved to a bench on the promenade that faced a statue dedicated to the doctors who had died saving others from polio, an obelisk that I often admired. After a moment, Art said, “I respect those who behave selflessly, though I doubt I’ll ever understand it.”
“Given the right circumstances, I’m sure you’d be heroic yourself.”
He laughed softly. “Eleanor, you give me too much credit.”
“Could it be that you don’t give yourself enough?”
He seemed to consider that, and then shook his head. “I’m not here to discuss my character. You’re in some difficulty, aren’t you?”
“No more than usual,” I said, trying to keep my voice light as I said it. I didn’t want Art to know just how deeply I’d managed to get myself involved in a murder investigation. Although he was on the opposite side of the law from our chief of police, neither man wanted to see me put myself in harm’s way.
“Eleanor, I hope you respect me enough not to lie to me.”
I let out a deep breath. If I was going to ask him to treat me as a friend, then I had to return the favor. “Okay, you’re right. I apologize. Apparently Maddy and I have ruffled some feathers in our investigation.”
“That shouldn’t surprise you,” Art said. I couldn’t believe how dapper the man could look, how professional and businesslike he could act, and yet still be the same person who Bob Lemon—a man who had faced his own share of bad guys in the past—was afraid of.
“It shouldn’t, but it always does,” I said.
“You were threatened,” Art said quietly.
I whirled around and looked at him. “How did you know that?”
“I didn’t, but your actions made it a possibility, and you just confirmed it.”
“Have you ever thought of being a detective?” I asked him.
His loud laughter caught me off guard. When he was able to compose himself again, he said, “You never cease to entertain me, Eleanor.”
“What was so funny about what I said? You have the skills a good detective needs. You’re persistent, observant, pay great attention to detail, and are able to make intuitive leaps based on limited information.”
“Thank you for your praise, but I believe that particular job opportunity is forever lost to me. Do you have any idea who is threatening you?”
“No,” I admitted. “Maddy and I each got telephone calls telling us to butt out, or we’d pay the consequences.”
“Were those the caller’s exact words?” he asked.
“No. Hang on, let me think about it.” I put myself back in time and tried to recall the exact wording of the threat I’d received. It came back so vividly that I felt myself shaking upon hearing that voice in my mind again.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to subject you to that again.” He must have seen my reaction, and was feeling remorseful about his question.
“It’s fine. You can’t help it if you don’t know exactly what the person on the other end of the line said.” I replayed it once more in my head, and then opened my eyes and repeated, “Keep nosing around where you don’t belong and you’re going to pay for it. That’s it. I’m certain of it.”
“Was it a man or a woman?”
“The voice was gravelly and pitched really low, so there’s no way I can be sure of anything other than the threat.”
He stared at me, and then nodded. “Do you have a guess?”
“Not a clue,” I admitted. “If it matters, Maddy didn’t know, either.”
“Was her threat the same, or was it something similar?”
I didn’t have to think about that for a second. “She got the exact same threat that I did. It was as though the caller had read it off a script.”
Art frowned, and then looked around for a moment. I knew better than to interrupt him, but after a few seconds, he said, “I’ll look into it.”
“You don’t have to,” I said.
“It’s what a friend would do,” he answered.
Before I could say another word, he left the bench we’d shared to return to his car. I couldn’t believe how quickly his driver moved to be sure that Art’s door was open by the time he got there. My friend didn’t look at his driver, he just slid inside, and the door quickly closed after him. The driver nodded in my direction, and I could swear he said thank you under his breath before getting in and driving off.
Chapter 15
“What was that all about?” Maddy asked me as I walked back into the Slice.
“Art wants to help us figure out who threatened us over the telephone,” I admitted as I started back toward the kitchen. I wanted to make that biscuitlike dough again for the deep dish pizzas, and if I started now, I might have some decent crust by the time we hit our dinner rush.
“You’re not serious, are you? Did you actually tell him that someone called us? I thought we were keeping it to ourselves.”
I was getting tired of my sister’s attitude toward Art Young, especially since he’d been nothing but helpful to us in the past. “I didn’t tell him anything; he guessed it from my reaction. This is a good thing, Sis. He thought he might be able to help.”
“That’s too funny,” Maddy said.
“What’s that?”
“A man in his line of work acting like a detective,” Maddy said. “Come on, Eleanor, you have to see the irony in it.”
“I don’t agree. He’s just a friend doing us a favor,” I said. “That’s it. Don’t read anything into it, Maddy.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Goodness knows we can use all the friends we can get.”
I smiled at her. “That’s the spirit. After I make more dough, we might have a little time to chat about what we saw at Nathan’s this afternoon.”
“Forget that. I’m not willing to wait that long. We’ll discuss it while you work. I can’t believe how openly defiant Gina was with Nathan. He looked pretty shocked by her behavior, too.”
“I’m not sure why he should have been,” I said. “After all, Gina went from being his last living beneficiary to just getting a third.”
Maddy nodded as she took a seat on t
he stool by the counter where I prepped my dough. “It had to be a shock for her to hear it out of the blue like that, and she didn’t really have time to prepare herself for it.”
“Especially if she really did kill her brother to get his share,” I said as I measured out ingredients for the dough. I planned to make another batch tonight and let it sit out overnight to see if I could get the dough to rise any more than I had so far. What I was making at the moment was perfectly fine, but it wasn’t good enough for my standards, at least not yet. I hoped with a little tweaking and a lot more practice, I’d be ready to serve three kinds of pizza at the Slice on a regular basis.
“Do you really think she could have killed her own brother for his share of an inheritance they weren’t even sure they were ever going to get?” Maddy asked me.
“I’d believe anything from her. She’s in debt up to her pretty little eyebrows,” I said. “Being desperate makes people do some unimaginable things.”
“How about our other suspects?” Maddy asked.
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” I said. “I’m having a hard time believing that Nathan could have done it.”
“Why do you say that?”
I shrugged. “Look at how far he’s willing to support a woman who says she’s carrying his nephew’s baby. That sounds like an act of love to me.”
“When you look at it from another angle, it could just as easily be guilt,” Maddy said after a moment’s thought.
I considered it, and as I mixed the dough with my hands to get the right consistency, I finally said, “You’re right. We have to leave his name on the list.”
“Don’t forget, we’ve got Lacy White and Jack Hanks, too.”
“I’m not about to forget them, or Nancy Thorpe, either.”
“That just leaves Nathan’s mystery heir,” Maddy said.
“I have a hard time counting whoever that is,” I said. “Nathan doesn’t even know his cousin’s identity, or if the family rumors are even true for that matter. And a lot of people would have to die before this cousin inherits anything, and quickly before Nathan can write another will.”