Knock, knock...

by Dale Mayer

  "I'm on my way." She closed her phone, logged off her computer, snagged her purse and ran out of the door. "Rose, take my calls, please. Back in an hour or so."

  She hoped.

  ***

  Knock, knock…

  Can you hear me, Shay?

  No, I guess not.

  Too bad. I just wanted to let you know who is standing at the elevators. Your grandfather. Charles Lassiter. Standing lost and worried in the middle of the hallway.

  Waiting for you, his precious granddaughter, most likely.

  Not that he's going to find you. This is too good an opportunity to waste.

  You’ll worry, Shay…

  But there’s no real need, I'll take good care of him.

  This time…

  ***

  Roman didn't know what he was doing here in the Bernice's lawyers' office, except that as a support system for Grandfather.

  He wasn't mentioned in Bernice's will. He knew that because Bernice had made it clear. Thankfully. Bernice had loads of family, even if none were close.

  Still, millions of available cash brought out relatives that only dreamed of a blood connection. And the room was filling up.

  He frowned. It was unusual to see so many attending this type of meeting.

  "See. I said the rats would be coming to the party." Grandfather shuffled closer. "Bernice wanted everyone here so they'd know where they stood."

  "Typical her." He motioned to a chair at the back row and led his grandfather to it. "We'll stay in the back."

  "Good choice." Grandfather sat down. Roman stood slightly behind him and watched the proceedings.

  Just when he thought everyone who was coming had arrived, Shay raced in. She stopped at the doorway, her chest heaving, her eyes surveying the crowded room. Her gaze landed on Roman, bounced off, and then zipped back. She walked toward them.

  "Have you seen Pappy?" she asked in a low voice.

  Roman frowned and searched the room. "No. Actually I haven't. Grandfather?"

  "He was here. Saw him downstairs." A querulous tone entered his voice. "Where could he have gotten to?"

  Roman leaned down. "I'll go check the men's room."

  His Grandfather's face lit up. "Yes, that must be where he is."

  Just then, the lawyer entered from the side door. Roman caught the look on his face as he noted the size of the group seated in front of him. He pressed a couple of buttons on his desk. Instantly a second man, dressed in a suit, but looking more like a henchman, entered and stood slightly behind the lawyer.

  Interesting. They were prepared for trouble.

  Shay immediately sat down beside Gerard.

  Roman slipped out the back quickly and walked to the men's room. There was no sign of Pappy on the way. He pushed open the door to the men's room and walked inside.

  "Charles? Are you in here?"

  No answer.

  Bending down, he checked the floor under the doors. No one. The room was empty. Given Pappy’s and Grandfather's ages, anything could have happened.

  He couldn't help but walk to the other end of the hallway and enter the stairwell and look over the railing. The stairwell was empty. No collapsed older man on the stairs. He'd take that as a good sign.

  He retraced his steps to the meeting. As he entered, the group turned to look at him. He calmly took a seat beside Grandfather and, feeling the worried glances from Shay and Grandfather, he shook his head.

  The lawyer continued to read from the will, his voice droning on and on.

  There was rustling as several people shifted position. The audience waited, their impatience barely veiled.

  Roman smiled inside.

  The lawyer stopped speaking. He raised his head, took a drink of water and said, "And now I come to the bequests. To my long-time companion Grace, I leave five hundred thousand dollars."

  A gasp sounded from the audience, followed by weeping from an older woman in the front row. Roman thought she might be Grace. He'd only ever seen her once. The lawyer went on to mention several other similar bequests. Then he stopped and laid the papers down on his desk and stared out at the audience.

  He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and said, "I, Bernice Folgrent, leave the rest of my estate, in its entirety, to my goddaughter, Shay Lassiter, in the hopes that she will find a good use for my life's work."

  Silence.

  Then outrage.

  Several people jumped up and yelled. Several people burst into tears, and the lawyer was instantly besieged by nasty comments.

  "This is wrong."

  "There has to be a mistake."

  "We'll see about that."

  Grandfather gripped his hands tightly together and whispered softly, "Oh dear."

  But all Roman's attention was on Shay. She slid down slightly on her seat and dropped her head back to look up at the ceiling and then she groaned.

  He heard her whisper, "Oh shit."

  Chapter 14

  "Bernice, how could you do this to me?" Shay whispered into the chaos going on around her. She sank lower in her chair, wishing she could hide. The entire room had worked itself into a frenzy.

  Slowly she became aware of a gentle stroking on her hand. She let her head drop to the side and looked into Gerard's concerned gaze. Above his head, Roman gazed down at her, a half-humorous and half-worried look in his eyes.

  Gerard leaned closer and whispered, "She did love you."

  Shay looked deep into those warm caring eyes and understood a smidgeon of what Bernice felt when she'd looked into them. Gerard had a huge capacity for loving.

  "If she did, why would she land me with the responsibility of her money?"

  "Because she trusted you. She knew you would do the best you could."

  Shay closed her eyes briefly. The noise still went on around her. One group had braced the lawyer around the desk, leaning over to intimidate him while they shouted their displeasure. Shay watched as the security guard struggled to keep the group back.

  "Things are going to get even uglier soon. Can we slip away?"

  "Absolutely." Roman stood up and helped Gerard to his feet. "Let's go before anyone figures out who you are."

  "Oh Lord." Shay snagged her purse and stood up. Without a backward glance she walked to the door and slipped into the hallway. The din from inside instantly eased as the door swung shut behind her. Still shell shocked from the bomb the lawyer had dropped, Shay kept walking to the stairwell. There were a few people around, but not many. Behind her she heard Roman talking to Gerard.

  "Stairs or elevators?" Roman asked.

  "Elevator. At least, I will. I think you should walk down with Shay. I don't think she should be alone right now."

  Shay frowned at that whispered comment. She turned around and looked at them both. "I'm all right, Gerard. A little confused. Definitely not happy, but I'll be fine."

  Gerard took several small steps toward her. "I don't think you have fully thought this through. Until you have the papers signed and your own will sorted, if anything should happen to you...then any one of those people in that room could possibly inherit instead."

  Shay groaned. "Seriously? I don't even get a chance to see my way through this, and now I have to consider that one of those people might try to eliminate me? Really?"

  Roman took several steps forward. He pushed the button for the elevator. The door opened immediately. He motioned Shay inside. "Let's stay together. We can go to your office if you prefer, or we can go out for lunch. Somewhere private where we can sort this out."

  "Lunch?" Shay spun around. "Where's Pappy? I thought he'd be here by now. We'd spoken about having lunch together earlier. Then this mess came up and I forgot about it."

  "I don't know. I assumed he'd changed his mind about attending the meeting," said Gerard.

  She frowned. Pulling out her cell phone, she checked for messages. None. She quickly called Pappy. No answer. "He's not answering." She gazed worriedly at the other two. "That's not like him."

/>   Gerard pulled his cell phone out and checked. "He hasn't called me."

  "He wouldn't have gone anywhere. He called me and told me to show up for the reading of the will. That's why I was running when I arrived. Before that, I hadn't even known about the meeting today."

  "Maybe he's sitting in your office, waiting for you," Roman suggested. "Especially if he couldn't stand to be part of the business of Bernice's estate."

  That actually made good sense. Shay punched the button for the seventh floor. The elevator came to a stop a few moments later.

  "Let's go and see."

  Her office was locked when she reached the main door. "Pappy wouldn’t be here alone and Jordan has obviously gone for lunch." She pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. The lights were off. The main office, empty.

  She walked into her inner office. "He's not here either." She spun around. The place looked normal. The energy normal. Hers, Rose’s, Jordan's and that of the client who'd been here this morning. Nothing else. "Pappy hasn't been here at all today."

  "So where is he?"

  "Maybe he went home. To deal with his grief in private," Gerard offered.

  Both Roman and Shay looked at Gerard. He shrugged and opened his hands. "Just an idea."

  Shay noticed the blinking red light on her phone. She hit the voice mail button and listened to the three messages. None from Pappy. She quickly called his home number, wondering why she hadn't thought of that earlier. Nothing.

  "I wonder if he's lying down…" She looked at Gerard in consideration. "I think I'll go see."

  "We'll all go," Roman said. "He's normally in close contact with us. It's unusual for him not to have been at the meeting. Regardless of his personal feelings, this was another connection to Bernice. He would have wanted to have experienced that defining moment with her."

  Shay closed her eyes briefly. "That is so true." She ran her fingers through her long hair. "I'm not thinking straight." She pursed her lips, hating the nerves that squeezed her gut. "Then where is he? I feel like something bad might have happened to him."

  As she spoke the words, her inner sense of conviction grew stronger. "Something is wrong." She glanced at the doorway. She knew what she had to do. And what she should have done first.

  "I have to go upstairs." She turned and called over her shoulder, "I'll be right back."

  "I'm coming with you." Roman said at her shoulder. "Grandfather, stay here. We'll be right back."

  Gerard settled into the closest chair at the reception desk. "I'll keep trying to reach him."

  Shay raced out of the office with Roman close behind her. She closed the door behind her, hesitated, and then locked it. "Let's make sure we don't lose Gerard."

  Roman was already at the stairwell door. "Stairs?"

  "Yes." They raced up the stairs. "Pappy often takes the stairs, but I wouldn't have thought so today. He was pretty stressed."

  "About the reading of the will?" Roman questioned.

  "About wanting me to be there."

  "So he knew? He knew what Bernice had planned?"

  She paused in the act of stepping up another stair. She completed the step thoughtfully, remembering Pappy's tone of voice. "You know. He just might have. He was pretty insistent I get there."

  "Would Bernice have used him to witness her will, perhaps? Or told him about what she'd done?"

  "Could be either. He loved her. With no limits." She sighed heavily. What would that be like?

  "It sounds like you don't approve."

  She looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, I didn't mean that."

  "No?" He didn't sound convinced.

  She was quiet for a long moment. "I was wondering what it was like to be loved like that. By two guys, no less."

  "Don't you already have a long string of admirers?"

  She laughed. And shook her head. "So not. I'm not that femme fatale type."

  With a yank, she pulled open the door to the proper floor and walked through. Behind her, she thought she heard Roman mutter, "Good."

  She turned to look at him, but his face was neutral. Unreadable. A poker face.

  Raised voices told her that the lawyer's office hadn't emptied yet. Poor lawyer. She shifted her vision to use what she called her inner eye. Energy flowed in a kaleidoscope of colors. Power fused through and around the colors, infusing the mess with an anger that was unmistakable. People were beyond angry. Some of the individual energies twisted and turned as if searching for an outlet. As if looking for a target.

  She didn't dare draw attention to herself. This energy had power. Passion was like that. Anger kept senses sharp and aware. Aware in another way too, like a predator looking for its prey. That same energy allowed people to be super tuned to the whereabouts of the person they were angry with.

  In this case, she was that person – the indirect object of their anger. Once they recognized who she was, she'd become the direct object of their wrath. She so didn't want that to happen.

  She searched the chaos, looking for her grandfather's energy. She'd be able to identify it anywhere, but right now she was having trouble finding it in the angry crowd.

  "What are you doing?"

  She paused, turning to look up at Roman, and realized she'd crouched down low to search for low-hanging energy. She probably looked like an idiot.

  With a slight groan, she straightened, her mind searching for a plausible answer.

  Roman waited. When she didn't answer, he quirked an eyebrow at her.

  She shrugged. "Just looking. For anything that might tell me where Pappy went."

  "And checking out the carpet is going to do that, how?"

  His tone sounded neutral, too neutral. She searched his face. Did he suspect what she’d been doing? She hoped not.

  She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Then she spun around and headed into the lawyer's office. Security was assisting the last of the group out of the door, the ones that were still arguing. Shay slipped around behind them and squeezed behind the security officer to enter the room.

  The lawyer was standing, staring outside, to beyond the window.

  "Mr. McIntosh?"

  He started. Then slowly turned around. "You're Shay Lassiter. I'm pleased to meet you." He stepped forward, his hand extended.

  Shay grimaced. He looked like he'd walked through a war. "Even after today?"

  He laughed. "Of course. I spent a lot of time with Bernice. She spoke highly of you."

  "She was a beautiful woman." Shay felt her throat choke and tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. "And I loved her." She sniffled.

  He nodded to the room behind them. "I'd hoped for a private reading, but Bernice wanted them all here, hoping that if they all heard the news up front, they'd stop hoping and pestering for something they would never get – and leave you alone."

  "She would do that." Shay had to smile. "Speaking of terrible things, have you seen my grandfather, Charles Lassiter?" She studied the lawyer's face anxiously. "He called me from somewhere in the building before the reading, but when I got here, there was no sign of him." She motioned to Roman. "We've been searching for him, calling his home and cell phone, but there's no sign of him."

  "Oh dear. He was here. I spoke to him earlier."

  "When?" Roman's voice cut across sharply.

  "I don't know. Maybe twenty minutes before the reading of the will." The lawyer looked down at his planner. "He was worried about you, Shay. I know he planned to call you if you were late."

  "And he did. I just don't know where he went after that." She walked the room casually. There was no sign of Pappy's energy anywhere. Inside, a cold nugget of suspicion started to form. He'd been here. At least according to the lawyer…

  Or had he? She turned back to face the lawyer. "Did you see Pappy in this room?"

  He looked surprised at the question but answered smoothly. "No. In my office." He motioned to the door on the right. "It's through here."

  Roman walked around the small austere room.

>   She asked, "Did he sit down?"

  "Yes, he was there in the visitor's chair." The lawyer motioned to a heavy, maroon chair.

  Shay moved toward the chair, then stopped and looked at the lawyer, a question on her face.