by Leena Clover
Ted Junior was either really cool or he was a good actor. Even if he secretly hated Noah for eating into his inheritance, it had nothing to do with last night.
“I don’t get it,” Ted Junior cut to the chase. “What does Dad’s will have to do with anything?”
“We are trying to establish a motive here, Mr. Ted,” Stan said. “Money is very often the root cause of evil. In this case, we are talking about a lot of money.”
“I think Dad’s will wasn’t a secret to anyone in this house. He updated his will every six months and called a family meeting. He told everyone what was coming to them.”
This aligned with what Ryan had told us. Now we just had to find a copy of the will.
“Do you know who might have wanted to kill your father?” Stan asked.
Ted Junior shook his head.
“He was a bit eccentric, but he never harmed anyone.”
“What about your mother?” Stan continued. “We hear they have been fighting for years.”
“They hardly set eyes on each other,” Junior protested. “Dad made himself scarce when Mom visited us in the summer. He gave her a lavish allowance, paid her bills at that posh place she lives in. Mom has nothing to complain about.”
“Did you know she was coming here yesterday?”
“I was as surprised as Dad was,” Junior said. “I really don’t know why she is here.”
“What about your wife and Noah?” Stan asked abruptly. “Were you cool with that?”
“What about them?” Ted Junior asked innocently.
“You didn’t know they were seeing each other?”
Junior turned a nice shade of red.
“What are you implying? You’re saying my wife was carrying on with someone in my house, right under my nose?”
“That’s the general consensus,” I said apologetically. “More than one person has mentioned it.”
Junior banged a fist into the desk.
Stan let it slide.
“What do you know about the girl called Crystal? What was her relationship with your father?”
Ted Junior frowned.
“I am not sure. He brought her home one day, said she was going to be our guest for a while. That’s all I know.”
“Were they…”
“My father was the head of this house, Officer. This was his house. And he was a single man. I didn’t interfere in his private life.”
“Did he make a habit of it?” I burst out.
“No,” Junior said softly.
“Crystal is an outsider,” Stan said. “One of the few outsiders present here last night. If she is innocent, chances are one of your family isn’t.”
“That’s impossible!” Ted Junior cried out. “Who would hurt the old man? My kids, my Mom, or my wife?”
“Whoever it is, they are right here in this house,” Stan said.
I felt a frisson of apprehension. We were sitting on a powder keg that might explode any time.
“Do you know where your father kept his will?” Stan asked Junior. “Why don’t you help me look for it?”
“We’ll have to go into his study,” Ted Junior said, growing pale.
“I’ll be right there with you, Sir,” Stan assured him.
They stood up and went out, leaving me alone in the room.
Chapter 10
Stan was back a few minutes later with a folder in his hand. His search for Mr. Frank’s will had apparently been fruitful. There was a knock on the door before I had a chance to ask him about it.
Noah Williams peeped in, looking relaxed in faded jeans and a flannel shirt. Apart from his silver eyes, he looked nothing like the other Frank men. He loomed over us with a friendly smile and asked if he could come in.
“I hear you are talking to everyone,” he began, pulling at his ear.
I noticed he did that a lot.
“Why don’t we get this done with?”
“This is not a onetime thing, Mr. Williams,” Stan said pompously. “We will talk to you as many times as needed. You will have to make yourselves available when we ask for it.”
Noah looked at me with a quizzical smile.
“Is he always so high handed?”
I shrugged and looked away. I wasn’t getting into it.
“Shall we do this then?” Noah asked Stan, getting comfortable in his chair.
“We shall, but I warn you Mr. Williams, this is not some game. I urge you to take this seriously. Anything you say is for the record.”
Noah’s smile dimmed a bit and he nodded at Stan to go on.
“Where were you when the shot was fired?”
“In the game room,” Noah said promptly. “We had been playing some pool. Ryan and Julie rushed out as soon as we heard the shot.”
“Did anyone in this house own a gun to your knowledge?”
“The old man had a revolver, I think. Kept it in his study. Never saw it though.”
“What was your relationship with old Mr. Frank?”
Noah raised his eyebrows, a look of disbelief spread across his face.
“You don’t know? He was my father.”
“How long have you known that?”
“I always knew it. Or rather, I knew it since my mother told me about him some time in my teens.”
“You never made an attempt to contact him?”
“I didn’t. He had no idea who I was. I had my life. He had his.”
“Something must have changed?”
Noah paused to consider. He chose his words carefully.
“I was going through a rough patch. My wife died. I didn’t take it well. I lost my job. Then my mother fell ill. She was worried about me. She finally spilled the beans to the old man. He insisted I come and live here.”
“What were your feelings for the old man?”
Noah winced.
“He was my biological father. Other than that, I wasn’t too keen on him. He tried to be friendly when I got here. Wanted me to do stuff with him.”
Noah snorted as he relived his experience.
“That’s rich, I tell you. You can’t force a grown man to feel something he’s not feeling.”
“So you didn’t like him at all?”
“I couldn’t care less.”
“Did you hate him, Mr. Williams?”
Noah’s mouth stretched into a smile.
“Part of me did. I didn’t have much growing up, you know. And look at that dough boy…”
I presumed he was referring to Teddy Junior.
“He grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had every advantage a kid could have. No wonder he has this picture perfect family.”
“What about your feelings for the victim?” Stan prompted.
“I don’t know. I was still working on that.”
“Do you like the sausage business?” I asked, trying to lighten the conversation. “I bet you never saw so much sausage in your life, huh?”
I sniggered at my own joke. Noah laughed with me.
“That was a hoot when I first got here. I couldn’t stop laughing.”
“So you love working at Frank Foods?”
“Never set foot in the place,” Noah bragged.
“Isn’t it part of your inheritance, Mr. Williams?” Stan asked.
“Yes and no. The old man set some money aside for me. I suppose he earned it through the business. So the plant’s got something to do with it.”
“You’re not interested in working at the plant?” Stan pressed.
“I’m retired,” Noah said. “I took early retirement.”
“What do you do with your time?” I burst out.
Noah was barely fifty as far as I could tell. He was certainly younger than Ted Junior. What did such a young man do all day?
“I enjoy life,” Noah said, spreading his arms expansively. “This is a big estate. There’s a golf green and a couple of good sized lakes. Good for fishing you know?”
“You didn’t intend to start working at the Frank Foods plant?�
� Stan asked. “My sources tell me Mr. Frank mentioned something about it.”
Noah laughed.
“That was just the old man giving Teddy a hard time. They did that a lot. It was fun to watch.”
“So father and son didn’t get along then?”
“I wouldn’t know. I hardly talked to either of them.”
“What do you know about the business, Mr. Williams? Is it in trouble?”
Noah leaned forward and put his arms on the desk.
“Look, I already told you. I could care less about that sausage factory. I had no idea what was going on there.”
“You must have heard the talk,” Stan probed. “Possible mergers, new partners, new products…surely you had an opinion about it?”
“I stayed out of it,” Noah maintained. “Look, I didn’t really care. I was living comfortably. My needs were taken care of. I didn’t want much beyond that.”
“What about now? Do you know what’s going to happen now that your father is deceased?”
“I am taken care of,” Noah said confidently. “The old man changed his will when I came to live here. He told me all about it.”
“So you knew you were getting a big sum of money after the old man?”
“Big sum? You’re trying to trip me up, right? There is no big sum. There is some kind of trust and I get a monthly allowance from it for life.”
“Is this the same amount you are getting now?” Stan asked.
“Yes! I get the same amount of money whether the old man lives or not.”
“Does anyone control that?”
“I guess Teddy could make it stop if he wanted to.”
That meant Noah had every reason to keep the old man alive.
“What do you think about Ted Junior?” I asked him.
“He’s an okay guy,” Noah said noncommittally.
“You get along with him?” I needled. “No sibling rivalry?”
“We’re too old for that!” Noah shook his head. “I hardly see him. He goes to work pretty early. When he’s home, he’s locked in here, in this office of his.”
“You don’t bear a grudge against him?” Stan cajoled. “As you said, he grew up in the lap of luxury. You, not so much.”
“What’s done is done,” Noah said. “We can’t turn the clock back.”
“What does Ted Junior think about you?” I asked. “He doesn’t want you to work for your living?”
“You’ll have to ask him that,” Noah smiled. “He’s pretty easy going though.”
“Is that why you are carrying on with his wife?” Stan pounced.
Noah didn’t bat an eye lid.
“What a ridiculous thought. Now you’re shooting in the dark, Detective.”
“I’m not a Detective,” Stan corrected him automatically.
“Amanda’s an amazing woman,” Noah went on. “She deserves some respect. I wouldn’t go around maligning a lady if I were you.”
“More than one person has vouched for it,” I told him.
“Has Amanda said so?” he asked.
I didn’t know if it was a rhetorical question or if Noah was fishing for information.
Stan didn’t answer that directly.
“So you deny having an affair with Mrs. Frank?”
“That’s the trouble with small towns,” Noah spit out. “People are small minded. I bet it was that boozehound butler. He goes around spreading gossip. Should have been put out to pasture long ago.”
“Why would he do that?” Stan asked. “Does he have anything against you?”
“He resents me!” Noah said, getting excited. “He doesn’t like taking orders from me. I am an upstart according to him. He still treats me like an outsider.”
I wondered what that had to do with anything. Butlers were notoriously loyal toward the family. In this case, Noah really didn’t belong to the original family Chamberlain had signed on for.
“His days were numbered,” Noah went on. “The old man was letting him go in the New Year. But Teddy wanted him around. Maybe the butler offed the old man, eh?”
Stan made some kind of note with his pencil and looked up at Noah.
“What do you know about Sophia Frank?”
“Never seen the dame before yesterday…her situation is a lot like mine. She’s got a big allowance for life. Except she doesn’t live here…she lives at that fancy place up north.”
“So you can’t tell us anything about her, I guess.”
“Nothing at all, unless you count her powwow with the old man.”
“When did that happen?”
“Some time after dinner yesterday,” Noah said. “I saw her go into the old man’s study.”
This was news to us. Pappa had been with Mr. Frank when he went to his study. But he hadn’t mentioned Sophia coming in.
“What can you tell us about the other people in this house?” Stan asked, moving on. “Anyone have any beef with Mr. Frank?”
“There’s hardly anyone here,” Noah remarked. “Ryan’s cool. He’s out in one of the barns most of the time, jamming with his band.”
“How did he get on with his grandpa?” I asked, mostly out of curiosity.
My own relationship with my grandpa is tenuous at best.
“He didn’t. Both Teddy and the old man hated that Ryan lives like a bum. They want him working at a desk at the old plant. Ryan couldn’t care less. He’s like any young kid, wants to canoodle with his girlfriend and travel the world.”
“Did they fight?” Stan asked.
“They might have, if they ever lay eyes on him. He’s pretty good at staying out of their sight.”
Ryan looked like a resourceful kid.
“Who else?” Stan continued.
“There’s Julie of course. Julie’s everyone’s darling. Her grandpa doted on her. He wouldn’t have breakfast without her. They spent a lot of time together. But Julie’s at college now, in Texas. Not too happy about it either.”
“I hear Amanda sent her away?”
I had an idea about this. Girls were more perceptive about some things. I was sure Amanda had sent Julie away so she could carry on with Noah without any interruption.
Noah said nothing.
“Did Amanda and Mr. Frank agree about it?”
“Julie’s grown up in a sheltered environment. I guess all these rich kids go through something like this. The old man was very protective about her. Amanda wanted her to get a reality check. She wanted her to be independent.”
“So they didn’t agree about it?” Stan caught on.
“I guess not,” Noah said reluctantly. “You’ll have to ask Amanda.”
“What about Crystal?” Stan asked. “She’s easy on the eyes, huh?”
Noah held a palm up.
“She was the old man’s squeeze. I had nothing to do with her.”
“You mean your father was romantically involved with the young girl?” Stan burst out. “She’s barely twenty.”
“Who said anything about romance?” Noah winked.
I wanted to punch him in the face in that moment.
Stan gave me a warning look. He’s getting good at anticipating my actions.
“So Amanda’s the one for you then, is that it?” Stan asked.
Noah sighed, refusing to be baited.
“Look, are we done here? You know where to find me if you have any more questions.”
He jumped up and went out, slamming the door behind him. Stan had managed to rattle Noah Williams after all.
Chapter 11
Stan started going through the file as soon as Noah left. We were both eager to find out what old Mr. Frank’s will said.
“So?” I asked.
He finally looked up and shook his head.
“It all checks out. There’s some legacies to the staff – he calls them servants. There are funds set up for Noah and Sophia. Then there are other funds for the kids, for their education and stuff. They both come into a lot of money when they turn thirty. The rest goes to Ted Junior
.”
“So Noah wasn’t lying,” I observed.
“Not about the will, at least,” Stan said.
“Both Julie and Ryan are a long way from thirty,” I mused.
“Right,” Stan nodded. “There was no immediate gain for them as far as I can tell.”
“What about the legacies?” I asked. “Do you think one of them is in dire need of money?”
“We will do background checks once I get back to the office,” Stan said. “But we have to hold off on that for now.”
“What was that about Chamberlain being a drunk?” I asked. “You think he’s an alcoholic?”
“I suppose he has access to the liquor cabinet, being a butler and all. He seems efficient enough.”
“He’s not stinking of booze or anything,” I agreed. “You think Noah was just trying to bad mouth him?”
“I think he was trying to deflect attention from himself.”
“He never did give a straight answer about Amanda,” I pointed out. “Either he’s protecting her or there’s nothing between them.”
Stan looked at me.
“What does your gut say? They say women have instincts about such things.”
“I say there’s something there alright,” I said flatly. “But I will give them a closer look today.”
“Let’s talk to one more person,” Stan said. “We’ll take a break after that.”
“Who do you want to call next?”
“Julie,” Stan said.
I picked up the intercom and talked to Chamberlain. Julie walked in a few minutes later.
Julie was a stunning young woman with her fiery red hair and silvery gray eyes. She must be turning some heads in college. She was dressed in a two piece sweater set, the kind my grandma always wants me to wear. It was black in deference to the occasion, with tiny pearl buttons down its length. Julie wore pearls in her ears and a single strand of pearls round her neck. Her dark navy skirt completed the severe look.
“Hello Julie,” I greeted her. “How are you doing today?”
Julie’s eyes were red from crying. She let out a sob, then pulled out a lace handkerchief from a pocket and dabbed at her eyes. Then she picked up the cat that had followed her in. Chorizo settled into her lap and allowed herself to be stroked.
“I miss him already,” Julie whispered.