She nodded and picked up a thick envelope. The outside was blank and the inside held a list of guns. “I’ll bet his gun safe is in here somewhere too.”
“It’s behind the bookshelf on the other wall.” Ridge held up an envelope. “This has to be his will. It’s got his attorney’s name in the return address. He pulled out the papers and unfolded them. “This is it. Have a seat while I read it.”
She settled into the large armchair opposite the desk while he dropped into his dad’s chair. He flipped through the papers. “Here’s what I was looking for—the bequest. There’s quite a list of items for Willow. She gets all of her bedroom furniture, any books or electronics she wants, the grandfather clock in the hall that belonged to our grandparents, and all our grandmother’s jewelry. The jewelry is probably what she’s itching to get her hands on. She’s asked Dad for it several times over the years. Still, she’s not going to be happy that this is all.”
It seemed like a lot to Harper—especially the jewelry. “Do you want me to help you gather the jewelry for her now?”
“No thanks. It can wait until the lawyer reads the will.” His brows winged up, and he caught her gaze. “He left you some things too.”
“Me? I’ve never asked him for anything.”
He shrugged. “Dad always noticed when people commented about liking something. My guess is you had admired the blue-and-white bowl in the display case.”
The one in the dining room. “Who wouldn’t? It’s beautiful.”
“It’s yours now.”
“I can’t take it! He told me it’s very valuable.”
“It’s a Chinese palace bowl from the Chenghua period. You could easily get seven million for it.”
Her stomach plummeted and she felt faint. “I can’t possibly take it,” she whispered. “You say everything is worth so much money, but most of the things he left Willow don’t amount to much. She can have the bowl.”
“He wanted you to have it. Most everything in that display case is worth millions. And you let me worry about Willow.”
She shivered. “Oliver must have been much wealthier than I dreamed. No wonder you always suspected me of using him for his money.”
“He was a great collector of antiquities and valuable artwork. After growing up poor, he believed it was important to own beautiful things. Insurance estimated the contents of this house at two hundred million.”
“I’m sure the bowl belongs with a family member who would want it.”
He bent his head over the document again and didn’t reply. Was that speculation in Ridge’s dark eyes? Were all his doubts about her surging back?
* * *
Ridge wasn’t yet sure how he felt about the huge bequest his father had left Harper. She was in the kitchen making coffee while he wandered through his father’s bedroom. Dad always wore Clive Christian Original cologne, and the room reeked of it. He opened the closet door, then blinked in disbelief before he entered the cavernous walk-in space.
The closet had been trashed. Suits and shirts lay crumpled on the floor, and every box on the shelves had the lid torn off and the contents dumped out. The armoire was upended, and Ridge righted it, then pulled open the drawers. Dad’s many Rolexes were missing, and so were his rings and gold chains. All his clothing from the drawers lay out on the floor too.
A thief had been in here, but how? The alarm hadn’t gone off. Ridge exited the closet and called the alarm company only to find out the alarm had been off since this morning. He distinctly remembered setting it when he left the house.
“What time was it taken offline?”
“About ten, Mr. Jackson. It appears it was turned off by an online command.”
He thanked her and hung up. No one knew the code, not even his sister or mother. Some kind of IT expert? Dad had thought his security system couldn’t be hacked, but maybe someone had managed it.
What could the intruder have been seeking? Only jewelry? He doubted it. This seemed to have been a systematic search. He went back to the cavernous closet and pressed the opening for the hidden safe containing his grandmother’s jewelry. It was all there. He went back into the bedroom and pulled out the dresser drawers. His dad was a neatnik, but the stacks of underwear and socks were rumpled, so someone had been in here. They’d clearly tried to search without worrying about detection.
He looked around the room. The understated gray quilt on the four-poster bed held a faint handprint embedded in the soft fabric, so he dropped to his knees on the gray carpet and glanced under the bed. Nothing. He rose and shook his head. Was it possible someone was looking for something else but took Dad’s jewelry to throw off their true motive? The house contained many objects worth far more. Any thief worth his salt would have raided the locked display cabinets.
The doorbell rang. He glanced out the window and sighed. Willow’s red Porsche was parked in the driveway. He’d known she wouldn’t stay away for long. He hurried to the front door to answer before Harper felt the need to open it. Willow would pierce her with an icy stare and order her out.
The aroma of coffee permeated the downstairs, and he heard the distant sound of Bach’s Cantata no. 4. Harper must have turned on Dad’s MP3 player in the kitchen. Ridge was well versed in every piece of classical music in his dad’s library. It had constantly played all his life.
The doorbell pealed again, and he unlocked the door and opened it. “Willow.” He stepped aside to let her in.
She’d changed since this morning and wore a gray power suit over a pale-blue blouse. The blue heels were even higher than the ones she wore this morning. “You aren’t answering your phone.” She swept past him.
He shut the door and locked it again. “I turned the ringer off. I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“I got ahold of Dad’s attorney. He’s coming here with the will in a few minutes.”
“Willow, Dad’s body hasn’t even made it to the funeral home. There’s no need to bother Mr. Booth today. There’s plenty of time to read the will.”
“He’s already on his way.” Diamonds twinkled in her ears as she tossed her head and went past him into the living room.
He rolled his eyes and followed her. She was like a hurricane, a fierce wind that demolished everything in her path. “There’s fresh coffee.”
“No thanks.”
The locked display cabinets caught her eye, and she smiled as she ogled Dad’s collection of Chinese vases. Even one of them would be worth several million dollars. She probably expected that some of them would be hers. His gut clenched as he contemplated the coming battle. He wanted to follow his father’s wishes, but he didn’t like drama, and it would abound once Willow and Mom found out the will’s contents.
The doorbell rang a third time, and he went to let in Bernardo Booth. “Sorry to bother you on a moment’s notice,” he told the attorney. “It wasn’t my idea to call you.”
Dressed in his ubiquitous navy suit with not a hair out of place, Bernardo gave him a sober nod as he entered. He and Dad had gone to school together. Though nearly seventy, not a gray strand peeked through Bernardo’s thick black hair. He was whip thin with an erect bearing he still carried from his years in the military.
“Willow is in the living room.”
“And Ms. Taylor? I called her and asked her to be present as well.”
That was news to Ridge. “She’s here. I’ll get her. Would you like coffee?”
“A stiff drink might be better.” Bernardo’s impudent grin lit up his gray eyes. “But since your father was a teetotaler, that’s out of the question. At least your mother isn’t here.” He walked through the huge foyer into the living room.
Ridge went to the back of the house and found Harper unloading the dishwasher. “You don’t need to do that.”
She stood and pushed her thick red hair out of her face. “It’s not a problem. Hey, the lawyer called.”
At least she was admitting it. “He’s here now and asking for you.”
She winced. �
��Do I have to go?”
“He says you do.” Ridge found a tray and poured four mugs of coffee. “I need something to get through these next minutes.”
“I’ve been praying ever since he called.” She squared her shoulders. “Let’s get it over with.”
23
Harper couldn’t let anyone see her knees shaking. Holding Bear in her arms was her one steadying influence. She pasted on a gentle smile and nodded to Willow.
Willow turned from the display case, and her green eyes widened. “What are you doing here? We’re having a private family meeting.”
Bernardo cleared his throat. “I called her, Willow. She’s named in the will and has to be here for me to proceed.”
Willow waved a hand encrusted with rings. “Fine.” She shot Harper a glare before she seated herself as far away as possible near the fireplace.
Harper wasn’t sure where to sit or what to do until Ridge handed coffee mugs to everyone, then sank onto the sofa and beckoned to her. She put the mug on the coffee table, then settled on the sofa with room between them. Bear lay down on her lap and put his head on his paws. She took a few deep breaths and prayed to stay calm no matter how upset Willow became.
Bernardo took a sip of his coffee, then set it on the table beside his chair. “First off, let me say I’m personally grieved to lose my longtime friend. Oliver was a good man, an honorable man. I stopped to see him at the hospital and he seemed to be improving. I really thought he’d make a full recovery. I’m very sorry for your grievous loss.”
“Thank you, Bernardo,” Ridge said. “I know you loved him too.”
The lawyer pinched the bridge of his nose. “Indeed.” Bernardo opened his briefcase and extracted a sheaf of papers. “Ridge, you of course know you are the executor.”
“Yes.”
“As executor it will be your responsibility to ensure your father’s wishes are followed.”
“I intend to do whatever he wanted.”
Bernardo riffled through the papers. “Excellent. I’ll read the body of the will now. At the end I’ll give you each a copy of the list of personal belongings he’s assigned to you.”
Harper tensed and Bear lifted his head. She listened to the lawyer drone on about minor gifts to charities Oliver supported. Nothing there for Willow to object to as the gifts were a few thousand each. Willow sat slightly forward in the chair with her hands clasped in front of her. Her intent gaze never left Bernardo’s face.
The attorney took another sip of his coffee. “To my daughter I leave two hundred thousand dollars. To Harper Taylor, daughter of my heart, I leave five hundred thousand dollars. The rest of my estate including all bonds, securities, property, and cash I leave to my son, Ridge.”
Willow’s face surged with red, and she leaped to her feet. “You’re lying! That can’t be right. It should be evenly split!” She turned to her brother and jabbed her finger his direction. “You won’t get away with stealing my share, Ridge. I’ll contest it!” Her eyes narrowed as she faced Harper. “And you! I hope you’re happy.”
The attorney cleared his throat again. “If you contest the will, Willow, you’ll lose whatever your father left you. He’s very specific in his will. All of us know Oliver was a man who knew his own mind. He was not impaired in any way, and by law he can dispense his possessions and money however he pleases. Please sit down so I can continue.”
“What’s to continue? Ridge gets it all, just like he did when Dad was alive. All the support, all the attention, all the love.” Angry tears hung on her lashes, but she sank back into the chair. She clasped herself with her arms and shook her head.
“That’s not true,” Ridge said. “When was the last time you came to see him? Texted him? I glanced through his phone’s history. He rang you twice last week and must have left a message because the connections were only about thirty seconds long. You never called him back.”
“It was a busy week.” She stared at the ground, her expression sullen.
“And the week before that? Same pattern. You’ve always kept him at arm’s length. It’s a wonder to me that he kept trying to spend time with you. The last three Christmases you never even stopped by.”
“You keeping track or something, Ridge? Is that how you got him to give you everything? You reminded him of my neglect?”
“I never said a word. I didn’t have to remind him—the truth was constantly in his face. When you left with Mom, you never looked back. She molded you into her own image—cold, calculating, and remote.”
“Mom’s not like that!”
“No? You could have fooled me. I call her and she never calls me back, just like you did with Dad. When was the last time you were here in this house? Years?”
A shaft of pity darted into Harper’s heart. Willow was probably grieving her father, so this news must seem like even more of a rejection.
Willow glared at her brother. “Fine, so you get the property. What about the items in the house?” Her green eyes took on an avid shine. “The vases are worth millions.”
The sympathy balloon popped in Harper’s chest. Willow really did seem to care only about the money and property.
“Ah, yes,” Bernardo said. “I have the bequest list here. He did leave you a few items.”
“Yes!” Willow took the paper Bernardo handed her, but her smile faded as she read it over. “Grandma’s jewelry, the grandfather clock? Those are pittances!” She balled up the paper and tossed it into the fireplace as she stood and loomed over Harper. “What service did she perform for Dad to get that bowl?”
Heat ran up Harper’s neck. Before she could reply, Ridge leaped to his feet and inserted himself between his sister and Harper. “She was a daughter to him, Willow. That’s more than you can say.”
She sneered back into his face. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” Her heels clattered on the marble floors as she rushed to the door and slammed it behind her.
Ridge ran his hand through his thick black hair, leaving it standing on end. “Well that went well.”
* * *
Ridge’s jaw ached from clenching it so tightly during the confrontation. He carried the empty cups back to the kitchen, then returned to find Harper still on the sofa with Bear on her lap. He studied her for a moment and wished the two of them could curl up on the sofa and watch a mindless movie. He didn’t want to remember his father’s face in the hospital bed. He didn’t want to close his eyes and see his sister’s angry face.
He sat beside her and patted his leg. Bear scampered over to lick his fingers. “Did you think I was too harsh with Willow?”
Harper looked tired. Circles shadowed her eyes and her skin was pale. She hesitated, and he shook his head. “I was, wasn’t I? You don’t know her well though. Give her room to negotiate and the next thing you know, she owns everything you have. I promised to follow Dad’s wishes.”
“What if his wishes were wrong?” Harper’s voice was soft. “I loved Oliver like a father, but I have to wonder if this marked difference in the will was one last way to punish Willow for leaving him. He was a good man, but he didn’t find it easy to forgive.”
Ridge forced himself not to answer immediately. To think about her words. “You’re right, he didn’t forgive easily. He hasn’t spoken to his brother in several years after what seemed to be a minor spat. I can’t even remember what the squabble was about anymore.”
She reached over and touched his hand. “If you pray about it, God will tell you the right thing to do. One thing I do know is family is important. I’d give anything to have had a real family all these years. Mend fences with your sister, and you’ll never regret it.”
Ridge wasn’t so sure. “Dad had strong feelings about making us both stand on our own two feet. He never gave us money. We had to earn our own. All that money he’s left me leaves me a little appalled. I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s way more than I’ll need in ten lifetimes, but I know Willow. She’s likely to spend it on fancy houses, luxury cars, and who k
nows what else. She has very expensive tastes. And Mom would also get her hands on some of it. After all his hard work, Dad would roll over in his grave if he thought Mom and her boyfriends would blow through it.”
Harper nodded and removed her hand. “I understand. I’m not sure there is a perfect answer. Maybe give some of it to his charities. I’m sure you’ll figure it out with God’s help.”
He started to answer but his phone rang. “Hello, Dr. Newman.” He’d known Dad’s doctor a long time. Dad and the doctor had often golfed together.
“Ridge, I’m afraid I have some upsetting news to tell you.”
“The autopsy is done?”
“Not yet. When your father’s hospital room was cleared, our cleaner discovered an ampoule of potassium chloride under his bed.”
“What does that mean?”
“When injected into an IV line, it causes an instant heart attack.”
“You mean his death was accidental? It wasn’t an actual heart attack?” Ridge didn’t quite understand the doctor’s uneasy tone.
“At first I feared the nurse made a mistake and instead of flushing his IV with sodium chloride, she used potassium chloride, but that’s not the case. I’ve checked the supply cabinets myself. There’s no missing potassium chloride in this hospital, and his IV wasn’t due to be flushed until tomorrow.”
Ridge rose and walked to the window to stare out at the greenery. “Then what are you saying?”
“I believe someone came into his room and injected him with the potassium chloride with the express purpose of killing him. Unfortunately, I’ve had to notify the police, and you and the rest of the family will probably be interrogated. I was told not to warn you, but I’ve known you a long time, Ridge, and I know you loved your dad. I didn’t want you blindsided when the cops show up.”
Ridge’s lips were numb, and he licked them until he could speak. “My mom and sister were with him before I got there. I never even went into his room. How long would this take to cause the attack?”
“If he got a full vial of the stuff, seconds, maybe a minute or two tops. As soon as it hit his heart. The only reason he survived it initially is because it wasn’t a full dose, and a nurse found him immediately. We’ll know more from the autopsy.”
Strands of Truth Page 14
