A Promise Never Forgotten

by KaLyn Cooper

  “And you know that…how?” The detective defiantly cocked his head to the side.

  “It’s all wrong.” Teagan ran the description of the scene through her mind one more time. “First. That Colt 1911 isn’t her gun.” She held out her hands and spread her fingers. “Marsha, like me, has…I mean had…small hands.”

  Her gaze found Logan’s. “Didn’t you tell me that her body was found in the office? Was the gun safe open?”

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  “Her gun sits on the bottom shelf for easier access and is a Smith & Wesson Shield. It’s perfect for a woman with a small grip yet packs a powerful punch as a forty caliber. I helped her pick it out after Gabe left her.” Teagan shifted her gaze to the detective. “Why the hell would she stand on her tiptoes and grab an unfamiliar gun that was too big to hold when she could slide her hand in comfortably and take her own weapon?”

  “Maybe she wanted more firepower,” the detective quipped.

  “And maybe somebody else grabbed it,” Teagan suggested.

  There was something else Logan said that sent up a red flag. She suddenly remembered. “Did you say the gun was near her right hand?”

  “Yeah.” Logan stared at her intently.

  Bingo. Marsha hadn’t committed suicide. She was murdered.

  Teagan refused to hide her smug smile. “Although Marsha was right-handed, she shot with her left-hand because she was left eye dominant. She also needed carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand. I doubt she could even grip that 1911 and hold it steady.”

  “Whoever killed her didn’t know her well.” Logan smiled down at her with pride. “You should be the one to check out the office to see if anything has been taken.”

  She shrugged. “I was in there a few weeks ago before Marsha and I went to the range, but I doubt I would recognize if anything was missing.”

  “I still think it would be a good idea,” he reiterated.

  Teagan wasn’t sure she could walk into that room and hold it together. Someone had murdered her friend there. She wondered if they actually made chalk outlines around the body like they did in the movies. She couldn’t bear to look at the bloodstain either. But if it would help find Marsha’s killer, Teagan would do anything.

  Logan slid an arm around her shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’ll go with you after they leave.”

  Heat radiated from his arm, across her shoulders and down her spine. It seemed to float through her body, triggering every nerve ending. Teagan wasn’t sure when she’d last been touched by a man, but it had never felt like this. Comforting and exciting all at once.

  “Okay.” She turned her head to whisper the word in his ear and brushed her nose across his. Their lips were a fraction of an inch apart.

  She gasped in a breath.

  He was so close.

  It had been far too long since she’d been kissed. If she moved a few millimeters his lips would be on hers.

  The doorbell rang shattering her thoughts.

  Stepping back quickly, she forced herself to breathe in slowly. “Maybe that’s Mr. Keller.”

  Her feet refused to move, and her gaze never left the heat in Logan’s bourbon colored eyes.

  He blinked…and the cool Marine was back. “You should get that before he rings again.”

  She turned and walked toward the door. What the fuck was that all about? She laid her hand flat on her chest as though she could still feel the warmth that emanated throughout her entire body. Damn. She needed to get laid.

  After checking through the peephole, Teagan opened the door to a tall, distinguished looking man with white hair in a charcoal gray suit and white shirt. His tie was gray, adorned with small white, gray, and a navy-blue chevron’s.

  “Mr. Keller, thank you for coming over so quickly.” After shaking his hand, she introduced him to everyone in the room.

  He stared a little bit longer than appropriate at Logan. His contemptuous glance toward Ms. Cook and Detective Russo spoke volumes. “Ms. Williams, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson, is there somewhere we can talk in private? I’ll need at least fifteen minutes of your time.”

  Logan immediately took control of the situation. “Ms. Cook. Detective Russo. Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee and come back here in thirty minutes? No one here is a flight risk. We’re not going anywhere. And neither are the children.” He punctuated each word in the last sentence as he stepped toward the door and opened it for them.

  “I’m going to give you thirty minutes. That’s all.” Detective Russo said on the way out the door. “I need to speak to those children.”

  Ms. Cook gave Logan a small smile. “Please understand, I’m on the side of the children. I’m legally here to do what’s best for them, in the short term and the long run.”

  “Enjoy your coffee.” Logan closed and locked the door behind them then took a seat in the chair Teagan was beginning to think of as his.

  “We have a lot to cover, but I need you both to know that I’m here to represent you, and the children, in respect to Marsha Davis’s wishes.” Mr. Keller got straight down to business. “First, where are the children?”

  “I have a room for them, for when they stay with me, down the hall.” She pointed in the direction where the children were.

  Mr. Keller nodded. “Second, I’m sorry for your loss. Over the past two years I’d gotten to know Marsha rather well. I was handling her legal separation and divorce. Can you tell me how she died?” His voice cracked on the last word.

  Teagan swallowed hard and Logan reached over and patted her hand, giving it a little squeeze.

  “Detective Russo filed it last night as a suicide.” When Logan squeezed her hand once again, she realized he hadn’t moved it. “New information came to light moments ago that has made Teagan and I doubt that she killed herself. To be honest, we’ve both believed from the beginning that it was murder.”

  Mr. Keller dropped his face into his hands. “Oh, Christ, no.” He scrubbed his hands over his face before lifting it to look at them. “Ms. Williams—”

  “Please, Mr. Keller, call me Teagan,” she insisted. She had a feeling they were going to be working together a lot over the next several months.

  He nodded. “Teagan. I know you and Marsha were close, but I’m not sure if she confided in you her fears about Gabe’s work. She was protective of the children, fearing they could be kidnapped and used against Gabriel.” He sighed. “She was also afraid he wouldn’t do anything to rescue them.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Logan sprung from his chair and paced the room. “Why didn’t she tell us anything about this?” He looked accusingly at her. “Did you know?”

  “Hell, no.” She quickly thought back to several conversations she had about the way Marsha was so guarded of the children. Fuck. She could kick herself in the ass. Why hadn’t she seen it. “I thought she was just a very cautious mother.”

  “She was,” Mr. Keller noted. “And with good reason. When he lived there, Gabriel would get calls all times of the day and night, sometimes on their home phone, often on one of the many cell phones he carried. During the first part of their separation, she confessed to me that she thought he was leaving her and the children for their safety.”

  “I can see Gabe doing that.” Logan nodded. “He’d want to draw the enemy away from them.”

  Enemy? Who the hell was the enemy?

  The attorney glanced at his watch. “We need to get through this before they return.” After opening the folder in front of him, he handed Logan and Teagan long legal sheets covered in thick blue paper. “Marsha signed these the day before Gabriel’s funeral, and now, I’m so thankful she did. What you have in your hands are copies of her complete last will and testament.”

  “Anyone else want a bottle of water?” Logan asked.

  “Yes, please.” Teagan felt awful for not playing the good hostess. Thank God Logan was comfortable enough in her home to take over that role.

  “I’d like one as well,” Mr. Ke
ller said as he flipped through the pages.

  Teagan downed half of her bottle as soon as Logan handed it to her. She didn’t realize how dry her mouth had become.

  “Let’s skip straight to page two. There’s a lot of legalese here, and I’ll have to explain to you your jobs, but to start, Teagan, you have been named the executor of the will. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson—”

  “Logan, please. Given that my name is in this will, I’m sure we’re going to be working together a lot over the next year.”

  “Actually,” Mr. Keller smiled at him. “You and I both have a fiduciary responsibility to the children until Anora turns eighteen. I’ll explain more about that later.”

  Shifting his gaze back to her, Mr. Keller said, “As the executor, Teagan, your job is to liquidate all the assets and distribute them according to the will. Basically, you handle the business end of everything stated in these papers.”

  “Why did she put me in charge of that?” Teagan realized she’d said that out loud.

  “Because Marsha didn’t want her father to have anything to do with her money and the children.” His gaze shifted between her and Logan. “And she sure as hell didn’t want her sister to get a dime, or worse yet, custody of the children.”

  “We don’t want Ashley anywhere around the kids.” Teagan agreed.

  Mr. Keller gave her a genuine smile. He’d been handsome in his day, she was quite sure. “And that’s exactly why Marsha made you the executor. Now, briefly, Teagan, you will have to see to it that all benefits are collected which in this case, includes settling all of Gabe’s estate which transferred to Marsha upon his death. All of this now falls on your shoulders.”

  He reached over and patted her back. “But I’m here to help you. Fortunately, Marsha’s CPA works in the same offices I do. He’s a specialist in estate taxes and preparation of all documents required for probate court, which is another one of your duties. We’re going to help you through this but it’s going to take time. At least a year.”

  “It looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other. When can I start calling you Ed?” She quipped.

  The older man grinned. Yep. He’d been a panty-dropper in his day. “Right now.”

  “Well, then, Ed, if I have to do all this, what does Logan get to do?” She looked up at her friend whose eyes narrowed.

  “Page three, everyone.” He flipped the long sheet to the next page. “Logan, I hope you have a good broker.”

  Logan laughed out loud, to her surprise. “That would mean I have money to invest. You must have missed the part where I said I was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps. The government doesn’t pay our servicemen very much money.”

  “Ah hem,” Teagan interjected. “They don’t pay their servicewomen very much either, but it’s one place where men and women of the same rank get paid exactly the same, which ain’t shit. That’s part of the reason I got out.” Her mother’s rapidly progressing Alzheimer’s was the other.

  “Well, in that case, you might want to find one because Marsha named Logan both the trustee and the guardian.” Ed said.

  What the fuck? “Wait.” Teagan glared at the attorney. “Marsha said that I was supposed to get the children. She wanted me to raise them if anything ever happened to her.”

  “Hold your horses, Teagan.” He held up one hand in the stop position. “Guardian in the legal term as to the last will and testament is different than guardianship of the children. Let me explain.”

  Mr. Keller leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and gestured with his left hand while holding the signed will in his right. “Technically, Logan isn’t even the guardian until the court officially appoints him as such. The guardian also doesn’t necessarily mean he has custody of the children. In this case,” he shook the papers, “Marsha has recommended to the court that Logan be given the responsibility for the children’s legal, financial, and healthcare decisions. She had me add a paragraph in there clarifying that she wants custody of the children to go to you, and for the two of you to work together for the good of Anora and Brann.”

  He rubbed his hand over his face. “It’s just a legal way of assuring that there are checks and balances of the money inherited by the children.”

  Ed’s gaze went to Logan. “You do realize, that the moment you are legally named guardian, you will be responsible for the investment and disbursement of approximately eight million dollars.”

  Teagan had no idea that their father left them so much money.

  Logan collapsed into his chair. “Holy fuck.”

  Chapter Nine

  Eight million dollars.

  Logan was trying desperately to wrap his mind around that much money. Sure, as the commanding officer of a Raider Battalion, he oversaw a budget ten times that amount. Yes. He was responsible for that money, in a way, but it was mostly numbers on a spreadsheet, tangible only in the equipment his special operators used on missions.

  Fuck me.

  He would now be accountable for growing that money. He didn’t know shit about investing. He vowed in that moment to learn everything he could and invest the children’s money wisely. He would also see to it that they had a wonderful childhood, using the money so they could go to camps in the summer, travel and see the world— at least the good parts—and learn how to do whatever they wanted. Anora would learn ballet, or whatever the hell classes she desired. Brann could ride horses, sail boats, go to the best baseball camps available, if that’s what he wanted.

  Those kids would have a much better childhood than he did.

  “I imagine you’re going to want to sell the house as soon as possible,” Ed announced. “You’ll have to work together on that. Legally, Logan has the power of attorney to sell the property, but you, Teagan, are responsible for collecting those assets. Again, we’re here to help you through everything.”

  “The house is still a crime scene as far as I’m concerned, no matter what Detective dickhead says. I’ll go over his head if I have to.” Logan chugged the last half of his water. “Somebody murdered Marsha and they may now be after the children…unless she gave them what they wanted.”

  “Oh my God, no.” Teagan’s voice was an octave higher than normal. “Do you really think someone may come after the kids?”

  Logan put his hand over the back of hers and gave it a little squeeze. “Somebody murdered Marsha, and if the police aren’t willing to look into this, I know some guys down in Richland. They’re damn good detectives.”

  Ed glanced at his watch once again. “Speaking of detectives, the one I met, and the social services lady should be back any minute. We need to discuss the children. They’re still here, right? They’ve been so quiet.”

  “Yeah, back in their bedroom.” Teagan gestured toward the hallway. “They come and stay with me some times, so I’ve converted that room for them.”

  “Good.” Mr. Keller grinned. “At this very moment, my clerk is filing with the probate court to give you, both of you, immediate custody of the children while their future is determined. We’re also asking for an emergency hearing on their permanent custody.” He waggled the papers once again. “Most often the judge will grant custody to whomever is named in the will, but that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get them. The state is a bit old-fashioned in that it prefers children to go to a two-parent household. Also, given how much money these two children are worth, I wouldn’t be surprised if long-lost relatives start crawling out of the woodwork.”

  He looked at Logan. “It’s a damn good thing Marsha named you guardian. I don’t think many people are stupid enough to argue with a Marine officer.”

  “They’ll be sorely disappointed if they try.” He grinned over at Teagan. “I’m going to do everything within my power to see to it that she gets the children.”

  There was a knock at the door. Their private time with Mr. Keller was done, but certainly not over.

  Once everyone was reseated in the living room, Mr. Keller explained eve
rything that was in Marsha’s signed will.

  “Mr. Keller, as you know, the state is concerned about placing two children, one of each sex, in the care and custody of a single parent,” Melissa Cook explained. She looked at Logan with regret in her soft blue eyes. “We will be asking for placement in an established home with a husband and wife.”

  Teagan threw her hands up in the air. “What am I supposed to do? Run out and get married?”

  Melissa, as she had instructed Logan to call her, gave Teagan a small smile. “I’m not sure that would help much. Again, the state prefers establish families. In your favor, though, is that you have an established relationship with the children.”

  That sounded encouraging as far as Logan was concerned.

  Standing, Melissa’s gaze swept the room before landing on Teagan. “May I see the room you have prepared for the children?”

  “Sure.” Teagan showed the social services woman down the hall, talking in low voices.

  When they returned, Melissa announced, “Given the wishes of Mrs. Davis as stated in her will, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia I am going to grant temporary emergency custody of Anora and Brann Davis to Teagan Williams.” She walked over and shook Mr. Keller’s hand. “I’ll see you in court.”

  As she headed for the door, Detective Russo stood and called out, “I still have questions for the children.”

  Melissa glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll have to get that permission from the children’s temporary guardian.” Her gaze slid to Logan and she gave him a little wink.

  Damn. Melissa Cook had been looking out for them the entire time. Logan only hoped she continued to keep the best interest of the children in mind when they went to court. No matter what, though, he controlled the purse strings and would see to it that those two precious little children had the best childhood possible.

  “Ms. Williams,” Detective Russo approached Teagan.