Liam’s Lily
Page 5
“Was there just the three of you kids?”
She nodded. “Yes, just the three of us. And he blames himself for Keith’s death. I think the guilt and the grief collapsed this big man into this shell. He sits in a chair and doesn’t care anymore. He’s waiting for his life to end so he can join his son.”
“What about his two daughters who need him?”
She gave him a half smile. “He would say that Brianna doesn’t need anybody and that I’ll do fine.”
“But you’re hurting too, aren’t you?” Liam asked.
She refused to look at him. That question was a little too intuitively right on target.
She couldn’t finish her dinner. Whether it was nerves or the shock of everything going on, she’d served herself too much food. She put down her fork and nudged her plate back a little. “I can’t eat anymore,” she said quietly.
“Stress will do that to you,” North said. “Who draws a paycheck here?”
“It didn’t used to be any of us,” she said shortly. Then she sighed and sagged. “The trouble is, I can’t sustain myself without some income, and I spend all my time trying to raise money for the sanctuary. And my sister didn’t use to take a paycheck, but, after she married Carlos, she started to.”
“Well, somebody has to be paid to look after it,” Liam said reasonably. “If you think about it, it’ll be you, or it’ll be somebody else coming in to manage it.”
She nodded. “It’s hard though when you realize you’re having trouble getting money to look after the animals. If I could cut my salary any further I would. But I’m only taking $500 a month, and that’s barely enough to cover my own personal needs.”
“What does that mean?” North asked, leaning forward. “If you seriously get in trouble, what happens then?”
She stared at him and frowned. “I guess it means I have to sell some land. But I can’t really do that without my father’s permission.”
“Do you have power of attorney?”
“I do for his medical care.”
“Do you know for sure that Brianna hasn’t tried to get a POA for the estate and sanctuary on her own?” North asked.
She stared at the men, both with questioning looks on their faces, and felt something rotten twist inside. “I hope not,” she said quietly. “Because that would be the end of a very fragile trust between us.”
*
Liam watched the emotions crossing Lilianna’s face. He wondered if she had any idea just how expressive her face was. She would never make a decent poker player. Right now she was completely sick over the thought of her sister pulling a fast one on her.
“We need to know a clear delegation as to who has access to the money, who has access to the website, who has access to the business documentation. Everything,” North said.
Liam nodded. “And we need that fast.” He watched her mouth work as if she wanted to say something.
Her shoulders sagged, and she nodded. “My understanding is my sister and I both have access to everything,” she said quietly. “As does my father.”
“Does that also mean Carlos does?” North said.
She shrugged. “There’s no way to know what the hell Carlos knows.”
“Is he honest? Is he somebody you trust with business?”
Her eyes were shadowed as she lifted them. “I was prepared to marry the man,” she said quietly. “I thought for sure he was all of those things. But when you walk in to find your sister and your fiancé in bed together, you realize you really don’t know either of them at all.”
“Do you have any reason to believe he might be criminally connected? Maybe have an ulterior motive? Be after the property?”
Her eyes widened. “It never occurred to me before,” she said. “He got what he wanted, which was my sister.”
“Any idea why he wanted her over you?” Liam asked, his tone low. “I don’t mean to make that sound terrible, but honestly, outside of love, do you think there’s another reason?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think so. As far as I know, he’s wealthy and a good catch. I would have suspected it was more my sister after him because he was mine and because he had money.”
Both men nodded as if they understood that. Liam certainly did. Women like that were all over the world. He was sorry for Lilianna’s pain, but obviously she was better off without him.
“Anyone else have access to bank accounts, legal documents? Do you have a lawyer on staff?”
She shook her head. “Not on staff but we do have two professionals that we work with.”
The men nodded, and North said, “We need those names too then.”
She walked to her laptop and brought it to the kitchen table. “I’ve left a lot of the business stuff to my sister,” she admitted. “I haven’t really looked into it too deeply. I just wanted to avoid both of them.”
“Who pays you?”
“The accountant. He deposits the money as per my instructions in my account.”
“And what does your sister take from the business?”
She gave him a troubled look. “I’m not sure.”
He leaned forward. “It’s time to find out.”
It was never an easy thing to look at those you worked with, particularly if they were family, to understand just what was going on. But mismanagement of funds was an all-too-common practice. Charities and animal sanctuaries were not exempt. And, if her sister was after the bottom line, maybe she felt the sanctuary owed her for looking after it. True enough, people did have to run it. The salary just needed to be a reasonable amount. She sent him a list of names and occupations in an email, then looked up and said, “Okay, that’s done.”
He nodded. “Let’s go see your father.”
She sighed. “I wish it was my father we’ll see,” she said cryptically.
“Is he that far gone?”
She raised both hands, palms up. “I have no idea. Seems to me the medication he is on is keeping him that way. But I can’t get anybody to talk to me.”
“Well, this time you won’t be alone,” Liam said in a curt tone. “Let’s talk to your father and to his medical professionals. And let’s see if anybody has changed his medication.”
“Can they do that without informing me?” She glanced at him in surprise. “I’d imagine they could make minor changes without consulting me, but anything more wouldn’t be allowed. Yet I have no idea. It would be horrific to think somebody was sabotaging not just the sanctuary but my father’s health too.”
“We have seen much worse,” North said shortly. He collected their plates, filled the sink with hot soapy water and washed the dishes. “Go get whatever you need. We’ll take our truck and visit your dad.”
“Fine,” she said, her tone also sharp.
Something else Liam could understand. He watched as she stalked off to her room. He cleared off the table and joined North to dry the dishes. Liam shook his head. Who wanted to take a look at everything going on in their lives in this kind of a way? He trusted what he could see and what he’d learned about Lilianna. But Brianna hadn’t been welcoming, interested or compassionate about the animals.
And any asshole engaged to one sister who turned around and slept with the other wasn’t somebody Liam would trust either. Liam knew, for a lot of men, sex was just that, sex. It didn’t go with honor, love or commitment. That wasn’t the world Liam lived in. As far as he was concerned, he was with one person until he was no longer with that person. But he never crossed the line between multiple partners.
Within ten minutes the kitchen was cleaned, and they were walking out to the truck. It was still light outside. Liam got into the driver’s seat, and she hopped into the bed of the truck again.
He glanced over at North, but North just said, “She’ll open the gate apparently.”
Liam shook his head. “We could have done that.”
“I think it’s her way of distancing herself from all this.”
Something else he could understand.
A good twenty minutes later Liam pulled into the parking lot. He saw a lot of vehicles and a lot of people moving in and out.
“It’s visiting hours,” she said.
He nodded but didn’t say a word. He studied the area, quickly typed the name of the place in a text to Levi. As far as Liam was concerned, something very wrong was going on. Anybody who saw the elephants probably thought they didn’t need as much land as they had and didn’t know about the expansion in the works. Or maybe knew about the intended expansion and was determined to thwart it. It wasn’t fertile land, but land was land, and some of it held a great deal of value.
He glanced at her as they walked in. “I don’t suppose your land has any oil or water or mineral rights or anything?”
She looked at him in surprise. “Well, we have a lake, a couple actually, from underwater springs. It’s a beautiful spot.”
“You’ll have to show it to me,” he said noncommittally, keeping his raging thoughts under control.
She nodded. “We can go out tomorrow if you want. It’s pretty stunning back there.”
“And when you say, back there, what does that mean?”
“It’s at the far back corner of the property. We’ve had developers ask us about it, but my father was adamant about not selling. We need the water for the animals.”
Liam glanced at North to see a look in his eyes and knew he was thinking too that developers included all kinds of people.
Inside the assisted-care home, Lilianna didn’t sign-in or talk to the front desk; she just headed for her father’s room.
“Is there no sign-in policy here? People just come and go at will?”
Surprised, she looked at him and nodded. “Of course. He’s not a prisoner.”
Liam wondered about that, but he kept quiet. Because, in reality, if the man had been drugged in any way, it probably was a prison for him.
She knocked on the door, opened it and stepped inside. Her father had a private room with a small couch, TV and a bed off to one side. As Liam looked at the man in front of him, he realized he wasn’t all that old. In a low tone he asked, “How old is your father?”
“Fifty-nine,” she said shortly. She stepped forward and, in a gentle voice, said, “Hi, Daddy. How are you?”
Hearing her voice, the man smiled gently. “Hello, Brianna. Back again so soon?”
She shook her head and sat down. “It’s Lilianna, Dad. Not Brianna.”
He patted her hand gently. “So you keep saying.”
She glanced over at Liam and shrugged. “This is pretty common.”
“Of course it is,” he said. “You’re identical twins.”
Her father turned to look at him, but there was almost a vacant no-one’s-home sign in the man’s eyes. Liam stepped forward and held out his hand. “I’m Liam, a friend of your daughter’s.”
She nudged him when he didn’t make a move. “Daddy, did you hear him?” She turned to Liam and smiled. “Liam, this is my father, Jim Howell. Daddy, this is Liam O’Brien.”
Her father nodded and, at her urging, lifted a hand and shook Liam’s. They repeated the process with North. But there was nothing cognizant going on in his gaze. Liam took a look around the room. No pill bottles sat on the bedside table where he could easily walk over and check them out. He really wanted to find out what kind of drugs this man was on. He glanced over at North, but he was already heading to the small bathroom. Liam could hear him checking out the insides of the cabinets and the drawers. When he returned, he stopped at the night table and did a quick glance through those drawers too. Lilianna watched what they were doing. She frowned, not quite understanding.
Just then a nurse walked in and stopped. “There you are,” she said with a bright smile. “Haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”
Lilianna nodded. “How are you doing, Mary?”
“I’m doing fine, and so is your father, as you can see.”
“What medication is he on?” Liam asked.
Mary’s smile dimmed. She turned to study Liam and obviously didn’t like either the tone or the look of him because her back stiffened. “If you have any questions about his medications, then you need to talk to his doctor.”
“I’d love to,” he said smoothly. “Who is his doctor, and how do I contact him?”
She hesitated and glanced at Lilianna. “Lilianna?”
Lilianna studied Mary’s face. “I have no problem with Liam understanding my father’s care. Do you?”
The woman blushed slightly and shook her head. “Of course not. I’ll get you the information.” And then she disappeared.
North stepped out of the room following the nurse. Lilianna turned toward Liam and, in a harsh whisper, asked, “Do you really think something is wrong here?”
“Your father needs a second medical opinion,” Liam said softly, staring at Jim who sat gazing almost blandly at the TV. “I want a reasonable explanation for what happened to him and why he’s like this.”
She studied her father, gripped his fingers and said, “Daddy, how has your day been?”
He shifted his gaze toward her and then back at the TV again. To Liam nothing was normal about this. But unless the man had an aneurism or a stroke or was dealing with early-onset Alzheimer’s, Liam didn’t understand what was going on. Yet it was all too possible this was who this man was now. In which case, Liam could easily see somebody trying to get a power of attorney over his estate. That’s where the money was. It was smart for Lilianna to have POA over her father’s medical needs, but Liam was worried that she should have POA over the rest as well.
The nurse came back with a name and an email address on a piece of paper that she handed to Liam. “If you have any other questions, please direct them to the home care director.”
Liam brought out a pen. “Absolutely. Who do I contact?”
She gave him the information and turned to Lilianna. “You want some tea?”
Lilianna nodded. “Is Dad drinking any still?”
She shrugged. “Last time I brought some, it was left untouched.”
“We’d like to have a cup of tea now then, please.”
The nurse turned and left.
Liam pulled out his phone, walked to the window and called Levi. As soon as he answered, Liam said, “You need to check into the medical records of Jim Howell, Lilianna’s father. I’m at the assisted-care home where he’s staying. He’s not talking, walking or acting normally, as if he’s drugged or has early-onset dementia or Alzheimer’s. He’s sitting in the chair doing nothing. The man’s only fifty-nine. I highly suspect we’ll find somebody is trying for power of attorney over the estate behind Lilianna’s back.” He caught Levi’s in-drawn breath and a light swearing.
“I’m on it. I’m also calling Gunner. He might have more info.”
“It’s the medical that worries me right now. It’s a little too easy to keep him in this state to prove he’s not capable of handling his business affairs. No judge would argue a POA application for the estate given the condition I’m seeing Jim in now. He’s not capable of handling his business affairs.”
“We’re on it.”
Liam put his phone away and returned to where Lilianna sat beside her father. Tears were in her eyes.
Just then the door opened as the nurse came back in with a tray.
Liam said to Lilianna, “Levi is checking into the POA issue.”
The nurse hurriedly put down the tray. “It has nothing to do with us,” she cried. “You have to talk to the director.” And she dashed out.
“Time to call that lawyer,” Liam said pointedly to Lilianna.
She stared at him in shock.
Chapter 4
Her fingers shaking, Lilianna pulled out her phone and ran through her contacts, looking for the lawyer’s information. As
soon as she found it, she hit Dial. When Eric answered, she said, “Did you draw up a power of attorney for my father’s estate?”
There was silence on the other end.
“You did, didn’t you?” she cried out.
“Your sister asked me to. But we haven’t signed anything yet,” Eric protested. “You were looking after your father’s medical condition. She wanted to handle the business side. Said it was only right as she’s been handling that side since your father’s collapse anyway.”
“Well, let me tell you, if you go forward with that, without involving me in this discussion, there will be a lawsuit against you,” she snapped, her anger thick.
“Now I just said we haven’t gotten that far,” he protested.
“But you’ve started the process, and that means you’ve done it without my knowledge,” she said, fear working through her. “As of this moment, you are no longer a lawyer for us, the family or the sanctuary. Do you understand me?”
“Now hold on a minute …”
“No, you’ll be hearing from my new attorneys tomorrow morning,” she snapped and hung up. She dropped the phone in her lap and brushed the hair off her face, but her hands trembled so badly that she dropped them into her lap and just left them there. “I’ve been a fool, haven’t I?”
“I think what we’re seeing here is a power play,” North said quietly. “I suspect your sister and her husband are making a move to take control, and you will end up as an employee at a measly $500 a month doing all the work so they can do whatever it is they’ve got going on.”
She shook her head. “Are you seriously thinking something has happened with my father here?”
“I’m seriously thinking you should have gotten a second opinion a long time ago,” Liam said bluntly.
The color washed out of her face. As she stared at him, guilt ripped through her. “The doctors all told me nothing could be done, that this was just who he was, and he’d either pull out of it, or he wouldn’t.”
“And what do you think about that now?”
She shook her head. “It’s one thing to think my sister is making a play for the property behind my back,” she said, speaking slowly, carefully. “It’s another thing entirely to think somebody is either not giving my father full professional medical care or deliberately keeping him in this state.”