A Matter of Trust

by Ciana Stone

  She hoped it was the latter. She’d seen a lot of love shine in both their eyes when they looked at one another, and she couldn’t help but give in to the romantic side of her nature and hope that at long last they could acknowledge their love and enjoy the rest of their lives together.

  Max nudged her and she returned her attention to the laptop.

  Helen entered the room in front of Richard and stopped, one hip cocked to the side and bejeweled hand propped on it like a tea pot. “I suppose I should stop and curtsy in gratitude to you magnanimously granting us an interview.”

  Simon gave no response to her caustic comment. His eyes were on Richard who entered behind Helen. The two of them stared at one another like generals from an ancient army, staring each other down before battle.

  “Please, have a seat,” Simon gestured to the divan.

  Richard and Helen took a seat. “I demand to see my son,” Helen said as soon as she was seated.

  “My dear, you’re in no position to demand anything,” Simon replied then turned his attention to Richard. “Maxwell is safe, and under my protection.”

  Richard’s eyes narrowed but he nodded curtly.

  “Go Simon,” Nikki whispered as Helen sucked in a breath and glared at Simon.

  “Have you bothered to watch this morning’s news?” Simon asked.

  “I beg your pardon?” Helen blurted and cut her eyes at Richard. “You see. He’s senile. Here we are sick with worry because of our missing child and all he can say is—”

  “Shut up,” Richard snarled, and at the surprised gasp from her added, “Not another word, Helen, or I’ll have you removed. Are we clear on that?”

  “You’ll do no such thing. I have as much right as—”

  “Silence!” Simon’s voice was a veritable roar that shocked Helen speechless. “You will remain silent or I will have you removed. Now, let me ask again, Richard. Have you seen the morning news?”

  “No, I’ve been preoccupied with pressing matters.”

  “Then let us hope that you have verifiable alibis for the last several days,” Simon said. “This morning the body of Charles Abernathy was discovered in his penthouse.”

  “What?” Richard’s face paled.

  “And according to my sources, forensic evidence has been collected that have directed the authorities to a suspect.”

  “Thank god,” Richard commented. “How was he killed? Was it a robbery?”

  “From what I’ve gathered, he was shot, execution-style with a rather rare weapon. A Griswold and Gunnison 36 caliber.”

  Richard’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as Simon continued. “You and I are both aware that only 3700 of that particular handgun were manufactured for the Civil War and that one of them is in your collection.”

  Richard reached for the phone and quickly dialed an extension. “Osgood, check my weapon collection and make sure the Griswold and Gunnison 36 caliber is in its appropriate place. Call me back on my father’s extension the moment you’ve confirmed this.”

  He hung up the phone. “I had nothing to do with his death.”

  “Be that as it may, it is my suspicion that the authorities will come to the knowledge that you own such a weapon and that will bring them to your door. Thus, my original statement. I hope you have verifiable alibis for the last forty-eight hours.”

  “And you as well,” he added to Helen. “Make no mistake, this death will bring the eye of the police to bear on this family.”

  Nikki turned to look at Max, whose face wore a stoic expression remarkably similar to the one on his grandfather’s face. How horrible it must be for both of them to hear that Richard might have killed two men.

  She laid her hand on his thigh. “Max? You okay?”

  He nodded and put his hand on top of hers. At that moment they heard the ring of the phone. As one they looked at the laptop.

  Richard hurriedly answered the phone. “Yes?…yes, of course. I will be there momentarily.”

  He hung up the phone and stood. “This is all your doing, isn’t it? That was Osgood. The police are here. They want to ask some questions.”

  “Then you should make haste,” Simon replied.

  “Not before you tell me. You set me up, didn’t you? You’re trying to make me take the fall for a murder I didn’t commit. Why?”

  “I had no part in this, Richard. But do believe that you are innocent of these murders. You would never stain your hands thus and do your own dirty work. No, you would have made sure you were well protected and had an iron-clad alibi before you ordered another to commit the act. However, I do suggest that you look very close to home when you try to uncover who did frame you.”

  Richard’s face went beet red with rage. His fists clenched and unclenched by his side and his eyes turned to Helen. “I promise you this, you cold-hearted miserable bitch. If I go down, I’m taking you with me.”

  She gasped and her hand flew to her throat. “You…you bastard!”

  “Enough,” Simon intervened. “Richard, see to the authorities. Helen, you will accompany your husband and show your support.”

  She gave him a look sharp enough to cut, but stood and marched stiffly from the room. Richard followed but stopped at the door and looked back. “I may be guilty of a lot of things, but this is not among them.”

  “I pray not,” Simon replied and turned away, but not before Nikki saw the tear that tracked his face.

  “Oh, Max,” she whispered. “Surely this isn’t part of your plan!

  No. When we sent Ben to see Robinson we expected him to retaliate against Abernathy, but thought it would be through less violent means. Obviously Robinson has a much grander agenda than we’d realized for him to frame my father for murder.

  “You think he can get away with it?”

  That remains to be seen. He shouldn’t be underestimated. However, if Abernathy was killed with the weapon Grandfather described and my father can provide a reliable alibi, then that places Robinson in jeopardy. Only my father and he have the combination to the weapon cabinets. No one else could have removed a weapon without activating an alarm.

  “But your father might be getting arrested right now, Max.”

  Yes, I know. But he has a battery of attorneys to call upon and in all likelihood will be free by tomorrow morning at the latest. Which means we need to keep a close eye on Robinson and my mother until then.

  “Your mother? Max, you don’t think she would try to frame your father?”

  I have no doubt that she would if she thought she could get away with it. There’s been no love lost between the two of them for a long time.

  “That’s horrible!”

  I come from a horrible family, Nikki. He turned to take hold of her shoulders. If you’re smart you’ll get away from all of us.

  “Well I guess I’m not very smart then,” she replied. “Because I’m sticking to you like glue.”

  I hoped you’d say that. Come on, I think we need to make sure our surveillance net is functioning properly. Let’s join Grandfather.

  She nodded and threw her arms around him to hug him tightly. For a few moments they clung to one another, then together they hurried to join Simon.

  Wake up!

  Max’s voice yelled in her mind, causing Nikki to bolt upright in the bed. “What’s wrong?”

  Mark Robinson is here to see my mother, and Simon just got word that my father was not charged yet and so is on his way back to the estate. We have a live feed and are recording the meeting. Get up and come see.

  Nikki got up and threw on a pair of shorts and a loose T-shirt and hurried into Simon’s sitting room. They had a laptop and a large 30 inch monitor set up on the coffee table. Simon’s wheelchair sat vacant beside the sofa where he sat with Louise, her hand in his.

  It gave Nikki cause to smile as she hurried in and sat down beside Louise, leaving Max to wedge in beside her. She couldn’t help but think what a comical group they were, all huddled together on the sofa, eyes glued to the monitor
so they could spy on someone.

  “Here we go,” Simon said as Mark entered Helen’s sitting room and she rose from the divan.

  “Mark, have you word of Richard?” Helen asked as Mark hurried to her and took both her hands in his.

  “Not yet, but it doesn’t look good.”

  She sank back down onto the divan and Mark sat beside her, still holding onto one hand. “Mark, what does this mean to us? If Richard is charged with murder then where does that leave me? Will I be given power of attorney over his stock or will he retain control? What about our assets? Will they be frozen?”

  “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “Helen, listen, what we have here may just be a golden opportunity.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Think about it,” he said, gripping her hand tighter. “If Richard is convicted, then the reins of power will be handed to you. And if that happens, it’ll be like turning back the clock. We’ll be where we were before all this madness started. Before Maxwell came home from Iraq. Of course, we’ll have to wait a respectable length of time, but then we can be together just as we always wanted.”

  Helen pulled away from him and stood, turning her back on him to walk to the bar. Her face wore a look of cold calculation as she poured a glass of wine. Mark got up and went to the bar to pour himself a Scotch neat.

  “We’ll have to be quite cautious,” she finally replied. “Make it appear as if we’re being thrown together for the sake of business. A year or so of having to work side-by-side and no one will question when the professional relationship matures into something more.”

  “But,” she stopped him when he opened his mouth to respond. “What about Maxwell? We have to find where Simon has him hidden.

  “We’ve already walked that road,” Richard’s voice came from the doorway.

  “Richard!” Mark jumped up at the sound of his voice. “Thank god. What madness possessed the police to take you in for questioning?”

  “Apparently circumstantial evidence that suggests he was attempting to blackmail me for jury tampering in a lawsuit several years ago with one of our subsidiaries.”

  “What?” Helen asked. ‘That’s preposterous! Why, he doesn’t have access—”

  “Precisely,” Richard interrupted, his gaze like a laser on Mark. “The information they found could only have come from one source.”

  “Richard, are you implying...?” Helen did not get the chance to finish her question before Richard cut her off.

  “I’m not implying anything. I’m stating a fact. Only two people had access to the information in question.” He directed his statement to Mark. “You and I. You set me up.”

  “I did no such thing! Think about it. Why would I implicate you when that would effectively implicate myself as well?”

  Richard’s deep frown turned thoughtful and for a few moments there was a tense silence in the room. At length Richard sat down and blew out his breath. “Still, the information could have only come from one source. You’re safe. No one can get to the data I have stored. No one.”

  Mark was fast enough on his feet to have come up with plausible deniability in the short time afforded to him. “Damn! That has to be it!”

  “Meaning?” Richard asked.

  “That fucking maid.” Mark swiped his hand over his forehead in a frustrated gesture, turning away from Richard as he continued, “Deborah. I’d been using her to get information on what was going on here while you were gone. She started calling all hours of the day and night, claiming to have important information for me. It was always insignificant stuff.

  “It became clear that she was interested in more than the extra cash the information was affording her. She showed up at my place one night on the pretense of having something to tell me that couldn’t wait. She wanted a drink. One drink turned into quite a few and…well, I made a mistake. I slept with her.”

  He shook his head as if in embarrassment and turned to face Richard. “I left the next morning early, waking her to tell her to lock up when she left. She must have managed to get into the safe.”

  “How?” Richard asked.

  “How the hell should I know?” Mark shot back, playing the role of the injured party to the hilt. “But you can take it to the bank that I’ll find out. And I’ll deal with it.”

  “Do it fast,” Richard commanded. “The next time the authorities show up I want to have proof beyond all doubt that I had nothing to do with the murder.”

  Mark smiled inwardly. Richard had obviously bought the quickly concocted tale. He cut a look at Helen and her eyes were sharp enough to cut glass. “You had an affair with the maid?” Her tone matched the sharpness of her eyes.

  Mark couldn’t meet her eyes. He’d explain the lie to her later, in private. Right now he didn’t have much time. “It was a mistake. If you’ll both excuse me, I’ll take my leave. I have a lot to do.”

  Richard nodded and watched him leave. The moment they were alone, Helen lit into him. “Are you going to be charged with the murder?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we can’t run the risk that you might. You need to make provisions immediately. If there’s any chance that you’ll be incarcerated—any chance— then you have to make sure it doesn’t impact anything here on the estate.”

  “In other words make sure it doesn’t inconvenience you.”

  “Well I see no reason that my lifestyle should be compromised because of your mistakes.”

  Richard bolted to his feet, towering over her. “My mistakes? My darling, the most monumental mistake of my life is sitting right in front of me. Don’t presume to think for a moment that if I should by some remote possibility take a fall, I won’t make sure that you take the plunge with me.”

  Helen rose in one fluid move, all grace and ice. “Hear me and hear me well, Richard Weston. You may view me as a mistake, but it’s a mistake I assure you I’ll make you pay for as long as there is breath in your body. And just so we are clear, I could care less if you are locked away for the rest of your life, but I will not be tarnished. You may have defenses in place to safeguard yourself, but don’t think for an instant that I don’t as well. Should you try to implicate me in any way, I’ll make sure enough dirt hits the media to ruin you forever. And that, my darling, you can take to the bank.”

  With that she marched from the room, her head high. Richard watched her go then sat down, his brow furrowed in thought.

  Seated before the monitor, Nikki, Max and Simon watched the exchange in silence. When there was no one but Richard left sitting alone in the room, Nikki turned to look at Max. “Do you believe that? About Deborah, I mean?”

  Not for an instant, his mental reply was immediate.

  “He doesn’t believe it,” she said to Simon. “And honestly, neither do I. Surely Mr. Robinson isn’t careless enough to keep sensitive information where just anyone could get their hands on it.”

  “He’s not,” Simon said. “He’s covering.”

  “But why?”

  “Because he’s an ambitious man.”

  “So what now?” she asked.

  “Now we try and find out who did kill Abernathy,” Simon answered, and looked at Max. “We need to know everything Mark Robinson is hiding. Do you think you and Nikki’s friend, Mr. Marshall, can handle that?”

  Max nodded.

  “Then contact Mr. Marshall. Assure him that he will be under no danger of legal repercussions, and that if this task is successfully accomplished, a position with Weston is his for the taking. He can name his price.”

  Max nodded again and Nikki gaped in surprise until Max nudged her. Call Ben and ask.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. Okay.” She hurried to get her cell phone, thinking that each day brought new and unexpected events. Would there ever be a time when life around Max would be normal?

  When Nikki and Max entered Simon’s study, he was focused on the screen of a laptop perched on his legs.

  “It appears that Richard has been exonerated in the murder
of Charles Abernathy.”

  “How?” Nikki asked.

  “One of our maids, Deborah Tillman, did not show for work the last two days. This morning Osgood had another member of the staff go to check on her, and found her dead. An apparent suicide.”

  “She killed herself?” Nikki was shocked. Why would Deborah have killed herself? She seemed to like her job and Nikki hadn’t heard anyone speak about her as having personal problems.

  “Apparent is the operative word here,” Simon replied. “A note was found in which she confessed to the murder. She wrote that she did it to get even with Richard for tossing her aside after a short-lived affair. He promised to have her flown to Europe to an apartment in Paris so that she would be close by while he was there with Helen. When he failed to fulfill his promise, she seduced Robinson in an attempt to make him jealous, but it didn’t work. According to the note he laughed at her when she called and informed him she’d slept with Robinson. Said that Robinson was welcome to her. That he’d been tired of her for months. She wanted to make him pay for breaking her heart, so she tried to frame him for murder, but found that she couldn’t live with it, and couldn’t live without him.”

  Nikki looked from Simon to Max. “That…that—I’m sorry but that just sounds like a bad soap opera.”

  “Well put,” Simon agreed. “I do not believe for a moment that there is a shred of truth in the so-called suicide note. But it does clear Richard.”

  “What does that mean to us?” she asked.

  That mistrust has been wedged between the major players. Something that could be to our advantage. Max’s voice had her eyebrows rising.

  She repeated his words for Simon, who nodded with a smile. “And why I summoned you. Helen placed a call to Robinson, demanding his presence. He should be here any moment.”

  “Then we should get the surveillance net online and…” Nikki trailed off as Simon turned the laptop to show them what was on the display.

  Helen sat on the divan in her private sitting room, sipping a cup of tea. “I think I’ll fix some coffee. Anyone want anything?” Nikki asked.