by Bobbi Holmes
“Why didn’t you ever tell me? She sent me letters that last year. She seemed fine to me.”
“From what I understand, Brianna had her good days and bad.” Clarence shrugged.
“And this may give Cheryl a claim to the estate?”
“I am a little concerned she might claim Brianna’s illness caused your aunt to forget your cousin. After all, she is not mentioned in the will.”
“But you said Aunt Brianna got sick a few years after she wrote the will.”
“It was diagnosed a few years later.”
“Why didn’t you ever mention any of this to me, that Brianna had been ill?”
“I saw no reason to mention it. I assumed you already knew.”
“How would I have known?” Danielle asked.
“Ms. Boatman, you were already so upset over your aunt’s passing, I didn’t think it was necessary to add to your burden by elaborating on the harsh details of her final days.”
“Well, I wish I had known,” Danielle said quietly.
“I am sorry.” Clarence sounded contrite. “As for your cousin’s claim, let me look into a few things for you, and I’ll get back to you the first of next week.”
“Thank you. Will you be at the open house?
“I plan to come. Unfortunately Ms. Comings won’t be able to make it. She’s taking off this afternoon for Portland, to spend the holiday with family.”
“I understand. I’m glad you’ll be able to make it.”
“You mentioned something on the phone about your cousin having an attorney already looking into this?”
“The only thing she really said was that her attorney thought she had a good case. Not sure he is really looking into it. Knowing my cousin, it is always possible she made up the part about the attorney or it might be some guy she went out with and told her off the cuff. I don’t honestly know.”
“Do you know if she’s planning to contact me?”
“Umm…actually, I sort of gave her the impression I would arrange that,” Danielle said sheepishly.
“Well, I don’t want you to worry. I’m confident Brianna was in full possession of her faculties when she wrote that will, and that she didn’t leave Cheryl out because she forgot about her, but because she didn’t want to include her,” Clarence said with far more enthusiasm than he’d shown earlier. He then frowned and asked, “Your aunt did know Cheryl existed, didn’t she?”
“Yes. Aunt Brianna and Uncle Harry came to the US a few times when I was younger. The family would get together, and that included Cheryl.”
“Well, let me see what I can find out, and hopefully we can get this all sorted out.”
“I appreciate it.” I wonder what this is going to cost me, Danielle thought.
“I understand you intend to sell the Missing Thorndike? Quite a find there. I would never have imagined it was in Marlow House.”
“Yes, it was right there in the attic, stuffed behind a loose board.”
“Amazing. Who would have ever imagined someone like Walt Marlow was the one responsible for taking that necklace. And to think it was there all those years.”
“A few people knew. George Hemming knew. Apparently Walt Marlow told him he took it—or at least alluded to the fact.”
“Did Marie Nichols tell you that?”
“Yes. Although initially she didn’t specifically mention the Missing Thorndike, just that Walt Marlow—according to her father—was involved in a jewel heist.”
“Really?” Clarence frowned for a moment as if considering a puzzle and then chuckled as if he’d come to a conclusion. “Perhaps that explains Adam’s curiosity.”
“Adam?”
“Have you met Marie’s grandson?”
“Yes, yes I have. What did you mean Adam’s curiosity?”
“Gloria told me Adam quizzed her about the house a few weeks before you arrived. Asked what was still in it, what had been removed. He even wanted to have a look inside.”
“Did she let him inside?”
“No. She figured he was checking it out as a possible rental. I ran into him a few days later; he asked me when the new owner was showing up. I figured Gloria was right. Of course if you had decided to put the house in the rental market, I would have recommended Bay View Rentals, not Fredrickport Property Rentals. They have a better reputation.”
“Do you think he wanted to see inside because of the Missing Thorndike?” Danielle already knew the answer to her question.
“I suppose I find the idea amusing, especially if Marie told her grandson about the necklace.” Clarence chuckled again. “But no, probably not. I’m sure Marie would have told Adam that story years ago, so if he was interested he would have already found some way to get into the house. No, I was just being overly suspicious.”
“Perhaps,” Danielle muttered under her breath.
“I understand you have a buyer for the necklace already.”
“Yes. He’s going to be here after the weekend. Which is why I need to get this thing with Cheryl cleared up.”
“You’ll have to put that on hold for right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Until we get this straightened out with your cousin, you really shouldn’t sell the necklace.”
“I need to sell it so I can pay the damn inheritance tax,” Danielle said impatiently. “I really don’t want to lose this buyer.”
“Don’t worry about that now,” Clarence said as he stood up. “Let me look into a few things and get back to you as soon as possible. You just focus on your open house.”
“That is a little hard to do,” Danielle grumbled. She stood up and picked up her purse off the floor.
“Now, now, it will all work out. One way or another.” Clarence walked Danielle to his office door and opened it.
“Thanks for seeing me today,” Danielle said as she walked out the doorway into the front office.
“It was nice to finally meet you in person,” Clarence said. “I’ll see you at your open house.”
Chapter Nine
Much to Cheryl’s annoyance, Sadie greeted her and Ian when they reached the side gate of Marlow house. Danielle typically left the gate wide open; that had made it easy for Ian to arrange his first meeting with Danielle and Lily, and for the times he’d walk over in the evenings and catch Lily sitting on the bench under the moonlight. But this afternoon the gate was shut. Sadie sat inside the enclosure, barking for Ian to come inside and play.
“Hello girl,” Ian greeted as he pulled the unlocked padlock from the latch and pushed open the gate. Cheryl followed Ian inside the yard, careful to avoid Sadie, who insisted on jumping on Ian.
On the far side of the yard Lily looked up from the ground, croquet mallet in hand, preparing to hit a ball. Instead, she let the mallet rest against the grass as she waved to Cheryl and Ian. Cheryl ignored her greeting and made her way to the kitchen door. Ian waved in return. By the time he reached Lily, Cheryl had already gone into the house.
“That was a quick walk,” Lily said, briefly glancing over to the door leading into the kitchen.
“If I ever offer to take that woman anywhere ever again, please hit me in the head with a croquet mallet.” Ian shuddered.
“What happened?” Lily glanced back to the house and then to Ian.
“I don’t think you’d believe me.” Ian shook his head in disgust.
“Did she make a pass at you?” Lily asked with a grin.
“How did you know that?”
“Dani said she hit on Lucas before their wedding.” Lily looked down, positioned the mallet behind the ball and gave it a little tap, sending the ball toward its target.
“According to Cheryl it was the other way around.” Ian followed Lily as she continued to play croquet.
“She told you that?” Lily asked as she hit the ball again. It went astray, flying into a nearby bush. Before Lily could retrieve the wooden ball Sadie flew into the bushes and snagged it, then dashed across the yard in the opposite direction. “Sa
die! Bring that back!” Lily called out.
“Yes, but I have a feeling your version is more accurate.” Ian watched as Sadie ran around the yard with the wooden ball in her mouth. “You know, she isn’t going to bring it back.” Ian chuckled.
“So what happened between you two down at the beach?” Lily asked as she walked to Sadie, who was now lying on the lawn, energetically chewing on the ball.
Following Lily, his hands tucked into the back pockets of his denims he said, “I don’t want to go into it. Let’s just say she made me an offer she didn’t think I could refuse.”
“Were you tempted?” Lily asked when they reached Sadie. She reached down and grabbed the ball. In a scolding voice she said, “You don’t want to chew on that!”
“Tempted?” Ian glanced at the house and then back to Lily. He smiled and said, “Strangely, not.”
“Strangely?” Lily looked at the slobbery croquet ball in her hand. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she wiped it on her apron. Sadie ran off in the opposite direction, expecting Lily to throw the ball. Instead of throwing it, Lily slipped it into her apron pocket.
“I am a man, Lily. When a beautiful woman hits on you…”
“So tell me,” Lily interrupted, “you couldn’t do it because she just didn’t compare to me, right?”
“Partially.”
“Partially?” Lily wrinkled her nose and lightly smacked the side of Ian’s leg with the croquet mallet.
“Ouch!” Ian snatched the mallet from Lily.
“Oh, that didn’t hurt,” Lily scoffed.
“True, but I’m not going to wait around for you to take a second swing.”
“So what was the other reason you didn’t accept her gracious offer?”
“Honestly?” Ian looked up at Marlow House. He could see Cheryl standing in her bedroom window looking down at them.
“Yes, why?” Lily glanced toward the house. She saw Cheryl standing in the window.
“High maintenance women, especially those with an exceptionally high opinion of themselves—well, are rather a turn off for me.”
“Ahhh, I get it, you tend to go for slobs with low self esteem?” Lily teased.
“Well…” Ian critically eyed Lily, his eyes moving up and down her body. Smirking, he reached out and tugged her messy pony tail. “I wouldn’t say you have low self esteem.”
“Oh thanks!” Lily laughed. “Hey, give me back that mallet, I wanna smack you again.”
“I don’t think so. You’re dangerous with that thing.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her to the bench. They sat down.
“Did you know Brianna Boatman had Alzheimer’s?” Ian asked.
“Alzheimer’s? I didn’t know that. How did you find out?”
“Cheryl told me. That’s why she believes she has a claim on the estate. Because her aunt wasn’t mentally competent to make her will.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Lily glanced up at the house. Cheryl was no longer standing at the bedroom window.
“I have no idea. But if she wasn’t mentally competent when she had that will written, Cheryl might have a legitimate claim.”
“Damn. That really mucks things up.”
“Where is Danielle?” Ian glanced over to where Danielle normally parked her car.
“She went to see Mr. Renton, her attorney.”
“Hopefully he’ll have good news for her. I’d hate to see Danielle forced to share her estate with that woman.”
“That woman.” Lily chuckled.
“I think for the first time in my life I understand how a woman feels when a man makes an unwelcome advance,” Ian said in a serious tone. “Yesterday if you’d asked me if a beautiful woman coming on to me—coming on strong—would turn me off, I would have laughed.”
“Do you have to keep calling her a beautiful woman?” Lily grumbled.
“Well, she is. I mean physically speaking. But I have to admit, she made me extremely uncomfortable out there.”
“After Cheryl made a pass at Lucas at the rehearsal dinner, he told Dani about it and Dani confronted her cousin. Cheryl insisted it was all a mistake; that she had too much to drink.”
“Cheryl’s version was that Lucas had made a pass at her. She says that explains her and Danielle’s fractured relationship. According to Cheryl, Lucas cheated on Dani throughout their marriage, and when he was killed in the car accident, he was with his lover.”
“Well, the last part of that is true enough,” Lily said with a sigh.
“It is?”
“I have no idea if he cheated on her throughout their marriage. When I first met them they seemed to have a good marriage. I never noticed him having a wandering eye or being inappropriate with other women. But during that last year, before he was killed, their business had really taken off. They started to make a lot of money, and he seemed to change. Danielle was never heavy into material stuff, but Lucas was suddenly spending money like crazy. A new car, a new house, and he spent way more money than Dani did on clothes. In fact, he’d get annoyed because she wasn’t dressing up to their new station in life—as he put it.”
“Sounds like a nice guy,” Ian scoffed.
“He was. No I mean really, he used to be, when I first met him. But he changed a lot that last year. That’s why I don’t think he was cheating on Danielle earlier in their marriage.”
“Were Danielle and Cheryl close before the incident at the wedding?”
“No. According to Dani they’ve never been close. When they were teenagers Cheryl used to hit on Dani’s boyfriends. That’s why she wasn’t terribly surprised when she hit on Lucas.”
“Now I’m just starting to feel cheap,” Ian grumbled.
“Ahh, because you aren’t special?” Lily teased. Ian chuckled in reply.
Sadie gave up on waiting for Lily to throw the ball. She walked to the bench and sat down between Ian and Lily’s feet.
“I do have a question for you,” Ian asked
“What?” Lily reached down and gave Sadie a pat.
“Why were you playing croquet all alone?”
“Oh that,” Lily laughed. “Danielle and I thought it might be cool to put the croquet set up in the backyard for the open house—an old fashioned touch. After I set it up, decided to try it out.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Lily said, “I keep thinking about Cheryl’s claim. Danielle was so excited with opening the B and B. This really bugs me.”
“I was thinking about that myself. I suppose, worse case scenario—Danielle can pay off Cheryl with the proceeds from the sale of the necklace. After all, in the beginning she thought it was a fake. From what I understand about what the house is worth, Danielle could easily cover half of the estate’s worth from the sale of the necklace and still have money left over.”
“That’s true, if Cheryl was willing to let Dani keep Marlow House.”
“Why wouldn’t she? I didn’t get the impression Cheryl was thrilled with this place,” Ian said.
“According to Dani, Cheryl has a habit of wanting what ever Dani has. If Cheryl thinks Dani really wants Marlow House, she might decide she wants it too.”
Chapter Ten
Walt watched as Cheryl crawled along the attic floor on her hands and knees, inspecting the baseboard. Still wearing her bathing suit and short summer shift, her bottom waddled in the air as she made her way across the floor. Walt had never seen a thong bathing suit bottom before and was quite fascinated at the sight.
It was obvious to him she was treasure hunting. He smiled when she reached the loose board where he had once hidden the Missing Thorndike. Of course it was no longer there, but by Cheryl’s gleeful squeal when the board came off in her hand, and she discovered the secret cubbyhole, the woman clearly thought she’d stumbled upon new treasure. Her hand was shoved into the cubbyhole when Danielle walked in the room a moment later. Danielle noticed Walt first, but he didn’t see her. He couldn’t take his eyes off the woman crawling around below his feet
.
Glancing down, Danielle saw what was capturing Walt’s attention. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” Danielle asked Walt, who responded with a sheepish shrug.
Cheryl stood up abruptly and pulled the hem of her dress down to cover her skimpy bathing suit bottom. “I’m just looking around,” she said as she straightened her clothing and brushed her hair back.
“Looks like you’re taking apart my woodwork.”
“It’s my house too,” Cheryl insisted.
“What are you looking for? More treasure?”
“There’s probably more here. The article said you found it in the attic. Was it in there?” Cheryl pointed to where her hand had just been.
“Yes. And now it’s locked up in a safety deposit box at the bank, so no reason for you to take the house apart.”
Cheryl’s eyes darted around the room. “I’m sure there’s more here.”
“You are, are you? What makes you sure of that?” Danielle asked.
Walt stood by Cheryl, leaning casually against the wall while he smoked a cigar, his attention now on her cleavage. Glancing up briefly he noticed the unfriendly glare Danielle cast in his direction. “Oh come on Danielle, you can’t begrudge a man for looking.”
“You’re dead,” Danielle snapped.
“Are you threatening me?” Cheryl gasped.
“No, of course not.” Danielle cursed herself for responding to Walt.
“I heard what you said!”
“I meant to say, you’re dead wrong. There are no other hidden treasures in the house.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, for one thing, I went through the entire house already. How do you think I found the necklace?” Danielle lied.
“What made you go through the house?”
“Well…Marie Hemming told me Walt Marlow might have taken the necklace. And since it was never found, I decided to have a look.”
“Who is Marie Hemming?”
“Her name is Marie Nichols now. Hemming was her maiden name. Her father used to live in the house across the street, the one Ian’s renting. He was friends with Walt Marlow and apparently Walt once implied that he took the necklace.”
