Liberty...And Justice for All (6 page)

“But who knew about it? Other than us?” I asked. When Alexandra had given it to me, she’d said that it was a secret, and that our other siblings weren’t aware of it. My father had said, in the note that he’d left for me, that the other children wouldn't understand and wouldn’t approve.

“Maybe Billy Brown—the lawyer,” she said, shaking her head. “I told Marks, of course. But I didn’t tell the others.”

“You mean my other siblings? Katrina, right? And Jacoby and Robert?” I’d memorized their names, but they still didn’t seem real to me. Katrina and Jacoby were older, from my father’s first marriage. Alexandra and Robert came next, from his second marriage. I came after them. If I understood it correctly, Eric had his affair with my mother while he was married to Wife Number Two. At the time he passed, my father was married to his third wife, who I’d heard was a real piece of work.

“Daddy didn’t want me to tell them,” she said. Hearing her say
daddy
was strange, like she’d suddenly switched into a foreign tongue.

Daddy wasn’t a word I’d ever used.

“Maybe the lawyer disclosed it to them,” I said. “I need to check. Anyone who had knowledge of the necklace’s existence is a suspect at this point. The circle can get wider from there, but we have to start with the obvious. Someone who knew about the necklace and didn’t want me to have it.”

“You know
I
wanted you to have it,” Alexandra said, her face getting pale. “Am I a suspect?”

“Unfortunately, yes. So is Marks. And Billy Brown,” I said. I checked the girls: they were still playing with their dolls, chatting with each other, oblivious to what we were talking about.

“Are you going to involve the police?” She asked. I could tell she was horrified, the afternoon having taken an unpleasant, unexpected turn.

“No,” I said, patting her hand. “And Alexandra,
I
don’t consider you a real suspect. But we have to start with you, because you were the one who brought the necklace to the house. You’re the key. So I’m going to ask you to tell me everything that you know, starting with where the necklace came from, and ending with where you were on the night that it was stolen.”

O
ur visit ended
with Marks asking us to leave and instructing us to call his lawyer if we wanted to talk again. Alexandra was in tears when we said goodbye, whispering apologies on behalf of her husband.

“She swears she doesn’t know anything about it. I believe her,” I told Matthew later, when we were back on the ground in Rhode Island.

“Well, Marks was less than believable,” Matthew said. “To borrow Catherine’s favorite word—the guy’s a complete fuckwad.”

“I don’t like him,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t make him guilty. What was his story? About the night of the break-in?”

“He said he was in his office, working late, and that he had dinner by himself when he got home after ten,” Matthew said.

“And Alexandra said she stayed home with the girls and went to bed early,” I said. “Those aren’t great alibis, but they’re something.”

“So what’s next?” Matthew asked.

“We need to talk to Billy Brown, the lawyer. And then my other siblings—there’s three of them. Alexandra gave me their information. Katrina’s in Vermont, Jacoby’s in Charleston, and Robert’s somewhere in New Hampshire. And then maybe Eric’s last wife, Tillie. I think she lives in Boston.”

“We’re gonna have a busy couple of days. You want to divide and conquer?”

“I think I need to meet them all, see them face to face,” I said, although I would have loved to delegate the task. My siblings probably weren’t going to be excited to meet me. Alexandra had warned me, as had my father in his letter, that they wouldn’t want me to share their inheritance. On top of that, I was going to ask them if they’d broken into my house, stolen my necklace and left me a nasty note.

It wasn’t going to be pretty.

“You talk to John yet?” Matthew asked, and I knew what he was thinking.

“No,” I said. I felt a little knot of misery form in my stomach, because I missed John and also because I was keeping something from him. “I’m gonna call him now.”

“You know what I think,” Matthew said. “About the note.”

“You’ve been loud and clear,” I said. “But let me handle it. This is my deal.”
And my twisted family tree,
I thought.
No matter what I did, no matter how far I’d come, my family loomed around me, the roots gnarled right below the surface, offering no relief, no comfort, no approval.

And this was the “good” side of the family.

That necklace was meant for me. And no matter how confused my feelings were for my father, I knew that he wanted me to have it. It meant something to him, and it meant something to me.

I was a lot of things, but I was neither a whore nor a quitter. The person who wrote that nasty note was going to learn that the hard way.

I was going to make sure of it.

T
en minutes later
, I was sitting with my feet in the hot tub, waiting to calm down before I called John. I still felt sick. The only thing that could make me feel better right now would be my husband, holding me in his arms.

That was why I was waiting to call him. I didn’t want to break down and beg him to come home.

And lie. I definitely didn’t want to lie to him.

As I waited, I thought about what Alexandra had told me today about my siblings…

Don’t expect a warm welcome from them,
she’d warned me.
Our father told them the truth—that he’d had an affair with a woman who abused drugs and that she’d had his child. And then kept you from him. He also told them that he’d basically abandoned you, to try to concentrate on the family he had at home that he was already busy messing up.

The others think it was guilt that made him include you in his estate. They don’t think it’s fair. None of them thought you deserved the money you got. That’s why he didn’t tell them about the necklace. Our father was a difficult man, Liberty. He was demanding and he could be very cold. Our siblings didn’t think that you should get an equal share of his money when you didn’t have to deal with him your whole life.

They think you had it easy.

Easy.

Angry, I hit my hands against the concrete patio a few times, and then it started to hurt, and then I stopped.

I took a deep breath and decided to stop being such a baby. I called my husband.

“I can’t stand this,” John said, as soon as he picked up. “I miss you too much. I’m going to fly back tomorrow.”

“Don’t,” I said, even though I didn’t mean it. I absolutely wanted him to come home. “There’s a lot going on here, but we’re handling it. We have a list of people that we’re going to interview over the next few days. Then I’m coming to you.”

“What did you do today?” He asked.

“We visited Marks and Alexandra, and asked them about the disappearance of the necklace.”

“How were they?”

“Crazy. Pissed. Marks told me that if I wanted to speak with them again, it needed to be through their lawyer,” I said.

John paused for a second. “Do you think it’s him?” He asked.

I looked up at the sky, wishing an answer would fall out of it. “I don’t know,” I said, finally. “He’s not a nice person. But does he hate me enough to have done this? I kind of doubt it.”

“Why would you assume that he hates you?” John asked, and then I realized my mistake. John didn’t know about the note, and that the thief thought I was a dirty whore.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled, back-pedaling. “It just seems so personal…”

“Well, I can guarantee you that if it’s personal, not only will we get your necklace back, but I’ll kill whoever took it. With your permission, of course,” he said, always the gentleman.

“Of course,” I said, weakly. “How’s it going down there?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.

“Okay,” John said. “I got a lead on the dealer headquarters, so I’m going to head over there tonight for surveillance. Nothing too exciting right now.”

“Good,” I said, relieved. “I
love
nothing too exciting.”

“Babe,” he said. “You know I can handle myself. And anyone else who needs to be handled.”

“I know,” I said. “I can’t wait until Saturday.
I
need to be handled. I’m literally counting the minutes.”

“Me too, babe,” he said. “Me too.”

I
called
Alexandra after I talked to John. “You okay?” I asked.

“I’ve had better days,” she said.

“I’m sorry if I upset you. And I
know
I upset Marks—I’m sorry for that, too.”

“He’ll get over it,” she said, and sniffled. “I think. He doesn’t like accusations, and he doesn’t like his lawn messed up. He needs order. And he needs to be in charge. I think this kind of came at him out of the blue.”

“That’s because it literally
did
come at him out of the blue,” I said. “We came out of the sky and landed our helicopter on his freakin’ lawn. And that was just to start with.”

“He’ll live,” she said, and I heard her suck in a deep breath. “I called Billy Brown after you left. He told me that he’d disclosed the gift of the necklace to all of Eric’s other heirs, via registered mail, the day after we went to your house. So that means Jacoby, Katrina and Robert all knew about it.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I told him about the necklace on the ride back. And as counsel for the estate, he believed he had a duty to disclose the fact that Eric bequeathed it to you. He gave them your name, your legal address, everything.”

“Great,” I said.

“Not really,” Alexandra said.

“So they know…” I said, my voice trailing off, not wanting to face the fact that all of my half-siblings were now officially suspects. I had to talk to them, and to Attorney Brown, to check their alibis for the night of the robbery.

“Alexandra, do you think one of them could have done it?”

She snorted. “Unfortunately, I think any of them could have done it. It’s like I told you earlier—they were pissed that you got a check from the estate in the first place. The fact that you got something extra? That could have pushed one of them over the edge. I hate to say this about my own family, but they’re kind of crazy.”

“Great,” I said, wondering just how bad my new relatives really were. “I’m flying out to meet them tomorrow.”

“Good luck,” Alexandra said. “You’re kind of going to need it.”

“
L
et
’s do this in order,” I said, looking at the list of people we had to interview. “I’ll contact them all tonight. I’ll set up meetings over the next two days, so we can get as much information as possible. I’ll just tell them I’d like to meet them—that it’s an introductory visit. No need to mention all the sordid details.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Ian said. “Are we all going?”

“I think you should stay here and hold down the fort,” I said. “I need you to have the guys run reports on all of my siblings, including Alexandra. And I need as much information possible on Marks and Billy Brown, too. And set up your
eHarmony
profile! The picture I got is good…”

“Ha ha,” Ian said. “I’ll make sure we get background reports on everyone who could be involved. But I’m not making promises about
eHarmony
.”

I smiled at him. “Keep me posted on what you guys find out. In the meantime, I’m going to take Matthew and Catherine with me.”

Ian grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen and handed it to me. “Good luck,” he said.

“I’m going to need more than luck,” I said. “I think I’m going to need a Taser, earplugs…and a box of wine.”

“Sounds about right,” he said and laughed. “Keep me posted.”

A
s expected
, none of my half-siblings were excited to hear from me. They were also all a little shocked that I was coming to visit within the next forty-eight hours.

Wait until they met my entourage.

“Where are we going first?” Matthew asked.

“Charleston,” I said. “Then we’ll head to Vermont, then New Hampshire.”

“At least Charleston has good food,” Matthew offered. “Your brother might not be happy to see us, but at least there’s bacon in everything down there.”

“Bacon makes everything better,” I agreed. We were going to need a lot of it.

I
t was
a good thing about the bacon, because my half-brother Jacoby was a complete ass.

He lived in a beautiful, classic townhouse near downtown Charleston. I nervously rang the bell as Catherine and Matthew waited on the sidewalk behind me.

A very handsome young man opened the door. Jacoby Kingston and I looked nothing alike, except for the color of our blue-gray eyes. He had black, gelled hair and wore a navy velvet blazer and jeans that looked like they cost about a thousand dollars.

“Jacoby? I’m Liberty. It’s so nice to meet you,” I said, my voice shaking a little.

“Hello,” he said. He gave me a curt nod and an unwelcoming look.

“May we come in?” I asked, but he didn’t budge. He just kept standing there. I’d literally spoken to him on the phone an hour ago. He was expecting us. He just didn’t seem to be welcoming us.

“For a minute,” he said. “I called Alexandra after you and I got off the phone today—I had a feeling there was more to what you were telling me. She told me why you’re really here. I’m not thrilled.”

He brought us into his tastefully-decorated living room, nodding tightly at Matthew and giving Catherine an actual smile. Catherine appeared to approve; she smiled back brightly and didn’t take her eyes off him. He was handsome, with a nasty disposition and expensive jeans. Just her type.

Jacoby sat down stiffly, not offering us a seat, and looked up at me. “So our father left you an expensive necklace,” he said, flatly. “And you think I stole it.”

“N-n-o,” I stammered, flopping down on a nearby couch even though I hadn’t been invited to. “Please, let me explain.”

He stared at me incredulously as I recounted the story of the robbery to him. “After I found out that Billy Brown had disclosed its existence to all of the heirs, I needed to talk to you—and Robert and Katrina. To see if you knew anything about the necklace’s disappearance.”

“You mean to see if I broke into your house and stole the necklace,” Jacoby said, challenging me. “Well Liberty, I didn’t steal your ridiculous necklace. I have my own money.” The look on his handsome face was something between a sneer and a scowl. “I would have a lot more, though, if you hadn’t come back looking for my father and taken a chunk of his estate.”

I felt like he slapped me, his tone was so sharp. “I didn’t come looking for him. He found
me
,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “And he was my father, too.”

Jacoby’s eyes flashed at me. “You never spent a day with him,” he said. “He might have been your biological father, but it’s not like he was your
dad
.”

I didn’t say anything, but I felt my lower lip quiver. I bit it.

“Hey dude, that’s unnecessary. No reason to be mean,” Matthew said. He folded his arms across his chest so that his biceps were plainly visible in his short-sleeved t-shirt.

“It wasn’t mean,” Jacoby said. “She’s lucky she never spent any time with him. He was controlling. He had ridiculous expectations of us—but he was a hypocrite. He wanted us to be perfect, to work for everything, but when something went wrong in his life, he just ran. And got married again.”

“Your mother was his first wife,” I said, and he nodded. “Is she still alive?” I asked.

“She’s actually in town,” he said. “But you don’t need to bother her. She’d had enough of my father and his whores.”

I winced as if he’d punched me, while taking mental note of his use of the word
whores
. Just like the person who wrote the note.

Matthew stepped over towards him, his biceps fully flexed.

“Stay away from me, you gym rat,” Jacoby snapped. “She asked for the truth. I’m just giving her what she wanted.”

“Boys,” Catherine said, slinking in between them so that Matthew stepped back. She turned to Jacoby and gave him a seductive smile. “Let’s all try to get along, shall we? And don’t be rude to Liberty,” she cooed to Jacoby. “That’s my job.”

I peered around Catherine at my brother. “We need your alibi. I also need to know if you’ve told anyone else about the necklace,” I said. I felt defeated, angry and off-balance. But I needed to get the information from Jacoby, so that I never had to talk to him again.

“After I heard from the lawyer, I told my mother about the necklace. As for the night of the robbery, I’m sure I was out to dinner with a beautiful woman,” Jacoby said, still looking at Catherine. “I’ll send you a copy of the credit card receipt.”

“You do that,” I said, standing up unsteadily. “Do you think your mother would talk to us?” I asked.

“I hope not,” Jacoby said, flatly. “But if it will get you out of my house, here’s her number.”

E
leanor Kingston was
a proper Southern woman, or at least she had become one after relocating to South Carolina after she and my father had divorced. She graciously served us sweet tea and finger sandwiches as soon as we arrived at her home. She was dressed to perfection, her face powdered, her hair a perfect helmet of blond curls.

She was also a lot more politely forthcoming than her son. “Eric cheated on me, but not with your mother,” she said. “Your mother was while he was with his second wife.”

“Alexandra and Robert’s mother?” I asked.

Eleanor nodded. “Rita. He cheated on Rita with your mom, after they had the kids.”

“So you didn’t part on good terms with him, and neither did Rita. From what I can gather, he wasn’t really popular with his kids, either.”

“That’s right,” Eleanor said.

I paused for a beat. “I’m meeting with everyone to ask if they know anything about the disappearance of my necklace. As far as I know, my siblings are the only ones who knew about its existence. Is it crazy for me to think that one of them could have taken it?”

Eleanor smiled at me. “Not at all, dear. Eric had a lot of enemies, especially in his own family. The kids would be happy to take what he’d given to you—they probably felt like you hadn’t worked hard enough for it.”

“Was he really
that
bad?” I asked.

“Oh no, honey—he was worse. So handsome, but such a devil. You just never knew when he was going to jab you with his pitchfork.”

“And Jacoby?” I asked. “Do you think he could have done this? Is it possible?”

“Well, it’s not impossible,” Eleanor said, sighing. “Not that I want to implicate my own son. But he has a temper, and he loves money more than anything else. Just like his father. Except unlike his father, he doesn’t want to work for it.”

“What about your daughter?” I asked. “Katrina?”

“She’s another pain in the ass,” Eleanor said, lightly. “She’s spent too much time up in Vermont at hot yoga. I think its affected her judgment. She’s grumpy. If you go see her, you’ll see what I mean.

“I think both of my children had the unfortunate circumstance of growing up with too much. It’s made them lazy and entitled,” she said. “A mother hates to say that about her own kids, but it’s true.”

I nodded at her. “Thank you for talking to me. I really appreciate it. But I have to ask—do you have an alibi for that night? And did you tell anyone else about the necklace once you heard about it?”

“I was at Ladies’ Poker Night at my club,” Eleanor said. “I can send you the sign-in sheet. And no, I didn’t tell anyone about the necklace. My ex-husband and his myriad of unpleasantries are something I’ve been more than happy to leave behind.”

W
e spent
the night in Charleston and headed to Vermont early the next morning. Unfortunately, it was not an improvement.

My sister, Katrina Kingston, was beautiful—like Jacoby, she had dark hair and my eyes.

Like Jacoby, she knew why we were visiting, and she was pissed.

“I heard you were harassing my mother and my brother,” she said icily, after she’d brought us into her Montpelier home. She was sitting at her big kitchen table, made of rough-hewn planks. Katrina had on slouchy clothes and minimal makeup, her long hair hanging in waves around her face. If I’d just seen her on the street, I would have thought that she was a happy, yoga-mat toting, peaceful Vermonter.

I would have been wrong.

“We weren’t harassing them,” I said, sitting across from her, while Matthew and Catherine silently paced nearby. “Your mother made us iced tea. It was actually nice.”

Katrina made no move to offer us iced tea. Instead, she glared at me. “My mother said you were asking questions. About whether or not I could have come to your house and stolen that necklace,” she said. She tucked her feet underneath her and sat cross-legged in her chair. “And that’s why you’re here? To ask me if I broke into your house and stole from you? Why the hell would I do something stupid like that?”

“Because you needed the money?” I offered. I was being less polite than I should be, but my new family was already wearing me down.

“I have plenty of money,” Katrina sniffed. “But I’d have quite a bit more if you hadn’t swooped in and taken more than you deserve.”

I cleared my throat, willing myself not to yell at or her or worse, cry.

“I don’t know if I deserved it, or not, but our father thought that I should have money from his estate. And he thought I should have that necklace. That was his decision to make.”

“You could give the money he left you back to the rest of us,” Katrina offered, watching my face. “Back to the people who actually earned it.”

“He was your father,” I said. “He wasn’t a career choice.”

“He was tough,” she said. “A lot tougher than you might imagine. We were all relieved when he died. Except sappy Alexandra.” She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re not supposed to say things like that, especially when you’re being asked if you committed a crime—but really? I’m past caring. Eric was difficult, and he was wealthy, but he wasn’t wealthy enough to make it all worth it.”

She looked at me. “I didn’t come down and steal that necklace—I have a life, and I’m above that sort of crap—but I wouldn’t blame one of my siblings if they did. You didn’t deserve it. You already got your share of the estate, and that was too much to begin with.”

I nodded at her, pretty much speechless at this point. She just looked at me, waiting.

“Oh,” I said, “right. The reason I’m here: do you have an alibi for that night? And did you tell anyone else about the necklace?”

“I didn’t tell anyone about it,” she sniffed. “And I went to a yoga class that night, then came home and went to bed early. I can send you the receipt from the class.”

“Great,” I said, because I had no idea what else to say.

Katrina nodded and stood up; apparently she was ready for us to leave. She stood to the door and showed us out. “It was super nice to meet you,” she said sarcastically. “Welcome to the family.”

We’d barely made it onto the steps when she slammed the door behind us.

“Well, that was quick,” I said, checking my watch.

“She was charming,” Matthew said.

“Fake hippies,” Catherine said, nodding her head in agreement with Matthew. “They’re the worst.”

“How could you tell she was a fake?” I asked.

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Her outfit. It was insanely expensive organic cotton—right down to the patterned knee socks. What she was wearing cost about seven hundred dollars, and she just looked all lumpy. No wonder she was such a bitch.”

“My new family is actually worse than my sort-of new family,” I said, watching Catherine. “And that’s saying something.”

“Just don’t ever invite me for the holidays,” Matthew said. “No freakin’ way.”