Peril in Paperback (33 page)

Nathan stopped and glared at his father. “It was never enough. Was it, Marko? You could never have enough to satisfy your own greed. You always wanted more. And what did you do with all that money, Marko? Did you buy your family a nice home? Did you take your wife out to dinner once in a while? Buy her pretty clothes to wear? What about your six-year-old son? Did you buy him a toy now and then? Take him to see a movie?”

Nathan had worked himself up until his face was contorted with anger. He seemed to realize it and took a
moment to straighten his posture and calm himself. He glanced briefly at Merrilee and her soft smile seemed to instill in him a sort of peace. His shoulders relaxed; the lines around his mouth and eyes smoothed. He began to stroll back and forth again, one hand in his pocket as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

Just when I thought he wasn’t going to say another word, Nathan whirled around and shouted at Marko, “No!”

I jolted. Nathan was a regular Perry Mason with Marko on the witness stand, about to go down in flames.

“He hoarded the money. We saw none of it.” Nathan continued aiming an accusing finger at his father. “You never gave us a single dime more than what it took to feed us scraps. You socked your ill-gotten fortune away in some offshore bank. You were a miser, a skinflint, a miserable jerk who made his money by stealing other people’s ideas and selling them to the competition. You disgust me.”

Silence reigned.

Wow. Impressive. Nathan had been living in this house with this man all week and I hadn’t had an inkling of his feelings or an inkling of the kind of man Marko really was.

This might’ve explained Nathan’s bad mood last night, but I had a sneaking feeling that the grumpiness had more to do with Merrilee than with him having to deal with his father.

But it must have been difficult all week. Had he known how he was going to reveal the truth? Or had he been coasting, waiting for the exact right moment? How could he have socialized all week with the man who had ruined his and his mother’s lives all those years ago?

I glanced at Derek to get his reaction. He looked back at me with one eyebrow raised as if to say,
Interesting people you’ve been hanging out with.

Oh, he had no idea. I couldn’t wait to tell him everything.

Merrilee walked over to Nathan and wrapped her arms around his waist. For a moment he stood rigid; then he almost collapsed into her arms.

Grace finally spoke up. “Well, Marko, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Marko’s jaw shifted and his eyes zeroed down to squinty pinholes. Was he thinking up some lame excuses? With his face scrunched up, he looked sort of like a tall, spiky-haired, trapped rat.

But suddenly he threw his hands up and began to laugh. “Damn, you got me! I’m busted.”

The room was completely quiet as we all stared at him in amazement.

“That’s it?” Grace said finally. “That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?”

He shrugged. “What am I supposed to say? The boy’s right. I know you won’t believe me, Marky, but I’m proud of you, son. You’ve made something of yourself.”

“You’re proud of me?” Nathan shook his head in disgust. “This isn’t a family reunion, Pop. I intend to make sure you fry in jail for what you did.”

Marko snickered nervously. “Pretty sure there’s a statute of limitations out there somewhere, boy. But good luck with that.” He turned to Grace. “I’ll pay back the company if that’ll help.”

“It will,” she said. “Tell me, Marko: did Bella know that you stole our ideas and sold them to the highest bidder?”

He hesitated, then frowned. “I couldn’t tell her. I wanted to, but she was too damned honest. I didn’t think she could keep the secret.”

“Good. I’m glad she had nothing to do with it. I can’t believe she ever had anything to do with you at all.”

“She never did,” he admitted, scowling. “Not yet, anyway. I was hoping to close the deal this week, but she kept putting me off.”

“Then she was even smarter than I gave her credit for.” Grace stood then and looked him in the eye. “So
that’s it. You’ll pay back the money, Marko. And you’re fired.”

“You—you can’t fire me,” he blustered. “You need me, especially now with Bella gone.”

“You’re so wrong, Marko,” Grace said evenly. “If you think my company won’t survive without you, then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought you were.”

Marko’s pride faltered. He looked around for someone to latch onto, someone to talk to or commiserate with. But everyone ignored him and he was left to stand alone in the middle of the room, a pitiful shell.

I was glad to see that Grace had gotten her spine back. I’d worried that Sybil’s attack followed by Marko’s betrayal might have crushed some of Grace’s spirit, much like Greta’s spirit was crushed after she gave away her baby.

Okay, that was fiction.
This
was real.

It made sense that Marko wouldn’t bother to defend himself, though. I’d thought from the start that he personified the term
slacker
. So why would he exert any energy in his own defense? It was too much trouble for a laid-back dude like himself. And that was the thing I found most pathetic about Marko Huntley.

Grace insisted that Marko be arrested. But until the police arrived he would have to be detained somehow. Derek and Gabriel agreed with her, so Gabriel worked his magic with duct tape while Merrilee called the police.

Now Marko faced Sybil, duct taped to his very own chair in the Gold Salon. As a precaution Gabriel decided to rip the tape off Sybil’s mouth so she wouldn’t suffocate. Of course, that meant we all had to put up with her howls of pain for a few minutes.

Tired of her caterwauling, Gabriel got up close to her and said, “Look, I didn’t want you to choke to death on your own rage before we had a chance to bring you to trial. But I’ll cover that foul mouth of yours in a heartbeat if you don’t shut up right now.”

She huffed in response but said nothing, so we all headed for the door, intent on salvaging Grace’s birthday party in another room.

“Wait!” Sybil cried. “Don’t leave me here with that filthy creature!”

“Screw you, lady,” Marko groused.

“Not you, you idiot,” she shot back. “The cat. I’m allergic.”

“It’s Leroy,” I said. “I’ll get him.”

“Don’t you want to leave him here to taunt her?” Suzie said.

“I would,” I said, “but that would be cruel to Leroy.” I moved to pick him up, but Leroy had his own agenda. He sauntered over to Sybil and sniffed around her ankles. She tried to kick him, but before she could strike, Leroy reached out and clawed her leg, ripping her nylon stockings.

Sybil screamed. “Get him out of here! I’m going to puff up.”

“She doesn’t even like the cat,” Ruth said, shaking her head.

Grace nodded. “Looks like the feeling is mutual.”

I really did have to wrestle with the urge to leave Leroy in the room to torment Sybil. But in the end, I knew it wouldn’t be fair to the nice kitty. So I knelt and scooped him up. I started to push myself up off the floor but noticed something under Sybil’s chair near her designer bag. I took a closer look. It was another lost book.

“Vinnie, can you take the cat?”

“Of course,” she said, reaching for Leroy. “And I’m going to have Merrilee order him fresh tuna for the rest of his life.”

“He deserves it.” I crawled a few more feet to see what had caught my eye.

“Get away from me,” Sybil barked, and tried to kick me with her pointy-toed shoes.

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered. Before I could slap her foot away, Gabriel warned her to stop. It worked. She was still
for the moment, so I crawled around the side, stretched my arm underneath the chair, and snagged the book. Kneeling, I took one look at the dappled brown cover and knew what I had. “
Gulliver’s Travels
, volume one!”

“Good job, Brooklyn,” Nathan said, knowing what it meant to find the first volume.

Derek reached down to lend me his hand. Once I was back on my feet he chuckled. “One thing’s for sure: with you, my life will never be boring.”

I blinked in surprise, then slipped my arm through his. “You have no idea how sweet those words are to me.”

I glanced at Grace and waved the book. She gave me a quick nod that I interpreted as approval of my taking the books. I was glad I wouldn’t have to argue with her, because, frankly, after the week I’d had, there was no way I was leaving this house without my rapidly growing cache of rare books for the Covington Library.

We left Marko and Sybil stewing in the Gold Salon while the rest of us adjourned to the game room next door. The men agreed to take turns checking on the captives.

The fact that we’d discovered who Bella’s murderer was gave us another reason to celebrate. Of course, Sybil had helped by exposing herself. But who was quibbling?

After the champagne was poured, Grace insisted that Nathan explain how the son of Marko Huntley had come to be working for her in her own home.

He told her that he’d been keeping tabs on everyone in Grace’s company for years. As a computer whiz—a skill he refused to admit came from his father—he’d gained access to and knowledge of the most extensive online search programs. He had recently heard about Grace’s book being shopped around New York City, and he devised a plan.

Grace played into his hands around that same time by advertising online for a librarian to catalog her books. When Nathan took the job, his only goal was to try to get a look at her manuscript. He wanted to see if Grace
would name names. Wanted to see if she had ever discovered that his father was the thief who had cost her company millions of dollars.

“But then I got here and I fell in love with Merrilee,” he said, and had to clench his jaw to keep from becoming too emotional. “I fell in love with you, too, Grace. And you, Ruth, and this bizarre house and everyone who lives here. I’m sorry I lied to you. I can only hope that someday you’ll look at me as someone other than the son of the man who stole from you.”

“I already do, dear,” Grace murmured.

“Thank you for that,” he said, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them and added, “And if you can find room in your heart to forgive me for deceiving you, I’ll be eternally grateful.”

Merrilee’s hand was shaking, she was gripping his so tightly. She had been staring into Nathan’s eyes, but now she turned and gave her mother a beseeching look.

Grace smiled at them both. “Of course I forgive you. As long as you promise to bring some order to the chaos that is my library.”

Nathan hesitated, then frowned. “But I told you I’m not a librarian.”

“But you’re good with a computer,” she insisted. “You said so yourself. Can’t you just buy a program and learn how to work it?”

“Sure, I can do that.” He scratched his jaw in embarrassment as he finally made eye contact with me. “That’s why I could never show you my catalog program.”

“I figured that out,” I said drily. “It’s okay. I know of a few good ones I can recommend to you.”

“Then it’s settled,” Grace said. “So let’s stop all this serious talk and get back to partying.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Harrison said, and downed his champagne in one gulp.

I watched Grace mingle and worried for her. Her attitude was a little too glib and I wondered when she would take some time to mourn the loss of her former
friend Marko, as well as poor Bella. They had all worked together and collaborated creatively for so many years. It had to be a tremendous blow to her confidence and well-being.

But on the other hand, she had faced down a jealous, raging, gun-toting maniac and lived to tell the tale. So maybe she could call things even. Either way, none of it was probably what she’d had in mind when she began to plan her fiftieth birthday party.

Happily, she had good friends and family who would help her get through it.

Peter Brinker, still clearly flummoxed, wasn’t quite ready to party. “Grace, please help me understand why you never told me or anyone else about Merrilee. You didn’t have to go through it all by yourself. We could’ve supported you during that time. I could’ve contributed to Merrilee’s upbringing.”

Grace gave him a sad smile. “My only excuse, once Merrilee was born, was that I knew Sybil better than you did. There was never a doubt in my mind that if she suspected Merrilee was your daughter, she would’ve made your life miserable. You’d probably be forced to quit the company.” Grace squeezed his hand affectionately. “I couldn’t afford to lose you, Peter. And I don’t mean that in the monetary sense.”

He was in shock. I felt sorry for the poor guy. He’d missed out on Grace and Merrilee and had spent his entire life with Sybil. Nobody deserved that.

It took Peter a moment, but he finally nodded and gave Grace a sad smile filled with regret for the years lost and opportunities wasted. Then he walked over to Merrilee and held out his hand. “Hello there, young lady. I’m your father.”

Merrilee’s eyes filled up with tears and she threw her arms around him. After a few seconds, she pulled back. “I always wanted a dad, but I’ll understand if that scares you. Maybe we can just start out being friends.”

“I would like that,” Peter said, then turned to Grace.
“For two smart people, you and I have been kind of dumb all these years.”

She accepted the comment with good grace and slipped her arms around Peter and Merrilee. “Let’s try to be smarter from now on.”

As if in agreement, Lily began to wail. Vinnie laughed, completely charmed. She picked up the baby and bounced her in her arms.

Derek gaped at the two of them. “I saw the baby, but didn’t realize…it’s Vinnie’s?”

“Long story,” I told him.

As Suzie went to join Vinnie and their daughter, catching them both up in a tight hug, Derek smiled and murmured, “Can’t wait to hear it.”

A loud banging stopped all conversations.

“What in the world?” Grace said.

“It’s the front door,” Merrilee whispered. “I’ll get it.”

“We have to get that doorbell fixed,” Grace said.

“Probably the police,” I muttered. “Just in time to spoil the party.”

It was indeed the police, but they stayed long enough only to formally arrest Sybil and to take Marko in for questioning. It was Derek who convinced Detective Pentley that it would be better to come back the next day, when everyone was sober and able to give full statements.