Starfish Island (25 page)

“You’ve got it all wrong. You know I wouldn’t do that.” His eyes never left the gun in Chester’s hand.

“Oh, I do, do I? Then answer me this: Why were you seen climbing out the dining room window in the middle of the night?”

“I wanted to see Lucia. I knew she was staying here, and I had to see her.”

“You listen to me, and you listen good,” Chester sneered. “If you ever come near my daughter again, I’ll kill you. In fact, I should finish you off here and now,” he said, his finger tightening on the trigger.

“No,” Lucia screamed, launching herself at her father, desperately pulling on his arm. “Don’t hurt him.”

“Get away,” Chester yelled, glaring at his daughter. “Someone should have killed this bastard long ago.”

“You let him go,” Lucia cried. “If you don’t, I’ll expose you. I don’t even want the damn money.”

Chester’s hand fell to his side. “But it’s yours,” he exploded.

“Let him go.”

After a moment, Chester stood back. He said to Zander, “If I ever see you again, you’re dead. Is that clear? Get out of here.”

Zander turned to Lucia. “I knew you loved me.” Before she could respond, he slipped past Chester and out of the suite. Nicole shrank back in her hiding place, but there was no risk of him seeing her as he stalked down the hall to the stairs, looking neither left nor right as he went.

Chester took a step toward his daughter, his expression so menacing that, with a smothered cry, she ran into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door.

Nicole’s knees trembled so hard, she sank down on the floor and remained curled in her hiding spot until Chester had left the room, Lucia’s sobs ringing out down the hall. Nicole slipped down the back stairs and out the side door, not wanting Chester to even guess she’d been in the house during the confrontation. She breathed in the ocean air as she walked around to the back and looked up at the house with its looming presence. From the first moment she laid eyes on the house, she’d had an undefined, uneasy feeling that she had chalked up to nerves. Now would be a good time for her to take a trip, sort out her feelings, and decide if she really wanted to live on Starfish Island.

Chester stopped her as she came through the French doors into the library, the vein in his temple pounding madly. He couldn’t conceal the fact that he found it difficult to be civil. In fact, he looked as if he wanted to wrap his boney fingers around her neck and squeeze out her last breath.

He handed over her cell phone. “Call for you.”

He hovered in the background as Nicole took her phone from him. It irritated her that he kept better track of her phone than she did; sometimes she felt as if it had been deliberately moved from where she’d left it. She held it against her chest and asked, “Is there something else you wanted to say, Chester?” He left without a word, but she’d bet he stayed close by.

“Nicole, this is Ellis, I’d like to see you at your earliest convenience.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she replied, “As a matter of fact, I was about to call you. There’s something I need to discuss with you. I’ll be there in a half-hour.”

As she hung up, Chester suddenly reappeared. “Will you be home for dinner?” His voice was teeming with hostility.

“Just once,” she exploded, “it would be nice to have a conversation in private.”

Chester stepped toward her, a low growl rumbling in his throat. He stopped suddenly, that throbbing vein threatening to explode.

Nicole jumped, suddenly very frightened of him. She flashed back to the earlier conversation and his pulling a gun on Zander.
Pull yourself together
. Don’t let him see how much he scares you. He works for you, not the other way around.

Nicole took a deep breath to calm her nerves and give her a moment to get control of herself. “Chester, I’d like to talk with you.”

He stood there, glaring down at her. “I really am very busy.”

She could see he had no intention of doing anything she asked and wished she had some reinforcements for this. “Chester, you and your wife have made life as difficult for me as you possibly could. Instead of things getting better with time, they’ve only gotten worse. Under the circumstances, I don’t think they will ever get better. So you and your wife need to pack up and leave. I’m seeing Ellis Sadler this afternoon and will have him give you six months’ severance pay and expedite your inheritance from Grandmother.”

“You have no right to fire us,” he yelled.

“I have every right. This is my house.”

“If anyone is going, it’s you.”

The look in his eyes made Nicole’s knees tremble.

Chester continued. “You have no right to be here. All of this belongs to my daughter.”

“I realize Lucia married Kirkland, but she can’t inherit from Grandmother through him—”

“She has more right than you,” he cut in. “When you talk to that lawyer of yours, you’ll find out I’m right. You better hurry; you wouldn’t want to be late.” He opened the front door, sweeping his arm back to usher her out.

Nicole stood there shaking as Chester banged the door closed. She couldn’t believe the hate that man felt for her. There was no way she could possibly let the Greys beat her. Her grandmother had wanted her to have the house, and Nicole would be damned before she’d let them take it from her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

WHEN SHE ENTERED Ellis’s office, he pushed back his chair and came forward to meet her. His gray-streaked hair was tousled, as though he’d been running his fingers through it. His face was serious, and he barely smiled as he welcomed her.

“Sit there, Nicole,” he said in a brisk tone, pointing to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “I think you’ll be more comfortable.”

Once they were both seated, he looked toward the door and the telephone, as though hoping some interruption would postpone an unpleasant meeting. He offered her a drink, which she declined, and poured one for himself.

“How have you been?” he asked, trying to strike a light note. “By the way, have you heard anything about your friend, Greg Templeton?”

“He isn’t my friend,” Nicole barked.

“My mistake. You don’t have to bite my head off. Considering you were the one who introduced me, you can see how I thought you were friends. Remember?”

Nicole gasped. “But I didn’t know he was a criminal.”

“Neither did I. But that hasn’t kept the authorities from asking me a lot of unpleasant questions. I can’t afford to have rumors circulating about me. I’ve worked hard to become a respected lawyer. Two years ago, I was voted one of the ten best in South Florida,” he bragged. “I realize it wasn’t your fault. Go ahead, Nicole. Ladies first. Why did you want to see me?”

“I want you to expedite the Greys’ inheritance, plus six months’ severance pay.” She took a breath. “I’ve told Chester that I want both him and his wife out of my house. Chester is a tyrant who’s getting worse by the day. He acts as if it’s his house. I’m tired of his rudeness, and his wife is just as bad—she actually tried to frighten me out of my own house. I want them gone as soon as possible.”

Ellis played with his pen, rolling it across his desk several times. At last he looked up. “I really am sorry, Nicole. I’m afraid what you’re asking me to do is impossible.”

“Why?” Nicole demanded.

“Do you remember the other day, when I told you there’d been some startling new developments?”

She nodded.

“For your sake, I’d hoped I was wrong.” Ellis downed his drink. “I might as well tell you the truth, but I’m afraid it will come as a terrible shock.”

“What are you talking about?” Nicole demanded.

“Another will has been found. This one was dated after the one that made you sole heir. According to the new one, Caroline left her entire estate to Kirkland, his spouse and any children. Which, by law, means his widow, Lucia Grey Alexander, inherits.”

It hit her like a blow, and for a moment, she could neither see nor hear. As though in a heavy fog, Nicole heard him say, “So you see, Nicole, I can’t order the Greys to leave. As things stand now, they have more right to be there than you have. You’ll be the one moving.”

“I don’t believe it,” Nicole surprised herself by saying. “So Chester did know what he was talking about.”

“What are you talking about?” Ellis snapped.

“When I told Chester to leave, he told me I didn’t own the house. I didn’t believe him; I just wrote it off to the fact that he was angry.”

“I realize that this is a lot to digest,” Ellis said.

“Of course it’s a shock,” Nicole said slowly. “I’ve never been so surprised. But that’s not what I mean.”

“Are you questioning the legality, questioning my word?” He gestured wildly, sending the papers on his desk flying to the floor.

“Ever since I got here,” Nicole said, “I’ve been learning about my grandmother, the kind of woman she was, her sense of responsibility. I just don’t believe she would have left her entire estate to Kirkland. The thing that bothered her most about him was that he didn’t have an ounce of responsibility. I haven’t heard that anything about that changed before his death.”

Ellis started to speak, but she went on quickly. “Let me explain. Why would Grandmother leave her estate to a dead man? Even if she made a will in his favor, she would have changed it after his death. Especially when she learned that Lucia was claiming to be his widow. She didn’t even like that woman and would never have left her property to her.”

“Believe me,” Ellis said, the ring of sincerity in his voice, “I’m as surprised and shocked as you are by all this. But make no mistake. I’ve thoroughly investigated and double-checked this will to make sure there’s no mistake. There is none. It will stand up in court, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“What I’d like to know is how this new will turned up after all this time?”

“The other day, I went through some of your grandmother’s papers that I had stored here in my office, old personal letters Caroline kept for sentimental reasons, most of them from your father. I hadn’t taken the time to go through them before, but it turns out that the will had been clipped to one of the letters. I didn’t want to say anything before, but I always had the feeling the signature on the will that left everything to you was forged. After all, I was her attorney; she would have had me draw up the document as she did every other legal instrument.”

“Forged?” Nicole demanded. “I don’t believe one word of this. Why would anyone try to forge a will in my favor? Who would gain from me inheriting?”

He shrugged. “I’m sorry to upset you this way, but everything really has worked out the way your grandmother intended. There’s nothing to be gained by speculating on the whys and what ifs.”

“Doesn’t a will have to be witnessed by two persons?”

“The will in your favor was handwritten, or so it appears, by Caroline and witnessed by a gardener, who has since died, and Michael Edwards. Now,
he
stood to gain by your inheritance. Tell me, wouldn’t you have sold him the land he covets for a song?”

She ignored the ugly insinuation, refusing to think about Michael right now. “And the other will?”

“Witnessed by the Greys.”

That’s convenient,
she thought.

Ellis got up and walked to the window. “Certainly by now you must be satisfied that I did my due diligence.”

“There’s one other thing that is bothering me,” Nicole said. “What proof do you have that Lucia and Kirkland were ever married?”

For the first time since she arrived, the lawyer smiled, returning to his desk.  “You must think me an amateur. I’ve been practicing law for a long time. I’ve had a detective check on the marriage. He found the record in a small county in Maine. A certified copy is on its way.”

“If Lucia was really married to Kirkland, why is Zander Farrell trying to blackmail her?” Nicole demanded

“What’re you talking about?” Ellis leaped to his feet.

Nicole described the conversation she overheard between Zander and Lucia, and Chester’s threatening of Zander. “Chester was willing to shoot Zander to keep him from talking to me. Why? It has to concern Lucia and her claim on the estate. You remember, I told you how, when they talked in the bedroom adjoining mine, he said he knew all about the missing papers.”

“Did Zander Farrell make any attempt to talk to you?”

Nicole shook her head. “No, not unless that was what he wanted when he followed me home from the Edwards house.” She started to tell Ellis about Zander’s appearance in the back of the car before remembering that Michael had warned her not to speak of it to anyone.

“Is Zander dead?”

“He left unharmed; ran off before Chester could get his hands on him.” She shivered. “That man scares me.”

Ellis nodded. “I don’t like Chester Grey much myself. It must be a relief to you to be leaving Starfish Island. How soon do you think that will be?”

Nicole stared at him blankly. “I have no intention of just packing up and leaving. I want to see some proof of the things you’ve told me. My grandmother would never have wanted me to stand by and let the Greys take everything she worked for without a fight. I don’t intend to do that.”

“There’s really nothing you can do about it,” he said. “I assure you the documents are all in order and, as painful as it may be, you have no claim to the estate.”

She hated his patronizing tone. “I have no intention of handing anything over to Lucia or anyone else. The Greys are going to have to fight for it if they want Grandmother’s house.”

“I’m sure that, as soon as you calm down, you’ll see that you have no choice but to accept this turn of events. I’m sorry to end this meeting so abruptly, but I do have another appointment.”

He got to his feet. She could see by the look on his face that he wasn’t sorry at all. His demeanor was all-business now that she wasn’t a client and he wasn’t earning a fee.

“Am I to take this sudden dismissal to mean that you won’t help me on this?” she asked.

“You’ve got it all wrong. I really do have an appointment. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call.”

“There is one thing before I leave. I want my father’s letters returned to me. Please send them immediately.”