Cold Hearted (11 page)

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about the baby?” J.C. asked. “It’s kind of difficult for a woman to get pregnant if her husband isn’t screwing her.”

“I don’t want to hear anymore talk like that either. The baby Jordan is carrying is Dan Price’s kid, Dan’s heir. You got that?”

J.C. winked at his mother. “Yeah, I got it. And if she gets more of Dan’s money for that kid, then it’ll mean more for all of us, right?”

“You’re a greedy, ungrateful—”

“I just tell it like I see it.” He narrowed his gaze and studied his mother for a couple of seconds. “You didn’t by any chance know, before Dan killed himself, that he had Alzheimer’s, did you, Ma?”

J.C. was creating problems they didn’t need. She’d probably have to deal with him sooner rather than later. The very thought of disposing of him was abhorrent to her since he was part of the family. She had put up with his bad behavior, excused his misdeeds, and refrained from killing him because he had not posed a real threat to them. Not until now. He had become a liability. Even before she’d killed Dan, she had known it was only a matter of time before J.C. would have to be eliminated. His actions were hurting them more and more all the time. She couldn’t allow him to continue upsetting them, not with a baby on the way. Nothing and no one was more important than their child.

She would simply have to wait for the right moment and then strike. And it had to look like an accident. If only she could have found a way to have made Dan’s death look accidental instead of like suicide, as she had some of the other deaths.

Killing J.C. immediately was out of the question. First of all, she never eliminated someone without reason and that required her to consider all sides of a situation. Once she had made her decision, as she had with J.C., she formulated a plan. That took time, days, even weeks. She couldn’t do anything to bring suspicion on herself, especially this soon after Dan’s death. And she certainly couldn’t take any undue chances with a private detective living here at Price Manor.

But when the time was right, she would remove J.C. from their lives, just as she had removed all the others who had betrayed them, either intentionally or simply by an act of fate.

Jordan waved goodbye to Kendra and Wes as they drove away. As much as she would have loved having them here until Sunday, sending them off today had been the right decision. She couldn’t risk what might happen if they stayed and Kendra disobeyed her and encouraged J.C.’s attention. Her stepbrother couldn’t be trusted around any woman who appealed to him, and young, inexperienced girls like Kendra appealed to him greatly. She remembered all too well how he’d come on to her more than once when she’d been in her teens. For years, she was able to fend him off without any real harm done, but eventually, she’d had to go to Roselynne. She never knew what her stepmother had said or done, but whatever it had been, Jordan had never had to fight off J.C. again.

“We’ll miss them, won’t we?” Darlene came up beside Jordan so quietly that Jordan jumped.

“Oh, dear, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m so sorry.”

She smiled at Darlene. “It’s okay. I guess I’m a little edgy this afternoon.” She draped her arm through Darlene’s and smiled. “Yes, we will miss them, but sending them back to school will save us from having any more problems for the time being.”

“You should send J.C. packing,” Darlene said. “That man…” She sighed. “I hate to speak ill of anyone, but J.C. is nothing but trouble.”

“I know, but we’ll give Roselynne a chance to deal with him first and if that doesn’t work, I’ll ask him to leave. He’s stayed longer than he usually does when he visits. I really didn’t expect him to stay this long.”

“He’s waiting for the will to be read, hoping when you come into your inheritance, you’ll be generous with him and Roselynne and Tammy.”

“I suppose you’re right about his reasons for staying. Maybe I should tell him that although I’ll take care of Roselynne and Tammy, I’ve washed my hands of him. He won’t have any more luck getting money from me than he did getting it from Dan.”

“I… uh… really shouldn’t say this, but… well, have you ever considered the possibility that J.C. killed Dan?”

“Let’s walk.” Jordan tugged gently on Darlene’s arm.

Darlene nodded agreement and the two women strolled down the long drive that led from the house to the county road half a mile away.

“Are you upset with me for—?” Darlene asked.

“No, of course not,” Jordan replied. “It had never entered my mind that J.C. might have killed Dan. But you’re the second person today who has suggested that J.C. could be a murderer.”

“Was Wesley the other person?”

“Yes.”

“Wesley is a very bright boy. I know that Roselynne and her children are family, but if it turns out that Dan was murdered, I think Mr. Carson and the sheriff should look to those three first. I’ve seen Tammy throw some hysterical hissy fits over the years. There’s no telling what she might do. And Roselynne… well, if there’s any money involved…”

“Mr. Carson suspects that I might have killed Dan,” Jordan said.

Darlene gasped. “That’s the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“No, it isn’t. Not really. When you look at the facts, that my fiancé, my first husband and now my second husband have all met untimely deaths—”

“Robby Joe’s death was an accident, a tragic accident that almost destroyed us. How could anyone think that you killed him when you loved him with all your heart?”

Jordan stopped, took both of Darlene’s hands into hers and smiled warmly at Robby Joe’s mother, a woman who was as dear to her as anyone on earth.

“Robby Joe was the love of my life.” Jordan kept her smile in place even though she wanted to cry. She had to stay strong, for Darlene’s sake as well as her own.

“If the baby is a boy, I wish you could name him Robby Joe, but I know that’s out of the question.” Darlene laid her open palm over Jordan’s flat belly.

“I haven’t thought about names. Besides, this may be a little girl.” She laid her hand over Darlene’s on her stomach.

“If it is, you should name her after your mother.”

“My mother and Dan’s mother — Elizabeth Helene.”

“And Daniel, Jr., if it’s a boy?”

A cold chill rippled through Jordan. No, she couldn’t name her son Daniel, Jr. “There’s plenty of time to decide on a name. I’m sure that in seven months, we’ll come up with something perfect for our baby.”

Darlene sighed as she removed her hand from Jordan’s stomach. “You are so generous to share your child with us, with me and Devon and the others. Your son or daughter will be the closest thing to a grandchild that I’ll ever have.”

“He will be a very lucky child to have so many people to love and care for him — or her. My family and friends and Dan’s family and friends.”

Jordan glanced toward the sky and noted the swirling dark clouds. “I believe it’s going to rain. Maybe we’d better head back to the house.”

Darlene gazed skyward. “You’re right. It looks like a springtime storm is brewing.”

They walked hurriedly up the drive, barely making it onto the veranda before the first raindrops hit the ground. By the time they were inside, the bottom fell out and distant flashes of lightning zigzagged through the sky.

“Excuse me, Miss Jordan, but there’s a phone call for you.” Tobias stood at the back of the wide foyer, the portable phone in his hand.

“Who is it?” Jordan asked.

“It’s Mrs. Price,” Tobias said. “Mrs. Jane Anne Price.”

Jordan exchanged a why-is-she-calling? look with Darlene, then held out her hand for the phone. She met Tobias in the middle of the foyer.

“Hello, Jane Anne,” Jordan said.

“Hello, Jordan.”

“Is there a specific reason why you’re calling?”

“I just heard the good news about your being pregnant. I wanted to congratulate you for achieving such a miraculous conception.”

Jordan’s heartbeat accelerated. “I’m very happy about the baby, as Dan would have been. He wanted a child as much as I did.”

“Yes, I know how much Dan wanted a child. I regretted that he and I were never able to have a baby of our own,” Jane Anne said. “And considering the fact that the doctors told us Dan was sterile, think how surprised I was to hear that you’re now carrying Dan’s baby.”

Jordan swallowed hard. “What do you want, Jane Anne?”

“I want a piece of the pie. I seriously doubt that Dan mentioned me in his will, but I’m sure you will inherit a sizeable fortune.”

“Dan was a generous and caring man. I’m sure he provided for me.”

“You and Devon and Ryan, no doubt.”

“How much?” Jordan asked.

“Keeping a secret as potentially damaging to Dan’s reputation and to yours should be worth at least a million, don’t you think?”

Damn, damn, damn! Dan had been wrong about Jane Anne no longer being vindictive. He had paid her off — or so he’d thought — with an astronomical divorce settlement years ago. Apparently, she felt she was entitled to a great deal more.

“I can’t get my hands on that much money,” Jordan said

“I’ll be happy to take it in payments. Say, a hundred thousand now and another hundred thousand once the will is probated.”

“And if I refuse to pay your blackmail money?”

“Then I’ll go to the press and tell them that the child you’re carrying can’t possibly be Dan’s baby because not only was he sterile, he was also—”

“I’ll have the money for you within forty-eight hours.”

Wallace McGee IV had followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as the Price family lawyer. Since Wallace McGee, Jr. had married one of Dan and Ryan’s great-great aunts, both families considered themselves related. And in old southern families, blood was indeed thicker than water. Family came first.

She studied Wallace while he read Dan’s will with a theatrical flair worthy of an amateur thespian, pausing at certain intervals for dramatic effect. As broad as he was high, rosy cheeked, and bald, except for puffs of unruly white hair above his ears and around the back of his neck, Wallace resembled an aging Pillsbury Dough Boy. But his keen dark eyes hinted of the sharp wit and shrewd mind behind the fat, congenial, good old boy façade.

They liked Wallace well enough and trusted him as much as they trusted anyone. Dan had certainly thought the world of his old friend and Dan had been a fairly good judge of character.

As they had expected, there were no surprises in Daniel Price’s will. He hadn’t made any last-minute changes, hadn’t added a codicil to include or eliminate anyone or alter the way he wanted his fortune divided. Several million had been donated to various charities and generous pension funds had been set up for Tobias and Vadonna. The bulk of Dan’s fortune — $57 million — had been divided equally among his brother Ryan, his wife Jordan, and his assistant Devon Markham. Price Manor would belong to Jordan during her lifetime and upon her death would become the property of Ryan’s heirs.

Considering the fact that there was now a child involved — Dan’s son or daughter — she felt certain that they could go to court and obtain a larger portion of the estate and sole ownership of Price Manor. But if they took that type of action, wouldn’t it cast suspicion on them since the cause of Dan’s death was in question?

Ryan Price looked at his wife before he spoke and the two exchanged a silent agreement. “I feel that, considering the fact that Jordan is pregnant, perhaps all three of us should agree to put a portion of our inheritance into a trust for the baby.”

“Oh, Ryan, that’s not necessary,” Jordan told him. “I intend to put most of the money Dan left me in trust for our child.”

“Are you sure?” Ryan asked. “You know that I’m financially secure without Dan’s money and I feel certain that if Dan had known about the baby, he would have—”

“You don’t have to worry about the baby’s future,” Devon assured Ryan. “Like Jordan, I plan to put a large portion of my inheritance into a trust for him or her.”

“All right, if that’s what you both want.” Ryan glanced at Darlene, and then moved on, briefly scanning the others in the room: Roselynne, Tammy, Rene, and both servants. “You haven’t forgotten that you have this house to keep up, servants to pay, and several other people depending on you for their support.”

“I believe I’ll be able to do all that with nothing more than the interest from nearly twenty million dollars,” Jordan said.

“Well, that seems to settle that,” Wallace announced. “Now, if no one has other questions or comments, I’d like to drink a toast to Dan.” He looked at Tobias, who stood in the back of the room. “Some of Dan’s Napoleon brandy is in order, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes, by all means,” Jordan agreed. “Please, Tobias, bring out a bottle for Mr. McGee. And serve anyone who’d like a glass. Of course, I won’t be drinking.”

None of Dan’s Raynal VSOP for the little mother-to-be. They knew the importance of prenatal care, which included no drinking. Their baby’s health was their first priority.

“Jordan?” Claire slipped her arm around Jordan’s shoulders. “How are you doing… really?”

“I’m all right.”

“At least we have this over with now,” Claire said. “One more thing out of the way.” She gasped. “Oh, dear, that sounded horrible, didn’t it? But you know what I meant. The sooner all the legalities are settled, the sooner we can all try to get back to our normal lives.”

“Yes, you’re right. Unfortunately, my normal life included Dan.”

“I’m saying all the wrong things, aren’t I?”

“No, of course not. I understand what you’re trying to say. I know you, Claire. I know what a caring person you are.”

“Thank God. The last thing I’d want to do is make light of how much you’ve lost or belittle your relationship with Dan.”

Ryan interrupted, sparing Jordan the need to reassure Claire once again. “Everything all right here?”

“Yes, of course, darling,” Claire said.

“As soon as we share a toast to Dan, we’d better head home. The weather has turned nasty out there. The springtime shower has turned into a storm.”

“Why don’t y’all stay for dinner?” Jordan said.