Liberty...And Justice for All (21 page)

She had strategically placed herself between Jacoby and Corey, and she was twisting back and forth between them, batting her eyelashes and studiously ignoring the food on her plate. Both Corey and Jacoby looked grim. I wondered if Corey knew what Catherine was up to, or if she’d kept him in the dark to have the most impact on Jacoby.

Jacoby looked both handsome and pissed. He probably wasn’t used to sharing.

“I still find it strange that you invited us all here. Especially after our last visit,” Marks said to me, jarring me from my reverie. I turned to him.

“I realized that I’d made a mistake accusing all of you; I wanted to make it up to you,” I said, mildly.

“And you thought making it up to us was getting us all together? You clearly didn’t grow up in the family,” he said.

“Neither did you,” I reminded him.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that these four don’t play very well together,” he said, stabbing his filet with a fork and placing a bite rather primly in his mouth. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish.”

“Something,” I said, thinking wistfully of the necklace.

“Good luck with that,” he said, and Alexandra peered around his shoulder with big, worried eyes.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Great,” I said, stuffing some steak into my mouth. “Just great.”

“I think I’m done with this insipid dinner.” Marks stood stiffly. “Alexandra.” She looked down at her half-full plate but obediently stood.

“Liberty, thank you for your hospitality,” Marks said coldly.

“You can’t just leave,” I said.
I don’t know if you’re the guilty one yet,
I thought wildly.

I sat there, feeling sick to my stomach, as they left the room, Alexandra’s eyes wide and apologetic. Matthew quickly sat down next to me. He patted me on the back gently this time. “S’okay, Lib,” he said, grabbing an untouched roll off of Marks’s plate and stuffing it into his mouth.

“It’s not okay if he leaves,” I said, stuffing some of my own roll in my mouth. I couldn’t figure out the right thing to say to Marks and now I’d ruined everything.

“He won’t leave,” Matthew said through his roll. “I’ll make sure of that.” He left the table and I didn’t even let myself wonder what it was he planned to do with the two of them.

I missed John. I wanted to flee the table and go wrap myself in his arms in our room, and forget about all of this. Instead I sat there and channeled my husband by pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration.

Ian sat down next to me. “Therese seems lovely,” I said. Having Ian in close proximity made me want to cry and whine to him.

“Therese
is
lovely,” Ian said, picking some imaginary lint off his pants. “I’m going to have Michael drive her home soon. These people are a little much for her. You all have had a
lot
to drink,” he said, a bit sternly.

I frowned at him, embarrassed by the liquor and bikini plan. “I am royally fucking this up, if you’ll excuse my language,” I said.

“Nah,” he said. “At least everybody’s together. Eric would have appreciated you doing this.”

“Would he?” I asked. Ian was such a wonderful father. I wondered if he could even really imagine what someone like Eric would have appreciated. Someone like Eric, whose own children despised him.

“He loved his children, Liberty. He loved you.” He tapped me on the chin and I noticed that his dinner tie had the same deep purple hue of Therese’s shirt. They were matching. I wondered if they’d planned it, or if they were just naturally in sync.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” I said. “None of them seem to think he was very loving.”

“Sometimes people show their love in funny ways,” Ian said. “Sometimes, people don’t even understand that they
have
to show it. They assume they don’t have to explain to other people.”

I nodded at him. Maybe that was true—maybe my father believed that his children should know that he loved them, without respect to how tough he was. At least with me, he’d given me the courtesy of an apology, in the form of that letter he’d written.

I can understand it if you never forgive me,
the letter said.
But please know that I love you, and I always loved you, even though it was a coward’s love.

I shivered and looked at Ian. “He did a lot of bad things,” I said, also thinking of my mother. They were quite a pair: two people with good intentions and shit-poor execution.

“We all do a lot of bad things. That’s the unfortunate part of the human condition,” Ian said, kindly. “It’s what you do after you acknowledge that—that’s what counts. Eric wasn’t all bad. I have to give him some credit for admitting his mistakes. Not everybody can do that.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“At least he had enough time to feel bad about it,” Ian said. “And I happen to know for a fact he felt really bad.”

“I guess that’s something,” I said.

Ian sighed and looked up at the table. “What are we going to do with these people?”

“We’re going to sort them out,” I said, dabbing at my eyes with a napkin. “And then I’m going to figure out how to be related to them for the rest of my life.”

I paused for a beat. If I could handle being related to Catherine, I could handle Katrina, Alexandra, Jacoby and Robert. I hoped. “They’re family, right? Your family’s all you’ve got.”

“I’m glad you’re in my family.” He put his arm around me and squeezed. “Now, find out who took your necklace and left you those nasty notes. I’m going to hold them so John can punch them in the face. Right after I get Therese home safely.”

He kissed me on the cheek and was gone.

I got up and, deciding to be brave, sat down next to Robert.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“You have a lovely home,” he said.

“Thanks. Does it make you think I should give you guys the money back? Because it’s so nice?” I asked. I still hadn’t forgiven him for how he treated me at his house.

“That’s not why I think you should give the money back,” Robert said.

“But you do think I should.”

He nodded. “I do, Liberty. But it’s not about the money. It’s about the principle.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Our father had an extramarital affair with a woman he didn’t care about—your mother. He knew she had his child and he never claimed you. In my book, you’re not technically a Kingston. You never had his last name. You never had a relationship with him. You shouldn’t have his money,” Robert said.

He was earnest…he didn’t sound like he was being mean, even though what he said hurt.

“Is that what you all believe?” I asked.

“That’s what I believe,” he said. “I’m not asking you for that money back. But I am being honest with you.”

“Don’t you think that the way you feel about what he did to your mother is coloring your judgment?” I asked him.

He gave me a sharp look. “No,” he said. “I won’t ever forgive him for that. But they’re two separate things. Two separate wrongs. He wronged her and he abandoned you.”

“And because he abandoned me, I shouldn’t be considered an heir.”

“That’s right,” Robert said.

“Except that he named me as his heir,” I said, standing up. “He was sorry for what he’d done, Robert. And he tried to make it right before it was too late.”

He looked up at me. “It was too late,” he said.

“Not for me,” I said.

Exhausted, I wandered over to where Catherine was holding court, between her suitors. I tapped her on the shoulder; Corey looked up at me, pleadingly, like he was trying to say
please get her the fuck out of here she is driving me crazy.
Jacoby ignored me. He was looking at Catherine like she was a piece of meat he’d like to steal from Corey’s mouth.

Catherine was blithely ignoring me, too. “A word, please,” I leaned down and hissed in her ear.

“Excuse me—duty calls,” she said, grabbing what was probably her tenth glass of wine and getting up from the table. She didn’t even wobble.

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hall.

“What the hell’s your problem?” She hissed.

“You. You are my problem—one of them,” I said. “You aren’t being nice to Corey.” My voice had a warning tone.

“Corey understands what I’m doing,” she said. “He knows that I’m trying to flush the thief out. He knows where my heart is.”

At that, I just raised my eyebrows. I tried to hold back a shocked cough but I couldn’t and Catherine just narrowed her eyes at me. Again.

“Yes Liberty, I have a heart,” she said. She looked at me and frowned. “You look like shit. Go to bed.”

“Can you handle them?” I asked, jerking my thumb at the deafening roar of my drunk family coming from the dining room.

“Don’t worry—they’re amateurs,” she said.

“This isn’t going well,” I warned her. “I talked to Robert. He hates my guts. For philosophical reasons, if I understood him correctly. And Matthew went after Marks and Alexandra. I still haven’t managed to win Marks over.”

“Marks and Robert need to get in line behind me,” Catherine said.

“Ha,” I said, and wrinkled my nose at her. “This family stuff is hard.”

“Tell me about it,” she said, and went back to the table in a huff.

“
B
abe
,” John said, nudging me.

I groaned and rolled away, just out of his reach.

“I’m gonna get up and move over there if you don’t wake up,” he warned. “I’ll stretch my IV out. Probably pop a few stitches.”

I rolled over and opened one eye, looking at him.

“I never thought I’d say this about my beautiful wife, but you look like hell,” he said, grinning at me. “I take it last night was a success?”

“The cocktails were a success,” I said, reeling and miserable from the pounding in my head. Matthew had started me on tap water too late. “They got everybody drunk. So that worked. But that was pretty much all that did.”

“What happened?” He asked.

I scooted over closer to him. The sympathy in his voice and his gorgeous face pulled me like a magnet, like always. “I think I insulted Marks. I know I at least annoyed him. He and Alexandra left during the middle of dinner, and Matthew went after them. I have no idea what happened there.”

“What happened with the rest of them?”

“Robert hung out with Jacoby and Katrina. He was nice when he came in but later, he told me I had no legal claim to the estate. Katrina drooled over Matthew the whole time. He made good use of having an audience to flex for but as far as I know, he got absolutely no information from her. Catherine made Jacoby jealous with Corey and Corey looked a little put out by the end of the night. But I have to hand it to her, though…she’s determined. And she didn’t get as drunk as everyone else. Not sure how she does that…”

“Practice,” John said. “She was living and drinking with a Mexican drug cartel for close to a decade. She developed coping mechanisms.”

I sat up carefully, not wanting to disrupt John’s stitches.

“I’m going to take some ibuprofen, and I’m going to wrap this up today. Eric wasn’t a perfect father, but he wasn’t horrible, either. In the end, at least he tried to take care of me. That’s something, right?

“And on top of that, whoever wrote me those notes deserves to be punished. Honestly, people need to stop being so hateful in this life. Like there aren’t enough problems in the world. You gotta hate on an illegitimate stripper?” I got up and grabbed some clothes. “I’m not wasting anymore time. Today’s the day. No more whining.”

“You were hardly whining, babe,” John said.

“It’s nice to know what unconditional love feels like,” I said, grinning at him. “Because you and I both know that I’ve totally been whining.”

“Acceptance is the first step,” John said.

“I’m ready for all the steps,” I said, rushing now. I had a lot to do today. “These people need some tough love.”

“Keep me in the loop,” John called.

“Always,” I said.

I
an was in the kitchen
, watching the chef who was already busy preparing food for the day’s festivities. According to the schedule Catherine had neatly written out, our agenda included a breakfast buffet, a trail hike on the grounds, yoga classes, massages, facials, or a round of golf at the country club in Warwick.

To be followed by the gala this evening.

I sighed, tired just from reading it, and Ian handed me a cup of coffee.

“She’s really gone all out,” he said, looking around. “It’s great that she’s so involved. I just miss our quiet house.”

“Ugh, me too,” I said, gratefully taking a sip of coffee.

“Does your head hurt much, dear?”

“Just as much as I deserve,” I said. “How did everything end up with Therese?”

“Good,” Ian said. “She’s very kind. She’s coming tonight.”

We were interrupted by the clacking of Catherine’s high heels on the marble floors. She sailed into the kitchen, not the slightest trace of a hangover, in full-battle makeup, a one-shoulder tank top and a flared, pleated skirt.

“Don’t you ever get hung over?” I blurted out. I looked down at myself: I was wearing capri leggings, one of John’s sweatshirts and my sneakers.

“No,” Catherine said, grabbing some coffee. “What the hell do you have on? That outfit is
not
approved.” She turned briskly to Ian. “Good morning,” she said, and kissed him on both cheeks. “You’re the only man I know who can look dapper and civilized in a robe. It’s really a lost art.”

She inspected him for a beat while he calmly drank more coffee under her gaze.

“What’s going on with Therese Granger?” She asked, boldly.

“I’m seeing her again tonight. She’s coming to your gala,” Ian said. “But we won’t be staying if things turn raucous. We’re too old.”

“You have to stay—we’re having the big reveal tonight,” Catherine said, her eyes burning with excitement.

“Do you even know who the thief is, yet?” Ian asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

“Not yet,” Catherine said, a bit defensively. A brief look of uncertainty crossed her face but it was gone before I could be sure. “That’s what today is for.” She looked back up at me. “Matthew convinced Alexandra and Marks to stay. Marks isn’t happy about it.”

“He’s not happy about anything,” I grumbled.

“Marks, Jacoby and Robert are going to play golf with Matthew and Corey.”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “That should be…fun. Are you sure it’s a good idea to send them out together like that?”

She shrugged. “If they get angry, maybe they get sloppy. You and I are going to be doing the trail hike and the yoga—actually,
you’ll
be doing those, since you’re dressed like that. I’m just going to get a massage and a facial.”

I glared at her. “And get ready for tonight, of course,” she said.

“Of course,” I said.

W
ithout the alcohol flowing freely
, it was an awkward breakfast. Alexandra was quiet and kept mostly to herself. Katrina occasionally shot Matthew longing, disappointed looks over her scone and green tea. Robert said hello to me and then just talked finance with Marks. Jacoby watched Catherine pick at her food, greedily taking her in with his eyes while pretending to listen to Marks and Jacoby. Matthew and Corey were lucky. They were eating down at the barracks.

I sighed. It was going to be another long day.

I tentatively approached Alexandra and Katrina. “Would you guys like to go on a hike with me? While the guys are playing golf? And then we can do hot yoga later—we have an instructor who comes out here. She’s really good.”
If you’re into sweating to death, that is.
I smiled and tried to look excited.

Katrina looked unsure so Alexandra, being a mom, mustered up enough energy to come to my rescue. “That sounds good,” she said, nodding her head. She elbowed Katrina in the side.

“I like yoga,” Katrina mumbled.

“Great,” I said. “We’ll hike the trail when you’ve finished.”

I ran to my room to check on John and brush my teeth. Ian was in there with him, a laptop and papers spread out all over the bed.

“Are you two working?” I asked, giving John a quick kiss.

“We’re coming up with a proposal,” John said. “We’ll tell you all about it later, when the dust settles around here.”

“I can’t wait,” I said.

“How’s it going?” John called.

“Okay. I’m hiking with Alexandra and Katrina and then we’re doing hot yoga.”

“And you’re okay with that?” John asked. I’m sure he remembered the last time I’d done hot yoga—I’d fallen into a dead sleep on my mat.

“Catherine gave me my assignment,” I said, heading back out there. “And I’m not gonna fuck with her right now.”

“Good girl,” John and Ian called in unison.

I stopped and turned to them, suspicious. “What exactly is that proposal you’re working on?”

“We’ll tell you tomorrow,” John said. “You have more than enough on your plate today.”

I ran into Catherine on my way out to the grounds. “Did one of the guys take care of that…stuff you were having them look through?” I whispered to her, meaning the rooms.

“Sean’s gonna do it while the guys are at golf and you’re at yoga. Have fun, by the way. I’ll tell you what he finds.” She smiled at me. “Don’t look so glum, Liberty! Today’s the day.”

“I would feel better if I knew that for sure,” I said, tightly, but she just tossed her shiny brown hair and clacked away.

Alexandra rounded the corner then. “Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” she said.

“I’m sorry about dinner last night. I don’t even know what I said. Your husband just doesn’t seem to like me much.”

“You don’t seem to like
him
much.” She gave me a weak smile.

“Alexandra, nobody likes him. You don’t even like him.”

“I have two girls with him. And I don’t want to put them through what I went through,” she said. She dabbed at her eyes and looked back up at me. “You know what I mean?”

I really couldn’t stand Marks. He was arrogant and he was rude. But I thought of the girls, their two little innocent faces.

“Of course I know what you mean,” I said. Because of course, I knew what she meant.

I patted her on the back. “Are you ready for our hike? It’s really actually just a walk through our woods.”

“Let’s grab some more coffee, first,” she said, her naturally warm smile finally returning.

I linked my arm through hers. “Alexandra, no matter what happens this weekend, I want you to know that you’re really important to me.”

“What’s going to happen this weekend?” she asked, furrowing her brow. “Besides Marks being an ass and Katrina making a grab for Matthew?”

“Um…” I said, and started nervously twisting my hair.

“Liberty, you are a great girl, but you suck at lying,” she said.

I stopped and turned to her. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anybody. Do you understand?”

“Of course,” she said.

“I asked everybody here under false pretenses. I’m almost positive that the person who stole the necklace is here, but I still don’t know who it is. The person who stole it hates me, Alex. They’ve sent me some letters. Whoever they are, they want to hurt me. Or at least scare the bejesus out of me.”

“Oh my God,” she said, looking pale. She hugged me to her. “That’s so scary. But why did you ask us all here, then? I don’t understand.”

“I wanted to use this weekend to catch the thief.”

“Have you figured it out yet?” She asked.

“No,” I admitted. “It isn’t you or Marks, right? Please?”

Alexandra rolled her eyes at me. “Of course not. We have more money than we need, no matter what he says. And I
gave
you that necklace, Liberty—I didn’t have to. If I’d wanted it, I could have kept if for myself. Nobody knew about it but me and Daddy.”

“I know,” I said, “that’s why I’m telling you. I trust you. And if you truly believe Marks isn’t responsible, I trust that, too.”

“It wasn’t him. Marks
is
an asshole—I’ll give you that. But he’s a lazy asshole. I can’t even get him to leave me a Post-It hate note, and he hates me a lot, a lot of the time,” she said and laughed.

“So then it’s settled,” I said. “You and Marks are off the list. That leaves three suspects—Katrina, Jacoby and Robert. I’m going to need your help.”

Alexandra linked her arm through mine as we headed to the kitchen. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“
K
atrina
,” Alexandra said, later on our hike, “did you ever see the necklace dad left to Liberty?”

I looked at her, shocked that she would be so bold, and then I held my breath waiting for stony Katrina’s reaction.

“No, never,” she said, looking down while she walked, carefully avoiding slipping on a rock. “I told her that,” she said, jerking her long, bony thumb at me.

“Did you break in here and steal it?” Alexandra asked, before I could smack her and tell her to shut up.

“No. Of course not,” she said, stopping on the trail and looking at me, confused. “I thought that was the whole point of this weekend. That you were saying you were sorry for accusing all of us.”

“I lied,” I said.

“Which time?” Katrina asked, incredulously.

“When I told you I believed your alibi,” I said, shrugging. “Catherine and I thought it would be, uh, a good idea for us all to get together. So that we can hang out. And also find the thief.”

Katrina looked at me skeptically.

“A twofer,” Alexandra said, coming to my defense.

“A twofer,” Katrina said, raising her eyebrows at us. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, sheepishly. “The road to hell really is paved with good intentions. This weekend is Exhibit A of that.”

“Well, it hasn’t been all bad,” Katrina said. “Matthew’s dreamy.”

“He’s married. Like, very married. With two kids.”

“Awesome, Liberty. Way to look out for me. I wouldn’t have ogled his biceps like that if I’d known,” Katrina said.

“Yes you would have,” Alexandra said and laughed, and then Katrina laughed, and then I laughed, and then it was better.

“So I have to ask,” I said, turning to Katrina. “
Did
you steal the necklace?”

“No,” she wailed, and the instant she said it I believed her.

“I didn’t think it was fair that our father gave that to you,” she said. “I didn’t think you deserved it and I was angry.

“But after you came out to see me, I started to think about it from your perspective. And then I realized that I wasn’t mad at you—I was mad at Dad. And it wasn’t because of the necklace, either.”

Taking me completely by surprise, Katrina reached over and hugged me, hard, against her bony frame. “I’m sorry I haven’t been that nice,” she said. “I know that’s an understatement.”

“
I’m
sorry,” I said, clasping her to me. “I’m sorry I had Matthew flex like that in front of you.”

Katrina released me. “
That
part didn’t suck. And I can live with the rest of it.”

We started walking again, moving forward.

“So if Katrina’s out,” Alexandra started.

“That just leaves Jacoby and Robert,” I said.

“Do you have a theory?” Katrina asked.

“Ummm…” I said. “Process of elimination? Searching people’s rooms? Sorry about that, by the way. The only other tactic we had was booze and bikinis.”