Ring of Lies (74 page)

Jack cut the connection before Diego could tell him what he thought.

‘
If Daniel’s death was an accident, how did the FBI become involved?
’
Catherine
asked
as she and Grace climbed the stairs.

‘
I asked Jack for his help. He
took me to meet
Mike,
his boss
,
after we’d been to see Daniel’s attorney in Miami.
Mike decided
to investigate.
’

‘
So you’ve known Jack for a while?
’

‘
We met earlier this year.
’

‘
That was lucky
.
Are you two involved
?
’

Grace stopped and turned to face her sister.
‘
No
,
we aren’t. And, no we weren’t.
Unlike Daniel I kept my wedding vows. Jack and I
were…
are good friends.
’

‘
No need to get
defensive.
What will happen when the
investigation
is over
?
Will you
be allowed to
keep the house?
’

Grace
tried to ignore the
curiosity in
her sister’s
glance
and
took another step
.
‘
It’s complicated.
I may not have any choice but to
hand it over
.
’

‘
But if Daniel left it to you in his will, then surely it belongs to you.
’

‘
Not if the money used to purchase it was obtained illegally. Besides, I
’m not sure I
want it.
’

‘
Good grief, Grace. You can’t
just give
a house
with
p
rime beachfront location
away!
It must be worth a packet.
’

‘
It probably is
. B
ut
I could never be comfortable
living
here knowing
Daniel
scammed countless people out of their money. Besides, Jack believes that
Daniel plann
ed
to
divorce me and
change his will in
favour
of his mistress.
’

Catherine tripped on
a
stair and staggered onto the
next
. Regaining her
balance, she asked,
‘
And
do you believe
him
?
’

‘
It makes sense when you consider that Daniel bought this house without my knowledge.
’

‘
Perhaps he wanted to surprise you,
’
Catherine suggested.

Grace laughed.
‘
Oh, he did that all right.
W
hen
a man
buys his wife a
new h
ouse
, he doesn’t usually install his mistress in it first.
’

Catherine managed a choking laugh.
‘
I guess
not
.
Even so, it is stunning.
There are what, four or five bedrooms?
’

‘
Four. The master suite and room
I’m in
overlook the beach. The other two are on the side of the house
.
You can have one of those.
’

Grace turned right at the top of the stairs
.
As they passed the first door,
Catherine pushed
it open
and stepped inside
.
Clothes and shoes were scattered everywhere—
on the king-size
bed, the
pale blue carpet and
dainty dressing table chair
.

‘
My God.
What happened here?
’
she asked,
stunned and sickened at the sight of a
delicate
peach
silk
and lace
teddy that had been
torn
in two.

Grace
’s
cheeks burned in remembrance
.
‘
It’s
Daniel’s room. The one he shared with his mistress. I
felt so betrayed
when I found
her
clothes,
I couldn’t control my anger
.
I’ll get some
sacks
tomorrow
and clear
up the mess
.
’

‘
Yo
u can’t just throw
everything away
,
’
Catherine said,
plucking a
silk
Missoni
jacket off the floor and placing it
with infinite care
on the bed.

‘
I don’t
want them
. Do you have any idea how I felt finding
her
clothes here?
’

‘
It can’t have been easy. But a
t least let me look through them
first.
I mean,
these are all designer labels
, and too small for you
.
Why, t
hese shoes are
Jimmy Choo’s
and just my size
.
T
he
re
are
thousands of dollars
worth here
.
’
Catherine held a sapphire blue cocktail dress against her body and
paraded
in
front of
the mirror.

‘
Thousands of
ill-gotten
dollars.
’

Catherine continued to admire herself
, smoothing creases out of the fabric
.
‘You don’t know that for sure.’

Grace
stared at her sister,
a
vague memory floating in the back of her mind. She
snatched the dress out of her sister’s hands and threw it down on the
floor
.

‘
How else
did
Daniel pa
y
for this house? And where
do you think
the money
in the Miami bank
account
c
a
me
from
, Disneyland?
’
she yelled.

Catherine stiffened in shock.
‘
He left you money too?
’

‘
Whether he intended to leave it to me or not
,
doesn’t matter
. The question is where did
he get two million dollars
?
He certainly didn’t earn it.
’

‘
Two million? Jeez, I had no idea
he’d
siphoned off so much.
’

Sudden anger lit Grace’s eyes.
‘
It’s nothing to be proud of.
After all, he was your brother-in-law.
This way, y
our room is down the hall.
’
Frown
ing,
sh
e
ushered her sister out of the master suite and
along the hallway
.

‘
Two million, plus this hous
e—
no wonder Jack’s sniffing round you like a dog on heat.
’

Grace
thrust
open the door to the guest room
.
It slammed against the wall
,
dent
ing
in the plasterwork.

‘
You’ve not listened to a word I’ve said. I don’t want the house or the money. And Jack is not ‘sniffing round’ as you put it. He’s doing his job.
’