The Billionaire's Will (7 page)

“How many?”

He chose coffee with cream, and carried it back to the table. “Oh, I forgot, you haven’t lived here all your life. The answer is plenty, and all of them wear expensive suits. Did he give you a name?”

“No, just the picture.”

Jim’s look of disapproval was unmistakable, but he softened his voice a little. “So, is he handsome?”

Maggie’s eyes brightened.
“He is divine.”

Jim shook his head. “Handsome men kill too. Take my advice and keep it online. It’s safer that way.”

“Yes, but…”

“Maggie, promise me you’ll be careful. You gotta check guys out before you date them, it’s the only way. My wife didn’t and look what she got?”

Maggie giggled. “She got lucky.”

Jim
blew on it and then carefully sipped his hot coffee. “You wouldn’t mind telling her that occasionally, would you?”

“Not at all. When do I get to see her again?”

“We’re taking the kids to the zoo Sunday. Wanna come?”

“I would love to.”

“You’re on.” Jim picked up a magazine someone left on the table and started to turn the pages. “Are you going back to that fountain?”

“I might. I’m curious. I want to see if he meets any women, if he talks funny or if he buys porn.”

“Porn? How would you know that?”

“There’s a book
store across the street from where I saw him, and maybe he’ll go there. You can tell a lot about people by what they buy.”

“I suppose you can, but I’m going with you next time.”

“Okay, tomorrow at noon.”

“It’s a date.”

Maggie dug in her pocket for a breath mint, unrolled one, and popped it in her mouth. “What do you think Susan and Nicole were talking about?”

“Something they didn’t want us to hear, that’s for sure.”

“Neither of them looked very happy. You think Susan is smart enough to turn down the manager’s job?”

“I hope so…for our sakes.”

By the time
she got back to her desk, Nicole was waiting and Maggie’s heart sank. “Hello, you,” she said, trying to remain her normal happy self.

Nicole’s attitude was clearly the opposite.
“I need you to do a project for me.”

“Ok
ay, what?”

“I’m going to send you a link to some spreadsheets. I want you to check all the
figures and make sure they’re right.”

“Will do.”

Nicole’s expression was even more intense when she said, “Set all your other work aside, this is important.”

“Okay.”

At last, she walked away and when she did, a relieved Maggie sunk into her chair. It was no fun being constantly terrified of losing a job.

*

Nearly six hours after Jackie’s PI team broke for lunch, she asked Carl, “No Nanny yet?”

“If I could
, I would, but I just can’t, Jackie. I’ve tried every online trick we have. There is no phone or address listing for Adelaide Bertrand, no A. Bertrand, and not even an AWOL Bertrand.”

“She’s not in any of the hospitals either,” said Michael.

“Keep looking,” said Jackie. The evening sun was positioned just right to cast its bright light through the windows, so she got up to close the blinds in the dining room.

Michael watched her walk back to her spot at the table.
“And, while we are working our butts off, what are you doing?”

“
I finished with the trial notes. It’s just a lot of stuff about why the Connellys deserve the money, nothing more on the dead girl?”

“Dead girl, and a big dead end,”
Michael muttered. “No Georgia Marie James living anywhere in the US or the UK either. Man, when some people get lost, they really get lost.”

“That means the theory of th
ere being two Georgias won’t hold up,” said Jackie, as she retook her seat. “Have you tried Ireland?”

Michael was getting frustrated.
“Why would she go to Ireland? Why not Australia or New Zealand?”

“Okay,
concentrate the search there too.”

Carl rolled his eyes and
checked his second laptop to see if the automatic search had turned up anything new on the 24,934 possible matches. “Maybe our Miss Bertrand went back to France.”

“Maybe the nanny found Georgia and they both went back to France,” Michael
mocked.

“
If she didn’t come to the US, Georgia would have headed for an English speaking country,” said Jackie.

Carl rubbed the back of his neck. “True.”

Michael puffed his cheeks. “Trouble is, there are a lot more countries in the world that teach English as a second language now.”

“I’m going to look at the credit card statements again to see if Mathew did anything unusual around the time Georgia turned six. He must have paid for her tuition somehow.”

“He wouldn’t have paid for it with
Nick’s credit card, but buying and returning jewelry might have given him the cash,” said Michael.

“That’s what I’m thinking. I bet he has a bank account in the UK somewhere,” said Carl.

“If he didn’t close it after Georgia got out of school,” said Jackie. “I wonder how he thought he could keep her quiet after she graduated.”

“A car wreck would have kept her quiet,” Michael
scoffed.

Carl
got up and went to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. “Or he made sure she couldn’t find out who her parents are, and isn’t worried about her turning up.”

“I sure hope
that’s what happened,” Jackie said. “It’s better than being dead. The thought of the Connelly getting all that money turns my stomach.”

“You’re probably just hungry?”
said Michael. “We having dinner or not?”

Jackie put a hand on her hip.
“Did you break an arm, Michael? Have you forgotten how to call room service?”

“You’re right,” he said
. He got up and walked to the courtesy phone on a table in the living room. “What’ll you have, ladies and gents?”

“
Pizza,” Jackie said, “two thick slices loaded with everything.”

“A girl aft
er my own heart,” said Michael.

Carl
poked his head out of the kitchen and raised his hand. “I’ll have the same with a boat load of root beer. I’m sick of coffee.”

“Here’s something odd,” said Jackie
staring at her computer. “Mathew picks up a prescription every month.”

“In which country?”

“This one. He comes home around the time Laura’s twenty-thousand dollars comes due, and picks up the prescription at the same time.”

“I hate that man,” said Carl, returning to the table.

In the living room, Michael finished giving room service their order, and went back to the table as well. “I say we put a GPS chip in his arm, so we know where he is. He is one sneaky dude.”

“In his arm?” Carl asked.

Michael grinned, “Well, I doubt he would willingly wear an ankle bracelet.”

“How do you propose we do that?” Jackie asked.

“He plays handball at the country club, right?” Michael asked. “Maybe Austin could get Carl in.”

“If Mathew is in town,” said Jackie. She picked up her
cellphone, found Austin’s number in her speed dial and put the phone on speaker.

“Jackie, any news?” Austin asked.

“Not yet. Do you know where Mathew is?”

“
Still at home I suppose, unless he took the first flight out last night. Oh wait, I just got another email from his lawyer. Mathew is suing the estate again, so he must still be in town.”

“Suing for what?” Michael asked.

“Whatever he can think of. I get a new lawsuit from him at least once a month.”

“If you find out where he is,” said Jackie, “will you let us know?”

“The moment I know.”

“By the way, Carl would like to visit the country club the Connellys belong to. Can you get him in?”

“No problem, I am a member too. It’s the Fillmore Country Club and I’ll let them know he is my guest.”

“Thanks.” Jackie hung up and turned to Carl. “Go, maybe you can catch him there this afternoon.”

Carl dug something out of his briefcase, and stood up. “On my way, Boss.”

*

At a little past nine o’clock in the evening, Jackie got up from the dining room table and stretched. “Why don’t we take a break and watch the reading of the will?”

“Good idea,
let me get the coffee going again,” said Michael. He went to the kitchen, started yet another pot, and then plopped down on the sofa beside Carl.

“Ready,” she asked.

The video flickered to life on the big screen TV and showed Austin sitting at his desk.
“This is Austin Steel and we are about to read Nicholas Gladstone’s Last Will and Testament. With me are…”

“Just get
on with it,” a man’s voice demanded in the background.

“Enter Mathew
Connelly,” Michael guessed, even before Austin switched the camera view to the Connellys.

“Very well.” Austin got up and walked arou
nd to the front of his desk. He leaned his back against it and folded his arms. “All of Nick’s estate goes to Georgia Marie James.”

“What?” Mathew shouted
, rising up out of his chair.

“Stop the tape,” said Carl
, scooting up to sit on the edge of his seat. “Rewind and watch Laura.”

Jackie did as he requested.

“…Nick’s estate goes to Georgia Marie James.”

“Play it again,” said Michael. “I can’t quite make out what Laura said.
”

Jackie started it from the beginning again.
“Who,” said Carl, slapping his knee. “Laura is asking ‘who?’ Play it again, Jackie.”

She played it twice more before Michael agreed. “Well I’ll be darned,
Laura doesn’t recognize the name.”

“Austin said we would be fascinated.” Jackie backed the video up, and played it one more time. “Think she’s faking it?”

“Doesn’t look like it to me,” said Carl.

“Me either,” said Michael,
“but I wonder how drunk she was when this was taped.”

“I’ll ask Au
stin, he will know. Let’s keep going, shall we?” Jackie let the video continue.

Mathew’s
fists were clenched and his face was red with anger. “What nonsense is this?”

“It is not nonsense, she is your daughter.”

“She is not our daughter, we don’t have any children,” Mathew insisted.

“Jackie, stop the tape again,” said Michael. “Look at Laura. She’s got her head down as though she is deep in thought. What do you make of that?”

“Without knowing her, it’s hard to say. She could be trying to hide her emotions or…” Jackie started.

“Or thinking about that next drink,” Carl suggested.

“She looks a little pleased to me,” said Michael. “I wish she would look up.”

Jackie
let the video keep going.

“Come on, Laura,
I know how to handle this,” Mathew was saying. He took hold of his wife’s arm and practically dragged her out of Austin’s office.

“Let’s see that again.” Jackie started the video again from the beginning
, and then paused it at different intervals.

“What do you see?” Michael asked.

“I see a huge, black diamond ring on his finger and no jewelry on his wife.”

Carl scoffed, “The jerk probably sold all of hers to pay his
gambling debts.”

“That’s probably it,” said Jackie.

“If he truly has gambling debts,” Michael put in. “He might have socked a lot of money away for a rainy day. How hard would it be, to go to a cash machine in a casino and run a card several times until you reach five thousand a week?”

“Good point,” said Jackie. “
Michael, see if you can find a hidden bank account here in the states.”

“Things have changed
since we came out of retirement, you know. Banks are more secure these days. To do that,” Michael continued, “we’d have to know which bank and have someone inside willing to give us the information. You got any bank connections?”

“Probably
, but not in the US,” Jackie answered. “Maybe a couple in foreign banks. I’ll contact a few and see.”

“Everyone owes you favors,” Carl muttered. “Someday
, we’re going to get caught, you know.”

“Don’t worry,” said Michael, “s
he knows a few judges too.”

Jackie frowned. “That would only work if we got caught in the right states. I guess we better not push our luck. Mathew’s bank accounts probably won’t help us f
ind Georgia anyway.”

“Unless she’s blackmailing him,” said Michael. “Of course, he would
have to pay her off in cash.”

“And
that would be dangerous for Georgia,” Carl added. “Connelly would know how to find her that way and I don’t trust him.”

“Neither do I,” Jackie
agreed. “Michael, haven’t you gotten into the boarding school records yet?”

Michael slumped
against the back of the sofa and deeply wrinkled his brow. “I need to go back to hacking school, Jackie. Life isn’t as easy as it used to be.”

She grinned.
“Well, if you find a good one, I’ll pay your tuition.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“And while you’re at it,” Jackie said, “see if Mathew has a girlfriend.”

“Or five or six,” Carl muttered.

“Who do we know in the Atlantic City casinos?” Michael asked.

“Good idea. I just happen to know someone.” Jackie picked up her
cellphone and began to look through her contacts.

*

For their fifth movie of the day, Teresa chose a British comedy she hadn’t seen before. She laughed, but when she looked, tears were streaming down Laura’s cheeks. Teresa paused the movie and took Laura’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

“I miss my father so,” she sobbed. “Daddy would know what to do?”

“About what?”

“About Mathew.”

“You are tired. Perhaps it is time to go to bed.”

“What time is it, dear?”

“Almost ten,” Teresa answered.

“Oh.”

“Can you walk, or should I throw you over my shoulder and carry you.”

Laura
finally smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

Teresa let go of Laura’s hand and flexed the muscles in her arm. “I could do it, I am very strong. I had to be, to beat up the other…”

“I believe you, but you need not carry me. I can walk.”