Once Joseph had left to meet with Marquez, Adeline paced. She nibbled at the food Harper’s grieving friends had brought, but she wasn’t hungry. She was too nervous. She needed Joseph to return and tell her it was taken care of, that Javier would live up to his agreement and Tobias would no longer be a problem.
She was still stunned that he’d killed Harper. Tobias had surrounded himself with dangerous people, but because he was so elusive and secretive, he’d never threatened anyone directly. He’d lost nearly half the gun shipment two months ago when—according to Tobias—a mercenary seized several of the trucks while they were on their way to the buyer. That had been a major blow to the entire organization. Adeline had had to scramble to replace the money Tobias had used to obtain the guns, because the people who were expecting them wouldn’t take the screw-up as an excuse.
Tobias had excuse after excuse, but in the end, Adeline had decided to cut ties with him because he was obviously reckless and weak. She’d built a solid operation without him; she certainly didn’t need him now.
He killed Harper.
She shook her head to clear her mind. Maybe it was for the best. Harper had been so withdrawn lately. She’d worried for a while that he was suspicious about some of her land transactions—he’d asked questions about the land she’d sold to cover Tobias’s screw-up. So what if she’d sold it for more than market value? That was how the game was played—a lobbyist wanted something from her, she needed money to save her ass. It wasn’t like she was compromising her principles—she would have voted for the legislation anyway—so what harm was it that she earned a little extra money on the side?
She’d made up a lie about natural resources on the property and the buyer was betting on future earnings, blah blah. At the time, Harper seemed to accept her explanation and didn’t ask about it again, so she put it aside. But what if he’d started digging around? She hadn’t wanted him dead, but if anyone knew about her questionable practices, they might think that was a motive.
Shouldn’t Joseph be back by now?
Adeline glanced at the clock and saw that only fifteen minutes had passed. She was far too antsy, she needed to calm down. A glass of wine would help.
She went down a curving staircase into the large, finished basement. Half of the basement had been converted into a temperature-controlled wine room with all the bells and whistles. Harper was generally frugal—too frugal at times—and she never understood why he spent so much time with his wines when he never had more than a single glass from any bottle. Such a waste. He always had prided himself on having the perfect bottle with a meal, but never allowed himself to drink to excess.
Adeline had learned a lot about wine from Harper, but she didn’t know what the big deal was. She liked her alcohol straight up, preferring tequila to all else. She knew which wines Harper liked the best, and which bottles—in a special rack—he’d told her were for “special occasions.” Well, he was dead, and all this wine was just going to waste. She considered opening up the wine cellar for the funeral. There were at least a thousand bottles, not like they’d do Harper any good now. His friends could take one to remember him by. Or maybe she’d give them away as gifts.
She picked up a cabernet with a French name she couldn’t pronounce and took it upstairs to the library. Immediately, she heard bells that told her someone had come through the gate. They had the code, which meant it was one of two people on a Sunday afternoon—Joseph Contreras, who couldn’t be back this quickly, or Jolene.
Adeline opened the wine and poured herself a glass, waiting. She heard a car speed down the drive, then a door slam. A minute later, the front bell rang, followed by pounding. Adeline looked at the security camera. It was, indeed, Jolene.
Though Adeline hadn’t changed the gate code, she had changed the locks last year and kept “forgetting” to give Harper’s daughter a key. Served her right for being a stuck-up little daddy’s girl.
Adeline sipped the wine. It was pretty good, she supposed, but there were far cheaper bottles of wine that tasted the same to her.
The bell kept ringing and Adeline pressed the panic button hidden in one of the bookshelves. She was so tired of coddling the whiny, spoiled child. Jolene needed to grow up.
Adeline took her time walking to the front door.
“Jolene, what’s with all the pounding? You scared me.”
Jolene burst in. She wore no makeup, her face splotchy from crying. “What did you do to my father?”
“Come, sit down, Jolene. I know you’re upset, which is why I wanted to give you time before we talked about funeral arrangements.”
Keep it calm, motherly, Adeline told herself as she started back down the hall. It would set Jolene off.
“No! You will have nothing to do with Daddy’s funeral. I want you out of this house. Out of my life! I know you did something. Daddy changed, something was bothering him. And I know it was you.”