“Suppose she talked to her friends about leaving everything to her favorite causes? How will it look if word gets around that we inherited all this money that was supposed to go to charity? It makes us look, I don’t know . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“Annie,” Peter said soothingly. “You work hard. You’ve earned this.”
She shook her head. “I haven’t done anything that comes close to what Dad accomplished. We live off his work, not ours.”
“We live on the business he built. You’re the one who has been maintaining it and making it grow,” Peter said vehemently. “You don’t have to be embarrassed just because your father left you a wonderful legacy.”
Anna nodded, but her expression must have betrayed her true feelings. Peter hesitated, then his voice softened, “This is about Carter, isn’t it?”
“Remember that the day before Mother died, Carter told us that he was worried that she was going to change the will. He asked us point-blank if we knew anything about that. We both thought that he was being paranoid about Mother’s financial plans, especially given the situation with Ivan.”
Anna’s voice was trembling. “After the murder, when the police started asking questions about Mother’s will, no one could have sounded more distraught than Carter. Neither one of us spoke about that conversation to the police. But if my mother was going to cut us off and Carter found out—” Anna couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.
“That didn’t happen, Annie. You’re talking about your own brother.”
“Who, to this day, pays more attention to chasing women and having fun than working for a living. Maybe he was drunk or something—”
“We saw him that night, right after we realized it was your mother who’d fallen. He wasn’t drunk. He was in shock.”
“Well, maybe it was an accident. Maybe they got into an argument on the roof and she stepped backwards—”
Peter put his arms around her to calm her down. “That is not what happened,” he said firmly. “Ivan Gray killed your mother. And this show might be able finally to prove it.”
“I want to believe it happened that way. But Carter did ask about Mom’s will the day before the murder.”
“We are the only ones who know that, and we’re not going to tell it to anyone, ever. Now, let’s go to dinner.”
26
The apartment was pin quiet by the time Laurie went to bed that night. Timmy had gone to sleep an hour earlier. It was that rare New York City moment of complete silence: not even a car honk or a siren in the distance.
She clicked the television on, turning the volume low. She flipped channels until she found a repeat episode of Law & Order. She liked the background noise, the familiarity, the flicker of the dim light in the darkness.
She reached into her nightstand and pulled out the small velvet box tucked neatly into the front corner. She removed her platinum wedding band and placed it on her left finger, as she often did when she was missing Greg and couldn’t fall asleep.
She thought about Ivan Gray’s words in the office that afternoon. Ryan had asked him why he stayed with Virginia, even as she refused to formally accept his proposal. “She needed time, and I was willing to wait, no matter how long it took. I was in love. Why is that so hard to believe?”
Laurie remembered when she believed that Alex felt the same way about her. But then she had tested the strength of his commitment by accusing him of misleading her when one of his old cases collided with her last investigation. In retrospect, she could see that Alex was only protecting his client, as he was required to do by law. But now the damage was done. Like Ivan, Alex had been willing to wait when he thought all Laurie needed was time to be ready for a new relationship. But after that argument, he became convinced that her uncertainties were about him. You’re wrong, she thought. The only person who has ever made me want to move on was you, Alex.
Last night, she had tried so hard to appear nonchalant when Charlotte mentioned seeing Alex with another woman. Her heart still hurt at the thought of it. But was it fair for me to ask him to keep waiting when I still fall asleep every night thinking about Greg, and wondering what our life would be like today if only he had lived?
She twirled her wedding ring on her finger. When she wore this ring, she felt as though Greg was here with her again. She thought she might see him in her dreams and feel—just for a few minutes in her sleep—as if she never lost him. “I never thought I’d have to grow old without you, my love,” she said aloud.
With her wedding ring still on, she cried herself to sleep that night.
27
Three days later, on Monday morning, Laurie stepped out of the elevator at Fisher Blake Studios, ready to look at the Virginia Wakeling case with fresh eyes. Everything had been moving so quickly since Ryan Nichols first suggested—or practically ordered—that Laurie reinvestigate the murder. She knew that she should probably be grateful. After all the worry she’d had about Ryan being a bad fit for her show, he had actually identified a good case. And, so far, the pieces of the production had fallen together perfectly.
Laurie remembered how Greg used to complain about hospital administrators who “couldn’t get out of their own way.” Instead of accepting a simple solution, they would overplan and overanalyze to the point of inaction. Was she doing that now?
She found Grace standing in the doorway of Jerry’s office. Laurie always enjoyed their Monday morning catch-up sessions. She spent her weekends keeping up with Timmy but got to live vicariously through Grace and Jerry’s carefree adventures. As she approached, she could tell that Grace was recounting yet another horrible first date.
“Oh, perfect timing,” Grace said as she looked up. “I was just getting to the best part.” She stepped into Jerry’s office, and Laurie followed.
She couldn’t help but notice that Grace was dressed nothing like herself this morning. She was wearing a pleated skirt that fell four inches beneath her knees and a white crewneck sweater. It looked more like a private school uniform than one of her usual ensembles.
Jerry, in contrast, was looking extremely dapper in a tweed vest with a checkered shirt and perfectly coordinated striped bowtie. “I don’t know how this story could be any better,” he said. “We’re not even to the dinner course yet, and whoever this guy is, he’s told Grace that she looks like the most beautiful woman he knows—which is, by the way, his mother. He’s asked her to wear flats next time, so she won’t be taller than him, because of course he overstated his height by three inches in his online profile. And he made sure before she ordered the steak that they’d be going Dutch on the check.”
Laurie shook her head and laughed. “I don’t know how you do it, Grace. Dating these days sounds like urban warfare.”
“Gotta kiss some toads is how I see it,” Grace answered. “Plus, I always get the best stories out of it. So, when he leaves the table to make a phone call, I tell the waiter to give us the check as soon as dinner’s over. No coffee or dessert for us.”