Smoke and Mirrors

made it sound like it was all for the children.” She massaged her right temple and closed her eyes.

“We’ve been looking into the land,” Brad said. “That fits with what we found out.”

Leigh raised a brow. “He owes a lot of money to whomever is behind this interest in it. It seems they have been exerting increasing pressure on him to make sure it happens. Now it has to go forward immediately for some reason Jacob swears he doesn’t know. I’m here because it’s very possible, based on what Jacob did tell me, that Sherry may have been shot to make him level with me. What kind of people would murder an innocent child to make a point?”

Alexa and Winter exchanged looks.

“Does Jacob know you came here?” Brad asked.

“I said I was going to the Adams’s house, and I am, after I leave here.”

Winter said, “A corporation called RRI owns the adjoining land. They also own the Roundtable casino.”

“And Jack Beals worked for the Roundtable,” Leigh said.

Brad said, “They intend to build a three-thousand-acre resort, and your parcel is right in the middle of it.”

Leigh raised her brows. “Resort? No, he said he didn’t know what they wanted it for. He did mention a man named Mulvane. At first I told him I had to think it over. He told me that it was their final offer, and that I couldn’t take any time because I’d already held the deal up, which made the people very angry.” Leigh put her elbows on her knees and placed her forehead in her hands. “Evidently he’s told me one thing and them another while he tried to figure out a way to get more money. He’s lied to me for months and months, but that’s just Jacob’s nature. And Sherry’s dead because of it.”

“What did you tell him?”

She sat up. “He was really afraid, Brad. He told me…” She stopped and looked at her hands. “He said I could either take the offer, or next time, instead of a servant, it might be me, Cyn, or Hamp lying dead in the yard.”

“That bastard!” Brad said. “It’s your fault even though he kept you in the dark. I bet he’s been playing them and they’re onto him.”

Leigh shook her head. “He said if I’d have sold it to him, earlier, Sherry would still be alive. He acted like it was my fault, that I made some kind of selfish choice and that was why she was dead.”

Leigh started crying, and Brad sat on the edge of her chair and put an arm around her. She rested her head against him for a split second before straightening. “God,” she asked, “could it be true?”

“It isn’t your fault, Leigh,” Brad said.

“I know it isn’t my fault,” she said. “Could he be telling the truth? Is this a case of ‘sell to us, or your children will die next’? I’m doing it. What else can I do? People will always gamble, and at least I’ll have a legacy for my children and they will never have to farm like I did. It won’t bring Sherry back, but I can use the money to help them out.”

“We can see them punished for killing Sherry,” Alexa said. She looked at Winter and he frowned. Tying anyone at the Roundtable to Sherry’s death was a real long shot. Styer was the link, but proving that connection might be close to impossible.

“If you, or someone else, could get Mulvane to admit to ordering the killing,” Winter said. “He’s the casino manager.”

“You mean carry a recorder and ask this Mulvane to admit ordering a murder?” Leigh smirked. “Just tell me what to do. I want those people to pay for what that Beals bastard did to Sherry.”

“It might be dangerous,” Brad said. “Pinning Mulvane will be tricky.”

Leigh looked at Brad, her eyes dancing. “You can arrest him after I sell him the land. Let the bastard pay twice, so at the least, the money will do some good.”

Winter asked, “How did you leave it with Jacob?”

“I told him that if I had no choice, if our children were in danger, I would sell it. I said to tell them to write the check and give me the papers to sign.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said he’d tell them and took off. What can we do now?”

“We have to develop a plan,” Alexa said. “And a good one if we’re going to take them down.”

And at that, for the first time since Winter had met her, Leigh Gardner smiled.

52

Pierce Mulvane was sitting at his desk, watching Jacob Gardner on his flat-screen monitor. Two minutes earlier, Albert White had alerted him to the lawyer’s presence in the lobby, and Pierce had been following Gardner’s progress-going camera to camera-from the time he’d entered the casino. He had dispatched Tug to intercept him downstairs and bring him up. Pierce noted how the degenerate slowed as he passed by each of the craps tables until Tug showed him into the elevator. In the hallway, Tug would frisk Gardner, looking for hidden recorders, wires, or other devices he might be planning to use to get a record of Mulvane incriminating himself. Pierce switched off the monitor and gathered his thoughts during the thirty seconds it took the pair to arrive at the door.

“Great news!” Gardner boasted. He swaggered to a chair facing the desk and sat, leaning back and crossing his legs. “She’s going to sell it, Pierce. She agreed. Her exact words were, and I quote: ‘Tell them to prepare the papers. The sooner, the better.’”

“It’s Mr. Mulvane, Gardner.”

Gardner shifted in the chair uncomfortably. “Mr. Mulvane. Sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“You told her what, exactly? What was it that swayed your ex-wife?” Pierce asked.

“The money, of course. So much money.”

“You didn’t tell her that I threatened you in any way?”

“No, of course I didn’t. She’s a greedy bitch. Two and a half million is a big score. I said that if she didn’t sell, you could afford to go somewhere else.”

“She doesn’t think Mr. Beals killed that girl to frighten her and force her to sell?”

“No. Why would she?”

“So she doesn’t know that Jack Beals worked here?”

“Everybody with a TV set knows he worked for your casino. But I never told her it was you making the offer. She doesn’t care.”

Pierce felt a growing hollowness in his stomach. “I have a problem. This man, Beals, was a killer and employed by this casino. Why he targeted your wife’s babysitter we may never know. The dilemma now is that certain people might see this unfortunate connection between our desire for the land, the fact that a man working for us killed someone on the plantation owned by someone who owned the land we needed, and the fact that they sold it to us the next day. As an attorney, you have to understand that I can’t afford to have some overly zealous law enforcement persons thinking our company’s desire to own that property might be in any way connected to a homicide. I can’t risk our one-point-five-billion-dollar investment.”

At the word billion Pierce saw Jacob’s fevered eyes light up, as he knew they would. Pierce mentioned the figure because he wanted Jacob to understand how very little a life was worth against that kind of investment. “Perhaps you can see my concerns more clearly than most. Your ex-wife cannot bring this offer to anyone’s attention.”

“I never thought for a minute you had anything to do with the murder,” Gardner said. “I never said there could be a connection of any kind. She is only interested in the money. Believe me, I know her like the back of my hand.”

“But you see my problem,” Pierce said. “The timing of it all. I’m a legitimate businessman working for a very influential man who is worth billions, with worldwide and varied business interests. That is all I’ve said to you, correct?”

Pierce could see Gardner’s eyes darting nervously, avoiding his own.

“There must be some way we can do this so there is no illusion of impropriety or pressure,” Pierce went on. “Any ideas?”

“What if she transfers the land to me,” Gardner said. “And I could sell it to you and pay her with the money