Keith moved restively.
I dropped down beside him, pointed at the dice and Peg’s hand. It was her turn.
He picked them up, tried to tuck them in her hand.
“Just a second, Johnny. I have to roll the dice.” She smiled at Keith. Two and three came up. She counted five squares and ended up on a chute down to the first row. “Keith and I are playing a game. He’s about to beat me… Yes, that would be fun. I’d love to see you. Maybe we can go to the park on Christmas afternoon and…”
My ESP to Peg, “Hang up. Hang up. Hang up,” wasn’t working.
The clock ticked. The chime sounded marking a quarter past three. Chief Cobb and I had agreed on a plan. But everything depended upon Wade Farrell. Had he changed his mind?
“Oh.” Peg glanced at the caller ID window. “Johnny, I’d better take this call. Yes, thanks.” She clicked. “Wade?” Peg’s face drew into a frown. “This afternoon? Can’t it wait until next week?…I see. Yes, I’ll tell my mother.” Suddenly her face lighted. “Is it about the new will, the one that’s missing? Has it been found?” Her eagerness slipped away. “Oh, I see. All right, I’ll tell Mother. Yes, I’m sure we’ll be able to come.”
Keith was counting and moving his marker up to the next level.
Peg clicked off the phone. “I’ll be right back, Keith. I’ll bring you a cookie.”
I followed Peg into the kitchen. All was spick-and-span. Sparkling clean china platters and cut-glass dishes were ranged on counters, awaiting their return to cabinets.
Jake sat at the white wooden table, comfortable in a velour blouse and pants, drying silver spoons and slipping them with loving care into a felt cutlery wrap. She looked weary but at peace.
Peg stood in the doorway. “Wade Farrell called. He says we need to be at his office at four o’clock. He’s calling everyone to come. He has information about Susan’s new will.”
The aura of contentment vanished from the kitchen. Jake’s eyes flared in alarm. “Has he found that will?” Her voice was high and strained, her face suddenly gaunt and fearful.
Peg’s gaze filled with uncertainty and doubt. “He doesn’t have the will, but he said he felt it was his duty to inform us of new information.”
Wade waited until everyone had entered, then closed the conference room door. He walked to the chair beneath the judge’s portrait. He remained standing until everyone was seated: Peg Flynn, Gina Satterlee and Tucker Satterlee on one side of the table, Jake Flynn, Harrison and Charlotte Hammond on the other.
All eyes were on Farrell, who looked flushed and uncomfortable. I edged out the chair opposite him and slipped onto the seat. As I had hoped, all the previous heirs were here. The only absent suspect was Dave Lewis. There was no excuse for him to be present. However, if the chief’s suspicions about Peg and Dave were correct, she would very likely inform him of what occurred during the coming meeting. I was sure the chief was wrong about her.
There was no police presence. That was essential to my plan.
Wade’s expression was strained as he settled into his chair. He looked like a man who wished he were elsewhere. His eyes flicked uneasily from face to face. “I felt I had to speak with all of you since I have been apprised of facts that clearly impact the information I previously gave you in regard to Susan Flynn’s estate. I’m leaving tomorrow for the holidays and won’t be back until after the first. When we met on Monday, I had no way of knowing that Susan had written out a new will on Saturday night.”
Harrison leaned forward, his worried gaze magnified by his bifocals. “Wait a minute, Wade. I don’t know what Peg’s told you, but if there’s a new will, no one knows where it is. I asked the police about that. I don’t see any point in talking about a piece of paper that may not exist.”
“The police may not know where the will is”—Wade nodded in agreement—“but they know that Susan drafted a new will before she died on Saturday night. The police are interested in the will only as an apparent motive for the murder of Kim Weaver. The police believe Kim intercepted the new will when it arrived here in the Monday mail and offered it to someone.” Wade’s tone was grim. “I am upset that my employee apparently took advantage of her position to prevent the receipt of Susan’s new will. However, Kim paid a terrible price for her decision. The police said that she planned to meet someone at the abandoned brick plant and that she apparently had the will with her when her car went into the pit. As I understand it, the police also searched her apartment. No trace of the will has been found.”
The deep lines grooved in Harrison’s face eased. “If that’s the case, why are we here? Either there is a will or there isn’t. I, for one, don’t believe for a minute there was another will. There’s no proof.”
Charlotte’s gaze was somber. Jake lifted a shaky hand to her lips. Tucker had the air of an observer at a sporting event awaiting the game’s conclusion. Gina hunched in her chair as if she were cold and stared down at the bare table. Peg’s face furrowed into a disappointed frown.
Wade took a deep breath. “There is definite proof that the will existed. The will was seen, read, and witnessed on Saturday night. The terms of the holographic will, written on Susan Flynn’s stationery with her monogram, corresponded to the terms of the will she had instructed me to prepare for her signature on Monday morning.”
Tucker’s question was quick and to the point. “Even if a new will existed and someone claims to know what was in it, what difference does it make if there isn’t a copy of the will?” His posture was relaxed, but his eyes never left the lawyer’s face.
Wade tugged at his shirt collar as if it were too tight. “Although I can make no definitive judgment, in my considered opinion Judge Blackburn would combine the testimony of a reputable witness that a holographic will had been duly signed with the undeniable evidence that Susan intended to sign a new will with similar content on Monday. If he did so, I believe Judge Blackburn would rule that clear and convincing evidence existed that a will had been drawn up and that would effectually void the previous will.”
His words came in gruff bullets which possibly made his message even more effective. Only I understood that he was making a herculean effort to lie and he hated every minute of it.
