“Stop the video. I need a break.”
Boris obeyed.
“Aren’t you setting off a criminal investigation by talking about this on a video for the courts?”
“Potentially, but I seriously doubt anyone other than me will ever see this video.”
Boris again restarted the video, verifying it as he’d done the past two times.
“Nothing in Frau Vogel’s wishes can convince me that I’m the right person to investigate,” Gage stated.
“If you don’t, then the daughters will never see their inheritance.”
“Bullshit, Boris,” Gage said, sitting forward and interlocking his hands. He could hear his pulse hammering in his head. “You’re the attorney—petition the court to bring in a real investigator. Hell, hire a large investigative firm. I bet they could do this in a week or two.”
“Frau Vogel accounted for many things, Mister Hartline. Petitioning the court would be a futile action, I can assure you.”
“Why me?” Gage yelled, immediately angry with himself over the outburst. He wiped his sweaty palms on the legs of his jeans. “Sorry, but why on earth would this lady who has known me for only a month-and-a-half put all this on me?”
“That was what she wished. I can assure you, she defied convention her entire life.”
Gage shook his head. “This family is nuts.”
“This concludes our session,” Boris said. He went through a lengthy confirmation of all they’d discussed, none of which Gage argued. Finally, he ceased his phone’s recording.
“Are we done?” Gage asked.
“The recording has stopped.”
“Okay. Are we done?” Gage repeated.
“There’s a bit more.”
Gage stared at Boris, watching as the attorney leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands.
“When you find her husband’s killer…”
“Yeah?”
“If it’s not one of her daughters…”
“Go on.”
“Claudia doesn’t want them prosecuted.”
Gage waited.
“Are you with me?” Boris asked.
“If it’s not one of her daughters, we don’t prosecute. I got it. So, in that case, what do we do?”
A thin smile built on Boris’ youthful face. “She wants the person eradicated, and she wants you to do it.” He resumed his posture and slid the phone into his briefcase.
“When you say eradicated?”
“Killed, Mister Hartline. That was her word, not mine.” He tapped the briefcase. “I have that on video, too, in the event you’d like to see for yourself.”
* * *
Although the recorded portion of the meeting was over, Boris stayed for another hour. They talked about details, and Gage asked a number of questions. As he suspected, his future compensation, as instructed by Claudia during her final day of life, was more than adequate. In fact, it was more per month than Gage had made in his last full year as a soldier. But it wasn’t the money that had him in a twist—it was what he would be doing, and why he would be doing it. There was no way in hell Gage was going to give Boris an answer today. Nor tomorrow. And not the next day, either.
“When will you let me know?” Boris had asked as Gage showed him out.
“A few days…maybe more.”
Boris tugged on his soiled collar. “That goes against Frau Vogel’s wishes.”
“Fine, then I’ll just tell you now, and the answer is no.”
“Don’t do that,” Boris had replied, showing his palms. “It’s understandable that you’d like to take some time. I’m an officer of the court, and bound to uphold its statutes. Therefore, I believe some latitude is appropriate in this situation. If pressed, I can probably find some precedent surrounding an acceptable mourning time after a death.”
“You’re an officer of the court?”
“Yes, of course. All practicing attorneys are.”
“Were you an officer of the court when you told me to find someone and kill them?”
Boris dipped his head. “I realize what we spoke of is…irregular.”
“Cute word.”
“I hope you understand that I’m acting out of loyalty to Frau Vogel.”
“Yeah, yeah, Boris. I’ll be in touch, but I need some time. This isn’t remotely close to what I signed up for.”
The chastened attorney shook Gage’s hand and departed. Gage watched from the front door as Boris entered a late model Skoda sedan. True to form, the Skoda was dented and dinged and appeared to have never been washed. The only semi-clean area of the car were the two arced areas where the windshield wipers had scraped the grime away.
Bewildered by the offer and sad over Claudia’s dying, Gage shut the front door and despised the emptiness of the home. He put on more coffee. When it was done brewing, he retrieved his jacket and a stocking cap and released Sheriff from his slumber in Claudia’s room.
The dog sniffed all around the massive home, clearly wondering where Claudia was.
* * *
Despite the weather, Gage sat behind the estate manor on the snowy, shaded back patio. He’d carried a dry lawn chair outside, sitting in the refreshingly cold wind as he drank his coffee from an insulated mug. The sun darted in and out behind the gray clouds. It looked as if another storm could build, or the sky might clear up altogether. But the cold was unmistakable—an icy, biting wind that hinted at a long, hard winter. Each sharp gust helped to clear his mind after the tumultuous events of the last day.
Sheriff didn’t care. He enjoyed retrieving his flying ring in the snow. Gage needed only flick the Aerobie, sending it hundreds of feet out into the snow. He couldn’t help but chuckle as his dog assaulted the snow in search of his favorite toy. The game was a worthwhile distraction from Claudia’s absence.
Gage could see the cookhouse from here. Ursula lingered on the sunny side of the building, smoking a cigarette
