A Catered Thanksgiving (19 page)

“There are no footprints going that way,” Bernie told her.

“How can you be so sure?”

“We looked,” Bernie said.

“Maybe they got covered up. I think you should look again,” Lexus told her. “I think you should go out there and check.”

“You're kidding me, right?” Bernie said.

“Not in the least.”

“Don't be ridiculous, Lexus,” Perceval said. “If Geoff is out there—which I doubt—let him stay there.”

“Anyway, he definitely didn't go out the front door,” Melissa said.

“How do you know that?” Bernie asked, stifling a yawn.

Much as she didn't want to admit it, she realized she was beginning to crash and would have to get some rest soon. She took a quick look at Libby. Her sister's eyelids were drooping, and she appeared to have trouble staying on her feet. It seemed as if the day had finally caught up with her, as well. On the other hand, Lexus seemed positively perky. She'd probably had a nap, Bernie thought, not without a certain amount of rancor.

Melissa tugged at her T-shirt, which had ridden up over her midriff. It didn't help. “I know because Bob and I were in the living room, cataloging the pictures.”

“Ah, the vultures are circling,” Lexus murmured sotto voce.

“That is entirely uncalled for,” Melissa told her.

“Just remember,” Lexus replied, “I know where every picture of any worth is in this house.”

“And so do I, Lexus. So do I.”

Lexus wagged a finger in Melissa's face. “If even a drawing goes missing, I'll speak to my lawyer.”

“Not before I speak to mine,” Melissa said. “And remember, they can tell about art forgeries these days.”

Lexus shook her head. “You poor dear child, you must be so upset to say things like that.”

“Get real,” Melissa told her before going on with what she'd been saying to Bernie and Libby. “As I was telling you before we were so rudely interrupted,” Melissa said, raising her voice, “Bob and I have been in the living room for the past hour and a half, and we would have seen Geoff if he went out the front door.”

Lexus turned to Bernie and Libby. “So I repeat,” Lexus said. “Where did he go?”

“He was beamed up to the mother ship,” Libby snapped.

“Seriously,” Lexus said.

“Well,” Libby said, “it's as good an explanation as anything else.”

“I'm not paying you to give me that kind of answer,” Lexus huffed.

“You haven't paid us at all,” Bernie pointed out.

“But I will.”

“So you say,” Libby told her.

Lexus shrugged. “I will.”

“When? When are you going to pay us?” Bernie asked her.

“When this is over,” Lexus replied.

“Don't believe her,” Greta told Libby. “She never pays anyone.”

“Do you mind?” Lexus told Greta. “I'm trying to find out something here.”

“Like what?” Greta told her. “They”—she pointed to Bernie and Libby—“already told you they searched the house and they can't find Geoff. This is not complicated. There are only two possibilities.” She touched the pinkie of her left hand with the pointer of her right hand. “Geoff is either inside or he's outside. And we've established that he isn't outside, which means he must be inside, somewhere in this house.”

“That's no answer at all, Greta,” Lexus snapped.

“I have a feeling it's the best you're going to get,” Greta snapped back.

“Please.” Melissa put her hands to her ears. “Can't we all just stop arguing? I can't stand it anymore.”

Lexus ignored her and went back to talking to Bernie and Libby. “So what are you going to do about the situation?” she demanded.

Bernie didn't have to think about her answer. “I'm going to take a nap,” she said. She was so tired that her teeth were hurting.

T
here was a loud crack, and the lights in the living room flickered on and off for a few seconds. Then they came back on.

Perceval brought his hand up and smoothed his hair over the top of his forehead. “Must be a tree branch falling. Probably one of the elms down by the bunker.”

Melissa shivered. “I hope the power doesn't go off in the house. That would be horrible.”

“It would be cold,” Audie observed. “That's for damn sure.”

No one said anything else. It was as if, Bernie decided, they'd all run out of things to say. After a moment of silence, Greta lightly touched the gold chain she was wearing around her neck and rose.

“I, for one, have had enough of pointless arguing for the moment,” she announced. “I'm going to bed.”

Bob nodded. “So am I.”

Ralph got up. “Me too. It's been a long day.”

“That's one way of putting it,” Melissa said as she levered herself out of her chair.

Audie stood as well. “Guess I'm going, too. I'm not going to be the lone duck.”

“Lame duck,” Greta corrected. “And that's a political term.”

“Whatever,” Audie shot back.

“Audie, how are you going to know you're doing something wrong if I can't tell you?”

Audie dug his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Trust me. I'll be able to figure it out.”

Lexus looked around the room. Everyone was standing but her. “I guess I'll go to bed, too, then. It's not as if I have a choice.”

“Sure you do,” Melissa said. “No one is forcing you to go upstairs. You can stay down here if you want.”

“By myself?” Lexus put her hand to her heart. “And let Geoff attack me? No. I don't think so. Not that my bedroom is much safer. But I want you all to know that if I'm dead in the morning, my blood is on your hands.”

“Oh,
puh-lease,
” Melissa said.

Perceval gave a derogatory snort, while the rest of the Field family pointedly ignored Lexus's comment. They were filing out of the room when Bob stopped short. Greta bumped into him and Audie bumped into her.

“I just thought of something,” Bob said.

“Now, there's a novelty,” Melissa murmured.

Bob glowered at her. “You're not exactly a font of ideas yourself.”

Melissa was about to answer him when Perceval intervened. “Children, children,” he said, putting both hands out in front of him and making calming motions. “Can we stop this nonsense?” Then, before anyone could answer, he nodded toward Bob. “Now, as you were saying?”

“All I was saying,” Bob replied, “was how do we know that when we're in our separate rooms, one of us won't come down here and find the will?”

“Good point,” Perceval said. “We don't.”

Ralph rubbed the side of his nose with one of his knuckles. “Does it really matter? After all, how can anyone find it when Lexus already has it?”

“Yes, Bob,” Audie said. “You forgot about that.”

“You know, Lexus,” said Perceval, “I think it's time we saw that will you keep talking about.”

Lexus feigned a yawn.

“You don't have it, do you?” Ralph said.

“Of course I do,” Lexus replied.

“Then show it to us now,” Ralph demanded.

“Yes,” Greta said. “I'm quite interested.”

Melissa chimed in with, “So am I.”

“We want to see it,” everyone else said, taking up the cry.

“No, I won't,” Lexus said.

“That, my dear,” Perceval told her, “is because you haven't got it.”

“That's not it at all, Perceval,” Lexus replied.

Perceval smirked. “Then what is it?”

“It's simple.”

“We're waiting,” Ralph said.

Lexus put her hand to her heart. “If I did show it to you, what would prevent any of you from destroying it or even killing me to keep me silent?”

“So you don't have it,” Melissa said.

“Of course I do,” Lexus replied.

“Then let's see it,” Ralph said.

“I already told you why I can't,” Lexus replied.

“How about if we all went down to the bunker and put your precious will there and then locked the door, and we all stuck together till tomorrow night, or whenever it is that we can get out of here? How would that be?” Greta asked. “Would you feel safe then?”

“That's ridiculous,” Lexus said.

“Why?” Ralph said. “It seems like a perfectly good plan to me.”

Lexus didn't say anything.

“Just as I thought,” Greta said to Lexus. “You don't have the will. You know, my dear,” she continued, “you need intelligence to lie well.”

“You are such a bitch!” Lexus screamed, taking a step toward Greta.

Ralph stepped between the two women. “Let's not do that here.”

Lexus clenched her fists. Her face was turning red. “You're going to get yours,” she told Greta over Ralph's shoulder.

Greta smiled. “Indeed I am, while you, on the other hand, are going to get nothing.”

“Fat lot you know,” Lexus spit back at Greta. “Monty promised me everything. The house. The business. The cars. All of it. He owes me. I deserve it.”

Melissa laughed. “Spoken like the true queen of entitlement.”

Bernie coughed. Everyone looked at her.

“From what I can gather, it seems to me as if Monty promised everybody everything,” she said, interrupting the hostilities. “That's how he kept control over all of you.”

Ralph said, “I keep telling all of you that.”

“It's true,” Melissa agreed. “Every time Dad got mad at someone, he wrote them out, and he got mad a lot.”

“Not at me,” Lexus said. “He never got angry at me.”

“You most of all,” Melissa told her.

“I was his perfect angel,” Lexus replied.

Melissa made a gagging noise. “Remind me to vomit.”

“Okay,” Libby said, stepping into the breach. “Everyone, answer me this. Did Monty say he was going to change his will, or did he actually do it?”

“I think both,” Melissa said after thinking it over.

“So there could be multiple versions,” Bernie said.

Audie bobbed his head. “Without a doubt. Now you see the problem.”

“Who witnessed the wills?” Libby asked.

“Alma and her son,” Ralph said.

Perceval finished his brother's sentence for him. “Who are conveniently not here.”

“He didn't use a notary?” Bernie asked.

“Not that I know of,” Melissa said.

Libby bit her fingernail. “And I suppose it's too much to hope that he had a lawyer.”

“He had one,” Ralph said. “I'm just not sure he used his lawyer for this.”

“I know he didn't,” Perceval said.

“How do you know?” Libby asked.

“He told me,” Perceval replied. “After all, lawyers cost money, money that my brother was loath to spend on something he was positive he could do as well as, if not better than, any lawyer in the business.”

“What a mess,” Bernie observed.

“Indeed it is,” Ralph agreed.

There was another crack. Everyone jumped.

“We have to find that will,” Melissa said.

“Yes, we do,” Greta agreed.

This time Lexus said nothing.

“It's nice you agree on something,” Bernie commented.

“Maybe Geoff's found it,” Lexus said, ignoring Bernie's comment.

“Then we'll just have to get it from him, won't we?” Greta said.

Ralph nodded. “We have to look for it, anyway,” he said.

“Agreed,” Perceval said. “At least we know it's not in Monty's desk.”

Or the bunker,
Bernie thought. Or if it was there, she and Libby hadn't found it.

“I never really thought it would be in the desk in the study, anyway,” Ralph said. “Too obvious.”

“Why do you say that?” Libby asked him.

“Because my brother had a habit of hiding things,” Ralph replied.

“Yes,” Melissa said. “My dad was really good at putting things in unlikely places. I suggest we start looking now—as a group.”

“I'm too tired,” Greta protested. “I'm so tired, I can hardly stand up. Let's do it tomorrow.”

“But then one of us can find it while the others are asleep,” Melissa whined.

“I just said that,” Bob told Melissa.

“And I'm just agreeing with you,” Melissa told him.

Bob gestured around the room. “We can all sleep down here.”

“Not me,” Greta said. “I need a bed. Otherwise I won't be able to stand up in the morning.”

“I second that,” Perceval said. “We should start tomorrow, having had the benefit of a good night's sleep.”

“Fine with me,” Ralph agreed.

“Then how do we get everyone to stay in their rooms?” Audie asked.

“The honor system?” Libby said.

Greta snorted. “Is that your idea of humor?”

There was silence; then Melissa clapped her hands. “I know,” she cried.

Everyone waited.

“The skeleton key,” she cried.

“Skeleton key?” Audie asked. “What's that?”

“Something you're too young to know about,” Perceval told him.

Melissa walked over to the desk. “I just remembered,” she said as she opened the middle drawer and rummaged around inside it. A moment later her hand came out with a long, thin key. She held it up. “This fits all the keyholes on all the doors.”

Lexus raised an eyebrow. “Not mine, Melissa.”

“Yes. All of them, Lexus,” Melissa said.

Lexus frowned. “Monty said the lock didn't work.”

“Well, he was lying, unless he disabled it, and I don't think he did. Try it if you don't believe me. My dad used to lock all of us in at night,” Melissa explained, catching the looks on Bernie's and Libby's faces.

“Why?” Bernie asked.

“So we couldn't come down and raid the frig in the middle of the night,” Melissa said. “All the food was strictly accounted for, and Dad didn't want anyone to get more than he thought they should have.”

Lexus smirked and patted her stomach. “Well, you do have to admit you do have a large appetite. Maybe your dad was trying to help you control your eating, dear. Have you thought about that?”

Melissa narrowed her eyes and glared at Lexus. “My dad was a cheap son of a bitch who didn't want to spend any money on food if he didn't have to. If it hadn't been for Alma, we would have been living on rice,” Melissa spat back. “When we had meat, he got all the good parts and we got the fat and the gristle.”

“Let's not exaggerate, shall we?” Lexus replied. “You know you're prone to it.”

“Actually, she's not,” Perceval said, stepping in between the two women. “But I don't get why you're talking about the locks. That's old news.”

Melissa puffed her cheeks out, then blew out a stream of air. “What I'm suggesting is that all of us get locked in for the night and let out in the morning.”

“And who is going to be the key master?” Perceval asked.

Melissa nodded in Bernie and Libby's direction. “They will.”

“We will?” Libby asked.

“Yes, you will,” Melissa said.

Bernie blinked.

“I think it's a good idea,” Greta promptly replied.

Lexus nodded. “At least that way I'll be safe.”

Melissa rolled her eyes.

“What was that for?” Lexus demanded.

“Like anyone is going to go after you?”

“Need I remind you,” Lexus said, “that someone put Monty's body on my bed?”

“If you ask me, I think you did that yourself,” Melissa told her.

Perceval waved his hands in the air. “Enough, already.”

Lexus favored him with a sly smile and adjusted her white fur scarf, which she was wearing even though it was now too warm for something like that. “You're right,” she said. “I'm sorry. I was just trying to help.”

Melissa opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, and nodded.

“So we're agreed?” Perceval asked everyone.

Audie cleared his throat. “There is a problem,” he said.

“What's that?” Perceval asked.

“How many keys are there?”

“One,” Melissa said.

“How do we know that?” Audie asked.

“I remember Monty saying it,” Ralph replied.

Bob shot the cuffs of his shirt. “Why should I believe you, Ralph?”

“Because otherwise we'll be here all night.” Ralph turned to Libby and Bernie. “Unless…” he said.

“Unless what?” Bernie asked.

“Unless you two want to patrol the hallway after you lock us in.”

“We will,” Bernie said, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.

“We will?” Libby said.

“Yes,” Bernie said firmly. “We will. As long as you let us do things our way.”

“And what way is that?” Lexus asked.

Bernie shook her head.

“What does that mean?” Greta demanded.

“That means I'm not telling you.”

“That's absurd,” Ralph said.

“That's the way it is. You can take it or leave it,” Bernie replied.

Lexus turned to the other family members. “I'm not comfortable with this.”

“Well, I am,” Perceval said. “I move we vote. All in favor, say aye.”

Everyone said aye. Except Lexus.

“There you go, Lexus,” Ralph said. “You're outvoted. As per usual.”

“Nothing will go wrong,” Melissa said. “Bernie and Libby can let us out at six.”

“Six?” Lexus shrieked. “That's the crack of dawn.”

“Fine, then seven,” Melissa said.

“Seven thirty,” Greta said.

“But not a moment later,” Melissa said, looking at Bernie and Libby.