Fatal Trust (25 page)

Ben had been able to sit still only for a minute before he’d
gone back to pacing while obsessing over Lexie’s strange comment to Jeremy.
What the hell had she been talking about? It must be related to the trust agreement—the
preposition “in” instead of the verb “is” would make a difference in what a
provision meant. Except as far as he knew, the only unusual part of
Grandfather’s trust was the requirement everyone spend fourteen nights at
Nevermore to inherit. He’d read that provision so many times that he knew it by
heart, and he couldn’t think of a questionable “in” or “is.”

She’d made her comment right after talking about those
books, so maybe it was related to the night they’d discussed Grandfather’s
early books. That had been the night they’d checked out the Ferrari and the
curve, but Grandfather hadn’t really died that way, so that wasn’t it.
Water
o
ver the Bridge
had a lawyer bad guy, but he couldn’t think of anything otherwise significant
about it. And the other one they’d discussed had a woman who’d gotten killed in
a car lot by an accountant who—

The Key.
It was called
The Key.
Not
the money is the key, but the money in
The Key.
It was so damn
obvious.

Then the ramifications hit him, and the hairs on the back of
his neck jumped to alert. “Mike, get in here,” Ben yelled. “It’s important.”

Mike lumbered into the back room. “What? I was in the middle
of winning at online poker for once. A free game, of course. I’d never play for
money while I’m on duty.”

“I think Trey killed Grandfather.”

“Trey? No way. He’s a good guy. He’s been your grandfather’s
best friend for years.”

“You find it easier to believe I did it?” Ben asked. “I
think Trey was embezzling from Grandfather, and when Grandfather found out,
Trey killed him.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t have time to get into it. But I think Lexie
discovered what he was doing, and he found out. She left Nevermore with him,
and I’m afraid he’s going to kill her.”

“We know that whoever killed Max also poisoned Trey, which
means it couldn’t be Trey.” Mike spoke slowly and overenunciated, as if he were
explaining something to a child. “It makes sense Lexie would go with him since
they’re both working with Max’s money.”

“Go over to Trey’s house and check,” Ben said. “If Lexie’s
fine, make up some reason, like needing to ask some questions about his
poisoning.”

Mike’s eyes flashed, and he folded his bulky arms over his
even bulkier chest. “I let you use your phone and talk to your cousin in
private, but I can’t do this. Trey was your victim, and I’m not going to harass
him for you.”

Ben could tell Mike wasn’t going to budge on this—he was as
obstinate as Grandfather once he made up his mind about something. “Go back to
your poker.”

Now what? Someone had to help Lexie. Aunt Muriel was out,
and Cecilia wasn’t back yet. But he knew Jeremy was around. He’d never asked
Jeremy for help in his life. He hated Jeremy, and the feeling was mutual.
Jeremy had stolen his wife, for God’s sake. If he were wrong about Trey, Jeremy
would make sure everyone knew his suspicions, including Trey.

On the other hand, Jeremy was tough and could take care of
himself. Jeremy wouldn’t be willing to do him any favors, but he might do it
for Lexie. Ben picked up the phone.

“You think Trey killed Grandfather? Are you nuts?”

Cecilia had just stepped through Nevermore’s front door, and
Jeremy’s statement stopped her cold. “
Trey
killed Grandfather?”
she asked, to clarify.

“That’s what Ben claims,” Jeremy said, waving the phone.
“Because Trey’s been embezzling from Grandfather and Grandfather found out, all
of which Ben figured out based on some cryptic remark Lexie made to me this
morning.” He explained. “Now Ben’s worried she’s with Trey and in danger.
Jesus, I was having trouble believing Ben was guilty, but he must be—and
getting desperate if he’s trying to pin it on Trey. Trey would never hurt
anyone.” Jeremy’s voice dripped with more than its usual anti-Ben disdain.

Cecilia chewed her bottom lip. It did sound a little
far-fetched. But Ben would never break down and ask Jeremy for help unless he
was convinced he was right. “You have to admit it’s possible,” she said. “I’m
not just taking Ben’s side. You know that Grandfather never paid much attention
to his money.”

“If Trey’s behind it, why did someone poison him?”

“Maybe he took poison himself as a red herring,” Cecilia
said. “Like in that Agatha Christie movie about those ten people on the island,
and the real murderer fakes his death so no one will suspect him.”

“Grandfather’s the one who faked his death,” Jeremy said.

“You know what I mean. Trey might be guilty. If he’s got
Lexie—”

“We don’t even know for sure she’s with Trey,” Jeremy said.
“Although her purse is in his office, so she probably went somewhere with him
on trust business.”

“If she left Nevermore willingly, she wouldn’t have left her
purse,” Cecilia said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’m a woman.”

“Or she’s walking around Grandfather’s land and didn’t feel
like lugging her purse with her.”

Jeremy had a point, but searching Grandfather’s land would
take a lot of time. Cecilia was also getting a bad feeling about this. Of
course, her instincts had never been that good—she’d been divorced three times,
after all.

But Ben obviously felt the same way. What would it hurt? “Look,
Jeremy, it’s not that big a deal to check if she’s with Trey. What if she’s
really in danger?”

Jeremy let out an exasperated breath, and then returned the
phone to his ear. “Okay, Ben. I’ll try to find Trey. I’ll start with his house.
I’m doing it for Lexie, not for you. And because Cecilia’s going to nag me
until I do.”

“I think Ben’s right about Trey,” Muriel said when Jeremy
had hung up. Cecilia hadn’t even noticed her aunt standing at the foot of the
staircase, although in hot pink yoga clothes and tangerine Crocs she was hard
to miss. “I’ve never trusted him. Something about his aura is off. Wait here.”
She started up the stairs. “I want to get you something for protection before
you leave.”

“I don’t think—” Jeremy said. But Muriel was clomping too
loudly to hear them.

“It’s probably a rosary or a St. Christopher medal,” Cecilia
said. “Or maybe a Wicca spell.”

“Just as long as she doesn’t insist on reading her crystal,”
Jeremy said. “I’d like to get this over with.”

“I’m going with you, by the way,” Cecilia said.

“Damn right you are,” Jeremy said. “Since you’re the one who
got me into this.”

“Here.” Muriel was back.

She was holding a revolver.

“Where the hell did you get that?” Jeremy asked.

“It’s loaded,” she said. “Do you know how to use it?”

“I know how to use it,” Jeremy said, taking the revolver.
“Is it yours, Aunt Muriel?”

“I bought it when Harold died,” Muriel said. “It’s dangerous
for a woman living alone. After Maxwell was shot, I went home and got it to use
for protection while I had to stay here. Since there’s a murderer running
loose.”

“That looks like the gun that killed Grandfather,” Cecilia
said.

“Of course it does,” Muriel said. “I know nothing about
guns, so I got the same kind Maxwell had in the basement. One of my friends at
First Baptist had her son get it for me so I wouldn’t have to bother with all
the paperwork. He’s the nicest boy.” She frowned. “Well, he’s in prison now for
burglary, but—”

“Let’s go, Jeremy,” Cecilia said, grabbing his arm and
directing him to the front door.

“Remember I saw Lexie shot and in the water,” Muriel called
after them. “Trey lives on Lake Superior. Be careful. ”

They would definitely be careful. Because faulty instincts
or not, Cecilia had a really bad feeling about this.

“Did you make the earlier attempts on Max’s life?” Lexie
needed to keep Trey talking. Maybe someone would happen by and hear the hint of
hysteria in her voice. Or maybe talking would distract Trey enough that he’d
trip and she’d be able to get away. Not much of an escape plan, but the best
she’d come up with.

“As I said, I got tired of waiting for him to die,” Trey
said, his voice simmering with anger. “I thought Easter would be an ideal
opportunity to kill him. With all the family around, there would be lots of
suspects. I never dreamed Max would survive, not with the amount of arsenic I
slipped in his drink, but he always was a tough old bastard. And lucky. He just
happened to duck when I shot at him through the window. I was thrilled when Ben
called to tell me Max had died in a car crash. Then it turned out he’d faked
it.” The anger was now at full boil.

Lexie changed the subject before strong emotion made Trey’s
trigger finger twitch. “Why did you decide to frame Ben? I thought you were
close to him.”

“I am. I hated doing that, but it just kind of happened.”
Trey’s tone had cooled several degrees. “Max sent me an e-mail that afternoon
that he pretended was from Ben, asking me to meet him by the dock at one in the
morning. That seemed like a strange time for a meeting, and I was worried that
Ben might have found out what I’d done. I don’t own a gun, but I knew Max had
one in the basement, so I got it and brought it to the meeting, just in case. I
couldn’t believe it when Max stepped out of the bushes. He told me he’d left
Ben a note about the meeting, but he must not have gotten it. Then Max
confronted me about stealing from him.”

“You shot him in cold blood?”

“It wasn’t like I planned it,” Trey said, a tad defensively.
“I was in shock, first that Max was alive, then that he’d found out what I’d
been doing. I’d pulled out the gun and shot him before I’d even thought about
it. Then I had to get rid of the gun. I could have thrown it in the lake, but I
realized that if the cops found the note Max had left for Ben, they might
suspect he was Max’s killer. I stashed the gun in Ben’s truck, hoping it would
make him look even guiltier, especially since he’d bought it in the first
place. Like I said, I hated to do it, but I didn’t want anyone suspecting me.”

Lexie risked a glance over her shoulder. Unfortunately the
gun was still aimed at her back. “I thought you were Max’s best friend.”

“How can you be friends with someone bigger than life?” Trey
asked, his tone dripping with bitterness. “Someone who thought he ruled me and
the rest of the world just because he’d been lucky enough to make it big? It’s
only fitting that his arrogance got him killed, thinking he could face me
alone. When Max told me Ben was the only one who knew he was alive, it made the
most sense to frame him, especially since I had his gun. When the cops found
Max’s note in Ben’s room, I was home free.”

“Did you intend to kill me when you tampered with my
brakes?” Lexie asked.

“Actually I didn’t,” Trey said. “I just wanted to make you
suspicious of Ben. I like you, and I feel like we’ve got a bond, having both
spent years catering to Max, doing whatever he asked, no matter how
unreasonable. I found out what to do on the Internet, but I assumed the brakes
would go out in town when you were driving slower.” He let out a long sigh. “I
hate to have to kill you now, but I don’t have a choice.”

The combination of regret and resignation in Trey’s voice
terrified Lexie. “You’ll never get away with it,” she said, the words spurting
out like blood from a sliced artery. “My car’s at Nevermore, so they’ll search
the area when they realize I’m missing. Someone is bound to find my body, even
if it ends up in the lake. A bullet hole’s going to look suspicious.”

“If I have to shoot you, I’ll throw the gun into the water
with you, and everyone will assume you killed yourself,” Trey said. “This is
the gun Max kept in his nightstand in his bedroom. The way you’ve been poking
around Nevermore, it makes sense you would have found it. If I can’t make the
shooting look like suicide, I won’t bother writing that note about Ben being
guilty. The police will assume one of the other beneficiaries killed you
because you discovered who really killed Max. No one will suspect me since no
one else knows I have a motive.”

That he’d thought this through with accountant-like
thoroughness added to Lexie’s terror. He was actually going to do it. “What?”
she asked, abruptly realizing Trey was still talking.

“I said I should have known you were going to be trouble.
You’re a lot like your aunt, and she caused me as many problems as you did.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she finally agreed to marry Max.”

Lexie tripped, and she caught a pine branch to steady
herself, her sweaty palm barely able to keep hold of the needles. That’s what
was wrong with the photo in Max’s nightstand. Aunt Jessica was wearing a
diamond ring on her left hand. Lexie turned back toward Trey. “I never knew
that.”

“It’s true. After all those years, she finally gave in. Too
bad for her. If she hadn’t, she’d probably still be alive today.”

The trees along the road blurred together as Jeremy drove
from Nevermore, the images as muddled as Cecilia’s brain. She was having
trouble believing that Trey could be guilty and Lexie in trouble. Ben must be
overreacting. Although it wasn’t any easier to believe anyone else in her
family had killed Grandfather.

Ben’s theory about
The Key
made sense, too.
Grandfather might not have come out and told Lexie that Trey was guilty. He
might have decided to first give her a hint, like he sometimes did in his
books. He’d always said he should write mysteries because one of his favorite
things was doling out just enough clues that the smartest readers could figure
out what was about to happen before it did. And if Trey was guilty and Lexie
was with him—

Something flashed. “Stop.”

“Why?” Jeremy asked, not even slowing.

“Because I saw something in the trees just past the last
curve,” Cecilia said. “It could have been Trey’s headlights.”

“Why would he have pulled off there? It’s not like Grandfather
really died there.”

She hadn’t realized that’s where she’d seen the flash. “If
it isn’t Trey, who else would it be? Stop the car and back up.” Her tone was
sharper than she’d intended.

At least it persuaded Jeremy to stop. “Your wish is my command,
Queen Cecilia.” He backed around the curve, and then pulled off the road onto
the narrow shoulder. “I don’t see anything.”

“It was in the trees.” Even squinting, Cecilia couldn’t see
anything, either, but she swore she had.

“Probably lightning. It certainly couldn’t be reflected
sunlight in this gloomy weather,” Jeremy said.

“We need to check it out.” Cecilia grabbed her phone from
her purse, and then opened the door.

“No way. I’m not about to get caught outside in a
thunderstorm doing a favor for Ben.”

“The favor is for Lexie,” Cecilia said, getting out of the
car. “It isn’t stormy, just cloudy.” The warm air did seem to have absorbed
moisture since they’d left Nevermore, but the sky was more gloomy than
menacing. “Lock the door. And bring the gun.” She quietly closed the door
behind her.

“Yes, your royal highness,” Jeremy said, exiting the car. “I
never realized you were so bossy.”

The opening in the trees led straight down the ravine.
Jeremy was right—that’s where Grandfather had supposedly crashed his Ferrari.
Cecilia couldn’t see anything down there now.

But she saw something out of the corner of her eye, a little
farther back on the road. “Did you see that flash? And it for sure wasn’t
lightning—it was too bright to not be followed by thunder.”

“I didn’t see a damn thing,” Jeremy said, coming up beside
her. “Are you maybe getting a migraine? Or having some sort of seizure?”

“I feel fine. Come on.” She headed for an opening in the
trees, just wide enough for a vehicle. The grass was flattened, but that could
have happened anytime, and the ground was too hard to show tire tracks. She
took several steps, rounded a slight curve, and nearly bumped into a gray SUV.

Her blood chilled. “That’s Trey’s. The headlights must have
flashed. Although I don’t know how, since I can’t hear anyone.”

“Maybe Grandfather flashed them,” Jeremy said.

“If he did, it means Lexie’s in real trouble.”

“I was kidding,” Jeremy said. “The headlights probably
shorted out.”

“Why would they do that?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? Ask Ben.”

“All that matters is that we’ve found Trey’s SUV,” Cecilia
said. “What’s he doing here?”

“He must be checking on something related to when
Grandfather faked his death,” Jeremy said. “I’ll bet that path leads to the
bottom of the ravine.” He pointed. “We’ll follow it until we find Trey and
hopefully Lexie. Then you can assure Ben everything’s okay, and I can do
something more fun.”

“There’s a path there, too,” Cecilia said, pointing at a
rough path just beyond the SUV, one that appeared to go up. “Maybe they took it
instead.”

“Why? The Ferrari went into the ravine. Come on.” Jeremy
started toward the first path.

Cecilia grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Wait.” She dialed
her cell phone with her free hand.

“Did you find her?” Ben asked when he answered the phone.

“Not yet,” Cecilia said. “We found Trey’s SUV, parked off
the road in the trees. Where we all thought Grandfather crashed.”

“Is Lexie with him?” Ben asked.

“We haven’t found Trey, just his SUV. You know this area
since you helped Grandfather stage his death here. If Trey plans to hurt Lexie,
would they more likely go down the ravine or take the other path? It looks like
it goes up.”

“Damn.”

“Which one, Ben?”

“The path does go up. It leads to a cliff that overlooks
Forest Lake. If Trey wants to kill Lexie, he could push her off and into the
lake.”

“Aunt Muriel saw Lexie shot and in water,” Cecilia said.

“I know.” Ben’s words sounded strangled.

Cecilia shut off her phone. “We’re going up,” she told
Jeremy. “Hurry.”