In the House On Lakeside Drive (32 page)

“I know who I would pick,” Evan said.

“Me too,” Rachel agreed. “But it doesn't explain why Cooper would bother coming up here only a few years ago. Peyton and Emily have been gone four years, and I think he was here about six months before that. Why come?”

Evan stood up and put a hand on Remy's shoulder. “Remy, sit down. I haven't moved since we found out, and I'm getting exhausted just watching you.” To the others, he said, “Eric mentioned something before. He said he saw Cooper come to see Peyton and they had some sort of argument. He never knew what it was about, but it wasn't long after that Peyton and Emily had that accident.”

“I remember that accident. They said the brakes failed, causing the rollover into the ravine.” Rachel twirled her hair around her fingers, a sign she was considering something important.

Frank kept his silence. “I'm still digging. Truth be told, it seemed a little too coincidental that Cooper showed up and suddenly Peyton's gone. Plus there are those missing years between his parents' deaths and Cooper coming here that I want to look into.”

“Well, for certain I'm calling Vendell,” Evan said. “If only he'd mentioned this earlier…God…”

“I'd like to know how that goes,” Frank said. “That is, if you don't mind, Remy.”

“Why would I mind?” The twenty-year-old's brow furrowed in confusion as his legs bounced from sheer nerves.

“It's called attorney-client privilege. Basically, a lawyer can't tell others what he and his client talk about. If you say it's okay, though, I can ask him a few questions.”

“It's okay. I want to know too. I'd like to know why my uncle's been after me all this time.” Remy made a face. “If it was just about the money, I'd have
given
it to him!”

“Like I said, lad, I'm still digging.” A wrinkled face looked up at Evan and Rachel. “I was a lawyer, true, but I wasn't cut out for a courtroom. I ended up going into investigation for a larger firm. Had more fun, too.” The impish grin on the man's face melted twenty years off his age. “My Lola, she claimed it was like being married to a salesman. I was out on business quite a bit, but it worked out.”

“Oh, damn,” Sam said, as though he remembered something. “That reminds me. I'm expecting someone from my father's office.”

“Sam, you really think…?” Rachel asked, her voice trailing. “I mean, that wasn't the best day for anyone.”

“No. I meant what I said. He's never really wanted me, and these are the reasons why.” The blind man pointed at his sightless eyes, both nearly totally white. “Dad's always been proud of my brother and sister, but it's easy to point at them and make it seem like they're
his
accomplishment. It's always been about how other people see him.”

“Have you talked to them?” Evan asked. “I mean, this is a big step, Sam.”

“Stop trying to talk me out of it. Wouldn't you have done the same, given the chance?”

The room fell silent. “Yeah,” Evan said slowly, nodding his head. “I would have.”

“Then let me do this. I wasn't kidding when I said I had a real family to help me—you and Rachel and Remy. And my brother and sister. Sure, they're not around much, but they do try to call and be at least
interested
in me. My dad has no idea what kind of person I am. And I really don't think he cares.”

“I'd say the lad's made up his mind, Evan,” Frank said. “If you want representation, I know a few people.”

“Would you do it?” Sam asked.

“Me? Lad, I just finished saying I wasn't one for a courtroom…”

“Yeah, but, couldn't you just walk me through signing the papers? I know my dad. He's not going to contest it much. He'll try slipping in something I don't understand that will trip me up before he takes it to court. Please?”

The old man sighed. “If you're insistent, I suppose. I think I can handle some young hotshot.” Sam missed the grin and the gleam in Frank's eye. “I see why you like these young ones,” he said, looking at Rachel. “Make you feel young, don't they?”

“Yes, they do,” Rachel said. “And in the same breath they can make you feel ancient.”

“You mean we're not?” Evan said, chuckling. “I'd say we've aged a thousand years in two weeks.” He turned and pulled out his cell phone. “But now I'm calling Vendell. It's time someone came clean about Cooper Lavelle, once and for all.”

Chapter 47

James Vendell stared at Remy and Evan, currently sitting in the clients' chairs in his office. “That's about the long and short of it,” he explained,

“Still doesn't explain why you never said anything, Vendell,” Evan said, pale eyes glowering at the legal scholar. “Do you have any idea what Cooper's done? Any at all?”

“I know about the kidnapping. I know about what happened to Joshua Long. Or at least, I know what's been in the press.” A cough escaped the little man's throat. “I also know that the terms of Peyton and Emily Lavelle's will were very clear: Remy wasn't to know anything at all about the trust until his thirtieth birthday, when he would inherit it outright. Absolutely
nothing.
”

“Didn't they see this guy coming? I mean, Cooper.”

“Why wouldn't my mom and dad want me to know about the money?” Remy asked. “I'm not stupid.”

“Eleven million dollars is a lot of money, even by today's standards.” Vendell folded his hands and looked square into Remy's eyes. “It was smaller back then, but when you add your parents' assets with that of the original trust, it becomes a healthy sum.”

“But, I don't understand,” Remy said, his brow furrowing deeper. “I get a government check every month, like a lot of the others at school. I got the papers just after Mom and Dad died, from the social worker. I know I filled them out. Did they get lost or something?”

“My guess is, Cooper never filed them. The trust began paying out a quarterly stipend to you once they received confirmation of your parents' deaths, and I know that it is usually a sizable figure. Enough to pay your bills in full for three months and have spending money left over.”

Evan whistled a low tone. “Really?”

“Really, Mr. Dyer. The main problem always was the terms of the trust set up by Remy's grandparents: a relative had to be able to have guardianship over Remy's finances in order for him to collect the stipend each quarter. I believe they assumed that at least one of his parents would be alive and able to fill that end of the bargain, or perhaps a spouse if it came to that.”

“Imagine what Libby would say to that,” Remy said with a small chuckle. “Guess I can take her out for a nice dinner now. She's been wanting to do that for a while.”

Vendell laughed. “I should think so. I'll see to it I raise the amount paid to you directly.” He scratched a figure out onto a scrap of paper and slid it across the desk. “Would that be a fair amount, Remy?”

The young man's dark blue eyes nearly fell from their sockets. “I'll say!” He leaned back in the high-backed chair, exhaling a large breath. “Guess my rent's going up, huh Evan?”

“Only about a hundred bucks or so. It'll keep the lights on and the heat running.” Evan turned back to the lawyer. “I still don't understand why Cooper was allowed to become Remy's guardian, considering what everyone knew about the man.”

“Like I said, the terms were hard to get around. It had to be a relative. Unfortunately, there
wasn't
another relative. Emily's parents were dead, and she was an only child. Remy's grandparents were also only children. There simply weren't any other blood relations to take him in, and no relatives by marriage either. It was that or go into foster care.”

“Oh, hell no.” Evan shook his head violently, his wispy hair flying as he did. “There's no way. He wouldn't have stood a chance.”

“I'm right here, Evan.”

“I'm serious. You wouldn't have. The odds of you getting a decent foster family would have been astronomical, especially with this information.”

“And Rachel was full with boarders until recently,” Vendell said. “By the time we realized what Cooper was doing, we couldn't get him out. He knew
exactly
what he could get away with so as not to trip a protective services investigation.”

“You're right. He did,” Remy said. “He…he never hit me, at least not where anyone could see. Plus…”

“What?” Evan asked.

“Plus he…he kept telling me all the time how I was…stupid, I was slow, I was some sort of…of…” Remy struggled with the word. “…
retard
that couldn't handle himself. He…he kept me from eating sometimes, or he'd lock me in my room, or…or…”

“My God,” Vendell said. “This is the first I'm hearing of this, Mr. Dyer. Seriously.” To Remy he said, “Why didn't you tell anyone? We could have gotten you out a lot sooner…even foster care would have been better.”

“He…he kept telling me that if…if I told, no one would believe me. I was just a messed-up kid, with lots of problems, and he knew how to tell a story that made me look bad. I know. I'd seen him do it a couple times. I hated living there. When I met Sam, and he told me about Miss Rachel's place, I jumped at it. I knew I had money coming in…I…I…” Remy swallowed hard. “I didn't think I had any options until then.”

“No wonder you're terrified of him,” Evan murmured. “I would be too.”

“That gets me to the crux of the problem,” Vendell said. “You see, Cooper was disinherited from his parents' will. Completely. He got not one dime from their estate. It all went to Peyton, and to Remy. Now, we know about the terms of the will in that he could not inherit directly, but he fit the bill for being Remy's guardian should the need arise. Which, in a very suspicious coincidence, it did.”

“Eric Ingham said something about seeing Cooper arguing with his brother not long before Remy's parents died,” Evan said. “He never knew what it was about, but Eric says it didn't look pretty.”

“We may never know for sure, but I can guess. It's very likely he was trying to talk Peyton into sparing him a little of the money.” Vendell sighed. “What he did in the interim between being disinherited and when he finally showed up in Otter Lake is a mystery only Cooper can solve. I can guess he floated for a while on charm, and when that dried up he decided pleading destitute would solve some of his problems.”

“But it didn't,” Remy said. “I didn't even know he was here until Mom and Dad died. Dad never mentioned seeing him. Are you sure Mr. Ingham saw him fighting with my dad, Evan?”

“Eric's positive, Remy. He's gone downhill even in the few years I've been in town, but Cooper's is not a face that blends into the crowd. Nor is that accent of his.”

“What Cooper also knew was that, unlike most trusts, there wasn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow should something catastrophic befall Remy. If Remy died before his thirtieth birthday, the trust would revert to charity. If Remy died after his thirtieth birthday, the money would again revert to charity unless he left children or named specific non-family heirs. Once again, Cooper would not inherit one dime of the money he desperately wanted.”

“So Remy couldn't have just signed it over to be rid of the bastard?”

“Unfortunately, no. On the plus side, Remy's family planned for something to happen. The down side was, they planned it a little
too
well. It took
a lot
of documentation and paperwork to get the trust holders to allow me to be named Remy's financial guardian. As far as they were concerned, Cooper was still a relative, and therefore, eligible to act on Remy's financial behalf.”

“Even though the bastard was basically embezzling from his nephew?” Evan said, shocked.

“It's all in the wording, Mr. Dyer. Cooper is a blood relative. We, unfortunately, are not.”

“Well, what if I change my name?” Remy asked. “Would…would that help get him away from me?”

Vendell sighed. “Cooper's got a lot more to worry about than an inheritance at this point. From what I understand, he's looking at several counts each of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, false imprisonment, and reckless endangerment of human life, aside from being a party to depraved-indifference murder. And those are just the charges that involve the plaintiffs named Jeremiah Lavelle, Samuel Davis, and Joshua Long.”

A confused look clouded Remy's face. “Huh?”

The lawyer smiled thinly. “Basically, it means Cooper is charged with planning to kidnap you and your friends. He helped keep all of you against your will—that is, you weren't allowed to leave when you wanted. You were forced to stay when you didn't want to.”

Remy nodded. “That's right.”

“He also knew—or at least, we think he knew—that Spaulding never planned on letting you go.”

“What…what do you mean?”