Inheritance (8 page)

Inheritance

course she may prefer living apart from us, or she may want to pay rent instead of having free lodging, but we might ask Leni if she has other plans for it, don't you think?**

"A lovely idea," said Barbara serenely. "Leni and I have talked about doing something with that cottage. We could let Rosa's assistant have it every sununer, whoever she is. I see no reason why Laura and her brother—Clay, isn't it?—^I've seen him in the orchard and he has a wonder^l way with the orchids in the greenhouse, have you noticed?—yes, it would be far more comfortable for the two of them if they lived here. Laura, I'm so pleased we met; do consider the cottage. I know how much young people treasure their independence, but you might enjoy it here as much as we do."

She walked with them to the door as Thomas nodded a farewell. Laura heard him say to Paul, "What about Emily?"

"I'm driving her to New York," Paul answered and then the door closed and Laura heard no more. Emily. New York. I'll bet she's beautiful and rich and very clever. But it was a fleeting thought as she and Owen walked back across the compound; she was still dazed by Owen's offer.

"Did you mean it?" she asked when they reached the kitchen door.

"I never make an offer I don't mean," he replied. "I told you, I like your spirit. When a family lives behind high fences it needs new people, my dear, and it pleases me to make sure we find them. Call it an old man's whim; a strong desire to shake up my family at frequent intervals. And I think you could use some shaking up, too. You might even let Allison talk to you about cutting your hair."

Laura felt herself grow hot again. "You don't like it."

"Not especially," he said frankly. "I could be wrong—^I'm getting old, after all—but I once was considered an expert on women's beauty, and when Allison mentioned it, I knew I still had my eye. But don't worry about it; you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Take what you want from us; we'll have a good sunmier and perhaps the beginning of a real friendship. Can we agree on that?"

This time Laura didn't hesitate; she flung her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek, soft and lined beneath her firm lips. *Thank you for making me feel like a nice person.'*

Judith Michael

He held her, and then she ran into the kitchen. "I'm sorry, Rosa, everyone talked and the time passed—"

'*Tliat is the story of this family," Rosa said. "Lx)ts of talk, not enough time. By the way, your brother was here; he asked if you'd stop by the greenhouse as soon as you can. Better do it now, before we start stuffing the ducks."

Clay had never done that before. Something was wrong. Laura dashed across the flagstone path to the other end of the estate and found Clay in one of the greenhouses. They could see the head gardener through the doorway. "Listen to this," Clay said as Laura came close to him. "Ben called at noon: he says he can't wait any longer. We've got to set up our ahbi; he's set the job for Sunday. A week after that we can wave good-bye to this place and take ourselves off. And we'll be through with the Salingers for good."

Chapter 4

BEN picked them up a few blocks from the Salinger compound, and they drove to Falmouth for dinner, blending into the crowds of tourists along the waterfront as they made their way to a table at the edge of the dock outside the Clam Shack. Ben turned the chairs to face the fishing boats in the harbor, their backs to the restaurant. **I like to watch the people," Laura protested. "No one knows us here; nobody even cares who we are.'*

"We can't be sure of that." Ben sat down and waited until she did the same. "How many times have I told you never to take anything for granted? Maybe next week, after we've pulled this off and the police are looking around, someone will remember the three of us. These are small towns; people who work in them know each other."

"Then why are we here?" Clay demanded. "I told you we should stay on the beach or somewhere private."

"I wanted to buy you a dinner." Sitting between them, Ben put his arms around their shoulders. "It's been almost two months that I haven't been able to take care of you. You're here and I'm in New York and there's nothing I can do for you." He sat back as a waiter approached. "I've missed you. Too danmed quiet around the apartment."

Laura swallowed hard against the love and guilt that welled up inside her, and she looked away while Ben ordered for the three of them. He'd been missing her, but the truth was, she'd

Judith Michael

hardly missed him at all, after her first week with the Salin-gers. She'd been too busy envying the way they lived and thinking about college and how to make a life for herself even farther from Ben than she was that summer.

She heard him ordering the dishes she and Clay liked best, and she loved him with a kind of helplessness that made her want to cry. He was so good to them and she'd always been able to count on him; how could she turn her back on him and walk away?

"I've worked out the rest of the plan," Clay said to Ben as soon as the waiter left. His voice was low but Laura heard his excitement; he'd done what Ben wanted and now Ben would be proud of him. "It's simple and it's neat. The kind you like."

Ben looked at Laura. "Do you like it?"

"It's Clay's plan," Laura said evasively. "I couldn't do much; Rosa's very strict."

"But a sweetie," Clay said pointedly. **You spend an awfiil lot of time with her."

"I woik for her," Laura retorted. "And I don't have the run of the place the way you do."

"You have the run of Owen's litde pad," Clay said blandly.

"Owenr Ben asked. "Owen Salinger?"

"I've done some woiic for him. That's all. Why are we talking about things that aren't important?*'

Ben gave her a long look. The waiter returned with oversize paper cups filled witili steaming clam chowder; overhead, a gull swooped past; at the tables behind them people laughed and chattered, isolating them in a small island of silence.

"All right," Ben said at last. "We'll talk about that later. Let's hear your plan. Clay. Laura did find out about the jewels, and you've been the best partner I could want; I have you to thank for these." He took two keys from his pocket and put them on the table.

"You got them made," Clay said, flushing with pleasure. **I wasn't sure I did the wax impressions right; I was in a hurry. Leni was on the yacht but I didn't know for how long, and it took me a while to find the keys in her dresser drawer." He picked up one of them. "I think this turns off the alarm and the other one unlocks the closet."

Ben glanced at Laura, but she was gazing at the fishing

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Inheritance

boats, her chin in her hand. He sighed. "Let's go through it," he said to Clay.

They bent over a small diagram, and Laura turned to look at their blond heads, so close they were almost touching. They looked so much alike and yet they were so different: Ben handsome and sophisticated at twenty-six, the cleverest man she knew; Clay, nine years younger, still unsure of himself, almost as handsome but without Ben's snK>othness. From their mother both of them got blond hair, a rounded chin, and heavy-lidded blue eyes, but Ben inherited from Judd Gardner, his father, a devil-may-care look, while Clay inherited from Alan Fairchild the cautious look of someone worried about all the obstacles life could throw in his way. Laura admired Ben; she felt protective toward Clay; she loved tiiem both and knew she wasn't like either of them.

"We'll be on Felix's yacht," Qay was saying. ^There's a big deal with some politicians he wants to impress, so he and Leni are giving a dinner on the boat on Sunday night. The whole family will be there, and a few of us volunteered to help out."

"So you're safe," Ben said. "Nobody can accuse you of robbing a house if you're on a boat in the middle of Nantucket Sound."

Clay nodded. "But before we go out, I'll fix the alarm. I did what you told me and bought a timer, and I found the alarm system in the basement, and I'll hook up the timer the way you said, so it goes off at one in the morning. You break in at midnight when the party is going strong; you've got my diagram of where you climb the fence, and the path to the house, and then the drainpipe to the second-floor hall window. Leni's room is to the right, at the end of the hall. You jimmy the window open, turn off the alarm with that key, and break the lock on the closet door, or use the key and break it afterwards to make it look like an outside job, whatever's fastest. Take the jewels and anything else you find, open all the other closets and dresser drawers so it'll look like you had to search around, and use a rope to rappel down the outside of the house."

Ben was smiling. "And leave the rope behind.'*

"Right. And tire tracks too, if you can, on the road outside

Judith Michael

the fence. Then, at one o'clock, the alarm goes off, the guard calls the pohce and they find all the evidence of a break-in, while Laura and I are with the hired help on the yacht.''

"What about the timer on the alarm?"

"I'll get to it as soon as we come in. I figure the guard will call the poUce first, and then the yacht, and we'll get back in about an hour, while the pohce are still checking the house and the grounds. They won't have any reason to check the alarm; as far as they know, it worked fine. I can have the tuner off in less than a minute."

"Without anyone seeing you?"

"Everybody'll be busy with the police, and nobody uses the back stairs until Rosa comes in to start breakfast around six."

Ben nodded again. "I like it. Good job, Clay."

Clay beamed. "I thought you'd like it. It's foolproof."

"No plan is foolproof! I've told you that. The minute you think it is, you've begun to make it fail."

"Sorry," Clay mumbled.

"But it's good," Ben said. "Damned good. I'm proud of you. Laura? Don't you think Clay deserves some praise?"

"Sure." Laura drew on the table with the moisture that had beaded on her glass of iced tea. "Clay's very creative. He woriced hard and he wanted you to be pleased."

"But," Ben said flatly. "What's the rest of it, LauraT'

"I don't want to do it," she said in a rush. "Please, Ben, can't we change our plans and not do it?"

"Not do it?" Clay echoed incredulously. "After we went to all the trouble of getting jobs with them, and I worked out this asaiplanlNotdoit?"

Ben was watching Laura closely. "Pretty sudden change of heart."

She shook her head. "I've thought about it a lot."

"It's Owen," Clay said abruptly. "Ever since you started nKxming around after him you've been diffment about all of them. Like you're choosing them over us. Like you like them better than us."

Vehemently, Laura shook her head. "Fm not choosing them. I'm not choosing nobody—anybody."

"Not your brothers?" Ben said softly. "You're not choosing your brothers?"

Inheritance

"I didn't mean ... oh, damn it, Ben, you know what I mean. I don't want a contest; I just want to skip this one job. We've done so many and we can do another one—somewhere—^I'll keep my promise; it's just that I don't. . ."

"Want to rob the Salingers," Ben finished when her voice trailed off. "Why not?"

"Because they trust us and they've been nice to us, and— ^

*That's a stupid reason," Clay cut in, but Laura rushed on.

"—and we know them. It's not like other times when we'd break into a place and never meet anyone or even know their names ... I mean, if I saw pictures on a desk or dresser, I'd wonder what they were like and how they'd feel when they came home and found their things missing, but I never knew them, and I do know Allison and Leni and Owen . . .'*

"So we know them," said Clay. "So what? What have they ever done for us? We work our asses off to earn a few lousy bucks a week, and we're always working overtime— **

"You wanted overtime," Laura flung at him, "so you could check the guards' schedules."

Clay shrugged. Ben looked at her through narrowed eyes. 'They can afford to lose a few jewels; their insurance will pay for them anyway. So maybe the real problem is you're afraid they'll suspect something after you leave and not like you anymore. Right? But you'll be gone, so what's the difference? Anyway, why should you care whether they like you or not? You're better off if ftiey don't; they're a rotten bunch of crooks. They take care of themselves and fuck everybody else and wouldn't let anybody who's not a royal Salinger have even a little piece of what they've got—^"

'That's a lie!" Laura cried, striking the table with her fist. 'They're not like that! They're just the opposite—they've been good to me, and Clay, too—they're going to let us live in one of their cottages, and Owen is loaning me money for college and— '*

"What?" Clay shouted. "Live where?"

"Wait a minute." Ben's face was frozen. "Keep your voice down. Clay. Felix Salinger offered to let you live in the compound and send you to college?"

"Not really," Laura conceded. "Owen thought of the cottage, and everybody goes along with him, and he was the one who talked about college—^"

Judith Michael

«(i

*Felix won't agree," Ben said.

"Why not?" Laura asked hotly. "I mean, he's not as friendly as the others—well, Asa isn't either, I guess—but if the others want to help us, why wouldn't Felix go along? Is there some reason he wouldn't?" She stared at him. "You know something about him that you're not telling!"

Ben looked at his hands as they gripped his mug of beer; the knuckles were white. "Amazing," he murmured. 'The Salingers, of all people."

"Why not the Salingers?" Laura demanded.

"It's a wonderful chance for you," he said slowly, as if she had not spoken. "I couldn't have swung college for you, at least not this year. And you'd have a place to live for the whole summer, and save your money . . ." He stared at his hands, then shook his head heavily. "I can't do it, Laura; I can't give up this job. Maybe someday I'll tell you why, but right now you'll just have to trust me. You could stay widi them after I do it, but I think they'd find you out. Danm it, Laura, I'm the one who cares about you, not them, and I'm asking you to help me. I've been thinking about this job a long time, and I can't throw away the chance now that I'm so close."