The Daughter-in-Law (21 page)

He argued that his people could do those things for her. But Alexandra wouldn’t be dissuaded. “I need some closure,” she explained.

Jack hired a private jet and had Greg Lambert meet the plane. Greg was a good manager and a good investigator, but he was also a physically intimidating presence, with a chiseled physique, thick neck, and set jaw. Alexandra would be safe under his protection. Greg chartered an oversize cruiser for the trip out to the reef where Jonathan had disappeared, and watched Alexandra throw roses over the side. He brought her out to the island where the newlyweds had had their honeymoon cottage, and waited while she walked the grounds and looked out from the end of the dock.

“If you wanted to kill someone, this would be the perfect place,” Alexandra remarked.

“She was the one attacked,” the security officer reminded her.

“Wouldn’t that be her alibi? An intruder tried to kill both of them.”

Alexandra found an ally in the police officer. The incident out at the island had never made sense to him. A thief would have stolen and fled. A kidnapper could easily have carried her off.

From the police station they went out to the waterfront rooming house where Nicole and Pam had spent the night. The landlady remembered that, unlike Pam, Nicole had been very specific about the bag she wanted brought from her cottage.

“One valise?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes, there was just one bag that she needed. She described it very carefully. The other woman didn’t care what they brought her.”

Alexandra glanced at Greg Lambert. “She’d already packed for her ordeal.”

Jack Donner didn’t want any trouble. He didn’t want his personal finances or his business affairs aired in a courtroom, nor did he want his daughter-in-law’s trashy past publicized for the delight of his business associates and society friends. There was always an easy way to handle affairs of this kind. All it took was an agreement between two reasonable people.

He had nothing against his son’s wife other than the fact that she had reached too far. Of course she should have used better judgment in her early years, but those were the kinds of mistakes you made when you were desperately ambitious. He’d made a good many of them himself and escaped them only by blind luck. Like the time he had used a client’s money to leverage a huge buy in an iffy stock. Had the stock gone down he would have had to sell everything he owned just to cover it. And even that might not have been enough. But the stock went straight up, and he easily covered his theft with the profits.

There was a great deal of good fortune involved in surviving youthful mistakes, and there was seldom anything to be gained by bringing them up again. Nicole would have done just fine if she hadn’t latched on to Jonathan. It was that effrontery that sent Alexandra delving into her past.

The point was that the marriage was dangerous for all of them. And there was no need for a bare-knuckle fight. The basic issue was money and he certainly had more than enough of that. All he had to do was find a number that was reasonable to Nicole and persuade Alexandra that it was a small enough price to pay for peace and security. That was what he had in mind when he telephoned Nicole at his son’s apartment and asked her to come into his office for a friendly meeting.

Once again she wore unadorned basic black, with her rings the only jewelry. When she was shown in, Jack jumped up and walked around his desk with an unusual display of concern. He personally set her chair at just the right angle and took her order for a bottle of spring water. With all the courtesies observed he clasped his hands on the edge of his desk, looked into her eyes, and began. “This all has to be tough as hell for you. How are you doing?”

Nicole shrugged. “Well enough, I suppose. I still find it hard to believe that he’s gone.”

“We all do,” Jack agreed. “Especially Alexandra. She’s in a daze
and really doesn’t know what she’s saying. I hope you won’t hold her little flare-up the other day against her.”

Nicole returned his steady gaze. “It wasn’t a little flare-up, Jack. It was a cold, calculated accusation. She accused me of killing him!”

He winced. “I’m sure she had no idea what she was saying. She’s just so . . .”

“I think she knew what she was saying because she’s said cruel things before. She told me I was an unsuitable wife for Jonathan, that I would bring ridicule and disgrace to the family, and the best thing I could do would be to get lost. You and I have to face the facts. Your wife hates me and wants me out of the way.”

“It’s all been so hard for her,” Jack tried.

“That’s because she kept Jonathan on a very short leash. She needed him to be dependent on her. That’s why she hates me. Because with me, he didn’t need her anymore.”

He looked annoyed. “That’s way over the top, Nicole. She was concerned for Jonathan, but she didn’t want him tied to her.”

“Yes, she did. But she blamed you. She told me you were the one who kept Jonathan around for your amusement, and robbed him of his courage and independence. But that wasn’t true, was it? You liked the idea of him setting out on his own. You were ready to back his business venture.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t have held him back ...”

“She used you as her cover, Jack. But when Jonathan turned to me it wasn’t you who tried to destroy the relationship. It was Alexandra, and she still intends to destroy it.”

Jack mumbled a few excuses for his wife. Distraught. . . under too much pressure . . . in need of a long rest. But then he moved to his agenda. What was the best way to straighten everything out? What could he do to bring peace back to his family?

“I’m Jonathan’s wife,” Nicole answered. “I think we all have to accept that fact.”

“You’re Jonathan’s widow,” he corrected gently. “And you’re too young to stay a widow. Your future isn’t with his family. As you said yourself, you’re probably going to reclaim your old life. So, the real question is: What can we do to help you with the transition?”

“Just accept me. I have no intention of causing any problems for you and Alexandra. I even have some ideas for working with Pam.”

The conversation wasn’t going the way he had intended. He had expected that after a few polite evasions they would get to the money and that she would suggest the amount she had in mind. That would be her first offer. The agreed amount would probably be half the number she mentioned. Or, if Nicole remained evasive, he had a figure of his own. Three million dollars ought to meet her needs. Even if she buried it in government bonds, she would still be comfortable. He would start at two million, go grudgingly to three million, and top out at five million. Even at that amount it would be less than what he might have to spend on litigation.

But Nicole wasn’t on the same wavelength. She didn’t seem concerned about money. What she wanted was acceptance. She wanted all the privilege and prestige of Jonathan’s wife even though Jonathan was gone. That’s the one thing that Alexandra would never give her.

Jack knew that this wasn’t the time to press for a deal. Business and financial agreements came in their own time. Hurry them, and you run the risk of egos colliding like seismic plates and sending out tidal waves.

“I’ll talk to Alexandra,” he said as he rose from behind his desk. “Probably not right away. I think it’s best to put some space between her and Jonathan’s death.”

He took her hand and kissed her cheek. “We’ll have to talk again very soon. And remember, if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call me.”

THIRTY-FIVE

A
LEXANDRA CAME
home with fire in her eyes. She laid out all her evidence on Jack’s desk and took him through it piece by piece. Nicole had lied her way into Jonathan’s life pretending to be a novice jumper and later acting like a beginner at scuba diving. She had never revealed her seamy past, and when confronted with it had lured their son into a quickie wedding. Then, when assured that her marriage wouldn’t stand up, she had taken Jonathan to an isolated island and out in a lonely boat. There could be only one reason. She had to make certain that he would never sign her out of his life.

“For God’s sake, Alexandra. She may well be on the make. But a murderer? You’re beginning to sound crazy. You go repeating this stuff and you’re the one who will end up in an institution.”

But she pressed on. “What kind of business dealings did the girl have down there? Where was she going when she left the hotel each day? And, in the final moments, why did she rush back up to the boat even though she had a full tank of air?”

“You’re beginning to sound paranoid,” he cautioned. “Pam was with Jonathan. It wasn’t as if she left him to the sharks.”

Then she dropped her most telling clue: Nicole had already packed for her overnight stay at the rooming house. Why would she pack things that she would have needed that evening when they returned to the cottage? Unless she was pretty certain that she wouldn’t be returning.

She repeated her thread of circumstantial evidence to the attorneys who gathered on the patio. They listened, nodded, and even asked questions. “If your daughter-in-law was already back in the boat, how could she have harmed your son?” Alexandra thought she must have done something to damage his diving gear. “But they all checked one another’s equipment,” another lawyer pointed out. Alexandra answered that of course Nicole wouldn’t have done anything obvious.

When her eyes weren’t on the lawyers, they stole glances at one another. Alexandra sounded as if she could use a long vacation. When she finished, Victor Crane apologized that he and his colleagues couldn’t really act on her information. “What you’re suggesting would be a criminal charge, which would have to be handled by the police and through the district attorney’s office.”

At that point Jack jumped in to lay down the ground rules. “We don’t want the police involved and we’re not interested in a criminal prosecution. What we want is to get this woman out of our lives. How do we do that?”

“We deal with her. We make a generous, one-time offer. Take it, and walk away a wealthy woman. Or stick around and fight in court for the next three years with no assurance that you’ll get a penny.”

“And if she says ‘no’?” Jack asked, knowing that she had already shown little interest in money.

Victor sighed. “Then we have to face a long and nasty court battle. The fact is that she’s Jonathan’s widow and fully entitled to all the considerations due a wife. The law is on her side, and we’ll have to come up with reasons to set the law aside.”

“You’re telling me that she could walk off with a couple of hundred million,” Jack snapped.

“Yes,” Victor admitted, “unless you want to explain why all the money in Jonathan’s name doesn’t really belong to Jonathan. And then
you’d
be the one risking criminal prosecution for tax improprieties.”

“Jesus,” Jack hissed.

“Not one cent,” Alexandra said with quiet determination. “She murdered my son. She can’t gain any financial reward for committing a felony.”

“Once you go to the police, it’s entirely out of our hands,” Victor countered. “The prosecutors and her lawyers can subpoena any records they want. Your household liquor bill would become a matter of public record. Is that what you want?”

“I want her in prison,” Alexandra said defiantly.

Victor glanced at Jack, appealing to his business sense. And Jack announced his decision. “Get to her attorneys and make the offer. Hell, they’ll advise her to accept it just to get their hands on their percentage.”

“I won’t let her get away with murder,” Alexandra promised in a loud voice.

Jack put his arm around her. “Please, Alexandra. We have years ahead of us. Let’s just get rid of her.”

Ben conveved Jack’s offer to Nicole. There would be a two-million-dollar payment for giving up all claims to Jonathan’s estate. She would keep the Donner name until she remarried, keep the Manhattan apartment free and clear, and have full access to the Newport house. He was pleasantly surprised when she turned it down.

“Is it the amount?” he asked as they sat alone at a conference table that was surrounded by twenty chairs. “We certainly could negotiate for a higher figure even though they presented it as a onetime offer.”

She shook her head and then glanced absently out the window and into a canyon of New York skyscrapers. “No,” she said. “It’s the dismissal from their company as if I were some dirty peasant being tossed out of the castle.” She looked back at Ben. “Jonathan loved me. You know that, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Very much!”

“And I loved him.” She stood, walked away from the table, and then whirled back. “So, why are they throwing money at me and telling me to get lost? It’s like asking, ‘How much do you want to pretend you never existed?’ I’m Jonathan’s wife, not his biggest mistake.”

Ben conveyed the message back to Victor Crane. “If she were after money, I’d be here suggesting a higher figure. Frankly, with your client’s upside risk in the hundreds of millions, I’d be demanding a better offer. But it’s not money, it’s respect. She just lost her husband, and now they want to bury her with his body.”

“What do you suggest?” Victor asked.