Say You Will(41)
Bea grimaced. “I left her a message to call me, but she hasn’t.”
They all exchanged worried glances.
“Is it normal for her to disappear like this?” Rosalind asked.
All of them replied with a resounding, “Yes.”
“She marches to her own beat.” Beatrice smiled before becoming all business again. “The copy of Father’s will is missing, and I asked Rosalind to look for it in my absence.”
“I haven’t found it, and I’ve been over every logical inch of this house,” Rosalind interjected.
Portia gasped. “That’s why you’ve been so intent on going through his things. Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped.”
“We were afraid he left everything to his mistress,” Rosalind said. She didn’t think she needed to say that they didn’t think they could trust her.
Portia gasped. “He wouldn’t.” She glanced at Bea. “Would he?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.” Bea leaned against the counter. “If someone else finds the will before we do, Mother could be in big trouble.”
“How is that?” Viola asked, stretching out her glass for a refill.
“Father’s lawyer hinted that the will had been changed, with a new beneficiary, and if he sold the ancestral home, nothing is sacred.”
Rosalind glanced at Portia, who took Viola’s glass and had a large swig before handing it back.
Viola shook her head. “Could he have been that bitter against Mother that he gave it all away?”
“And against us, too,” Portia chimed in softly.
“Barrows thinks so,” Bea said.
Rosalind pushed her glass to Portia, who accepted it with a small smile.
“Shouldn’t Mother be here, too?” Vi asked.
Bea nodded. “I considered that, but not in light of the journal Rosalind found.”
When they all looked at her, she said, “I found a note on his calendar that’s leading me to believe he hid the will at her house.”
She didn’t have to explain who “her” was. They were all quiet, processing that thought. Bea finally broke the silence, saying, “The only thing is I can’t see him trusting a woman with anything.”
“And yet you think he’s trusting her with the bulk of his inheritance,” Viola pointed out.
“Bloody hell, you’re right.” Bea began to pace, cursing their father with a few choice words that made Portia wince.
“There’s only one thing to do,” Viola said calmly when Bea stopped her tirade. “We need to break into her house.”
Rosalind gaped at her sister. She expected Bea and Portia to point out the insanity of the suggestion, but Bea just looked introspective and Portia said, “Count me in.”
“Wait a minute,” Rosalind said, holding her hand out. “We can’t break into a dead person’s house.”
“Why not?” Portia asked. “She won’t care.”
“But she has two children who might.” She shook her head. “What if there’s someone living there? What if her children are staying there?”
“I’ll have it checked out,” Bea said, pulling out her phone and tapping into it.
“No, you—”
“Rosalind”—Bea glanced up—”do I need to remind you that Mother’s future is at stake here. Where is she going to live if she has no money?”
“Where am I going to live?” Portia said absently, as if the thought suddenly occurred to her.
Viola put an arm around her shoulder. “You’re always welcome to stay with us.”
“That’s because you want an in-house babysitter for your daughter.” But Portia leaned into the hug and laid her head on Vi’s shoulder.
Rosalind shook her head. “I can’t believe you guys are considering breaking into someone’s home.”
“We’re not considering it.” Bea flashed a wolfish grin, sticking her hand out in the middle. “We’re doing it.”
Viola and Portia immediately put their hands in, and then they all looked at her, waiting.
She heaved a sigh. What the hell—Nick would bail her out if she got arrested. Hopefully.
Chapter Eighteen
The night was unusually perfect for December in London. A fingernail moon. Crisp air. Lights from houses around them. The whisper of a frigid breeze through the trees.
Secluded.
Dark.
Mount Street Gardens was his new favorite place. With Rosalind straddling his lap, Nick even forgot how cold the park bench was. He forgot everything except the feel of her in his hands.
“I feel like a bad schoolgirl,” she said, snuggling up into him. “I never made out in any park before, much less one abutting the family house.”