sure he is. I’ll be back home next week. If there’s anything you want me to do just let me know.”
“I will, Aunt Gert.”
“Hmm. No you won’t. I’ll have to invite myself to do something, then you won’t have a choice but to let me help.”
Renee laughed. “I promise to let you help me.”
“See that you do. Love you much, Renee. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Good night.” Renee hit the off button and put the phone back in her pocket. She’d gotten off easy tonight. Usually Aunt Gert was focused when it came to asking questions and she had a lot of questions about Marc. Questions Renee couldn’t answer without risking Aunt Gert’s love. She didn’t know what it was about her that made her parents not love her. She’d spent years trying to be the kind of daughter they would love and in the end nothing she did made a difference. Aunt Gert loved the image she presented to the world and Renee had worked hard to never reveal her true self because no one loved the real Renee.
Gertrude Mitchell placed the cell phone on the nightstand and frowned.
“How’s Renee?”
Gert looked at the man she’d loved for most of her life. He lay back against the mound of extra pillows he always requested when they were together. He looked nothing like the bold young man she’d fallen in love with in New York. The doctors in Switzerland had done an excellent job of transforming gangster Ike “Big Ike” Henderson into now-retired businessman Dean Benson. They’d given him a new face, but the eyes were the same. Gert laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying the scent that was truly his own.
“Something’s bothering her and she’s trying hard to pretend everything is okay.”
“Is something going on with Marc’s estate?” He ran his hand along her shoulder.
“I don’t know if it’s Marc’s estate or Marc.” She placed her hand on his chest, indulging in the cool feel of the black silk robe. “Whatever it is, I’m going to make sure she doesn’t face this alone. You can best believe her selfish, no-good parents aren’t going to help her.”
He kissed her brow. “She’s lucky that she has you.”
“Yes, she is, and I’m lucky to have her. She deserves to be happy.”
“Wasn’t she happy with Marc?”
“I don’t think so. I know this business with the estate isn’t making her happy.”
“We’ll find a way to help her get through this.”
“I know.” She closed her eyes and enjoyed being held in his arms. They didn’t have much time left to spend together. He had an early-morning flight to his home in Switzerland tomorrow. “You will come to the dance in a few weeks, won’t you?”
He tightened his arms around her. “I’ll be at the dance. I want to see you wearing the necklace again.”
“I’ll wear it just for you.” Gert smiled and kissed his chin. She’d ask Renee to get the necklace from her safe deposit box before the dance. Her thoughts returned to her conversation with Renee.
Gert smiled and kissed his chin. One way or another she would find out what was bothering Renee.
Chapter 3
Renee looked at the Victorian-style clock that separated the biology and botany sections of the bookshelf across the room. At eight-thirty most Saturday mornings, she would still be in her pajamas and enjoying her first cup of coffee. Today, she had been awake since six o’clock, unable to sleep a minute longer. Chris Foster was coming to Birmingham to begin looking for the necklace. She’d been standing at the window waiting for a car to park in front of the house for the past five minutes. There was nothing else for her to do but wait.
She wanted to call and find out his exact location, but she could not bring herself to do it.
“He’ll be here,” she whispered. She turned back to the window. There was no reason for him to not show up. There’d been no reason for her parents not to show up at her school, either, but they hadn’t on so many occasions that she’d stopped expecting them by the time she was in the seventh grade. Unlike her parents, he had an incentive to come here.
He wanted to settle Marc’s estate as much as she wanted to find Aunt Gert’s necklace.
She’d spent every minute of her free time trying to put together all the information she could find on Marc’s travels for the last year. Renee, Danielle and Alex decided to work together and track his movements in hopes of trying to rectify the havoc Marc had played in their lives. Alex was missing about a million dollars that Marc had taken from her family’s business and her personal accounts. He’d taken the opportunity to have children with Danielle, and he’d taken Aunt Gert’s necklace from her.
Marc Foster had a lot to answer for. The anger she’d thought she’d released by beating the living daylights out of bread dough this morning still bubbled inside her. Every time she thought about Marc, she wanted to punch something. Yoga and meditation weren’t helping to release the rage she felt when she imagined how hurt Aunt Gert would be if she learned her necklace had been stolen.
Renee unclenched her hands and rubbed them on her black cotton pants. Getting mad wasn’t going to help. She left the window and walked across the thick rug to one of the sections of the wall-to-wall bookshelves.
She moved a book a quarter of an inch forward to line up with the rest of the books on the shelf. She couldn’t believe how anxious she was to have Chris in her home. With a sigh, she glanced at the clock again. Punctuality hadn’t been Marc’s strong suit. Neither had fidelity or truthfulness.
She tugged on the hem of her white cotton blouse that was still crisp and wrinkle free. It wouldn’t remain that way. No matter how hard she tried, her clothes ended up wrinkled or stained by the end of the day. One thing her parents had drilled into her was that appearances mattered, which was why they’d been so disappointed with her. Renee wasn’t the beautiful, socially adept child they’d tried to mold her to be. Instead they got an awkward child who was more interested in books and learning to cook than looking pretty on demand. She’d spent years trying to please her parents. Marc had accepted her for herself, or he’d pretended to accept her.
She could feel herself getting angrier just thinking about the way he’d lied to her just like her parents had lied when they said they were going to visit her in school. They never had. Renee walked across the room to a chair, slipped off her black clogs and sat down. She closed her eyes and tried to enter into her “peaceful” place, but peace was hard to find when you wanted to strangle someone who was already dead. After a minute she gave up and opened her eyes. She reached for the book on the table. Meditation wasn’t helping her to relax…maybe the latest murder mystery would.
Chris put his Explorer in Park and lowered his window. He didn’t need to check the address because he’d made a point of learning exactly where Renee lived on his last trip to Birmingham. The large, white Victorian house was unexpected. He knew she and Marc had lived in a condo in downtown Birmingham and as of yesterday, she still owned that property. He’d driven down several streets with rows of Victorian-style homes on large lots and sidewalks on either side of the street on the way here. Chris got out of the car. The sound of children
