TWENTY-SIX

We dropped off the papers at the lawyers’ office, then took the water taxi to Valentine Island.

Liza looked from me to Caitlyn and back again, her eyes questioning, but she was too phlegmatic to come out and ask anything. I was bubbling with excitement.

We made ourselves comfortable in her private sitting room.

“Mineral water? Glass of wine? It may be well before noon, but we don’t stand on ceremony here.”

“Maybe later. This can’t wait.”

We explained what we’d found out and showed her the marriage certificate. If the news had hit me like a ton of bricks, Liza looked as though she’d been hit by the whole brickyard. And the kiln. I’d never seen her calm, competent demeanor ruffled. Ever. I was grinning ear to ear. Caitlyn? Well, there was no telling what she was thinking.

Liza rose. “I think I’ll have that wine.” She sent off a text and a few minutes later an employee came to the door bearing a bottle of Chardonnay in an ice bucket and a tray of cheese, crackers, and sliced green apples.

When we had drinks poured all around and had each taken a few restorative sips, Liza spoke.

“This explains so much.” She nibbled on a cracker, thoughtful. “My father always said the family had changed their name a hundred years ago, but he never said why. He may or may not have known. Or maybe not enough time had gone by and he was still embarrassed by the bigamy.”

“Or the fact that Elihu was such a jerk,” I added helpfully. Artisan cheese on homemade crackers, and fresh local apples. Heavenly.

“A rich jerk,” Caitlyn said.

We nodded in unison.

There was a question that needed to be answered, and I struggled with how to bring it up. Liza saved me by broaching the subject herself.

“Channing.” She inclined her head toward one of the windows, but she didn’t seem to be seeing anything. I wondered what thoughts were going through her head.

“He must have known about my relationship to this Elihu Bloodworth and he romanced me—or tried to anyway—to try to get his hands on my share. He asked me to marry him, you know.”

“I take it you didn’t accept?” I was the teeniest, tiniest bit hurt she hadn’t told me.

“Of course not. He was beautiful, of course, and the sex was quite lovely. But that was all the relationship was based on. For me anyway.”

“How could he have known when you didn’t yourself?” I asked. “Channing wasn’t stupid by any means, but he was no Rhodes scholar.”

“I might be able to explain that,” Caitlyn said. “When Melanie and I got here, I saw him coming out of your office, Liza, when you weren’t there. It seemed odd, so I decided to follow him. When I found him at Gladys Montgomery’s and he caught me, I suspected he might be trying to use his handyman business to gain access to people’s homes for whatever reason. Theft or blackmail maybe. But I didn’t have any real proof that I could take to the police, just a gut feeling. And when I found out he’d been at Spinky’s, it was too late anyway.”

Liza nodded. “I have the estate paperwork for my parents and grandparents locked in a filing cabinet in my office, not that I’ve looked at that stuff in years. There might very well be something in there proving the connection to Elihu. Channing was . . . good with his hands. I’m sure he was capable of opening a locked filing cabinet without damaging it.”

“Remember Spinky’s used to be the Sailor’s Rest, Big Dom’s restaurant. So Channing could have been looking for something there too. For what it’s worth,” I said, “at the end he seemed genuinely sad. As though he’d failed you.”

Liza’s lips twisted up into a half smile. “Or failed himself, once he figured out he was never going to get his hands on that fortune.”

I raised my glass to her. “Welcome to the family, my friend.”

She clinked her glass on mine. “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be related to.”