Rosalyn searched her desk drawer for a bottle of aspirin. Her head was pounding. Too little sleep last night and too much worry. At least the office was quiet. She’d given the staff season tickets to the Memphis Tigers basketball games. There was a big Saturday game today, which meant she had the place to herself.
She found the bottle, took two aspirin, and breathed in deep. Bands of warm sunlight lay across her desk. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. The private phone line buzzed, startling her. She opened her eyes almost afraid to check the caller ID. She’d spoken to Robert Highsmith thirty minutes earlier and urged him to come to the office for an important talk. She hadn’t given him specifics. If he was calling now to cancel, they were in trouble.
The ID read Phillips J. She picked it up.
“Aunt Rosalyn, it’s Judd. Your housekeeper gave me this number.”
“Yes, Judd.” She ground her teeth in irritation. Two days ago he’d wasted an hour of her time by dropping in to offer his condolences. What could he want now?
“Aunt Gracie Ella left Airlee this morning very worked-up,” he said. “Have you seen or heard from her?”
“Why, no. I’m sorry to hear that. If she calls, I’ll get in touch immediately.” She hung up and pressed her fingers to her temples. Why couldn’t anyone in this family be normal? Judd drank. Martin was greedy and narcissistic. Gracie Ella was crazy. Even Caroline was . . . whatever it was that got her killed.
Martin had called last night yelling that Robert Highsmith had broken into the firm’s offices and possibly downloaded sequestered files in the backup database. The security firm that worked for Martin caught him. In the midst of the confrontation, Billy Able arrived and arrested Highsmith. Martin had been so angry he wanted to press charges. She’d said no, the last thing they wanted was Robert Highsmith standing before a judge explaining what he’d been after. She was also worried about the reason Able had showed up. Hardly a coincidence. She’d spent the rest of the night deciding what to do.
This morning she was relieved to learn that Able had not booked Robert after all. But that might not be the end of it. Martin hadn’t been able to tell if Highsmith completed the download, but if he had, he could be preparing to go to the DA to take down the Lee Law Firm. The only way to find out where things stood had been to call him.
She left her desk for a chair in front of the fireplace. Flames leapt around the gas logs. She had to prepare for the meeting, get in the mood. She’d worn red, the color of strength.
She intended to remind Robert that she could be an adversary or an ally, depending on whether they reached an agreement. She’d tell him she made an emotional decision to close the litigation department too quickly. It was a mistake. She wanted him to rejoin the firm as a full partner and receive Caroline’s percentage of the profits, worth at least a million dollars a year. If he took the bait, she would control him until she could dispose of him.
She had another advantage because he was living in a strange city, had a pricey mortgage, no job, and no friends. If he decided to stay in Memphis without her help, she could put a black spot on him. He wouldn’t find work with any other firm in town.
Still, his agreement to meet with her today could be a trap. If he started asking questions that might incriminate her, she would toss him out with a show of indignation in the event he was recording the conversation.
If that happened, what would she do? Shift the blame was her usual tactic. It would be Robert’s word against Martin’s that over a million dollars had bounced out of the Merkle Trust Fund and back. But if the DA decided to pursue it, an audit would provide proof. She wasn’t involved in the bank’s business, so she could pretend ignorance and point at Martin. However, if she did that he’d go berserk and reveal everything about her, Saunders, Caroline—everybody. No, the best strategy with Martin was to do nothing. The DA wouldn’t be able to tie her to that specific embezzlement. If Martin was arrested, he would need her money and influence so badly he’d be crazy to try and take her down.
If an investigation of the firm moved forward, Caroline and Gracie Ella were easy targets. Neither could defend herself. She could tell the DA that Gracie Ella had played a major role at the bank supervising those trust accounts before she went around the bend. She’d explain that her sister-in-law had never been right in the head.
If she had to, she could imply that Caroline had joined Gracie Ella and Martin in the embezzlement scheme. She and Saunders had trusted their family so completely they’d never considered checking up on them. They were shocked and saddened.
As a last resort, she could point out that her husband had run the firm for many years with an iron hand. If the DA went after Saunders, she would defend him by throwing up dilatory roadblocks until the inevitable happened. The Parkinson’s was advancing rapidly. Her husband wasn’t going to live forever.
The room grew warm. She clicked off the gas logs and went back to her desk. After this meeting she would drive to Airlee and spend the rest of the weekend with Saunders. Blue’s father was in the hospital, so they were shorthanded. Times like this she missed her daughter. Caroline had taken care of the boring parts of the business and looked after her father. She would’ve fielded condolence calls and handled the drop-in visits from these people they barely knew.
Rosalyn sighed. Her headache was back. Two more aspirin and some fresh lipstick would put her right. As she stood she heard Robert’s knock at the door. She checked her watch. Fifteen minutes early. Better early than to not show up at all.