“I’m single.” Teagan admitted quietly. She could feel her custody battle slipping through her clenched fists.
Ms. Cook’s face pinched. “Since there are two children, a boy and a girl, we prefer to place the children in a home with both a mother and a father.”
“There are millions of single mothers out there raising a house full of kids by themselves,” Teagan pointed out.
“Have you taken the training to be a foster parent?” Ms. Cook asked, ignoring Teagan’s statement.
“No, but I could do that.” Maybe they could give her custody of the children while she took the course. Perhaps it was online and would only take a few hours. She could squeeze that in between visits to her mother and work.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Williams, but you need to be approved for our program before we can place the children with you.” Ms. Cook looked apologetic. “There’s a lot more to it than you may think. You are required twenty-five hours of training to understand the needs of the children, CPR and first aid, group meetings, home inspections, medical information, and a criminal background check. The process can take months.”
“Can they stay here in the meantime?” Teagan said hopefully.
“I’m sorry.” The social services agent truly looked regretful. “I’m not allowed to do that unless it is stated in writing by the parents.”
Logan put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you call Marsha’s attorney. It can’t hurt.”
She forced a grin. “Let me grab his number.” She really wanted an excuse to check on the children. She also wanted to make a phone call from the privacy of her bedroom. It was obvious that Logan didn’t like the detective. She hated the man. He seemed rude and arrogant.
“I want Mommy.” Anora’s plea almost broke Teagan’s heart as she approached their bedroom. She was so young. Would she even remember her mother in ten years?
“I know. Me too.” Brann held his sister and rocked her as they both cried.
“Did she go to heaven to be with Daddy, so he wasn’t all alone?” The child tried to reason.
Teagan wasn’t so sure that their father was in heaven, but her mother certainly was.
“I don’t know,” Brann admitted. “Something bad must’ve happened to her because she wouldn’t leave us all alone. She loves us.”
Tears streaked down Teagan’s cheeks.
She stepped into the spare bedroom. “Your mommy loved you both, very much. Your Uncle Logan and I are going to do everything we can so that you can stay here with me. Are you okay with that?”
Anora ran over and threw her arms around Teagan’s legs. “I want to go home. Can you come live at our house? You can babysit us there.”
The house. Somebody had to deal with the house. Teagan knew, from the many hours she spent with Marsha, that they had been able to build up an excellent equity in the house. Perhaps it was enough to start college funds for the kids.
Then she remembered that the children were already worth a million dollars each, thanks to their inheritance from Gabe. She needed to call Marsha’s attorney.
“I have to make a very important phone call. Are you kids okay staying right here for a few more minutes? I don’t want you to go back into the living room until I’m done with my call.” She trusted Logan, but she felt like she had a better handle on the situation and dealing with the children.
Both nodded.
“Promise me you’ll stay right here until I get back.” She ran her hand over Anora’s hair. “I’ll be right across the hall, if you need me.”
Brann took Anora’s hand and led her to her bed. “We won’t leave the room, I promise. I don’t like those people. Uncle Logan needs to make them go away.”
“We’re working on that right now.” She hoped her voice was reassuring.
After grabbing Ed Keller’s card from her dresser, Teagan collapsed into the overstuffed chair in the corner of her bedroom. She took a minute to mentally practice what she was going to say. She didn’t want to break down in tears. After taking a deep breath, she tapped in the number.
It took a few minutes to convince his secretary that this was truly an emergency, but his guard dog finally put her through.
“Ms. Williams, I understand this is an emergency. How can I help you?” He genuinely sounded concerned.
“Mr. Keller, I don’t know if you’ve been informed yet but,” she blinked back the tears and tried to swallow the fist that was clenching her throat. “But Marsha Davis died last night.” She squeezed her eyes shut for only a second then quickly added, “I have the children with me. Social services just told them of their mother’s…death.” Her voice broke on the last word. She wanted to say so badly the word murder, but that wasn’t the ruling of the stupid detective in her living room.
There was a long silence before he replied. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Williams. I know you and Mrs. Davis were good friends.”
She heard papers shuffling.
Teagan charged on. “Marsha had always said that she wanted me to take care of her children if anything happened to her. Just last week we talked about her putting it into her will.”
“Hold on, Ms. Williams.” More shuffling, before he called out to his secretary.
Needing him to understand the urgency of the situation, she went on to explain. “They’re here, right now, trying to take the children away from me and put them into the foster care system,” Teagan blurted as the first tears escaped her eyes.
“Don’t let them leave,” he demanded. “What’s your address? I’ll be right there.”
If she wasn’t already sitting down, she would have fallen to her knees in relief. “You can help?”
“Yes. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. What’s your address? I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His voice was calm and in control, exactly what she needed.
After giving him her address, and her phone number, he promised to be there within twenty minutes. Rejuvenated by the hopeful news, Teagan exited her bedroom, checked on the children who were coloring quietly, and strode down the hallway.
“Let me just clarify what you’re saying.” Logan glowered down at Detective Russo, their faces ten inches apart. “Because of a note on the computer screen, a ten-millimeter Colt 1911 on the floor near her right hand, and a hole in her head, you are declaring Marsha’s death a suicide.”
What-the-fuck? It took Teagan only a few seconds to process what Logan was describing.
“Yes.” The detective punctuated the single word with a head nod.
“No.” Teagan stepped into the room and repeated the word. “No.” The second time she said it forcefully.
Both men turned to look at her.
“No. She didn’t commit suicide.” Teagan shot a quick glance down the hallway to be sure the children hadn’t overheard her. Whew. Neither child emerged from the bedroom, nor did she hear crying.
“And you know that…how?” The detective defiantly cocked his head to the side.
“It’s all wrong.” Teagan ran the description of the scene through her mind one more time. “First. That Colt 1911 isn’t her gun.” She held out her hands and spread her fingers. “Marsha, like me, has…I mean had…small hands.”
Her gaze found Logan’s. “Didn’t you tell me that her body was found in the office? Was the gun safe open?”
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Her gun sits on the bottom shelf for easier access and is a Smith & Wesson Shield. It’s perfect for a woman with a small grip yet packs a powerful punch as a forty caliber. I helped her pick it out after Gabe left her.” Teagan shifted her gaze to the detective. “Why the hell would she stand on her tiptoes and grab an unfamiliar gun that was too big to hold when she could slide her hand in comfortably and take her own weapon?”
“Maybe she wanted more firepower,” the detective quipped.
“And maybe somebody else grabbed it,” Teagan suggested.
There was something else Logan said that sent up a red flag. She suddenly remembered. “Did you say the gun was near her right hand?”
“Yeah.” Logan stared at her intently.
Bingo. Marsha hadn’t committed suicide. She was murdered.
Teagan refused to hide her smug smile. “Although Marsha was right-handed, she shot with her left-hand because she was left eye dominant. She also needed carpal tunnel surgery on her right hand. I doubt she could even grip that 1911 and hold it steady.”
“Whoever killed her didn’t know her well.” Logan smiled down at her with pride. “You should be the one to check out the office to see if anything has been taken.”
She shrugged. “I was in there a few weeks ago before Marsha and I went to the range, but I doubt I would recognize if anything was missing.”
“I still think it would be a good idea,” he reiterated.
Teagan wasn’t sure she could walk into that room and hold it together. Someone had murdered her friend there. She wondered if they actually made chalk outlines around the body like they did in the movies. She couldn’t bear to look at the bloodstain either. But if it would help find Marsha’s killer, Teagan would do anything.
Logan slid an arm around her shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’ll go with you after they leave.”
Heat radiated from his arm, across her shoulders and down her spine. It seemed to float through her body, triggering every nerve ending. Teagan wasn’t sure when she’d last been touched by a man, but it had never felt like this. Comforting and exciting all at once.
“Okay.” She turned her head to whisper the word in his ear and brushed her nose across his. Their lips were a fraction of an inch apart.
She gasped in a breath.
He was so close.
It had been far too long since she’d been kissed. If she moved a few millimeters his lips would be on hers.
The doorbell rang shattering her thoughts.
Stepping back quickly, she forced herself to breathe in slowly. “Maybe that’s Mr. Keller.”
Her feet refused to move, and her gaze never left the heat in Logan’s bourbon colored eyes.
He blinked…and the cool Marine was back. “You should get that before he rings again.”
She turned and walked toward the door. What the fuck was that all about? She laid her hand flat on her chest as though she could still feel the warmth that emanated throughout her entire body. Damn. She needed to get laid.
After checking through the peephole, Teagan opened the door to a tall, distinguished looking man with white hair in a charcoal gray suit and white shirt. His tie was gray, adorned with small white, gray, and a navy-blue chevron’s.
“Mr. Keller, thank you for coming over so quickly.” After shaking his hand, she introduced him to everyone in the room.
He stared a little bit longer than appropriate at Logan. His contemptuous glance toward Ms. Cook and Detective Russo spoke volumes. “Ms. Williams, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson, is there somewhere we can talk in private? I’ll need at least fifteen minutes of your time.”
Logan immediately took control of the situation. “Ms. Cook. Detective Russo. Why don’t you go get a cup of coffee and come back here in thirty minutes? No one here is a flight risk. We’re not going anywhere. And neither are the children.” He punctuated each word in the last sentence as he stepped toward the door and opened it for them.
“I’m going to give you thirty minutes. That’s all.” Detective Russo said on the way out the door. “I need to speak to those children.”
Ms. Cook gave Logan a small smile. “Please understand, I’m on the side of the children. I’m legally here to do what’s best for them, in the short term and the long run.”
“Enjoy your coffee.” Logan closed and locked the door behind them then took a seat in the chair Teagan was beginning to think of as his.
“We have a lot to cover, but I need you both to know that I’m here to represent you, and the children, in respect to Marsha Davis’s wishes.” Mr. Keller got straight down to business. “First, where are the children?”
“I have a room for them, for when they stay with me, down the hall.” She pointed in the direction where the children were.
Mr. Keller nodded. “Second, I’m sorry for your loss. Over the past two years I’d gotten to know Marsha rather well. I was handling her legal separation and divorce. Can you tell me how she died?” His voice cracked on the last word.
Teagan swallowed hard and Logan reached over and patted her hand, giving it a little squeeze.
“Detective Russo filed it last night as a suicide.” When Logan squeezed her hand once again, she realized he hadn’t moved it. “New information came to light moments ago that has made Teagan and I doubt that she killed herself. To be honest, we’ve both believed from the beginning that it was murder.”
Mr. Keller dropped his face into his hands. “Oh, Christ, no.” He scrubbed his hands over his face before lifting it to look at them. “Ms. Williams—”
“Please, Mr. Keller, call me Teagan,” she insisted. She had a feeling they were going to be working together a lot over the next several months.
He nodded. “Teagan. I know you and Marsha were close, but I’m not sure if she confided in you her fears about Gabe’s work. She was protective of the children, fearing they could be kidnapped and used against Gabriel.” He sighed. “She was also afraid he wouldn’t do anything to rescue them.”
“Jesus Christ.” Logan sprung from his chair and paced the room. “Why didn’t she tell us anything about this?” He looked accusingly at her. “Did you know?”
“Hell, no.” She quickly thought back to several conversations she had about the way Marsha was so guarded of the children. Fuck. She could kick herself in the ass. Why hadn’t she seen it. “I thought she was just a very cautious mother.”
“She was,” Mr. Keller noted. “And with good reason. When he lived there, Gabriel would get calls all times of the day and night, sometimes on their home phone, often on one of the many cell phones he carried. During the first part of their separation, she confessed to me that she thought he was leaving her and the children for their safety.”
“I can see Gabe doing that.” Logan nodded. “He’d want to draw the enemy away from them.”
Enemy? Who the hell was the enemy?
The attorney glanced at his watch. “We need to get through this before they return.” After opening the folder in front of him, he handed Logan and Teagan long legal sheets covered in thick blue paper. “Marsha signed these the day before Gabriel’s funeral, and now, I’m so thankful she did. What you have in your hands are copies of her complete last will and testament.”
“Anyone else want a bottle of water?” Logan asked.
“Yes, please.” Teagan felt awful for not playing the good hostess. Thank God Logan was comfortable enough in her home to take over that role.
“I’d like one as well,” Mr. Keller said as he flipped through the pages.
Teagan downed half of her bottle as soon as Logan handed it to her. She didn’t realize how dry her mouth had become.
“Let’s skip straight to page two. There’s a lot of legalese here, and I’ll have to explain to you your jobs, but to start, Teagan, you have been named the executor of the will. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson—”
“Logan, please. Given that my name is in this will, I’m sure we’re going to be working together a lot over the next year.”
“Actually,” Mr. Keller smiled at him. “You and I both have a fiduciary responsibility to the children until Anora turns eighteen. I’ll explain more about that later.”
Shifting his gaze back to her, Mr. Keller said, “As the executor, Teagan, your job is to liquidate all the assets and distribute them according to the will. Basically, you handle the business end of everything stated in these papers.”
“Why did she put me in charge of that?” Teagan realized she’d said that out loud.
“Because Marsha didn’t want her father to have anything to do with her money and the children.” His gaze shifted between her and Logan. “And she sure as hell didn’t want her sister to get a dime, or worse yet, custody of the children.”
“We don’t want Ashley anywhere around the kids.” Teagan agreed.
Mr. Keller gave her a genuine smile. He’d been handsome in his day, she was quite sure. “And that’s exactly why Marsha made you the executor. Now, briefly, Teagan, you will have to see to it that all benefits are collected which in this case, includes settling all of Gabe’s estate which transferred to Marsha upon his death. All of this now falls on your shoulders.”
He reached over and patted her back. “But I’m here to help you. Fortunately, Marsha’s CPA works in the same offices I do. He’s a specialist in estate taxes and preparation of all documents required for probate court, which is another one of your duties. We’re going to help you through this but it’s going to take time. At least a year.”
“It looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other. When can I start calling you Ed?” She quipped.
The older man grinned. Yep. He’d been a panty-dropper in his day. “Right now.”
“Well, then, Ed, if I have to do all this, what does Logan get to do?” She looked up at her friend whose eyes narrowed.
“Page three, everyone.” He flipped the long sheet to the next page. “Logan, I hope you have a good broker.”
Logan laughed out loud, to her surprise. “That would mean I have money to invest. You must have missed the part where I said I was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps. The government doesn’t pay our servicemen very much money.”
“Ah hem,” Teagan interjected. “They don’t pay their servicewomen very much either, but it’s one place where men and women of the same rank get paid exactly the same, which ain’t shit. That’s part of the reason I got out.” Her mother’s rapidly progressing Alzheimer’s was the other.
“Well, in that case, you might want to find one because Marsha named Logan both the trustee and the guardian.” Ed said.
What the fuck? “Wait.” Teagan glared at the attorney. “Marsha said that I was supposed to get the children. She wanted me to raise them if anything ever happened to her.”
“Hold your horses, Teagan.” He held up one hand in the stop position. “Guardian in the legal term as to the last will and testament is different than guardianship of the children. Let me explain.”
Mr. Keller leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and gestured with his left hand while holding the signed will in his right. “Technically, Logan isn’t even the guardian until the court officially appoints him as such. The guardian also doesn’t necessarily mean he has custody of the children. In this case,” he shook the papers, “Marsha has recommended to the court that Logan be given the responsibility for the children’s legal, financial, and healthcare decisions. She had me add a paragraph in there clarifying that she wants custody of the children to go to you, and for the two of you to work together for the good of Anora and Brann.”
He rubbed his hand over his face. “It’s just a legal way of assuring that there are checks and balances of the money inherited by the children.”
Ed’s gaze went to Logan. “You do realize, that the moment you are legally named guardian, you will be responsible for the investment and disbursement of approximately eight million dollars.”
Teagan had no idea that their father left them so much money.
Logan collapsed into his chair. “Holy fuck.”