Endangered: A Delecoeur Mystery #1 (9 page)

“What are you talking about Max?”

“Killing Madeleine? Why did you have to
do that?”

For a second time, Julia was visibly
shaken by Max’s comment. “NO! I would never…Max how could you think that…?”

He moved so fast she barely had time to
flinch before he grabbed her arms and gave her a quick shake. “Because since
the moment you showed up, Madeleine’s life was in danger. And now this
information about Chas, it’s all coming together.”

“No you’re wrong.” She pulled away and
he could see her mind reeling.

“You were chummy with me at lunch and
you're eager to fill Madeleine’s place now that she’s gone.”

“Not like that. Yes, I came on a bit at
lunch. You were my first love. You never forget that Max. You must feel it
too.”

He did know what it was like to carry
feelings for a first love, but Madeleine had been his first and only love. He’d
been with many women before meeting Madeleine. He cared for all of them. Many,
including Julia he thought he loved at the time. But when he met Madeleine, he
came to understand what real love was. Its depth. The intensity. How it
permeated the soul until it was a necessary part of living, like breathing.

“But I wouldn’t kill Madeleine or
anyone. I’ll admit I wanted to see if I could seduce you, capture old times.
But I know it would never happen. Will never happen. And you know that I’d
never want to be second place, even to a dead woman.”

“What about Chas?”

“Chas? He wouldn’t hurt Madeleine. He
wants to be acknowledged as your son, yes. But he has no reason to hurt her.”

“Inheritance?”

“That would only be the case if he could
prove you were his father.”

“But you said he doesn’t know about the
other men. So in his eyes, the proof is that William isn’t his father.”

That made Julia stop. That one hesitancy
told volumes.

“Is he capable of murder?”

“God, no. He’s arrogant and selfish like
me, but he’d never do that.”

In Max’s mind she didn’t sound so sure.

She looked to him. “Are you going to
demand a paternity test?”

Of course she’d be thinking of that. “I
don’t know,” he answered honestly. The truth was he wanted the test only if he
knew it would prove he wasn’t Chas’ father. Not that he didn’t want a son, but
he didn’t want Chas for a son. “I can’t think about that now Julia. Tell me
what you know about Chas’ work at Digiteknic.”

“Digiteknic? Why?”

“Because the truck used to drive
Madeleine off the road was stolen from Digiteknic. Only someone who worked
there or used to work there would know how to get it.”

“He just used to work for them. When he
put together the idea of my having once dated you and William not being his
father, he quit his job, moved to LA and started his own firm.”

“With you acting as his introduction to
me hoping I’d fund his venture?”

“I believe he hoped you’d introduce him
around. But that is business Max. You know that. In any case, he was in Los
Angeles with me when Madeleine’s car accident happened.”

“He read Madeleine’s articles because he
knew Digiteknic lost its contract with my company because of her influence.”
Max continued as the plausible scenario played out in his mind.

“I don’t know about that. He keeps up on
business trends, so maybe.”

“What’s his relationship with the owners
of Digiteknic?”

“I don’t know.”

 “Think harder. Is he friends with Gavin
Shaffer?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Because Gavin confronted Madeleine at
her talk only hours before her accident. Because Gavin is the heir apparent to Digiteknic
where Chas used to work,” Max explained.

“I don’t see what you are getting at.”

“I think Chas and Gavin conspired to
kill Madeleine. Maybe Chas promised Gavin a contract once I accepted Chas as my
son.”

Julia shook her head. “Chas has no
reason to want Madeleine dead.”

“He’d be the heir to the Delecoeur
fortune with Madeleine gone. He’d be the son of Max Delecoeur and have all
power and prestige that comes with that. But Gavin failed. So Chas had to do it
himself.”

“No!” But her eyes betrayed that
statement. She was worried.

“He was in the building the morning of
the shooting to see me. He knew I was expecting Madeleine for lunch. Tell me
Julia," Max grabbed Julia's arms again. "How late was he in meeting
you that afternoon?”

Her eyes widened. “No, I don’t believe
it.”

“How late was he?” he demanded.

“He called and said he was held up and
would be 45 minutes late.”

Max released her. She fell back a step
rubbing her arms where he'd grabbed her.

“My, my isn’t this cozy?”

They both turned to see Chas in the
doorway. “The reunion you've waited all these years for, mother. Is it all that
you hoped?”

It was then Max noticed the gun in Chas’
hand.

“I
see she’s told
you about my relation to you.” Chas turned the gun on Max.

Max's eyes narrowed. “Yes. I have to say
I’m disappointed.”

Chas nodded. “No doubt I’m not the son
you would have wanted. But that’s not my fault. If my mother had been honest
and I had the upbringing I deserved, I wouldn’t be like this.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Max
warned.

“Maybe not. But it never hurts to try. I
have a pretty good plan.”

“I doubt it,” Max said.

“Sure it is. Even you suspected my
mother of killing Madeleine. I’ll just confirm that to the police. You killed
my mother in revenge and then killed yourself because you couldn’t bear the
thought of living without Madeleine. Oh, and I’ll show them proof that I’m your
son and inherit it all.”

“You need to review your business law,
Chas. You won’t inherit the company. It’s publicly owned,” Max said, keeping
his eyes on Chas’ gun and hoping against hope that Madeleine stayed hidden.

“I’ll settle for your personal assets
including your stock. Yes, that will be even better. You see, I don’t care
about the power. With the stock, I can let your board do all the work and I’ll
collect the dividends. I can live quite nicely on that.”

“How do you intend to prove I’m your
father?”

“Chas, no,” Julia said finally finding
her voice. “It's too much to risk. Max is not your father.”

Both men looked at her. “That is, I
don’t know if he is. He could be…”

“My god mother, how many men did you
screw around with?”

“That’s not the point. The point is, you
could be wrong and you will have done all this for nothing.”

“Not really. To answer your question
Max, you will write a statement acknowledging I’m your son.”

“I’m sure it will be contested. It would
be suspicious for a document like that to show up right after my death. Right
after Madeleine's death. My attorneys would never allow it.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

~~~

Madeleine had been listening from the
back of the bathroom. Her heart had gone out to Max knowing it must be torture
to think he could be a father to a child he never knew about. But when Chas
walked in, she heard his menacing tone. Peeking around the corner she saw Chas
had a gun and heard his plan to kill both Julia and Max. Madeleine snuck back
around to her side of the dressing room to see what she might have to help the
situation. As she looked around the corner she saw Julia standing on her side
of the bedroom. Julia would surely see her if she tried to get to the utility
closet. On the other hand, Julia’s life was apparently in danger as well. Would
she give Madeleine away? She’d have to risk it.

She moved slowly towards the closet.
Carefully she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob. There was a tiny squeak,
but Julia didn’t move. Madeleine let out a breath and pushed the door open.
Inside she found a tidy closet, but nothing she could use as a weapon. She made
her way out again and quietly shut the door. She glanced at Julia. Their eyes
caught. Julia’s held surprise and then turned away. Madeleine held her breath.
When Julia didn’t say anything, Madeleine hoped she might be spared.

“Chas, this is ridiculous. You might
want to kill me, but killing Max won’t get what you want with or without a
note.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Madeleine isn’t dead.”

Oh no!
Madeleine
thought.

Max eyes widened and looked back to the
bathroom. He couldn’t see Madeleine, but guessed that Julia had. It would be
too much to hope that Madeleine would sit tight.  He looked to Julia his eyes
imploring her to stop.

“You’ve gone mad mom. We went to the
funeral yesterday.”

“Did you see her body in the casket?
Think Chas. Max would do anything to keep her safe. Even fake her death.”

“Shut up! I killed her. I shot her
myself.”

“You didn’t.”

“Okay so where is she?”

“She’s not here. She’s in a safe house.”
Max jumped in with a warning glance to Julia.

“How convenient.”

“Well he’s not going to keep her here.
Think Chas,” Julia said.

“Stop saying that!” He yelled pointing
the gun at her.

“If she isn’t dead, you’re safe as long
as you let us go. You can’t be convicted of a murder you didn’t commit,” she explained.

Max saw Madeleine peek around the corner
on his side of the dressing room. He moved forcing Chas to turn his back on her
in order to keep Max in sight. Max glared at her, his eyes told her to move
back. Instead, she moved towards his closet. God, what was she doing? One
little turn and Chas would see her.

“She’s right. You have what it takes
Chas. If you want to be recognized as my son, we can still do that.”

“You’re lying.” Chas pointed the gun
back to Max. “I thought you’d be a different kind of father.”

“I could have been had I known,” Max
said. “I still can, given the chance.”

Madeleine opened Max’s closet one
millimeter at a time. She’d remembered the golf club he kept there. It had been
a souvenir from a celebrity tournament that he'd lost. Apparently, the winner
felt sorry for Max and gave him his putter. It was useless in the closet, but
maybe it could do some damage if she swung it hard enough. She had wanted to
open the closet door wide enough to slide in, but was afraid that would take too
much time. So when the opening was big enough, she reached her hand in to feel
around the back. She felt the coolness of a metal rod. She tried to wrap her
hand around it and felt it begin to slip. Oh God, she thought. She leaned in
and closed her fingers around the staff. Slowly she pulled it towards her,
clutching it to her body when it finally was free of the closet. Moving slowly,
she stood.

“Give him a chance, Chas. He can be the
father you deserved,” Julia said moving next to Max.

“You told me once, mother, that it would
be dangerous to cross Max. And you said I should never underestimate him. If I
take your advice, I can’t believe a word he says to me now. I killed his
beloved wife. My only choice now is to kill him.” Chas raised his gun towards Max.

Madeleine’s heart leapt to her throat.
She pulled the club back over her head and charged towards Chas.

“Oh, God Chas, no!” Julia cried as she
dove in front of Max.

Madeleine heard a loud bang and then
felt the club hit the top Chas’ head with a whack. He dropped to the ground.
Running on adrenaline, Madeleine dropped the club and grabbed the gun that had
fallen from his hand. She held it over Chas, but he remained motionless.

“Max?” Madeleine cried and moved towards
him.

He was on his knees cradling Julia in
his lap.

“I’ll call the police and ambulance,”
Madeleine said relieved that Max wasn’t hit. After her call she went back to
them.

“How is she?”

Max’s eyes told her it didn’t look good,
but he said, “It will take more than a gunshot to rid the planet of Julia
Devlin.”

“Damn right,” Julia said on a winded
whisper. She lifted her hand to Max’s cheek. “Consider this my second selfless
act.”

“You’ve got it.” He smiled, but
Madeleine could see the worry in his eyes.

Julia then looked to Madeleine. “I’m glad
you aren’t dead. Heartbreak doesn’t look good on Max.”

Madeleine dropped next to Julia. “Thank
you. Thank you for saving him.”

Julia nodded, but was too weak to
respond further.

“Hold on, Julia,” Max said. “Just hold
on.”

M
adeleine found
Max sitting in the chaise lounge on the balcony of their Napa Valley Villa
overlooking the vineyards. He wasted no time in whisking her away to the
vineyard once Chas was arrested and Julia’s condition stabilized. They visited
her before they left and while she looked tired, she seemed to be returning to
normal. She’d already made a dinner date with her doctor for when she got out
of the hospital.