The Billionaire's Will (15 page)

“You got it,” Jackie said.

“Oh, boy, oh, boy,” Carl whispered, as he pulled out his cellphone. “I get to go flyin’.”

*

Maggie was still distraught about it later that night when she logged into the chat room.

Sissy3211: Worst day ever. They cut Jim’s pay in half.

Bronco8881: You’re kidding.

Sissy3211:
He turned down the promotion and embarrassed her. Nicole is afraid to fire him for it, so she’s trying to get him to quit.

Bronco
8881: Will he quit?

Sissy3211:
He’ll have to. I’m worried sick about him, he needs a good job. If he doesn’t quit and they find a way to fire him, he’ll have a very hard time finding another job.

Bronco
8881: I wish I could help.

Sissy3211: I wish you could too.

Bronco8881: Maybe if you tell me where he is.

Maggie giggled
.

Sissy3211: Maybe
I’ll just introduce you.

She
waited to see if he would pick up on the hint.

Bronco
8881: That would work. What does he do?

Sissy3211: He’s an accountant and
he’s good at it too.

Bronco
8881: Sounds like he shouldn’t have any trouble getting a better job.

Sissy3211: He has a prison record.

Bronco8881: Oh, I see.

Sissy3211: It was a long time ago, but businesses don’t seem to be very forgiving.

Bronco8881: No, they don’t. What did he get convicted of?

Sissy3211: Stealing a car, grand theft, I think it is ca
lled. He had just turned twenty-one, and says he listened to some friends instead of his conscience. He would give anything to take that night back.

Bronco
8881: I bet he would. Otherwise, how was your day?

Sissy3211: Busy as usual.
Oh, I saw a squirrel chase a cat today.

Bronco
8881: You mean a cat chasing a squirrel?

Sissy3211: No, the squirrel chased the cat part way up a tree, and then when the cat turned around, the squirrel ran
back down and dashed up a different tree.

Bronco
8881: That is too funny.

She sighed. He didn’t pick up on the hint, but then, she wasn’t sure what she would have said if he did.

Sissy3211: Do you like classical music?

Bronco
8881: Love it.

Sissy3211: I went to a concert once
and the orchestra was wonderful. I could have listened to them for a week.

Bronco
8881: I’ll take you to a concert any time you say.

Sissy3211: Now
, that’s temping.

Bronco
8881: I hope so.

Sissy3211: I’m not very fond of opera though. Maybe when they learn to speak English.

Austin smiled.

Bronco
8881: You’ve got a point. I’m keeping you up past your bedtime again.

Sissy3211: Don’t
worry; I won’t cut your pay in half.

Bronco
8881: Just don’t cut my time with you in half. You are the highlight of my day.

Sissy3211: Bronco, don’t go all mawkish on me now. Good night
.

---Sissy3211
has signed off---

“Mawkish,” he
whispered. “Is that what I’m becoming…mawkish? Who even says that these days?” He signed off and closed the lid on his laptop. “Sissy, what do I have to do to get you to meet me?”

*

It was definitely hurricane season. Dozens of warnings came from weather centers all up and down the east coast, and Carl was well aware of them before he took off from Denver International Airport early the next morning. With any luck, he could get in and out of New York before the storm came up the coast.

The east coast was not the only place that suffered from violent storms. In 2007
, the windshields of fourteen planes shattered at the Denver airport due to cold temperatures and high winds. Thankfully, the temperature was in the seventies and his takeoff was routine.

Carl’s new baby was a
sleek Gulfstream G500, with Rolls Royce twin jet engines, and a cruising speed of 459 knots. It originally seated 18, but it had been converted into a high tech office for Michael and Jackie, with only six passenger seats. Carl knew every inch of his baby, took pride in making sure she was clean, and had her carefully checked after every flight.

Most of their business was in the US, but occasionally they flew to other countries. However, they had their limits and there were several countries they refused to work in.
The jet also took them to exotic locations for the vacations they treated themselves to between cases. No matter how short or how long a case was, they always rested for a few days between them.

Carl
was over Chicago before he began to feel turbulence that was probably caused by the approaching storm. Flying well above the cloud cover, he could see the edges of the swirling mass in the distance and counted himself fortunate not to be going south. A Learjet could be refueled anywhere, so instead of needing to land in New York, he radioed the current air traffic controller and asked to change his flight plan.

He
might have been imagining it, but he thought he detected a slight note of relief in the air traffic controller’s voice. Most likely, a lot of planes, both private and commercial, were trying to make it to New York before the sky got ugly.

His new flight plan was quickly approved, so t
he pilot of the Jackie Harlan Detective Agency’s jet, banked left and headed into Canadian air space. Nonstop, the flight from Denver to London took ten hours, but without a break or a copilot, that was pushing it for a man who’d already been up since the crack of dawn.

*

“Our boy is going to Canada,” Michael said after looking at the blip on his computer GPS tracking system. “Bad weather’s got him running north.”

“Good for him,” said Jackie. When someone knocked on the door, she got up to answer it. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the package and then closing the door. “Saran sent our clothes from California. I hope they still fit.”

“Are you sure we have to go to this ball?” Michael asked.

“You mean you would willingly miss a chance to meet Miss Right?”

“I’m getting a little old to chase skirts these days.”

Jackie set the package on the coffee table and w
ent to the kitchen to get a knife. “I never thought I’d hear that.”

Michael followed her first to the kitchen, move
d out of the way, and then followed her into the living room. “My hair is turning gray, my knees pop when I least expect it, and you might be my last hope.” He put his fingers together imitating a camera shot. “Picture this – the two of us holding hands as the moon rises over Japan.”

“Japan? I thought we were going to Paris.”

“Paris? Do they have a moon in Paris?” He took over opening the box by simply pulling it apart. He folded the flaps outward, reached inside, and handed her a cellophane wrapped, pink velvet, floor-length gown. “My favorite.”

She laughed. “I know.”

Michael wrinkled his brow. “Are you trying to please me suddenly?”

“I need to try this on,” she said
as she headed for the bedroom. “I think I’ve gained a few pounds.”

“I like
you a little plump,” he whispered as she closed the bedroom door.

*

After days of watching movies, swimming, and talking with Laura, Teresa had become more of a babysitter than a maid. The work was falling way behind, but what did she care? She wasn’t going to be there much longer anyway. If the cook and her husband thought her attention to Laura was odd, they didn’t say anything.

Mathew still hadn’t come home. Nor had he called or sent any sort of message to his wife. Laura was used to it, but Teresa found it unsettling.
It was important to know if he was coming home or not, so she wouldn’t be interrupted the next time she opened the safe. She checked and his swimsuit wasn’t wet, so when Laura settled down to watch an afternoon show on television, Teresa decided to take a chance.

She pushed the vacuum down the hall, knocked on
Mathew’s bedroom door, and waited for an answer. There was none. She cautiously opened the door. “Mr. Connelly? I’ve come to clean, Mr. Connelly.”

He didn’t answer
.

Everything in his room was exactly the same as it had been the day before
, and as near as she could tell, the bed had not been slept in. Teresa looked for a place to plug in the vacuum, turned it on, wheeled it to the wall safe and left it running. She quickly moved the picture out of the way, turned the combination lock to her birthday, and was relieved when it again opened.

Next, she
found several statements from a foreign bank, pulled a small notepad out of her pocket, and jotted down the account number. It was then she spotted a checkbook for the same account. Teresa smiled, put her notepad away and made sure there were several blank checks left. She counted the cash, put it back, and then opened the last document. It was a French birth certificate that listed the baby’s name as Georgia Marie James. The mother’s name was Laura Connelly, but the certificate said the father was unknown.

Teresa closed her eyes and leaned her head against the
rim of the safe.

At length, she gathered her wits, put the birth certificate back, and made certain everything was just as she found it. She closed the safe, put the picture
in place, fought back her tears, and vacuumed the room.

*

It had been an excruciatingly long day and Maggie was exhausted. Jim was miserable and all her attempts at brightening his day failed. He was beaten down and no one was more familiar with that feeling than she was. Yet, thankfully, she had someone to talk to. She just hoped Bronco wouldn’t pick up on her despondent mood. She took a deep breath and signed into the chat room.

Sissy3211: Bronco?

Bronco8881: I’m here. How are you?

Sissy3211: I
have done something dreadful.

Bronco
8881: I doubt that.

Sissy3211: ‘Tis true. I bought a new dress
. It’s beautiful and I couldn’t resist.

Bronco
8881: That is not dreadful.

Sissy3211: It is on my wages.

Bronco8881: That bad?

Sissy3211
: Deplorable, but I shall manage until I find a better job. I probably should return the dress, but I had it altered and I don’t think I can.

Bronco
8881: If you need someplace to wear it, my dinner offer still stands.

Sissy3211:
It’s a bit too fancy for a dinner.

Bronco
8881: Is it like a ball gown?

Sissy3211:
Sort of. It’s floor-length, or at least will be when I buy some heels to wear with it.

Sissy3211:
I happen to be going to a Charity Ball in Denver Saturday. Are you interested?

She was quiet for a time before she answered.

Sissy3211: I can’t ask you to do that. It would disappoint all the other women in your life.

Austin smiled. She was about to say yes, finally, he could feel it.

Bronco8881: They will survive. Say yes, it is way past time for us to meet, and I can have a plane ticket waiting at the airport of your choice.

Sissy3211: I’ve never been to
a ball.

Bronco
8881: They are normally a little boring, but the ladies like to see what other women are wearing. We men all look alike.

Sissy3211:
They all look like you?

Bronco
8881: Well, we dress alike anyway. It’s black tie.

Sissy3211:
I see. Will I need an invitation?

Bronco
8881: If you are with me, you won’t need one.

Sissy3211:
Truly, you don’t already have a date?

Bronco
8881: No, where are you? I mean how far would you have to travel to get here?

Sissy3211:
I could take a city bus, but I’d look rather silly wearing the dress.

It took a moment for what she said to register
, and when it did, Austin’s mouth dropped.

Bronco
8881: You’re in Denver?

He waited
for her answer.

Sissy3211: I might as well confess. Do you remember
a girl with dark hair, who sat on a bench next to you? It was in front of the Gladstone fountain on Monday. You were finishing your lunch.

Bronco
8881: I do.

Sissy3211: That was me.