19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

GIVENCHY

Nora

“ H ow’s Jamie doing?” Chloe asked in my ear.

I was in my closet with Alyona, packing.

Alyona was holding up a black dress.

I shook my head and turned back to Jamie’s suits and my conversation with Chloe.

“I don’t think he knows how he’s doing,” I confided.

“I can imagine,” she murmured.

I pulled out a charcoal gray, bespoke, CKC New York suit and hung it on the valet rail.

I turned back to Alyona who was holding up my Givenchy, pleated-skirt, black silk dress.

I nodded.

She hooked it on a valet rail.

“Just so you know, Judge is going down to meet you guys, and Rix is going with him.”

At this news, I stopped perusing Jamie’s tray of precisely rolled ties to focus on the conversation.

“Chloe, that’s a lovely gesture, but you know how Jamie feels about Judge leaving you and JT to go to the funeral.”

“I know, Judge knows, but honestly, ma belle amie , do you think he’s going to let his father go through this without him?”

Hmm.

“I’ve got Mom, Duncan, Heddy, Beth, and Alex all close to help out,” she explained. “And Judge, who’s his father’s son, so he’s overprotective, asked Gage to stay with me while he’s gone. Gage was all over it. I can, of course, take care of a baby, two dogs and a cat by myself, but I won’t have to. So Jamie doesn’t have to worry.”

“Is Judge going to tell him, or am I?” I asked, nodding my head to Alyona proffering my patent, black, slingback Louboutin pumps.

“Judge is packing. They have to leave soon to head down to Phoenix to catch their plane. He’s going to call Jamie on the way.”

“All right. I’m packing too, dearest. Dru will be here in less than an hour, then we’re away to JFK.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go. Love you. Call if you need anything.”

“I will. Love back to you.”

We rang off and Alyona and I dug into selecting outfits. We were on to accessories when my phone rang again.

It was Charlene.

“Hello, Charlene,” I answered.

“Hey there, Mz. Ellington. Wanted you to know that Arnold is on the way up with a packet that was dropped off.”

“All right.”

“And just to say, if you can get me a date with the guy who dropped it off, I wouldn’t say no.”

I smiled. “Always nice to have a handsome courier.”

“This man was no courier. I think he gets his suits from the same place Mr. Oakley does.”

Oh my.

Intriguing.

I wondered what the package was, considering neither Jamie nor I were expecting anything, and definitely neither of us were expecting anything to be dropped off by a man wearing a hand-tailored suit.

“Thank you for calling, Charlene.”

“Never a problem.”

I ended the call and looked to Alyona.

“I need to retrieve a package delivery,” I told her.

“I can do it,” she replied.

“No, I’ll do it. If you could get started on folding?” I motioned to the suitcases in the corner of the closet with my head.

“Will do,” she murmured, moving toward them.

I went to the door and was standing in it when Arnold got off the elevator.

He gave me the package with a tip of his cap, and I closed the door, holding a thick manila envelope that had my name on the front written in bold, black pen.

The metal clasp was sealed, as was the envelope.

I moved to the kitchen and furtively (my letter opener was in the study, which was too far away for the level of my curiosity, and Alyona would have a conniption if she saw me using one of her butter knives in this manner) slit open the envelope.

Inside, there was a notecard clipped to the thick pile of papers, and on it was another bold, black letter, this one simply an “R.”

My brows furrowed at that, but I pulled it off, unclipped the papers, and drew in a sharp breath at what I saw.

The top was photocopies of bank statements.

And these statements belonged to Paloma.

Under those were more statements.

And those belonged to Chester Lynch.

Beyond that were LLC documents, and Articles of Incorporation, none of which I understood.

I didn’t wish to, but I’d learned how Jamie felt about me keeping important things from him, so I sought him out, and found him with his laptop and some open files scattered across a coffee table in the hearth room.

Heiress was lounging on the velvet couch beside him.

He looked to me, his lovely blue eyes alert, but that hint of dissonance behind them that had been there since he learned his brother had died was unhidden.

“Darling, we’ve had an unusual delivery.”

I sat next to him on the couch and handed him the envelope with the papers on top.

First, after inspecting it, he lifted the notecard and flicked it to and fro.

“R?” he asked me.

“No idea,” I told him.

He nodded, set that aside and started looking through the documents.

I sensed his surprise when he saw what they were, and then I sensed when he put it together.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The paper trail from Paloma to Chet, through a few shell companies. Though it’s clumsy and not at all buried.” He turned from the papers to me. “She gave him money. Likely so he’d talk to the media and give them whatever bogus story he cooked up.”

“How much did she give him?”

“From what I can tell, two hundred thousand.”

Goodness.

That was a lot.

“Where is she getting that kind of money?” I asked.

Jamie turned back to the statements and shrugged. “Seems they’re cash deposits.”

“Does AJ have that kind of cash on hand?”

Jamie returned his attention to me. “He’s got assets he hasn’t tapped, but they’d be last ditch to anyone in his situation. Doesn’t mean he hasn’t sold them. Heirlooms. Jewelry. Art. Guns. He had the horses, which were worth a great deal of money, but all of their carcasses were found in that fire.”

I winced.

In the three days since it had happened, it had become official.

It was arson, and all the evidence pointed to the arsonist being Jefferson Oakley.

It didn’t take a genius to put together that Jeff had set fire to the entirety of the Oakbilly Gulch estate (save for one outbuilding that held tractor equipment, which he died before he could get to) in an effort to collect insurance. And as Jefferson Oakley was prone to do, he’d fucked it up, getting caught in one of the blazes he was setting.

The question that was beleaguering my beloved was if it was Jeff’s idea, something that Jamie didn’t think was possible, considering his brother wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. Or if AJ had not only told his second son to do it but did so knowing how gullible and dim he was, so also knowing there was a good possibility he’d get caught.

In other words, setting him up to take the fall, while AJ pocketed the proceeds and bought himself another chance to save his own hide.

Neither of us could wrap our heads around the idea that AJ did it thinking Jeff would perish, just that he could collect the insurance money, which was considerable, with his hands coming out clean, even if there was a chance that Jeff’s wouldn’t.

However, in all of this, the death of those horses, and how they must have spent their final moments, was the thing that could set Jamie into a fury. I knew because it had, on two occasions, and one of my old-fashioned glasses shattering against a wall was indicative of how deep his fury went.

This happened when Kateri had told him the horses had been insured as well, for quite a lot, and the stables were the first building Jeff set fire to.

Thus, it was clear the collection of that bounty was also on the radar for one, or both, of those Oakley men, and the hideous murder of those horses was done in pursuit of a payout.

Jamie took my mind from all this by continuing to talk.

“He could do private cash sales, which I couldn’t track, nor could anybody, which means, even if he sold assets, the insurance companies would be none the wiser. We had Waterford. We had Limoges. We had an original Bierstadt and a Remington. My grandmother had an affinity for Royal Doulton and Cartier. I could go on. The payout of the insurance on the horses, the house, and the contents is enough to buy him years on that ranch, even if he erects a modest home in which to live there.”

“If he sold, and didn’t disclose, and the insurance paid on those items, that’s fraud,” I pointed out.

“If he talked my idiot brother into setting fire to his property so AJ could collect a payout, that’s fraud too,” Jamie returned.

I’d noticed of late that Jamie wasn’t referring to AJ as his father or “Pop” anymore.

I thought this was good, especially considering he told me he shared important matters with Judge. It indicated to me that he might be moving closer to claiming his real father.

I just wished the final straw on that wasn’t what it was: death and destruction.

Without warning, Jamie communicated what some of that dissonance in his eyes was about.

“I feel responsible for this, Nora.”

My body jerked in shock. “What, darling? My goodness, why ?”

“I pushed him to it.”

Oh no he didn’t.

“You did not push AJ or Jeff into committing arson and equine homicide,” I snapped. “I’ll not hear you say that again, Jameson. For years, you did not actively seek to muzzle women who had been violated so you could protect the value of your shares, thus your tattered reputation shredded to oblivion when your foul behavior was outed. You did not make desperate and foolish deals that fell through. And you didn’t light any matches. Of course, it can be said you know those men, but I can’t imagine even if you had a functioning crystal ball, you’d believe they’d take it to that point.”

I huffed out an annoyed breath.

And continued ranting.

“A real man would see he’s bested and cut his losses so he could live another day. He had property. If what you say is true about his possessions, he could have easily put them to auction, making quite a bit of money, and found himself somewhere comfortable to live out the rest of his days. Or he could have done that and invested the capital in the one thing he had left, that ranch, and making it work for him. Simply because of his pride, he didn’t do any of that. So what he did, if indeed he was the mastermind behind this latest plot, does not rest on your shoulders. It rests firmly on his .”

Jamie said nothing, but he didn’t have to, considering he cupped my cheek and rubbed his thumb tenderly over my cheekbone.

As such, I noticed some of the unrest in his gaze was gone, so I felt I’d done my job.

For now.

“I need to accessorize the outfits I’m packing,” I announced. “And then we need to go. Dru will be here shortly.”

Jamie removed his hand from my face and put the papers back in the envelope, saying, “Can you put these in the safe?”

“Of course.” But he’d stilled, so I called, “Jamie?”

“R,” he said, and looked to me. “Rhys Vaughan.”

Well…

Heavens .

Rhys Vaughan—the sadly departed, immensely complicated, but it had been discovered after his death, intensely devoted—Corey Szabo’s man on a mission.

And Vaughan’s mission was to take care of any problem that anyone Corey loved had. He did this with dedication and meticulousness.

If he was behind this, an indication that he’d waded into the issues we were facing, that was a rather large bit of good news.

“I think we’ve been adopted, sweetheart,” Jamie noted.

I took the envelope from him.

As I did, my smile was slow.

But Jamie’s wasn’t.

Thus, Rhys completed my job of clearing that dissonance.

Now we could get on with the next bout of unpleasantness.

And hopefully after that, my Jamie could have some peace.

The atmosphere in the car was so heavy, I was struggling to breathe, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think of how to alleviate it.

It was late the next morning, and we were on our way to the funeral.

Judge was driving, Jamie seated beside him (at my insistence, which Jamie was so against, it almost caused a row, but fortunately, Dru backed me, and Jamie couldn’t fight the both of us) and Rix, Dru and I were ensconced in the backseats of the Cadillac Escalade Jamie had rented.

“Jesus, do I need to start cracking really bad, and really dirty, jokes?” Rix asked the general population of the car.

“We’re going to my uncle’s funeral, Rix,” Judge reminded him.

“And Dad’s going to have to see Granddad,” Dru added.

“And Jeff was a putz and AJ’s a dick, so what’s the BFD?” Rix stated bluntly.

Judge opened his mouth, but Jamie got there first.

“He’s right, kids.”

And he was, because the heavy atmosphere wasn’t coming from Jamie, me, or Rix, but from Judge and Dru.

They were worried about their dad.

“Dad,” Dru said softly from the very backseat.

“I wasn’t close with Jeff,” Jamie shared something we all knew. “He was always a bully. He was ludicrously competitive, but bad at everything, which made it worse, because he was a shit loser. He made zero effort to keep in touch when I left. And he didn’t respond to mine or Rosalind’s efforts to do so. I haven’t seen him in over ten years, and frankly, I didn’t miss him. This means he not only didn’t bother to come to Lindy’s and my wedding, he also didn’t show at Lindy’s memorial, healthy indication that he was not a man who earned being missed. I’m here because he was still my brother, he was my mother’s son, and I need this closure. But that’s the only reason I’m here. This won’t last long. Hopefully AJ will stay away from me. And then we can go back to the city and have a nice dinner.”

“If that’s where you’re at, Dad, cool,” Judge muttered.

“That’s where I’m at, buddy,” Jamie confirmed.

“Damn, now I don’t get to tell any dirty jokes,” Rix mock complained.

There was laughter and chuckles, and I was thankful Rix was there. Things were a good deal less tense the last fifteen minutes it took to get to the funeral home.

And Dru’s gasp of delight when we saw Sully standing outside, I suspected, was how we all felt at this welcome surprise.

Sully walked to the Escalade so he was in position to help Dru alight when she followed Rix, something I took particular note of, even as Jamie was helping me out, because it was subtle, but it appeared he shouldered Rix out of the way to take the opportunity.

Noting the smirk on Rix’s face as he watched this happen, I saw that Rix was having the same reaction to this happenstance as me.

Our crew was very close, and Dru was definitely a part of that.

But this seemed to be something different.

“Ready?” Jamie’s voice came at me.

I looked up to him to note he hadn’t seen what I saw, because he was looking toward the funeral home.

He might not be overly saddened at his brother’s passing, but Jeff was still his brother, and AJ was probably already in that building, thus the next hour or so was not going to be enjoyable for my Jamie.

I curled my fingers around the crook of his arm and said, “Yes, darling. Let’s go.”

We walked toward the building but didn’t make it when Jamie’s steps stuttered to a halt.

So we all came to a halt.

His head was turned to the right, I looked that way, and I saw a lovely, tanned, robust woman of around my age walking toward us.

“Good Christ. Patty?” Jamie called.

My body tensed when I knew who she was, but the woman grinned largely as she called back, “In the flesh, brother boy.”

Gently, Jamie extricated my hand from his arm, strode purposefully toward the sister he hadn’t seen in years. She’d escaped the Oakley dysfunction by moving to New Zealand, and until this moment, as far as I knew, had never been back on American soil. And this included not going to her own mother’s funeral (though, Jamie told me she did send a beautiful spray of flowers and a loving note to her mother, the reading of which Jamie included in his eulogy). That said, Jamie had gone to New Zealand to see her, though, considering the distance, not frequently.

The instant they were close enough to do so, they embraced.

We all edged toward them, so I heard her say to her brother, “Damn, it’s so good to see you.”

“You too, Patty. You too,” Jamie muttered.

He broke their embrace and turned to us. “Judge, you won’t remember her, because you were a baby when you last saw her, but this is your Aunt Patty.”

She beamed at Judge, before she went to him, cupped his face in her hands and said, “Lord, son. You grew up good.”

“Uh…thanks,” Judge mumbled, his attention going between his dad and his aunt, uncertain which way to come down with the latter, in case, even if it gave no appearances of so being, this was another hit his father was taking.

Yes, Chloe was right.

Judge was indeed overprotective.

It was sweet.

“Congratulations on your boy, Judge,” Patricia went on. “Jamie sent me photos. He’s gorgeous.”

Judge’s, “Thanks again, Aunt Patty,” was a little less hesitant this time.

Patricia turned to Dru and did the same. “Always so beautiful, just like your mother.”

“Nice to see you again, Aunt Patty,” Dru replied.

“This is Rix, Judge’s best bud, and Sully, a good family friend,” Jamie introduced. And after they all shook hands, he turned her to me. “And this is Nora, my future wife, when I get around to giving her a ring.”

My entire body warmed, Patricia laughed, Judge and Dru grinned at each other, and Patricia moved in to embrace me.

“Lovely to meet you,” she said in my ear, giving me a squeeze that was a mite overpowering, but I could take it.

“You as well,” I replied.

We released each other, and she turned to the funeral home. “So, we got this shit to deal with.”

“Yeah,” Jamie agreed.

She looked to Jamie. “You ready to face the tyrant?”

“I’ve been in striking distance, Patty. The question is, are you?” Jamie asked.

“Brother boy, I’ve been psyching up for this for decades .”

Jamie grinned at her, took my hand and curled it around his elbow, then ordered, “Judge, escort your aunt inside.”

Judge offered his arm to Patricia, an offer she accepted, and in we went.

We’d timed it to be latecomers, and although there were a few people loitering in the vestibule, all of them turning our way with interest upon our arrival, Jamie didn’t delay in leading us inside the chapel.

Standing at the back, two highly attractive women, one my age, one younger, both clearly related to each other, both who appeared to be waiting for our arrival, made their way right to us.

“Reid,” Jamie greeted, giving the older woman a hug and me the knowledge of who she was.

Jeff’s ex-wife.

So the younger woman was Greer, his daughter.

They both looked shaken, but neither appeared to be overly grieving or haunted. Perhaps because Jeff had left them, without affection or support, when he was done with his marriage and family.

More hugs, introductions and surprise that Patricia was there were exchanged before Greer announced, “We’re up front.”

“I don’t think—” Jamie started.

“Damn straight we are,” Patricia declared.

She then marched up the aisle to the front.

I had a feeling I was very much going to like Jamie’s sister.

We all followed, and then I didn’t know whether to gasp in shock or bark with laughter when Patricia made it to the first row, stopped, clicked her heels, and saluted AJ, who had Paloma seated beside him, before she greeted loudly, “Commandant Father.”

There were titters among the mourners, and Jamie exhaled an amused sigh.

“On this day, we don’t need your dramatics, Pat,” AJ snapped, an interesting response to seeing his only daughter after decades.

“Of course, I forgot. This is a solemn occasion,” Patricia replied, her tone belying her words.

Apparently, no love lost between Patricia and Jeff either.

AJ shifted in his seat to look at Jamie, and I pressed closer to his side.

“What are you even doing here?” he demanded.

“My brother died,” Jamie drawled.

“Like you give a shit,” AJ spat.

“We all don’t consider family dispensable, AJ,” Jamie retorted.

Was it only me, or did AJ flinch?

I took a moment to regard Paloma.

She was steadfastly faced forward, which was very unlike her. Paloma enjoyed oozing around the edges of a drama, and she was far from a wallflower.

Hmm.

Interesting.

Jamie took me out of my thoughts as he started directing our group to the empty front row opposite AJ and Paloma, which fortunately had ten seats, and that fit our entire crew. Jamie put Reid and Greer closest to the aisle, Patricia next to them, then him, me, followed by Dru, Judge, Rix and Sully.

It wasn’t long before the service started, and it wasn’t lost on me that the pastor who spoke the words had no idea who Jeff was, the light gray casket looked a bit (no other word for it)… cheap , there was a meager arrangement of flowers on top of it, and no other bouquets sent by friends and acquaintances scattered around.

Most awkwardly, when the pastor opened it up, no one came forward to say a few words about Jeff.

I had not met the man, nor had I heard a single word that was positive about him.

But I couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy at this indication of a life so wasted.

I hoped, after it was over, we could get out and huddle in order to invite Patricia, Reid and Greer to enjoy the rest of the day with us. Or try to.

But Patricia had other ideas.

She got up and marched to her father, demanding, “I get it with me. You didn’t have much use for women if they had a brain in their head or you couldn’t sleep with them.”

I pressed my lips together and watched AJ’s face get red, Paloma’s eyes narrow (ah, there was the Paloma I knew), but Patricia was far from done.

“But three of your grandchildren are standing right here, and you haven’t said boo to them.”

“They’ve all been disinherited,” AJ retorted.

“Disinherited from what? Word I hear, you got a load of bupkis to lay on top of your other load of bupkis,” Patricia shot back.

It was official.

I wouldn’t pick the man’s son’s funeral as optimal timing for the messages she had to share.

But I liked her.

“I don’t need this from you. I’m burying my son today,” AJ snapped.

“Like you give a shit,” Patricia was far from done. “The only one you cared about was Andy. Spoiled him so bad, he was useless in life, and died a useless death.”

As an aside, AJ had another boy, his oldest. An inveterate playboy who died while on a yacht in Greece. He’d become inebriated, fell, hit his head then hit the sea. The only saving grace he’d had in his life was being unconscious while he drowned.

“One of the best days of my life was when you moved to a different continent,” AJ returned.

“Thanks, Pop. Worked hard to make you proud,” she sneered.

AJ turned to Paloma, and it wasn’t the first time I noted what an odd pair they were, and this wasn’t only that she was young enough to be his daughter.

She was tall and slender; he was round and squat. She was still a stunner; his personality wasn’t the only unattractive thing about him.

She must be in hell.

“Let’s go, baby,” AJ muttered.

“That two hundred K…” Jamie started.

Both AJ and Paloma turned to Jamie, but I thought it was interesting only Paloma paled.

“Waste of your failing resources,” Jamie finished.

“What are you talkin’ about?” AJ demanded.

Jamie tipped his head to the side as this new development unfolded, before he suggested, “Ask your girlfriend.”

AJ looked up at Paloma.

“Let’s just go, my love,” she mumbled.

AJ stared hard at Paloma as Paloma worked hard not to meet any of our eyes, including AJ’s, and she practically dragged the old man down the aisle.

They didn’t form a two-person reception line to receive condolences.

In fact, they were gone by the time we were out, and Reid, Greer, Jamie and Patricia received perfunctory condolences, though it was clear they all had the “mourners” respect, it was just that none of that was aimed at Jeff.

Most assuredly a sad waste of a life.

When we were alone, and only a few souls lingered in the parking lot, Reid turned to us and invited, “The ranch is a ways away, and if you’re staying in Dallas, makes the return trip farther. But we’d love it if you’d come on over. I’ll put some steaks on the grill and Greer makes a twice-baked potato that can’t be beat.”

“I’m in,” Patricia said immediately.

Jamie’s gaze went through our group, and getting nonverbal assents, he said, “We’ll follow you there.”

“Interested to know what that two hundred K comment was all about,” Patricia stated.

“Me too,” Reid added.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Jamie said.

They sure did.