Free Never Tease a Siamese: A Leigh Koslow Mystery by Edie Claire Page A

dismissively in the air. "I suppose Ms. Lilah could have another kid out there, but if you ask me, it's just a scam. Ms. Lilah was a big one for pulling hoaxes, and she loved to dangle her money in front of Dean and make him jump through hoops for it. She'd think it was hilarious to make him sweat for five years, not knowing if he was getting the money or not. I can just see her laughing."
    "But, to tell everyone he wasn't really her son!" Leigh said with disbelief. Adith had said the woman was cold, but…
    "He might be adopted," Nikki said casually. "He doesn't look a thing like his parents. But what difference would that make? I'm telling you, all he cares about is the money, anyway."
    Adith had appeared at the bottom of the stairs again, this time looking quite proper. "Thank you so much for your hospitality, Ms.—er…"
    "Just call me Nikki," the younger woman said tonelessly. "And tell that grandson of yours that if he knows what's good for him, he'll stay the hell away from Dean Murchison."
    Adith looked questioningly at Leigh.
    "I'll explain everything later," Leigh replied, and she pulled her companion forcibly toward the door.
     
    ***
     
    Leigh stopped pacing across her parent's small living room and paused to look out their window for the fortieth time. Randall and Frances were not home from Hershey yet. They had not been home any of the twelve times she had called the house earlier, and they had not come home in the last half-hour she had been staked out at their house. Pretty soon, she was going to explode.
    She began the pacing again, wishing for anything to burn off the nervous energy that had kept her up most of the night.
    If the truth comes out, I'll kill you.
    Was the threat from Dean and Rochelle Murchison? They were the obvious candidates. If the mystery heir really did exist, they would be the only ones who stood to gain from that person failing to come forward. Except, of course, for a few choice cat charities. And somehow she doubted that many non-profit veterinary organizations secured their funding through drive-by rock throwings.
    Maybe, incredible as it sounded, Number One Son had swallowed something that pointed to the identity of the real heir. Or maybe Number One Son was only part of the picture. What if, on one of her father’s emergency house calls to the mansion, he had wittingly or unwittingly stumbled across something he shouldn’t? What if he already knew who the real heir was?
    The questions spun maddeningly in her head, as they had since yesterday evening. She wished again that her husband was home, or that their mutual college friend, Detective Maura Polanski, had not been working all night. Both could be counted on to help her make sense out of nonsense, and either would be more effective than she at making Randall take the threat on the rock seriously.
    The grating sound of car wheels on a gravel driveway met her eager ears, and she flew to the window. Her parent's Taurus was pulling into the garage behind the house.
    She went immediately to stand outside the back door, not wishing to give her mother a stroke by appearing in the kitchen like a burglar. Characteristically, however, her mother chose to have a stroke anyway.
    "For heaven's sake, dear!" Frances crooned, her eyes wide as she hurried up the walkway. "Whatever are you doing here? Is Warren all right?"
    Leigh forced a smile. Frances Koslow's lifelong fear of her daughter's accidental and/or foolish demise was topped only by her concern for her sainted son-in-law.
    "Warren's fine, Mom," she assured. "He'll be back from Philly tomorrow night. I just need to talk to Dad."
    Frances eyed her daughter skeptically, then turned her penetrating gaze back on her husband. "What's going on? Is something up at the clinic?"
    "Everything's fine, dear," Randall said mechanically, making his way into the house with a suitcase in each hand and another one under his arm. "Number One Son doesn't need surgery again, does he?" he asked Leigh