Free Summer Snow by Rebecca Pawel Page B

just tell me? There’s nothing startling about the will, is there? Nothing that would make someone think Doña Rosalia was murdered?”
    “Of course not!” Oddly, the lieutenant’s suggestion about murder seemed to make Don Pablo more calm. “No one killed her, Carlos. It’s just that, well, you know what she was like. It was inevitable that she’d quarrel a bit with her children, and some of the bequests are a bit . . . inequitable. I’m just afraid that Daniela and Felipe will feel that their portions are unjust. I don’t want you to get caught up in a family squabble.”
    “Her children inherited her gift for quarreling?” Tejada suggested dryly.
    “Don’t speak ill of your elders.” The lawyer’s response was mechanical, but his voice was friendly. “Trust me, Carlito. I’ve been in this business since before you were born, and I’ve seen how even close families can become enemies over estates. You don’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest.”
    Tejada nodded. He doesn’t see the Guardia when he talks to me, he thought. Just Carlito, who can’t be trusted not to start a family squabble . I should have worn a uniform. And Nilo would have liked it . “All right,” he said aloud. “I’ll try to avoid upsetting anyone. But if my aunt was killed—”
    Don Pablo laughed. His godson would have sworn that the laughter was genuine. “She wasn’t. Believe me. Ask your father about the bequests tonight, and likely he’ll explain the whole thing to you.”
    Tejada made his farewells, wondering why Don Pablo was so certain that his father did not believe Doña Rosalia had been murdered. Maybe Elena was wrong , he thought, as he left the office. Maybe no one actually thinks Rosalia was murdered. But then, why all the trouble to get me here to investigate? And why pester Rivas? But if Father and Don Pablo are saying two different things, maybe they don’t trust each other. Why? With a sinking feeling Tejada realized he had committed himself to cross-examining his father, exactly the course of action he had hoped to avoid by interviewing Don Pablo. When he reached the ground floor, Nilo emerged from under the stairs to wish him well and remind him of their evening engagement. Tejada answered affectionately, if a little absently, and regained some of his good humor.
    The day was cool and windy, and he enjoyed the brief walk back to the toy store. Elena and Toño were not there, but when he asked the proprietor about the whereabouts of a little boy who liked trains, the man nodded immediately. “With the lady in the gray suit, Señor? You just missed them. They said they were going to get ice creams at the Suizo.”
    Tejada thanked the man and sought out his family at the place they had arranged to meet. He found them at a table by the window, with three seats arranged around it. Elena and Toño occupied two of the seats. The third, the lieutenant saw when he attempted to sit down, was taken by a stuffed lion half the size of Toño.
    “That’s Rodrigo’s seat,” the little boy informed him. “But you can share with him. He doesn’t mind.”
    Tejada raised his eyebrows at his wife. “Rodrigo?” he asked as he sat down, obediently placing the stuffed animal in his lap.
    “First I was going to get trains,” Toño explained. “But then Mama said we didn’t have room to take home enough to be fun.”
    “He wanted the deluxe set with enough track to reproduce the entire RENFE network,” Elena murmured. “We would have had to ship it separately, or get another trunk.”
    “And then I was going to get toy soldiers,” Toño continued, oblivious of the interruption. “But they were expensive and heavy and I thought that maybe Quico could make wooden ones for me when I got home, so I got Rodrigo instead.” He indicated the big cat fondly. “But the man said I could go back tomorrow to play with the trains again.”
    “I see.” Tejada scratched Rodrigo’s ears. He caught his wife’s eye and murmured,