Free The Billionaire's Will by Marti Talbott Page A

Carl would like to visit the country club the Connellys belong to. Can you get him in?”
    “No problem, I am a member too. It’s the Fillmore Country Club and I’ll let them know he is my guest.”
    “Thanks.” Jackie hung up and turned to Carl. “Go, maybe you can catch him there this afternoon.”
    Carl dug something out of his briefcase, and stood up. “On my way, Boss.”
    *
    At a little past nine o’clock in the evening, Jackie got up from the dining room table and stretched. “Why don’t we take a break and watch the reading of the will?”
    “Good idea, let me get the coffee going again,” said Michael. He went to the kitchen, started yet another pot, and then plopped down on the sofa beside Carl.
    “Ready,” she asked.
    The video flickered to life on the big screen TV and showed Austin sitting at his desk. “This is Austin Steel and we are about to read Nicholas Gladstone’s Last Will and Testament. With me are…”
    “Just get on with it,” a man’s voice demanded in the background.
    “Enter Mathew Connelly,” Michael guessed, even before Austin switched the camera view to the Connellys.
    “Very well.” Austin got up and walked arou nd to the front of his desk. He leaned his back against it and folded his arms. “All of Nick’s estate goes to Georgia Marie James.”
    “What?” Mathew shouted , rising up out of his chair.
    “Stop the tape,” said Carl , scooting up to sit on the edge of his seat. “Rewind and watch Laura.”
    Jackie did as he requested.
    “…Nick’s estate goes to Georgia Marie James.”
    “Play it again,” said Michael. “I can’t quite make out what Laura said. ”
    Jackie started it from the beginning again. “Who,” said Carl, slapping his knee. “Laura is asking ‘who?’ Play it again, Jackie.”
    She played it twice more before Michael agreed. “Well I’ll be darned, Laura doesn’t recognize the name.”
    “Austin said we would be fascinated.” Jackie backed the video up, and played it one more time. “Think she’s faking it?”
    “Doesn’t look like it to me,” said Carl.
    “Me either,” said Michael, “but I wonder how drunk she was when this was taped.”
    “I’ll ask Au stin, he will know. Let’s keep going, shall we?” Jackie let the video continue.
    Mathew’s fists were clenched and his face was red with anger. “What nonsense is this?”
    “It is not nonsense, she is your daughter.”
    “She is not our daughter, we don’t have any children,” Mathew insisted.
    “Jackie, stop the tape again,” said Michael. “Look at Laura. She’s got her head down as though she is deep in thought. What do you make of that?”
    “Without knowing her, it’s hard to say. She could be trying to hide her emotions or…” Jackie started.
    “Or thinking about that next drink,” Carl suggested.
    “She looks a little pleased to me,” said Michael. “I wish she would look up.”
    Jackie let the video keep going.
    “Come on, Laura, I know how to handle this,” Mathew was saying. He took hold of his wife’s arm and practically dragged her out of Austin’s office.
    “Let’s see that again.” Jackie started the video again from the beginning , and then paused it at different intervals.
    “What do you see?” Michael asked.
    “I see a huge, black diamond ring on his finger and no jewelry on his wife.”
    Carl scoffed, “The jerk probably sold all of hers to pay his gambling debts.”
    “That’s probably it,” said Jackie.
    “If he truly has gambling debts,” Michael put in. “He might have socked a lot of money away for a rainy day. How hard would it be, to go to a cash machine in a casino and run a card several times until you reach five thousand a week?”
    “Good point,” said Jackie. “ Michael, see if you can find a hidden bank account here in the states.”
    “Things have changed since we came out of retirement, you know. Banks are more secure these days. To do that,” Michael continued, “we’d have to know which