Read Online Chill Factor by Chris Rogers - Free Book Online Page B

though she knew Ralph was ladling bullshit, the sincerity in his voice made her feel
engagingly
ratty.
    “Thanks, Ralph.” When he sat down in one of the uncomfortable white sling chairs Dixie always avoided, she repeated a shortened version of what she’d told Belle earlier. At the part where she mentioned identifying the body, Dixie underscored the overwhelming transformation in Edna’s looks.
    Ralph and Belle exchanged a glance.
    Dixie sat up straighter. “Why do I get the idea you two aren’t as shocked as I am?”
    Ralph’s gaze flitted from Belle past Dixie to the expanse of sky beyond the windows. “Evidently, you hadn’t talked with Mrs. Pine in a while.”
    Dixie shook her head.
    He glanced at Belle again, who nodded.
    “Mrs. Pine came to the office in … February,” Ralph said guardedly. “To redraft her will. And the transformation, as you say, from the last time I’d seen her, during the probate of her sister’s will—”
    “What? Edna’s sister died?” Her
younger
sister, if Dixie remembered right. Divorced, she’d turned her home in the Galveston historical area into a bed-and-breakfast. The one time Dixie stayed there, she’d been impressed. Her neighbor’s sister was gregarious … and very different from Aunt Edna.
    “Died of a massive stroke,” Ralph said, “barely a month after Mrs. Pine buried her husband.”
    Why didn’t I know this?
Dixie shrugged away the guilt phantom that attempted to slither into her mind.
    “Edna would’ve inherited her sister’s business, assuming the IRS and creditors left anything.” Dixie was guessing, but as she recalled, Marty and Edna’s sister had been the only family at Bill’s funeral.
    “Mrs. Pine came out all right on that,” Ralph admitted.
    In Ralph Drake terms,
all right
when applied to money meant “very well indeed.” So Edna’s estate when she elected to rob Texas Citizens Bank should’ve included any retirement money she and Bill had saved up, plus the insurance settlement for Bill’s death, plus whatever amount her business-savvy sister had bequeathed her, and possibly a second insurance payment.
    “You say Edna came here in February. Why? Her sister’s death would’ve left her with only one heir. Her son, Marty.”
    Ralph shrugged, crossing his legs as if uncomfortable.
    “Didn’t you counsel Edna to draft a new will after she inherited?”
    “Of course.” Ralph looked indignant. “We handled that immediately.”
    “Then what changes did she make in February?”
    “
Madonna mia!
You know I can’t tell you that.”
    “Something must’ve struck you as unusual, Ralph, or you and Belle wouldn’t look like you’d swallowed sour milk.”
    He shook his head.
    Absurd to expect a lawyer to part with client information, but dammit, Dixie was practically family to Edna. She was certainly Aunt Edna’s friend. And Marty’s friend. And
Belle’s
friend.
And
a fellow lawyer.
    “Ralph, if you allowed Edna Pine to do something irresponsible—”
    “It’s not my job to tell a client how to distribute her estate.”
    “How much money are we talking about?”
    Again, he shook his head.
    “Didn’t you also handle some business transactions for Marty? That makes
him
your client, too. Did you at least notify Marty that his mother made ‘unusual’ modifications in his inheritance?”
    Ralph raised an eyebrow in a manner that suggested Dixie had “dolt” branded on her forehead. Telling Marty—or anyone—the terms of Edna’s latest will would’ve been highly inappropriate. Dixie knew that, but dammit, wasn’t it equally inappropriate to let Edna throw her money away?
    “Your client Edna Pine just robbed a bank,” Dixie reminded him. “She shot and seriously wounded a police officer—not what I’d call rational behavior, Ralph. Are you saying she was totally rational when she came in here three months ago?”
    “I saw no reason to believe otherwise.”
    “Then why are you squirming in that chair like a kid