Read Online Hickory Smoked Homicide by Riley Adams - Free Book Online Page B

for her.”
    “Oh, I was happy to help her out,” said Lulu quickly, “and of course she should be with you now that you’re home—especially until everything gets straightened out with Tristan’s house.”
    Marlowe nodded. “I’m sure Tristan must have left all her things to Steffi. It’s a matter of the will being settled, I guess.”
    “There was no one else that Tristan would have willed her property to?” asked Lulu.
    Marlowe took a big sip of milk, then said, “No one else. Our parents have been long dead; she couldn’t stand her ex-husband, and they’ve been divorced for fifteen years, anyway. And, as I mentioned, she and I weren’t even on speaking terms.”
    Lulu had learned that sometimes she got more information from people if she didn’t say anything—just nodded and waited. Sure enough, Marlowe kept talking.
    “It always was that way,” she said sadly. “It used to really bother me that she and I couldn’t get along. Seemed like every time I turned on the TV there was a sappy greeting-card commercial featuring sisters as best friends. But she was always trying to get the better of me—even back in high school. She sabotaged my cheerleading tryout by mixing a laxative into my soda, and I spent the whole tryout in the restroom. She always flirted with my boyfriends and always managed to steal them away from me. You know her ex-husband? He was my boyfriend first.”
    Marlowe looked reflective. “The worst, though, was when Dad died. He’d willed the bottling company to both of us. It was a disaster from day one. Tristan kept pulling funds from the company for her living expenses—and we needed that capital for the business. A couple of weeks ago, she decided that we should sell the company. I hadn’t spoken to her for ages, when she suddenly called me out of the blue and tried to browbeat me into agreeing with her. Sure, now that she’s run the business totally into the ground she wants to sell it. Dad poured his lifeblood into that company—I wasn’t going to let her unload it for a fraction of what it should have been worth. And what about all the employees who’d worked there practically their entire lives?” Marlowe’s face was flushed.
    “So what’s going to happen to the business now?” asked Lulu slowly. “Will Tristan’s share go to Steffi?”
    Marlowe said, “Who knows? I’d imagine it would go to either Steffi or me. Thinking about it, I’m sure Tristan’s share in the business would go to Steffi, since Tristan liked nothing better than to totally stymie me at every turn. She was furious that she had to consult me for things related to the company. But working with Steffi wouldn’t be a problem at all.”
    Steffi walked into the room with a couple of bags on her shoulders. “A problem with what?” she asked, a frown creasing her face.
    Marlowe waved a hand. “With the bottling company. I was talking about how difficult it was to deal with your mother with the business.”
    Steffi made a face. “I’m not going to have to deal with the business, am I? I don’t know anything about it, and I don’t want to.”
    “We have time to figure that out,” said Marlowe soothingly, “but, of course, at some point soon we’ll need to make some decisions to get the company on track again.”
    Steffi said anxiously, “I’d rather you handle all that, Marlowe. That sounds like something else to worry about, and I’m already overloaded.”
    “We’ll see how things are listed in the will. If you end up with ownership, I can give you advice on what I think is the best course of action for the company,” said Marlowe. “Every decision I’ve made for the bottling company is with your grandfather’s dreams for the business in mind.”
    “Deal!” said Steffi, with obvious relief, as she shifted the bags on her shoulders. Marlowe stood up, “Here, Steffi, let me help you with that.” As they started packing up the cars, Lulu cleaned up the kitchen and couldn’t help