Read Online Miss Ruffles Inherits Everything by Nancy Martin - Free Book Online Page B

still.
    Miss Ruffles wasn’t the only one upset. I struggled to control my voice as I said, “I’m not the only suspicious part of this story. Your father and grandfather—Honeybelle went to their office almost every day for the last two weeks. They were rewriting her will, weren’t they?”
    â€œThat’s none of your—”
    â€œAll I’m saying is, if she rewrote it and died almost right away—doesn’t that make you wonder what was going on in Honeybelle’s life?”
    He frowned. “What was going on?”
    I felt myself getting emotional. I didn’t want to tell him what Honeybelle had said about being murdered. I’d sound silly if I blurted out the idea that maybe she had made quick arrangements about Miss Ruffles because she had seen some kind of threat building against her. But the man’s “bumping off” wisecrack after the funeral was suddenly jumbled up in my mind with a million dollars, a million dollars! And I was thinking Honeybelle’s death hadn’t been natural at all. I shoved that thought back down where it belonged and heard myself say instead, “A lot was going on. There was a big feud at the garden club meeting. Honeybelle felt all her friends abandoned her. And the next thing you know, the college president was bleeding on her rug. And then she dies—a perfectly healthy woman has a heart attack out of the blue—and her nurse takes off like … like there’s a fire somewhere.” I saw him bite back a smile and decided not to mention the squabble over a wedding and family members measuring the house to move in practically before the funeral music faded. Maybe this kind of conflict was business as usual in Texas, but it felt like one big dangerous carnival ride to me. Plus a million dollars, a million dollars! I tried to get a grip and failed. “Now her new lawyer shows up on a horse! It’s just … it was very complicated around here.”
    â€œHoneybelle was a smart lady. She could handle complicated,” Ten said. “But she was a soft touch, too. She kept those two old folks around the house way past their expiration dates just because. A lot of people used that softness for their own profit. Maybe you did, too.”
    â€œNo,” I said firmly, stubbornly. “Not me. I liked and respected Honeybelle. I’d return everything she’s already paid me to have her back.”
    â€œThat’s big talk.”
    â€œShe was a wonderful person.” A lot like my mother, I almost said.
    He eyed me a while longer, absorbing the tumult of emotions that surely showed on my face. He must have drawn a conclusion, because he finally said, “That’s good to hear. Because if you turn out to be a con artist who played a nice lady like a deck of cards, you’re going to be in a heap of trouble.” All of his earlier pleasantness evaporated, he said, “From now on, a lot of people are going to be watching you. Me included.”

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
    You tell a gelding. Ask a stud. Discuss it with a mare. And pray to God Almighty if it’s a pony.
    â€”HORSEMAN’S ADVICE
    My mother used to say that field research was a lot like camping. You could have clean pants or dry pants, but you couldn’t have both. That’s how I felt as I wrestled Miss Ruffles outside, where she promptly ran away and tried to dig under the gate to get to Ten Tennyson’s horse. By the time I reached her, she had a sizable hole started and was covered in dirt. Unimpressed, Hondo dozed. And I could have Honeybelle alive or a million dollars, a million dollars! But not both.
    I refilled the hole as best I could, glad to have something to do while I thought about Ten’s threat.
    And a million dollars . A million. It was hard to think about anything else with that number whirling around in my head.
    Honeybelle had liked me well enough, but I had no idea she thought so