Page 100 of See You There

“But you said you wanted—”

“It doesn’t always matter what you want. Sometimes you just have to go with the hand you’ve been dealt. Right now, a two-bit talent agent thinks spinning some stuff about my life will affect me. It won’t.” Luke’s eyes bounced between hers. “I’m not worried about what he says about Dr. Keller’s death. In fact, him publicizing that my father’s will was forged might help me. We’ve been trying to get more attention on the whole thing.”

“Why?”

Luke stared at her for a minute. Emotions raced across his face, but then his head gave an almost imperceptible nod, as if he’d come to a decision. “My siblings and I believe our father was murdered and that the man who died played a role.”

Dahlia gasped. “He killed your father? And the authorities think you killed him in revenge?”

Luke shook his head, his hands moving to shift her off his lap. Dahlia looped her arms around his neck, refusing to budge.

“Uh-uh. You can’t say something like that and then try to escape.”

Luke sighed. “It’s family stuff.”

Dahlia studied his gray eyes. “I literally just told you all of my family’s dirty secrets. Is it really worse than what I told you?”

“There’s not much to tell.”

“I highly doubt that.” Dahlia tightened her arms, and Luke groaned.

“Fine. It’s not like it’s a secret. My father, David Bloom, died after an illness. The man who recently died, Dr. Keller, had been my father’s doctor and close friend for thirty years.” Luke shrugged as if that was the end of the story, but Dahlia scowled.

“You blame him because he couldn’t cure your dad?”

“Of course not. I blame him, because when the will was read, the terms were completely different from what we had been told for years. Instead of my father’s fortune being split among myself and my siblings, it now went completely to his wife. Shortly before his death, Dr. Keller admitted to me he had been part of the plan to forge my father’s will. But he died before I could get his statement witnessed.”

“Why would he do that?”

Luke sagged against the sofa, taking her with him so she rested fully on his chest.

“From what he said, he did it for Courtney, my father’s wife.” Luke’s brows met over his nose. “But he kept referring to her as Crystal. Apparently, they had an affair decades ago, when she was a dancer, and that was her name back then. Somehow, they reconnected a few years ago, and he introduced her to my father. She chose the billionaire over him. Dr. Keller claimed he didn’t know that Courtney would kill my father, but he had no problem helping her steal my inheritance.

“It’s a convenient excuse though, because Dr. Keller must have expected my father would die before he realized the deception. Both Dr. Keller and his son Chris, who coincidentally was my brother Declan’s best friend, were the only witnesses to the new will.”

“But if he didn’t get any money, why would he help her?”

Luke took one hand from her waist and rubbed his head. “When I spoke to him, Dr. Keller was loopy from the medication he was on. He kept saying that he did it for his ‘sons’—plural. We only knew of the one, Chris. At the time, I thought it was the narcotics, but later when I listened to the recording, I realized he’s said it too many times to be an accident.”

He chewed at his lip. “I think Dr. Keller must be the father to one of Courtney’s sons. They would benefit from their mother inheriting. She’s already made Matt the CEO of my father’s media company, and then she bought Peachtree Pictures for both him and her younger son, Trey. I can’t think of any other reason Dr. Keller would help her.”

“Did he actually say Crystal… Courtney… whatever her name is, murdered your father? You said you had a recording. Couldn’t you take that to the police?” Dahlia’s eyes were wide.

“No, not exactly.” Luke stared at where his fingers were tracing a pattern over her arm, lost in thought. “He kept saying ‘they’ but never said any specific names. But he was on painkillers from heart surgery so it wouldn’t be admissible as evidence.”

“What do the police say?”

Luke’s lips quirked. “Well, first of all, they seem to think that I killed Dr. Keller, but—”

“No, I mean about your father’s murder.”

Luke let out an angry laugh, his fingers stilling. “My father officially died of natural causes. Dr. Keller himself signed thedeath certificate, and Courtney refused an autopsy. She had him cremated before any of us were even notified.”

“But on television, they always order an autopsy if the authorities think it is a suspicious death. Wasn’t your dad high-profile?”

“Maybe they would have if it were sudden, but like I said, he’d been sick. Tested for all kinds of cancers, poisons… Declan has the medical records. That’s part of our problem. We can’t even prove hewasmurdered.”

Dahlia looked up at the ceiling. “There are poisons that can’t be detected until after death. That could be why she had him cremated?”