Page 11 of See You There

“My son isn’t evil. He’s gotten caught in her web. I know how easy that is. He doesn’t realize what she’s capable of.” The doctor’s voice had taken on a dreamy quality, and Luke realized he didn’t have long before the window to get coherent information out of the man closed.

“I’m sure he’s not. Were he and Courtney involved before my father’s death?”

Before Luke’s trip to Rhode Island, Luke and James had come up with a list of questions they thought were the most important. With Dr. Keller’s brain succumbing to the narcotics, this walk down memory lane needed to end.

“I don’t think so… I don’t know.” Dr. Keller shook his head sadly. “So much I didn’t know. If I’d known… I would have been a good father.” He looked earnestly at Luke. “I would have taken care of him. Done better this time.”

Luke frowned. “I’m sure you did the best you could with Chris—What do you remember about my father’s death?”

“Courtney called me. She said he was gone.” Elliot Keller blinked slowly. “I wasn’t surprised. He was failing… I was sad.” His voice became a whisper. “David and I had our differences. He could be cruel, dismissive, myopic… He didn’t care who he hurt, who he rolled over, as long as he was happy.” His mouth twisted.

Luke didn’t disagree with the man’s assessment of his father. However, Dr. Keller had always appeared happy regarding his relationship with David Bloom. Luke would never have guessed this resentment lingered beneath the surface. He would bet his father hadn’t either. Even if he had, would David Bloom have cared?

“Is that why he died? Because of how he treated people?”

“What?” Elliot Keller’s chin sagged toward his chest.

Luke held in a sigh and tried again. “Why do you think he died?”

“Greed. She has always been so greedy. Nothing is ever enough. It’s why she chose him. I thought when she found me again, it was because she cared… It could have worked… my son… But then she met David, and I couldn’t compete. He always won.” Despite the low tone, the man’s bitterness was clear. “And then he had my son, too.”

“Chris?”

The doctor’s forehead wrinkled in a confused frown. “No, Courtney’s son. I would do anything for my children. Anything. I made mistakes trying to help them. I should never have gone along with the will.”

Children?Luke leaned forward, ignoring the man’s confusion and latching on to the important word. “The will? You witnessed it. Did my father write the new will?” This was it, the crux of the situation.

Keller looked away. “I didn’t understand completely what she was doing. I hoped that if I helped her, she might love me again.”The man’s eyes were wet. “I trusted her. At the reading I was horrified, but it was too late. If I admitted what we’d done… I never dreamed she would go so far… that she would do that to you, to Cara…I didn’t read the whole thing. Just signed where she told me.”

A tear slipped down his wrinkled cheek. “I only wanted to help my family. David owed me that! But then, after Cara told me David feared he was being poisoned… I started thinking about the other things. The woman… What I told David about the accident.”

Luke’s stomach burned, and a lump rose in his throat. “The accident. Do you mean the car accident with Declan’s Porsche? Who was really driving the car? Who was the woman in the picture? The one who died?”

Dr. Keller’s mouth worked, and finally he shook his head. “No, the other one. He brought her to me, and I fixed her up. I wasn’t told someone had died until later.”

Luke’s heart pounded. There was another woman! A witness. Someone who could tell them who had been driving Declan’s car. That information could presumably lead them to whoever manipulated the photos to make it appear as if Luke’s brother had been responsible. “Where is she now?”

“I don’t know. Vincent paid her off.”

“Vincent Menardi?” Luke’s mind raced. Declan had been trying to track down the former head of Bloom security to find out what he might have seen on the estate in the last months of his father’s life. But if he knew about the witness… “Does Vincent know who the driver was?”

“She told him it was Declan. Vincent wanted to protect the family. So loyal.”

Luke’s hands curled into fists. “Courtney did this? She was driving?”

“No, but they were her girls.”

Girls?“What do you mean?”

The older man’s eyelids drooped.

“Dr. Keller, how did my father die? Did someone poison him?” Luke clapped his hands in front of the doctor’s face, and his eyes flew open. “Do you know who poisoned my father?”

The man’s mouth worked, tears leaking freely.

“You suspect Courtney?” Luke pressed.

Keller took a gasping breath. “I never thought they would actually kill him.”