Page 10 of The Murder Club

“No.” Bailey instinctively took a step back, as if to remove herself from the preposterous conversation.

“Yes,” Ward insisted. “I personally made the changes and it was notarized by my secretary.”

Bailey tried to imagine being handed a check for twenty thousand dollars. Just yesterday she’d sent off the final payment for having her roof replaced and wondered if she should take out a new loan to update her plumbing, now . . .

She shook her head. “This is madness.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Lorene retorted, her voice sharper than usual.

Bailey ignored her, her gaze locked on the lawyer. “You said you were going to invite me to your office today.”

“Yes, I don’t usually conduct my business in this manner.”

“What happened to change your mind?”

Genuine annoyance tightened the man’s broad features. “I was unfortunately out of the country when Nellie passed. I didn’t return until late last night, but I assumed that the funeral would be held today, and I planned to arrange the reading of the will after that. That was my normal process.” He glanced toward the door, as if ensuring it was closed. “Instead, Gabe Warren unexpectedly had his mother cremated just a day after she died and even more unexpectedly arrived at my house before the sun rose this morning. He was in a hurry to get his hands on—” He halted, clearing his throat. “I mean, to claim his inheritance.”

The disbelief that had wrapped Bailey in a strange sense of numbness was shattered by Ward’s grim tone. She’d been so shocked by the thought of Nellie leaving her a small fortune, it hadn’t crossed her mind that the inheritance might affect anyone else. Now her stomach twisted with an intense dread.

“And you told him that his mother had left me her life savings?”

“Yes. He was unhappy.” Ward grimaced. “To say the least.”

Lorene sniffed. “He was so unhappy he arrived here an hour ago, warning that he’s going to the sheriff with a complaint that you coerced his mother into altering her will.”

Bailey stiffened. Gage Warren was a large, aggressive man who’d managed to argue with every citizen in Pike. Which no doubt explained why the lumberyard that had been so successful when Nellie was in charge had declined into an empty shell.

“That’s ridiculous,” she breathed.

“I’m not done,” Lorene snapped. “He also warned me that he wants an investigation into his mother’s death.”

Bailey shuddered. The last investigation into a death in Pike had been the start of a killing spree.

“Why?”

“He wants to know if there was anything . . . unnatural in his mother’s death,” Lorene said.

“Unnatural?” Bailey was momentarily baffled. Nellie had died of a heart attack, so why would he . . . The breath was squeezed from her lungs. “Oh my God, he’s suggesting she was deliberately killed?”

Lorene glared at her. “That’s exactly what he’s suggesting.”

Bailey pressed a hand over her racing heart, feeling sick to her stomach. She didn’t think for a second that Gage actually cared what happened to his mother. The only time he showed up at the nursing home was when he needed her to write a check to keep the lumberyard out of bankruptcy.

“I don’t believe this,” she breathed.

Lorene sniffed, her pale skin flushing with a rare display of emotion. “Believe it or not, you’ve created a very unpleasant situation.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Whether you did or didn’t, I can’t allow people to fear that their loved ones are no longer safe at Pike Nursing Home.”

Bailey jerked, her horror at the thought of Gage blaming her for his mother’s death replaced by a stunning realization that her life was being turned upside down.

“Are you firing me?”

“Until the investigation is finished—”

“Wait,” Bailey interrupted. “There’s actually going to be an investigation?”