“Yes, so if she thinks Bobby killed Ray, she could blame herself.”
“If she saw him change form and go out the window as a leopard, she has to know that when he shifted back to human, he’d be passed out solid for hours. He still passes out like a newbie shapeshifter. It’s how the sheriff and the deputies got him to the cell without a fuss,” I said.
“Maybe he just comes back into his bedroom and passes out without Jocelyn knowing,” Newman said.
“She’s lived with Bobby shapeshifting for ten years. Trust me, when you live with a shapeshifter, you learn their patterns.”
“Lying about the affair could be embarrassing, but lying about Bobby being in human form when she left the house has only one explanation,” Edward said.
“To set him up for the murder,” I said.
“Many people would believe he came back into the house and simply killed the victim because he was a wild animal,” Olaf said.
“Everyone says that Bobby had really good control over his beast,” I said.
“Humans always believe that shapeshifters are but an impulse away from murder.”
“Besides, Anita, you saw Bobby react to the details about Ray’s death,” Newman said. “He almost shifted form in his cell with us there.”
“I can debate the whole humans-think-all-shapeshifters-are-dangerous thing, but I can’t argue that. So, do we believe that Jocelyn is hiding the affair because if Bobby killed their father, she’s not in love with him anymore?” I asked.
“It could be simpler than that, Anita,” Edward said.
I looked at him. “I’m listening. Simple would be nice on this case.”
“She believes he’s a murderer. She knows that means he’s a dead man walking. She thinks he’ll be executed within hours of the crime. She can either be the only survivor of a family tragedy or the girl who fucked her brother and drove him to kill their father. Which would you rather be when the dust settles?”
I thought about that for a few seconds and then finally nodded. “Point made, and if she had changed her story only after the murder, I’d agree completely, but she was telling the cook and her friend at least a week before the murder that Bobby was harassing her.”
“Point to you, and there’s the money. With Bobby dead, her share goes up.”
r /> “We don’t know that yet,” Newman said. As if on cue his phone rang. It was Leduc. Newman made some hmm noises, then said, “Thanks, Duke.”
We looked at him and waited for him to share. When he didn’t, I broke first and said, “Well?”
“Bobby got most of the money, the art and family antiques. Jocelyn got the house, the grounds, and contents that didn’t fall under art or family pieces. The art and family heirlooms are another fortune if Bobby sold them for the appraised value. With him dead, she inherits most of the family fortune and still gets the grounds and a lot more of the contents. The family portraits and some of the other art goes to a museum along with an endowment for a new wing or building. Apparently, Ray didn’t trust anyone but Bobby with the family history and the more important pieces of art.”
“Muriel and Todd were trying to steal and sell the art before the body was cold, so he was right on that,” I said.
“Ray never adopted Jocelyn formally because she inherits money from her father, but only if she retained his name. She also inherits a trust fund that holds her mother’s money from modeling, acting, song copyrights, et cetera . . . She gets access to it when she turns thirty-five. But she’s not legally a Marchand, and there are some trusts and older wills going back a couple of generations that make it impossible for her to get some of the family heirlooms, so the endowment was to protect it all from Muriel and her husband.”
“Wait. Everyone calls her Jocelyn Marchand here,” I said.
“But on her driver’s license and all legal documents she’s still Jocelyn Warren, or that’s what the lawyers told Duke.”
“How much more does everyone inherit with Bobby and Ray Marchand dead?” Edward asked.
“Ray’s sister and brother-in-law go from nothing to about two million.”
“And Jocelyn?” I asked.
“If she sold all the real estate and liquidated the investments, it’s at least two billion.”
“Did you say billion?” I asked.
Newman nodded.
“And what did she get if Bobby lived?” Edward asked.