“I told you, I already have. A battery of them. They’ve all muttered their magical incantations and read their chicken bones—and they’re in complete agreement.”
Ryan got to his feet and paced across the room. “There’s got to be something you can do.”
“There isn’t.”
“Something I can do, then!”
“There is.”
Ryan swung around. “What? Tell me, and I’ll do it.”
“Will you?” James said softly. “Can I count on you to do something that may, at first glance, seem...difficult?”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Have I ever let you down, sir?”
The old man smiled. “No. No, you have not.”
“Tell me what you want and I’ll take care of it.”
James hesitated, then cleared his throat.
“I had a visitor last week,” he said. “Two visitors, actually. Your brother’s widow—and his stepdaughter.”
Ryan frowned at the abrupt change in topic. “Bettina came to see you?”
“Yes. With her daughter, the offspring of husband number one, Gordon’s unlucky predecessor twice removed.”
“But why? I mean, Gordon’s been dead more than a year.”
“Oh, Bettina babbled on and on about family for a while but eventually she got down to basics.”
“I’ll bet.” Ryan’s tone was harsh. “What did she want?”
“Money. Not that she said so. Whatever else she is, Bettina’s not stupid. She’d never be so obvious.”
“She’s obvious enough. The only one who never saw through her was Gordon.”
“Evidently he did, at the end.”
“What do you mean?”
“He not only left Bettina, he cut her out of his will.”
Ryan’s eyebrows angled in surprise. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. He left his money to charity and his house in San Francisco to me.”
“Damn,” Ryan said softly. A slow grin crept over his mouth. “Now Bettina wants you to do something about it.”
“What she wants, as she so delicately put it, is for me to remember that she is one of us.”
“The hell she is!”
James nodded. “I agree. But there are other considerations.”
“What other considerations? The woman’s no good. She must have slept in a hundred different beds before she set her sights on Gordon.”
“Including yours?”