“Hm,” Kerry murmured. “Just tell him you’re out here, and you found something? Will that be enough for him to call off DeSalliers and the wonder twins?”
In the light of day, Dar had been wondering the same thing.
Her plan last night had seemed simple and straightforward, but now she was starting to have doubts. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Maybe I’d feel better if I actually had something under my belt before I call him.”
“You want to visit the government offices first?” Kerry asked.
“Maybe we can dig up some stuff there, and you can just fax it or something. Maybe that’ll be enough.”
And then what? “Okay, that sounds good,” Dar agreed. “You know, Ker, I was thinking—what if the old man was nuts?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Kerry admitted. “But leaving your fortune to charity doesn’t sound very nutty to me, Dar. If he’d left it to Greenpeace after spending a life trolling a net, maybe, but…I checked out the charities. Fisherman’s Home, local firefighters in Boston…a lot of community stuff,” she said. “So I don’t know—maybe he had reason to cut the kids out.”
Dar selected a strawberry, took a bite, and then offered the rest to Kerry. “Money sometimes ruins a family,” she observed. “It changes everything, doesn’t it?”
Kerry didn’t answer immediately. “I guess it does,” she said.
“In my family, it was kind of taken for granted.” She sounded a little surprised. “No one really thought about the money part of it.
It was the power that attracted the attention.” A faint chuckle emerged from her throat. “You know something? They’re executing my father’s will this week, and I never even thought twice about being cut out of it.”
“What would you do if you weren’t?” Dar asked curiously. “I mean, if you found out you were getting something?”
“Donate it to charity,” Kerry answered instantly. “I don’t…want anything from him, from them.” She studied her fork.
“I have everything I’ve ever wanted or needed in you.”
Dar reached over and clasped Kerry’s hand. “Ker, you know I feel the same way. But don’t be shocked if you end up with 226 Melissa Good something in that will after all.” She spoke softly. “But it might not be money.”
Kerry was briefly silent, then she lifted her eyes and met Dar’s.
“Do you know something, or are you just guessing?” she asked quietly.
Dar shook her head. “Just guessing.”
“Or is it because you have the father you do, that you cut mine some slack?” Kerry rested her chin on her hand. “People are bastards, Dar. Fatherhood doesn’t grant them nobility if they didn’t already have it in them.”
“True,” Dar said. “But most people aren’t either totally good or totally bad. You never know.” She eased off the subject, seeing Kerry’s discomfort with it. “At any rate, I think a visit to town is probably a good idea. I’ll hold off contacting Wharton until we’ve got more data available to us.”
Kerry wasn’t quite ready to abandon the conversation, though.
“Do you really think my father had redeeming qualities?” she asked Dar seriously.
“I think he was your father, and that’s enough of a redeeming quality for me,” Dar replied.
Kerry sighed. “I used to think that,” she said. “Maybe part of me still wants to believe it. But…if I believe that, then it makes it all the more difficult for me to accept what I did.”
“Mm.” Dar chafed Kerry’s fingers with her own.
“So it’s easier for me to believe otherwise,” Kerry went on. “I’d rather hate him than hate myself.” She sighed heavily. “So, frankly, I hope I get a sack of coal if I get anything, Dar.”
Ah. “I gotcha.” Dar squeezed her hand.
“Maybe after some time’s passed, I’ll feel differently. But right now, I can’t deal with it.”
“Okay.”
Kerry looked at her. “That’s pretty chickenshit, isn’t it?”
“No.”
“Yes, it is,” Kerry said with a wry chuckle. “But you know, that’s the first time I’ve been able to talk about that since he died, so maybe it’s okay to be a chickenshit for a while.” And it was, she realized. It was as though she’d taken a step back and gained at least a tiny measure of perspective. Was it part of some healing process? Maybe. Kerry felt obscurely better all of a sudden, and she picked up her fork and went after the remainder of her breakfast.
“I’ve got to go to the bank and get that cash out,” Dar suddenly remembered. “Damn, I forgot about that.” She took a mouthful of eggs and chewed them. “Get that done before we go hunting for information.”
“I can’t believe you got Bud and Charlie to agree to let you do that.” Kerry smiled. “I’m glad you did, though.”
Terrors of the High Seas 227
“Well, it’s going to be a loan. They won’t let me get away with giving it to them as a gift,” Dar said. “But the terms’ll be a hell of a lot better than they had.” She shook her head. “Want to come with me?”
“You bet your butt I do.” Kerry finished her fruit juice and stood up. “Be right back.”
Dar watched her duck into the bathroom, then concentrated on clearing her plate as the sound of running water filtered through to her. The decision to do some data mining before confronting their putative adversary was, she thought, a good one. They might find some facts. Dar liked facts. She put them in her pocket and used them like darts, flipping them out and nailing people with them when they least expected it. Facts were good.
Dar drained her coffee cup. She didn’t mind bluffing, but bluffing was always easier when you had something to fall back on.
She stood and wiped her lips, then dropped her napkin on the table.
Her backpack stood mutely in the corner. She went over and lifted it, then slipped it over her shoulders. Kerry came out and joined her at the door and they left the room, heading off to find some facts.
Or some trouble. Or maybe both.
DAR HELD OPEN the door to the Chase Bank, waiting for Kerry to enter and then following her inside. The bank was on the way to the police station and courthouse, so they’d decided to stop there first. Dar pulled off her sunglasses and looked around, then walked across to a small desk with a receptionist behind it.
“Good morning.” The receptionist greeted them with a professional smile. “What can I do for you ladies today?”
“I have a wire transfer I need to pick up,” Dar explained. “It was generated last night.”
“Sure.” The woman glanced behind her to a single desk with a young man at it. “Mr. Steel? Are you free?”
The man looked up. “Yes, I am.”
Dar and Kerry walked over and sat down at the man’s desk.
Dar removed her driver’s license from her wallet and handed it to him. “I requested a wire transfer last night,” she repeated. “From Florida.”
Mr. Steel took the license and put it in the desk, then typed Dar’s name into his computer. He waited, then nodded. “Yes, Ms.
Roberts, we have it.” He leaned closer to the screen. “For… ten thousand American?”
“Yep.”
“Would you like that as a draft, ma’am?”
A draft. Dar considered her memory of Cheapside Guido and sighed inwardly. “Cash,” she replied. “Gimme it in hundreds.”
228 Melissa Good The bank officer frowned. “Ma’am, it’s not a good idea to carry that much currency on your person,” he objected. “Really.”
“I know,” Dar agreed. “But I won’t be carrying it long, hopefully.”
The man still didn’t like it, but he tapped in a request and hit enter. “Okay, let me just get that for you.” He stood and walked to a locked door, keying in a code and disappearing.