Liberty...And Justice for All (20 page)

“What’s the point of breathing if you look like shit?” Catherine shot back. She was wearing a silk orange strapless romper and six small gold chain necklaces; she had on full-battle makeup and bronze spiked heels.

“How does Corey like your
romper
?” I asked, sarcastically.

“He thinks it’s hot.”

“Well, John thinks my capri leggings and t-shirts are hot,” I said, defensively.

“That’s ‘cause he’s a crazy old man,” she said. Undeterred, she kept fluffing pillows. She stood back and surveyed the pool area. “This looks good.”

“It does,” I said, agreeing with her in spite of myself. “It looks like a luxury hotel pool.”

“Mission accomplished,” Catherine said. She started marching towards the house. “Now, we have welcome baskets to prepare. Let’s move it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled, following her into my house.

T
he guests were scheduled
to begin arriving at five; by four, I was completely exhausted. Catherine had run me ragged all day.

“Is it wine o’clock yet?” I begged.

“Not until you take a shower and put the clothes on that I picked out for you. They’re in your room. John knows which ones.”

“Yes ma’am,” I mumbled again, probably for the fiftieth time that day.

“I’m rethinking this whole Catherine-staying idea,” I huffed to John when I got back to our room.

“I’m not surprised.” He held up a pair of black leather mini-shorts. “This is what you’re wearing tonight.”

“No way!” I said, snatching them out of his hands. I wrinkled my nose at them. “I think she bought into the style at Fierce a little too much.”

“I don’t know,” John said, looking at the shorts dreamily, “I don’t mind them.”

“I’m not sure how this is going to go,” I said. I tore through my clothes for something that Catherine might approve of, but that I wouldn’t need a Brazilian bikini wax to wear.

“You guys have a plan. It’ll be fine. I’m sorry I can’t come out and help,” John said. He winced a little as he pulled himself up straighter.

I went over and kissed him softly on top of the head. “We need you better.
I
need you better. And we don’t actually have a plan,” I said. “What we have is a list of appetizers, and the furniture arranged outside in an attractive fashion, and gift baskets. That’s about it. Except for Catherine’s scheme, which involves lots of booze and bikinis.”

“She’s pretty resourceful. So are you,” he said. “If you two can handle a Mexican drug cartel and a bunch of Las Vegas drug dealers, I think you can handle your family.”

“I think the Las Vegas people handled us, actually,” I said, “and from what I’ve seen, my family might be just as bad.” I turned to him. “I just don’t know who hates me enough out of them to bother doing this. They’re
all
coming—and by my last count, only one of them actually likes me.”

“So what are you going to do with them?”

“I think I’m going to act like this is a
mea culpa
—when they’re all here, I’m going to tell them I found the necklace. I’m going to apologize for ever troubling them with my non-existent problem. If nothing else, it’ll throw them off. Maybe it’ll get a reaction out of the thief. Make them wonder what I have. Which is nothing.”

John smiled at me. “It’s not like it’s ever stopped you before.”

“Ha ha,” I said. “I’m not feeling confident about this.” In fact, I was filled with dread.

“If we have to, we can pull them each aside and interrogate them. I can do a little persuading,” he said, and cracked his knuckles.

“You need to rest.” I frowned at him. “Besides, Catherine’s all over that. She’s got the guys scheduled to go through each of their rooms to search them.”

“Do you think they’re going to bring the necklace here?”

“Only if they want to frame someone else. I don’t know if this is about only me,” I said. I’d wondered about that, whether this was partly an attack on Alexandra. I wondered if one of our siblings wanted to punish her—not only for being her father’s favorite, but for helping me and being kind to me.

“You can’t rule Alexandra out as a suspect,” John said, as if he was reading my thoughts. “I think she’s sincere, but we haven’t known her for that long.”

“I know,” I said. The truth was, it would break my heart if she was guilty. But she’d given me the necklace in the first place and she didn’t have to. She could have chosen to ignore our father’s wishes and kept it for herself.

“I don’t think it’s her, though—and not just because I care about her. It’s because she gave the necklace to me off the books. Eric only told her about it, as far as I know. She could have just kept it for herself and avoided the whole thing.”

“Okay,” John said. “See? You’re further ahead than you thought. Alexandra is most likely out. One down, three to go? Do I have that right?”

“Four,” I said. “Katrina, Jacoby, Robert, and Marks. I’m not ruling him out.”

“Marks does suck,” John agreed. “It would be perfect if he were the guilty party—because then we could beat him up.”

“Jacoby and Robert are just as bad. Katrina was, too.”

John squeezed my hand. “So let’s wait and see which evil new relative is the guilty party. Play it out.”

“Famous last words,” I said.

He folded his enormous biceps across his chest. “Are they famous? I hadn’t realized.”

“Are you flexing?” I asked, feeling myself heat up just looking at him.

“Just a little, babe. Now get going. You have cocktails to drink and a thief to catch. Oh, and Therese Granger to meet. Ian says she’s very nice.”

“Are you okay with that? With him…dating?” I asked.

“I had Matthew run a background check on her—she’s clear, and she has her own money. And she thinks it’s cool that Ian has a helicopter. So yes, as long as Ian’s happy, I’m happy. It’s been a long time coming.”

I nodded—in my heart, I hoped she was wonderful. Because Ian was the best.

“I’m going to tell everyone that you’re on bed rest and can’t be disturbed,” I said, going to change. “But I might need to run in here periodically for refuge and counsel.”

“I can give you both of those,” he said, his biceps bulging.

“Stop flexing. I can’t tackle you, and I can’t take much more.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, and flexed again.

I sighed, aching for him, and made myself get quickly dressed. I chose a black satin miniskirt and a silky, blush-colored tank top. Even though it was still short, the skirt was a good three inches longer than the shorts Catherine had picked out for me.

She would not approve, but John did.

He let out a low whistle when I came out. I twirled for him. “Is this okay?” I asked.

“Yes. You look beautiful and sexy without wearing leather shorts. I approve.”

“I can only do leather shorts for you, from now on. I’m yours.”

“Yes, you are,” John said. “I’ll put these someplace safe.” He picked up the tiny shorts and neatly folded them.

“Now, go out there and go get ‘em. Then I’m going to grade your strategy. I want to see how you and Catherine do in a controlled environment, for once.”

“I’m being graded? This is a test?”

“Maybe it is. You can do this, babe. I know you can. And I’m right here if you need me to shoot somebody. It’d be my pleasure.”

“Of course it would be.”

He gave me a lopsided smile and I blew him a kiss. And then, taking a deep breath, I went out to meet my family.

T
hankfully
, Marks and Alexandra arrived first.

“Hi,” I said, pulling her in for a hug.

Alexandra pulled back and smiled at me. Her hair fell in dark, thick waves around her perfect, heart-shaped face. “It’s so generous of you to have everyone here, after the way you were treated,” she said.

“It seemed to me you were treated appropriately,” Marks said, coming up behind Alexandra and smiling at me tightly.

“It was all a little awkward,” I said, trying to sound apologetic.

Marks and I just stared at each other for a beat.

“Well, let me show you to your room,” Catherine said, bustling towards them and breaking the tension. “Then we can have cocktails while we wait for the others.”

Alexandra patted me on the arm and they followed her out when the doorbell rang again.

I took a deep breath and opened it. There was Robert, looking as sour as ever, but also a little curious. He had on an impeccably-pressed shirt, dark jeans and immaculate dress shoes. His dark hair was positioned expertly over his handsome, unfriendly face.

“Hey Robert.” I wished I felt relieved to see my brother. Instead, I felt unsteady. He’d been so unkind when we’d visited him, I wasn’t even sure why he was here.

Unless it was the reason I was looking for.

“I’m surprised you came,” I blurted out.

His eyes crinkled and his face actually relaxed into a smile. “I’m surprised I had the balls to,” he said. “Sorry I was so mean when you came to see me.”

“Why aren’t you being mean now?”

“Because you’re no longer accusing me of theft. And you’re my hostess. I’m at your mercy,” he said.

Catherine appeared from around the corner and swooped in. “Robert, welcome,” she said, air-kissing him on both sides of his face.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re a lot more friendly.”

“From what Liberty was just saying, I guess that goes both ways,” she said, smoothly. “Let me show you to your room. Then we’re having drinks. Alexandra and Marks just got here.”

She kept chatting with him as she led him down the hall. I shook my head at her performance. She’d never been this pleasant. I knew it wasn’t going to last, so I decided to enjoy it.

I didn’t even have time to close the door—Katrina and Jacoby were walking up from their respective cars.

“You’re a prompt bunch,” I said, forcing myself to smile at them pleasantly. Jacoby looked dashing, as usual, sporting another velvet blazer, his shirt unbuttoned at the neck. Katrina was in full yoga-garb, but she was also wearing a full face of “natural” makeup. She appeared to be wearing a push-up bra underneath the swaths of her expensive, organic cotton tunic. I knew Catherine would not approve of Katrina. I hoped she would not approve of Jacoby.

I was going to have to tell Corey to wear something sharp tonight.

“Liberty,” Katrina said primly. “I was so surprised at the invite. You have a lovely home.” She looked around the foyer with her eyes wide open, probably calculating all the money that John had. All the money that I didn’t need from our father.

“Thanks,” I said, the fake smile still plastered on my face. I looked up at Jacoby, who wasn’t bothering with the fake smile or platitudes. He looked self-satisfied, as usual, and vigorously handsome.

I was going to have to put Catherine on a short leash.

“Nice place,” he said. He was probably thinking that he looked even better than normal in this environment. “Where’s your, uh…daughter?” He snorted with laughter.

“You’ll be sorry to hear that my stepdaughter is off the market,” I said. “She met someone really nice.”
Unlike you
, I thought. “She’s going to be happy to see you, though.”
But she better not be that happy.

At that, Catherine clicked around the corner; she’d freshly reapplied her lip gloss so that her face looked dewy and gorgeous, her chest was pointed straight at Jacoby through her orange romper.

“Oh, I’m happy to see him, all right,” she said, beaming at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him in for what was too sexy to just be called a hug. It was more of a clutch or a clench.
Or a cluster fuck
, I thought, angry on behalf of Corey.

“You look fantastic,” Jacoby said, beaming back at her.

“I know,” she said. “So do you.”

“I know.”

Katrina and I stood there awkwardly as they ogled each other until Matthew barreled around the corner. He was wearing a tank top that was so tight it looked like it might burst. You could clearly see every pack of his eight-pack. He looked worried when he saw Catherine and Jacoby wrapped around each other, but he wiped his face clean of judgment and turned to Katrina.

“Katrina,” he said, formally, taking her hand. “You look as lovely and earthy as I remember.”

“Um, thanks,” Katrina said, looking at his shirt with a mixture of admiration and confusion.

“Jacoby,” Matthew said, prying Catherine off of him and slapping him on the back. Hard. “Long time, no see. You’re looking sharp.”

Jacoby coughed and looked at Matthew’s shirt with amusement. “You’re looking muscled,” he said.

“That’s the point,” Matthew said, clapping him so hard on the back again that Jacoby winced. “Let me show you two to your rooms. Catherine,” he said, pointedly, “Corey’s looking for you.”

“Good for him,” Catherine said, looking longingly at Jacoby.

Matthew shot her a look as he hustled them out; Jacoby had a smirk on his annoyingly gorgeous face as he passed by us.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at her, as soon as we were alone.

“Setting the groundwork for a little healthy male competition,” she said.

I rolled my eyes at her. “I thought you cared about him.”

“Corey?” She asked. “I do. I don’t care about Jacoby, if that’s what you’re worried about—although it would be super lovely to be even more related to you than I already am.”

“Ha ha,” I said. “So what’s the play here, Catherine?”

“Jacoby thinks I want him. He thinks I’m a sure thing. In a little bit, I’ll let him see me with Corey, let him know that he’s gonna have to work for it.” She shrugged. “On the one hand, this keeps him distracted. If he’s the one who stole the necklace, maybe he gets sloppy somehow. He thinks I hate you. If he’s the thief and he’s trying to impress me, maybe he tells me something or shows me something.

“On the other hand, maybe seeing me with Corey makes him angry. If he’s the guilty party, it might be interesting to see what he does when he’s angry.”

“Why does he think you hate me?” I asked.

“Because I told him I did. Back in Charleston,” she said, inspecting her nails.

“That’s lovely.”

“I didn’t mean it—but you
were
being a royal pain in my ass. You’re still not my favorite person,” she said, continuing to inspect her cuticles. “But I don’t hate you, either.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“This is me, saying I’m sorry,” she said, gesturing around, to the house, the decorations, the guests on the other side of the hallway. “This is me admitting that you’re okay, and trying to help.”

“I’ll say it again. Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She fake-smiled at me.

I sighed. “This stuff with Jacoby…maybe you can get him to help us, or get him to tell you something. But what if you only get him punched in the face by Corey?”

“Oh, I hope it at least gets him that,” she said, popping a breath mint into her mouth and handing me one. “He totally grabbed my ass just now. Tacky bastard. I’ll be sure to tell Corey—a little rage spiral never hurt anyone.” She shrugged. “Except for maybe it’s gonna hurt Jacoby.”

“Right,” I said.

“Maybe Matthew can work a similar angle with Katrina,” Catherine said. “He can get her so salivating over those biceps that she confesses.”

“Catherine, no offense, but none of this is exactly a strategy. It’s more of a cluster fuck.”

She sniffed and drew herself up to her full height. “We’ll see. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she said, clacking off down the hall, “I have hired help to order around and a very large cocktail to drink.”

I sighed and followed her, if only for the cocktail. Things were more of a mess than I’d even admitted to myself.

I
an and Therese Granger
showed up right before dinner. Everyone was pretty hammered by then. The discomfort had faded with each round of drinks that were served poolside. I noticed that my siblings seemed uneasy in each other’s company. After the waitress had been out with the third round of drinks, they seemed to relax a little. Matthew tried to make everyone comfortable, except for Jacoby, whom he kept knocking into, spilling his drink.

To her credit, Catherine stayed away from him, sitting instead next to Corey, inclining her head and her boobs towards him and laughing prettily as often as she could reasonably manage.

Unpleasantly surprised, Jacoby watched them from the other side of the patio, his jaw clenching occasionally.

Alexandra and I were sitting together on a chaise, watching the others. Katrina was sticking close to Matthew and the other guys, occasionally stroking her flowing hair and looking at Matthew appreciatively.

“What a cluster fuck,” Alexandra said.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I agreed, chewing an ice cube.

Ian and Therese joined us then. She was an elegant woman, her dark hair pulled back in a sleek bun. She and Ian had their arms linked together as he led her around, making introductions. I just about died from how cute that was.

“Liberty, Alexandra, may I please introduce Therese Granger,” Ian said formally, a hint of a smile on his face.

The hint was all I needed. I jumped up, beaming at her. “It’s so nice to meet you,” I said, grabbing her hand and clutching it. She smiled at me warmly and I felt like I was meeting a queen—the upswept bun, the meticulous makeup, the deep purple of her silk blouse all made her seem positively regal.

“I’ve heard so many nice things about you, dear,” she said. “It’s a pleasure.”

My heart felt full. At least one thing this weekend wasn’t going to be a total disaster.

I introduced them to Alexandra and left them to chat, heading over to Matthew and his group. By my estimation, Matthew had already consumed about two vodka drinks and three beers. If he stayed true to form,
he was probably about to start swearing and telling stories, if he hadn’t already. And then trying to fight someone.

“Hey Matthew,” I said, approaching him cautiously. He could turn into a bit of a scorpion when he drank—hugging you from the front and then that stinger coming out of nowhere to get you.

“Hey Lib,” he said, smiling at me very toothily.

I leaned over and whispered in his ear. “For such a big guy, you’re a lightweight.”

“I’m a cheap date,” Matthew said, beaming at me and shrugging. He leaned back into my ear. “And I’m totally pretending, Lib. I can drink every single one of these waspy motherfuckers under the table.” He pulled back, blinking at me so I could see that he was serious—as well as completely sober—and I smiled at him.

“Want to help me check on dinner?” I asked. I saw Katrina frowning at me, not wanting me to take her very large, chiseled plaything away.

“Sure thing,” he said, winking at her and following me into the kitchen.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Ian’s date seems nice,” he said, grabbing a sushi roll off of a gleaming silver platter and stuffing it into his mouth. “As for the rest of them…” He let his voice trail off.

“I know, I know,” I said, grabbing some sushi for myself, hoping it would suck up some of the alcohol roiling around in my stomach. I watched as the chef Catherine had hired flipped something in a saucepan at my stove, oblivious to our presence, as servers hustled in and out.

“Katrina’s looking at you like you’re a tasty piece of meat, and she’s finally about to hop off the vegetarian wagon.”

“If I can handle Shawna, I can certainly handle your hippie half-sister,” he declared.

“Why?” I asked. “What happened with Shawna?”

“She grabbed my dick,” he said, cracking open another beer. “Didn’t I tell you that?”

“I guess you forgot,” I said.

“Well, she did. And she was tough to wrangle. She had big-ass hands.”

I laughed so hard I almost spit out my drink. I probably should have. I didn’t like drinking this much, but dealing with my family was better with the alcohol. Fuzzier. And they were anything but warm and fuzzy.

“You’re kind of getting hammered,” Matthew said, raising his eyebrows as I grabbed another cocktail from the passing waitress.

I shrugged. “It takes the sting out.”

“You have to have breakfast with these people tomorrow morning. Imagine the sting of that—plus the nasty hangover you’re heading for.”

“Can’t we just stay drunk all weekend?” I asked. “We’re screwed. We have absolutely no plan.”

“Sure,” he said, clapping me so hard on the back that it stung. “If you don’t care about catching the thief. If you want to let them win.” He grabbed my glass from me and dumped it out in the sink, and then filled it back up with tap water. “Corey and I have money on you, Lib. You can’t fuck this up for us.”

I frowned at him when he handed me the glass filled with water. “I thought you put money on yourself.”

“You’re my second-best bet. So stay relatively sober so we can wrap this up. Drinking with stiffs is boring.”

“It is boring. I’m pretty sure I’d rather be shooting at something,” I admitted.

Matthew clapped me on the back again, hard, and I spilled some of my drink. “That’s my girl. Let’s get back out there.”

C
atherine had summoned
us all to dinner, and she had the wait staff pouring what seemed like endless glasses of wine.

I watched Matthew and Corey. They kept drinking, but they drank a lot of water, too. I followed suit. Catherine, however, did not—she drank every last drop of alcohol that was put in front of her, and she didn’t so much as droop an eyelid.

I was pretty sure all that Mexican tequila had petrified her insides somehow. Like Keith Richards, she was somehow immune to it now and was going to live forever, looking exactly the same.