Great-Aunt Evangeline Valerie Brindle, Evie’s namesake, stood tall and regal beneath the two-story foyer chandelier. Val could be seventy or a hundred. Evie had never tried to work it out. Her aunt’s only concession to age was a thin ebony cane with a carved dragon head. She wore her long, gray hair in an elaborate coiffeur and topped with a wide-brimmed hat she was currently unpinning.
She was dressed entirely in purple, like Evie.
“Aunt Val, this is Damon Jackson of Stockton and Stockton, lawyers. Jax, this is my Great-Aunt Valerie Brindle from Atlanta. She’s also John Post’s aunt. Aunt Val, have you met Loretta, John’s daughter?” Evie squeezed Loretta’s hand.
Val’s presence almost demanded a curtsy. Loretta simply stared, wide-eyed. “I didn’t know I had an aunt in Atlanta.”
“Because Posts denied our existence, dear. Your father may not have even known about us. But we know all about him.” She spun her glare back to Jax. “What are you intending to do with those deeds?”
* * *
“What deeds?”Jax asked without revealing his surprise that she knew about their discovery. He’d been debating locking the documents back in the desk, but if someone had already been here looking for them... He didn’t like the odds.
Evie didn’t have a cell phone and couldn’t have called her. Was this just another Malcolm fake to test him? Was the whole family nothing but con artists?
Of course they were, centuries of history preceded them.
“The family land is what I wanted to ask you about.” Evie interrupted before her aunt could reply. “There is something very odd happening on Witch Hill. And when I ask Mavis, she tells me to ask you. I think we need to sit down and have a conversation about who is responsible for what before my mother loses any more property.”
“Your mother has little interest in owning anything.” Val sniffed in disapproval. “And we will not be having long conversations about material things. Witch Hill belongs to a trust now, has since Letitia walked off with our backyard. We all contribute to the fund to pay for taxes and improvements. I daresay we should do the same with the rest of our properties. If you have the deeds for the plots once belonging to Letitia, then they belong with the trust as well.” She glared at Jax.
“They belong toLoretta. And given what we’ve seen, you might want to look into whoever is handling your trust. I will be happy to help or to recommend a good lawyer.” Jax wondered if he could tackle an old lady if she went for the deeds on the desk.
Val’s long nose was bony enough to resemble a witch’s, except it lacked the traditional hook. Good plastic surgery maybe. Jax kept his poker face on as the old lady looked down said nose at him. When she’d ascertained he had no more to add, she turned to Evie.
“Is he trustworthy?”
“Apparently he has a green walnut for a soul, but his aura has begun to grow. I wouldn’t completely trust him yet, but he has potential.” Evie grinned at him. “He hasn’t called me a lunatic to my face or charged me with safecracking or fraud for finding the deeds. Yet.”
Jax supposed that would be the first and natural reaction of most lawyers. She had a point. He was displaying a miraculous amount of patience by playing along with whatever game was afoot.
Astonishingly, the old lady nodded with understanding. “Very well. Should you wish to work with our trust lawyers, you know where to find me. But if you wish to protect Loretta’s inheritance, you’ll turn those deeds over to the trust. The world is filled with those who believe money buys happiness and land is money. They are ill-informed. Land belongs to Mother Nature. We can only tend it.”
Val tapped her hat against her long skirt and turned her attention to Evie. “You are wasting your talents, Evangeline. Expand your mind to a larger sphere.” She regarded Loretta dubiously. “Although admittedly, caring for an Indigo may take all you have for a few years. If you don’t want to end up like your parents, child, listen to the Malcolm side of your family. We’re the earth and sky and water. You need no more than that.”
Jax waited for Evie’s usual bubbly response, but she did no more than nod. Her fingers were white-knuckled on the box she’d carried down. He took it from her arms and set it on the floor. At least no one was demanding any documents. He really needed to figure out how this family worked. He wasn’t about to believe in telepathy.
“Very well, then. Tell your mother we’ll see her at the solstice.” Returning her hat to her head, the old woman strode out, not using the cane.
Jax followed to close the door. A silver stretch limousine waited at the curb, and a uniformed chauffeur opened the door to assist her inside. “Money can’t buy happiness, but it buys cool wheels.”
Evie snorted. “She married a theatrical producer who allowed Val’s Civil War re-enactors the use of his plantation. Her favorite part is lighting live cannon as she defends her home. I’m convinced she’s re-living a former life, the one that came after she was a dragon and torched a few cities.”
Jax couldn’t help it. After the tension of the last half hour, he laughed.
Loretta giggled.
Evie shrugged and marched back to the study, returning with the deed envelope in her hand. “Even if Val has copies of everything, I want these in a lockbox only Loretta and I can access. And I’m filing those guardianship papers, even if they are fraudulent. Something wicked this way comes, and I’m not trusting your father’s law firm to prevent it.”
For just a moment, Jax thought she might be on the right track. Which meant he was on the wrong one. He snatched the envelope from her hand and held it over his head. “If you file those guardian papers, my father will have you burned at the stake. Trust me.”
Sixteen
Evie clungto the deed papers until Jax drove to a bank he assured her had no connection to his law firm. He reluctantly stayed outside while Evie and Loretta opened a safe deposit box. Unfortunately, they had to use Loretta’s credit card to rent it. Evie fumed over that as they drove back to Afterthought.
“No matter what we do, you have control over it.” Crossing her arms, she glared out the windshield.
Loretta had nodded off in the backseat with her arms around a magenta teddy bear with a sagging eyeball. That poor kid had stalwartly held up to a very hard day.