Showered and dressed in khaki shorts and short-sleeve shirt in an attempt to defeat the heat, Jax wandered into the kitchen. Evie was cleaning up enough dishes for an army, and he recalled he was supposed to hire a cook.
Glancing at him, she got out a frying pan. “Eggs, over easy?”
“You’re not a short-order cook. I can go to the café.” He’d rather not. He’d rather watch her curls bounce and hear what she had to say after last night’s coven convention.
She cracked an egg. “Breakfast is easy. You’re on your own for dinner. What did the police say last night?”
“Too dark to search. They’ll be out there with search and rescue this morning. You do realize the probability of bodies staying under that mud puddle all winter is slim to none?” He didn’t want to ruin her breakfast with details, but he’d seen death. Corpses floated.
“I read up on it last night. I know—unless they were tied down. The water would have been low last September, before the hurricane came through. I don’t have enough of a criminal mind to go from there.” She got down a clean plate.
“For reasons beyond my understanding, your sheriff is still inclined to believe you. He twisted arms. He wasn’t pleased with the notion of wealthy dead landowners dyingagainin his jurisdiction. He’s not buying murder. Not sure I am, either. The necklace could have just fallen off or been dropped there. But Troy seems to accept ghostly messages.” Jax turned on his coffee machine and popped bread in the toaster.
“I’ve helped Troy a time or two,” she said with a careless shrug. “I can’t say I know all the rules of how the spirit world works. I thought ghosts were tied to the place they died. John Post has already broken that one by following Loretta. I have no experience in bodies moved after death. So maybe the Posts died at the lake, but their bodies are elsewhere. I just know that John Post said goodbye to Loretta last night and moved on to the next plane. He accomplished what he set out to do. That was one strong-willed man.” She ladled the eggs on a plate and set it on the counter.
John Post came from a line of strong-willed females, Jax thought as he waited for his toast. He supposed it took a strong will to convince people to believe the impossible, the impractical, and the insane. That a sensible man like the sheriff had agreed to have the pond searched based on Evie’s word... said a scary lot. It wasn’t as if Evie’s family had money to buy an election.
“I didn’t know Post.” Jax buttered his toast and took a seat at the counter. He wasn’t accustomed to leisurely breakfasts or women cooking for him. He usually grabbed an egg bagel and coffee on the way to work. Watching Evie in her skimpy shirt and tight shorts was far more entertaining. “Even though I’m a fraud investigator, I’m the only one at the firm with a recent background in family law, so they appointed me to guardian duties. I have access to the estate documents and Loretta’s funds, which gives me very little insight into his thinking. Post knew how to make money, although I’ll make a wild guess that it wasn’t in technology.”
He shouldn’t get used to this family thing. Evie would figure out how to hire another lawyer and have him heaved out soon enough.
“He’s the descendant of Malcolms, and we usually aren’t much on technology, although I don’t know too many male Malcolms. What happens next? They drag the pond?” Evie poured a cup of tea and leaned back against the sink counter to watch him eat.
Movie-star cleavage like that required diaphanous drapery, not T-shirts. Jax focused on his eggs. “Maybe divers. Did you explain to your family about the tax notices?”
“Pretty hard to explain. The bank provided proof that taxes were paid, but they don’t appear to be paid on the property the notices were on. It’s as if the trust doesn’t exist except as a bank account.” She sipped her tea and spoke without accusation.
Jax breathed a little easier. He didn’t want her blaming him for whatever was happening, like the rest of her family did. “My guess is that the registrar’s files have been tampered with. With no computerized records as backup, anyone can tamper with the original deeds. Not sure about the tax list. I’ll have to ask for a state audit. My father will fire me.”
There, he’d said it. Given that S&S was heavily involved in Lakeland Development, chances were very good that the firm played some role in the deed deception. Jax refused to believe they had anything to do with the deaths of Loretta’s parents. That had to be some desperate local, if he wished to believe in ghosts. He didn’t want to. He’d rather find out which of the investors was heavily in debt.
“If you get fired, you won’t have another chance to find out what happened to your father.” She stated it flatly, as if reading his mind.
Evie wasn’t a mind reader, he reminded himself. She was just very good at observation and deduction—which could seem magical to the superstitiously inclined. But yeah, he was staying with his father’s old firm until he learned what had happened to him—which required that be a partner with access to board files.
“Your family could ask for the audit. I’ll recommend a property lawyer with expertise in the area.”
Evie wrinkled up her nose. “Since my family is essentially saying that Loretta’s land really isn’t hers, I’m guessing we can’t use her funds to pay a lawyer. We’ll have to consult Aunt Val.”
She made that sound as if she’d have to take the yellow brick road and confront the wizard. He could understand her point. Val was the scariest of them all.
“It will be ugly. My firm will fight you, tooth and nail.” Jax chewed slowly, while he contemplated the ravages of war. “Chances are good your mayor or town council are involved. They’ll join forces with my firm. Crystal balls won’t be useful.”
“Crystal balls are seldom useful.” She shrugged. “It’s what people know that we need to tap into. You need to give up on caution and start digging around your office to find out more about your father in case you’re fired. And maybe look into the development company while you’re at it, although that will almost certainly lead to explosions.”
Jax sipped his coffee and pondered a future without his Jag or condo. “And what will you be doing to expedite this confrontation?”
Evie shoved curls out of her face and grimaced. “I need to have a few casual conversations with people at the courthouse about deed books before anyone realizes I’m not an airhead. Perhaps Reuben and Roark could dig into the owners of the development company. None of that will find killers, but it might stop a property war.”
She recognized how she came across and used it, of course, Jax realized. That’s what charlatans did—except Evie didn’t go for the all-knowing seeress character. Apparently town clown worked for her. Underhanded, but practical.Damn.
“I’m thinking if the Posts died here, asking questions was the reason. Stay out of the courthouse until the cops have done their work,” he advised. “If Troy knows you’re not a fool, others suspect it.”
She shot him an enigmatic smile. “Nice of you to notice.”
That smile struck him where his heart ought to be. He went on as if she’d said nothing. “I have to warn Ariel of impending explosions. If I end up shredding ties with our father, she’ll be vulnerable.” And Jax would be out of a job. If pissed enough, Stephen could make it difficult for him to find another.
There was a reason he moved cautiously. And a reason to be reluctant to believe Evie’s family over his own. He needed more time to investigate.