Nothing to Lose (J.P. Beaumont #25)(55)

“What is going on with him?” I asked.

“The man is seriously ill,” Helen answered. “I wanted to give Nitz a chance to make peace with him before it’s too late, not for his sake but for hers. If she doesn’t at least try to put things right between them, I’m afraid she’ll live to regret it.”

The Roger Adams I had observed earlier in the day was in no condition to have a meaningful discussion with anyone, much less his estranged daughter. In fact, if Nitz showed up on his doorstep, I doubted he’d recognize her.

“It was the best I could do,” Helen continued. “I probably shouldn’t have meddled, but as I said earlier, I’ve known Roger since he was a very young man. In many ways I’ve been closer to him than to my own son.”

“You worked for him the whole time?”

Helen nodded. “I could have retired years ago, but I really enjoyed my job. I liked being part of something that felt important, and going to work each day made better sense to me than just sitting around here at home here waiting for the Grim Reaper to come calling. When Roger took on a new partner, Thomas Haley, several years ago, nothing much changed for me because I still reported primarily to Roger, but last summer when Roger decided to let Tom buy him out of the practice, I didn’t care to take on a new boss at that time in my life. That’s when I finally decided to retire.”

“Roger is what, in his fifties?” I asked. “Isn’t that a little early to retire?”

“The law firm has never been Roger’s only source of income. Over the years, between him and his father, the family amassed an extensive collection of real-estate holdings—both residential and commercial—all over Alaska. Rental income from those surpassed his law-firm earnings years ago, but he kept on working for the same reason I did—because he loved it.”

“So why quit?”

“I think he was already dealing with health issues of some kind—digestive problems and some personality issues, too. He just wasn’t himself. I suggested he go see Doc Moody, the guy who used to be Roger’s personal physician, to be checked out, but of course Shelley wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because Shelley Hollander Loveday is a Christian Scientist. She doesn’t believe in medical doctors, and she doesn’t think anyone else should either.”

The way Helen spit out her response was notable on three counts. For one, the venom in her voice was surprisingly apparent. For another, despite the fact that Roger and Shelley had been married for almost a decade, Helen still referred to Shelley by her previous married name. For a third, I remembered clearly that Shelley had used the word “doctors” in describing her husband’s early-onset dementia diagnosis.

“I take it you don’t like Shelley very much,” I observed.

“You think?” Helen responded. “I don’t trust her any further than I could throw her, and I believe Roger was beginning to come to that same conclusion.”

“How so?”

“I think he suspected she might be seeing someone on the side. That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

“I take it you knew that Roger and Shelley were involved prior to his first wife’s passing?”

“Well aware,” Helen replied with a shake of her head. “Who do you think answered his phone calls and paid his bills? At least I used to,” she added. “Once I retired, I don’t know who took over the bill-paying function, probably Shelley herself.”

It was gratifying to realize that I had been right. In this case Roger’s secretary seemed to know far more about his business than Shelley suspected.

“You said Roger might have had an inkling Shelley was cheating. Did he mention that to you straight out?”

“He didn’t, but I was able to put two and two together and figure it out.”

“Which two and two?” I asked.

“Roger had me set up an appointment with Jim Brixton, his life-insurance guy. I didn’t think that much about it at the time, but while I was filing the paperwork, I noticed it was a change of beneficiary. When I saw that Roger had cut Shelley out of it completely in favor of Danitza, that certainly caught my attention. It made me wonder if maybe he was considering filing for a divorce—I wondered but didn’t ask. In any case, he never got around to it.”

“What would have happened if he had?” I asked.

“Shelley would have been up a creek. There’s a prenup, you see. When she and Roger married, they both had money. Jack Loveday had just died. Since she had cleaned up financially and was known to be a bit of a spendthrift, he thought keeping their assets separate was a good idea.”

“Is that prenup still in existence?”

“As far as I know.”

“Where is it?”

“In a file in the office, right along with his will.”

“Did he change his will when he changed the life-insurance beneficiary?”

“Not so far as I know.”

“And that leaves everything to Shelley?”

Helen nodded.

So maybe Roger had started to feel guilty about cutting Danitza out of his life, and changing the beneficiary on the life insurance had been his way of making amends in lieu of facing his daughter.