The Vibrant Years(30)

She pointed at his face. “You’ve made a mistake. That’s not possible. I barely knew him.”

He had the gall to raise a brow at her.

“Cut the judgment and say what you’re thinking. I need answers,” she said.

His eyes softened. “It doesn’t matter what I’m thinking. Rich obviously thought he knew you well enough to leave his life’s earnings to you. And also all future royalties from his books.”

What the hell, Richard!

“That makes no sense!” Yes, she raised her voice.

He stood and approached her as though he meant to comfort her, but she stepped away, and he stopped. “His family agrees with you. He has five children from his five marriages. I’m pretty sure they’re all going to come together to fight his will.”

“How much is it?” Cullie asked.

This time Bindu did cut her off. “I don’t care. I don’t want to know. I don’t want it.”

His eyes narrowed. She didn’t care. He could take his assessing eyes somewhere else.

“It doesn’t work like that. My job is to make sure Richard’s wishes are carried out. And . . .” He swallowed. “And to make sure there was nothing suspicious in the fact that he changed his will so close to his death. Obviously, the circumstances of his death don’t help.”

Bindu sat down. She didn’t care if his height gave him power. More accurately, her legs didn’t care, because they gave out.

“The circumstances of his death?” Alisha said, ears picking up the important parts, Ganesha bless her. “That sounds an awful lot like an accusation. Isn’t there a conflict of interest here? You seem to be coming at this from a place of bias, given the harassment your HOA has been inflicting on Bindu for months now.”

The flash of surprise on his face was almost comical. He couldn’t believe that someone had dared accuse him of anything nefarious. Never mind the accusations he’d been generously tossing Bindu’s way. “The HOA board is concerned about the negative press from the death of a resident as famous as Richard under these circumstances. I’m working with them to allay their fears.”

Bindu pressed a hand to her heart, and yes, she gasped. “The poor things. First the bras in my lanai and now a friend’s death in my home. Their fears are certainly what need to be allayed here.” She turned to Cullie. “Does Amazon deliver smelling salts?”

Cullie gave him a glare for the ages, and he looked down at his shiny shoes.

“It doesn’t sound like executing Richard’s wishes is all you’re interested in,” Alisha said, yet again slicing through the noise to what mattered. “How well do you know the family?”

“It’s admirable how much your daughter and granddaughter support you,” he said, looking directly at Bindu. If he meant to use their connection and win them over with flattery, he didn’t know who he was dealing with. “It says good things about you.”

Cullie stepped into his space, eyes fiery with anger. “Don’t act like you’re Binji’s friend to manipulate her when you don’t know the first thing about her. She can see right through the likes of you. We all can.”

Bindu squeezed her granddaughter’s hand and tapped her own wrist to remind Cullie of her Shloka bracelet—their code for “calm down.”

“Answer the question,” Alisha said, also turning up her glare. “Are you representing Richard’s family?”

Leslie pinched the bridge of his nose as though the conversation had completely slipped out of his control. Good. “Of course I’m not representing the family. Rich was a friend. I’m not representing anyone but him.”

“And what, you think your friend couldn’t possibly think enough of me to . . . to . . .” Never mind, Bindu couldn’t finish that, because it was beyond ridiculous that Richard had left her anything at all. Let alone all his wealth. This was Oscar all over again.

A thought flew in from nowhere. Could the emails about Bhanu be coming from Oscar’s family? Had Oscar done something stupid on his way out too? What was it with these men wanting to lay claim even as they moved on to their next life?

“Never mind,” she said. “You’re right. The money belongs to his family. Not to me. And I don’t care if you believe me or not. But I had no hand in his . . . his . . .” Dear heavens, a man had died while having sex with her.

The room spun a little, and she dropped back in her chair.

Alisha and Cullie were on her in a second, faces tight with worry, forcing a bottle of water at her until she drank.

When Leslie tried to ask if he could get her something, Cullie pushed him back and got up in his face again. “You can’t accuse someone of murdering your friend with her vagina and then act all worried when she faints from the shock of it.”

Oh, Cullie! Despite herself, Bindu’s shoulders started to shake. With laughter, Ganesha forgive her. “Cullie, beta, please! I did not faint.”

Seeing Bindu let a laugh escape, Cullie cracked a smile, and Alisha let a small one nudge at her lips too, even as she shook her head disapprovingly.

Leslie studied them with some confusion. Bindu didn’t care. This is how they dealt with tragedy, and she didn’t need him or anyone else to understand.

Alisha turned on him. “You can take your preposterous accusations and your friend’s money and do whatever you want with it. Just leave us alone. We want nothing to do with it. And since you’re a lawyer, let me put this on your radar too. If your HOA doesn’t stop harassing Ma, we’re going to be the ones doing the suing, and it will not be pretty. So if the bad publicity is what’s making them act like middle school bullies, then you’d better tell them that they don’t know what bad publicity looks like until a discrimination suit hits them.”