Deadly Cross (Alex Cross #28)(55)

Ned flipped ahead through the document and nodded. He pulled it out and showed it to me. I scanned the list and saw a variety of nonprofits that would have benefited from the property, including Georgetown University and groups fighting for crime victims’ rights, women’s issues, and civil rights. It was not until the bottom that I saw the catch, a big one.

Tapping the page, I read, “‘Monies shall be distributed and disbursed after the deduction of all costs associated with the legal appeals of Napoleon Howard.’ ”

“Who’s Napoleon Howard?” Mahoney asked.

I was about to say I had no idea, but then I remembered something. “I can’t be sure, but I think he might be the guy on death row Kay wanted me to investigate years ago. The one who might have been wrongly convicted.”

“Okay?”

“Vice President Willingham was the prosecutor on that case.”





CHAPTER 61





WE WALKED FROM THE COURTHOUSE over to the law firm of Carson and Knight. The humidity had abated by a percentage point or two, but even at nine a.m., the heat was headed toward blistering. We climbed the front steps and went into the chill air.

“Hello, Reggie,” I said.

He looked up at us, adjusted his glasses. “Don’t you guys make appointments?”

“Not as a rule,” Mahoney said.

He sighed. “Bobby’s not around. He’s at a hearing until eleven.”

“That’s okay, we’re here to see Nina Larch,” I said.

“Oh,” he said, brightening. “She just came in.”

A few minutes later, a woman in her mid-forties with a bad slouch came down the circular staircase. She looked very unsure of herself.

“Ms. Larch?”

“Yes?”

“We’re with the FBI,” Mahoney said, and we showed her our credentials.

“Bobby said you stopped by yesterday. How can I help?”

I gestured toward the conference room. “Is it empty?”

“Until ten,” Reggie said.

We went in and Larch shut the door. “If it’s about the will or any of the probate, I can’t talk about it unless there’s a court order rescinding the seal.”

“We’re working on that,” Ned said. “But for the moment, we’re interested in what you can talk about. Kay’s earlier wills and testaments.”

“I don’t follow.”

“They’re considered null and void and therefore not subject to the seal,” I said. “So you can talk about them.”

She thought about that for a few moments. “That’s correct.”

Mahoney showed her the twenty-month-old will that had the land being sold to charities and then the five-year-old will that had the plantation going to the state for a park.

“Can you say which option is in the actual will?” Ned asked.

She shook her head. “Sealed.”

“Okay, why did she change her will from giving the land to the state to selling it for charity?”

The lawyer looked blankly at the table and frowned. “I can’t say that Mrs. Willingham ever mentioned specifically why she made that decision. I received a formal letter from her announcing her intentions, and I followed them.”

“And the same thing happened when she changed the will more recently? You received a formal letter?”

“Duly notarized.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “Was she still paying for all of Napoleon Howard’s legal bills in the most recent will?”

“That I can answer: No. Mr. Howard had a heart attack and died in prison shortly before it was revised the final time.”

The door opened, and Bobby Carson stepped inside with a shark smile on his face.

“You’re back!” he said with feigned enthusiasm. “And I see you’ve met Ms. Larch. I hope she’s filled you in.”

“Only on what I was allowed to discuss outside the sealed material.”

“We were talking about Kay’s wills,” Mahoney said. “How they changed so often.”

Carson glanced at Larch and then sat down, looking uncomfortable. He stared at his phone and said, “Yes, my cousin could be impetuous and mercurial.”

I said, “We went up to the Sutter plantation yesterday and took a look around. Seems like whoever inherited it is going to take out most of the timber.”

“You went in without a search warrant?” Carson said. “Are you kidding me?”

Mahoney said, “Gate was open and we wanted to see the most important remaining asset our victim had when she was murdered.”

“Who controls it now?” I asked. “And when did they get it?”

Both attorneys looked at each other. Carson closed his eyes and said, “You see the bind we are in — I am in — because of the… oh, the hell with it.”

He opened his eyes, looked at Larch, and said, “If it comes to an ethics violation, I’ll take the heat for breaking the seal, Nina.”

Then he gazed at us each in turn and said, “I had no idea.”

“That is correct,” Larch said. “He absolutely did not.”

“Out with it,” Mahoney said.

Larch said, “Shortly after the twenty-month-old will was filed — I can get you the exact date — Mrs. Willingham wrote me a notarized letter authorizing me to change the will yet again. This time the beneficiary of the plantation was Mr. Carson.”