Loe raamatut: «Texan Seeks Fortune»

Chapter One

They walked into the big, sprawling living room en masse: his sister Valene; his sister Maddie and her husband, Zach McCarter; and his parents, Kenneth and Barbara Fortunado.

Here goes nothin’, Connor thought, putting on his game face.

Kenneth Fortunado, a robust giant of a man, had never been known for beating around the bush. He got right to it.

“All right, Connor, what’s the big mystery?” Kenneth asked his son as he came in. “What suddenly brings you here?”

“My guess is it has to be something big to get Connor to leave that cushy, high-paying executive job of his back in Denver and bring his butt back home,” Maddie said, making herself comfortable on one of the oversize sofas in the room.

“It’s not bad news, is it, dear?” Barbara Fortunado asked, her brown eyes wide with worry as they searched her son’s face. “Please don’t let it be bad news. I couldn’t bear to hear about anything else bad happening after all that’s been going on.”

“Come to think of it, you do look rather unsettled, boy,” Kenneth said, looking more closely at his son’s face. “Out with it. What’s going on? Why are you suddenly here?”

Unable to remain quiet any longer, Connor’s sister Valene spoke up. “Everybody, let Connor breathe. We’re all getting way too jumpy.” Valene was referring to the fact that the place where they all worked, Fortunado Real Estate, had suddenly and inexplicably seen a turn for the worse in the last two months. They’d lost a good share of their best clients.

Taking Maddie’s hand in his, Zach McCarter gave Connor a sympathetic look, as if to say that he was glad he wasn’t the one in his brother-in-law’s shoes, although for now he wisely remained silent.

Connor looked around the room. There were members of his immediate family who were missing from the gathering although he had put the word out that he wanted to speak to all of them at the same time. He saw no sense in having to go through this little drama twice, but obviously his message hadn’t registered properly.

“I was hoping to say this when everyone was here,” Connor told his father.

“You’re going to have to settle for half the family,” Kenneth told him, his tone already growing impatient. “In case you haven’t noticed, trying to get everyone together in one place—apart from holding a wedding—is like herding cats—”

“More like herding chickens,” Valene said under her breath, then flashed a smile at her father when Kenneth shot her a look. It was obvious she hadn’t thought she was going to be overheard.

“Connor, please tell us,” Barbara entreated her son. “You’re getting me very nervous.”

Feeling guilty that he was adding to his mother’s concerns, Connor stopped stalling. Half a family was better than none.

Taking a deep breath, he launched into the reason for his unexpected return home.

Connor started slowly. “It’s nothing to make you nervous, Mother.”

“Spit it out, Connor,” Kenneth ordered. “If you beat around the bush like this at that corporate search firm of yours, it’s a wonder that they haven’t shown you the door yet.”

This was as good an opening as any, Connor thought. “Well, that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about,” he began.

Kenneth cut him off. “They fired you?” he cried, astonished despite what he’d just said.

“No,” Connor replied firmly. “They didn’t fire me, but I’m not working for them anymore.”

His father’s complexion was turning a shade of unflattering red. “What do you mean you’re not working for them anymore?” Kenneth demanded.

“Kenneth, please, let him speak,” Barbara pleaded, putting her hand on her husband’s arm as if she was trying to gentle a wild stallion. “I’m sure he has a good explanation for all this.” She looked at her son hopefully. Waiting.

“Well?” Kenneth demanded, his eyes all but pinning Connor against the wall.

Connor took in another breath, as if that would somehow shield him from the explosion he sensed was coming. “I’m not with that firm anymore because I’m a private investigator now.”

“You’re a PI?” Maddie cried in awed disbelief. Suddenly, a smile bloomed on her lips. “You mean like Magnum?”

Valene looked at her sister, lost. “Who’s Magnum?” she wanted to know.

“Some guy on a classic TV show,” Zach volunteered. “I caught a few episodes on one of those channels that show nothing but programs from the seventies and eighties.”

“No, not like Magnum,” Connor corrected tolerantly. “Most of the work isn’t as glamorous as TV makes it out to be. It requires a lot of patience and a great deal of attention to detail,” he told his family, hoping that was enough.

Apparently, it wasn’t. Exasperated, Kenneth waved his hand for everyone else in the room to be quiet. He obviously intended to go toe to toe with his son.

“You’re a private eye?” Kenneth cried, completely stunned and grossly disappointed. There was no question of that. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“It’s ‘private investigator,’ Dad,” Connor told his father patiently. “And what I was thinking was that maybe I could help find out who’s responsible for everything that’s been going on around here lately.”

“There are professionals for that sort of thing, dear,” Barbara told her son, speaking up.

Connor turned to look at his mother. He hadn’t thought this was going to be easy, he reminded himself. “I am a professional, Mother.”

Kenneth let out an exasperated breath. “Since when?” he mocked.

Connor turned his attention to his father. He couldn’t back down now. If he did, it was all over. “Since a few months ago.”

Kenneth frowned, shaking his head, unable to accept the information or come to grips with it.

“I don’t believe you,” Kenneth countered. “You wouldn’t do something that was so life-altering without telling me.”

“I am telling you,” Connor pointed out. “Now. There was no reason to say anything earlier.”

It was plain to everyone that Kenneth found the explanation entirely unacceptable.

“How did this happen?” his father wanted to know. “Did you wake up one morning and just say, ‘Gee, I’m tired of my high-paying executive job. Let me throw it all away and do something totally mindless, like become a private eye.’ Is that what happened?” Kenneth demanded hotly.

“Private detective, dear,” Barbara corrected her husband.

“Private investigator,” Connor said calmly, correcting them both. “And no, I didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to become a private investigator,” he told his father. “My boss suspected that there was someone embezzling money from the firm, but he didn’t know how to go about finding out who was behind it. He shared his concern with me and I told him I’d do a little snooping around. I did and as it turns out, I discovered who was stealing the firm’s money in a little less than a week.”

Kenneth dourly dismissed the accounting. “You got lucky.”

“No, I didn’t,” Connor informed his father. “I was persistent. And I found that I had a natural aptitude for ferreting things out.”

Kenneth snorted. “My son the Ferret. I can’t wait to tell people your new job description.”

“Dad, you’re missing the point here,” Valene insisted, looking at her father with a touch of annoyance as she came to her brother’s aid. “Connor said he was here to help us get to the bottom of what’s been happening to the family lately.”

She looked at her father, waiting for her words to sink in.

“That’s for the police to do,” Barbara reminded her children. No doubt she didn’t like the idea of any of her children getting involved with something that could be dangerous.

“And how far have they gotten with their investigation?” Maddie challenged her mother.

Barbara raised her shoulders in a helpless shrug, then offered an excuse to Maddie. “It’s still early,” Barbara said.

“Do you really want to wait until someone’s killed before we do anything, Mother?” Connor asked his mother gently.

Barbara’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t thought about that possibility. “Do you really think that could happen?” she asked Connor.

His inclination was to shelter his mother, but he had to be honest. “The way things are escalating, there’s no reason to believe that it couldn’t.”

Kenneth was still unconvinced. “Okay, hotshot, let’s hear it. What’s your big ‘theory’ about what’s been going on?” the senior Fortunado asked. “Do you even have one?”

Mindful that his father was judging every word out of his mouth, Connor began slowly, speaking distinctly. “I think that these aren’t just random acts the way the police initially thought.” He paused for a half beat, looking at each of them before delivering his bombshell. “I think there’s one person behind everything that’s been happening.”

Kenneth’s eyes squinted as he regarded his son. “You’re talking about the fire, the hacking and the sabotaging of the real estate dealings?” he wanted to know.

“Yes,” Connor replied stoically.

“One person is behind all this?” Zach asked, wanting to get his facts clear.

Relieved to hear a nonjudgmental voice, Connor glanced at Maddie’s husband. “Yes, that’s what I’m thinking.”

“That must be one very energetic person,” Kenneth commented. The sarcasm was hard to miss.

“People can be hired to carry out these things. But I believe there’s one person orchestrating all these things being executed against the family,” Connor told them.

As he looked around at their faces, Connor could see that his mother and sisters, as well as Zach, were more than willing to be convinced. His father, however, was still digging in his heels. Whether it was because the man didn’t agree with the theory or because he was angry over the fact that Connor had suddenly switched careers, Connor didn’t know.

He waited for his father to say something. He didn’t have long to wait.

“And just who is this vengeful person targeting the family?” Kenneth wanted to know. “Do you know, or is this all just one big theory you’re hoping to get us to buy into?”

Connor kept his eyes on his father as he answered. “I found evidence of rumormongering.”

“You’re going to have to explain that to me,” his mother said. “What does rumormongering mean?”

Kenneth began to open his mouth, undoubtedly to define the term for his wife, but Connor was already explaining it to his mother in what he felt would be simpler terms than his father was wont to use.

“Someone has been bad-mouthing Fortunado Real Estate’s dealings on the internet, Mother, causing business to drop. Because of the so-called rumors, people have withdrawn their business from the company and taken it elsewhere.”

“And does this ‘someone’ have a name?” Kenneth asked again, his impatient tone suggesting that he sincerely doubted his son had gotten that far in his so-called “investigation.”

Connor managed to surprise his father, as well as his mother, by answering, “Yes.”

“Well?” Kenneth asked, waiting to hear who this person was.

“From everything I’ve managed to learn, I believe the person who’s causing all this chaos is Charlotte Prendergast Robinson.”

“Gerald’s wife?” Barbara cried, astonished at the revelation.

“Uncle Gerald’s ex-wife,” Connor corrected his mother. It was being Gerald’s ex that had caused the woman to launch her vendetta in the first place, he believed.

Kenneth looked at his son skeptically, although in all truthfulness, the woman’s name had been mentioned in connection to all these acts once or twice before.

“I know that Charlotte’s angry,” his father began, rolling the idea over in his mind.

“She’s way more than that, Dad,” Valene interjected. “You know that line about a woman scorned,” she reminded her father.

“Val’s right,” Maddie said, adding her voice to her sister’s as well as Connor’s. “Aunt Charlotte wasn’t exactly a hundred percent stable before Uncle Gerald finally left her to go back with that woman he called his first love, Deborah. Think about it,” Maddie stressed. “I mean, who in their right mind puts together a whole big binder devoted to her husband’s illegitimate children?” She shook her head at the very thought.

“Maybe the woman just wanted to have a book devoted to her family’s genealogy,” Barbara said. Connor knew his mother was always ready to see the good in everyone.

“More like having a book she could use to blackmail everyone,” Maddie said. “Besides, I doubt she thinks of the people in that binder as ‘her’ family. It’s more like his family—not that Uncle Gerald even knew some of them existed until Charlotte got started collecting names.”

“I wouldn’t put anything past Aunt Charlotte,” Connor told the others.

“I think it was finding out that Deborah was the mother of his triplets that did it,” Maddie suggested. “It was the last straw, the thing that finally unhinged Charlotte.”

“Why would that do it any more than knowing about the other illegitimate ones?” Kenneth asked. He frowned. It was obvious that he didn’t like or welcome the fact that he was actually related to Gerald. “That man spread his seed more than anyone ever cited in the Bible,” he said with disgust.

“Kenneth,” Barbara chided, obviously surprised at her husband saying something like that.

“Well, it’s true,” Kenneth told his wife. “He didn’t care who he impregnated. The man should have been neutered.”

“Are you sure we’re actually related to Gerald Robinson?” Maddie asked. “Maybe there was some mistake made.”

Connor sympathized with his sister’s desire to sever ties, but it wasn’t that simple. “Dad and Gerald are both Grandpa Julius’s sons,” he pointed out.

“We’re half brothers,” Kenneth corrected tersely. “For what that’s worth.”

“That was when Gerald was still known as Jerome Fortune, before he decided to run off and assume another complete identity,” Barbara explained to her children, no doubt to keep things straight in case the fact had gotten lost among the preponderance of offspring who had been discovered.

Maddie squinted as if she was trying to reconcile a few facts with ones that already existed. “Wait, my head hurts,” she said as she dramatically put her hand to her forehead.

Valene laughed at her sister’s theatrics as she shook her own head. “One thing I have to say about this family. We are definitely not boring.”

“No, Gerald and his extended family aren’t boring,” Kenneth corrected with feeling. “We are just an average, run-of-the-mill family with some decent monetary holdings,” he insisted. “Or we were,” he said as he looked in Connor’s direction, “until one of my sons decided to completely turn his life inside out and become a—” his eyes met Connor’s “—PI,” Kenneth concluded.

Connor wanted to put this behind them once and for all. His father had to understand that his new career would only help the family in the long run, not embarrass it. “Dad, you’re getting off track here,” Connor respectfully pointed out.

“And your ‘track’ is that this was all done by Charlotte as her way of getting even, is that it?” Kenneth asked.

“Yes,” Connor answered simply.

“But why would she do all this?” Kenneth asked. “Wouldn’t her vengeance be focused directly on Gerald, not the rest of the family?” He rethought his words. “Or better yet, on Deborah? After all, in Charlotte’s warped mind wouldn’t she think Deborah is responsible for stealing her husband away from her?” Kenneth insisted.

There was no simple, hard-and-fast answer to that. “I think we can all agree that Aunt Charlotte is a complicated person. I wouldn’t begin to try to analyze exactly what’s on her mind. I would be lost in that maze for days,” Connor predicted.

“And yet you think she’s the one behind this?” Barbara asked her son.

The two were not mutually exclusive. “Yes, I do,” Connor answered.

“She might be a cold, vengeful person, but she is still family, Connor. I really don’t think she’d go to such great lengths to get back at Gerald or Jerome or whatever he wants to call himself,” Barbara argued.

“Well, Mother, I’m not as kindhearted as you. And according to the evidence I’ve found, she is definitely mixed up in this, if not the actual orchestrator—which I actually believe she is.”

Connor looked around at his family in silence, allowing his words to sink in. Hoping he had finally gotten them to see the situation the way he did.

He was convinced the only hope they had was to fight this as a united front.