Dead Pan by Jane Dentinger

Author:Jane Dentinger [Dentinger, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-3690-9
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-06-28T16:20:00+00:00

20

“WHOA! WHO IS THAT barney? Anybody dropped in on me like that—I’d wax his board with Crisco, man.”

“Dwayne—?”

“Oh, sorry, Josh. What I mean is—that guy on the long board was already riding the wave and that twerp came in front of him and stole his ride. It’s just not done, you know?”

“He is beneath contempt, I’m sure,” O’Roarke agreed, recapping a tube of Almay sunblock SPF 30 after having covered every millimeter of skin exposed to the UVs beating down on Topanga Beach. “But could we possibly get back to the will, Dwayne?!”

“Uh, sure, sure. But let’s walk, okay,” he said, slipping off his Docksiders and motioning for her to follow suit. Despite the strong sun, the sand felt cool under her feet as she tried to match her stride to Hamill’s loping gait. “I ’preciate you coming out here, Josh. It’s just that I think best near the ocean—gets your alpha waves going and you need your alphas to help you see the Big Picture, crime-wise, right?”

“If memory serves, the lieutenant—or shall we just call him Allah?—usually gets his alphas going with a shot of Jack Daniel’s. But to each his own, eh?”

At the mention of Gerrard, Dwayne shot her a surprised glance but nobly restrained himself from pursuing the topic. Actually she’d surprised herself as well but chalked it up to the subconscious aftermath of that bizarre dream of hers.

“So what’d the lawyer have to say?”

“Not lawyer—lawyersss. To the tune of three. Man, those dudes are twisted. Acted like Banks’ will was some big state secret I was trying to steal. But I managed to make ’em cough up,” Hamill said, a heretofore hidden toughness in his tone. “Those guys get so cranked up over a couple’a lousy millions—well, twenty, I guess.”

Jocelyn stopped so fast, she kicked sand in her own face. “Twenty?! Buddy’s estate is worth twenty mil?”

“Yeah, give or take a few—definitely take after death duties and those guys get their cut, I’d say. Still, a nice sum considering that it’s not even factoring in his wife’s income.”

“I’ll say! He and Gabby must’ve done better than I thought with their real estate business.”

“They did okay,” Dwayne said with a blaséness she found amazing in a guy who couldn’t be earning more than fifty grand a year. “But that’s not the bulk of it—not by a long shot.”

“Then what is?”

“Now here’s where it gets interesting. Remember Ginger said Buddy was the executor of her parents’ estate?”

“Sure. And an executor gets a fee but not to the tune of twenty mil—”

“Wait, wait! She also said that he oversaw the selling of her father’s business, right? But he never sold it, Josh. Jellicoe Import-Export is still a going concern! And Buddy—as executor and Ginger’s financial manager—was still getting a cut of the profits.”

“Well, shiver me timbers and blow me away! You think he was skimming her?”

“Hard to tell yet. They ran a lot of numbers by me and I’m no accounting whiz. She was definitely receiving quarterly payments from the business.

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