Page 86 of Booked for Murder

I would do my best. I could only hope my best would be enough.

My parents’ house wasn’t designed for a wheelchair, which meant I got to deal with being carried everywhere. To humor me, Bradley had demonstrated there really was no way I could navigate through the narrow hallways even with help. As moving me around required preplanning, the dining room became my haven.

To help me cope with the restraints, my doctor approved the use of crutches for no more than an hour a day, which offered the illusion of more freedom.

It took one circuit around the dining room and adjacent kitchen to develop a better respect and understanding of my limitations. My lungs hated me for my short journey, and it took almost half an hour for my chest to stop hurting and fully catch my breath.

“Idiot,” Bradley muttered under his breath, confiscating my crutches and putting them out of my reach. “You can have those back if and only if you need to go to the bathroom. Otherwise, you have an entire house of servants who can fulfill your every need.”

The gathering of people, ranging from my co-workers to my parents, all glared at Bradley, and their expressions promised retribution in one form or another.

I thought his choice of words offered a good opening to discuss the serious work ahead of us. “Mrs. Hampton, if you were to use the original proposal as a method of expanding your household’s wealth or political power, how would you go about it?”

“It would only benefit me if I were to do so through use of for life contracts,” she replied, placing her briefcase onto the dining room table, opening it up, and taking out a stack of papers. “Now, parts of the second bill were sourced from this one in regard to the for life contracts, eliminating loopholes to allow the contracted individuals to exit the agreement. It does not increase the base cost of the contracts unlike the new one, which would significantly benefit anyone acquiring such a contract. There is an interesting limitation in the Kennedys version that’s absent in the newer one.”

“What limitation?” Bradley asked.

“One for life contract per member of the household, and the household is defined as legitimate members of the family living at the same address. So, Bradley, for example, would only be able to hold your contract, leaving Jezabella with her contract with Daniel. That would allow your father and me to pick up one contract each. The new bill would allow every household to have as many for life contracts as they can afford, and while it does up the minimum payout by double, the current minimum payout isn’t all that high, truth be told.”

“How much is it?” I asked, and while aware I’d been paid a substantial fund, which had gone to my parents for their retirement while I received a salary for my work done, I’d never paid much attention to the minimums.

I could only assume I hadn’t been paid a minimum.

“Fifty thousand.”

In shock a human life could be purchased for so little, I opened my mouth, spluttered, and stared at Bradley, who’d paid substantially more for my for life contract. “You could have gotten me for fifty and you paid how much? Are you an idiot who hates money?”

The Hamptons all dared to laugh at me, as did my parents.

“That’s just rude,” I complained. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“You’re worth more than what we paid for you,” Bradley’s mother soothed. “But wouldn’t you rather your contract value be private information?”

Well, on second thought, I supposed discussing the specifics of my contract might make my co-workers uncomfortable, especially when they might never make the amount I’d been purchased for during their entire lives. “There’s no point in hiding it. I’m an adept exsanguinator. That made my price tag rather horrific. But I did it for a good cause.”

“You did it to support your parents and allow them to retire comfortably,” Beatrice said, although the woman raised a brow. “The rumor mill has already had its way with your contract, Janette. We had questions, and we kept asking them until we were told the truth.”

I considered the Hamptons and which one would be the weakest link, deciding Bradley would be the easiest one of them to interrogate for information. “You snitched, Bradley?”

“I wouldn’t call it snitching. I would call it wisely surrendering before they brought my mother into it. They cornered me via conference call.”

“You could have hung up on them.”

“While I could have, they would have taken that as a challenge to get the information out of me in a more painful manner. They were determining if they needed to launch a rescue mission.”

I considered the likely culprits behind a planned rescue mission, settling on Beatrice or Meridian as the likely suspects. As Beatrice would enjoy watching me suffer a little before rescuing me, I focused on Meridian. “Do you feel a rescue mission is still required?”

“That depends on a lot of factors. If he’s going to buy you books, treat you well, and otherwise pay your medical bills, I’ll permit his presence. If he interferes in any of those things, I’ll have words with him.”

I laughed at the thought of Meridian trying to face off against Bradley. “I can handle one rowdy adept with minimal assistance. Right now, he’s my functioning pair of legs, so please leave him somewhat intact, but if he doesn’t do his job as my functioning pair of legs, you can educate him.”

Bradley sighed. “I probably deserve that, but do you have to, Janette?”

“Absolutely.”

Bradley’s mother cleared her throat. “I know it’s easy to get excited, especially considering the situation. Let’s stay focused. I’ve put together a timeline for the murders, the progression of the original bill, and I’ve done some basic research on prior failed bills that might also be linked to the one currently working through the senate. With the time since the prior killings and our general restrictions until we can get the cell officiated, we’re going to have to work with publicly accessible information. Fortunately, it’s usually simplistic enough to get copies of failed bills, especially when you present it as a research project. Some of the bills are public record, as they were made available through the government following sessions. However, current laws state that the bills need not be made public unless they’re up for a full vote and may progress to the opposite chamber before being sent to the President. About seven years ago, a law passed making it no longer mandatory for dead or dying bills to be made public. The bill information only becomes public information if it passes in one of the chambers.”

“Am I the only person here who thinks that’s a terrible idea?” I asked.