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Chapter Fifteen
Baxter
I make the long drive to Cordelia’s house, relieved that I’m able to see Nix again. I’m pissed that she’s been gone a month already and I’m no closer to bringing her home. The lawyers are dragging their heels for some reason and I’m losing patience. It’s time to act. Either by speaking to my grandfather or by calling in some favours with The Order.
Still, I’m grateful at least that I’m on Phoenix’s approved list of visitors. I intend to take full advantage of the fact by taking her out for the day and spoiling her. It’s not her fault her grandmother is a vile witch who has stopped us from visiting. I’ll even let her see her mum. I know it’s against the rules for Raven to have contact with Phoenix, but no one said anything about not video calling. I think it’s worth the risk after seeing how upset Raven was yesterday.
I know that I’ve been able to track Phoenix on the app but it’s not the same as seeing her with my own eyes, in the flesh, to check she’s alright. I’d drive triple the distance for that. More in fact.
Yeah, I’ve got it bad for them both.
Still.
When I pull up outside the ostentatious manor, no one comes out to greet me. I pull up the HeartSafe app and check Nix’s location. She’s not here. I’m guessing that Cordelia isn’t either. She’s usually the first to pounce on me when I show up.
I get out of the car and walk around to the back of the house, helping myself to the back door key under the plant pot. It’s crazy that after all this time Cordelia still hasn’t moved it. Raven used to use it to sneak around when she was pregnant and Cordelia got too controlling. Imagine locking a grown adult in the house and giving them a curfew. I shake my head at the levels of crazy Cordelia sunk to. We need to prove it though, for the courts. And more importantly, we need to figure out why she did it. Why is Cordelia so hell bent on controlling everyone and everything?
I let myself in and disable the alarm – Cordelia never bothered to change the code either – and then I explore. Raven once told me that Cordelia had a safe installed in the downstairs office, behind a painting, so I decide to head there first. I don’t know what I’m looking for, just a gut feeling that says to check it out. It’s easy enough to find.
Safes have always been my strong point, and cracking Cordelia’s is a piece of piss. She uses my grandfather’s birthday as the code. Desperate idiot.
Inside there’s only one folder. I pull it out and open it to discover it contains a single document. The Last Will and Testament of Ms. Cordelia Eliza Deighton. Why would this be the only thing in the safe? I check the date...it was updated a few months ago. Why?
I, Ms. Cordelia Eliza Deighton, being of sound mind and body, do decree that my entire estate, fortune and possessions are split equally between my two granddaughters, Elizabeth McLintock and Charlotte McLintock, and my great-granddaughter, Phoenix Elizabeth McLintock...
I stop reading, frowning over the questions racing through my mind. Why would you update your will and still include the person you are bringing a custody battle against? Is this supposed to form an apology later on? Is Raven supposed to be impressed?
I almost think that Lizzie still being listed on there is an oversight...only, Lizzie was never alive at the same time as Phoenix, so how can they both be listed? It makes no sense. There’s no way any decent lawyer worth their salt would miss a glaring error like that. Unless…
Holy shit.
I freeze.
Does Cordelia believe that Lizzie is still alive?
Fuck.
My heart races at the possibility as I pull out my phone and bring up the number for someone I haven’t spoken to in a lifetime. She answers after the first ring.
“Long time no talk,” she drawls. I can hear the smile in her familiar Australian voice. “You’re calling in that favour aren’t you? I’m not going to sleep with you Baxter,” she says and I chuckle at the long-standing joke between us.
“Close, but there’s something I need even more than you,” I joke.
“She must be special.”
“She is. She’s everything. They both are.”
“Embracing the harem life at long last?”
“Something like that,” I evade. “I don’t really have much time.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I need you to find someone for me.”
“Consider it done. You know the resources I have at my disposal.”
“It won’t be that simple,” I warn.
