Faye Kellerman: The Garden Of Eden And Other Criminal Delights

Cecily had planned well for this day, writing a will to avoid probate court. Her instructions were clear. Each of her granddaughters was awarded fifty thousand dollars in cash. The girls screamed upon hearing the news and hugged each other. The rest of Cecily’s estate-her house and its contents, all of her stocks and bonds, as well as the remaining cash in her accounts-was to be divided equally between her two daughters.

“Cash” turned out to be a significant wad: three hundred thousand dollars. Both sisters gasped when they heard the amount. With big smiles, they ran to each other and hugged like long-lost lovers. It seemed odd to Rina that Cecily would keep twenty thousand dollars in cash in a dresser drawer when she had so much in the bank and in a brokerage account. She couldn’t help but think that maybe the sisters had made up the entire story. But what would be the point of doing that-of pointing a finger at Lee Kwan-if they couldn’t file an insurance claim?

Maybe Cecily had kept cash on hand to buy exotic plants or flea-market artwork.

But twenty thousand dollars?

The whole thing was very odd.

The family seemed to barely hear as Mr. Mortimer awarded Mr. Kwan all of Cecily’s potted plants and flowers. Nor did they care when Rina was gifted the artwork: all of the paintings, drawings, charcoals, watercolors, and prints that hung on Cecily’s walls.

Sixty-three pieces in all. Rina was stunned. Yes, she had expressed an interest in the collection whenever Cecily had presented her latest purchase, but it was just to be polite. Kwan leaned over and whispered to her, “I’m glad she give it to you and not them. You love plant like she did.”

Rina loved plants, but not all those pictures of plants. What in the world was she going to do with sixty-three framed pieces? But she smiled and pretended to be very grateful.

Kwan whispered, “Any orchid you want? I don’t have room for all of them.”

“Maybe a few. Are there any pictures that you want?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t have room.”

Neither did Rina. After the assets had been distributed, everyone stood up. Kwan said, “I come by next Sunday to pick up the plants.”

Edwina was grinning. Inheriting such a large amount of money had lifted her spirits. “You’ll have to come by sooner, Mr. Kwan,” she sang out brightly. “Meredith and I are selling the house. We have a broker coming by on Saturday to look at it, and I need to get rid of that ugly greenhouse.”

Kwan sighed. “Okay, I come by Friday.”

“Bring a big truck,” Edwina said. “Whatever you don’t take, we’re throwing away.” She looked at Rina. “Same goes for you.”

Rina clasped her hands nervously, still wondering what she was going to do with all those wall hangings. Maybe she could have a garage sale. “If either of you want any paintings from your mother’s collection, feel free to take whatever you want before I pick up the pieces.”

“Take them all,” Meredith said scornfully. “If I never looked at another flower again, I’d be fine. I think Mom loved them more than me.”

“In the end, Merry, the old girl came through,” Edwina said.

“Minus the twenty thousand,” Meredith pointed out. “I wonder what happened to it?”

A slow wave of pink infused Edwina’s face. Meredith, already mentally spending the money she had just inherited, didn’t seem to notice.

Rina looked at Brooke and Lily Lettiger. “Maybe the girls would want a painting to remember their grandmother by.”

Both of them shook their heads. Brooke said, “I loved Grandma, but she was a little extreme.”

“Very out there,” Lily added.

“If you could pick up the art by Thursday, Mrs. Decker, that would be helpful,” Edwina said. “We need to paint the house, and it would be better if the walls were clear.”

Decker regarded the sixty-three pieces of art spread out over his living room. “We could give it all to Goodwill and take a deduction.”

Rina said, “I think we’d make more at a garage sale.”

“Who’d buy any of this stuff?”

Hannah was slowly going through the works. She was twelve now, a decent artist herself, although she much preferred cartooning. “Some of these pieces aren’t so bad, Abba. I like this little painting of this white flower.”

“Actually, it’s a magnolia blossom, and it’s very well painted.”

“I’d like to keep it.”

Decker sighed. “Okay, we’ll keep that one, but only because it’s small. The rest go!”

“These watercolors look very old,” Hannah added. “Maybe they’re worth something.”

Decker groaned. “I knew this was going to happen.”

“What?” Rina asked.

“You’re going to keep the entire collection!”

“No, we don’t have room.”

“Finally, the woman speaks sense.”

“However, we shouldn’t just junk everything.”

“Why not? Sell it, burn it, just get rid of it!” Decker cried out. “If I see one more flower in the house-real or otherwise-I’m going to tear down the place, build a barn, and stuff it with racing cars.”

“I’ll take this one for my room, Abba,” Hannah said, referring to the magnolia painting. “I’ll hang it in a corner so you won’t even see it.”

“You don’t like this rose painting, Peter?” Rina held up a thirty-by-forty oil canvas of tumbling pink roses against a dark background. “I think it’s pretty.”

Decker snarled, “The painting’s huge, Rina. Where are we going to put it?”

“How about over the sofa?”

“It’s flowers, Rina. I’m sick of flowers ! And I don’t like the frame.”

“I agree with you about the frame. How about we take it out of the frame, and then maybe you’ll like the picture better.” She lifted the painting. “Wow, this is heavy!”

“Don’t bother taking it out of the frame… just give it away!” But there was no talking Rina out of it. She was already removing the cardboard backing. Within seconds, pieces of paper began falling to the floor.

Lots and lots of paper.

Rina felt her head go light. Of course, she couldn’t tell the exact amount of cash. Only that there was a lot of it.

After all sixty-three works had been removed from their frames, the grand total was $11,600, all in Franklin bills.

“It’s not twenty thousand,” Decker said as he fitted another painting back into its original frame. The living room was an absolute mess. It would take them hours to clean up. His hands were still shaking from counting all that cash.

Rina looked at the rose painting. “Well, we’re certainly going to keep this painting now. It’s a harbinger of good luck.”

“I’ll say,” Decker agreed.

Rina smiled. “Except we both know, Peter, that we’re going to have to give the money back.”

“Why? Cecily obviously put it there for a reason. She obviously gave you the paintings for a reason. She wanted you to have the paintings and the cash.”

“Peter, we have to give it back.”

“They’ll just accuse us of stealing from them. They think there should be twenty thousand dollars.”

“Peter, we have to give it back!”

Decker sneered. She was right-at least morally right. Under the law, a case could be made for their keeping the cash.

Don’t even go there.

“I’ll return the cash under one condition.”

Rina looked at him. “What?”

“I want those boobs to tell me what happened to the other eight thousand four hundred.”

They all met at Mr. Mortimer’s office. The atmosphere was friendly, but Decker didn’t trust the women or their lawyer. To protect Rina and himself, he had brought his own attorney, a friend from the synagogue named Ernie Garshofsky. Under Ernie’s direction, Rena slowly explained how she and Decker had found the money.