Love You Dead by Peter James Read Free Book Online Page A

airport when I arrived here, and caught some of the news stories, but I was hoping you’d tell me more
– is any of it true?’
    The lawyer frowned. ‘Walt never told you? He didn’t level with you?’
    ‘Told me? No?’
    ‘About his finances?’
    ‘No, we never talked about money.’ It was true, they didn’t. ‘Are you saying the French police think he might have committed suicide?’
    ‘It’s a possibility. Walt was in true Walter Mitty land, he believed right up until – I guess about a week before his death, when we last spoke – that somehow everything
was going to come good for him. Maybe in that week he realized there was no way out. Walt was an experienced skier. He was following you in a white-out – why would he suddenly go off in a
completely different direction?’
    Suicide
.
    Her heart was pounding at the thought. So they suspected maybe it wasn’t an accident after all, but
suicide
!
    For an instant she thought that would be great. But then, reflecting, it began to worry her.
    Suicide? Trouble with finances? Shit, how is this going to affect things?
    Muscutt peered for a moment at a stack of documents in front of him, which were held together by a single length of green tape, then looked back at her. ‘Anyhow, Mrs Bentley,’ he
said in his strong, confident voice, ‘I guess we might never know what was going on in Walt’s mind.’
    ‘He loved me – we adored each other. I can’t believe he never talked to me about this. I mean – he told me he’d changed his will to include me. What do you mean,
exactly,
financial troubles
?’
    ‘You didn’t find him looking a little worried just recently? A bit distracted?’
    She shrugged. ‘Not really, no – he was pretty much like he always was.’
    ‘OK, well, I’m sure you are anxious to know the – ah – situation regarding the provisions for you in your late fiancé’s will?’
    She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and not show her excitement. Her past husband had been a disappointment, leaving her far less than she had anticipated. Enough to buy her the Roedean
house and to keep her comfortable, but nowhere near enough to pay for her dreams. But this time, she had been confident, she had struck gold. Just how many millions was she about to inherit from
Walt? Riches beyond her wildest dreams. Maybe it ran into billions!
    ‘No, not at all,’ she said, acting her heart out. ‘I just loved Walt so much. I can’t believe he’s gone – we had such a short time together. Anything he might
have left me is meaningless. I just want him back.’
    ‘Is that so?’ He gave her a dubious look.
    She nodded, bleakly.
    ‘I thought it would be better to see you alone, rather than have Walt’s whole family present at this time.’
    ‘I appreciate that,’ she replied.
    ‘I have to tell you that I don’t have good news for you.’
    She stiffened. Muscutt’s whole demeanour seemed to have changed. It felt as if the sky had clouded over. She gave him a wide-eyed look.
    ‘Walt’s wealth came from a group of funds he ran – he had several billion under his management. But during recent months he was under investigation by the US Securities and
Exchange Commission. Would you know what a so-called Ponzi scheme is?’
    She frowned. ‘I’ve heard of the expression.’
    ‘Remember a shyster called Bernie Madoff? He’s currently in a Federal Correctional Institution after defrauding investors in one of the biggest financial scams of recent years.
Basically he used funds from new investors to give high returns, way above market rates, to earlier investors – and siphoned off a percentage for himself. I’m afraid it looks like
that’s what Walt was doing, too. All his bank accounts have been frozen and all his assets are being seized. If he was still alive, he could have been looking at a jail sentence equally as
long as Madoff’s, if not longer.’ The sympathy seemed to have gone from the lawyer’s voice and demeanour. ‘And