Ten o'clock the next morning found Daniel and Sabrina on the campus of Boston College. Officials from the college had sent a car around to their hotel to pick them up, and thirty minutes later they had arrived in style, right at the sight of the soon-to-be-dedicated Langford-Littlefield Building.
The building was an impressive one from the outside. Built in the colonial style, it blended well with the other buildings they had passed while driving through the campus. Daniel was surprised, however, to find out that it didn't appear to be brand new. Established landscaping around the building seemed to indicate that it was at least two years old.
He commented on this to the official who had been showing them around. She told them that the building had actually been completed some years earlier, but it had remained unnamed, waiting for a wealthy contributor to give his name to the structure. Catherine and Ernest had certainly filled the bill, and now their legacy stood here before them, an imposing structure of brick, concrete and steel that would always be a testimony to their love of knowledge and education.
As the time for the dedication approached, Daniel and Sabrina were led to the front row of a group of about one hundred chairs set up on the front lawn of this new classroom building dedicated to the study of the sciences, archeology in particular. A woman and two men were already seated there.
The woman appeared to be in her mid-fifties, and with her strawberry blond hair and blue eyes, she could've been Sabrina's mother. She gave Sabrina a somewhat nervous smile. The two men looked to be in their forties, and while neither one of them had blond hair, they both had Sabrina's blue eyes. While the woman had smiled, these two gave Sabrina looks that were both cool and appraising.
As they sat down next to this happy group, Daniel leaned forward to whisper in Sabrina's ear. "Relatives, I presume?"
"Unfortunately. I'll introduce you after the ceremony."
The dedication ceremony itself was long and tedious, just as Daniel had known it would be. He had been to enough of these during his academic career to know what to expect. There was the welcoming speech, the mandatory song by the college glee club, short biographies of both Catherine and Ernest, followed by numerous speeches by the heads of the departments that would be housed in the building.
Daniel recognized one of his former colleagues on the dais from his days at the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Hopefully the jackass wouldn't recognize him. Actually that was probable: Fifteen years ago he had shoulder length hair and horn rimmed glasses. Oh, and he was attached at the hip to Sarah Gardner, can't forget that.
As the ceremony drew to a close, Sabrina and her as-yet-unnamed relatives were called to the podium to receive a plaque in memory of Catherine and Ernest. Daniel joined in the applause as he remembered his two absent friends. How Catherine would've loved this.
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After the ceremony there was a reception in the lobby of the newly named Langford-Littlefield Building. Sabrina and her relatives had been escorted to the head of a makeshift receiving line on the other side of the room, so Daniel contented himself with fixing a plate of hors d'oeuvres and trying to avoid Dr. Jackass, who kept glancing curiously in his direction.
He had just ducked behind a column to eat his crackers and cheese when he heard loud voices coming from Sabrina's general direction. Oh, well, he guessed it was time to meet the folks.
"And just what is that man doing here, Sabrina? It's an insult to Catherine's memory and it's an insult to us." Male relative number one was turning an alarming shade of red. Daniel wondered if strokes ran in his family and if any doctors were in the building, medical doctors, that is. Female Sabrina look-alike relative looked extremely embarrassed while male relative number two just looked constipated.
The four of them had given up all pretenses of shaking hands and making nice with the local dignitaries. Daniel walked up to the group and took Sabrina's arm. "Is there a problem, Sabrina?"
Sabrina was so angry she was shaking, and she seemed glad to have Daniel's steadying touch and support. "Daniel, these are my cousins." She practically spat the words, never taking her eyes off of them as she spoke. "Barbara McIntyre, Phillip Langford, Geoff Langford. They seem to know who you are…"
You could've cut the tension coming from that trio with a knife, so Daniel didn't even bother extending his hand, the one that wasn't now resting lightly around Sabrina's waist. Instead, he gave them what he hoped was his most engaging smile, and only his closest friends could've noticed the hint of sarcasm lurking there.
"So…you're all cousins…" Silence.
"This truly is a beautiful building, don't you think?" Again, silence. Daniel's smile was starting to slip but he tried once again.
"What a wonderful way to honor the memory of Catherine and Ernest." Just when he thought he wasn't going to get a response at all, male relative number one, make that 'Phillip', spoke up.
"Mr. Jackson, we were having a family discussion, if you don't mind."
"You know…'Phil'," Daniel could feel himself channeling Jack, "It's Doctor Jackson, but my friends call me 'Daniel'…You can call me 'Doctor Jackson'. And frankly I do mind. Catherine and Ernest were friends of mine, and I believe they would want me to look out for Sabrina's best interests in this matter." Daniel had dropped his pleasant demeanor, and could, in fact, feel a muscle in his jaw twitching as it broadcast his irritation.
Sabrina looked on helplessly as she waited for her relatives to begin what she knew would be a verbal assault on her new friend. When she felt Daniel's fingers tighten almost imperceptibly around her waist, she relaxed somewhat. She had a feeling Daniel could hold his own against these three.
"You strike me as a man who…looks after his own interests, Dr. Jackson." Daniel didn't like the direction this conversation was taking, but he felt like he had to respond.
"What are you implying, 'Phil'?"
"He's not implying anything, Jackson." This statement came from Geoff. "But you inherited a sizable chunk of Catherine's estate. Why do you think that is?"
Daniel was trying to control his anger by breathing deeply and evenly. It wasn't working.
"Why do I think that is? I think it's because she saw a kindred spirit in me, someone who would appreciate the effort and the love that went into collecting those antiquities. Why do you think that is?" He knew he was leaving himself wide open, but he was ready for them to lay all their cards out on the table, metaphorically speaking.
Geoff and Phillip exchanged glances. Ah, they were tag-teaming him. "It wouldn't be the first time a younger man wormed his way into the affections of an older, wealthy woman." This observation came from Phillip.
There. They'd said it. Daniel could feel himself blushing, partly from embarrassment at this very public confrontation and partly from anger. He'd been accused of being many things in his lifetime: crackpot and lunatic were the first two things that came to mind; but he had never been accused of being a gigolo…until now.
His grip around Sabrina's waist became almost painful and she realized belatedly that he was drawing his hand into a fist. She covered his hand with her own to hold it there. "Phillip, you have no idea what you're talking about."
"And you have no idea what his intentions are toward you, Sabrina." Phillip Langford looked at her mockingly. "For all you know, he might be planning on…romancing youright out of your inheritance."
Sabrina was glad she had decided to trap Daniel's hand in her own, because he was trying to pull away from her. To Daniel's credit, he appeared outwardly calm to the people that were milling around the room; but when she turned to look at him, she saw a steely glint in his eyes that she had never seen before. She had a hard time reconciling him with the easy-going man she had eaten a cheeseburger with the night before.
Daniel closed his eyes for a few seconds and breathed deeply. Then he opened them wide and looked at Geoff and Phillip as though coming to a conclusion for the first time.
"You didn't inherit anything, did you?" He glanced at them, then at Barbara, who had yet to say anything, and then back at them again. "That's what this is all about. You got zilch from Catherine's estate. Am I right?" No one said anything. "No…wait…You each got something…small…like a book…or a necklace. Am I right?" He could tell he had come disturbingly close to the truth when they didn't answer him immediately.
"So when Catherine chose to leave her things to someone else, someone who gave a rat's ass about her, you assume there was something inappropriate going on!" Despite his good intentions, Daniel's voice had grown louder.
"I hear you used to stay over whenever you were in Denver. Are you denying that?" asked Geoff. Daniel wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face, but he held his temper.
"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer." He turned to walk away, and then turned back around to face Geoff once more. "Look, if you want to challenge Catherine's will, go ahead," he said." What she gave me in the ten years I knew her can't be measured, counted or taken away."
Geoff's reply was cut off by the appearance of the college president, who was trying desperately to restore a sense of decorum to the situation. He led Sabrina's cousins back to the head of the receiving line, but as Sabrina turned to follow them, Daniel stopped her.
"Can we just leave now?" was all he said.
Barbara caught up with them just before they got to their car. "Sabrina, Dr. Jackson, wait. Please."
"What is it, Ms. McIntyre? Want to get in one more jab?" Daniel knew he sounded like a jerk, but he just couldn't help himself.
"No, actually I wanted to apologize for Phillip and Geoffrey. They're mad because Catherine cut them…us…out of the will; but they shouldn't have taken it out on you and Sabrina." She smiled at the young woman with the strong family resemblance, placed a slip of paper in her hand and held it there. "If either of you need anything, anything at all, please call me."
Daniel couldn't think of a thing Barbara McIntyre could do for him, but he nodded at her before she turned to make her way back to the reception.
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Daniel and Sabrina sat in silence as their driver drove them back to the hotel. Neither one of them wanted to discuss something so personal in front of a total stranger. Daniel didn't trust himself to speak until they were alone in the hotel's elevator.
"You know…you know what they were implying isn't true." He felt a lump in his throat as he risked a sideways glance at Sabrina. The anger he had felt earlier had faded and he was left with a deep sense of sadness.
"I know that," answered Sabrina. "They're idiots and they're jealous…and they're greedy." The elevator doors opened onto their floor, but she didn't want to leave Daniel alone in his present state of mind. "Look, we've got several hours before our flight, she said. "Why don't we have some lunch here in the hotel and we can talk about this, okay?"
Daniel captured his lower lip in his teeth and nodded. He looked not at her but straight ahead as the elevator doors closed and they made their way back down to the lobby.
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Daniel learned more about Sabrina's cousins than he really wanted to during lunch in the hotel's coffee shop. The three were evidently Catherine's only other living relatives and were descendants of Max Langford, Catherine's father's younger brother. To think they had a claim on Catherine's fortune was ludicrous. They were second cousins, at best; and according to Sabrina, had only met Catherine a couple of times.
Nevertheless, at one time she had planned on dividing her estate equally among the four of them. Why she had changed her mind, Sabrina had no idea. The reading of Catherine's will had come as much of a surprise to her as it had to Barbara, Geoff and Phillip. Evidently it had gotten quite ugly at the lawyer's office.
Daniel didn't know the full extent of Catherine's wealth, but he had a feeling that inheriting just one fourth of it would've meant never having to work again. Max's grandchildren had to have been bitterly disappointed. An idea was starting to take root, and it sickened him.
"Do you know if Catherine told anyone she was going to change her will?" Daniel took a sip of his iced tea as he waited for Sabrina to ponder the significance of his question. He watched her eyes as they went from a look of consternation through several levels of disbelief to finally settle on something akin to horror.
"What are you suggesting?" she whispered. "You can't think….you can't possibly believe…" She couldn't even finish the thought. So Daniel finished it for her.
"That Catherine may not have died of natural causes?" Sabrina looked like she was going to be ill, her face several shades paler than it was when they had started their meal. Daniel wished he could take it back, that seed of doubt he had planted in her head; but he knew he had to follow through on this, if not for Sabrina and himself, then surely for Catherine.
"I'm not sure what I'm suggesting, but I do think I'm going to shake the other branch of the Langford family tree when we get back to Colorado and see what falls out."