in all his children. Along with ambition.”
She suddenly looked away, and for a moment Decker thought she might burst into tears. She rubbed her mouth and turned back to them.
“My father is…was a huge influence on me.”
Decker said, “I’m sure. And you wanted to meet with us because your father told you something?”
“Things,” she said. “I wrote them down on the flight in.”
She handed the paper to Decker. He looked down at it.
Bogart said, “Can you read them out loud, Decker?”
Decker appeared not to have heard him.
Jules stared impatiently at the silent Decker for a few moments and then said sharply, as though she were giving a business presentation, “One, he told me to take care of my mother. Two, he said for me to get married and have a family. Because life was too short. Three, he told me that above all I was to remember that he loved me.”
Bogart said, “And was this unusual?”
“My father was attentive and caring, but, yes, these particular statements were unusual because he had never spoken to me about these things before. At least not like that.”
Jamison said, “So were you concerned?”
“I point-blank asked him if something was wrong. He said no. Just that he’d been thinking about life in general and wanted me to know these things. He joked that he must be getting old, but it still struck me as odd.”
“Did you talk to anyone else about it?” asked Bogart.
“No. I was going to phone my siblings to see if he’d a similar conversation with them, but then I got busy. By the time I got around to thinking about doing it I got the call about Dad.”
Decker held up the list. “You have a number four marked here but nothing beside it.”
Jules reached in her pocket and pulled out a key. “He sent me this the next day.”
Decker took the key and looked it over. “Appears to be a safe deposit box key,” he said, handing it across to Bogart.
“It is,” said Jules. “He has a box at a bank in downtown McLean. He’s had it for years.”
“Do you know what’s in it?”
“I assumed it was just things one puts in a safe deposit box. I’ve never seen inside it.”
“Why would he send you the key?”
“I don’t know. I was going to call him, but then, like I said, I got distracted with business. I assumed I would have plenty of time to talk to him about it. I just thought it might have something to do with his estate planning. It would make sense that he would involve me. He’d named me executrix a couple of years ago.” She added in an explanatory note, “I’m the oldest. That stuff sort of fell to me by virtue of birth order.”
“But your father obviously had confidence in you too,” said Jamison.
“I hoped he did.”
Decker looked at Bogart. “Can we look inside it?”
Bogart glanced at Jules. “If your mother is a signatory on the box we’ll need her permission. Otherwise, we’ll have to get a warrant.”
“Get the warrant, because I’m not disturbing my mom right now. She needs to rest, not worry about signing papers.”
Bogart pulled out his phone and stepped from the room.
Jules looked around the space and her expression changed from flint to despair. “I grew up in this house. I love every nook and cranny of it.”
Jamison said, “I can see why. It’s beautiful. So warm and inviting. Did your mother do the decorating?”
Jules nodded. “She had an eye for that. Dad was great at his business. But Mom did everything else. She was the perfect partner. Wonderful hostess, a great sounding board when he needed it. And she raised four kids, mostly on her own because Dad was always traveling back then.”
Jamison said, “Wealth like this doesn’t come easy. A lot of hard work went into it.”
“Yeah,” said Jules absently.
“So his words to you, given what happened, make sense,” said Decker. “Sort of parting advice?”
She looked up at him, her face reddening. “So you’re suggesting he told me to get married and have kids before he goes and murders someone and then blows his own head off? How screwed up is that?” she added shrilly.
Decker said imperturbably, “But he might not have thought he had a choice.”
“What does that mean?”
When Jules finally composed herself, she sat up.
Samantha said, “What the hell is going on? Why is the FBI here?”
Jules said, “I told you what happened, Sam. Did you think they wouldn’t be investigating? Dad mur…Dad shot someone. Right outside of the FBI building.”
Samantha collapsed into the chair that Jamison had been sitting in. “I know that’s what you told me. But it…it can’t be, Jules. You know that. Why would he do this? He had so much to live for.”
“Daddy was terminal. He had a brain tumor.”