Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose by Jack Parker

Now she lives in a big expensive house and spends her days shopping, while Cindy lives
somewhere
and works a crummy job."
    Money. That was it. Jennifer had access to rather a lot of money - and would get more if her husband died. Then Cindy would move into the house, or Jennifer would
sell
the house, and they'd be set up. That had to be it.
    But would it happen that way? Dad might well have been dazzled by Jennifer's cleavage, but surely he wouldn't leave all his money to her. Wouldn't most of it go to us kids? They'd only been married a year, he'd had plenty of time to change his will. He sold insurance, surely he had a life insurance policy on himself. Who was the beneficiary?
    She scraped the last of the yogurt off the sides of the cup as she thought about it. What was it that Shawna had talked about last year when her mom had re-married? A pre- something. "Pre-nuptial, that's what she called it. Both people agreed on what they would and wouldn't get if they divorced."
    It had sounded silly to them then, if you love someone why put limits on the marriage? Now Gracie began to see the reasons. You wouldn't want the new wife to get everything if you had kids. Dad wasn't stupid, had he made Jennifer sign one? Was there something in it that changed when they'd been married for a year?
    Maybe that explained the "burglary", she thought. Jennifer was looking for a copy of the pre-nuptial in Dad's office, it would be just like her
not
to have a copy herself. She
said
she'd been shopping, but maybe she'd really been home looking for it. But in that case, why tear up the rest of the house? That didn't make sense.
    "Follow the thought out," she told herself. Maybe Jennifer hadn't found it in the office, had gotten desperate and looked through the rest of the house. It still didn't explain why it was such a mess; it would take more time to search neatly but Jennifer had time.
    So what if she
did
find it - and it didn't say what she thought it had. Maybe she hadn't even read it before she signed it, she'd just taken Dad's word about what was in it. Maybe she found out she didn't get much if she divorced him, but she'd inherit a ton if he died. Especially if they'd been married at least one year. Maybe she thought if she destroyed it she'd get everything; but that was stupid, Dad's lawyer would have a copy, Dad would have seen to that. It still didn't explain the mess.
    In any case, Jennifer had been home at 3:00 when Dad had been shot. She'd been on the phone with 911 and talking to the police a little later. She had an iron-clad alibi, she couldn't possibly have shot him. That was a relief to Gracie. Although she didn't like Jennifer, she didn't want to think she was capable of cold-blooded murder.
    That left Cindy. Maybe Cindy shot him so Jennifer would have an alibi.
That
could explain the mess, Jennifer set herself up. But she
really
couldn't see Cindy as a murder. Murderess? What was it Lieutenant Freeman had said? Something about Cindy showing up shortly after the police had come to investigate the break-in, and that he doubted she'd have had time to drive across town. Well, the police would check that out, but it seemed like Cindy was in the clear, too.
    If the burglary and murder were connected, who did that leave? Her mother wouldn't need to break in to find anything, she kept copies of the divorce decree in her desk, Gracie had seen them. Something to do with a client who thought Dad had cheated him? Nah, they'd break into Dad's office downtown.
    Gracie tried to remember what everyone had said earlier tonight. She went down the guest list in her mind. Then it hit her - Aunt Jeanine! She'd complained that Dad hadn't treated her like family because he wouldn't give her a loan.
    She remembered the scene at the party. Dad and Aunt Jeanine had had a loud argument about the loan. Dad had said some pretty ugly things and Aunt Jeanine had begged. No, wait. Aunt Jeanine had begged
Jennifer
to talk to Dad, but that was later on. Dad had