by Amy Vansant
“They found the murder weapon,” said Gemma.
Todd’s eyes bulged. “Like a gun or a knife?”
“A doorstop. Someone hit him with it.”
Todd whistled, seemingly impressed by something. Charlotte couldn’t imagine what.
“So your uncle never let you go to the second floor. Even when you were kids?”
Gemma laughed. “Especially when we were kids. He’s not a big kid person.”
“So would it be right for me to say Mina was effectively your mother growing up?”
Gemma nodded. “I guess.”
“And Lyndsey’s like a big sister?” She glowered at Todd as she asked the question and saw his face twitch with what looked like anger.
“I guess,” repeated Gemma. “And Uncle Kimber was a little more like a real dad before he got sick. He ate dinner with us sometimes and made us do our homework and stuff. It’s just when he got older we didn’t see him much anymore because it was hard for him to get up and down the stairs.”
Charlotte nodded and tapped the top of the half-door. “Okay. That’s it. I appreciate you answering my questions.”
Charlotte started off and then, once out of the pair’s sightline, paused to listen. She heard Gemma’s voice high and Todd’s sounding almost as if he were reprimanding her, but she couldn’t make out the words. She headed back for the house.
Mina was sitting at the kitchen table when she returned.
“Did you find anyone?”
Charlotte nodded. “Gemma and Todd.” She paused. “Are they a thing?”
“A thing? You mean dating?” Mina seemed to pale when Charlotte nodded. “No. I hope not—” Mina looked at her, her eyes tilted with worry. “Why? Did you see something?”
Charlotte shrugged. “No. Just wondering.”
“I think they’re friends. I mean, she’s always out there with the horses.”
“Sure. How about him and Lyndsey? Do they get along?”
Mina shrugged. “I suppose. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Just asking. Did you see Gemma go into her room when she left you talking to Payne that day?”
“I didn’t see her go in the room…” Mina put her hand on her stomach. “This is all too much.”
“I know you don’t want to think about it, but someone went up those back stairs while you were gone. She was near the stairs.”
Mina collapsed back into her chair and dropped her chin to her chest. “I know. I know.” She looked up at Charlotte, her eyes glistening. “She’s the sweet one.”
“Mina, let me ask you something. Who inherits the estate? Are the girls in his will? Are you?”
Mina’s jaw lowered. “I don’t know. I assumed me until you just said that.” She looked down, brow crinkling as if deep in concentration, and then looked up with a shrug. “He might have left them a token amount. Something to cover college or a new car, not that I wouldn’t have provided them with those things.”
Charlotte remained quiet until Mina noticed her watching.
“Do you think Gemma killed Kimber for his money?”
Charlotte shook her head. “She probably went to her room like she said she did. Once in there, anyone could have sneaked down the hall.”
Mina nodded. “This is a nightmare.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The funeral confirmed what Charlotte had already suspected—Kimber Miller was not a popular man. The only people in attendance were the people who lived in his house and the workers from his property, who probably showed up to curry favor with new management.
Mina mourned for the rest of them, sobbing loudly twice during the ceremony. Lyndsey and the twins appeared somber, but dry-eyed. Kimber’s ashes sat silent in a bronze urn, unmoved either way.
Charlotte’s attention drifted as she and the others crossed and uncrossed their legs and shifted from one butt-cheek to the other on the hard wooden church pews. She watched people enter, hoping to spot a shadowy figure lurking nearby, a killer drawn to view the pain his handiwork had caused, but the mystery refused to wrap up that easily.
The service was blessedly short, as the reverend struggled to find things to say about a man he clearly didn’t know. By all accounts, it seemed Kimber was good at making money and terrible at interpersonal relationships. When asked to speak, Payne did the honors for the twins, but her speech ended up more about the horses Kimber provided than about the man himself, other than a quick memory about him asking them repeatedly to remove their elbows from the table and sit up like ladies. Lyndsey’s remembrance also leaned heavily on the horses and her apartment above the stables. Only Mina remembered him in a light other than that of a distant benefactor. She told a story about Kimber teaching her a song about a drunk monkey when she was a little girl that had made them both laugh. So much so, she felt the need to sing it for the church:
I went to the county fair
The birds and beasts were there
The big baboon by the light of the moon was combing his golden hair
The monkey he got drunk
And sat on the elephant’s trunk
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
And that was the end of the monk, the monk, the monk
Charlotte heard one of the men Mina had identified as the landscapers repeat the song in Spanish for the others behind her amid a spate of snickering. Lyndsey laughed politely and Payne rolled her eyes at her sister. Mina finished with a final goodbye and a sob and started down the few steps to return to her seat. She appeared a little wobbly, so Lyndsey jumped up to assist her. The girls watched, both turning their heads enough that Charlotte could see their expressions soften. They might not have known their adoptive father very well, but they clearly thought of Mina as their mother.
Charlotte was finding Kimber to be a bit of an odd duck. He’d been kind enough, or at least willing enough, to accept not only one, but four people into his life. But once in his home, he barely paid attention to any of them. Even Mina, who’d been the only person to spend any time with him during the last few years of his life, had been forced to reach back to childhood to find a happy story, and that was just a song a robot could have been programmed to perform.
After the service the tiny congregation returned to the house for a catered wake. The workers dug into the abundance of food and Mina collapsed into a chair, looking exhausted. When Charlotte approached her she looked up, her eyes rimmed by dark circles.
“The food is delicious,” said Charlotte for the sake of making conversation. She’d only tried a deviled egg and then quietly slipped it into the trash when no one was looking. It had relish in it and she hated deviled eggs with relish.
What is wrong with people?
“Thank you, I mean, not that I had anything to do with it,” said Mina, smiling weakly. “I’m afraid a lot of it will go to waste.”
“I don’t know,” mumbled Charlotte watching Todd take a massive helping of chicken salad from a glass bowl. He caught her watching and winked at her.
At a funeral? Ugh.
Gemma hovered nearby, handing Todd a napkin once he’d filled his plate. She wasn’t hiding her crush like Lyndsey was. But then, as Lyndsey stood talking to an older gentleman, Charlotte spotted her use a moment of laughter to cast a furtive glance in Todd’s direction.
Hm. Charlotte wasn’t sure if the look was purposeful or happenstance.
Lyndsey was an unmarried woman living alone on a farm. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility she’d fallen for the strapping, horn-dog of a farmhand. People wrote steamy books about relationships like that all the time.
“I feel bad I didn’t cook, but I just couldn’t find the energy,” said Mina at Charlotte’s elbow.
Charlotte looked down at her. She’d almost forgotten they’d been talking, so enthralled she’d been with the romantic suspense unfolding by the chicken salad.
“Does Lyndsey have a boyfriend?” she asked.
Mina scanned the room until she locked on Lyndsey. “
She was recently dumped by a boat salesman if I’m keeping them straight in my head. Flashy with his cash and a roving eye from what I remember. She has a tendency to make poor choices when it comes to men. Sets herself up to fail. I tell her these things but she never listens to me.”
So maybe Todd’s story is true. He’d certainly be a poor choice.
Mina sighed and turned to Gemma, still slavering at Todd’s elbow. “None of them listen to me. But all three of them were good girls. Are good girls. It hasn’t been easy for any of them.”
“I know the twins are Mr. Miller’s nieces, but how did Lyndsey come to be here exactly?”
Mina smiled. “That’s my fault. A woman who worked for Kimber went to jail. I heard through the grapevine her five year-old daughter was on her way to state custody and I insisted we take her in.” Mina chuckled to herself. “I wouldn’t let it go. Kimber finally went along with it to shut me up.”
“So it wasn’t his idea.”
Mina laughed. “Oh no, no. He never wanted kids. But he wanted me to be happy. And—”
“And?”
“Oh, it seems like a horrible thing to say, especially today, but I think he thought if I had a kid to keep me busy it would keep me here with him. Keep me from dating and wandering off to create a family of my own.”
“So it wasn’t his idea to adopt any of the girls?”
“No. The nieces…I mean what can you do when your brother and his wife are killed. You can’t just throw their girls to the wolves.”
“And he had you to watch over them, too.”
Mina nodded.
Charlotte’s attention drew back to the bright yellow circles of whipped yolk calling to her from the deviled eggs and reminded herself about the relish.
Ruined.
She scrutinized the crowd, but found things unfolding the way anyone would imagine. The landscapers had clumped in one corner to talk in Spanish. Payne sat in a large stuffed chair tapping away at her phone. Gemma talked to Todd. And Lyndsey—
“Who’s that man with Lyndsey? I don’t recognize him from the service.”
Mina took a bite of a tuna fish sandwich, trimmed of its crust. “That’s Kimber’s lawyer. I don’t think he was at the service. He’s here to read the will.”
Charlotte had been thinking about leaving, but changed her mind.
“Do you mind if I stay for the reading?”
Mina shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Charlotte decided to make chit-chat with the rest of the people in the room. The yard crew had little to share. Only one of them spoke English, the oldest of the three, and the only one who brought his wife. He assured her they’d all been as shocked and saddened to hear of Miller’s death as anyone.
Charlotte moved on to retrieve her glass of wine from the side table. Mina had left that spot and wandered over to talk to the lawyer with Lyndsey. Out of people to interview, Charlotte checked her watch, wondering when they’d read the will. The same disappointment she’d felt in the church washed over her. If she were the P.I. in a movie, she’d lean against the wall until some shifty-eyed character did something to catch her attention. But all she saw was people eating chicken salad and pretending to like relish in deviled eggs. No one was laughing too hard or too little. No one sneaked off at an inappropriate time. Other than Todd and one of the landscapers locking themselves in a battle to see who could polish off the room temperature shrimp cocktail, there was very little excitement. No one even drank too much, with the exception of Payne who sneaked several glasses of white wine when Mina wasn’t watching. She looked less sulky than usual.
When the food had been thoroughly picked over, the smattering of guests left Mina, Lyndsey, the twins, the lawyer and Charlotte in the great room. The lawyer whispered something to Mina and she nodded.
“Everyone, take a seat. This is William Josef, Kimber’s lawyer. He’s going to read Kimber’s will and he’s asked that we all be here.”
Charlotte tucked herself against the wall hoping no one would notice her and object to her being there. No one seemed to care. They only had eyes for the lawyer, no doubt hoping he was about to say their name next to a number ending in a lot of zeros.
The lawyer took his place at the front of the room and pulled a blue-covered, folded collection of papers from his breast pocket.
He cleared his throat. “I, Kimber Miller, being of sound mind...”
Charlotte smiled to hear wills really did start like they did in the movies.
Mr. Josef went through the technical bits of the will and then reached the distribution of wealth.
“To The Kimber Miller Foundation, I leave the money already in the trust plus an additional one million dollars to aid in the running of the foundation and to put towards additional research so no one ever has to go through what I went through.”
Mina leaned towards Charlotte and whispered. “When he found out he had Alzheimer’s he set up a foundation to help find a cure.”
“Who runs it? Does a million dollars seem like a lot?”
Mina shook her head. “I oversee it. All I do is donate the interest to research every year and take a token salary of five thousand dollars a year to cover my time.”
Charlotte nodded and returned her attention to the lawyer.
“To my nieces, I leave one hundred thousand dollars each, which I hope they will use to continue their education.”
Payne straightened in her chair, her eyes wide. “But I can do whatever I want with it?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” said Mina.
Payne looked at her, scowling. “But it’s mine. He just said so.”
Mina held her index finger over her lips, requesting silence and Payne flopped back against the sofa with her arms crossed against her chest. That cleared the path for Charlotte to spot Gemma sitting on the opposite side of her. Her expression hadn’t changed. Apparently, she’d expected no more or no less.
“That hundred thousand is going to be trouble,” mumbled Mina.
“To Mina...” began William.
Mina’s gaze shifted to Lyndsey.
“Oh no, he’s skipping over Lyndsey. Kimber must not have left her anything.”
“Because she’s not actual blood?”
Mina nodded. “I’m sure. And...” she paused. “He should have left her a token something.”
Charlotte wanted to ask her what she was about to say, but Mina plowed on.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of her.”
The lawyer continued. “...my loving sister, who has cared for me during my illness, I leave five hundred thousand dollars.”
Charlotte heard Mina suck in a breath.
“Five hundred thousand?” Mina asked aloud, her voice rising at the end so sharply Charlotte could see the question mark dangling at the end of it.
Mina looked at Charlotte, her eyes wide. “But that leaves—”
“The rest of my money, holdings, land and properties go to my daughter, Lyndsey Griffin.”
Now it was Lyndsey’s turn to sit up straight from her position at the other side of the sofa. She slapped her hand to her chest. “Me?”
“That’s everything,” said William, folding up the papers.
“Wait, that’s not right,” said Mina to Charlotte. “Did he say daughter? She’s my daughter if she’s anyone’s, not his. He never even officially adopted her.”
“But you did?”
Mina blushed, her right eye twitching. “No. I didn’t see the point of getting into a custody battle with her real mother in prison but—”
From her seat, Lyndsey looked up at Mr. Josef. “Did you say I’m Kimber’s daughter?”
He nodded and held out the will for her to take it. “There’s a paternity test attached.”
“A paternity test?” yelped Mina, crossing the room to snatch the will from Lyndsey’s hand. Lyndsey let it go, seeming more baffled than anyone by Mina’s behavior.
Mina opened the
will and flipped through a few pages until she found what she was looking for. She looked up at Lyndsey. “You’re his real daughter? By blood?”
Lyndsey’s jaw worked without sound.
“He never told you?” asked Charlotte, unable to help herself. If Lyndsey didn’t know, then it was less likely she would have coerced the old man into making her the majority benefactor.
Lyndsey shook her head as Mina’s arms dropped to her sides, the will pinched between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. She stared at the twins.
“This isn’t right. It was my idea to take her in. I had to fight him.” Mina looked at Charlotte. “How could he never tell me?”
Charlotte didn’t know what to say.
The twins remained in silence, staring at Lyndsey, their jaws hanging slack.
“I’m going to head out,” said William, retrieving his briefcase from the corner of the room.
“I’ll go with you,” said Charlotte. She put a hand on Mina’s arm and Mina jumped.
“I’m going to go.”
Mina stared at her in stunned silence until finally her head began to nod, ever so slightly.
Charlotte took that as a sign she was good to go and headed for the door. As she went she took one last look at Lyndsey who still sat on the sofa ramrod straight. Her hands rested on her thighs as she blinked at the floor, as if it was taking some time for the information of her paternity to sink in.
The woman was probably tossed upon a sea of churning emotions, but Charlotte wasn’t concerned for her. When faced with a shock like that, it was always nice to get ten million dollars or so to ease you through it.
Suddenly, Lyndsey stood and threw her arms around Mina.
“That means you’re my real aunt!”
Now it was Mina’s expression that seemed to freeze.
Payne stood, her lips pulled into a taut knot. “Why does she get millions and we only get a hundred thousand?”
Charlotte hurried out the door. She didn’t envy the night Mina had ahead of her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
On the way home Charlotte stopped at Lyndsey’s mother’s house a few blocks away from her own in Pineapple Port. She couldn’t help but wonder how Lyndsey’s mother had never mentioned to her daughter that the man under whose roof she’d grown up also happened to be her real dad. Had she made an arrangement with Kimber from jail? She had to know, didn’t she?