Corey's Catch

by Jill Sanders

  Funny, how one’s perspective can change over the years. She’d spent several hours with the women in Fairplay and not once had thought of any of them in such a way.

  Actually, she and Savannah had been getting along very well. Billy and Savannah were set to stop by later that night for a visit. Everyone in town had heard about the break-in and wanted to stop by to check in on her.

  Already that morning, Lauren had stopped by and dropped of a coffee cake. She glanced over and decided she could use another piece as she went through the box from her aunt.

  When she hobbled back over to the table and set the plate down, she accidentally tipped over the box. Now, letters were everywhere on the floor. Beggar walked over and immediately lay on as many of them as he could.

  She laughed and pushed the cat aside as she picked them up. Then she noticed an unopened white envelope that didn’t look like it belonged.

  Sitting everything back on the table, she looked at the envelope. Bella was written on the top in her aunt’s handwriting.

  With shaky hands, she opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.

  My dearest niece,

  I know you’re probably wondering why I have chosen you to inherit all of my possessions. The answer is simple. I have always been able to see a lot of me in you.

  You have always been trapped in a world you don’t desire. A world where money and power rule and family and bonding with someone take the back burner. I lived my youth much like you have. Trying to please parents that wouldn’t and could never understand, yet alone love me for who I wanted to be.

  I hope you will look at my last gift to you as a new beginning. A way to change your life into something you want it to be. I understand the burdens that come with everyday life and have secretly spent years building up my wealth, but have not let it change me or showed others the riches I possess.

  My last gift to you, Bella, is your chance at freedom. These numbers will be your guide. 12-26-4-22. You’ll need them along with the papers in…

  But the rest of the page was blank. Bella must have read the letter a dozen times. She didn’t know what the numbers meant or why her aunts letter cut off without the key information. After all, her aunt didn’t have a safe or a safety box that she knew of.

  She’d searched through her aunt’s paperwork in her desk, and so far, she hadn’t found anything that could be a clue with the numbers. But, she decided to have another look when she could.

  Then again, Bella hadn’t even read her aunt’s will. Her parents had only informed her that her aunt had left everything to her.

  Did they have a copy? Was there a clue as to what these numbers were in her will? Who would even know?

  She tucked that letter into her purse then shoved all the other letters back into the box. The numbers, she could easily remember. They were her aunt’s birthday, followed by her own.

  She remembered her aunt’s birthday only because she had always sent her birthday cards along with Christmas cards every year.

  She tucked the box back into the pantry and decided to make a nice dinner for her guests, just to prove that she was feeling okay. Plus, cooking always gave her a sense of empowerment, which she could use a dose of right now.

  She took her time deciding what she wanted to cook. Making sure she had everything she wanted, she pulled out potatoes for her favorite Greek potatoes recipe, then some broccoli for her oven-roasted broccoli, and last, she decided to use the fresh cod she had bought from the market the other day. She had found a lemon cod recipe in her aunt’s cookbook and decided she would try it out.

  She busied herself over the next hour preparing everything, which she found was a little more difficult when you had to sit down during most of it. By the time everything was almost ready, her feet were throbbing. Glancing at her clock, she realized she had just enough time to run upstairs and change before Corey was expected to be home.

  She had just gotten out of the shower when the phone rang. Since it wasn’t her cell phone, she decided to let the machine take it. Once again, the same man left a message to her aunt about investing her money. Bella found it funny that the man was being so persistent, especially since her aunt wasn’t the kind of woman to even have a bank account, let alone put a chunk of her money into the stock market. Deciding to ignore the call, she walked into the bedroom and chose a simple cotton dress to wear for the night. It flowed around her calves and would allow her to still wear the soft slip-on shoes she’d been wearing all day.

  When she came back down the stairs, the dogs barked, signaling that Corey was home. The thought of Corey and home stopped her for a moment. So much had happened so quickly, yet she felt like she knew Corey better than anyone else she’d ever been with. Even Hugh, whom she’d been engaged to for almost a year.

  “Something smells good in here,” Corey said from the doorway, causing her to jump out of her thoughts.

  “It should be ready soon,” she called out to him.

  “I’m going to head up and change,” he said from the doorway of the kitchen. When she turned, she held in a laugh.

  “What happened to you?” He was almost completely covered in purple paint. He’d removed his boots at the door and had even taken off his socks and rolled up his pant legs.

  “Don’t ask.” He rolled his eyes. “Let’s just say, that’s the last time I help Mr. Coulter paint his house.”

  She chuckled and then gasped when she heard another car drive up. “That’s probably Savannah and Billy. You’d better hurry.” She laughed as he turned and walked out. His backside was covered with even more paint.

  “I heard that,” he grumbled as he rushed out.

  She was just finishing setting the plates when she heard the screen door open.

  “Hello,” Savannah called out.

  “Back here.” She smiled as she set down the last plate.

  “Oh, look at you.” Savannah rushed to her and pulled her into a hug. “Why are you up? You should be sitting down with those legs and feet up in the air.” Savannah started tugging her towards a chair.

  “I’m fine, really.” She stopped her. “Where’s the baby?” She glanced over just as Billy stepped in, Maggie on her hip. “Oh!” She smiled. “Look at how cute she looks tonight.”

  Maggie was wearing a soft pink dress with a matching bow in her hair.

  “Froggie!” Maggie started to say, and then tears started pouring from her eyes.

  “We seem to have misplaced her stuffed frog.” Billy frowned. “I’m sure it’s just in the wash, but…” Maggie buried her face into her daddy’s shoulder. “Until we find it, this is what we get.”

  “I might have something…” She smiled. “I left it here when I was six.” She made her way towards the stairs. “Make yourselves at home, I’ll be right back.”

  She went into the guest room, opened the closet, and looked around in the boxes she’d just put in there. Pulling out the stuffed alligator, she turned to go, but something stopped her. Two of the boxes she’d taped up and put away last week were open. Setting the stuffed animal down, she pulled the boxes out and looked in them. There was nothing but paperwork in both boxes. She’d labeled them from her aunt’s small office desk. She had plans on eventually shredding the material since it was bank statements and utility bills.

  Deciding to tell Wes about it, she made her way back downstairs. When she handed the alligator to Maggie, the little girl’s eyes got big.

  “Louis!” Maggie said over and over.

  “Who’s Louis?” Bella asked, just as Corey walked down the stairs, freshly showered.

  “Maggie loves the Princess and the Frog. Louis is the alligator in the story.”

  Bella smiled. “If he will fill the spot of Froggie until his return, you’re welcome to him.”

  Corey and Billy were sitting out on the front porch after dinner. Savannah was helping Bella do dishes, while Maggie slept on the sofa, still hugging the stuffed alligator.

  “So,” Billy said, taking ano
ther sip of his beer. “Any idea who’s breaking in?”

  Corey frowned. “No. Wes says that Ronny was working the other night.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that story. Besides, we’ve known Ronny our whole lives. He’s too old to be sneaking around here at night.”

  “From the sounds of it, he and Betty did plenty of sneaking around.”

  “Yeah, but he’s not the scary type.”

  “No.” Corey thought about it. He’d thought the exact same thing. Ronny was off the list of suspects.

  “Then who? I’m not buying the whole teenage kids theory. You?”

  “No.” He shook his head and took another sip of beer. “I’ve been doing some of my own digging. I was helping Mr. Coulter paint his porch today…”

  “Yeah,” Billy joked. “Everyone heard about that mess. Did you really drop the bucket?”

  “Shut up.” He growled, remembering where his mind had wandered when he’d lost his footing and dumped the whole bucket of paint on his head.

  Billy laughed some more.

  “Anyway, before I turned myself purple… who paints their front porch purple anyway…” He shook his head and tried to get back on task. “Before, I was talking to Mr. Coulter, who is the manager for Regional Bank. He was telling me that he thought it had to do with all the money sitting in Betty’s bank account.”

  “Betty didn’t keep her money in a bank. Everyone knows that.” Billy crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Apparently, she opened an account a few years back.” Corey added, “At least according to Mr. Coulter.”

  “What does Bella say about it? I mean, if she inherited everything from her aunt…”

  Corey shrugged. “I’m not sure she knows about it.”

  “Knows about what?” Savannah asked as the two women walked out onto the porch.

  Corey watched Savannah walk right into Billy’s arms. It was funny—a little over a year ago, he would have never thought that the two of them would make a good pair. Now, he couldn’t imagine anyone fitting together better. His eyes moved over to Bella.

  “Corey was saying that Mr. Coulter was talking about Betty’s bank accounts. How she has a bunch of money in them.”

  “At the local branch?” Bella frowned as she sat next to him. Corey quickly put his arm around her shoulders.

  “That’s what he was saying. Did you get any information on it?”

  She shook her head. “No, all my parents told me was that she had left me everything in her will. I guess I don’t even know what everything is.”

  “Grant would know,” Savannah added.

  “Grant? Why would he?”

  “He was your aunt’s lawyer,” Billy added in. “Everyone knew that. Your aunt didn’t like banks, but she liked Grant good enough.” Billy smiled.

  “We can visit him in the morning,” Corey suggested. He watched Bella bite her bottom lip.

  “I think whoever broke in last night went through a few boxes of my aunt’s paperwork.”

  “What?” Corey stopped swinging and took her hand.

  “I just found them, when I went to get Louis.” Bella looked deep into his eyes. “I was going to tell you after dinner.”

  He nodded. “What makes you think that?”

  “Well, I’d moved all of her old paperwork into two boxes and labeled them. Then put them in the spare bedroom closet along with some other things.”

  “And?” he asked.

  “The boxes were opened. The tape is pulled off and the paperwork is a mess instead of neatly in the folders like I’d left them.”

  “We’ll take them into the sheriff’s office tomorrow morning, as well.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder tighter. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her head.

  She sighed and settled back against his shoulder.

  “If you need anything,” Savannah said, holding onto Billy, “Let us know. The whole town is sorry for what you’re going through. Everyone is trying to figure out who this could be and why.”

  “Thanks,” Bella said, smiling over at her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Early the next morning, Corey drove them into town. He’d texted Grant and told him they would be stopping by, but didn’t mention why. They had dropped the two boxes off to the sheriff’s office early that morning, but before they did, he and Bella had gone through them.

  They were both surprised when they noticed there weren’t any bank statements from Regional Bank. There was no paperwork mentioning the bank or money, only bills, which were always showed paid by cash.

  “I don’t know how my aunt could live on a cash basis. I mean, just paying your bills every month by taking cash down to the office…” She sighed. “I guess I’m a woman of ease. I like logging in online and paying everything with credit cards.”

  “Me too.” He reached over and took her hand. “At least when I can.” He frowned when he thought of all the bills he was now paying portions of, just to stay on top of them all. Even the odd jobs he was doing weren’t making a big dent in the medical bills his father was racking up now.

  “Have they heard anything about your dad?” she asked.

  “Am I that transparent?” he asked, pulling into the parking spot in front of Grant’s office.

  “No.” she shrugged. “I guess I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I’m worried about you.” She tugged on his hand until he turned towards her. “I can see it in your eyes. You’re worried.”

  He nodded and unbuckled her seat belt and his, and pulled her closer. “I’m worried about you more.” He brushed a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear as she smiled at him.

  “I’m okay, as long as you’re here.” She leaned in and kissed him.

  Bella sat across from Grant, looking over at the man from behind his large cherry desk. He was looking at them with a slight frown on his face.

  “They didn’t tell you?” he asked again.

  She shook her head, not sure of what to say. To be honest, her mind had gone blank when he’d given her the news.

  “What do you mean she doesn’t mention a bank account in her will?” Corey asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.

  “I mean, there’s no mention of a bank account, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts. Nothing. This doesn’t mean she didn’t have any. Just that she didn’t mentioned them when she wrote this up almost seven years ago. According to the will, everything your aunt had at the time of her death is now yours. If the bank has an account under her name, then everything in it, by law, is yours and will be transferred into your name. I can check with the bank…”

  Corey nodded just as Bella answered.

  “No, we’ll stop by first.” She twisted her hands. “Does it say anything else?” She asked. “My aunt gave me some numbers?”

  Corey blinked and looked over at her. “Numbers?”

  She shook her head. “Later,” she whispered.

  “They might be access numbers to a bank account, safety box, investment accounts, or even a stock account. Your aunt was a very private person when it came to her money. I’ll give you a copy of her will, so you can take it with you. The bank should be able to use this as proof for any accounts they have opened for her.” Grant turned to his computer and punched a few keys and printer sitting behind him began spitting out papers quickly.

  They walked across the street to the bank, and as they were standing in line, Corey talked to a few people he knew, making sure to introduce her to them.

  She was so focused on trying to figure her aunt’s puzzle out, that she wasn’t really paying attention.

  Finally, when it was their turn, she stepped forward and explained everything.

  “Mr. Coulter will have to see you. You can have a seat and he’ll be right with you,” the young man said from behind the thick glass.

  Corey took her hand as they walked over to the chairs that lined the side wall. “Mr. Coulter will straighten this all out.”

  She nodded an
d tried to take a few cleansing breathes. “Do you really think that someone was trying to get the money from a bank account. I mean, breaking in and taking some papers won’t get money from a bank.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure, but maybe he could at least shed some light on part of it.”

  Bella knew Corey was right. At least she felt like they were finally on the right track. After all, she was pretty sure she’d found most of her aunt’s cash stashes. She’d combed the house from top to bottom, inside and out. She was fairly certain there were no more surprises for her to find.

  A few minutes later, they walked into Mr. Coulter’s office. The man was nothing like she’d pictured. He was older than she’d imagined. She knew that Corey had helped him paint his house, but she had expected him to be much younger. The man sitting across from them now was easily in his late seventies.

  “Corey was telling me about your problems out at the house.” The older man frowned and shook his head.

  “We think it might have to do with something you said to me yesterday. About Betty having a bank account here.”

  He frowned. “Well, now, after I talked to you yesterday, I thought I’d do some of my own digging. Seems like your aunt opened an account with us five years back. She didn’t make any physical deposits, but had a lot of money moving in and out of it from a few different places.”

  “Bella has a copy of her will, if you need proof that she is the…” Corey started to say.

  “No, I’ve got a copy. Grant’s office faxed it over a few minutes before you stepped in.” He smiled. “That man is sure good at his job.”