by Mary Frances
Margaret wrinkled her nose. “Worms? Why would we need worms? I only want to HOLD
the pole, not the worms!”
Sandy left them to their argument about fishing and worms and went inside to dress. When she returned, Dallas was back down on the dock and Margaret was finishing her coffee.
“I am going back into the city this morning with Wilma. Is there anything I can pick up for you while I’m there?” Sandy asked. Margaret looked out into the woods.
“If you see a small bag of marbles, the little glass kind, I’d appreciate it if you picked one up for me,” Margaret said.
“A bag of marbles? What on earth for?”
“A bag of marbles. Yes. Because I want a bag. And a bag of marshmallows. The big ones.”
“A bag of marbles. Okay. One bag of marbles,” she said as she went back into the house. Margaret sat with a smile on her face. When she emptied her cup, she went in her room and dressed for the day. She came out again and as Sandy headed for the back and the gold cart, Margaret stopped her.
“See if you can find a small tape recorder for me. Something I can hold in my hand and please try to find one with buttons I can push.”
“Whatever for?” Sandy was more interested in Margaret’s sudden reason for such a thing.
“I want to try and record the sounds of this house and who knows, I might even be tempted to start on my memoirs.”
“A bag of marbles, marshmallows and a small tape recorder. Anything else?”
“Make sure there’s plenty of sugar,” Margaret added.
Sandy and Wilma left again by way of the golf cart and Dallas spent the morning inspecting his house. He invited Margaret for a walk but she didn’t like the terrain. The woods were a little too unsettling for her. Unable to wear shoes for over five years, her slippers kept her close to most flat surfaces. The woods were definitely not flat. Instead, she sat quietly in the open living room and watched the clouds gather overhead.
Sandy went first to the library and used the computers to look up several things she needed. Then, she and Wilma went to the grocery store and loaded the back of Dallas’ SUV. She even remembered Margaret’s marbles. With her day half over, she went back to the cabin on the island and unloaded the vehicle. It would take two trips to bring everything to the house. Dallas caught up to Sandy at the garage. He checked the alarm center and the gates. He found a small storage closet with gardening tools and canvas covers. He assumed they were for the golf carts in the winter. By the time Sandy was ready to go up to the house, he joined her. They left one cart in the small garage to charge.
“The next time one of us comes down here in this cart, we’ll have to charge it,” he said.
“Just to make sure it’s up to par.” Sandy stored the information as he maneuvered the cart up the trail. When she finished bringing everything in the house, Wilma worked in the kitchen and Sandy worked on Margaret’s new tape recorder. Margaret practiced with it in her room and when she was satisfied with its operation, she slipped it away under her pillow. When she came back out, Dallas was out on the dock with a pole in his hand. Sandy was trying to start a fire in the small pit and Wilma worked on dinner. Margaret made a cup of coffee and went out onto the deck. As she settled in the chair, she put her hand in one pocket and pulled out a marble. She let it fall from her fingers and as it rolled down the boards on the deck, her eyes followed it. Sandy turned to watch.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Shh,” Margaret said. “Listen to it roll.”
The red marble went slowly down the boards to the edge of the first deck and then rolled off the edge and continued downward along the boards. It found the groove between two boards and started to pick up speed. Margaret smiled. The marble rolled along to the edge of the second deck then dropped out of sight for a second and when it re-appeared again, it was on the dock rolling toward Dallas’s feet. The man was oblivious to the small marble, his pole taking precedence over the world around him.
Margaret stood up, as did Sandy to watch the marble. It made its way along the dock and disappeared over the edge. As it hit the water, it must have made a noise, too far from Margaret or Sandy to hear but enough to catch Dallas’ attention. He looked at the water and then slowly turned around.
“Just what was that?” he yelled back, half laughing, half serious.
“Just an experiment,” Margaret said. Dallas set his pole down and walked up the decks. Margaret was just releasing two more marbles as he stepped up on the main deck. He had to step over the rolling marbles.
“Margaret?” he asked. “Are you that bored already?”
She smiled and slipped two blue marbles in her pocket. “No, detective. I keep getting the thoughts of marbles in the lake, but not the blue ones. Never the blue ones,” she said. Sandy shrugged her shoulders and sat back down. Dallas watched the marbles proceed down the decks and off the dock.
“I’m just decorating your lake,” Margaret said.
“Well, when you figure it out, let me know,” he said and headed inside for a cup of coffee. Margaret looked down at the dock. Dallas’ pole was wiggling. She pointed at it.
“Sandy, be a dear and go save Dallas’ fish for him, would you please?”
Sandy looked at the pole and sighed. The thought of worms and fish made her wish she had stayed in the house but she walked down and picked up the jiggling pole.
“Just turn the thing on the side,” Margaret coached from her seat. Sandy looked back and started to turn the small handle. Dallas came out with a hot cup of coffee and watched.
“Am I doing this right?” Sandy yelled back.
“Just keep cranking,” Dallas told her. He started the walk back down and when he got to the dock, Sandy was pulling the line in like it was an anchor.
“It’s stuck,” she said. Dallas looked over the rail.
“Uh huh,” he said. “Probably caught a log or something. Pull slowly so you don’t lose my hook.”
Sandy sighed and slowly started pulling the rod. Whatever was on the other end was heavy. A cloud of silt formed closer to the dock as Sandy slowly reeled in the line.
“This is too hard on my arms,” Sandy said and handed the pole to Dallas. He took it with one hand, set his coffee down on the rail and looked over the rail.
“Looks like you caught a gator,” Dallas said. Sandy turned and without saying another word, ran up the decks to Margaret.
“I hate fishing,” she said and went back inside.
Dallas was laughing and as his hook dragged whatever it was snagged on, closer, he set the rod down, lay on his stomach and reached under the dock. Margaret watched from her seat and after a small struggle, Dallas finally got his line and hook unstuck and when he sat up again, he had his hand on the handle of a suitcase.
Sandy came back out on the deck and sat down next to Margaret.
“He said it was a gator,” she whispered. “There are no alligators up here.”
Margaret smiled. “Wilma would know,” she said as she stood up.
“What do you have this time, detective?” Margaret asked. Dallas was slowly carrying a wet suitcase up the decks. Water seeped from its sides and by the time he got up near the fire pit, it was only dripping. He let it set and sat down next to Margaret. For the next minute, everyone just stared at it. Sandy started tapping her arm and Margaret only smiled.
“Afraid to open it, detective?” Margaret asked. Dallas got up and pulled the case closer to Margaret.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Touch it and do your thing.”
Margaret sighed. She sat up and slowly put her hand on the handle of the wet case. She closed her eyes and let her head roll forward. When she lifted her head again, she was smiling.
“Hmm…” she said and took her hand away. “Very interesting.”
“That’s not fair, Margaret” Dallas told her. “You have us at the disadvantage.”
“I’ll give you a hint,” she laughed. “It’s money.”
Dalla
s stood up. He pulled the case closer to his seat and opened it. Three heads bent over the open case and everyone looked inside. Dallas reached a hand in. The first thing he pulled out was a small leather bag tied at the top. He handed it to Sandy who let it set on the palm of her hand. Margaret took it and smiled.
“Ah,” she said. “This explains the marbles I keep seeing.”
“What marbles,” Dallas looked at her.
“Since we got here, I kept seeing marbles in the lake. Some one used to sit up here and roll them down the decks.” She stopped and held up the small bag. “I’ll bet if I open this, I’ll find it filled with blue marbles. He was fond of the blue ones.”
“Who was?” Sandy was leaning over the case again.
“William,” Margaret answered. She had her hands over the bag and held it tight. Her eyes were closed. “William,” she whispered again. “These were his marbles. He put them in the case with the money and weighted it down with a rope and boat anchor.” Her eyes were still closed.
“I think if you go out there, Detective, you’ll find a boat anchor with a rope on one end. The rope probably rotted away, but he put the case in the lake to hide it. He was going to come back for it later.” Margaret sat back in her chair and Sandy hovered over her. She took the bag of marbles from her hands and as she did, Margaret hands fell to her lap. Her eyes were still closed and her brow was furled deeply.
“Are you okay, Margaret?” Dallas asked as she slowly opened her eyes. She nodded. She reached her hand out for the bag again and Sandy let her take it. Margaret slowly opened it and let some fall into the palm of her hand. They were all blue.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said. “There should be a million dollars in that case, detective,” she added.
Chapter Five
Dallas dumped the bag on the deck. Bundles of money tumbled out. They were neatly wrapped and sealed in plastic bags. From what they could tell, it was all one hundred dollar bills. Dallas sat back down and stared at the money. Sandy gathered the coffee cups and went inside to refill them and when she came back out, Dallas was still staring at the money.
“Seems we have a mystery on our hands,” Sandy said as she handed out the coffee. Margaret grinned. She rolled a few marbles in her hand then dropped them back in the bag.
“I always did enjoy a good mystery,” she said as she sipped her coffee.
“This is supposed to be a vacation for you,” Sandy reminded her. Margaret let her gaze drift out to the lake and then up into the trees. She took a deep breath and smiled.
“These woods, no phones, no boxes, good food and a million dollars at my feet? This IS a vacation!” she laughed.
Dallas went inside and looked for an empty box. When he came back out, Margaret was holding a bundle of money in her hands. Her eyes were closed and she was talking slowly. Sandy was writing every word down on a pad of paper. Dallas listened for a few moments then started picking the bundles up and put them in the box. Margaret ‘read’ one bundle and when she opened her eyes again, Dallas was pointing to the sky. The clouds had gathered and rain was heading their way. The three moved everything into the house just as the first drop of rain fell on the deck. Dallas went into his room and when he returned, he had several envelopes in his hands. Margaret walked to the sliding glass doors. Through the rain, she could see the deck and the lake. The trees hid the left side of the dock but she could see most of it.
“Where is the canoe, and the boat hoist?” she asked. Dallas set the envelopes on the table and went to the doors to look out into the rain.
“The doctor ordered the canoe pulled out and the boat and hoist was sold. He was not a rational man after his wife died. They said he ordered the canoe smashed when found and paid a reward to find it. The same day, he sold the boat to someone at the hospital. The guy that bought it was supposed to come for it the weekend after the funeral. Doctor Shelton was pulling it out because it wasn’t the kind you can leave in the water day after day. It didn’t have a bilge pump, so when he put the straps around it, he probably didn’t remember that it had taken on quite a bit of water and weighed a lot more. One strap broke as the boat came out of the water and slapped the man across his head, killing him instantly. The boat fell back into the water and stayed there, ass-end up until the sheriff took it down.”
Dallas went to the table and took a seat. He started to go through the papers he had pulled from the envelopes.
“Where was the kid ? Was he down there when it happened?” Sandy asked.
“William was in the house,” he said. “When it got dark, he went to bed. In the morning, he looked in his dads room and then through the whole house. When he couldn’t find his daddy, he went outside and saw him lying on the deck with blood all over his face. The kid went back up to the house and dialed 911. There is a transcript of his call.” He looked at Margaret. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
“That won’t be necessary, detective.” Margaret put her chin on her hands.
“Here is where it gets a bit messy,” Dallas said. He pulled out an envelope and opened it up.
“This is what is throwing me,” he said and handed the paper to Margaret. It was a bank statement. As Margaret smoothed it out, Sandy got up and got her reading glasses from her room.
“They took one million dollars from their bank two weeks before the deaths. The bank said Mrs. Shelton had come in requesting the money. It took the bank a week to get that kind of cash together and when they called her, both came in and signed for it. They put it in one case and as they left, the doctor said they’d be back to re-deposit it in about a week. One teller said he had made a joke about teaching someone about money as they left. It appeared they were getting along just fine. No signs of marital problems.”
Margaret put her head down. “That explains the money under the dock,” she said. Sandy sat up suddenly and asked, “Then the money we found is theirs? Then who gets it now if they’re both dead?”
“It would go into the sons trust,” Dallas told her. “The doctor was insured for a million, and after his wife died, his and her insurance went into the boys trust. All together, the kid has almost two million dollars in the trust.”
“And when does that trust mature?” Margaret asked.
“He gets an allowance when he turns eighteen and when he turns twenty-five he gets the rest. Cash, if he wants it that way. His father set the trust up when his wife died. That’s why they didn’t suspect him. He had money and didn’t need to kill her for any of it.”
“How much allowance does he get at eighteen?” Margaret asked. Dallas studied the papers for a minute. “The boy will get almost one hundred thousand dollars from his eighteenth birthday until his twenty-fifth.”
“That’s about seven hundred thousand dollars. I could live on that,” Sandy said as she wrote on her pad of paper.
“After that, he can cash in the trust and go on his merry way. He would net over one million dollars, almost two,” Dallas said.
“Three, if we turn in this other million,” Margaret added. “What happened to the house up on the peninsula?”
Dallas looked over the papers and found an accounting of their estate. “It says here, the house up there was mortgaged to the hilt. The doctor was using the house as collateral for his office expenses. When he died, the house was sold to cover debts. There wasn’t much left after lawyers expenses and all.”
Sandy frown. “Easy come, easy go,” she said.
Margaret got up and went into the kitchen. She poked around in the fridge and couldn’t find anything she wanted. Sandy joined her and together, they decided coffee would be good right about now. Sandy brewed a pot and as Margaret waited, she went out to the back room and looked at the life jacket hanging in the closet. When she returned, she was not smiling. Margaret sat again at the table and Sandy brought coffee in for everyone. Dallas set a couple bundles of money on the table and when Margaret was ready, she held out her hands. The money lay across both hands and Margaret closed her eye
s. She let her head roll a little and as it did, her hair fell back behind her chair.
“I see the mother laughing. She was sitting on the floor with the boy and they had money spread all over,” she said.
Margaret set the money down and opened her eyes.
“That’s it?” Dallas asked. “Earlier, you gave a one hour dissertation with one bundle. What happened?”
Margaret laughed. “See what happens when I weed out the crap?”
Sandy was busy writing on her paper and without looking up she added, “It’ll go a lot faster now that she knows what to look for and what’s not important, detective.”
Margaret held her hands out for another bundle. Dallas obliged her. Bundle after bundle, Margaret ‘read’ each and Sandy wrote. After an hour, they had gone through half of the bundles. Sandy leaned back in her chair and looked at her paper.
“So far, there’s nothing new in these bundles,” she said.
Margaret finished her cold coffee and got up to get more. As she went into the kitchen, Dallas looked at Sandy’s notes.
“Unless she isn’t telling us everything,” he said.
Margaret returned with a full cup and sat back down. As she lifted the cup to her lips, she looked across the table at Dallas.
“I cannot possibly tell you everything,” she said and sipped from her cup. Dallas opened his mouth to say something but didn’t. Sandy did.
“Margaret! Did you hear us just now or what?” she asked.
“No,” she answered. “I don’t have to hear you. I can see it in your faces. There is nothing in these bundles yet that you don’t already know.” Then, she added quietly, “I did sense something I haven’t mentioned yet. I feel something bad hidden in this money and I am just not sure what it is.”
“Maybe we should stop for the night,” Dallas said and as he started to pick the money up, Margaret stood up and touched his hand.
“Trust me, detective. I do not hold anything back anymore. I do get the feeling that this William is not what he seems to be. Where is he now?”