Where There's a Will ....There's Murder

by Julie Ramson

  “I don't know. I can't figure this out. But if there isn't a will, I will file her estate as intestate, meaning she died without a will. If so, then we can start the process for you to get everything as her only living relative but we will need to know what that ‘everything’ is.”

  “Oh, well then. I guess. I only know she promised me the house and its contents.”

  “I understand, Emily. This has been a bad time for you. Since she didn't have any other family, it's not really going to matter much whether she has a will or not but if she did make a will we need to find it. Try to remember if your aunt ever said much about this to you.” I tried to be reassuring.

  “I will. Nothing comes to mind but I’ll think about it.”

  “We should probably see if we can find a savings account book or anything like it.” I perched the phone against my shoulder. “Where did she have her checking account? That may be the best place to start.” I suggested.

  “Her checking was at City Bank. It was only about two blocks from her house and she had her social security check automatically deposited there every month. That I do remember. Do you think I should see if there was a savings account there too?”

  “Yes, I do. Take her death certificate with you. They may want to see a will - which we don’t have, but you can try. Also, ask about a safe deposit box.”

  A thought occurred to me. “Emily, who has been paying her bills since she died? Electric, gas, that kind of thing?”

  “I have.” She hesitated. “I’m on her checking account. She put me on several years ago in case she got sick or something. But that account only has her social security and pension money in it. That’s not a lot but it’s been enough to pay her bills. She had a small account at Monahan’s Funeral Home too that covered her burial costs. That was all I knew of.”

  “Were there any other life insurance policies?”

  “I don’t think so. I never found any.”

  I glanced at my watch. “Well, I guess that covers it. Emily, I have to go, Sam’s waiting for me to pick her up. We’re going back to Lily’s to look around again. I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll finalize dinner. If you need anything in the meantime, though, please call me. You know you can always call me anytime.”

  “Thanks a lot, Maggie. I really appreciate all you have done for me. I know I owe you more money for all the time you have spent. I’ll give you a check tomorrow. Is it okay if I give you another $1000? Will that cover it?”

  Well, no, actually it didn’t. That was five hours and I had spent a lot more time on this than five hours. I figured she didn’t have much money, though, so we could start there. “Sure, Emily, that would be fine. We can work all the fees out later. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  I got Killer and went out to the car. He did his tail wagging, happy dance thing as I hustled him into the back seat. I was late and Sam would be waiting. While I drove I dialed Digs.

  “Yeah?” He sounded distracted.

  “Hi, it’s me, Maggie. I talked to Emily.”

  “Oh? Has she called John?”

  “Yep. I called her this morning and reminded her to call him. I said we all wanted to go out to dinner with him and meet him........happy now, Digs?” I laughed.

  “Wow! I’m impressed! You actually listened to me?” He was chuckling.

  “Well......sort of. Sam and I are getting together so I couldn’t set up lunch with Emily and John. But you feel free to believe I followed your orders if that makes you happy!” I did my best to sound sincere.

  “Smart ass. I know better. So when is dinner?”

  “Tomorrow night at 7 at Ernie’s. Can you pass that on to Sean and Jimmy? Emily made a special point of asking if Jimmy would come along.”

  “Sure. Good. No, the next street, Sean. Maggie, I have to go. We can’t find Mrs. Gorman’s son’s house. Catch you later.” He hung up.

  I smiled. Good. That was out of the way. Now onto Lily’s and to check bricks, walls, whatever we could.

  Sam was waiting at the curb. “Brrrr! What route did you take? My house by way of Indiana?” She laughed and rubbed her hands together in front of the heater.

  “Sorry! Emily called me and I had some questions. It’s almost noon. How about some lunch before we do our Nancy Drew thing?” I grinned at her because one thing you can count on with Sam. She’s always ready to eat. If there was a just God she would be a blimp.

  “You’re on! How about Wiggles?” This was a well-known diner in the area. Fabulous hamburgers and fries beyond comparison.

  “Perfect.” I turned the car around. “Any more thoughts?”

  “I do. We can talk at lunch.” We pulled in and got out of the car. Killer looked at us accusingly. “I will, Killer! I will bring you a burger - I promise!” Sam laughed.

  “I swear that dog can talk with his eyes,” she said, shaking her head.

  The diner was cozy and smelled of grease, beef, fries and onions. We sat down in a booth and ordered the deluxe cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes from the waitress.

  “Still keeping that New Year’s resolution, I see,” Sam grinned. “Eating healthy and all.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Tomorrow is another day,” I said dramatically, waving my arms. “Me and Scarlett.”

  Just then, I looked up and stopped. Olivia and Mr. Williams had just walked in. She caught my eye, hesitated and then started over to our booth. Mr. Williams looked up and frowned. He said something to Olivia and headed towards an empty table.

  “Menace at 1 o’clock.” I said in a low tone to Sam. She looked puzzled. Olivia got to our booth. She had the red wool coat on again, opened over navy wool pants and a soft pink sweater. With her dark hair and eyes, she looked just as stunning as she had the day before. This time, her jewelry was silver at the ears and a spectacular silver pendant around her neck. I sighed. Somehow the burger and fries didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.

  “Hi, Olivia. What brings you here?” I was resigned. Sam was looking at me strangely.

  “Hi, Maggie. Lunch, but I’m glad I’ve run into you.” She looked at Sam. “I’m Olivia Stavros. I’m working with Maggie on the Hastings matter.”

  “Olivia, this is Sam Napelli. She’s been working with us too. She’s my office accountant,” that was stretching it - “and knows about the case. She’s part of my office.”

  “Hi, Olivia, “Sam said smiling. They shook hands. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Thanks, same here. I wanted to let you know we plan to have another task force meeting at the end of the week. I’m sure Brice or I will be in touch.” She started to say something else, then stopped. “Maggie. About Hank.”

  I went on Instant Red Alert. “Oh? What?” My tone was neutral but that nasty little voice in my head was saying, What about Hank? What are you to Hank? What’s with the past you two have? Oh, and while I’m at it, anything I can do to help you move far away?

  She paused and looked at me with a funny expression. “Hank is .......great, isn’t he? Smart and funny and charming.” She bit her lip and sighed. “You seem like a nice person, Maggie. Don’t give Hank your heart. He won’t know what to do with it. And he probably doesn’t even want it.” She watched my face.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” Again, I was neutral.

  “Yeah, well....” her voice trailed. Sam and I watched her leave our table and join Mr. Anderson.

  Our burgers arrived, dripping grease, burger juice and ketchup but I had lost my appetite.

  Sam waited a few beats, then, “Give! I can’t stand it! Who is this Olivia? Hank? Who’s Hank? What is she talking about? You have not been keeping me up on the details, Girl, and for that you will pay. Now, dish!”

  I laughed and took a bite. “Sam, that is Olivia. She’s just about perfect. She’s also the head of the Task Force recently set up by Someone Important in Washington, DC to investigate all the mob stuff that’s been going on around here. The murders, the found skeleton, money, all of it.”

  Sam
munched. “Yeah, fine, but what’s this crap about warning you off Hank? Isn’t Hank really Digs?”

  “Yes. He is Digs. And Hank. And RJ, if you can believe. And God knows who else. Those are the names I know of. He was - at some point in his little known past, a man of many names who once worked for some adjunct agency to the FBI on mob activities.” I played with the straw in my iced tea.

  “He was also once the.....friend, boyfriend, lover, live in lover or something of the Stunning Olivia. I don’t know exactly what. She stopped in on Sunday morning, before you arrived, and greeted him like her long lost lover. I will say he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when he saw her, but still.....”

  Sam looked over at Olivia. “Wow. She is really gorgeous.”

  I blew out an exasperated sigh. “Stop it! You’re supposed to be my friend here! You should be telling me that she’s okay but not really beautiful. She’s adequate. Mediocre. That I am much better looking. Funnier. Probably smarter, etc etc etc.”

  “Uh huh.” Sam laughed. “That would give me a place in Liar’s Hell for sure. Besides, when did you start caring about Digs’ past? Old girlfriends? And when did he turn from Mr. Perma Glue, I think you called him, into Mr. Wonderful? Last I knew, you were tolerating him, barely. He was - what did you call him? - the “burr” I believe?” Sam’s eyes were dancing.

  “Don’t start. It hasn’t changed.” I looked at her.

  Sam did the Magna Eye Roll. “Right.” She dripped sarcasm.

  “Next, you’ll be saying you no longer like chocolate.”

  I munched some fries. “Okay, yeah. He’s grown on me a bit.”

  Sam raised one eyebrow.

  “Okay a fair amount. But that’s as far as I’m going with that.” Sam laughed. I got serious. “Sam, he’s a really nice guy. But I don’t know his past and I don’t want to get involved. Or hurt again. Been there. Not fun. Besides, Sean told me Digs is very good with women - direct quote - and that scares the hell out of me. What if I'm not up to his.....not good enough....” I stopped. “But man, can he kiss!”

  “Ah, finally. The good stuff. Tell me more, Little Girl.” Sam giggled and wiggled her fingers at me for more.

  “No more to tell.” She looked skeptical. “Really. I just don’t know where Olivia fits into his past - if she’s really his past.”

  Sam put her chin on her hand. “Maggie,” she said seriously, “go for it. Yeah, you might get hurt and I don’t want that....but you can’t always play it safe. And if he likes you, trust me, you'll be good enough.” She eyed me. “End of lecture. Tell me about your call with Emily.”

  I told her about the call and the dinner the next night with John. I invited her to come along. She agreed eagerly. “This is one fellow I want to get a look at!” she said.

  Then I told her about Emily’s annoyance at setting this dinner. Why? She knew we wanted to talk to him.

  “Maybe she doesn’t like him much and doesn’t want to have dinner with him.” Sam suggested.

  I shook my head. “Maybe.”

  I looked up. Olivia was almost at our booth. Again. Now what?

  “Maggie.” She reached into her pocket. “I’ve been carrying this around, hoping I could give it back to Hank. But it doesn’t look like I will be able to do that personally. Could you please give this to him for me? He forgot it last week at my house.” She handed me a man’s gold watch. “Thanks.” She walked away.

  I stared at the watch in my hand. It was beautiful. I looked at Sam who looked as shocked as I felt. “A long time, he said,” I told Sam. He said he hadn’t seen her in a long time.” I got tears in my eyes.

  “Maggie, don’t jump to conclusions! You don’t know what -”

  I turned the watch over. There was an inscription. “To Hank - Love, Olivia.” I slipped the watch into my coat pocket. “Let’s go. We need to get to Lily’s.” I stood and put some money on the table. Digs had lied to me. So what? He didn’t owe me anything. We were barely friends, nothing more. Really, he was Sean’s friend. I would return the watch. No big deal.

  Sam looked unhappy when we got in the car. “Maggie, look at me -”

  I interrupted. “Sam, stop looking so concerned! This is not a big deal. I have known Digs for what? A couple of weeks - that’s all! Of course he has girlfriends - and I’m not one of them. He’s doing a favor for Sean, that’s all. Really. No big deal.” I didn’t look at her.

  Sam nodded. “Okay, Maggie.” That’s all she said.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  We got to Lily’s and got out of the car. Sam started for the porch while I stayed back a minute, standing on the grass next to the rear side of the car, waiting for Killer to run around a bit.

  Sam was halfway to the porch when she turned and came back to the car. “Forgot my purse,” she called and climbed back inside it. Killer was dashing all around, chasing imaginary small animals and his tail. I tossed him the burger I had brought for him and he pounced on it. He was happily munching away as I leaned over to pick up some stray papers on the grass. I heard a bang. Sam was still in the car, rummaging under the seat for her purse. She looked up, startled. I stood up and heard another “Bang!” Only this time, I also felt a sharp pain in my leg and went down on one knee. I looked down in shock. My leg was bleeding!

  I crawled around to the driver’s side and opened the car door. Killer had come streaking to my side when he heard the bangs. I opened the back door for him and he jumped in and cowered on the floor. I slammed his door shut and scrambled up to the front seat. I had to use my hands to lift my left leg. I couldn’t get it to work. I heard another shot.

  Sam had slammed the passenger door and sat stunned, staring at me. “You’re hurt! Maggie! Were you shot?”

  I didn’t answer, just jammed the key in the lock and peeled away from the curb. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely grip the wheel. After two blocks, I pulled over and stopped, gasping. I looked at my leg. It was really bleeding and it hurt like hell. I was starting to get dizzy.

  Sam had pulled her cell phone out and dialed Sean. “Maggie’s been shot! No, in the leg! Yes, she’s alive, but she’s bleeding! We’re two blocks east of ......” Her voice became a dim buzz.

  Suddenly, there were people and an ambulance, sirens and men lifting me out of the car onto a stretcher. Someone cut my jeans and I felt something heavy on my leg where it was bleeding. Damn! That really hurt! Someone was taking my blood pressure and we were moving really fast. I felt dizzy and scared.

  Next thing I knew I was on a cart being pushed into an ER. Faces swam over me and people were cutting the rest of my jeans off. I was in a small room with the curtains drawn. Sam was standing in the corner, sheet white, with my purse and coat in her arms.

  I looked down at my leg. There was blood everywhere. “How bad is it?” I asked one of the doctors. I was on a cart in my sweater and underpants. Nothing else.

  He smiled at me as he probed the area. “Looks a lot worse than it is. The bullet didn’t hit much, just flesh wound. Right above the knee on the outside of the leg. There’s a lot of blood but I don’t think there’s serious damage. How did this happen?” He was casual but serious.”

  I told him what had happened but I really didn’t know much.

  “Okay, then.” He eyed me. “We’re going to clean it up and see if you need any stitches.”

  I was starting to really hurt. “Can I bribe you for no stitches? I hate needles!” I tried to smile. He patted my hand.

  “Let’s take a look before we decide if you need to bribe me.” He smiled. He had hazel eyes and a round, cherubic face. He pulled up a stool and began wiping the blood away. Actually, this looks good. We can put in several stitches or not. If we don’t you’re going to have a worse scar, though.” He smiled at me. “You won’t even feel them.”

  I gave him The Look. “How many patients do you think you fool with that line?”

  He patted my arm. “Not many. But I always try. You’re going to have a bit of a scar.”


  I tried to smile. “That’s okay. My legs are usually covered and no one is going to hire me as a leg model anyway.” I heard loud voices and sighed. One of those voices clearly belonged to Sean. He came bursting in, Digs right behind him.

  “Maggie! Are you okay?” Sean leaned over me. “What happened?”

  “Yeah, I really am, Sean.” I turned to the doctor. “My brother. A little over protective. Please. Tell him I’ll live. Please. I’m begging you!” I rolled my eyes. The doctor laughed and looked at Sean.

  “She’s right. She’s fine. Maybe a few stitches. Up to her. But we have to report this to the police since it’s a gunshot wound.”

  “Oh, yeah. I’m a cop. Believe me, this will be reported and thoroughly investigated.” He looked grim. He left to fill out the paperwork for the ER visit and also to prepare the police report for the shooting.

  Digs slipped up to my side. He took my hand. “God, Maggie! You scared the shit out of us!” He looked shaken.

  I pulled my hand away. “Thanks, Digs. I need to give you something later.” My voice was not cold but not warm either. Right or wrong, I was upset. He had said he hadn’t seen Olivia in a long time. I knew he didn’t owe me anything but still......I don’t like to be lied to. “Plus, I hate to say this, but I’m here without any jeans on.” I tried for the light touch. “Go!”

  Digs looked at me strangely but didn’t say any more. I turned to the doctor. “What, this is funny?” I gave a mock glare.

  The doctor grinned, seeming to enjoy the interplay. “I’m laughing because you’re already bandaged. Without stitches,” he said and patted my arm again. “Going to finish this bandage, give you a couple of pain pills and let you go home and convince these two guys you’ll live.” He put the last piece of tape and patted my leg. “There. Good as new. Well, not quite. But it will be.” He smiled again. “Stay here and I’ll get your pills.”

  I sat up and reached for my jeans. They were torn where the bullet had hit and cut where the paramedics had worked. Plus, there was blood all over. I grimaced. “One pair wrecked.” I started to pull them on, cut leg and all.