Chapter 13
Chuck pulled into Matt’s yard and parked near the front walk. Even with the air conditioner running full blast, he was sweating. The fight at the mill had flustered his thinking and not everything made sense. Now he had to explain all that happened to Gail. The real problem was, he wasn’t too sure about how or where to start.
He got out of the car and walked to the front steps. The hiding block for the key was out of place so he bent over to straighten it just as Gail opened the front door. “Hi. I see you made it back. I put the hideaway key back under there.”
Chuck walked up the four steps and onto the porch. She could tell that something serious must have happened judging from rumpled look of his clothes and cut on his face. “What happened? You’ve been bleeding?”
He stopped, leaned over and kissed her. He didn’t know why only that his emotions were starting to leak out and he needed to kiss her. Gail pulled back slightly afterwards just enough to look up into his eyes and ask, “Who hit you? What happened at the mill? Did you get Blake’s papers?”
Chuck motioned “Come on inside and I’ll tell you all about it. We’ve got to figure out what’s going on around this crazy place.”
He led Gail down the hall to the dining area. Motioning her to sit at the table, he went to the overhead cabinet near the sink and took down a glass, filled it with water from the faucet, then drank quickly. He filled it again and drank that as well. Gail said, “Don’t drink so fast or it might cramp your stomach. Let me get something to put on that cut too. Where does Matt keep the iodine?”
Chuck turned around facing her and pointed at the bathroom. “In there in the medicine cabinet but get that tube of cream for cuts. I don’t want my face painted up red from Mercurochrome.”
Twenty minutes later, after detailing everything that had happened, including the fight between Anderson and Clark at the mill, Chuck sat back in his chair and thrummed his fingers on the table top “I just don’t get it. Why would Matt hire a jerk like that? He never told me anything about this man, not a word.”
Gail shook her head. “Maybe he was just testing the guy to see what kind of character he was. I did learn a few things from his notes on the computer. Care to hear about it?”
“Yea, sorry I was so snappy there. What did you find?”
“As everyone knows, Matt was having trouble with the Pary family. From what I read, it was mainly trouble over the timber lease but he also wrote about the cemetery and how he was trying to stop them from plowing it under.”
“Yes the Pary family. It seems as though all roads lead back to the Pary family. God I am so sick of those people.”
“Well, that’s not all. How much did Matt tell you concerning the new information about your Grandfather’s murder?”
Chuck waved a hand in the air. “He wouldn’t tell me about it over the phone but he did seem excited. But that has nothing to do with why he disappeared. That murder is an old family yarn. Our dad chased that coon up and down a hundred different dead end trees. He died convinced that Grandpa’s will, leaving everything to Abatha Pary, was a fake. So my dad went to his grave convinced that we owned at least half of Whispering Pines Estate but we needed proof.”
“I read all that in the files, but did you know that Matt found, or at least, he said he found, a place where he is sure the original will could be hidden?”
Chuck sat up. “You mean buried in the casket with our grandfather? I seriously doubt that.”
“If you read it the way Matt has it written, you might understand his theory a little better. You know that Abatha Pary is supposed to be the grieving widow and how her sister was the one who poisoned her husband and tried to kill her too.”
Chuck swirled his eyes upward and said, “Yes. I know all about that. What is your point? What has all this to do with Matt?”
“You asked me to come along and help investigate and that’s what I’ve been doing in Matt’s files. If you don’t want to hear my theory then...”
Chuck took her soft hands gently, “No. I do need your help especially now. I’m sorry, I guess my head got whacked harder than I realized this morning. Now what were you going to say?”
Gail cleared her throat, “Matt's thinks Abatha is the sister who gave poison to Tom Veal and his real wife was Claudia, not Abatha.”
Chuck looked stunned. “Do what? You mean Abatha was the jealous sister all along and she was not his wife? That isn’t possible is it? To forge a wedding certificate and then my grandfather’s will after she murdered them, how could she have done all that and gotten away with it?”
“I don’t know but Matt thinks she did just that. From what I understand, Abatha Pary was quite an eyeful in those days and this was a small farm town even back then. Her influence with the law even back then would mean no autopsies or Medical Examiners to deal with. Also, Matt checked with the records department in Charleston, South Carolina. Tom Veal was married there a week before he was killed and he married Claudia, not Abatha Pary.”
Chuck sat speechless, then uttered, “If that’s true then Abatha Pary didn’t inherit Whispering Pines. My Grandfather’s surviving son, my dad, would have inherited.”
“That’s a multi-million dollar estate, not chump change. It could have something to do with Matt’s disappearance, don’t you think?”
“If Matt discovered a marriage certificate and could prove ownership to Whispering Pines, well; Abatha Pary would go to jail and Max Pary would be out on the street, flat broke and destitute. He just might kill someone to protect him and Abatha.”
“Now you’re starting to see my point. As you said, everything is leading back to Whispering Pines. The cemetery and the timber war could be distractions but not the cause of why Matt isn’t here right now. Look at it this way. If you take Matt out of the picture then all the Pary problems go away in one fell swoop. The timber lease that’s blocking a million dollars in profits and above all the getting rid of Matt protects the murderer, Miss Abatha. She lives out the rest of her life at Whispering Pines, dies and then Max Pary and his sister get everything.”
“That explains why my snooping around is causing so much trouble. God, Gail. Are they so stupid they’ve forgotten I’m Matt’s brother? I wouldn’t sit back and not come running at the first sign of trouble. I did.”
“Maybe they didn’t expect you here so soon. Most brothers, who live far apart, might go two or three months without calling or visiting one another. It’s only been a week in your case but imagine if three months went by first? The dam would have already backed up the water and flooded the timber and the cemetery would be gone too.”
Chuck opened his mouth to say something else but the shrill of the telephone ringing cut him off. He and Gail eyed one another for a second, and then Chuck said, “I’d better get that.”
Gail watched him pick up the receiver and say hello. “Hey Blake, yea Gail’s here with me. What’s up?”
She watched his expression pale even more than before so she rose from the table and went to his side. Chuck took her hand and whispered, “They’ve found Matt’s car.”
The Beginning (Whispering Pines Book 1) Page 22