Миранда Джеймс - Fixing To Die

“The last time I saw him was in the kitchen about an hour ago,” An’gel said.

“Marcelline told me about what she said to him. I got so angry with her,” Mary Turner said. “She means well but sometimes she isn’t fair to him.”

“Henry Howard isn’t in the house?” Dickce asked.

Mary Turner shook her head. “No, he’s not. I’ve texted him, but I’m not getting any response. I’m worried. He’s never gone off like this before without telling me where he was going.”

“Did you look to see if his car is in the garage?” An’gel asked.

“It’s there,” Mary Turner said. “I checked, but when my husband is worried or aggravated about something, he walks. Sometimes for miles, until he’s figured out the answer to a problem or he’s worn off his aggravation.”

“Then that’s probably what he’s doing now,” Dickce said.

“I wouldn’t worry, except that he always tells me when he’s going for one of these walks. This isn’t like him.”

“He may have stopped somewhere for a bite to eat,” An’gel said. “He never did get breakfast this morning, with all that was going on. He simply forgot to tell you he was going for a walk, and he’s too distracted to notice that you’ve texted. I’m sure it’s as simple as that.”

“I hope you’re right,” Mary Turner said.

“Come sit right here by me and stop worrying about Henry Howard for a few minutes.” Dickce patted a spot next to her on the trunk. “We need to talk to you about other things, if you’re up to it.”

“All right.” Mary Turner did as Dickce asked. “What do you want to talk about?”

“First let me say that neither Dickce nor I believe you had anything to do with your cousin’s death,” An’gel said.

“Thank you,” Mary Turner replied. “Your support means a great deal to me. Serenity is being hateful. That’s the way she is.”

“I warned her to be careful about accusing you the way she has,” An’gel said. “The threat of a lawsuit got through to her, I think.”

“Her ex-husband is looking for anything he can get on her to keep her from having joint custody of their children,” Mary Turner said. “She really needs to be careful.”

“She seems to be in desperate need of money,” Dickce said. “All to do with this custody battle, from what I’ve heard.”

“I think so,” Mary Turner said.

“She seems to think her brother had plenty of money,” An’gel said. “Do you know whether she would benefit significantly from his death, by any chance?”

“Nathan inherited a lot of money from their parents, I do know that,” Mary Turner said, “but all Serenity got was a trust fund. A pretty hefty one, too, I think. Nathan probably had a will. He was careful about things like that. If it hadn’t been for his obsession over the French room, I think we would have gotten along fine.”

“If Nathan did leave a will,” Dickce said, “whom do you think he left his money and property to?”

Mary Turner shrugged. “My guess would be to either Serenity or to Truss Wilbanks. Nathan and Truss were still a couple, as far as I know.”

CHAPTER 22

“That’s interesting, don’t you think, Dickce?” An’gel shot a pointed glance at her sister. She knew she had been right about the sexual component of the men’s relationship.

Dickce nodded. “How long had your cousin and Mr. Wilbanks been together?”

“Going on ten years, at least,” Mary Turner said. “Mind you, it was a pretty volatile relationship from what I saw of it. Truss lives here in Natchez, and Nathan lived in Vicksburg, although they were always going back and forth, I think.”

“Were Mr. Wilbanks and your cousin in business together?” An’gel asked.

“Yes, Truss handled the legal side of Nathan’s real estate business, but he also has other clients,” Mary Turner said.

“Like Mrs. Foster,” Dickce said.

Mary Turner nodded. “Actually, I think Truss started out as their father’s lawyer. He’s been involved with the family since not long after he finished law school. That was about twenty years ago, I think. He’s ten years older than me.” She paused a moment. “If you don’t mind my asking, why are y’all so interested in this? Is it because you think Nathan’s death wasn’t natural?”

“We think it’s possible that it wasn’t,” An’gel said. “We don’t want to alarm you, but you have to be prepared for that possibility. If it turns out that he didn’t die naturally, then the police will want to know who killed him.”

“And people will think it’s me or Henry Howard,” Mary Turner said. “Serenity will keep pointing the finger at me because she thinks I’ve always hated her and Nathan. All because of the contents of that stupid room.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I wish my father or my grandfather had given the Gambles all that stuff and been done with it.”

“You could have done it yourself after you inherited it,” An’gel said. “Couldn’t you?”

“Yes, I suppose so.” Mary Turner sighed. “Although I know my father wouldn’t like it. He thought it should stay in our family. If Nathan hadn’t been such a gadfly about it, I might have decided to let him have it, despite the loss it would mean for Henry Howard and me. But Nathan was so annoying.”

“What about his sister? Would you give it to her?” Dickce asked.

“Never,” Mary Turner said. “She’s always been hateful and spiteful, and I’ll burn the stuff before I let her get her hands on it.” She laughed, and to An’gel, it was a bitter sound. “I know that sounds terrible, but that’s the way it is. I never hated Nathan, despite how irritating he was. Serenity has never done a good thing for anyone in her life, always acting like she was too good to work for a living like the rest of us.”

“She has certainly not impressed me,” An’gel said. “While I feel sorry for her over her brother’s death, I don’t think I could ever like her or want to spend time around her.”

“I’m glad you told us about Nathan’s relationship with Mr. Wilbanks,” Dickce said. “Frankly, at first I thought he and Serenity were involved.”

Mary Turner appeared amused at the thought. “I think Serenity would like them to be more than friends, but I’m not sure Truss sees it that way. Truss really has put up with a lot for that family.”

“Presumably he’s been well paid for his legal work,” An’gel said.

“Possibly,” Mary Turner said. “Nathan wasn’t known for being generous about anything much, except giving to his church maybe. I know he helped them buy a new organ. But he had trouble keeping employees in his real estate business. They were always leaving because of low pay. A friend of mine from high school whose husband took a job in Vicksburg worked for him for about a year. That was as long as she could stand it. What he paid didn’t cover the cost of child care, according to her.”

“Do you believe Nathan was well off? Did he have a significant estate to leave to someone?” An’gel asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Mary Turner said. “I would think he was worth a good bit, though. He bought property in other states where the economy was better, particularly in Texas. I heard him mention properties in Dallas and Houston, for example. He went around looking like he could barely afford to buy clothes and he drove a twenty-year-old car, but that was just him.”

“Sounds to me, then, that he might have been worth killing,” Dickce said.

“When you put it like that,” Mary Turner said slowly, “I suppose he was. Serenity and Truss would benefit the most, in that case, unless Nathan didn’t leave them anything.” She thought a moment. “But Nathan was big on family and family history; otherwise he wouldn’t have been so obsessed with the French room. I can’t imagine he would cut his sister off completely.”