Ферн Майклз - Truth and Justice

Chapter 18

Paul unlocked the door of the town house and stood back for Bella to enter. He quickly disarmed the security system, then walked around to open all the windows and rid the house of the musty, closed-up smell. “I covered everything with dust sheets the way the previous owner told me to. I have only come back East once since I bought this place, and that was to pay the bills ahead for a year in case I forgot or something went awry. It’s comfortable, as you can see, perfect for a bachelor like me. What do you think needs to be done? Where should we start?” he asked, a hopeless expression on his face.

Bella looked around, relieved that they were on a friendly footing again and not . . . Don’t go there, she warned herself. “I guess we should start by washing all these dust sheets. I can do that while you search out Andy’s paperwork. You do have a washer and dryer, don’t you?”

“I do, it’s outside the guest bathroom on the second floor. Soap and stuff is in the closet where the unit is. It’s a stackable, one on top of the other to save space. Margaret, that was the owner’s name, said for one person like herself, and now me, it was perfect. I’m going to turn on the A/C even though it’s nippy with all the windows open. It might help to get rid of the musty smell more quickly.”

Bella took off her denim jacket, rolled up the sleeves of her button-down shirt, and went at it. She worked quickly and efficiently, Paul noticed. Almost like she was in the military and knew all about precision. Once or twice, she called out a question while Paul rummaged through boxes in what had been Margaret’s master bedroom. The small dressing room was Margaret’s mini office and was around the corner from the kitchen on the first floor. He wished now he had marked the boxes with the contents, but he’d been in such a hurry back then. Now he might have to go through each and every one of them until he found what he wanted.

“Do you want me to plug in the refrigerator? Are you really going to stay here on the East Coast? If so, I will clean it out. In case you don’t know this, it takes twenty-four hours for a refrigerator and freezer to reach the right temperature.”

“Yes, plug it in. I told you I’m staying on until I’m satisfied you’re completely safe. I’ll go shopping later for what I need, so wipe it down and plug it in. Please,” he added as an afterthought.

Bella smiled to herself. He was staying. The thought made her happy for some reason. Some reason my foot. She grimaced. Be honest with yourself, girl. Admit it, if only to yourself, that you are attracted to this man. This man who was your husband’s best friend. Good Lord, what kind of person am I turning into? She felt her face and neck grow warm. A minute ago, she had been shivering.

She whirled around and whipped out a can of Clorox wipes from the tiny closet. She moved like a whirlwind, wiping down and then drying everything so she wouldn’t have time to think.

An hour passed, then another, before Paul bellowed, “Enough!”

“That works for me. I’m done down here. All that’s left is to put the sheets back on the furniture and close up everything. I think I could use some heat right now, so I’m going to turn off the A/C and close all the windows. Everything smells clean and fresh. Is that okay with you, Paul?”

“Yes. I’m going to order a pizza and some beer. You up for that?”

“I absolutely am,” Bella said. Then she smiled when she realized she felt happy. Not just so-so happy, but genuinely happy. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt like this.

“So you found Andy’s paperwork?”

“All in one place, too. Of course, it was in the last box and at the very bottom. Here it is,” Paul said, handing over the packet of papers to Bella. She noticed the tremor in his hands but only because it matched the tremor in her own. She took a long, deep breath and looked Paul square in the eye. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Paul nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He turned around, pulled out his phone, then plucked a magnet off the refrigerator with the name of a local pizza emporium, one he guessed that Margaret used. He called in his order and gave his credit card information. He was told a piping-hot pizza with all the trimmings would be delivered along with two Bud Lights in twenty minutes.

Paul looked over at Bella. He winced when he saw tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked up at him. She waved the papers at Paul. “I don’t know if you believe me or not, but this is not about money for me. I just couldn’t comprehend Andy’s not taking the time to advise the military of his new status. I took it, right or wrong, to mean that I wasn’t important enough to do all that, and he’d get around to me when he could. And then all those months with no word . . . part of me feels guilty for the way I felt, and another part of me feels justified. Right now, I don’t feel anything in regard to Andy. I hate saying that. I really do because I do not understand how that can be. I know that doesn’t say much for me as a person, but I can’t help it. I’m starting to wonder if I was in love with the idea of love, and Andy just came along at the right moment. I barely knew him. I married a man I barely knew. That’s so sad. Just from the little you and I have spoken, it is clear that you knew him better than I ever did. This is all so surreal. It’s scaring me.

“These papers . . . He made a new will. I assume it’s legal since you and Zack witnessed it. And here is a new power of attorney with my name on it. Andy was worth millions of dollars. I never knew that. All I wanted was enough money to help pay for his truck. If he had all that money, why did he buy a truck on time? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Sure it does. Andy wanted to be like every other guy on the team. We were all struggling. He inherited most of what he had. He told me once that made him feel dishonest. He also said that Sara invested his money. He didn’t feel like it was really his. And . . . believe it or not, he had a game plan as to how he was going to give most of it away when he got out and was a civilian. You do realize that what you are holding in your hands supersedes anything Sara has, right? Doesn’t matter whether she filed it or not. It’s now a legal issue. Tomorrow, your lawyer can file these papers at the courthouse.”

“It’s strange that Andy didn’t leave anything to his beloved sister. I know that sounds snarky, but it’s how I feel. But in the end, everyone believed her, and she got it all. We need to go back to the farm and show all of this to the girls. We need to be on top of it, so she doesn’t pack up and hit the road,” Bella said. “I’m going to send a text off to Alexis so she can alert the men who are stationed out at Sara’s house. Their guy might need to add more people, and he’ll probably want to see all these papers with his own eyes before he does anything. Mr. Snowden was an MI6 agent. A superspy for the queen. He retired and relocated here to work for Charles, who is married to Myra. He was also a spy for the queen. Martin and the queen were childhood friends. Fergus is Annie’s significant other. He used to head up Scotland Yard. The three of them worked together over the years and now work for . . . the ladies. Annie de Silva is Countess Anna de Silva, one of the richest women in the world. Myra, I’m told, is no pauper either when it comes to having money.”

Paul whistled. “You do travel with some impressive people. I had no idea.” His voice and his expression were so full of awe, Bella burst out laughing.

“That’s how I felt when I found out. You’ll get used to it. For the most part, all of the women are pretty normal and ordinary.” She laughed again when she said, “Just don’t ever turn your back on any one of them, even Maggie, the reporter.”