by Sheri Richey
“It probably caused her son some grief, too. I don’t see the need to pursue that right now. I’m going to drive out and see Mavis again though.”
“You’ll want to after you see what Amanda has here.”
“Okay. I’ll pick up some sandwiches and be right over.”
§
“Good morning, Miss Violet,” Cora said with a smile on her face. Violet Hoenigberg was Cora’s mentor when she was a new fifth grade teacher at Peppermint Elementary and she remained one of her favorite people.
“Cora Mae,” Violet said cheerily. “It’s so nice to hear from you. What are you up to today?”
“Well, I’ve been digging around a little, digging up some old rumors and some old deeds. I called to pick your brain a little.”
“You best get to it while I still got some brain cells left,” Violet said with a schoolgirl’s giggle despite her passing her eightieth birthday.
“Have you ever heard of a company called Stanton Bell, LLC?”
“Hmm, not directly, but if I were a gambler, I’d place my bet that it has something to do with Erwin Bell and Lawrence Stanton. You know Erwin married Lawrence Stanton’s daughter, Nora. Lawrence Stanton was a big wheeler-dealer and Erwin was lazy. He wanted an easy ride. I always thought Erwin took advantage of Lawrence. Not that Lawrence wasn’t a sharp guy, but he did whatever he could to make sure his daughter was taken care of.”
“So, you think the two of them might have formed this partnership to give Erwin some income?”
“Just speculation, but that would be my guess,” Violet said. “You found deeds with that name?”
“I did. The problem is the LLC still owns property around the county and both men are gone now.”
“I read about the bones. I’m sure you’re digging around in that, aren’t you?”
“Yes, a little,” Cora admitted. “You know I’m nosy.”
“Yes, a little.” Violet laughed. “What rumors have stirred up?”
“There was a lot of talk back around the time Howard Bell disappeared that he might be involved with Carmen Maddox. Conrad doesn’t seem to think those rumors are accurate.”
“I think he’s right to doubt anything linked to Carmen Gentry or whatever her name is now. The girl is troubled. Howard Bell was a good man from what I knew. I don’t know why she went after him.”
“He wasn’t the only one,” Cora muttered under her breath.
“So, who owns the property now?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to find out who Stanton Bell LLC belongs to first. It’s all still in that company name.”
“Well, the LLC could have been sold or it could be that it all passed to the kids. Howard might have owned it.”
“Yes, I thought Erwin might have wanted it to go that way since he was his only son,” Cora said. That generation did favor the sons when it came to business.
“But you know Howard,” Violet said hesitating. “He wasn’t the, well, he wasn’t really business minded.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ll keep digging.”
“Well, good luck, honey. Don’t get yourself in trouble snooping around now.”
§
“Sorry, I’m late,” Conrad called out as he came through Cora’s office door with lunch bags. “I ran into Ned Carey down at the sub shop and we got to talkin’.”
“I’ve seen that happen,” Cora said smirking as she reached for one of the bags Conrad placed on the table.
“Where’s Amanda?”
“She just left with Bryan. They’re walking downtown for lunch.”
“So, what did she dig up?” Conrad spread out the wrapper from his foot-long sub and took a huge bite.
“First, she pulled all the deeds for the properties held by Stanton Bell, LLC. They are in that stack, but here is the map showing where the properties can be found.”
Conrad frowned at the map while he chewed, and Cora spread out her sandwich wrapper. “Umm,” Conrad hummed as he tapped his finger on Howard Bell’s property.
“Yes,” Cora acknowledged Conrad’s interest. “That’s Mavis’ house. If Howard was a part of the LLC, then Mavis should inherit that interest and be okay. If he wasn’t, then Mavis…”
Conrad swallowed. “I was talking to Ned about these LLCs and he said an LLC passes through probate and is part of the deceased person’s estate.”
“Amanda couldn’t find any record of a probate filed online. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t done, but I’m thinking maybe the LLC was not in Nora Bell’s name when she died.”
“That would mean Nora wouldn’t have any assets so there wouldn’t be a probate issue or inheritance tax to worry about,” Conrad said. “A smart business person might have had Nora sign over that LLC before she passed away, just to avoid all that.”
“That’s the piece we can’t seem to find,” Cora said. “Maybe those LLC transfers aren’t public record, or we aren’t looking in the right place.”
“I talked to Wanda today,” Conrad said. “She thought the LLC was dissolved and said her parents never had much of anything, so Miriam took care of all the issues once her mom passed away.”
“Oh, I bet she did.” Cora took a bite of her sandwich and grabbed for another paper on the table. “This house is on Coriander Court.”
Conrad took the deed showing Ned Carey sold it to the Stanton Bell, LLC. “Hmm,” Conrad hummed as he chewed. “Who lives here?”
“Your fan, Karen Goldman,” Cora said with a twisted smile. “The plot thickens.”
“Okay,” Conrad said wadding up his sandwich wrapper and brushing off his hands. “Let me see the list.”
“What list?”
“The list I know you’ve made of all this. You always make a list,” Conrad said with his hand thrust out across the table.
Cora covered her mouth with one hand to keep from laughing with her mouth full and handed over her list of properties. She had residents listed for the three houses in town and estimates on the rural properties based on location.
Conrad looked through all the documents on the table waiting for Cora to finish her lunch. Picking up a pencil from the table, he added a name to the plat map. “The Nelson family was living out here last year,” Conrad said tapping on the map. “They told me Miriam was their landlord and she was trying to evict them. I told them she had to file with the county to do it and I don’t know if they still live there or not, but she must be managing the Stanton Bell, LLC properties.”
“That’s why no one can ever find her. She’s running around evicting people. I’m sure she loves that,” Cora said tossing her head back as she picked up the lunch trash to clean off the table.
“Okay,” Conrad said stretching back in his chair. “What are you thinking?”
“I think Miriam wants these seventeen properties and she tried to get Howard to sign over his interest in the LLC. I’m sure she offered to give him his own house and probably didn’t even tell him what the LLC owned.”
“Wanda told me Miriam had her sign something so she could handle the estate. I don’t think she even knows what she signed, and Wanda believes there were no assets,” Conrad said leaning forward. “I think Miriam got her mom to sign it over before she died telling her they could avoid taxes that way. Wanda thinks her mom’s house was in a trust.”
“Sounds like Wanda is the gullible child. We already know Miriam is the evil one and I’ve always heard Howard was a stubborn man. I bet he wouldn’t give Miriam anything, especially after they stopped speaking to each other. That happened before Nora died.”
“Yeah, Karen Goldman told me they had some falling out, but she was just a kid and didn’t know why. She spoke fondly of her Uncle Howard.”
“Have you ever asked Mavis?” Cora’s eyebrows arched as she straightened her back.
“No, but I’m headed out there next and I will.”
CHAPTER 24
“Hi, Amanda, Bryan,” Conrad nodded to them both as they walked in. “I brought you a salad, Amanda. I didn’t realize you’d lef
t for lunch.”
“Oh, thank you, Chief. I’ll take it in the break room and put it in the frig for tomorrow.”
“So, how is the flower business?” Conrad said to Bryan as Amanda left with her salad.
“Connie, it’s not just flowers,” Cora said rolling her eyes.
“Well, you get on to me if I say trees,” Conrad said as Bryan laughed.
“It’s going pretty well. I’ve still got a lot to do, but I’m getting some weekend business. Not much through the week though.”
“Who mans the place when you come to town?” Conrad stood and pushed his chair in under the conference table.
“Leanne Summers is out there today so I was running a few errands,” Bryan said as Amanda returned.
“I think I’m one of those errands,” Amanda said smiling and kissing Bryan on the cheek, making him blush.
“I’m going to ride out with Connie to check on Mavis,” Cora said to Amanda. “Have you seen Mavis at all, Bryan?”
“No, not once since they found out it was Howard. I don’t think she’s left the house. Leanne’s husband, Jack, is in town though. I saw him this morning and Daniel has been by.”
“Well, that’s good that her family is close right now. I can’t imagine what she must be going through having all this publicity and thinking all these years he might show up,” Cora said shaking her head sadly.
“You ready?” Conrad said to Cora as she scurried to her desk to pull her purse from the drawer. Grabbing a small box of tissue, she stuffed it in her large satchel and hoisted the bag on her shoulder.
“Ready.”
“Mandy, will you make me copies of all these deeds so I can pick them up when I come back?”
“Sure, Chief.”
“Thank you. Let’s go.”
§
Conrad took his time driving through Spicetown to survey the activity on the main streets and process the information Cora had shared at lunch. Turning on the north road, he glanced over at Cora. “I need to talk to the kids too, if they’re around. I don’t know if they’ll want to cooperate, but I need to know when they last saw Howard.”
“I doubt you’ll get as exact an answer as you did from Mavis. I don’t think they miss Howard much.”
“They were pretty young,” Conrad said. “They probably just accepted Mavis’ answer that he’d be back and weren’t alarmed at the time.”
“I hope she is honest about Miriam when you ask her,” Cora said. “Mavis doesn’t like to speak ill of anybody, but it’s difficult to find anything glowing to say about Miriam Landry.”
“Just because you don’t like Miriam, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have friends,” Conrad said chuckling as Cora scrunched up her nose.
“Name one,” Cora barked.
Conrad laughed and shook his head. “Despite your speculation that Miriam had a motive, she didn’t bury a body.”
“True,” Cora said with a pause. “I’ve thought about that and I can’t think of anyone who would do anything like that for Miriam. Her husband was alive back then, but he wouldn’t have been able to take on something that physically taxing. His health was already bad, and he wasn’t strong enough.”
“I may have to walk over to Bryan’s to talk to Leanne.”
“I wonder if Jack and Leanne are getting along any better,” Cora mused. “She seemed angry at him for visiting. I’m sure he’s back now because of Howard.”
“Has Daniel ever been married?”
“Not that I know of,” Cora said. “He is one of those lost souls. He just never seemed to find his place in the world although he’s tried a lot of different things. Mavis seems to think he is doing well at this job in Paxton now, but he still comes home every weekend. He’s kind of a loner.”
“Maybe he feels like he needs to take care of his mom.” Conrad pulled in Mavis’ driveway and saw Daniel in the yard squatted down beside a dirt bike. “Why don’t you go in and check on Mavis and I’ll talk to Daniel for a minute?”
“Okay,” Cora said releasing her seatbelt and opening the car door. “Hi, Daniel.” Cora waved as Daniel stood up.
“Hey there. Are you changing the oil?” Conrad approached Daniel as Cora walked up the steps to knock on the door.
“Yeah, it’s been idle all winter,” Daniel said as he wiped his hands on his jeans before accepting Conrad’s extended hand.
“You’ve got a lot of room out here to run that bike. Conrad pointed out to the fields behind the house.
“Yeah, I thought I’d take the girls for a ride,” Daniel said glancing over his shoulder. Leanne’s daughters were in the backyard giggling on a trampoline. “If she’ll let me.” Daniel gave a smiling shrug.
“Daniel, I haven’t had a chance to talk with you and I do have a couple of questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,” Daniel said sticking his hands in his jeans pockets.
“Do you remember the day Howard disappeared?”
“Kind of,” Daniel said, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other.
“Can you tell me what you remember?”
“Just came home from school and he wasn’t here. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“Was Leanne already here?”
“I don’t think so. I think she came in right after.”
“So, you weren’t surprised or worried when you came home, and he wasn’t here.”
“No,” Daniel said looking at the ground as he scuffed his toe in the dirt. “Sometimes he had things to do.”
“So, when did you think something was amiss? Dinner time?”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t remember.”
“So, did the house seem normal when you arrived that day? Anything out of place? Was there a car in the drive?”
“Mom had the car. She was at work.”
“How did you get home from school?”
“I took the bus. Jack brought Leanne home.”
“So how did Howard leave during the day if he had to run errands?”
“He had a motorcycle.” Daniel pointed to the small shed on the back of the property.
“It was December,” Conrad said. “He rode it in the winter?”
“Yeah, if he needed to,” Daniel said looking at his feet again.
“So, what did you think happened when Howard didn’t come home?”
“I just figured they got in a fight and he’d be back,” Daniel shrugged. “I didn’t think it was anything serious.”
“And when he didn’t return?”
“I just figured he’d moved on. People split sometimes.” Another shrug and more swaying were all he offered Conrad.
“Did you and Howard get along?” Conrad ducked his head down under Daniel’s lowered head to get Daniel to look him in the eye.
“Sometimes.”
Conrad sighed heavily to rein in his frustration. “Look, I know parents and teenagers bicker. It’s normal, but overall—”
“Howard wasn’t my dad.”
“I know. He was your stepdad, but you’d lived with him for a long time.”
“Yeah, we argued some. Howard could be a real jerk sometimes, but he was okay.”
Conrad gave up. Hopefully, his sister would be more forthcoming. “I’m going to go in and check on your mom, now. Do you guys need anything? Is she doing all right?”
“Yeah, she’s worried about a funeral and stuff.”
“Has Miriam been out here again?”
“Yeah, she was here this morning.”
Conrad raised his eyebrows and nodded his head trying to encourage Daniel to continue but he did not take the hint. “And? Was she helpful?”
“I don’t know. I was outside but Miriam looked mad when she left.”
Conrad nodded and turned toward the front steps of the house.
“Come in. Hi, Chief,” Mavis said when Conrad tapped on the door as he opened it.
“Hey, Mavis. Just checking in on you. How are things going?”
“Mavis was just telling me Miri
am visited again today,” Cora said before Mavis could respond.
“Yes, Daniel told me. Was it any better than last time?”
“Maybe a little,” Mavis said smiling shyly. “Or maybe I handled it better this time.”
“What exactly does Miriam want? Is it about the funeral? Or is it about the house?” Conrad took a seat in the living room where the ladies were sitting.
“A little of both,” Mavis said sighing.
“So, where do you stand legally with the house? Did Howard inherit part of the LLC when his mother died?”
“Cora and I were just discussing that. From what I know,” Mavis said sitting back on the sofa, “Howard and his sisters own the company now and the company owns the house. I think the property was owned by Howard’s great-great-grandfather or something.”
“So now, you and the sisters own the company?” Cora said seeking clarification.
“I think it’s just me and Miriam.” Mavis shrugged and looked down at her hands. “Howard told me Miriam stole it from Wanda and she wasn’t taking it from him. They fought about it after his mom died.”
“So, when Nora died, Howard found out his sister, Wanda, lost her share?”
“It wasn’t then,” Mavis corrected. “Howard just found this out right before he disappeared. They had been arguing about it and he told me Miriam was trying to rob us blind.” Mavis huffed. “Pfft, I just laughed at him. I didn’t think we had anything worth takin’. I just thought it was them bickerin’ again. Miriam is a hard woman to get along with.”
“So, you didn’t know about the LLC?” Conrad asked.
“Oh, I knew it owned our house and I knew it was his family land. I didn’t know any particulars until this all blew up with Miriam.”
“What caused the blow up?” Cora asked.
“Miriam said Howard asked her to cosign a loan against the house. I know that’s not the case, but she doesn’t think I know any better.”
“So, what did happen?” Cora said.
“Howard went to the bank and tried to get a mortgage on the house. With him out of work and me just starting at the drugstore, things were tight. The bank told him the mortgage would have to be done with the LLC because they owned the house, so he had to talk to his sisters. They would have to agree.”
