Ranch Life is Great

by Malone, Misty

  Cade and Elsie sat staring at the sheriff. Cade found his voice first. "The whole store goes to him? Shouldn't he just be owed whatever is still due and owing on the loan?"

  "That would be normal, but a loan can be written any way both parties agree to."

  Elsie was shaking her head. "But that's highway robbery. Was the store in both of their names? He wouldn't have any right to Theodore's half, would he? But if they both owned half, what would happen?"

  "One would have to be willing to sell out to the other," Cade offered. "Is that what's happening here? Is Theodore being forced to pay more for his half of the store than its worth, just to get control of it back?"

  "No, it's worse than that. Apparently the store in Philadelphia was in Ralph's name, which makes sense. Theodore wouldn't have been of age then. So when they sold the store before they moved here, the money was put into Ralph's name."

  "So when they opened a new store here, the money had been in Ralph's name, so the store was put in Ralph's name?" Cade asked?

  "Exactly," Sheriff Fitch answered. "Theodore said they never saw it as a problem because they ran it together and used the money to pay for whatever either of them needed. He said he just assumed when his father died the store would be left to him and it would be in his name then."

  Cade looked concerned. "So what's happening? Is he losing the store?"

  "As of right now, it looks as though the store will go back to the man in Philadelphia who made the loan. I have no idea what he plans to do with it. Since he's not local, my guess is he'll try to sell it to get his money back, but I don't know."

  "Is Theodore going to offer to buy it from him?"

  "I don't know. Theodore told me all this, to see if there's anything I can do about any of it, or if it's all legal. He says he doesn't have much money saved up, so he doesn't think he can offer to buy it."

  Elsie looked surprised. "He doesn't have much money? They always dress real nice, and I know Theodore said he went to college back in Philadelphia, so I always assumed they had some money, and the store seemed to do fine."

  "You know, I always assumed they were doing good, too. Like you said, they always wore nice clothes."

  "Well, you never know," Cade said. "Maybe they spent their money on nice clothes."

  "Maybe, but it just doesn't make sense," Elsie said. "Our family didn't get rich from our store, but we were all three able to live on the money they made there, and my parents were able to put a little away in the bank, what my mother always called their rainy day fund. Their store always seemed as busy as ours. You would think with just the two of them they would have been able to put a little back for a rainy day fund, too."

  "It seems like ever since your parents died, Elsie, I've been learning things about them I didn't know before," the sheriff said. "Like that they were from Philadelphia, and there was a question about them hanging in the air when they left there. That in itself made me wonder if they may have been behind the rumor. Then just as we have evidence that Ralph canceled an order Mr. Stone was expecting, he dies, after a rather long illness I knew nothing about. It seems I'm learning a lot about them just here lately."

  "I wonder if there's anything else you should learn about them," Cade said, thinking aloud.

  "I've wondered the exact same thing."

  "But as interesting and coincidental as it all is, it still doesn't bring us any closer to finding out who killed my parents," Elsie said, "because I just can't hardly believe they would be tied up in it in any way. Do either of you feel they are?"

  "It's hard to think they would be," Cade agreed.

  "To be honest, at this point I don't know what I believe," the sheriff said.

  * * *

  Theodore was moping around his house that evening, feeling lost. He had been shocked when Mr. Dempsey showed up with the second will. Not only had his father not mentioned a word about this new will, but he'd never mentioned ever taking out a loan. No matter how much thinking he did, things just weren't adding up to him.

  Things about the loan didn't make sense. First off, he had no idea what his father could have used the money from that loan for. The only thing they'd spent a large chunk of money on, as far as he knew, was starting their store in Sherman. The money for that store came from what they got when they sold their store in Philadelphia. He had no idea what his father would have needed a loan for.

  The loan itself was also a bit unusual. He saw the loan papers Mr. Dempsey had. He had to admit the signature looked like his father's, but the terms of the loan certainly didn't seem like anything Ralph would have agreed to. Giving up the entire store was the first glaring thing that didn't seem right to him, but the interest rate was also higher than an average loan. So not only did he have no idea what the proceeds of the loan were used for, but he couldn't imagine his father agreeing to such terms.

  He spent a lot of time considering these things, trying to make sense of them. But something else had been bothering him, as well. Both attorneys, as well as the sheriff, seemed to think he should have money available to him that they'd saved up. That was something that had been bothering Theodore for some time. He thought, too, they should have had some money saved up. The store seemed to be doing well. It always seemed to him as though they were as busy as Wintock's Mercantile, and their store seemed to be able to support the three of them well. Not only were there three of them; they had a newer buggy than the one he and his father had, and better, younger horses. The two of them didn't spend a lot of money. Yet, there wasn't much in the bank that they'd managed to save.

  Theodore thought back to the difference in the two stores. They seemed to be selling as much here as they did in Philadelphia, but they had money saved up back east. That is, until his father said they got a letter from his mother and brother, telling of a terrible hardship. He'd sent them three thousand dollars, which was a large amount of money. Unfortunately, that had been about the time they had moved out west. That money sure would have been nice when they started their new store, but they'd already sent the money to help family.

  Comparing their store now with the one in Philadelphia gave him an idea. He'd been keeping the books for the store since his father had passed away, but with all the confusion about the wills, he hadn't really paid much attention to them. He found the set of books they had for the store in Philadelphia, and got the books he'd been keeping for their store here and decided to compare them. Maybe he could see where the difference was.

  It took a couple evenings of close examination of the two sets of books, but he finally found the difference. It certainly wasn't what he'd been expecting, however. Their store here was actually selling more than the one in Philadelphia had. The difference was that each month a certain amount seemed to be missing. It was almost two hundred dollars, which was a very large amount. If he compared the amount the store took in with the total of the amount paid out for bills and the amount put in the bank, it was off by the exact same amount every month, which was almost two hundred dollars.

  He wasn't sure what exactly that meant, so he went to talk to Sheriff Fitch. He'd gone to the sheriff when the second will surfaced. The sheriff had talked to him about the second will, and although he said there wasn't anything he could legally do at this point, he had offered his help if there was anything he could do in the future.

  Theodore showed Sheriff Fitch what he'd found, and that each month the difference was the exact same amount. "I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I have an idea," the sheriff said. "Let's go talk to Franklin Avalon at the bank and see if he can shed some light on this. If I'm right, he'll be able to help explain it."

  "All right, I hope he can," Theodore said.

  Mr. Avalon showed them to his office, and it didn't take long for Theodore to show him the monthly discrepancy. It took even less time for Mr. Avalon to solve the mystery. "That's the exact amount he had sent to Philadelphia every month."

  Both men stared at him, mouths open, so he explained further. "Ralph genera
lly came into the bank twice a month. The first time he had that exact amount of money, and he had me wire it to the man in Philadelphia. The second time he came in was to put any extra money from the store in the bank, to save."

  "Do you have the name and address where you sent the money every month," the sheriff asked.

  "Sure, I can look that up for you. It was the same every month."

  While he was getting that information for them, the sheriff took the opportunity to ask a few more questions. "Can you tell me how long he sent this money every month; was it for a few years, or longer?"

  "From the first month he was here." He looked over at Theodore, confused. "Am I to understand that you didn't know about these payments?"

  "No, sir, I didn't. When we had a store in Philadelphia, I was learning how to run it the last couple of years. He basically ran it, while I kept the books. When we came here, he told me he felt I was ready to run the store, so he let me do that, and he kept the books. He came in often to help and make sure I was doing all right. He started feeling bad then, and his trips to the store became less and less frequent. He continued to keep the books, though. I always thought that made him feel like he still had an active role in running the store."

  "It probably did," the sheriff said.

  "Probably. But to answer your question, Mr. Avalon, he did everything connected with keeping the books and taking care of the money. Looking back on it, I obviously should have insisted on having a bigger role in it, but I didn't. I had no reason not to trust my father, so I assumed he was doing what was best for both of us."

  Mr. Avalon was quiet for a time, shifting his look between Theodore and the paper he had in front of him. When he finally spoke, he was tentative. "So, when this second will appeared, did you even know about the loan your father had taken out?"

  "No, sir, I didn't. It was quite a shock, especially considering the terms of the loan. I can't imagine my father agreeing to those terms."

  "I don't really know anything about the terms. All I know is he gave me this address that I was to send the money to. He was in every month before the fifteenth to get it sent off. If he didn't have enough from the store, he came in and took however much he was short from your savings, and had me send it off. He was very meticulous, making sure I knew it was important that it goes out right away, and couldn't be late."

  "I take it he did this right up until he died?" the sheriff asked.

  "Almost. He didn't have me send it off the last couple of months. He always came to my office to give me the money to send off, and he wasn't in the last month or two. I don't know why, if he was ill and forgot, or if he had one of the tellers handle it, or why exactly. To be honest, I have been extremely busy the last few months at home, what with another new baby in the home, and I hadn't thought about that at all until I heard the rumors about the second will and that you weren't going to be able to keep the store."

  "Do you have a copy of the loan papers, by any chance," the sheriff asked.

  "No, sorry. All I have is this address, and the amount I was to send."

  "Do you know how long the loan was for?"

  "No. I felt sure Ralph would tell me when it was paid off, and it really wasn't any of my business, so I never asked anything about that. I didn't know you had a store you sold in Philadelphia, Mr. Wilson, and assumed the loan was to get this store here started."

  "I understand," the sheriff said. Theodore nodded, as well.

  Mr. Avalon addressed Theodore sincerely. "I was and still am very sorry to hear about you losing the store, Mr. Wilson. It is truly a shame your father passed away before this loan was paid off. I know he was very diligent in making the payments."

  "Thank you, Mr. Avalon," Theodore said sincerely.

  The sheriff and Theodore went back to the sheriff's office so they could talk. The sheriff started the conversation. "I wondered if part of the missing amount each month was for the payment of the loan, but if it was the entire amount, that's a large monthly payment. I think we need to pay a visit to Mr. Dempsey. Do you happen to know if he's still in town?"

  "He said he was going to be staying here until Mr. Trenton had the papers ready that transferred the store to his client. Once the judge and I signed them, he said he would personally take them to Philadelphia."

  "Then I think we need to go to the hotel and talk to him. I'd like to see those papers, and see just how close your father was to having the loan paid off. He was paying a large amount monthly, and if he's been paying it as long as you two have lived here, that amounts to a lot of money."

  "It certainly does."

  "If he'd already paid that much, I have to wonder how much that loan was for, and how much longer he had to go on it yet. If he was close to having it paid off, it doesn't seem right that the lender should get all that money, plus the store. We may have to talk to Mr. Trenton about that, if that's, in fact, legal."

  They went to the hotel and found Mr. Dempsey having coffee and pie in the restaurant. They approached him, and the sheriff spoke. "Good afternoon, Mr. Dempsey."

  "Sheriff Fitch, Mr. Wilson. Something I can help you with?"

  "I apologize for interrupting your snack, but I'll keep this quick and we'll let you finish your pie in peace. I take you you have a copy of the loan papers Mr. Wilson signed?"

  "Of course."

  "After you finish your pie, could I see a copy of them, please?"

  "I can get them for you, of course. I assumed you had a copy of them. Something in particular you're questioning?"

  "Mr. Wilson has a few questions, is all. Mr. Trenton said you showed the papers to him, and they showed the amount still due and owing, so Mr. Wilson accepted that unfortunate fact. He hasn't had the opportunity to see the papers himself, though, and he's curious about a few things, like the length of the loan, or when it would have been paid off."

  "There was no set time. If the payment wasn't made by a certain time, the interest rate changed, and there could possibly be a late penalty added. So it didn't have a specific end date."

  "I see. Would you mind bringing a copy of them to my office, or would you prefer we come back later this afternoon and meet with you in your room?"

  "No, I'll bring the papers over to your office. Everything's on the up and up; you're welcome to look at them."

  "I'm sure they are," the sheriff said. "We'd just like to see them. Mr. Wilson's curious as to what kind of terms his father agreed to."

  "I'll take them over to your office shortly," Mr. Dempsey said.

  The sheriff and Mr. Wilson went back to the sheriff's office to wait. True to his word, it was only fifteen minutes later that Mr. Dempsey walked into the office, carrying several papers. He laid them down on the sheriff's desk. "Right there it is. You're welcome to look at it; I've got nothing to hide."

  "I appreciate that, Mr. Dempsey." The two men sat down to look and began examining the papers. There was an occasional gasp, or grunt, or cocked eyebrow as they studied them. When they finished, the sheriff took out paper and pencil, and they both made some notes.

  Finally, the sheriff asked Mr. Dempsey a few questions. "These papers don't show where any payments have been made."

  "The attorney in Philadelphia would have that information."

  "You don't have any of that information?"

  "No, I don't."

  "So how do you know it hasn't been paid off? Perhaps it's been paid in full."

  "No, it hasn't been. I sent a telegram to the gentlemen in Philadelphia when I learned of Mr. Wilson's death, and asked if the loan has been repaid. The response I got was that the debt had not been fully satisfied, and I was told to present the will and proceed with acquiring the store."

  The sheriff made a couple more notes, copying things from the papers, before handing them back to Mr. Dempsey. "All right, sir, thank you for letting us look at them. Hopefully that answers many of the questions Mr. Wilson had about the loan. I'm sure he's going to want to take some time to digest all this information."


  Mr. Dempsey shook hands with both men, and gathered his papers and left.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After Mr. Dempsey left, the sheriff turned to Theodore. "I haven't done any of the arithmetic, obviously, but it seems to me as though your father had to have paid off the biggest majority of this loan."

  "It would seem like that to me, as well. But is there anything I can do about it if it's close to paid off, but not entirely paid off?"

  "That I don't know. I do think we should look into this, though. I think we need to give all this information to Mr. Avalon and also to Mr. Trenton. I wrote down all the terms of the loan, including the interest rate, due dates, and any penalty fees and raise in interest rate if a payment is late. Mr. Avalon has the dates the payments were made. He said he would have gotten word if any payment hadn't been received and deposited into the account it was sent to, so we will assume for now they were all deposited, but we can have the sheriff in Philadelphia confirm that later if we need to."

  "They would be able to work with that information to get an amount still due?"

  "Both of those men can figure up the payments, with the interest, and determine how much would still be owed, yes. I think we should find that out, see if we can come up with an amount both those men agree on, and then verify, make sure it's the same amount the attorney in Philadelphia is showing. Then we can decide what we want to do. At the very least, if it's almost paid off, perhaps we could convince the lender to sell it back to you for a reasonable price."

  "But I don't have the money to buy it."

  "But Mr. Avalon knows what your father has been paying every month. I would think that would be a sufficient amount to use as a monthly payment on a loan. Let's see what the figures show first, then we can talk about it more."

  "I would like to know how much is left to be paid yet. I would still like to know what he used that amount of money for. I've given that a great deal of thought, but I haven't been able to come up with a thing."