The Ties That Bind

by Andi Marquette

  "All right. Thanks for coming," Ward said by way of introduction to the reading of the will. "I know it's a longish drive and I appreciate everyone's willingness to meet."

  From his tone, I guessed will-readings weren't always lovefests. He removed a piece of paper from the top folder, then took a stack from the bottom folder.

  "I made copies." He handed one to Tonya and then a few to Sage, who passed them on down. Kara set the remaining two copies aside.

  "First, you'll notice that Bill did name me as his personal representative in executing his estate. We'll cover a few points thoroughly as we go through. Please feel free to ask questions as they come up." He paused and glanced around the table then continued. "As you'll see, Bill left instructions for his body and he does have money set aside for that. Ms. Crandall, you and your brother can request that the funeral home your father specified release his body for transport and cremation unless there is some other extenuating reason that the Medical Examiner in Albuquerque provides to delay that. When you do notify the funeral home--specified here--please inform me so that I may inform Ms. Daniels, since she is named as the person who will handle cremation. Is all this amenable?"

  Sage nodded. River did, as well, though he kept his eyes on his copy of Bill's will.

  "As you can see," Ward said, "Bill did not specify a funeral or memorial service. That's a decision that you and Ms. Daniels need to make, if you're so inclined. The money he left should more than cover a small service of some kind." He glanced first at Tonya then at Sage and River then back to his copy. "Bill bequeathed all of his personal effects and his home to Ms. Daniels. Should you, Ms. Crandall or your brother wish to access any of your father's personal belongings, please arrange such through Ms. Daniels or, if mediation is required, through me."

  I flipped the page, appreciating the professional but relaxed way Ward was handling this. Tonya was also reading through the will. She wiped at her eyes and Ward pushed his chair back and reached for a box of Kleenex on the bookshelves. He set it in front of her and she took one and wiped her nose. She must really have liked Bill. I read another paragraph. Then re-read it. Holy hell. I glanced over at Sage, whose jaw muscles clenched. She didn't look up.

  "Bill started investing in stock about ten years ago. He concentrated on companies that produced equipment for gas and oil drilling and exploration, and managed to do pretty well. The stock, as you can see, he leaves to his daughter, Sage, and his son, River, to be divided evenly between the two and to do with as they see fit," Ward said, reading the last bit from the will. "The money he accumulated in his retirement account he leaves to Ms. Daniels. I do have his stock portfolio on the premises and I will provide that to you and your brother, Ms. Crandall." He looked up. "Questions?" He waited a moment. "No? All right. Some good news in this difficult time. Bill paid off his debts with the exception of his mortgage, which Ms. Daniels will be assuming, should she decide to stay in the home she shared with him."

  I finished reading through and glanced again at Tonya. A pile of used Kleenex sat at her right elbow. He had paid off all his debts. So he had been trying to get his shit together. I wanted to have a chat with Tonya about Bill and what other things he might have been up to, but I wasn't sure how to do so without coming across as tacky.

  "What I'd like to do," Wade entreated, "is give all parties a chance to look this over for a few days, if necessary. I want to be sure that everyone understands the contents of this document. Contact me immediately if you don't and we'll work on it." He gave a business card to Tonya and passed a few to Sage. "Is everyone all right with this arrangement? My cell phone number is on my card. Please don't hesitate to use it."

  I glanced at Sage, who was studying the card. She seemed small, all of a sudden, and sort of lost. Wade stood. "If everyone's okay, then we're done here. Let me know in the next couple of days or so if you're clear on everything. Please do feel free to contact your own lawyers should you have them and go over this again. The more you know, the better the decisions you can make. Ms. Crandall, I'll get that stock portfolio now. Be right back." He smiled, encouraging, and left the room.

  Sage got up and went around the table to sit in the chair next to Tonya's. She sat down and gently squeezed Tonya's right forearm. "Thanks for coming," she said.

  Tonya nodded, sniffling. "Is there anything you think you or your brother would want of Bill's?" She looked up at Sage, dabbing at her tears.

  "I don't know. If you think there is, River and I could come over." Sage said it in a soft tone, offering comfort. "I'm so sorry."

  "Me, too." Tonya's voice broke then and she cried harder and Sage pulled Tonya's head to her shoulder. River shifted uncomfortably in his seat, opting to keep staring at the will. Kara squeezed my hand as I pondered the enigma of Bill Crandall, the man who inspired such anger in his children but such love and loss in a woman unrelated to the past.

  Wade returned. He seemed surprised to see Sage with Tonya, but he caught himself and set the portfolio on the table next to her, either deducing that she seemed the one more inclined to deal with it than River or doing so because she was closest to him when he came in. I guessed the former. "Thank you again for coming. I'm very sorry for your loss," he said, meaning it. "I'll be in touch." He turned to leave but stopped at the doorway. "Take your time here." And then he left. I appreciated that. I turned to River.

  "You okay?" I said in a low voice.

  "Not sure."

  "You want to talk?"

  He looked at me, a thin smile on his lips. "Not yet. Thanks. I think I'll wait outside." He collected his bottle of Coke, the copy of the will, and Ward's card. Still sitting, River slid it into the back pocket of his jeans

  I clapped him on the shoulder and threw an imploring glance at Kara. She stood as River did.

  "Same here," she said, following River out of the room.

  Tonya stopped crying after a few more minutes and Sage handed her another tissue from the box. "Thank you," Tonya whispered. "Sorry."

  Sage patted her hand. "Are you all right? Do you need a ride anywhere?"

  Tonya shook her head. "It's funny," she said, wiping her eyes again. "I met Bill about two months after he moved here."

  "When was that?"

  "Four years ago, give or take. We hit it off, but he did have a problem every now and again with the bottle. He tried," she hastily added. "Went to meetings now and again and he'd be sober for a few months. I'm sure you know he had a problem with that." Tonya looked at Sage for confirmation, which she got as Sage nodded once. I wondered if I should stay and started to get up but Sage turned her gaze to me, almost pleading, and I remained planted in my seat.

  "When I met him," Tonya continued, "he already had your names tattooed on his arms. He told me after we'd been seeing each other for about a month that he had done wrong by his kids and his first wife and he hoped some day he'd be able to truly make amends, but he said he hadn't reached that point in his program."

  The muscles in Sage's jaw clenched. "My brother and I weren't close to him. We knew him as a different man and I'd be lying if I told you I loved and respected that man."

  Tonya studied Sage's face for a long moment. "I know he wasn't a good father. But he did try to be a good partner to me and when he screwed up, he carried it inside for a long time."

  I stared at my own copy of the will, trying not to intrude on this excruciatingly personal exchange, willing myself into invisibility.

  "Did the police talk to you, too?" Tonya changed the subject.

  "Yes. I don't know much beyond what they probably told you."

  "He wasn't drinking when he died." Tonya said it with a certainty I'd heard all too often from the friends and families of addicts. I kept my eyes on the will.

  Sage waited.

  "He was in one of his sober times. He hadn't had a drink in a month. He lasted five months between fuck-ups." At that point, Tonya glanced toward the open door then back at Sage. She lowered

  her voice. "He was worrie
d about something going on at work."

  I looked up.

  "What, specifically?" Sage lowered her voice, as well.

  "He said that there were too many accidents at the site, even for that kind of work, and that Ridge Star was doctoring reports and cutting corners to avoid paying for equipment upgrades. Bill said they were using old, out-dated machinery that wasn't safe anymore."

  "Why didn't he switch companies?"

  "He thought about it, but then a friend of his at the site got hurt in January and he didn't like the way Ridge Star handled it. He wanted to prove that the company caused it through their bad practices."

  Bill was conducting his own investigation?

  "Would you be okay talking about this more?" Sage asked, keeping her voice low.

  Tonya nodded and Sage stood, glancing over at me. I picked up the copy of the will I had, grabbing Kara's and Sage's copies as well, and headed for the door, Sage and Tonya right behind me. We joined Kara and River on the sidewalk outside and Tonya picked up where she had left off.

  "Bill started talking a little bit about Ridge Star around the time his friend got hurt."

  "Do you know who the friend was?" I interjected, going immediately into research mode.

  Tonya hesitated and Sage smoothed the waters. "Tonya--" she looked at her, uncertain, making sure it was okay to use her first name like that, then continued. "It's true that I didn't have much of a relationship with my father for most of my life. But if something happened to him that's related to this company, then I'd like to know what and I'd like to put this company on notice about it."

  Tonya glanced at me, a little suspicious. Sage stepped in again. "K.C. is very good at collecting information and figuring out patterns."

  I smiled, trying to put Tonya at ease. "Sorry. I can be blunt sometimes."

  Kara snorted and Sage fought her own smile. Tonya relaxed and Kara handed me a pen. I glanced at it. A promo clicker from the law firm. I folded the copies of the will in half and held them in such a way that I could write on the blank back.

  "Nestor Bodie."

  I wrote the name down. It sounded Navajo. Bodie must've been the friend that Bill mentioned in his letter to River. "Does Mr. Bodie live in Farmington?"

  "Yeah, for the most part, but he's got family in Shiprock.

  Sometimes he's over there. Bill talked to him a few days before he..." she dropped her gaze.

  We all waited a bit for Tonya to collect herself. Kara magically produced a small travel pack of tissues and handed it to her.

  "Do you talk to Mr. Bodie?" I pressed gently.

  "Only if I answer the phone when he calls. I met him in person last year, before he got hurt. Since that, he doesn't go out much anymore."

  "Because of his injuries?" I held the pen against the paper, waiting.

  She nodded. "He got hurt bad. Nestor was working the platform with Bill the day it happened. They had to pull the string up to check the drill bit and when you do that--when you pull the pipe out of the hole when it's down that deep--the pressure's really high. The cable on the pulley thing they use snapped and Nestor couldn't get out of the way in time. A section of pipe fell on him and crushed his legs. He can't walk very well anymore."

  Damn.

  "That got Bill mad. He said he'd lodged two complaints about the pulley and the cable and three other guys did, too. Ridge Star didn't do anything, though the complaints started two weeks before Nestor got hurt."

  "So Bill started doing what?" River broke in. "I'm not getting why he didn't just go to another company."

  Tonya regarded him for a while. "He must have done that a lot, when you were growing up." She didn't phrase it as a question.

  River shrugged. "Roughnecks go where the money is and there's always some company hiring."

  Tonya brushed a strand of her feathered hair out of her eyes. "Bill liked it here. He liked Farmington, he liked having a steady home, and he liked me. And he also liked Nestor."

  So he had an epiphany? I wrote that down.

  "He felt he owed Nestor for some things that Nestor had done in the past for him."

  We all waited, watching her.

  "A couple of times at the site, Nestor kept Bill from getting injured. Bill told me Nestor had some kind of power, that he could see things that others couldn't and he got Bill out of the way before anything happened. The day the cable snapped when Nestor got hurt, Nestor told him a couple hours before that something wasn't right in the energy and he wanted Bill to be extra careful on the job."

  River's expression remained impassive, but Sage's eyes narrowed.

  Tonya wiped her eyes with a tissue. "Bill went with Nestor to the hospital and he called Nestor's wife. He stayed with him until she got there. Ridge Star did shut down for the day after the accident and OSHA--that Occupational Safety board--did its investigation and what do you know, but the cable was so worn it was in violation of all kinds of safety regs." She blew her nose. "But all OSHA did was slap Ridge Star with a few-thousand-dollar fine. Nestor can't work anymore. He doesn't get any damn pension from them, because he was a contract worker. He and his family are filing a lawsuit, but it's not like they're made of money." She drew a shaky breath. "I don't know why, but somehow Nestor's accident changed Bill. He got real angry at Ridge Star, and he started documenting things."

  I looked up from my paper. "How?"

  "He wrote stuff down." She took another tissue out of the package.

  "Do you know where he kept his notes?"

  "I thought I did. But after he--" she cleared her throat. "After he disappeared, I thought maybe I'd better get his notebook and give it to the police, but it wasn't where he usually kept it. I tore the house apart looking for it, but I never did find it."

  I glanced at Sage. She caught my eye and I knew she was thinking the same thing. Maybe Bill mailed or gave the notebook to someone. I wrote that down. And that meant he felt threatened. After all, why would he send a letter to a son he hadn't spoken to in years? And why would he entrust a notebook documenting wrongdoing at Ridge Star to parties unknown if he didn't think there was anything to worry about? I wrote "threats" and "who" with question marks. "Do you think Bill may have gotten any kind of threats from anyone about Ridge Star?"

  "I know he did. He got beat up bad one night after work, about two weeks before he went missing. It wasn't the first time, either. He didn't say much to me about it, but a few times the phone at the house rang and he'd check the caller ID and he wouldn't answer it and then he'd turn the sound down on the answering machine." She tugged on a bit of hair that blew against her cheek. "One day, maybe a month ago, I got home early and he wasn't in yet. I saw there was a message on the machine so I listened to it and it was some guy who told Bill he'd better back off. I asked Bill about it and he said it was just a misunderstanding at work." She wiped her eyes again. "I wanted to believe him. But looking back on it..."

  Tonya brushed her hair out of her face again in the late afternoon breeze. She checked her watch. "I'm sorry, but I have to go to work. Let me give you my number." She looked at me and I prepared to write it down. She supplied it and started to hand the packet of tissue back to Kara.

  "Keep it," Kara said, smiling.

  "Thank you." She directed that at all of us.

  "You're welcome," Sage responded. "We have an appointment with Detective Simmons tomorrow morning. Is there anything you'd like us to pass along?"

  "I told them about Nestor. And the notebook. They said they'd be in touch if they found anything out." She rolled her eyes, disgusted. She didn't think too highly of the investigation. Then again, maybe she just wasn't privy to what Simmons and Martin really were up to. "I guess I'll see you later." She turned and started walking away and I realized I hadn't asked her if she had a phone number for Nestor Bodie. Watching her, I decided not to bother. She'd dealt with enough today already. We stood in silence for a few moments until Sage broke it.

  "We have a couple of hours before we talk to Shoshana's uncle. An
ybody hungry?"

  Kara and I nodded affirmatives but River shrugged. "I guess," he said. Then he offered a smile. "What the hell? Wash down the weird shit with a burger and fries." Sage smiled and glanced at me as he headed back to her car.

  "Any ideas for food?"

  "I think there's a brewpub over on Main. Why don't you guys follow me?"

  "Cool." She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek and gave Kara a hug before she walked to her car.

  I looked over at Kara. "Is this whole situation getting a little freaky or is it just me?"

  "Normally, I'd say it's just you, but there is definitely a weird vibe all around."

  Validated, I motioned her toward my car.

  Chapter Twelve

  I'D NEVER CONDUCTED a group investigation like this. Or maybe I should have thought of it more as a group project, the kind I always hated to do as an undergrad. Kara had set this whole thing up, which made me nervous because of her history of flakiness. So as we turned down the rutted drive that would take us to Jamison Purcell's house, I cast a dubious look around, steering onto the ridges of earth that paralleled the narrow, water-carved trenches shaped by lots of tires before mine. Four-wheel drive, no doubt. With lots of clearance. On either side of us tall grasses obscured most of our view, but I caught glimpses of a green field beyond a sturdy fence on my right.

  The road then smoothed, curved slightly left, and directed us beneath huge willows and cottonwoods for about fifty yards until we pulled up in front of a seventies ranch-style house that looked like it had gotten fed up with a California suburb and went searching for a little peace and quiet north of Farmington. A new front porch and patio were part of its makeover.

  A dark blue Ford pickup was parked under a nearby cottonwood and two smaller vehicles--one a sagging white Chevy Nova that looked like it had towed the ranch house from California and the other a red Kia sedan--were both parked with front ends in the tall grass that edged the dirt parking area. I thought of cows grazing, their butts contentedly facing the house, which Purcell kept up nice. Or somebody did. Not a bit of peeling brown paint to be found, at least not in front. And the turquoise trim around the windows and on the eaves looked recent.