Kayla’s mom walked over and sat next to her. She brushed an unruly curl from out of her face and looked her daughter over. “You look terrible,” she said.
Her mother’s genuine concern and understanding almost made her heart hurt. Her guilt suddenly went deeper and encompassed more than just her drunken binge. Anita’s words rang in her head and she knew that she could not in good conscience put her mother through the weekly trips to the precinct anymore.
“Mom, I know how hard it is for you to go to talk to the detectives. I also know that I’ve been the one pushing you to go. So from now on, I’ll go. Anita said she would come with me if I needed her to. You come, but only if you really want to. If you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
Mama Ann tilted her head to the side and looked carefully at Kayla. “Ok. But if you ever really need for me to be there, just say the word.”
“I will, thanks mom.”
‘No, Kayla. Thank you.” Then her mother got up and head toward the kitchen. She stopped and looked back at Kayla. I’m guessing you won’t want breakfast this morning. There’s a fresh pot of coffee on the counter when you’re ready.” She smiled affectionately at both her girls then went up to her room.
Anita got up and plopped down on the couch next to Kayla. “Mama Ann is awesome, you know.
Do you still feel like she thinks less of you because of last night?”
“No, not at all.”
Then Kayla leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder and drifted back to sleep.
***
“Are you still watching the girl?”
“Yeah, she was at the Raven’s Nest last night with another girl. I’m almost sure they work together; they came out of the medical center together.”
“Do you know the other girl’s name?”
“No. But I’ve got Benny working on it. We’ll get some info soon.”
“Good. I’m starting to get a little irritated. We took care of that girl’s father three years ago and I’m no closer to finding out where my money is.”
“Boss, why don’t you just let us snatch her and her mother up? If they know something we can make them talk.”
“Didn’t you say that they go to the precinct to speak with the detective on her father’s case every week?”
“Yeah.”
“If they know where the money is we have to get them to take us to it. If they don’t...well either way we’ve tipped our hand. They become loose ends and you know what happens to loose ends right?
“Right. They get cut.
Chapter 6
With Kayla sound asleep on the couch Anita went into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and talk to Mama Ann. After giving the older woman a hug, she asked, “Okay, how are you really doing?”
Mama Ann looked out the small window over the sink, “I really miss him you know.”
“I know.”
Mama Ann turned and looked gravely at Anita. “Kayla went back to sleep didn’t she?” she asked as she leaned around to look into the living room.
“Oh, she’s going to be out for a while. It may take her the whole weekend to sleep off all the drinking she did last night,” Anita chuckled.
“Good, I need to talk to you,” Mama Ann’s tone was serious.
Anita looked concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“I know you and Kayla are good friends. There are things I haven’t been able to tell her but I have to tell somebody.”
“I’m listening,” Anita said as she sat down.
“Kayla loved and adored her father to the point where sometimes it would blind her to a lot of things,” Mama Ann looked sideways at Anita. “How do you think he died?”
Anita was confused. “We know how he died Mama Ann. What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you think he was just a random victim of foul play or do you think that he was a victim of something that he was involved in?” Mama Ann asked.
Anita’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Kayla really wants to believe that her father’s death was random. I want to know what you think.”
“You know she just asked me this same question last night?”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her that it didn’t add up. I told her that it felt more like the warehouse was his actual destination and not the store. The store was just his cover story and something just went really wrong.”
“Smart girl.”
“Mama Ann do you know something?” Anita sounded alarmed.
“I’d be lying if I told you that I knew the particulars, because I don’t. What I do know is that her father was far from the saint that Kayla thinks that he was. I also know that he often went to that store when there was no good reason for him to be there and at times that made no sense.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that her father was a good man but he wasn’t perfect. There was a side of him that was a bit murkier than Kayla or others may fathom.”
Suddenly, Anita wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear this. Even though her own theory about what had happened unmistakably indicated that there were some skeletons hiding deep in his closet, that didn’t mean she wanted to be right.
“Mama Ann I don’t know if I should be hearing any of what you have to say.”
“You consider yourself family don’t you? You consider yourself a sister to Kayla?”
“Well of course.”
“Then you need to hear what I have to say. Kayla’s a strong girl, but you’re stronger. When the whole truth comes out, she’s really going to need you.”
The expression on Mama Ann’s face was graver than Anita had ever seen it. She was having trouble fighting the sinking feeling in her stomach. Her mouth dry, she said, “Okay. Go ahead. I’m listening.”
Mama Ann began her story. “For years, I thought that Gary was as close to perfect as you could get. He was kind, generous, thoughtful and strong and he was so smart. He wasn’t just book smart; he had good old fashioned common sense. That’s just not something you find in a lot of people these days. I had never met anyone before that would be as quick as he was to help another person out. The bottom line was that he was everything I’d ever wanted in a man.”
Instead of being concerned, Anita felt a sudden twinge of envy. She knew that Mama Ann had something really serious to tell her and she was very much aware that the emotion she was currently feeling was just a bit out of place for the circumstances, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
She was 27 years old and rarely dated. Lambert was a great town for some things, but for others, like meeting the type of men that Mama Ann was describing, not so much.
“You’re making me jealous Mama Ann.”
“Oh don’t worry. You’ll meet the right one eventually.”
Then as if reading Anita’s mind, she said, “Maybe not in Lambert but you’ll meet him.” Mama Ann looked at Anita thoughtfully.
“Don’t be so quick to envy another person’s life, Anita.”
“I’m sorry. I’m being selfish. This isn’t supposed to be about me. Go on.”
“Anyway, Kayla doesn’t know this, she was too young to know what was going on, but her father cheated on me early in our marriage.”
Anita unwittingly gasped.
“Yeah I know. We were only in our second year of marriage. I was so mad and so hurt. I blamed myself at first. I thought maybe if I was a better wife or a better cook; maybe if I didn’t nag him to do things around the house or maybe if I wasn’t so headstrong sometimes and just agree and let him have his way, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Anita felt a sudden wave of sympathy for Mama Ann. She had the urge to just get up and hug her and reassure her that it could never have been her fault; instead she remained seated and stayed silent.
“I confronted him of course and we fought about it, but he was never able to give me a clear cut reason as to why it happened.” Mama Ann looked down at her hands which she had begun to wring in
her lap.
“I spent more nights than I care to remember crying myself to sleep. Every time he walked out the door, I was convinced he was going to see her and every time he was on the phone I just knew it was her he was talking to. In my mind, my whole marriage had been nothing more than a sham. I felt like I had been conned; like I had just bought the worse type of snake oil from the best salesman in the world. Any faith or trust I had in him was gone.”
The pain on Mama Ann’s face pierced Anita to her core. She had never seen her like this. If this was how the memory affected her, she hated to imagine how she had felt when she was actually going through it.
“When I realized I couldn’t stand to live like that anymore, I eventually kicked him out and he went to stay at the Fairview Motel. I figured that then he would probably just put all his attention and energy into the other woman but he didn’t. Instead he became fixated on winning me back. He would call everyday just to see how Kayla and I were doing and if we needed anything. He would show up unexpectedly on the pretense of only wanting see Kayla but I knew better. He started leaving flowers and cards at the door telling me how sorry he was.” Mama Ann’s eyes misted over with the memory.
“I loved him so much but I was so hurt that at first I couldn’t even stand the sight of him. Over time, I caved in and took him back and we worked through it. He convinced me that the affair meant nothing; a stupid, arbitrary incident that would never happen again. He promised that he would never see the woman again and in fact, had already broken things off.”
“How’d you find out?” Anita questioned.
“Oh, the how doesn’t matter. It’s enough to know that I did.”
“Anyway, the years passed and he opened that store. Now I know that new businesses are like babies that have to be watched, cared for and tended to but sometimes he would get a phone call and suddenly there was something that needed to be taken care of at the store. Or after hours, he would suddenly realize he had forgotten something and he said he would be back. For a while I thought that maybe he had taken up with whoever that woman was again or maybe there was a new one. We had worked so hard at re-establishing trust and rebuilding the brokenness that we had both experienced. Ultimately, I just didn’t want to lose my husband and my marriage simply because I hadn’t really been able to forgive so I chose to turn a blind eye to it.”
“So was he cheating?” Anita asked with a little more attitude then she intended.
“No I don’t think so. But then I was never the kind of woman to follow her man in the middle of the night but no, I don’t think it was a woman.”
“So what was it then?”
“Sometimes when he thought I would be sleeping, he would get up in the middle of the night. I’d hear him go outside. Every time it happened, I would watch from the window. I couldn’t help it. Even though I forgave him, I was still deeply wounded.”
“Mama Ann, did you really think that he would allow another woman to come to the house?”
“Anita, until it happens to you, and I pray it never does, you’d be surprised at the things you are capable of thinking.”
“So what did you see when you looked out the window?”
“I would see a black car parked in front of the house. Sometimes he would get in the car and sometimes there would be guys standing outside the car waiting for him. A few times I saw them point to the house and Gary would shake his head no. Shortly after that he would come back in and I would climb back in bed and pretend to be sleep.”
Mama Ann walked to the kitchen door and peered into the living room to make sure Kayla was still asleep. Satisfied, she came back to the table and continued her story.
“Sometime after Gary was killed; I was still trying to sort through the remnants of his life. I was clearing out the desk in his home office and found 2 keys taped to the very back of one of the drawers. I knew right away that they were safe deposit box keys. Gary never even told me that he had bought a safe deposit box. I had never seen them before and had no idea what bank they belonged to. I did know that since he wanted to keep it a secret, it wouldn’t be the bank we normally used. Eventually, I found a journal with some notations in the corner of the back cover and the initials N.F.R.B. It took me a while, but I came to suspect that the initials were related to the bank where Gary had the safe deposit boxes. North Federal Reserve Bank.” Mama Ann paused.
“I found the copy of his safety deposit box rental agreement; got his death certificate, our marriage license, his will and head to the bank the next day. Turns out it was the right bank and I didn’t have any problems getting access to his boxes. What I did have problems with was what I found inside.”
Anita was on the edge of her seat. Even as the truth was slowly being revealed, she did not really want to believe that Papa Gary was involved in so much shadiness. She dreaded the day when Kayla found out the truth. “What did you find?”
“More cash than I have ever seen in my life, all in $100 dollar bills and another journal.”
“Where did he get money like that and what was in the journal?” Anita asked, almost afraid to find out.
“The journal was filled with some cryptic messages and a bunch of names in it. There was nothing written in a way that would explain anything. And I sure didn’t recognize any of the names either. What I did know, is that the money probably had something to do with the reason he was killed and the names could have been the people responsible or involved somehow. I never told anyone, not Kayla and certainly not the police.”
Anita looked at her incredulously. “Why not? You and Kayla were desperate to find his murderer and you found possible evidence and you never turned it in? That’s crazy!”
“Keep your voice down!” Mama Ann told her in hushed tones as she glanced fearfully toward the living room. “No I didn’t turn it in. I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Gary was responsible for all of our finances. When I was sorting through his papers I also found out that not only had he taken out a second mortgage on the house and store, but he owed a lot of money to the I.R.S. With him gone, Kayla and I could have lost everything so I used some of the money to pay off the mortgages and to pay the back taxes.”
Not for the first time that day, Anita’s jaw dropped.
“Mama Ann, are you crazy? You don’t know where that money came from or who it belonged to. If it was as much as you say, you know it didn’t belong to Papa Gary. What if they had come after you or Kayla?”
“I know, I know. But I didn’t think about that until later.”
“How much did he owe the I.R.S.?”
“About $200,000.”
It took everything Anita had not to fall out on the floor. Once she collected herself she asked, “I’m guessing you didn’t realize that in light of the circumstances and you not even knowing about any of this, you could have been entitled to innocent spouse relief?”
“What’s that?”
“If after Papa Gary’s death, the I.R.S. came after you about the taxes or even when you found out about it when you were going through his papers, you could have filed Form 8857. There’s a good possibility that you wouldn’t have been held responsible. If that didn’t work, there are other types of tax relief you might have been eligible for.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“No you didn’t but now we do know that you used at least $200,000 of somebody else’s money and that doesn’t even include the money for the mortgages. Mama Ann, whoever they are, they’re going to want their money.”
“It’s been over 3 years, why would they come now?”
Mama Ann was so astute about so many things, but so naïve about so many others.
“Mama Ann. Maybe that money was the reason Papa Gary was killed. And if it was enough money for them to kill Papa Gary and to kill him the way they did, you can believe that they are not going to just let it go. They might just be biding their time.”
“What am I going to do?” Mama Ann put her head down.
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“Have you considered selling the store?”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. That store was Gary’s dream.”
“Mama Ann that was his dream, not yours. You’re probably holding onto it because that’s a way for you to hold onto him but he’s gone now. At least if you sell it, you’ll get back some of the money you used.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Well look at it this way. If you sell it, that’ll be one less thing for you to deal with and one less thing to carry around on your back. And besides, it’s not like you’re there every day anyway. I hate to say it, but that store is nothing but dead weight for you right now.”
“I’m not ready.”
Looking in her face, Anita knew that there was nothing that she was saying that wasn’t true and that Mama Ann didn’t already know. She also recognized that she was serious; selling the store was not an option for her right now.
“Okay, let’s move on then. You didn’t tell the police why?”
“I knew that wasn’t Gary’s money. How was I supposed to explain that I didn’t know anything about what he was doing or where the money came from but willingly took as much of it as I did to pay off some bills?”
Anita got up and began to pace back and forth. This whole situation was so much worse than she had imagined. Even though they were just speculating, if any of it were true, then not only was Mama Ann in danger, but so was Kayla. She was terrified at the thought of what would happen if either of them ran across “whomever” once they decided to make themselves known.
If Mama Ann hadn’t touched that money then maybe she could have just given it back, but now that wasn’t an option. If they came forward now and she gave them what was left, she would still, more than likely, become directly responsible for the portion she took. There would be no reasoning with them. They would probably think Mama Ann knew about the money all along and sanctioned whatever Papa Gary was doing. Knowing what they were willing to do to him; God only knows what they would do to her.
MY FATHER'S KILLER: Kayla's Story Page 4
