These Boots Are Made For Walking (Dressed to Kill #2)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

“ R eady?”

Cherilyn and Shaw nodded. “Yep. Let’s do this,” Shaw said.

The bell on the door jingled as they stepped in, and a lady appeared from the room behind the counter. “Hi, y’all! Mrs.Harrison, right?”

Cherilyn smiled. “Yes.”

“What can I help y’all with?”

“I bought a storage unit’s contents the other day and I have some questions about it.”

“Okay. Let me get Chris out here. Hang on.” The woman disappeared and in a minute, she was back with the auctioneer. “Chris, Mrs.Harrison wants to talk to you about one of the units she bought.”

“Okay. How can I help you?”

“Chris, this is my husband, Conservation OfficerShaw Harrison, my friend, MaiseyFriedman, and her husband, Deputy SheriffAaron Friedman.”

“You were with Mrs.Harrison at the auction the other day,” Chris said and nodded toward Maisey.

“Yes, sir. I was.”

“How can I help you?”

“Sir, I need to know who rented that second unit before the sale. The one you threw in for good measure,” Aaron said without waiting for anyone else to say anything.

“I’m sorry, but that’s confidential information.”

Aaron pinned the man with a glare. “Mr.…”

“Hurst. Chris Hurst.”

“Mr.Hurst, we have reason to believe that some of the goods inside that unit are evidence in a murder investigation.”

The auctioneer seemed to try to brush it off. “A murder investigation? I highly doubt that.”

Aaron’s fingers gripped either side of his tool belt as he planted his feet shoulder width apart, and the stance was intimidating from a guy his size. “Sir, I know for a fact that two of your units were raided a few weeks ago on a drug sweep, so don’t try to tell me nothing nefarious happens around here.”

“Now see here―”

“No, sir. You see here. I can get a warrant with little to no effort, but I’d rather not have to. We can keep this simple and friendly, or it can get complicated. And complicated can lead to implicated, if you know what I mean.” Shaw nodded too, and the man seemed to wilt.

“I don’t want to be implicated in anything like that.”

“Then help us. All I need is the name and contact information for the person who rented that unit.”

Hurst snatched up a piece of paper, flipped through a screen on the computer, and wrote some stuff down. “Here. Have at it. I doubt it’ll help, but it’s something.”

“Thank you for cooperating. If we need anything else, I’ll be back,” Aaron said with a little salute.

“You’ll need a warrant.”

Shaw held the door for the women and Aaron, then quipped, “You know, saying stuff like that makes you sound guilty.” The door closed before Hurst had a chance to say anything else.

“Well?” Shaw asked when they got to the vehicles.

“Maisey and I will take it from here. Thanks, guys.”

Cherilyn hugged Maisey. “I’m sorry this is happening.”

“I think this is how it’s supposed to be.” Maisey patted her friend’s back before they broke the hug. “I’ll be fine. I’ve got Aaron in my corner.”

“And you’ve got us, and Ross and Carly too,” Shaw pointed out. “Just sing out if you need us.”

“Thanks. We will.” She watched as they climbed into Shaw’s truck and drove away. “Well, whadda we got?”

“Looks like a Mr.Lyle Fenton over on Wilmont Street,” Aaron said, staring at the paper.

“We going now?” Maisey asked.

He shrugged. “No time like the present.”

The house was a nondescript white clapboard thing with dark green shutters and no garage. The very first thing Maisey noticed was the grass. It obviously hadn’t been mowed in weeks. They climbed out of Aaron’s cruiser and made their way up the front sidewalk, weeds slapping at their pant legs. When Aaron rapped on the front door, no one came, but Maisey heard someone yell, “Yoohoo! Hello there!” They turned to find an elderly lady at the house next door, waving animatedly. “Hello! Can I help you?”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re looking for Mr.Fenton,” Aaron explained as he started across the lawn, and Maisey cringed. There’d be grass seeds all over his pant legs, and she’d have to deal with that when she did the laundry.

“I’m so sorry. He passed away about seven months ago, I guess it was. Can I help you with anything?”

“Can you tell us who’s living here now?”

“No one. He has a son and daughter, but they don’t live here. He had another daughter, but she died a while back.” That got Maisey’s full attention.

“Do you know how to reach them?” Aaron asked.

“No, I don’t.”

“You wouldn’t by any chance have a key to the house, would you?”

“Actually,” the lady answered, “I do. We had keys to each other’s houses for emergency purposes. Do you need a warrant to go in there?” she asked, but Maisey could tell it was an innocent question.

“No, ma’am. Just trying to find his next of kin.”

“Okay. Let me get it. Oh, by the way, my name is Shelly. ShellyMason.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Deputy SheriffAaron Friedman, and this is my wife, Maisey.”

The woman stopped. “You’re the psychic lady.”

Here we go again , Maisey’s brain groused. “That’s what they call me, but I’m not.”

“Is there something going on with Mr.Fenton? Was he murdered?”

“No, ma’am. I just think I bought something at an auction that belongs to his family, and I’d like to return it.”

“Oh. I see. Okay. Be right back.” The Mason lady disappeared into her house.

Maisey turned to Aaron. “He had a daughter who died.”

“Yeah. I caught that. Interesting.”

“So I wonder―”

“Here we are!” Mrs.Mason called out and interrupted Maisey. “This is the key to the back door. Just help yourselves and bring it back when you’re finished. Oh, and if you see a white casserole dish with blue flowers on it, that’s mine. I took food over to him one night and never got it back.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’ll keep an eye out for it,” Aaron assured her. They waited until Mrs.Mason disappeared again before Aaron opened the back door and they stepped inside.

It was like a time capsule. Nothing had been moved. Clean dishes sat on the drain rack and, sure enough, there was a white casserole dish with blue flowers on it lying there, its clear glass lid lying beside it. “Guess we’re looking for an address book or something,” Maisey whispered.

“You don’t have to whisper, babe. There’s no one here.”

“I know, but it’s weird.”

“It’s not that weird. We have to go into people’s homes a few times a week to find next of kin information.” As they stepped into the dining room area, Aaron made a beeline to a small spot on a cabinet that seemed to have an assortment of office-like things. “Here we go,” he said and picked up a small book. “Address book. Looks like it’s not new, but not terribly old.”

“There’s a filing cabinet over there. Maybe there are some papers in there that’ll help us find his kids,” Maisey said and pointed at it. She knew Aaron would look through it. Doing it herself didn’t feel correct. He was the law enforcement officer, not her, and it felt like prying on her part.

Maisey wandered through the dining room and to the hallway. There were two bedrooms down the hallway, and a bathroom. The water in the toilet bowl was clean but mostly evaporated, and there was a ring of mildew at its upper edge. She wondered how long it had been since it had been flushed. When she cranked on the handle of the sink faucet, nothing came out, so flushing the toilet would be useless. The bedrooms looked normal. One hadn’t been touched. The other had a bed that had been slept in but not made, and she assumed it had been Mr.Fenton’s bedroom.

Back in the living room, Maisey glanced around. There were magazines on the table, but they were old, so they’d come while he was still alive. Oddly, there was no mail on the floor under the mail slot. She wandered the room, looking at books, pieces of pottery and glassware, and furniture. But when she reached the bookcase in the far corner, something caught her eye. “Aaron?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Come in here, please.” Maisey picked up a picture in a frame and stared at it.

“Whatcha got, babe?”

“This picture.”

“Yeah?”

“See this woman right here?” Maisey said and pointed to a face.

“Yeah?”

She turned to Aaron, her eyes wide. “She was at the auction the other day.”

Aaron’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah? You’re sure about that?”

“Positive. She was the only person who bid against Cherilyn.”

“So she bid against Cherilyn on the unit that had the boots in it?”

“No. That’s the weird part. It wasn’t the unit that had the boots in it. The boots were in the other unit, the one Hurst threw in when it started to pour down rain and that woman gave up and left.”

“Could Fenton have rented both units?”

Maisey shrugged. “I’d say it was unlikely. The kinds of things in the first unit… This guy didn’t have that kind of money.”

“Okay. So could she have known he rented one but just didn’t know which one?”

“I guess that was possible. I mean, Hurst didn’t want to give us the information, but you got it out of him because you could threaten him. She had no leverage.”

“Right. But she was looking for something. At least that would be my guess.”

Maisey nodded. “Mine too. Can we take this picture?”

“As part of an investigation, yes. I’ll talk to Carly and open one. I didn’t find anything in that cabinet that gave me any information, but I bet Mrs.Mason next door might be able to tell us something. Come on. Let’s ask. And grab her casserole dish. That’ll make her more likely to talk.”

As they stepped out the back door, a voice called out, “Oh, good! You found it!”

“Yes, ma’am. Here ya go,” Maisey said and handed it back to the smiling woman. “Can’t afford to lose a good casserole dish.”

“Yeah, and it’s my favorite too. I’ve missed it.”

“So, Mrs. Mason―”

“Please, call me Shelly,” she told Aaron.

“Yes, Shelly, um, can you tell us who the people are in this picture?”

“Sure! That’s Lyle right there. The younger man is Kyle, his son. And the woman on the far left is his daughter, Evelyn.”

“And the other woman?” Aaron asked.

The woman’s voice dropped. “That’s his daughter who died. Carina.”

“And her last name was Fenton too?”

“I guess so. Pretty girl. Won some pageants when she was younger.”

“How long ago did she die?”

“Um, maybe three years ago?”

“Do the other two children live around here?”

“No. Evelyn lives in Lexington. Kyle lives… You know, I don’t know where he lives.”

“I noticed something,” Maisey interjected. “There was no mail on the floor under the mail slot. Do you pick up his mail?”

“No. I guess the kids had it forwarded.”

Maisey couldn’t think of anything else to ask. She could tell Aaron had picked up on that when he said, “I guess we should be going. If we think of anything else we need to ask―”

“You just come back anytime. Anytime at all. I’ll be right here,” Shelly assured them.

“Well, thank you for your time and the information. Have a nice afternoon,” Aaron said and touched the brim of his hat. Maisey nodded and smiled, and the two of them headed back toward Aaron’s cruiser.

As soon as the car’s doors were closed, Maisey turned to Aaron. “Don’t say it. I know exactly where we’re going.”

“Yep. And you get to feast your eyes on the gorgeous Morgan again,” Aaron said with a laugh.

Maisey grinned. “I can hardly wait!”

The door closed softly behind them, and Maisey listened to the humming of the old fluorescent light fixtures in the suspended ceiling. A voice called out from somewhere deep inside the building, “Be right there!”

“It’s just Aaron and Maisey,” Aaron called back.

“Well, come on back then!”

They stepped into the hallway and wandered until they could hear Morgan’s voice again. “In the back.”

Sure enough, on a slab in the big room was a body, and it wasn’t fresh by any means. The only dead bodies Maisey had ever seen were dressed up and in caskets, and this one was anything but. At first glance, it was repulsive, but after she got over the initial shock, it was kind of fascinating. “What are you guys up to today?” Morgan asked, and Maisey gave him the appreciative once over. His hair was pulled up in a bun, and his white lab coat was spotless.

“Up to no good,” Aaron said and gave him an elbow bump instead of reaching for his gloved hand.

Morgan laughed. “More unsolved mysteries?”

“You could say that.”

“Yeah. Me too. Trying to find out what really killed Mr.Carroll here. His doctor says it was an inoperable bowel obstruction, but his wife insists it was something aliens fed to him that grew inside him and completely ate up his internal organs.”

Aaron snickered. “Just make sure that whatever it is, it doesn’t get into you. Otherwise, the female population of this city will go into mourning.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. That one right there,” Morgan said and smiled as he pointed to Maisey, “only has eyes for you.”

“Good thing too. I’d hate to have to chain her to the porch post!” Aaron answered, laughing.

Morgan grinned at her. “Awww, I’d come getcha, Maisey.”

She snickered. “Thanks. I’d let you.”

“Oh-ho-ho! Your girl is frisky!” Morgan belted out, laughing.

“Yeah, well, we came here to find out about one who’s not quite so frisky anymore,” Aaron said, and Maisey almost laughed at the little hint of pink across his cheeks. Tease me again and see what happens , she wanted to say, but she didn’t.

“Another deceased one? Who ya got this time?”

“Young woman named CarinaFenton?” Aaron reached into his jacket and pulled out the picture. “Look familiar?”

Morgan stripped off his gloves, then took the photo and stared at it. “Uh, yeah. Let me look up her file. Hang on.” He disappeared through a doorway in the back of the room and left Maisey and Aaron standing there.

The big “Y” incision had been made in the corpse, and Maisey sidled toward it to peek inside. “I’ve never seen inside a real person before.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “I have, unfortunately.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Not only unfortunately but also accidentally, as in I didn’t want to see inside them but I had an accident scene or crime scene to process.”

“You don’t have people to do that?”

“Nope. We have to do that shit ourselves. We can get help if it’s something so advanced that we don’t know what to do, but otherwise, yeah, we have to do it. The department doesn’t have the manpower or the money to hire crime scene people.”

“Hey, Aaron?” Morgan’s voice called out.

“Yeah?”

“You sure her name was CarinaFenton?”

Aaron glanced at Maisey and then back toward the doorway. “Uh, I assumed so. Her dad was LyleFenton.”

“I’m not finding the file.” It was quiet for a few seconds before he said, “You guys can come on back if you want to help me look.”

“Sure.” Aaron swept his arm toward the doorway and followed Maisey in.

The office was neat and orderly. Some specimen jars sat on the shelf, and Maisey decided she wanted to look at them later. Everything else was spotless. On the desk was a picture of Morgan and a little boy. “Cute little guy,” Maisey said aloud, even though she hadn’t meant to.

“Thanks. My nephew. Sister’s kid.” Morgan stopped riffling through the file and pointed to two more drawers. “If you guys can take a drawer apiece, that’ll help.”

Aaron nodded. “Sure.” He took the one closest to Morgan, and Maisey took the other one. She had to wonder if that was by design, keeping her farther away from Morgan. Surely Aaron didn’t feel threatened by the guy. He was gorgeous, but so was her husband, and she wasn’t interested in ever being with anyone other than Aaron. Maisey had never met anyone else who measured up to him in her mind.

They stood there, quietly going through the drawers, until Maisey saw something that made her stop. “Wait. Here’s a CarinaWilliamson. But that’s not―”

“Yeah, that’s her,” Morgan said and reached for the file.

“Her name wasn’t Fenton?” Aaron asked.

“No. Can’t remember…” Morgan flipped through the file. “This has been a while back. About three years, I think. Let me see… Yeah, shows her dad as LyleFenton, so I’m not sure… Hmmm. I don’t know why her name isn’t Fenton. Doesn’t say anything about a husband.”

“Maybe ex-husband?” Maisey offered.

“I dunno. I guess you could check some records and see if you could find out about that. But I remember her dad coming down to identify her.”

“Did her brother or sister come with him?” Aaron asked.

Morgan shook his head as he continued to peruse the file. “No. He was alone.”

“And she died of strangulation,” Maisey said quietly.

Morgan shook his head again. “No. She was strangled initially until she was unconscious, and then she was hit in the head. It was the blunt force trauma that killed her.”

“Oh, wow.” If that was the case, Maisey was glad she was unconscious before she took that blow. At least she didn’t suffer any more than the original choking. “What was she hit with?”

“A brick. They found it nearby with her blood all over it, some scalp tissue, and some hair too. No fingerprints though.”

“Wait! I remember this one!” Aaron barked. “Yeah, she was found in the alley behind her dad’s house! I’d totally forgotten about this.”

“Yeah. It was well after dark and from what they could tell, she’d taken some garbage out, and whoever killed her ambushed her in the alley. Her dad was watching TV, and he realized a while later that she had never come back inside. When he checked, he found her car still there, so he was scared and called the sheriff’s office. And that’s when they found her.”

“I remember the department’s report. She was barely cold when they arrived. Said she’d only been dead for maybe thirty minutes. No one heard or saw anything. Most of the neighbors around there are older people, and a lot of them were already in bed or at least doing what Mr.Fenton was doing―watching TV. She was far enough from the house that no one could’ve heard her unless she screamed, and it was unlikely that she could’ve done that with someone’s hands around her neck.”

“So it wasn’t a rope or something? It was hands?” Maisey asked.

“Yeah. And from what we could tell, male hands.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Because of the sizes of the finger marks. Too big for a woman’s hands. And besides, women have trouble choking someone with their hands. It takes an enormous amount of strength, and most woman don’t have it.”

“But some do?” Maisey asked.

“Sure, I guess, but I haven’t found any,” Morgan answered decisively.

Maisey had a question that needed an answer. “Do you remember what she was wearing?”

“Yes, because it was so unusual. She was wearing a two-piece suit, like a woman’s business suit, but it was bright pink. White blouse, pearl jewelry, and a pair of―”

“Bright pink western boots,” Maisey said to finish his sentence.

“How’d you know about… Oh, yeah. You must have the boots.” Morgan’s eyes looked sad, and she knew what he was thinking.

Maisey nodded. “Accidentally got hold of them. They were in a storage building her dad had rented, and my friend Cherilyn bought the contents at an auction. I liked them, so she told me I could have them, but when I put them on at home… Well, you can kinda guess what happened.”

“I can, based on what I’ve heard. Could you tell who killed her?”

“All I know was that the killer was a man. That’s it.”

“And that fits with what I found during the autopsy. The blow that killed her was so hard that it probably didn’t come from a woman either,” Morgan said in agreement. “So you’re looking for a man.”

“Looks that way,” Aaron said. “Maisey said whoever choked her was strong enough that they lifted her off her feet and slammed her against the wall. It was actually a garage door, one of those old wooden tip-up doors. We found strands of her hair and fibers from her clothes stuck in the peeling wood.”

“Sounds right. I wish I could be of more help, but that’s all I know. I’m sure your file at the department will have a lot more useful information in it,” Morgan said. “Would you like a copy of all of my information here?”

Aaron nodded. “Sure. That might come in handy. Thanks.”

Maisey watched as Morgan pulled all of the information from the file, ran it through the copier, and handed the short stack of papers to Aaron. “It’s not much, but it’s what I’ve got.”

“Hey, we appreciate it.” Aaron shook Morgan’s hand, and Maisey shot him a smile.

“You’re very welcome. You know I’m always interested in helping. And Maisey, I’m sorry this keeps happening to you.”

“Thanks.” Maisey’s mind was running a mile a minute with so much to take in, and in such a short time. They’d no sooner stepped outside than she turned to Aaron. “Can we go pick up the file from the sheriff’s department right now?”

“Sure. No reason why not. You can go in and tell Carly what’s going on while I pull the file.”

“Thanks, babe. I appreciate it.”

“Anything for you, beautiful,” Aaron said and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

The ride to the department was short, and Maisey wished it was longer. Every minute she could spend with Aaron was a dream come true. When she reached for his hand, he took hers and squeezed it tightly. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” Aaron answered and lifted their joined hands to kiss the back of hers.

Tears were welling in her eyes and she couldn’t stop them. “I’m sorry.”

“Babe, you didn’t do anything to invite this. It’s not your fault.” Aaron whipped the car into a parking lot, then unbuckled his seat belt, slid toward her, and wrapped his arms around her.

Maisey dissolved against his chest. Why did it keep happening to her? Her parents always gave her such shit about it, but if they knew what this “gift” cost her personally, they’d stop. “I’m just sorry you have to deal with it.”

“If I can do this for you, I’m not sorry about it. I’ll do anything for you, Maisey. You know that.” The kiss he feathered onto her forehead made her smile. “Now, you quit crying. You’re quite the crime-solver, girl! I’m really proud of you.”

“Proud?” Maisey pulled back and looked up into his face. “Why would you be proud?”

“Because I spent a lot of time at the academy, first for the FBI and then for the sheriff’s department, learning advanced criminal investigative techniques, and all you have to do is wake up and put on a pair of boots. Honestly, I’m a little jealous!” he said and snickered. “Now, let’s go get a milkshake and take a few minutes before we go to the office, okay?”

“Sure. Sounds good.” Maisey waited while he fastened his seat belt and pulled the vehicle out onto the street. A milkshake wouldn’t make up for the toll her gift took on her, on either of them, but it was a start.

“So you’ve got a murdered woman, a father who’s passed, a sister who showed up at the storage unit auction, a brother we know nothing about, and a pair of boots. Morgan told you how she died?”

Maisey nodded at Carly. “Yeah, exactly as I saw it.”

“Then sure. Take the file. Go through it. Let me know if you need any resources. We’ve already cleared one murder with your help. Let’s get another murderous asshole off the streets.” Aaron had already left the room and Maisey knew what he was doing. He was pulling the file.

“Thanks. And I appreciate you believing me when I say I saw it,” Maisey said, careful to show appreciation to her friend who was also her husband’s boss.

“Honey, I was there when you put on that jacket. I saw your reaction. That was no put-on, and you got the killer, so of course I believe you. Do I worry about you? Sure. Do we need your help? We can take all the help we can get.”

After they were in the car, Maisey opened the file. It was all the standard stuff. “Hey, there’s no copy of her birth certificate or a marriage certificate. Maybe we should try to get those.”

“Probably on that genealogy website.”

Maisey didn’t look up, just answered him. “Probably.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired of this. Wish I didn’t have to put up with it.”

“I wish you didn’t have to put up with it, but you didn’t ask for it. And I’m sorry you have to deal with it, babe.”

“Thanks.” She thought of something and pulled out her phone.

“Hey!” her friend answered.

“Hi. I was wondering… Have you been through all the stuff in the storage units yet?”

“Not yet. Some, but not most.”

“Have you by any chance run across any boxes of documents or things like that in the storage unit that belonged to Mr.Fenton?”

“No, but if I do, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks, Cherilyn.”

“You’re welcome, hon. Talk to you soon.”

“Yep. Bye.” Maisey hit END and sighed. “Maybe she’ll find something.”

As soon as they got home, they started poring over the files. “You gonna log into that site?” Aaron asked Maisey.

“Yeah. I’ll do it right now.” Maisey’s mom had always been fascinated with genealogy, so she’d bought her mother a subscription to the website. Maisey still had the login information and could access it easily.

Laptop on her lap, Maisey logged into the Ancestor Tree account and typed in “CarinaFenton.” Less than five popped up. But when she changed it to “CarinaWilliamson,” quite a few popped up. One, however, stood out, so she clicked on it.

There was a list of documents available, so she poked through them. Not a single one of them was a marriage certificate. Then she went back to look at the birth certificates. There were at least eight or nine, but the third one caught her eye. “Hey, babe, what’s Carina’s birthdate?”

She could hear Aaron shuffling through the files. “Wait… Oh, here it is!” He called it back, and Maisey looked at the document. Sure enough, the birthdate matched.

But when she opened it up, she was surprised. “Hey, this is weird. Her name was Williamson at birth, but her father’s name was Fenton. He’s listed here. Why didn’t she have his name?”

“Where was she born?”

Maisey looked over the document. “Says Boise, Idaho.”

“That’s weird.” In a few seconds, Aaron was peering over her shoulder at the computer screen. “So Williamson isn’t a married name. It’s her birth name.”

“Looks like it. Don’t the other two have Fenton as their last names? What were their first names?”

“Uhhh…” Aaron looked at the picture again. “Kyle and…”

Maisey sat for a few seconds, then said, “Evelyn.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s see if they’re in here somewhere.” Maisey tapped around on the keyboard, looking for their names. Sure enough, in a minute, a list of KyleFentons appeared, so she went down through them. The fourth one’s father was Lyle. “Okay. This is the right Kyle. Let’s see if I can find Evelyn.” She poked around, but she found nothing. “Let me see if it shows up as EvelynWilliamson.” There was no one by that name showing. “I don’t know what her married name might be.”

“Got access to Lyle’s obituary?” Aaron asked.

“Of course! It would show up there! Hang on.” Maisey poked around a little more and the obituary snapped into view. “Let’s see…”

Mr.Fenton is survived by his son, KyleFenton, of Ashland; two daughters, EvelynColeman of Lexington, and CarinaWilliamson of Corbin; one grandchild, RachelColeman of Lexington; one sister, Enid Fenton Overby of Corbin; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Bethany Eddings Fenton.

“Wait!” Maisey paged back to Carina’s birth certificate. “Look at the mother’s name.”

Ginger Williamson

“Now, let’s find Evelyn.” When she looked up EvelynFenton again, she saw one she hadn’t noticed before. “Oh. This is it. I missed it before. And her mother … BethanyFenton. So Kyle and Evelyn are half brother and sister to Carina.”

“Interesting. Wonder if they know that?”

“I have to believe they do. I can’t get school records or medical records, so I don’t―”

“No, but I can get driver’s license info. Hang on.” Aaron spun the laptop toward himself and started typing. In under a minute, he said, “Uh-huh. Carina’s first driver’s license was issued in Idaho. That means she lived with her mother until sometime later.”

“Did Mr.Fenton not know he had a daughter?” Maisey mused.

“I guess it’s possible.”

“Wonder when he―” Her phone rang. “Cherilyn,” she said as she tapped the screen. “Hey, honey!”

“Hi. Listen, I started looking around a little and I found a bunch of boxes. Most of them were paperwork that belonged to Lyle, but I found three that are really interesting.”

“Yeah?”

“They’re full of stuff that belonged to his daughter, Carina.”

Maisey’s heartbeat doubled. “Could I look through them?”

Her friend laughed. “Shaw’s on his way to start his shift, so he’s already got them and he’s swinging by your house.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you find anything.”

“Will do. Bye.” Maisey hit END and grinned at Aaron. “Cherilyn found a bunch of boxes. Shaw is bringing them over.”

“Good! Maybe we’ll find something.”

Three hours later, they were knee-deep in musty papers. “Ugh. This is awful,” Maisey groaned.

“Yeah, but keep looking. Maybe we’ll find something.” The words had no more than escaped his lips when he lifted a shoebox out of the bigger box. “This is odd.” Aaron pulled the tape loose that held the top on, then opened it and looked inside. “Whoa. This may shed some light on things.”

He handed Maisey a bundle of envelopes and he took another. They were letters, some addressed to GingerWilliamson, but most addressed to Lyle with Ginger’s return address. Maisey chose one of the letters from Ginger and opened it.

Dearest love,

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I’d really like to know when you plan to leave Bethany. Our daughter isn’t getting any younger, and she barely knows you. I know you feel a huge responsibility to Kyle and Evelyn, but staying with their mother for their sake isn’t the thing to do.

“Holy shit,” Maisey whispered. “He and Ginger were having an ongoing affair.”

“Yeah, listen to this. ‘Dearest Ginger, I can’t wait to see you and our daughter. I’ll be heading that way in a couple of weeks for another business trip, and this time it’ll be for five days. I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of playing with Carina and holding you in my arms. It’s been too long.’ Old Lyle was burning the candle at both ends,” Aaron said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, seems pretty obvious what was going on there. How do we find out when Carina finally came here?”

“Well, from the obituary, we know that Bethany was already dead for part of the time Carina was here. When did Bethany die?”

Maisey checked the records. “The year Carina turned nineteen.”

“Whaddya wanna bet she came here after his wife died? Is there a death certificate for Ginger somewhere?”

“I dunno. Let me look.” It only took a couple of tries and, sure enough, the year that Carina turned twenty, her mother died. After pointing out the dates to Aaron, Maisey pondered it aloud. “So her dad’s wife died when she was nineteen, and her mother when she was twenty. I’m betting she showed up here not long after that.”

“I bet you’re right. She would’ve gotten a new driver’s license when she moved here. Let me see if we can find out when that was and we’ll get a clearer picture.”

As Aaron called the licensing division, Maisey kept going through boxes. One of them had files in it, and the writing on the tabs was definitely a feminine hand. There were school records and a résumé in one, and tax information in another. Several more had assorted and various things in them, and then she found one labeled “Unclaimed Property.” That seemed unusual, so she opened it and started thumbing through it. Two papers in, she yelled out, “Aaron! I found something!”

His large presence loomed over her. “Whatcha got?”

Maisey grinned. “Look at this.” She handed it to him and watched his face as he read it.

Dear Miss Williamson,

Thank you for contacting the unclaimed property website. As we discussed in our earlier correspondence, the property we’ve found for your father has a total value of $2,355,419.40. We’ve forwarded the appropriate forms to your email so that you can fill them out and have them notarized. Once we receive them, we can make disbursement of the funds.

These funds were the result of the sale of the Fenton Ironworks Company, dissolved in 1893. These funds were left untouched, and the balance represents both the proceeds of the sale and the interest it has drawn in the interim. We’re happy that you found your father’s unclaimed property, and hope to see a resolution of this in the near future.

Sincerely,

Ray Morris

Kentucky Department of Treasury

Unclaimed Property Division

“Holy shit. Her dad was due over two million dollars,” Aaron whispered.

“And you know what they say. Murders are always for either love or money,” Maisey said as she considered all the implications. “Wonder how her siblings felt about that?”

“Well,” Aaron said, folding his arms across his chest, “there’s only one way to find out. We’ll work on that tomorrow.”