Chapter 35
Tori sat at the desk a few minutes longer to give Valerie time to put distance between them.
What she’d like to do was get into Jenny’s computer and look at her Ancestry Line account, but Tori didn’t know the password to the desktop.
It would have to wait until she got back to Oak Grove to her own computer.
She locked the office and walked around the corner to Donna’s desk just as Stephanie Livingston approached from the other hallway with a folder in her hand.
“Tori,” Stephanie said. “Did you and Richard have a good meeting?”
“We did.” Tori handed the secretary the key.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Donna asked.
“Somewhat,” Tori said. “I found that there was very little of her personality in the office.”
“I know,” Donna said. “Whenever I tried to get her to add a few touches to the room, she always said she wasn’t into decorating.”
That was putting it mildly. “Was she into genealogy?”
“Isn’t everyone?” Stephanie asked. “Why do you ask?”
Tori shrugged. “I came across a note that gave me the impression.”
“Actually, she was,” Donna said. “She never knew her father, and sometime back she submitted her DNA to one of those ancestry sites. Thought she might find a relative, or even him possibly.”
“I didn’t know that.” Stephanie handed Donna the folder she still held. “Richard said you would know what to do with this.”
Donna flipped through it. “I’ll take care of it.”
“And I’ll get back to work.”
“Wait,” Tori said. “Valerie said you and Jenny had words the day she died. Is that true?”
Stephanie’s face flushed. “I don’t know where Valerie got that. We did discuss a problem with the deposits, but it was nothing.”
“Oh?” Tori said.
“I don’t think it’s anything I should discuss with you,” Stephanie said. “I told the sheriff about it . . . and I have to get ready for the meeting with your sister about her security measures.”
Tori hoped she hadn’t messed up her sister’s chances of selling them her software program.
Donna checked her watch as Stephanie turned and walked toward Richard’s office. “Do you still want to go to lunch?”
Tori was torn between getting into her computer to check out Jenny’s DNA profile and seeing what she could learn from Donna. She opted for lunch—Donna seemed inclined to talk to her now, and she might not be inclined later. “Lunch sounds good. Do you know the password to Jenny’s computer?”
“No, our IT guy reset it Monday. I can email him and request it after lunch.”
Now that Tori had the information for the ancestry site, there was no rush—doubtful there was any personal information on it anyway. “Thanks.”
The secretary grabbed her purse. “You said earlier you were going to walk, but you can ride with me and I could drop you off at your car after we eat.”
“Thank you. I left my car at the sheriff’s office, if it’s not out of your way.”
“You must like to walk,” Donna said.
“It’s good exercise.” She saw no need to tell her Ben had dropped her off.
Ten minutes later, they settled in a booth at the half-empty restaurant and gave the waitress their orders for the daily special. “And bring me a cup of your strongest coffee,” Donna added.
“Just iced tea for me,” Tori said.
When they were alone, Donna closed her eyes and took a deep breath and released it. “Some days just call for something a little stronger than tea, but it’s too early in the day for anything other than coffee.”
Tori watched as the other woman unwrapped her utensils and placed them side by side on the napkin. “I hope I’m not the cause of your distress.”
“Not really. Losing Jenny has been hard. She was my friend as well as a good bookkeeper. We’ll have to replace her, and that means I’ll be training someone new.” She shuddered. “Not my favorite thing to do.”
They both sat back as the waitress placed a cup of coffee on the table and then set a glass of tea in front of Tori. “Be right back with your orders.”
Donna added creamer to her coffee and lifted the cup to Tori’s glass. “Cheers—if it weren’t the middle of the day, I probably would’ve asked for something much stronger.”
She clinked her cup to Tori’s glass, took a long sip, and sighed as she set the cup down. “Just what I needed. Unlike most people, coffee calms me.”
“Me too,” Tori said.
Donna’s eyes widened. “I knew there was a reason I liked you—kindred spirits and all that.”
They both laughed. Donna sipped her coffee again and leaned forward. “Please keep what I said earlier about Walter to yourself—Richard would be very unhappy to know I was talking out of school.”
“He won’t hear it from me, but you didn’t say anything negative about him or Walter.”
“Maybe not, but Richard is a very private person,” Donna said and lifted the cup to her lips again.
Tori nodded her agreement. “Unfortunately, with the new developments in his brother’s case, people will be inquiring. That’s one reason I’d like to learn as much as I can about Walter. I think I can help solve the case.”
The other woman stilled, then set her cup down with a thump. Donna’s body language flipped like a gymnast as she crossed her arms and her eyes narrowed.
“You probably can,” she said coolly. “But I wouldn’t broadcast it. Not everyone wants that case reopened.”
“I know. I’ve already had threats on my podcast, and I figure they’re related to Huey Prescott’s case.” Among others.
“Did you ever stop to think it might’ve been better to let sleeping dogs lie? It’s not like Prescott was an innocent—he had a record.”
“But not for murder.” She’d struck a nerve, much like she had with Valerie. The question was, why? Tori studied the other woman. She’d interviewed enough people to know, like the song said, when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. “Tell me more about Jenny.”
Donna frowned. “Do you think the two cases are related?”
“No. Why would I?”
“You switched subjects very quickly.”
Tori shrugged. “You didn’t seem comfortable with the subject of Walter. Did anything seem to be bothering her lately?”
After weighing the question, Donna nodded.
“Jenny never knew her dad,” she said slowly.
“From what I can gather, they never married, then he got in trouble with the law right after she was born. Went to prison for a few years. She and her mom moved to a small town north of Memphis. From what Jenny said, her mother refused to talk about him, wouldn’t even tell her his name.
“She stopped asking about him because her mom cried every time she brought it up. Jenny thought she had plenty of time, but then her mother died the summer Jenny graduated from high school. She’d been on her own ever since.”
Tori had heard the part of the story about Jenny’s mother from Zack’s wife, Beth.
Jenny and Beth had met at the University of Memphis and became best friends.
About eight years ago, Beth had connected Jenny with the personnel manager at Livingston, and he’d hired her on the spot.
Then when Beth’s health failed her, Jenny was right there with Tori’s sister-in-law all the way to the end.
Tori tried to remember if Beth had ever mentioned Jenny’s mother by name. If she had, Tori didn’t remember. “Do you know what her mother’s name was?”
Donna scrunched her eyes together. “Hope . . . I think that’s what it was. Anyway, a while back Jenny decided to try and find her dad, and she sent in her DNA to one of those companies.”
That was the receipt Tori found, and she was anxious to log in to the account and check it out. “Had she found him before she died?”
“I don’t know. I asked her about it once, and she acted uncomfortable, so I didn’t ask again.” Donna paused for the waitress to refill her coffee before she continued. “Jenny’s case is the one you should be investigating, not Walter Livingston’s.”
Tori wiped the condensation from her glass with the napkin. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” She grinned. “Not sure I’ll answer, though.”
“Memphis PD has Walter’s case on the back burner because they lack the personnel to investigate a twenty-year-old cold case. Why is it no one wants me to investigate it?”
“Probably because it’ll stir everything up again.”
“Like . . .”
“That Memphis office, for one. There was a big row between Richard and Walter when he opened it. They probably weren’t on speaking terms when he died.”
“So there was bad blood between them?” Tori had been surprised when the police hadn’t looked closer at Richard in the original investigation.
“I didn’t say that.” Donna stared down at her coffee.
“There was always a healthy rivalry between the two brothers that people sometimes misunderstood.” She looked up.
“And that’s exactly why I don’t think anyone should be investigating it.
Ripping the murder open again is going to reopen all the sibling rivalry, and besides, after twentysomething years, I don’t think his murder can be solved. ”
“You’ve known them a long time?”
Donna looked up and pressed her lips together for a second. “I’ve known Walter and Richard since I was a teenager. They’re like family.” A blush filled her cheeks. “Okay, I’ll admit it—there’s something about the Livingston men. I even had a crush on Walter when I was a silly teenager.”
Donna seemed to be warming up again. “Did he return your interest?”
“No. He only had eyes for—” She clamped her mouth shut, pressing her lips together then wagged her finger. “You’re devious.”
“I’ve been called that before.” Tori raised her eyebrows. “You know I’ll keep digging until I discover who he was interested in, and you have the opportunity to make sure I get it right.”
She kept quiet while Donna picked up the creamer and stirred it in her coffee. “Okay, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
She almost said Scout’s honor. Scott would’ve laughed. “I’m not in the habit of revealing my sources.”
“Walter . . .” Donna took a breath. “He was engaged to Valerie, and—”
“Wait, are you talking about Eli’s mother . . . Richard’s ex-wife?”
Donna nodded.
“What happened?”
“Richard is what happened.” She shook her head. “Like I said, Walter and Richard were so competitive when they were younger, and this time Richard wanted what his brother had, namely Valerie. And he was more charming than Walter.”
Tori had seen that side of the man. “That doesn’t exactly surprise me.”
Donna grunted. “He would’ve been better off if he’d left her alone—the marriage lasted less than ten years. But it was long enough for her to get a slice of Livingston Oil Corporation.”
Tori mulled over what she’d learned. “Did Valerie and Walter get along after the broken engagement?”
“Surprisingly, yes . . . or maybe not so surprising. He probably saw Valerie for who she was and was thankful he’d dodged a bullet.” Donna clamped her hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Tori leaned closer to her. “For the record, I agree that Valerie can be hard to get along with. How did Walter handle her getting shares in the business?”
“It didn’t affect him—they came out of Richard’s half.”
“So, for a while Walter had the controlling shares in the company?”
She nodded. “They’d been equal partners, and after Richard and Valerie’s divorce, he had 50 percent at the time of his death with Richard and Valerie having 25 percent each. Of course, when Walter died, his shares went to Richard, and he got control of the company.”
Interesting. Walter’s death put Richard in the catbird seat as far as the company was concerned. “Is Valerie very hands-on at the company?”
“Oh yes.” Donna finished off her coffee. “She still manages the laundromats.”
But not the oil company or convenience stores. “Do Valerie and Richard get along now?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” She fell silent as the waitress put their food in front of them.
“Chopsticks?” the waitress asked.
“Not me,” Donna said.
“Please.” Tori separated the disposable chopsticks and lifted a piece of chicken and a few noodles from the plate and into her mouth. She looked up to find Donna staring at her.
“How did you learn how to do that?”
“Practice.” Tori grinned. “I was determined that two little sticks would not defeat me.”
Donna chuckled. “That’s kind of the way I am with Valerie. The only reason I never have words with her is because no matter what she says, I agree—drives her up the wall.” She stared at her empty cup. “I wish Jenny had taken that route with her.”
Tori leaned closer. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say that sometimes Jenny didn’t agree with Valerie’s bookkeeping methods, and Valerie didn’t like that—” Donna’s eyes widened, and then she closed her mouth. “There I go again—Valerie is my boss.”
“I won’t repeat it, but I imagine she can be hard to deal with.”
“You said it, not me.” Then she lowered her voice. “Sometimes you could hear her yelling at Jenny all the way to my desk.”