Chapter 30
Lee Kilgore Law Office
Vera parked on the west side of the town square.
She had called Myra to get the details on the visit to Kilgore.
Bent’s assistant had already faxed the attorney a copy of the warrant for the Wilton property.
Not that the warrant specified the will, but it included the house and contents as well as the property.
Hopefully Kilgore would answer her questions about the current will as well as the previous one.
The man would have no idea if they had found the will and merely had questions about the asset distribution or beneficiaries.
This would hopefully work to her benefit.
Kilgore was Thomas Wilton’s personal attorney. Wilton also had two corporate attorneys; both had been most helpful in providing information about his business. Hopefully Kilgore would be as well about the man’s personal affairs.
A call from Eve waylaid Vera’s exit from her SUV. “Hey, you have something for me?” She could always hope.
“Give me a sec.” Eve sounded flustered or out of breath. “Okay. Sorry. I had to run back up the hill to the funeral home.”
“Where were you?” Vera reached for her bag and draped the strap over her shoulder.
“I was at the CPA’s office down the street.” She blew out a breath. “Down the hill. Mila Davis works there. She’s the woman Luna told us about. The same one I heard the Busybody Buddies talking about.”
Vera made a face. “The what?”
“The Busybody Buddies. That’s what I call the old ladies who get together at every viewing and gossip about everyone but themselves. I swear it’s basically the same women every time.”
Maybe Vera didn’t need any friends close enough to know her secrets. “Was this Mila Davis willing to talk about whatever rumors she was privy to?”
“She is the rumor.”
“Oh.” Vera remembered then that Luna had said as much. “So what did she say?”
“To give you a little background,” Eve went on, “Mila is in her late fifties, and she’s never been married. She was willing to talk to me because she owed me a favor.”
Vera couldn’t help being curious. Eve was a mortician, after all. “What kind of favor?”
“I’d just started at Barrett’s when her mother died, and she was so upset, she didn’t want to leave her alone that night after the visitation. She wanted to stay near her. She and her mom were really close.”
Vera’s eyes bulged. “You didn’t let her stay overnight, did you?”
“We stayed together in the visitation room. Every hour or so—whenever she asked—I rolled Mrs. Davis out of cold storage so her daughter could see her.”
“Wow. Okay. You’re a really good person, Eve, and you’re right—she owed you big-time.” Vera would have suggested counseling to the woman, but thanks to Eve they had leverage for information. God, that sounded so cold. But it was a murder investigation, after all.
“Trenton Fanning is her boss. Has been for years. But he was also her childhood sweetheart. They were together all the way to graduation. Then when it was time to go off to college, Mila had to stay behind because her mother had a stroke. She took care of her from that point forward while Trenton met someone else and got married and had a family.”
“How sad for Mila.” For Trenton too, considering he was married to Geneva.
“It gets better,” Eve assured her. “Two years ago Trenton was sure Geneva was having an affair. Mila let him cry on her shoulder, and the next thing she knew, they were having an affair. They stopped a while back, but they still talk secretly.”
So the older woman at the accounting firm, Mila Davis, did have an affair—like Luna said.
And the affair was with Trenton—not Leonard.
Damn. This might be a small town, but these folks got around.
“Did Mila have any idea who Geneva was cheating with?” The answer might not matter, but Vera was never one to let any possibility go without a look.
“Trenton was certain it was his cousin, Leonard Andrews.”
So Geneva had fooled around with her sister’s husband.
“That’s low.” Vera had an even worse opinion of the woman now, and that was saying something.
“I’ve heard others say Geneva was always jealous of her sister,” Eve went on. “Considering Geneva got the looks in the family, obviously the jealousy was about her sister’s husband.”
“Makes a twisted kind of sense,” Vera agreed.
“To make it worse,” Eve said, the volume of her voice in and out as if she had laid the phone down and was moving about, “two years ago would have been when Jackie had cancer that third time.”
“Damn. That is bottom-feeder level.” Geneva was a real lowlife. “Anything else?” Vera was dying to hear the attorney’s answers to her list of questions.
“Only that Mila would love to be your accountant if you haven’t chosen anyone since moving to Fayetteville.”
Oh, okay. Her taxes were about the furthest thing from her mind right now. “Thanks, Eve. I’ll keep her in mind. Talk later.”
Vera ended the call and climbed out of her SUV. The sooner she got this meeting done, the sooner she could move on to the next step for Luna.
Geneva Fanning was about to find out what happened when you messed with a Boyett sister.
The bell over the door tinkled as Vera entered the law office lobby. There was no one at the reception desk, but Kilgore himself promptly appeared from somewhere beyond the reception space.
“Hello, Mr. Kilgore. I’m Vera Boyett, a consultant with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. I’m here for Sheriff Benton.”
“Yes, Myra called and said you were coming. Come on back to my office, Ms. Boyett.”
Vera followed him inside. After she’d taken the seat he offered, she opened the notes app on her phone. “I’m not recording,” she assured him. “Just taking notes.”
He gave her a nod. “Frankly I’m surprised the warrant was so comprehensive. Typically the instructions are somewhat more limiting.”
“We have three dead, one in a coma, and no idea what the killer or killers were after. It’s a huge property with an incredible inventory of valuable goods that may have been the motive for the murders.
It’s difficult to specify, given the circumstances.
Fortunately we had a judge who understood the gravity of the situation. ”
“Fortunate indeed.” Kilgore braced his elbows on his desk and steepled his fingers. “So, how can I help your investigation more than I already have?”
He had been kind enough to provide a limited number of details about the will to Bent already, but Vera understood that he hadn’t been happy about it then and obviously wasn’t now.
“The real property distribution was surprising. As you know, motive is a tremendously important aspect of solving a homicide, and these details are just full of motive.”
Kilgore reached down for the file in front of him and opened it. Vera imagined it was a copy of the last will and testament of his client, Thomas Wilton.
“Then you’re aware that the entire real property—the land, the house, and all other structures on said property—will go to charity. This does not include any of the contents of said structures or the automobiles and such, only the real estate itself.”
“Would it be possible for you to provide a complete list of those charities along with the point of contact for each?” Seemed like a reasonable request to Vera.
“I can do that. However, I assure you that these charities are all legitimate, well-known organizations.”
Vera produced a smile. “I’m confident that’s the case, but the additional information would make our job so much easier.
” She took a breath and went for the next big question nagging at her.
“The will was changed after his first wife died and then again when he married his second wife. Was that only related to his change in marital status? Any other changes that might suggest issues with staff or business partners, relatives?”
His gaze narrowed. “What exactly are you looking for, Ms. Boyett?”
“Motive, Mr. Kilgore. Like I said, it’s an essential element for finding the person responsible for these heinous crimes.”
He studied her for a long moment—long enough that Vera worried he wasn’t going to give her what she’d asked for.
But then he spoke. “The first will I prepared, the one he made about five years ago, was significantly different, yes. The real property and the majority of the monetary assets were bequeathed to a single charity: Quantum Leap.”
“I’m afraid I’ve never heard of that one.” Her instincts went on point.
“The way Thomas explained it to me was that Quantum Leap is a research facility with a singular focus devoted to helping mankind. I was surprised he didn’t leave some aspect of his vast estate to research and development of national defense, since that was his specialty.
But no, he wanted to do more for the people rather than the government—he said he’d done enough for the government.
He insisted this was very important to his wife, Lena.
Quantum Leap was her pet project—his words, not mine. ”
“That is a really generous gift.” A damned huge motive too. “But that aspect of the will changed at some point after she died?” Vera couldn’t wait to hear the details.
“Yes. It was perhaps a month after her death that he came to me and asked to prepare a new will. He wanted Quantum Leap completely removed.”
Surprising, in Vera’s opinion. If the project had meant so much to his wife, why cut it out completely? Unless doing so was to disavow her completely because she’d cheated. Which meant the rumor could be true. “Did he say why? Did he no longer wish to honor his wife’s pet project?”
Kilgore studied Vera for a long moment. “I’m certainly not a mind reader, Ms. Boyett. But I will say that he was quite adamant. Angry even. He wanted it done ASAP.”
Now Vera’s instincts were on fire. If the man was angry . . . the cheating rumor was likely true. “Do you have the point of contact information for Quantum Leap?”
“I’m sure I can find it.” He turned to his computer and pecked at the keyboard.