Chapter 3 #2
She shook her head. “I don’t see how he could have done it himself, but I think he caused it.
Romancing her…making promises. I tried to tell her it was all just to get a hold of her property, but she wouldn’t listen.
I’m sure she was missing Jasper. No way Zion could have weaseled his way in otherwise.
But why she didn’t see it… He was ten years younger than her for goodness’ sake, and on top of everything else, the man—if you can call him that—is married. ”
“Wow!” Gertie said. “I did not know that. I mean, I’ll admit that I picked up on the vibes between the two of them. I’m a woman, after all. But married… That’s one I didn’t see coming.”
Mildred put her hands in the air. “He gave her all the usual lines— ‘It’s a marriage of convenience, I’m going to divorce her, have to work out the business end of things so I don’t lose everything I’ve built.’ All a bunch of bunk if you ask me.”
“How long had she been seeing him?” Ida Belle asked.
“I’m not sure when the actual relationship began, but she said they met at some charity thing at the church a month or so after Jasper died.
I was still in Colorado, so I couldn’t tell you when things actually took hold.
Truth is, she never came out and admitted to me that she was seeing him in a romantic way.
Just kept insisting it was a business thing. But I knew better.”
Gertie frowned. “Zion didn’t seem like the sort to be at a church charity event.”
“Probably shopping for widows with some inheritance,” Mildred said. “I know it sounds cynical but I can’t seem to find anyone in Mudbug who’d seen the man before then, and by all accounts he zeroed right in on Eleanor from the get-go.”
“I don’t think it’s cynical,” Ida Belle said. “I think it’s an unfortunate truth of our world today.”
“So you think Eleanor was twisted up over Zion and that’s why she did it?” I asked. “That sucks.”
Mildred nodded. “They had a fight yesterday after class. I saw them in the parking lot out the lobby window. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the body language told me everything I needed to know.
Eleanor was upset when he drove off, and her face was flushed when she came inside to grab her keys.
She tried to play it off as the heat when I asked, but she hadn’t looked like that a few minutes before and y’all had just finished that outdoor yoga class. ”
“I wonder what they fought about,” Ida Belle said.
Anger flashed across Mildred’s face. “My guess is since he had Eleanor locked in with a contract, it wasn’t necessary to keep up the pretense of any relationship any longer.
But maybe I’m off. It might have been too soon to cut ties completely.
Maybe she was just pressing him on leaving his wife and didn’t like the answer. ”
She sighed and slumped back in her chair. “Regardless, I still say the reason she did it lies squarely on that man.”
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “He hardly sounds worth it. Not that anyone is.”
Ida Belle nodded. “What will happen to the cabins now? Are you going to continue the retreat?”
“Good Lord no! I don’t have the ability, or quite frankly the interest, to keep such a place going.
I can’t teach classes. I can’t even lead nature walks.
The only thing I’m suited for is office work.
I sure was grateful I’d majored in accounting when my back issues started.
As for what happens to the property, I’m not sure.
It’s all in a trust, but I know she signed a contract with Zion.
Until I talk to the lawyer, I don’t know how any of that works now. ”
“But if the cabins are in a trust, then surely you could have prevented Eleanor from doing a business deal with Zion,” Gertie said.
Mildred shook her head. “Eleanor was the executor. Father set it up that way. Even Mother couldn’t touch his money or property as it was all inherited from my grandfather.
Father always said that if he couldn’t outlive my mother, he’d at least make her beholden to him for the rest of her life.
And he did. As long as she remained in this house and never so much as held hands with another man, she could draw enough off the trust to live on. But just barely.”
“Good Lord,” Ida Belle said. “I knew he wasn’t a good man, but I didn’t know he was that spiteful.”
Mildred nodded. “I caught a lot of flak from people here when I went off to school. And even more when I didn’t come back after I graduated.
But the truth was, I couldn’t watch it any longer.
Him being a tyrant and her taking it like she had no choice.
He didn’t scrimp on his treatment toward me either. It wasn’t no life for a young girl.”
“How did Eleanor manage?” Gertie asked.
“He always favored Eleanor, so she didn’t have it as bad as Mother and me.
She took up with Jasper right after high school and married him quickly, which I guess was her way out without leaving, so to speak.
I tried to convince her to go with me, but she was never the adventuresome type.
Getting married got her out of the house, and I guess it was easier to ignore what was happening if she didn’t see it.
I can’t really say anything, or I’d be a hypocrite since I went half a country away to go blind to it.
The guilt was always a problem, though, and I had a good wave of it every time I talked to Mama.
Not that she ever said anything, mind you. But I knew.”
“Does it bother you being back here—in your childhood home?” I asked.
Mildred frowned, considering. “If I’m being honest, it did at first. It bothered me a lot, but Eleanor said this house was built sturdier than the one she and Jasper had and she was tired of living miles away from town.
It’s definitely better for me physically than their place would have been.
It was a two-story with all the bedrooms upstairs, and a dirt road, so no sidewalks.
My doctor wants me walking a little every day, but I need a flat surface and no fear of being accosted by wildlife.
Lord knows, I couldn’t outrun a tortoise. ”
“Is there anything that can be done for your back?” I asked.
“I’ve spoken with a neurosurgeon, and he’d like to try fusing it, but it’s a fifty-fifty chance of improvement or making it worse. Doesn’t seem to be a neutral area in their calculation.”
“That’s a big dice roll,” I said.
She nodded. “Which is exactly why I’m still holding the dice.
Of course, there was no way I was going to take the chance when I was in Colorado.
I’ll need 24/7 help for months. Eleanor was pushing me to think about it now that I was here and she could help, but I guess I hadn’t quite worked up my nerve enough yet.
Now everything’s on permanent hold again. ”
“Well, if you decide to move forward, you know you can count on Ida Belle and me to get you covered,” Gertie said. “And we’ve got all the Sinful Ladies who’d be more than willing to pitch in.”
Mildred sniffed and grabbed a napkin to dab her eyes. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. I had a decent life out in Colorado but I missed this—the sense of community. I never found it out there. I met some nice people, but it wasn’t the same.”
“Small towns have their issues,” Ida Belle said, “but all told, they’re a good place to be.”
The doorbell rang and Ida Belle rose. “I’ll get it,” she said. “Do you want more visitors?”
“We should be leaving anyway,” I said as I rose. “I’m sure you’ll have a day full of this, and we don’t want to take up more of your time.”
“Well, I appreciate your company and the enchiladas. And please give Ronald my thanks for that scotch. I’ll call him myself when I’m feeling up to it.”
We headed to the front door, and when Ida Belle opened it, Dorothy stood there, glaring at us.
“I should have known you troublemakers would be here before sunrise,” she said.
“It’s 10:00 a.m.,” Gertie said. “We can’t help it if good manners take priority over sleeping in.”
“I was helping with a charity event until that fool Nora darn near set the church on fire!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t ask her to help,” I suggested.
“You know good and well we didn’t. That woman is a black mark on our decent town, just like the three of you.”
“I see all that Zen stuff really took hold,” I said as I walked past her. “Namaste.”
I heard her grumble as she pushed into the house, but I couldn’t make out what she said. It was probably just as well.
“Well, that was interesting,” Gertie said when we’d climbed into the SUV. “I told you there was something going on with Eleanor and Zion.”
“Yes, but it sounds like maybe Zion was putting on the brakes,” Ida Belle said.
“A little late for brakes given that he’s married,” I said.
“No doubt,” Gertie said. “Do you think a tough old bird like Eleanor would take herself out over that fake?”
“Based on what we know of the woman, no,” Ida Belle said.
“But maybe he was the final straw. Eleanor had lost her mother and her husband in a short amount of time. I know Mildred is here now, but they haven’t been close since high school.
If Eleanor put all her emotional energy and a good chunk of her inheritance into a man who made promises he had no intention of keeping, maybe it was enough to drive her over the edge.
You never really know how strong someone is until they’re tested. And that was a lot of testing.”
“That’s true enough,” Gertie said. “But what about my feeling that everything was off?”
“You were right about that,” I said. “Eleanor was clearly caught up with a bad guy, and maybe that’s the energy you were tapping into.”
“Not to mention Mildred and Kim’s unease over it as I’m sure they all knew exactly what was going on,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie sighed. “I guess that’s true enough. But I’m still not satisfied that’s all there was to it. Are we going to talk to Kim now? I figured we’d be able to hit her up at Eleanor’s, but since she’s already gone…”
I nodded. “I think we should feel her out over this Zion situation. Being Eleanor’s assistant, surely she would have been onto it.”
“It will be easier to get her to spill the beans if she’s overwrought,” Ida Belle said.
“How well do you guys know her?” I asked.
“Never met her,” Ida Belle said.
“I met her at the retreat but didn’t spend a lot of time with her,” Gertie said. “She’s not an instructor. She showed us to our cabins, gave us schedules, served meals and snacks…that sort of thing. And I will say, she wasn’t the most competent at any of it.”
“Probably not the highest paying of jobs,” Ida Belle said. “Might be hard to get good help.”
“So how do we frame this drop-in?” I asked. “Are we checking on her since Mildred sent her home?”
“I have another casserole,” Gertie said.
I perked up. I’d assumed that the box was because the enchiladas had some weight to them.
“You do?” I asked.
Gertie shook her head. “What do you think I am—an amateur? I brought a backup. As for our reasoning, the woman saw a dead body and passed out on me. I have a duty to check on her.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Last name please?”
“Barnes,” Gertie said.