Lancaster shook her head. “Her parents died when she was a little kid. She was raised in foster homes. If she had anybody other than Seth, I never heard about it.”
“Thank you.” Bent passed a business card across his desk. “Please call if you think of anything else that might be helpful. I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m sure you understand your sister’s body won’t bereleased for a while yet. Leave your contact information with my assistant Myra, and we’ll let you know as soon as we can about that and about the case.”
Lancaster shook her head. “I can’t believe she’s dead. This is wrong, Sheriff. Really wrong. Whatever happened in that cabin, my sister was an innocent victim. I hope you find who did this. None of them deserved to be murdered. Seth and Larry were good people too.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll do all we can.”
Bent walked the woman out and introduced her to Myra. When he came back into his office, Vera was ready to go.
“We need to talk to Erwin. I have a lot more questions about what we just learned and the info Kilgore gave me.” At Bent’s questioning look, Vera groaned. “After what happened at the Regency, I forgot to give you the details from my meeting with Kilgore.” She would love to blame her inability to keep up on the concussion, but at this point she wasn’t so sure. The truth was she was a little overwhelmed.
Bent pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay.”
Vera relaxed against his chest. God, she was tired. After a bit he drew back. “Tell me what you learned from Kilgore.”
Vera squared her shoulders and exited the little pity-party session. “The Wilton property—every single acre, the house, and every other structure—was all bequeathed to a charity research organization called Quantum Leap. Until,” she emphasized, “a month after his first wife died. Kilgore said Wilton was not happy—angry, even—when he came in to sign the new will, taking Quantum Leap out.”
“What the hell is Quantum Leap?”
“I’m hoping Erwin can help us with that. Whatever it was, it was his wife’s project. I feel like if he loved his wife and she loved the project, why take everything away?”
“Kilgore didn’t know more?” Bent grabbed his key fob.
“If he did, he wasn’t saying.” Vera followed him from his office and waited while he gave Myra an update on the rest of his afternoon. Once they were headed out of the building, Vera went on. “But the real kickerwas the new will in progress—the one that didn’t get signed because Wilton was murdered.”
Bent paused on the sidewalk and waited for her to reveal this game changer.
“The new will—this is Kilgore’s exact words—was ‘not so generous toanyone.’ And that,” Vera went on, “is big-time motive for all our suspects.”
Bent nodded. “You did good, kid. And you’re right, that gives our top four huge motive for wanting Wilton dead.”
“And if it was Erwin who showed up at Parson’s motel,” Vera added, “she’s working hard to shift guilt.”
“If we’re lucky, we’re about to find out. You riding with me or meeting me there?”
“I’ll take my SUV. I may go home after we talk to Erwin.”
Bent opened the driver’s side door of her vehicle. “You should be resting more. That kind of concussion takes time to recover from. Even if you’re feeling better, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself.”
“You’re right.” No point in arguing with him. He was absolutely right. “See you at Erwin’s apartment.”
She didn’t want to think that her inability to bounce back was about age. She wasn’t that old.
But she felt as old as hell today.
34
Andrews Farm
Boonshill Road, 4:20 p.m.
Luna stared at her cell phone long after the call with Jerome had ended. He planned to start home by five. He had sounded so tired. So miserable.
No matter what Vee said, this was partly Luna’s fault. She had known that Jackie hated her. She should have helped her after what happened on the stairs, no matter the horrible woman’s intent. What good was going to church every Sunday if she wasn’t going to be a good person?
Only a bad person walked away from someone calling out for help.
Luna rubbed her belly and cried. She wanted to be a good mother. A good wife. A good person. But what if that hardware receipt wasn’t wrong and she was somehow confused?
