Elizabeth chuckled. "You should be a doctor. You use the 'we' well. Thank you." Her watery smile held tightly.
Elizabeth forced the pregnancy from her mind and braced herself, descending the basement steps of her family home. "Over there." Kicking off her shoe, she ran her foot over the molding, and the wall popped open. "I hope the combination hasn't changed." She turned the dial back and forth and pulled on the handle. "My father's secrets." She heaved a breath.
"Let me." Julian leveraged the heavy door to an open position, then removed two stacks of hundred dollar bills and handed them to Kieran. Next, Julian found a large plastic bin filled with memory cards.
"Secrets indeed," Kieran said.
Elizabeth sighed, seeing the boxes of jewelry that belonged to her mother and grandmother. "I’d like to take those."
Kieran rifled through a stack of papers. There were stock certificates worth millions, property deeds, three passports in aliases, bank account information, and birth certificates.
She took them from Kieran. "My father was busy." The birth certificates belonged to the three Spooner girls. "He called my baby a bastard."
A book on the top shelf held Kieran's interest. It was a ledger of every financial transaction Talbot participated in, last updated a month earlier. There were no names listed, only sets of numbers. The bottom line was in the millions.
"Our accountants need to go through this. Where were your prescription pads?" Kieran asked.
"The now empty bottom shelf. You know, I held out hope. Well, humans are the only foolish species that do the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome. We'd best be heading to the funeral home." Her posture stooped.
With Elizabeth's permission, Kieran advised Kip and Caleb to perform a thorough search of the home. "The police never looked past the evidence they needed to frame Martin."
Kieran took a call on their way out. "I have some news, but it’s not what we wanted. The DA's office wants to investigate the validity of the video. Martin will be held at least one more day.”
Fallen Oak Funeral Home was no different from any other mortuary other than its size. All three of its rooms were devoted to the former governor's public wake, and Chase operators stood throughout. The cloying smells of the flowers overwhelmed the senses.
Kieran escorted Elizabeth to the front of the chair-filled room holding Talbot Reed's state flag-draped closed casket, where Elizabeth stopped, head bowed. She squared her shoulders, turned and took the seat designated for her. Julian and Archie maintained a watchful stance from either side of the doorway. Kieran waved, and they opened the French doors. Sitting beside her, he placed his hand on hers. "Tell me when you need a break."
Joyce and Ruth entered first and hugged Elizabeth. Steven and his husband followed as well as Louella and Lois. Miles and Virginia and a group of nurses also came to support her, sitting in a horseshoe around her.
Steven rose and moved to the door where Henrietta Krump was signing the guest book. "How dare you show your face here?" Steven spun her around to face him. Archie tapped his com and took a menacing step toward them.
"Talbot and I were friends for years. I came for him," the woman hissed loud enough to be heard several feet away. Steven's normal sweet affect turned feral as he thrust a mass card into her hand. Kieran circled a finger in the air. Archie escorted her out.
As the hours went by, the mourners turned less familiar and more political. Silverton's mayor, Police Chief Sharpe, and the fire chief joined the mourners' line. Politicians from the state and congress, along with their entourages, expressed condolences. Talbot's aide Melinda Bradford was inconsolable, crying over the casket. "Oh, Elizabeth, I am so sorry. I will miss him so."
"Melinda, please. All you will miss is the paycheck and the bruises on your knees."
The girl feigned shock. "It’s your grief talking." She slinked away to find a seat with her colleagues.
Kieran moved in. "Doc, you got game." His phone chirped. "Can you handle this, Beth?"
Elizabeth turned her head to see Celine McAllister, Cecile Dufour, and Thibodaux Spooner walk into the room. Danielle Spooner and her fiancé Trip Mathias accompanied them with Alden McAllister. "What do they say? Showtime."
"Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. I will miss your daddy. He was sweet to me after Viola passed." Cecile approached her first. "Please accept my apologies. I was distraught the day Viola died."
"Thank you, Cecile. I'm so sorry about Viola and Hal. Apology accepted."
"Thank you. I know you never harmed Viola." Cecile wrapped her arms around her. "And who is this?" She eyed Kieran like a cat about to pounce.
"This is Kieran Chase, Martin's former employer. He's been very gracious with everything that happened." Elizabeth stressed the word “former.” "I'm sorry. If I knew what Martin was planning..."
"Poor child. Your daddy was right all those years ago. He was not the man for you," Thibodaux said.
"Oh, Tibby, I guess you’re right. I just want this all to end." The line between performance and real emotion blurred. She turned to the next man.
"Well, Dr. Reed, you don't need to worry. My men will keep that murderer in his place. We haven’t met, but I'm Alden McAllister, Celine's husband and a corrections sergeant at the jail."
Elizabeth's hands turned clammy at his touch. "Thank you. Thank you all for coming."
