I glanced at Kevin. “There’s something you don’t know.” I told Gramps about Silas Butler.
“Silas.” Gramps sat down, the color draining from his face, and gazed across the room. “So that’s why you were asking so many questions earlier. Why didn’t you tell me then?”
I waited for Kevin and Mary Lou to sit, then sat down myself before I answered. “I was afraid you’d tell the chief and Silas would be gone when we got there.” I passed Kevin the stew. “Did you know he was still alive?”
He looked down at his plate, and I knew right away what the answer was. “We weren’t supposed to talk about it. I still don’t know if I should say anything. It could mean Silas’s life.”
“He’s dying anyway, if that makes you feel any better,” I explained, regretting my words after I’d said them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. Chief Michaels has been visiting him for a couple of months. He never mentioned it?”
He looked stricken. “No. I don’t believe it. Ronnie would’ve said something.”
“I’m afraid it’s true.” Kevin took the potatoes I passed him. “And that brings up an interesting theory. If what you say is true about the sisters leaving each other their properties, when Miss Elizabeth died, her property would’ve gone to Miss Mildred. When Miss Mildred was declared incompetent, both their properties must have passed to Silas.”
The four of us stared at each other across the cornbread, stew and potatoes. There was silence, except for the hooting of an old owl that lived in one of the trees out back and the ticking of the kitchen clock.
“Are you saying you think Ronnie is involved in taking Lizzie and Millie’s properties?” Gramps glared at Kevin.
I jumped in on his behalf. “The chief knew Silas was alive and has been visiting him. He didn’t say anything about it to anyone. Luke Helms told me at the ribbon cutting that the chief went out of his way to point out how unemotional Miss Mildred was when they had him testify. He also told the judge about the feud between the sisters.”
Gramps slammed his fist on the table, making the silver-ware jump. “I don’t believe it. I’ve known Ronnie all of his life. He wouldn’t do such a thing. There has to be another explanation.”
Mary Lou sipped her tea, then added, “I wouldn’t put anything past anyone when it comes to money. What are those houses worth anyway? With the price of land around here, they could buy a turtle sanctuary with no problem.”
I thought back to my encounter with Chuck Sparks and his mother’s medallion. “If Chuck was right, we could be talking four or five million dollars for the two properties. When did you say the auction is being held?”
“The sign said Wednesday,” Gramps said. “That doesn’t give us much time to figure out what’s going on.”
“Some of that will be easy,” Kevin responded. “The records for any land transfer have to be at the county courthouse. I’m sure the real estate office has them too, but you couldn’t make him give them up without a court order.”
“I might be able to convince Chuck to help us,” I said. “I did find his mother’s medallion. Maybe I could guilt him into feeling like he owes me something.”
It didn’t sound like much of a plan, and I didn’t feel any better. I didn’t want to think about Chief Michaels helping himself to the sisters’ properties, but I distinctly remembered Silas telling us that he wasn’t in charge of his money anymore. Had the chief stepped in to help with that?
“If we find out someone”—I didn’t mention the chief so Gramps wouldn’t get riled again—“set this whole thing up, would that mean that person killed Miss Elizabeth and framed Miss Mildred?”
Gramps’s angry expression told me he knew who I was talking about. Kevin agreed with me. “If we can prove someone stepped in to take the properties and sell them, we might be able to get the SBI to take another look.”
I glanced at Mary Lou. Tears were running down her face. “I don’t think I can handle all this. Excuse me.” She got up from the table and went outside to the back porch.
I felt the same, but somebody had to save Miss Mildred. Being a rescuer herself, Mary Lou would realize that soon enough. I knew she was overwhelmed right now by everything that had happened. We all were.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Kevin reminded us. “If we’re going to prove anything in time to stop the sale of the houses, we better get moving.”
Gramps said, “You remember I dated Olivia, the Register of Deeds? She has that nice white Cadillac convertible. I think I’ll give her a call. I’m going to prove you’re wrong about Ronnie.”
“Okay. But, Gramps, you can’t say anything about this to the chief until we know. If you’re wrong and he’s gone bad, he could make it impossible to stop the sale.”
“I won’t say anything to him, but not because he might do anything. I don’t want to embarrass both of us by accusing him of something like this.”
“I’ll talk to my contact in the SBI and suggest an alternate scenario,” Kevin said.
“I’m going to see what I can get out of Chuck Sparks.” I got up from the table, not as hungry as I thought. The conversation had stifled even my taste for warm cornbread. “I guess we all have our jobs cut out for us.”
Gramps went out to check on Mary Lou, and Kevin helped me clear the table. I tried to get him to take the rest of the food home with him, but he said he already had too much in the kitchen at the Blue Whale. “You know, if you want to back out of our deal to help me with this, I’ll understand. It looks like it might be more complicated than either of us thought at the beginning.”
“You can’t get out of painting that easy.” He grinned as he put the rest of the tea in the fridge. “It’s okay, Dae. I’m not giving up on it yet. There’s no such thing as an uncomplicated murder case. I knew what I was getting into before I agreed to help.”
We went to sit outside on the front steps so we wouldn’t bother Gramps and Mary Lou in back. “You know, everyone is speculating about why you left the FBI,” I told him when the dark had closed around us and I couldn’t make out his face. I’d wanted to ask him this for a while but had felt I didn’t know him well enough. I was also worried it might be painful for him to explain.
“I know. Everyone in a small town like Duck feels like they have to know everything about everyone. I knew it would be that way before I came. I can handle it.”
As far as answers were concerned, that wasn’t the one I was looking for. It would be rude to ask him outright why he’d left his career and moved to Duck. I tried another tack. “I know you said you didn’t miss it.”
“I didn’t say that exactly,” he corrected. “You don’t do something like that for years without missing some parts of it.”
Another vague answer that didn’t satisfy my curiosity. “Well, I’m glad you’re here to help with this, Kevin.” Obviously he wasn’t going to tell me about his past.
“Because otherwise you’d be having this conversation with Tim, right?”
“No! You couldn’t pry Tim away from the chief with a big crowbar! I wouldn’t ask him to help me with this. He’d be too distracted.”
“But not because he might ask you to marry him again?”
What did I hear in his voice? Was Kevin trying to get information from me about the past as well? I could imagine only one reason he might be interested. My heart beat a little faster until I squashed the idea. He wasn’t interested in me romantically. This was all leading somewhere else. I wasn’t his type.