The Barefoot Summer Page 8

  “I finished the whole process thirteen years ago when Conrad asked for a divorce the first time,” Kate said. “How did y’all meet Conrad?”

  “I’m not sure I want to talk about personal things with either of you,” Amanda said with a sniff.

  Jamie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “Get over it, Amanda.”

  “Don’t tell me what or what not to do,” she smarted off. “How’d you meet him, anyway?”

  “I was at a beginning-of-school pool party at the principal’s house. He was the superintendent’s date but spent most of the night flirting with me. He left with my phone number, called, and asked me out the next week. We were married the last day of the year, and I got pregnant soon after. But when Gracie was born, there were complications, so we knew she’d be an only child.”

  “Makes sense. I had a miscarriage, and the doctor said I couldn’t have children,” Kate said.

  “Why does that make sense?” Amanda asked and then clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what it meant. “He wanted a son, so he married me to get one, right? He only married me because I’m young and he might have a son with me.”

  Kate shrugged. “He was a con artist, so who knows, but that would be my guess.”

  “He was a jobber who came into our store to see if we wanted to buy from him,” Amanda said. “We set up an account and he flirted like crazy, asked me out that next weekend, and we went on a picnic to the park. Very romantic, under the stars. That was late summer, and like y’all, we were married on the last day of the year. I was about four weeks pregnant at that time, and we were both ecstatic that he’d have someone to carry on his family name.”

  “If that is his name,” Kate said.

  “He did marry all of us with the same name, Conrad Jonathan Steele, right?” Jamie asked.

  Kate and Amanda both nodded.

  “And you?” Amanda asked.

  “I was at the cemetery putting flowers on my father’s grave, and he was there putting flowers on his mother’s grave. Her name was May Smith, and she died in 1995. She’s buried pretty close to my father. For the first year of our marriage, I kept flowers on her grave as well as my dad’s,” Kate said.

  Jamie chuckled. “He told me his mother’s name was Julie Smith and she was buried in Louisiana where he was raised. He had that southern drawl, so I never doubted him. I bet May Smith’s family thought she had a secret admirer that whole year.”

  Amanda slapped the table. “He told me that you were his sister and your mother was also his mama. And that you had control of the money. What a mess!”

  “Julie Smith is probably the name of one of those women that he conned,” Kate said. “He bragged about how stupid women were. In his mind, with a wink and a few compliments, he could have any woman in the world falling into bed with him.”

  Amanda’s hands went up to cup her face as her eyes bugged out. “He talked to you about his women—about us?”

  “Not about you two specifically, but yes, about his other women. He was trying to make me mad enough to divorce him so he could have a lot of money.”

  “Well, we were all duped by the same rascal,” Jamie said. “The next thing is what are we going to do about it?”

  “Step number five is an upward turn,” Kate said. “You’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel and start to realize that you can have a normal life.”

  “Do I have to get over the anger before I can go to that one?” Amanda asked.

  Kate picked up her coffee and sipped it. “Yes, you do, and also the depression.”

  Amanda sighed.

  “Do you really hate Conrad?” Kate looked across the table at Jamie.

  “Right now I do, and that’s not healthy. So when I leave here at the end of summer, I want to be indifferent and ready to move on. How could he do this to Gracie? He could have divorced me. There was no prenup between us,” Jamie answered.

  “Even if he did divorce you, there would still be the Kate marriage. And he probably didn’t want to get lawyers too close to any of the marriages,” Amanda said. “Who knows what happened before Iris. There might be an even earlier wife out there who will hunt me for this cabin and whatever else he had in his bank account.”

  “When was his birthday?” Kate asked in an attempt to divert their attention from the ownership of the cabin.

  “November 28, 1972, was on his driver’s license,” Amanda said. “That made him forty-four last fall.”

  “That’s when we celebrated it, too,” Jamie said.

  “The birthday and the wedding dates are the same for us all.” Kate pushed back her chair and headed to her room.

  “Where are you going?” Amanda asked.

  “I’m writing this down, like I told you. I may hire my own private investigator. If they find a living wife before me, then she will be in line for this property. If it’s not mine, then I’ll go home and let her worry with the legalities of the thing,” Kate said. “I want to know the truth, and once I know that, I can truly have closure.”

  “Know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” Amanda whispered. “But I will fight anyone to the death for this cabin.”

  “Quoting Scripture? Are you religious?” Jamie asked.

  “Oh, yes, I am,” Amanda said. “Conrad and I went to church every Sunday when he was home . . . Dammit!”

  Both Jamie and Kate giggled.

  Amanda frowned. “It’s not funny. He was sitting in church with me, pretending to be all righteous when he was . . .” Tears filled her eyes and spilled down over her cheeks. “I can’t believe that he even conned God.”

  Kate smiled. “A touch of depression is setting in, right?”

  Amanda nodded. “He doesn’t deserve to make me sad. I’m more depressed with myself than anything, because I was so gullible.”

  “That’s what con men prey on,” Jamie said. “Do you think I wasn’t gullible? Or Kate? And honey, you can fight, but I’ve got a legal claim on this place that you can’t unseat. Gracie is his oldest child, and she will inherit this place.”

  “We’ll see when it all comes out that there are divorce papers hiding somewhere and that I’m his wife. And gullible? You might have been, but not Kate!” Amanda shot a glance toward Kate.

  With a sigh, Kate turned around and returned to the table. “Of course I was. I’d spent my entire life working on my career. I was thirty when we married, which isn’t old, but I was established in the business, had three degrees, and was working on my doctorate at that time. I have a level head on my shoulders until it comes to men, then all my common sense flies right out the window,” Kate admitted. “And on that note, I have to go write down details before I forget them. Thanks for the breakfast, Jamie.”

  “You are welcome,” Jamie said.

  Kate changed from pajama pants and a tank top into shorts and a T-shirt. She wrote down every single thing that they’d discussed, and then she folded her shirt and pajama pants. When she tried to open the dresser drawer to put them away, it hung about halfway. She tugged on it, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried to push it back in, but that didn’t work, either.

  Finally, she dropped to her knees, and with her face on the floor, she peeked under it to find the corner of a thick piece of paper jamming up the works. She needed something long and thin to slip under there. But if she removed the two top drawers, then she could reach under the back side of the bottom one and pull the paper out.

  All it took was one little yank and the envelope was free. She tossed it onto the bed and shoved the drawer back, but just before it closed all the way, something else fluttered underneath. It didn’t give her a problem to pull the drawer all the way out and set it on the bed with the other two.

  “Good grief,” she muttered at the sight before her. At least a dozen envelopes had been hidden under there. She gathered them all up and laid them on the bed with the others and then put the drawers back. Curiosity made her pull out the bottom drawer on the other side of the dresser, and she foun
d a dozen more.

  When she was sure she had everything, she sat down on the bed with letters in unsealed legal-size envelopes stacked up in front of her. Dates had been written where a stamp should have gone, starting with June 1 and ending with July 3. Nothing to indicate a year, but from the yellowed look of the paper, they’d been written a long time ago.

  She held the one dated June 1 in her hand. They could have a bearing on who killed Conrad. Besides, she wanted to know more. She pulled the paper out, gently unfolded it, and gasped when she saw the first line:

  My dearest Darcy,

  I know you will find the new will and the letters I’m leaving you because this was your favorite hiding spot for treasures when you were a little girl. I must be a very strong woman in the coming days, because Conrad has threatened that if I don’t do what he wants, he will divorce me, take his half of everything your father and I worked for all our lives, and then he will seduce you into marrying him. He can be very charming and I cannot bear the thought of you being taken in by that man.

  Though he is very sweet when we’re out, when we are alone he is mentally abusive. After the first two weeks of marriage, I moved into your old room, and he seems fine with the situation.

  I love you, Darcy, and I’m very sorry for this terrible mistake I have made. There is a will in a sealed envelope. From what I found out, it had to be signed in front of two witnesses and the seal unbroken to be valid. Take it to our lawyer. He knows my handwriting and my signature. And the key taped to the bottom of this letter is to my deposit box at the bank. Conrad does not know about the box. What’s in it belongs to you as well as this cabin where you grew up and whatever money that Conrad has not blown through.

  Love you,

  Mama

  Kate laid the envelope with WILL written on the outside on the dresser and opened the next one in the stack. When she’d read through half of them, she lay back on the bed. Her heart weighed heavy for Iris, but why hadn’t the woman mailed the letters and the will? Why had she left them hidden to be found after her death?

  The next one answered her question. If Darcy knew what was going on, she’d do something about it, and Conrad had promised retribution. Evidently he’d convinced Iris that he would hurt her daughter, or worse yet, seduce her, if she breathed a word of what was happening, so she wrote letters with the hopes that Darcy would find them as soon as she was dead. She would be warned about what kind of man he was and she’d fight him for the property.

  Kate laid the letters aside when she’d read them all. Iris damn sure had some grit. What should she do now? Darcy was dead, and if she had a will, how would it affect the cabin? If she didn’t have one, what then? Should she share them with Amanda and Jamie? Should she give them to Waylon?

  “I’ll call the lawyers at the company first,” she said. “But first I’ve got to think.”

  According to a report from a private investigator Iris had hired after she and Conrad had married, he’d been married twice under a different name, Swanson. One of those women died in a suspicious car wreck, and Kate would bet dollars to doughnuts that he got insurance money on the death as well as a settlement with the divorce. A copy of the full report was there. Conrad’s birth certificate name was Cain Smith and he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mother was listed as Linda Smith. Father was unknown. He was raised in foster homes because his mother had been an alcoholic—or maybe still was, if she was still living, but the detective could not find her.

  Kate’s blood ran cold in her veins. Maybe none of the three of them were married to him, since there wasn’t anything in the report about him legally changing his name. Now wouldn’t that be a royal kick in the butt?

  She heard the crunch of gravel and then a vehicle door slam. She hurriedly gathered all the letters, plus the will, into a pile and shoved them into her suitcase.

  Waylon was in the living room when Kate arrived. His biceps filled out every bit of the sleeves of a blue chambray work shirt, and bits of straw and hay stuck to his jeans. His sunglasses had slipped down on his nose, probably due to the sweat she could see at his hatband. He removed them and hung a stem in his shirt pocket.

  “What are you doing here?” Kate asked.

  “My partner called from Dallas. Do any of y’all know an Estrella Gonzales?”

  Kate shook her head. “Is that who killed him?”

  “Name sounds familiar. Does she live in Wichita Falls?” Amanda asked.

  “There’s a little girl in Gracie’s class room named Estrella Gonzales. That’s a really common name,” Jamie said.

  “Why are you asking?” Kate asked Waylon. “It must be important for you to leave the farm and come here to ask us when you could have called.”

  “I wanted to see your expressions, and I was coming through town on my way to Seymour for a load of feed anyway,” Waylon answered. “The name Estrella Gonzales came up in the investigation when my partner went back to talk to the florist again. I thought he was holding something back, and he finally confessed that Conrad sent flowers to the woman at least once. I wanted to know if she might be a friend, especially of yours, Jamie.”

  “Why?” Jamie narrowed her eyes. “Because of the Hispanic name? You think all Mexicans know one another?”

  Waylon took a couple of steps backward. “Just puttin’ together a case. Y’all have a nice day.”

  Victor and Hattie stepped up on the porch with Gracie between them at the same time that Waylon opened it to go outside.

  “Hello, Waylon,” Victor said. “Looks like you been hard at work on the ranch today.”

  Hattie gave him a smile and a nod.

  “Mama, guess what?” Gracie skipped across the room. “I got a new friend and her name is Lisa and guess what, I got a mommy and she’s got a daddy. My daddy is dead and her mommy is dead. And guess what? Her house burned down. She lost all her Barbies and it made her sad, so I told her that she could come and play with mine anytime she wants to. Is that all right?”

  “Of course it is, sweetie. I’m glad you made a new friend, but I’m sorry she’s lost her house and her mommy.” Jamie pulled Gracie close for a hug.

  Gracie giggled. “And guess what else, Mama. Lisa is the same age as me.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Jamie beamed.

  “I’ve got to go tell Snugglies all about my friends.” Gracie danced down the hallway.

  “Snugglies?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

  “The teddy bear that she’s slept with since she was a tiny baby,” Jamie explained.

  “Got any new stuff on the murder? We really need a name so we can send the person who done it a thank-you card,” Victor asked Waylon.

  “If they get convicted, I’ll take them a chocolate cake to whatever jail they are in once a year on their birthday,” Hattie said.

  Waylon chuckled. “Y’all keep talking like that and you’ll go on my suspect list.”

  “We’d have as much right to be there as these three women,” Victor told him.

  “Be seein’ you.” Waylon tipped his hat and left.

  Kate motioned Victor and Hattie into the kitchen. “Y’all want a glass of sweet tea?”

  Victor removed his snap-bill hat, tossed it on a rocking chair, and followed her into the kitchen. “I would love one. Jamie, we’ve known Lisa since she was born, and she’ll be a good friend for Gracie. They hit it right off. Lisa lost her mother last year after a six-month battle with cancer. Her daddy is the vo-ag teacher at the school.”

  “And I babysat her before she started school.” Hattie bustled about in the kitchen, helping fill glasses with ice.

  Kate made a fresh pitcher of tea and set it on the table. “Victor, do you or Hattie know an Estrella Gonzales? She might have come to the cabin with Conrad recently.”

  “Or maybe she lives around here,” Jamie said.

  Victor pulled out a chair and slumped down into it. He downed half of his tea before he came up for air. “Never heard that name, and I know everyone in these parts. K
ids get younger every year and I get older. And believe me, they ain’t all as well behaved as Gracie and Lisa.”

  “It’s a different name. If I’d heard it I would remember,” Hattie answered. “And Victor, quit your complainin’. We both love to be a part of Bible school, don’t we?”

  “Yep.” Victor nodded. “Who is this Estrella Gonzales?”

  “All Waylon would say is that her name came up in the investigation when they talked to the florist,” Amanda said.

  “You know Conrad didn’t associate with none of us. Kept to himself after Iris died.” Hattie sipped her tea. “He might have had this woman up here, but we never heard no names. Poor Iris. She’d turn over in her grave if she knew all this stuff.”

  “No, she wouldn’t.” Victor laughed and pointed at the ceiling. “She’s so happy, she’s doing a jig on the golden streets right now. And I bet Darcy is dancin’ with her.”

  “Darcy?” Amanda asked.

  “She was Iris’s daughter who died not long after Iris,” Hattie said.

  “Did Darcy have children?” Kate asked.

  Hattie shook her head. “Poor little thing never married and never had kids. Iris wanted grandbabies so bad. Me and Victor tried to share ours when they came to visit, but it wasn’t the same.”

  “So you and Victor have lived here your whole lives?” Kate asked.

  “Yep, and been best friends since we was little kids in the church nursery. We’ve been fightin’ and tellin’ each other our secrets for over eighty years,” Hattie said proudly.

  “And you never dated?” Amanda raised her eyebrows.

  “Lord, no, darlin’. I wouldn’t date this old fart.”

  “And I couldn’t date her. She knew too much about me. Wouldn’t be no fun in that.” Victor laughed. “Thanks for the tea, but we got to get going. Got to get my lawn mowed this afternoon. Y’all want me to ride my mower up here and take care of yours?”

  “How much do you charge?” Amanda asked.

  “Well now, I reckon if you’d make up another pitcher of tea and maybe if you brought out some homemade cookies that would be plenty of payment.” He grinned.