A Lethal Legacy (24 page)

"I'm glad that
you and Kristina are having a nice visit."

We sat and talked
quietly for a few minutes. Some good friends of hers who had dropped by earlier
in the day brought the peanut butter fudge. She told me Kristina had been spoon-feeding
it to her during the afternoon. I noticed that little bits had been taken from
the fudge, and a spoon rested on the edge of the table.

"I'm back. Hey,
Ed, you're here. Sorry it took me so long." Kristina rushed into the room
and into my arms before I knew what happened.

"Isn't this
nice. My favoritest people in the whole wide world right here with me,"
Claire said.

"Yes, Grandma.
We're all here except for Cassie. Right, Ed? Grandma was telling me how close
she and Cassie have become and how your kids are the 'bestest' besides me, in
the world. Right, Grandma?"

"That's right,
honey," Claire said.

"What's wrong,
Claire?" I asked as I looked at her drooping eyes.

"I feel awfully
tired. I'd like my nightgown on I think. I'm going to eat dinner here."

"I'll call an
aide," I said as I headed for the door.

While Claire prepared
for bed, Kristina and I walked out into the hallway.

"I'm worried
about Grandma. She doesn't seem herself. Come on, Ed, I need some fresh
air," Kristina said as she headed for the front door.

"How do you mean
that Claire doesn't seem herself?'" I asked as we began a walk around the
building.

"She seems
depressed, for one thing. She always told me she was going to live to see the
year 2000, but today she remarked that maybe that wasn't such a great thing
after all."

"She might be a
little down, I guess. You know how active she always was, and her recovery has
been slow."

"Also, she has
trouble following a line of thought for very long."

"Really? I find
her to be as alert as ever," I said.

"I got a list of
her medications because I thought maybe that might be a problem. Mom works in a
nursing home, you know."

"So you said.
Who gave you the list?"

"One of the
nurses. Anyway I'm going to call Mom tonight, and she'll look into the meds and
see if anything there might be causing the problem."

We had come to a dark
corner behind the nursing home, and Kris stopped walking as she leaned up
against the building. She motioned for me to join her. I looked at her standing
there in the dark night highlighted by her very tight white jeans. Her equally
tight sweater did not conceal her shape in any way. As if hypnotized, I walked
toward her.

"Now isn't this
better?" she asked as I walked into her waiting arms. "I've missed
you so much, Ed." She brought my head down to her waiting lips, and I sank
into her body that had already opened itself to me.

I sought her breasts
with one hand while our lips locked together for one long drink. She pressed
against me until I couldn't stand it any longer. I pulled my face away from
hers but locked my hands firmly to her front.

"Please, Eddie,
please. I've missed you so much. You're the only one who understands me. Don't
be mad at me," she babbled while I lifted her sweater and unsnapped the
front of her bra. When I had released her breasts, I no longer heard her
continued pleas as my mouth found its way home.

She began fumbling
with the front of my pants and as much as I hated losing the cushion of her
when she moved her head lower, I no longer cared about anything but the
feelings her mouth aroused.

Suddenly headlights
came around the corner and lit up the side of the building. When the light hit
my eyes, I woke from my trance and saw for the first time what was happening. I
moved slightly so the car wouldn't be able to see the squatting body in front
of me. They probably thought I was just relieving myself in the bushes.

"Kristina, stop.
Stand up. Here pull down your sweater," I said, but only after I had been
spent.

"Ed, I want you
so much. Can't you come back to the motel with me?" she asked sweetly as
she reached up to caress the side of my face.

I looked at her
longingly but knew I couldn't do anything more tonight. "Maybe
tomorrow," I said. "Besides we need to get back inside."

"OK, but, Ed, do
you really think the nursing home wasn't negligent when Claire fell?"

"No, I don't.
I've already told you that, Kristina."

"Have you seen
the report about her fall?" she asked.

"I don't need to
see it. This nursing home is the best that money can buy and is providing Claire
with excellent care.

" I have no
doubt that you would give her the best possible care and spend her money
freely. By the way, Ed, where are Claire's valuables? Oscar told us to ask
because he warned us that nursing homes are notorious places for thieves,
especially among the employees."

"You and Oscar
don't need to worry about her valuables, Kris. Just concentrate on helping her
get better."

We walked back into
the room. A woman stood next to the bed talking quietly to Claire. She turned
around as I came nearer.

"Hello, Ed. How
are you?" Pam said.

"Pam? What are
you doing here?" I asked.

"Yeah, what the
hell are you doing here?" Kristina echoed.

"I wanted to
visit Claire. You know I owe Claire an awful lot for helping me get through the
early years with you, and I wanted to come and see her," Pam said.

"That's
thoughtful of you, Pam," I said.

"I was talking
about all the parties Claire used to throw for us in Ann Arbor. Those were the
days, weren't they, Claire?"

"Yes."
Claire said.

"What's wrong,
Grandma?" Kristina asked.

"I miss everyone
so much. Philip, Gary, they're all gone."

"We're still
here, don't forget that," I said. I was shocked to see Claire weeping. She
hadn't done that since Kristina's last visit in September.

My lawyer, Tim Pierce
called the next day as I sat before my computer with a major case of writer's
block. Kristina always managed to stifle my other passion.

"What's up,
Tim?" I asked.

"I got a call
from a Pamela Timmons today. Do you know her?"

"She was married
to Claire's son Gary at one time. She's Kristina's mother."

"I figured that
out," Tim said. "Do you know why she's here now?"

"She says she
just wanted to come since Kristina told her that Claire wasn't doing very well.
But last night Pam tried to talk to me as I left the nursing home and said she
was worried that Kristina might be planning something. I think it's probably
Pam that has the plan. She's been pushing for years for Kristina to get money
from the Townsends," I said. "And now I get the feeling Pam might be
pushing Kristina into filing a law suit against Magnolia Arms."

"Can't be done
unless you agree; she doesn't have power of attorney. The reason I called you
is because I'm a little uneasy about some things, too," Tim said.

"What
things?"

"First, Pam
asked to set up an appointment with me. She said it was about Claire's will. My
secretary came and got me out of a meeting immediately because we both thought
it meant Claire had died. Those requests don't usually happen until after a
death."

"That's a little
creepy," I said.

"I told her that
since we didn't represent her, I couldn't talk about it with her. I probably
wouldn't have even called you if it had ended there because I didn't know both
she and Kristina were in Ocala at the time."

"What else
happened?"

"Next, I got a
call from the Clerk of the Court office. Kristina was down there raising hell
about seeing your Aunt Susan's will in probate. They called me because I'm the
attorney of record, and she was making such a stink. I told them to go ahead
and show it to her. She wanted copies, I guess."

"That's
interesting," I said.

"They've both
been terribly busy. Soon after that, I got a call from a lawyer friend who had
a Miss Kristina Timmons and a Mrs. Oscar Timmons in his office. Kristina was
claiming that an evil nephew with my help had cut her out of a will. He was
calling to get the scoop before proceeding any further. I told him the story,
and he agreed that she wasn't entitled to anything."

"Pam and Kristina
went to that lawyer together?"

"That's what
this guy said. I guess Pam wanted him to draw up an affidavit that stated
Kristina was really the daughter of Gary Townsend. That's why I called. Are
they at the nursing home very much?"

"Kristina
arrived yesterday and spent all day with her; Pam arrived last night. It's
difficult because Claire isn't herself."

"What do you
mean?"

"She's tired and
weepy."

"Doesn't sound
like Claire. Make sure the nursing home staff is aware that Pamela was making
inquiries about Claire's will today. I would suggest they not leave either of
them alone with her.

"Why? You don't
think they'd do something to harm Claire, do you?"

"Who can say,
but why take the chance?"

"Pamela will be
easy to keep out, I guess. She's probably the one we need to worry about.
Kristina said Pam would be checking on Claire's meds, but that was before Pam
arrived. Kristina seemed quite surprised when we found Pam in the room last
night talking to Claire."

"Just put
everyone involved with Claire's care on alert. I don't like the things I heard
today."

She greedily reached
for another piece of meat not waiting to finish chewing before stuffing more
bites into her mouth. Juices dripped down her chin onto her naked breasts, and
he greedily lapped up the leftovers.

On a cool November
day, I entered the nursing home where Claire had moved earlier in the year,
reluctant to face the troubles that might be in store for me. Troubles named
Kristina and Pamela I didn't need right now. My main concern was Claire who had
been failing rapidly in recent days.

Claire, weakened from
her broken hip that had required surgery several weeks earlier, was not well.
Her eyes could not focus, and her heart rate was dropping. The nursing staff
greeted me as I walked toward the nurse's station with Claire's updated
condition.

"Where's
Charles?" I asked the head nurse. Charles Stuart was the director of the
home and had been a great help to me ever since Claire had been admitted.

"He's getting
ready to hold a staff meeting about Mrs. Townsend right now," one of the
aides told me.

"I'm going in to
see Claire. I want to see Charles as soon as he's available," I said.

When I walked into
the room, neither Kristina nor Pam was there. Claire lay still on the bed. I
touched her shoulder lightly as I stood next to her. When I grabbed her hand,
she attempted to open her eyes. When she did, I noticed they were covered with
a slight film making her dark blue eyes seem light.

"Ed, it's
you," she said so softly I had to lean over to hear. "I can't believe
you're here." She began crying once again.

"Claire, what's
wrong?"

"I'm just so
sad. I wanted to spend Thanksgiving with you and Cassie and the kids."

"You will. We're
going to come here and bring you dinner," said.

"Pam said you
wouldn't be coming." She began crying harder.

"Shush, that's
silly. We'll be here."

"Ed, what's
wrong with me? I'm so scared."

"Don't be
scared, Claire. I'm here now. Cassie will probably be here later this
afternoon."

"Ed, did Pam do
this to me?" she asked just as I turned to leave and find Charles.

"What makes you
say that? Has she said or done something?"

"I can't figure
out why she's here. She never liked me much and then she and Philip."
Claire lost her train of thought and just stared at me with her dim eyes.

"I don't know if
she's done something or not, but if she has, I'm going to find out. Just rest,
Claire. I'm here now, and I'll take care of everything."

"Yes, you always
have, Ed. Thank you. You're the bestest," and the tears began to run down
her cheeks again.

An aide came into the
room just then to tell me Charles needed to see me. I asked her to stay close
to Claire for as long as possible until I could get to a phone to call Cassie
and ask her to find a babysitter so she could come sit with Claire.

When I walked into
the conference room, I dispensed with greetings and approached the nursing home
director.

"What's wrong
with Claire? I've never seen her like this and the nurses tell me her heart
rate is dropping rapidly. What's going on?" I asked.

Charles looked at me
carefully before answering. "She's not doing very well, and we've been
trying to figure out why. We're going to be taking blood and urine samples
immediately. Hopefully, we can find something out quickly. We've put a rush
order on everything."

Before we could
continue, a nurse came into the room.

"Charles, could
we see you for a moment?" she asked.

"Sure. I'll be
right back, Ed. Make yourself comfortable."

I paced the room and
wondered what would happen next. I thought about calling Cassie, but I decided
to wait until I had more definite news. I looked up as Charles entered the room
solemnly.

"Ed, I'm afraid
I've got some bad news. Claire died just a few minutes ago. Probably right
after you left the room. The aide said she took a deep breath, turned her head,
and exhaled. That was it. It was very peaceful."

"How could that
happen? Where's Kristina, her granddaughter?"

"No one knows.
She left with her mother about an hour ago without a word to anyone. Some of
the staff said the two had been arguing in the courtyard right before they
left. The mother looked like she’d been crying. Would you like to see your aunt
before we call the funeral home?"

I stumbled out of the
room determined to keep my composure. I managed to keep it until the nurse who
had been so kind to Claire came up to me and embraced me. We stood holding one
another for a long time.

"She was a good
woman," she said as she released me.

"Yes, yes, she
was, the bestest," I managed to say before going in to say my final

goodbyes to the woman
who had always been such a solid part of my life.

After Claire's
funeral, I decided to take a long walk around the neighborhood to clear my
head. Cassie understood why I left even though she was suffering also. She
loved Claire as a daughter loves a mother. She also made Claire's last years
joyful and happy ones as she included Claire in every moment of our children's
lives. I couldn't help but think back to another funeral in another lifetime.
It was natural I would think about Gary as I walked alone remembering the past.
For most of my life, Gary walked beside me during these times of strife. I felt
his presence today more than ever. I remembered back to the last time I sat
beside him at his bedside in New Orleans.

As I continued my
walk on the day of Claire's funeral, I began thinking unwillingly about
Kristina. She had certainly gotten what she had wanted, and I was left once
again to clean up the mess. Claire told me that she had named me as the
personal representative of her estate since I lived here, but I knew that
Kristina stood to inherit everything once the house, for which I had been
paying Claire, was re-mortgaged and the money deposited in the trust. She
probably would receive the trust immediately since Claire was adamant after
Philip's death that her estate be simply turned over to Kristina upon her death
with no probate.

Kristina and Pam did
not attend the funeral. As far as I knew, they didn't even know that Claire had
died. When Pam first arrived in town, she made several attempts to talk to me
alone. She wanted to tell me that Kristina just wanted Claire's money at any
cost. I told her each time that she was mistaken. It was Pam pushing for the
money. Kristina only asked for it when Pam pushed her. I thought that maybe Pam
had some angle going to get money from Claire herself without Kristina's
interference.

The phone rang as I
came into the house exhausted from the long walk. I was surprised to hear the
voice of Claire's doctor.

"Ed, we just
received the final toxicology report on Claire. Her blood showed a fifty
percent level of Phenobarbital. Forty percent is toxic."

"How the hell
did that happen?"

"We're not
really sure, but I've got to report my findings to the police. They'll probably
be calling you, and I wanted you to be prepared."

"What do you
think?" I still couldn't voice the words.

"I really don't
want to speculate, but if you know where the granddaughter and her mother are,
it might help in the investigation," he said. "The aides have been
coming forward with some suspicious reports."

"What kind of
suspicious reports?"

"Aides said that
the mother kept rolling the bed down after being told that Claire should be
left sitting up. And a couple of other strange things like that."

"Do you think
Pam could have drugged her?"

"I don't know,
but Claire didn't drug herself, that's for sure. Ed, call me if you have any
questions. And I'm sorry. I thought your aunt was a very special woman."

I hung up the phone
and went into the living room to pour myself a healthy shot of scotch. I needed
time to absorb this information. As I slowly sipped, I felt a welcome numbness
enter my limbs as I found the reality far too harsh to absorb.

Almost immediately,
the phone rang again. This call gave me no respite from my thoughts and
suspicions.

Tim Pierce, my lawyer
and good friend, had more news.

"How'd it go
yesterday?" he asked after the preliminaries.

"It was fine,
Tim. The service was small, just some folks from the country club and Claire's
church and Cassie and me. No other family, of course."

"So Kristina and
her mother didn't stay around long enough to pay their respects? I have some
news for you, and some for Kris, too. But legally you're the only one I need to
contact."

"What news? I'm
not sure I can take anymore
news
."

"Why, did
something else happen?"

" Dr. Gantt,
Claire's doctor,  called a few minutes ago to tell me Claire had a lethal
dosage of Phenobarbital in her system when she died," I said.

"No kidding? Who
do they suspect?"

"He's turning
everything over to the police. They'll probably be calling me soon."

"Ed, let me tell
you why I called. A month ago, Claire had me come over to the nursing home,
right after her first fall, before she broke her hip. Remember? Kris had just
visited. She wanted to write a new will. We did it right there with the staff
as witnesses."

"She changed her
will? Did she name Kristina personal representative instead of me?" I
hoped this might be the case so I could finally be rid of Kristina forever. The
money would no longer tie us together.

"No, buddy, she
doesn't mention Kristina Timmons anywhere in this will, which is her last will
and testament, and the one we send on to the court. She told me Kris worried
her lately, but she didn't want to concern you. She took her out of the will
completely; she won't inherit a thing," he said.

“Then who did she
name?"

"Her best friend
and confidante, is the way she put it in the will. And, Ed, that's you."

I sat back in my
chair, overwhelmed by Claire's gesture. I had felt close to Claire all my life.
Sometimes I think she wished I had been her son, even though she loved Gary. She
would have liked both of us to be her sons. These past years of sharing the
same house had been easy ones for Cassie and me. But for her to go against
Philip's wishes of leaving everything to their only grandchild, meant that
something more must have happened during Kristina's previous visit. Claire
decided to keep whatever it was to herself.

Suddenly I remembered
the description of Claire's fall the day Kristina left. The staff had told me
that she had become dizzy and disoriented right before she slipped. I made a
mental note to ask the doctor if any urine or blood samples were taken in the
emergency room when they stitched her up.

However, I still
couldn't believe that Kristina would resort to murder. I would believe it
sooner of Pam than I would about Kristina. Kristina needed love, that was all.
I had tried over the years, but I had always ended up loving her in the wrong
way, a way that still gave her the wrong things.

I now realized
Kristina and Pam had been working all the angles. I'm certain it was the reason
that Pam had shown up in Ocala. I would bet that most of the plans had been
devised by Pam over the course of several years, maybe ever since Philip's
death. Then they plotted to go for even more money from the nursing home for
Claire's fall.

I suspected that
Kristina and Pam also wanted a way for Kristina to inherit part of Aunt Susan's
estate. Why else had she been asking for her will at the court? Kristina would
never receive the thing she wanted most – her legacy in the Townsend family.

I heard through some
of the nursing home staff that Kristina had started a brief fling with one of
Claire's male aides as soon as she arrived. He gave her the list of meds. The
poor schmuck had become alarmed as Claire's condition worsened, so he quit his
job the day before Claire died.

However, when he read
in the paper that Claire died, he came forward with some interesting
information. During the first few days of Kristina's visit, she had been trying
to get Claire to sign a document. The aide couldn't be sure because he hadn't
read it, but he thought it stated that Kris Timmons was Claire's rightful heir.
Claire adamantly refused to sign the paper. Even at her weakest, she remained
the strong stoic I loved all my life.

Later the next day
the police came by for my statement. They told me they had to do an
investigation because of the suspicious nature of Claire's death; everyone who
had been around her during the past few weeks would be interviewed as routine
procedure. Even Cassie would have to be questioned. I gave them all the
information I could about the last days of Claire's life.

"How well do you
know the granddaughter, Kristina Timmons?" one of the detectives asked me.

"I've known her
since she was born, but there was a gap of about fifteen or sixteen years where
no one in the Townsend family had any contact with her."

"Bad
divorce?"

"Something like
that. Kristina's mother left with her when Kristina was two. She wouldn't let
anyone know where they were"