Page 5 of Barron

After making sure that his orders were still on their way home, he also got online to order more items for the extra goats and cattle he had coming in. The goats liked to play king of the mountain. He’d built a couple of them for the little ones to play on but noticed that they didn’t last all that long. After a few trial and errors on his part, he began ordering them from a kids’ toy company that made them better and more sturdy. He ordered a set for Joey, too, so that he could play on the slide and swings when he was older. The big balls for the cattle to toss around had been a huge hit last summer, and he was looking forward to seeing if this group played ball, too.

His cell phone ringing had him smiling. Knowing that Roger was going to be calling him soon, he answered with a laugh. Roger said that something had come up and that he needed to talk to him soon.

“If you can have one of your family members bring you here to talk to me, I think that would be perfect.” Amelia showed up in seconds, and he found himself standing in Roger Shippley’s personal office. “Christ, you have no idea how happy I am to see you all in one piece. We just got the recording of Caitlynn’s call at the restaurant. The one right before the man was shot. You’re not going to believe what we found.”

“Did you find out who the caller was?” Roger said that there wasn’t any man. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. She said that he called her, and even your guys said that they heard him. What’s going on, Roger?”

“The call came in, that much we can tell. I’ve several men looking into it now. But the voice on the other end was a recording. The pauses, when she was supposed to talk, were controlled by her.” Barron leaned back on the chair he’d sat in when Roger laid a small box with a button on his desk. “Remember that we took her coat, hat, and her phone? Well, she left the device that she was controlling the incoming call in her pocket. She called here about an hour ago asking if we had her garage door opener. That she thought that it was left in her pocket when things went down. They told her that it was still in evidence until they caught whoever had killed the secret serviceman. That’s murder right now at her doorstep.”

“Why? I know that you don’t know yet as to why she did that, but why would she fake a call like that? Not to mention, how did she rig up the gun so that it shot him in the head when it did?” Barron asked him if he’d had any of his sisters look into this. “I was hoping you’d ask. I’m not sure how much they want me involved in this. Barron, we think the other voice is hers, too. Some of the wording she uses is the same that she does. And like you, I’d like to know what she had hoped to gain by doing this. Aren’t you two already an item?”

“No, not after last night.” He explained everything that happened and told his good friend how he’d told her to go home. “I’m wondering now if that was such a smart move. Do you think she’ll come after me?”

“I’d go home right now if I were you. You know as well as I do that your home is a fortress. And if you don’t want her in, she’d not going to get in. Not to mention your sisters and brothers there to protect you.” Roger looked as if he had something more to say, so he told him to spit it out. “According to the records that I’ve been shown, Caitlynn is dead. When we did a search on her name, birthdate, and social, it came up that she died right around the eighteen hundreds. She and her entire family were killed in a train accident. It wasn’t until about fifteen years ago that this Caitlynn came to be around and started working with the social that belonged to the dead Caitlynn. Barron, I’m sort of nervous about what else she’s done. If she got by us when we did a search on her, I wonder what else we’ve missed.”

Barron reached out to all of his family. After telling them everything that he’d found out from Roger, he told them about the fight that they’d had in the hotel room. He could see his family now, taking notes and making sure that they had the information to dig deeply into her lives, however many she had. But it was Amelia who was going to get the true story behind it all when she dug into Caitlynn’s head. Barron didn’t doubt either that it would be very painful for the woman too.

“I’ll get back to you about whatever I find. I’m not trying to push this off, but it could be a simple thing like this other person is a long-lost relative. No, that won’t work. The social. Christ, I’ll get back to you guys.”

He talked to Roger some more, showing him the pictures of Caitlynn when she was about eighteen and having nothing more. There were no school records, and nothing was saying that she graduated from school or college. Barron was suddenly more afraid of her than he’d been at the hotel.

Chapter 3

Mark was glad that he’d had their living room enlarged. The reading of the will at his home made it cozy but very open. He didn’t know why, but it felt better being read at his homestead, but it just did. It was his family, after all and he didn’t want to miss out on a moment to be with them. He missed his grandparents every day and had to stop a couple of times a day from going to find them to tell them something. All of his brothers had said the same thing. They missed them terribly.

All the women were dressed in dresses or skirts. Each of his brothers had worn nice jeans and a good tie. It made him smile that they had all, without encouragement from anyone, decided to look nice for the last thing that they’d do for them. Christ, he missed them both so much that, at times, he had to find him a quiet corner and sob in. Mark did wonder if it ever got any easier.

“We’re going to have to go over your grandfather’s will first. As you know, he was killed first, and the way he met his demise will make a huge difference in the way that the insurance pays off.” They all nodded and told Mr. Shapley that they understood. “Good. I have to tell you, I never dreamed that when I wrote this up for them all those years ago, I’d be talking to you six grown men so many years later. Especially being that they’re both gone at the same time. They were…there are no words that I can say that can convey how much they meant to this old man. They were the best thing that ever happened to this park. Now. Let me begin.”

It was just as they had thought it would be. Grandda left all his insurance money to Grannie. But if in the event that she had already passed on, it would go to his grandsons. Mr. Shapley explained that he’d have to come back to that when he was finished with the entirety of the wills.

There were also the treasures that Grandda wanted them to have. A corncob pipe that his father had made for him. A neck tie that he wore to church on Sunday. Other items that would mean something profound to the one that he left it to. When he was at the end of the list, Mr. Shapley picked up a second sheet of paper. He could see that it was hand written and even that the paper was yellowed with age. Putting his hand over his heart, he needed just a moment to think about what this might mean to his family that was left.

“This is a revision that was sent later to me for the great-grandchildren that would come along after he was gone. I do believe that Thad was the one that got him started on it. He wants Mark to make sure that each grandson gets one of the many carving knives that he made. He said that you’d be the one who would figure out when the young man was old enough to receive it. I do believe with all my heart that he never, well, neither of them expected to live for as long as they did. Can you imagine how many changes they’ve seen in their long lifetime? It boggles the mind.”

“I’ll take care of that for them. I’ll hand them over to my brothers when their children come along that way, they’ll be able to teach them, just the way that we were on how to use them.” Mr. Shapley was good with that, and he picked up Grannie’s will.

“Your grannie had a bit more than your grandda did. Not just in money, there was a great deal of that, but there were the things that she had before they wed that your grandda made sure were hers to distribute the way she wanted.” Mr. Shapley had to excuse himself to blow his nose. The poor man was more emotional than they were. “I’m sorry. Grannie has here that she wanted her stores, I’m to understand that there were several of them were to go to the brides of her boys. Meaning you grandsons. Also, any proceeds that you make in the store that goes to you ladies as well. She told me that every woman needs a bit of pocket money, and she wanted you to spend the money on yourself.”

“Oh my, that’s very generous of her.” The women hugged, talking about how wonderful that was of her to do that. Shapley said that there was a list of the stores. He’d made them copies of the stores, and Mark could see as well as what the yearly income had been over the last few years. There were indeed seven of them, including the big store that everyone had a part in.

“I don’t believe at the time of the writing of this will there were any wives to you young men so she said that the women would figure it out when they came. She also said that it would be like she’d just slipped out one day, and they were there. It would be a perfect match for a lady to sell at their stores.” Shapley blew his nose again. “Your grandparents? They’re the best I’ve ever worked with.”

Mark needed a small break and was glad that their cook had suggested putting out platters of sandwich-making things. There was also a veggie platter that he enjoyed, and he couldn’t help but laugh a little at what Caitlynn might have said about digging out the veggies to eat. He’d done that very thing, digging around in the cellar to get some of the carrots that he needed to be reminded of his grannie. He didn’t mention it to his brothers, it wasn’t the time, but he was going to have to talk to Barron later about what was going to happen with the woman. She was dangerous if she started coming around and making demands.

The half-hour break was just what he needed. It seemed to him that it had been for everyone. His brothers, joking around with each other, seemed to be in a much better mood, and Mr. Shapley didn’t seem to be as upset as he’d been when he broke things up for a bit. After they were all seated, he picked up another file.

“All right, everyone. The insurance that your grandfather had when the park opened all those years ago had a rider on it that stated if he was killed on the job, and according to the fine print, it looks like they took precautions about who would be the one that killed him, that if it had been one of the wild animals, his insurance would have doubled. The second rider would have tripled it if he had been killed by a landslide, tree falling, or an accident while the mountain was covered in bad weather.” Shapley looked up at them. “Your grandfather added these next parts just after your father was born. You have to remember that back then, the park was brand new and still finding its feet, and they were more than happy to let him and your grannie fix up their wills, just in case. He made a good point that if something like that were to happen, it would no less hurt the young family—a large family left behind. He went on to say that finding the body might well have been difficult or next to impossible in the type of jobs that he held. However, since he was killed by a visitor, which I must say no one would have thought of but your father—I suppose because he was an insurance agent, that the policy was to have been multiplied five times the amount.”

“I’m sorry. Five times? I don’t want to sound greedy or anything, but are you sure that’s right?” Shapley told them all how he’d gone to the main office to see if they were going to honor that amount. “I’m assuming since you’re telling us that they agreed.”

“Not only did they agree, young man, but they didn’t even ask me what the original amount was. Had they, I’m sure, I’m almost sure that they would have negotiated a different settlement for the six of you.” He laughed a little. “Your grandparents were the oldest living park volunteers as well as the ones who had been here the longest. I believe that they were looking at those numbers when they decided to honor their agreement. Also, you might want to know there was no one else who had their insurance policy enhanced like your parents did, so it would be a great amount. They were smart. I will tell you what they did. Even going as far as being killed by the job, which your father was as well, the policy was more than any other payout that I’d come across, too.”

“What you’ve not said to us, and I’m almost afraid to ask, is that our mother did the same thing, didn’t she?” He nodded at Barron. “I’m only guessing here, and if you feel the need to correct me, give me a minute or two—the policies were for over a million dollars by themselves. Before anyone started tweaking them. Correct?”

“Yes, you’re correct.” Shapley laughed, then put his hand over his mouth before speaking again. “Each one of you are named in the policies as getting the same amount. Fifty-million each. Then the policies are ten times when you count your mothers and fathers tweaking.” Shapley laughed again, sort of like he was slightly overwhelmed. “It’s the largest payout in any policy to date that I’ve ever had to pay out, as I said. But we haven’t even gone over your grandmother’s policies yet.”

“I think that…why don’t we take another breather to think about Grannie’s policies.” Mark looked around the room and then back at Shapley. “Is it going to be another billion dollars?”

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