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“No clue. Look, I’m pretty good at reading situations with my training, time on ops, and time as an Assistant US Attorney working the grittiest cases to cross our legal system. I can’t catch a beat on this one other than the guy insists you reach out with questions… should you have any.”
“Okay. I will.” Wit tapped the edge of the card against the table. “I take that to mean whatever is in these here envelopes must be quite the doozy.”
“It’s strange how everything is so in sync, down to the same kind of envelope,” Hen said.
“Don’t toss those envelopes out. You never know, we might get a hit on them like where they were bought, what state they were made or sold in, or the dye lot number of the batch they were from. That envelope could be a clue,” Killion said. “Keep it handy.”
“All that in an envelope, huh,” Hen said, looking at Wit. “Should we do this? I have a feeling the contents of each are exactly the same.”
“I’d bet on it,” Wit agreed.
The two men took their time, careful to open their envelopes. Each pulled out a tidy stack of papers, organized with paperclips that kept information sorted and easy to navigate. As each set their stack in front of them, they compared side by side only to find their assumption one hundred percent truth. The contents were identical.
On top of the stack was the original will read at the official reading days prior –– though each had different heirs as they were separate families. The two men scanned them, noting familiar names of family members who were once their family too, even if only briefly. Both men slid their copy to Carter, then sat and waited for him to review them before moving on.
“These are the official wills. My guess is what’s in your hands are addendums,” Carter said, flipping through the pages of both at the same time. “This will leaves random items and monies to random people. I see family heirlooms to aunts and cousins, money and properties are going to closer members of each family. Pretty standard stuff. Neither of you is named in here, hence the addendum assumption.”
Killion chimed in. “If you’ll leave the originals with me and Relay, we can do a deep dive on the people named as heirs. See if we get any hits or find anything interesting.”
Carter was reviewing the final page of both wills when he let out a slow whistle. “Good idea because this just got a hell of a lot more interesting.”
He let the pages fall and pushed the wills in Killion’s direction, where he immediately flipped to the final page of each where Carter had just been.
“Holy shit,” he said. “Game changer.”
“Yeah. A little bit,” Carter said sarcastically with a snicker.
“I’ll get right on this,” Killion said, sliding his chair next to Relay whose eyes went wide.
“This…” She began. “This was not on my list of possible plot twists.”
“Okay. So when are you going to let us in on this plot twist?” Hen hastily asked.
“Sorry,” she said. “I think I will defer to the attorney on this one.”
“Thanks?” Carter chuckled. “The bulk of the assets –– and by assets, I mean money, investments, real-estate holdings, and the like –– were left to charity.”
“Okay.” Wit shrugged. “I know the Skrivers were generous people, so that’s not surprising.”
“Millions, Wit,” Carter added, reaching for the remaining papers in front of the two men they hadn’t reviewed yet. “They left millions in assets to charity.”
Wit’s jaw fell open. “Whew. I did not know they had that kind of change lying around.”
“Same on the other family, Hen. Different assets but the value is in the same ballpark,” Carter said over his shoulder as he reviewed the remaining documents.
“Okay. I guess that’s a bit of a surprise, but how is that a plot twist of all plot twists? So they had money.” Hen shrugged.
“Both estates left those assets to the same charity,” Carter began. “Safe Haven.”
“I’m with Relay on this.” Hen shook his head in agreement. “Did not see that coming. That means there’s a clue in there. Safe Haven isn’t a widely known charity.”
“Nah. Kind of an underground operation,” Wit went on. “Why does it feel like the plot is not done twistin’?”
“Because it isn’t. One more thing was left to the two of you,” Carter said, pulling a small white envelope from each of the stacks of paper. He turned each of them upside down and a key fell out.
Carter slid a copy of the document to Killion and Relay. “Run that address in Ponderosa Peak, and let’s see what it is. My guess is these keys belong to it.”
Killion and Relay shared a stunned glance before they went to work and began populating the screens on the wall with random information.
