April at the Antique Alley (18 page)

I promise the day did get better quickly though. The big rush was because they had the two guys I had identified from my beat down in custody and they wanted to put them in a couple of line ups so I could try to pick them out. I was successful so the two of them were booked. They had also rounded up a couple more that they thought might have taken part but I could not do any better in their line ups than I could earlier by looking at their pictures.

After doing the line ups Samuels gave me yet another update, this one having to do with Donald Smith. His physical condition was good. He would probably lose the use of his right hand for writing and things like that but for appearance sake they were able to reattach enough flesh that he would probably end up with a thumb and four fingers. He had absolutely denied any wrong doing but when Samuels looked in the rucksacks he found quite a bit of the same type of heroine that we had recovered from the desk. As soon as he heard that we had his friends from my beat down in custody he had asked for a lawyer and directed the lawyer to fish for a deal if he rolled on some people high up in the drug cartel food chain. All of that was before I had even done the line ups so now that they had been charged they too would be playing let’s make a deal.

In all there were four murders and they had just a little physical evidence on two but they had not yet gotten the ballistics report from the gun I had shot out of his hand. If the bullets test fired from that gun started matching up with the ones pulled out of the dead bodies, Donald’s goose would be cooked.

Fredrick Smith had cooperated at least enough to allow access to his home and business. He did tell the cops that Donald used a couple of storage closets at his business just for storage. He unlocked them all for the CSIs and in one they found a couple of pieces of the furniture Jill and I had described as that stolen from Lola the day we had bought the desk. They also found Lola’s card file there. In addition there were baggies and twist ties and scales and lots of scattered white powder but no other stash of drugs, but according to Jill, Donald and Jill had not visited the room on the day he was running.

In addition to that, instead of the normal really stale donuts they have at the station, for some reason they had some really good bear claws. I scored two of them and Samuels and I sat and talked for a while. I relayed my theory about how Donald had gotten involved moving drugs and how I had accidentally gotten my hands on one of his shipments. Samuels thought my theory was substantially correct and added that the guys who beat me at Harry Hines Bazaar were probably either the people one step up the ladder or one step down the ladder from Donald on the drug supply chain.

He told me that the ballistics report would be finished soon, likely today, and if it linked Donald to all the killings his case would be pretty much wrapped up.

The people in custody would rat out others and there might be some actions involved there, but those actions would be part of a new case so this one could officially close. Of course there would be a little paper work to do, and there would be court appearances that I would have to testify in and it was likely that Jill and possibly even Jana would have to testify as well, so he suggested that I make some real good notes soon. That being said he went on to new business which was a court appearance from another case. The case had been one I had worked on back in January but the trial was starting in a few days so he suggested I get those notes out and refresh my memory.

Always doing his job, he then officially asked me to fill out an expense report and give him a bill for my services for this case so he could submit it all to the PD accountants and I could get paid.

Much later that day I found myself back at my house/office with the lawyer that Sheila Martin had brought with her. He had told me on the phone that it was important that we meet and I knew it was going to be unavoidable that I do a little estate work settling Lola’s final estate, so I figured it would be best to meet with him and see what he had in mind. As it turned out he was quite easy to work with

and I was really glad that he came without Sheila. He made no explanation for where she was at the time, and I didn’t ask.

He started the meeting in sort of a funny way. As soon as we were sitting down on opposite sides of my desk he took out a big leather clad book and opened it up to a specific page. It turned out to be a book of laws and codes from the state of Oklahoma where Sheila lived. The part he asked me to read had something to do with inheritance and what taxes applied and what one needed to do to prove that a finders fee should be paid. I read several pages of dreadful lawyer words that had been very well crafted so as to make sure nobody could possibly understand them.

When I was done he asked me if I understood and I told him I did not. He sort of giggled and said that nobody really understood it but what it all boiled down to was that under the laws of the State of Oklahoma I was entitled to a finders fee from what Sheila would inherit from Lola. Cool!

I asked him what the percent was and he said that it is right there in the code I had just read. He was playing me here just for a joke. He pointed out several phrases in the code and assured me that depending on the relationship of the people involved and which judge was interpreting the applicable portions of the law the percentage could be legally stated as a small two percent or a large thirty-nine percent or anything in between. What he proposed was that we (he and I) make an estimate of what Lola’s actual estate might add up to and then he, as Sheila Martin’s lawyer and power of attorney, would execute a document of agreement so that I would get about ten percent.

I was smart enough to ask if he meant ten percent of the gross or ten percent after the states took their taxes out and he got his cut. He smiled and assured me it would be ten percent of gross.

So we started adding things up.

I looked through my notes and found the papers Samuels had given me from the police department accounting team several days ago. Most numbers on the list were estimates but they were going to be close enough so that we could execute a document.

We started with the provable hard assets of cash, stocks, bonds. Between her checking and savings there was $27,000. The CDs added up to $200,000 if she let them all mature but they had various maturity dates and the taxes and my fee could only be paid on what the actual value was for today, so in our best guess if she closed out all the CDs today she would get about $125,000. The stocks and bonds she currently held totaled up to $1,200,000. They currently paid an estimated eighty grand in quarterly dividends but these dividends would have to be excluded from the estimate. These all totaled up to $1,352,000.

Then we needed to also include some things that were a little less exact. For instance Lola owned a house and all the stuff inside the house. The lawyer

admitted that he had not seen the property and had no idea of what the condition of the house was and certainly had no idea about the contents, but he did say that he had gotten on the internet yesterday after the funeral and recently in the neighborhood where the house was, houses similar to Lola’s had sold for an average of $175,000. As far as contents of the house he suggested that no matter what the contents were it was basically either trash or things that would be sold at auction and for all practical purposes it would cost as much to sell it all as it would bring in. Based on what I had seen I had to agree with him.

The same could be said for the business she owned. The contents were basically used furniture and being auctioned off in a sheriff’s department sale it all would fetch very little. The building and land though had some real value and from somewhere he produced an estimate of half a million. I had no idea if he were correct or not but I just wasn’t in a position or disposition to argue. So if we add this all together the estate had a ballpark estimated value of two million dollars.

Sheila Martin had been living on about six-hundred dollars a month and she would soon return to Durant, Oklahoma as one of its wealthiest citizens, but more importantly to me at least was that ten percent would be mine and that came to $200,000.

I was just about to ask the lawyer when I would get the cash, but when I looked up he was writing out a check. Of course, before he gave me the check he had some paperwork to go over. He had already drawn up a quit claim that said absolutely nothing about a percentage but he had left it blank so he could write in the amount. He and I both had to initial where it said $200,000. I was quite happy to do so. He also produced another document that went far beyond its intention stating in very clear language, not that lawyer-speak, that I had completed my search for Lola’s heirs. In other words, before I got the check they wanted to make sure there were no other claimants and also wanted to make sure that I would not search for any other next of kin. Well, I was sure there were more relatives out there, but whomever we might find could not be more closely related to Lola then her own flesh and blood sister unless it was a legal spouse or child, and I had done a good search trying to find any and was quite convinced that there were none, so I signed the document officially ending my search for Lola’s next of kin.

Once he had my signature on that document the lawyers duties were completed. He handed me the check but before he hustled himself out of there he brought me up to date on a couple of his other duties in regards to Lola and Sheila Martin.

He told me that Fredrick Smith had indeed been quite interested in the building Lola owned next to his shop. That was exactly what Fredrick Smith had been discussing with Detective Samuels when I had interrupted them. It would have been quite easy for Sheila and Fredrick to agree on a price for the building

and its contents and Mr. Smith might have his hands on them quickly. That would have been an easy way to handle it and the lawyer assured me that Sheila Martin had such big dollar signs in her eyes right now that she would have surely entertained a decent offer. Unfortunately though, the lawyer had contacted Fredrick today and was told that the Mayor of Antique Alley was no longer interested in the building and had to save his money for his son’s legal defense expenses. Oh well.

Another item he let me in on was that he suggested I stay away from Lola’s house this afternoon because Sheila planned to go over there with a U-Haul and pick over the house contents before retreating to Durant, Oklahoma later in the day. As I had no interest in ever seeing Sheila Martin again, I thanked the fine lawyer and wished him luck moving furniture.

I am not sure where things are going to go with Jana and me. We did have a long chat that afternoon. She and I agreed that we had just barely gotten started and were currently in the lust phase of our relationship. She had a business to run and I had a business to run. We had each had relationships in the past and neither of us would ever be nominated for sainthood. It would take a good deal of time to build trust since I had already blown that part of our hook-up. She enjoyed lesbian sex and also really enjoyed the kinky stuff. I wasn’t quite sure how far I wanted to go in that direction. I am no prude, and I had certainly enjoyed the play time we had tried so far, but just how much further would she want it to go? What we ended up with was that we would date but have, at least for the current time, no commitment.

So to wrap this all up without starting another chapter let me fill you in on how Jill and I settled up. We would in the near future get her licensed to both carry a fire arm and also licensed to investigate crimes. We would pay for the required classes and licenses from the two-hundred-thousand I had just received from Lola’s estate. We would, in fact, and in short order, add another desk to my office where Jill could officially take her place as my partner. Additionally, I would pay her one third of whatever was left over after paying taxes and her licenses.

At Jill’s suggestion I agreed to meet with her father’s lawyer who specializes in corporations and set up the business model for the restaurant he owns. If Jill’s beliefs turn out to be correct he could set my business up as a limited liability corporation which would some how magically protect me from future law suits. I am not sure I understand all this, but at least I agreed to meet with him.

We had started this whole mess because we were shopping for some antique furniture to sort of refurnish my house. Well there is a new Ikea store in the Dallas

area so Jill and I deposited that two-hundred-thousand bucks in my account and took our plastic to Ikea. Danish modern is so much easier than antique.

THE END

THE XARA SMITH MYSTERIES - by Bill McGrath: Available in printed format from WWW.LULU.COM

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Bill McGrath web page WWW.WIX.COM/WGJM53/BILLMCGRATH

J
ANUARY JUGGLING THE JENTONS

BOOK 01 OF THE XARA SMITH MYSTERIES

We meet Xara Smith, the tall young female detective whose adventures this series will follow. In this episode Xara guards a socialite whose husband is trying to kill her. The setting is north Texas. What starts as a simple protection case quickly gets ugly and complicated. By the end of the story Xara has not only saved her client but also brought down a drug conspiracy and saved a dozen young women from being sold against their will into white slavery. All this while our detective’s own personal life falls apart.

FEBRUARY AT FLEDMAN’S ON FIFTH

BOOK 02 OF THE XARA SMITH MYSTERIES

In this adventure Xara Smith is hired by an immigrant kitchen worker to find her husband and son. The worker crossed into this country illegally, and her family was to follow. They never made it. Xara takes on a partner, Jill, for a long road trip where most of the action takes place. It is difficult for Xara to use her best resource, INS, for this adventure because their job is to round up the illegal aliens and send them back to where they came from.