Edge of Shadows (Shadows #1) (27 page)

“And therein lies the issue, Ms. Coulter,” Mr. Thomassen said. “As I mentioned, Mr. Coulter was entering into this whole process with great reluctance.”

“I wish you’d get to the point, Mr. Thomassen,” Ellie said.

“Mr. Coulter never filed the paperwork with the court,” Mr. Thomassen bluntly stated.

His words hit Ellie like a punch in the stomach. “What?” she said a bit too loudly. “What do you mean?”

“He was holding off, perhaps to get his feelings in order on the matter. I didn’t know that he still intended to get divorced until I spoke with him about that matter a few weeks ago. He indicated to me that he had put it off intentionally, and since you already believed that you were divorced, he didn’t see any reason to hurry things along until some recent changes in his life.”

Ellie was barely listening, and Mr. Thomassen paused. “We were actually supposed to meet next week. He was eager to get the process finalized.”

“Well, no wonder. His girlfriend is going to be giving birth any day now,” Ellie snapped.

“He had mentioned an intention to get married in the near future,” he confirmed. He waited for Ellie to process the information. “I know this may be difficult for you, especially considering the circumstances. But we will need to discuss the terms of Mr. Coulter’s will.”

“What?” Ellie said. He had her attention again, but her mind was spinning. Is it possible she had been so stupid? She had completely trusted Jake and he hadn’t given her any indication that he was deceiving her. She felt like a complete idiot. Suddenly things that Jake had said during those late night phone calls made complete sense.

“Since you and Mr. Coulter were officially still married, that would make you his widow. All of Mr. Coulter’s estate is legally yours.”

Ellie stood up in alarm. “WHAT?” she cried. “No. No. No. This isn’t happening. That’s not possible.”

“Perhaps you should take a few moments. This must be a shock,” Mr. Thomassen said, leaning aback in his chair.

“A shock? No, why would you ever think that?” Ellie ranted. “You’ve just told me that not only have I been married all this time, but now I’ve inherited Jake’s estate by default.”

“That is the long and short of it, yes,” he agreed, his fingers forming a triangle in front of his face.

“How was this even ethical?” she said as she started pacing the room. “Isn’t there some law against deception like this?”

“It was my understanding that my client intended to get divorced at some point,” Mr. Thomassen said calmly. “He stopped communicating with me earlier this year, and I did not receive any communication from you or a legal representative who was looking after your concerns. As far as I knew, the two of you had worked things out.”

“I just don’t understand how this could have happened,” she said. She gnawed on her fingernail as her mind tried to process what was happening.

“Regardless of how it happened, it is a reality,” Mr. Thomassen replied.

“What about Jenny?” Ellie saw a potentially explosive scene about to unfold in her future.

“Mr. Coulter’s current will does not provide for Ms. Marks. I believe it was also his intention during our upcoming meeting to update his will to accommodate for her,” he said pointedly.

“Does she know yet?” Ellie asked.

“No. She and Kathryn Coulter are due here in about an hour to discuss the specifics of Mr. Coulter’s will. I thought it best that I advise you prior to that meeting, as I’m sure this news will be…unexpected,” he answered.

“You don’t think she knew that Jake hadn’t filed the papers yet?”

“Do you think she knew?” He threw the question back at her.

Ellie thought back on Jenny’s reaction at the hospital. If she had known this… Ellie shook her head.

“I would think not either,” he said.

“I need time to think,” Ellie said. “This is all a bit overwhelming.”

“Of course,” Mr. Thomassen said. “I can have the necessary papers drawn up for your signature next week.”

“What do you need my signature for?’ she asked.

“Transfer of assets papers, and that sort,” he said as he started shuffling papers about.

Ellie wondered how he could keep anything straight with the mess on his desk.

“I don’t want it. Any of it,” she said, putting her hand down on the pile in front of him, drawing his attention back to her face. “Let Jenny have it.”

“I would advise that you take some time to think about that, Ms. Coulter,” he replied. “If that is what you want, then we can do that. But you’ve been through a great loss, and I think it would be best if you took some time to process this. There is the matter of your former home as well as Mr. Coulter’s business holdings.”

Ellie sat back down in her chair, exhausted and overwhelmed. She couldn’t think anymore. “I don’t want it,” she said flatly.

“Here’s my card.” Mr. Thomassen pulled a business card from his left-hand drawer. “Think about it over the weekend. If that is still your decision on Monday, then give me a call and I will draw up the paperwork.”

Ellie stood and took the card. She shook her head again. “Fine,” she finally said. “You’ll hear from me on Monday.”

Mr. Thomassen nodded and then shuffled some more papers around, revealing a phone. He picked up the receiver and dialed.

“Darlene,” he grunted, “bring in my messages, will you?”

Ellie realized her appointment was over. She walked toward the door as it opened to reveal the wizened old woman, who nodded in her direction before dismissing her as well. Glancing at her watch, she realized that Kathryn and Jenny could potentially appear at any moment, and that was one confrontation she intended to avoid until she could get this whole mess settled. She left the building as quickly as she could, ducking her head the whole way.

Back at the shop, Ellie tried calling David at the hospital but a nurse told her that she wasn’t able to locate him. Then she dialed Kevin’s cell phone number and got his voicemail.

“Kevin, please call as soon as you get this message. I got some crazy news today and I really need to talk to somebody about it,” she said, trying to control the panic in her voice. She wanted to say more, but decided that anything more might worry her friend into hightailing home instead of calling her. It wasn’t like she was dying.

Ellie heard the bell at the front door and realized that in her rush she had left the front door unlocked. “Dammit,” she said under her breath, and went to the front to tell whoever it was that the shop was closed.

Melanie Wilson stood in the doorway, peering about. Her face brightened as she saw Ellie emerge from the back room. “Finally!” she exclaimed. “What the hell has been going on, Ellie? I’ve been calling you for days, and then the shop has been closed. I’ve been worried sick. I’ve been trying to call Kevin too but just getting his voicemail.”

Melanie’s face dropped and Ellie realized that hot tears were streaming down her face. She had thought the random crying was over, but what she had found out in meeting with Mr. Thomassen hit her like a ton of bricks.

Melanie guided her to a table. “Oh, sweetie, just calm down. I’ll make us a pot of coffee.”

Ellie watched in amazement through her tears as Melanie adeptly moved about behind the counter getting the coffee ready. She hummed while she worked and never even asked where any of the supplies were kept.

Melanie caught Ellie’s stare and shrugged. “I’ve been coming here practically every day for three years. I’ve paid attention.”

Soon two cups of steaming coffee were on the table, and Melanie sat down across from her. “Okay, kid, spill it,” she said.

Ellie tried to start at the beginning, but everything came out in spurts that were all over the place. She started with the funeral, then jumped back to the conversation she and Jake had had right before the accident, and then told Melanie about her and Kevin’s discovery about the Bradfords in the library.

Melanie asked questions throughout, and finally Ellie had told her everything, including the strange dreams that both she and Jake had experienced. Ellie found herself on the verge of telling Melanie that she could see people’s auras, but at the very last minute she held it back. Her story sounded crazy enough. By the time she was done, Melanie had her notebook out and was scribbling notes.

“This is just about the weirdest damn story I’ve ever heard in real life,” she said when Ellie was done.

Ellie burst into a fresh batch of tears, and Melanie instantly looked regretful of her words.

“I’m sorry, kiddo. That was probably the wrong thing to say. Ask my husband. Hell, look at what happened the other night at Linda’s. I’m famous for it. I really am sorry about Jake, though.”

“It’s okay, Melanie. I needed someone to talk to,” Ellie said, sniffling. There was nothing menacing about Melanie’s aura. She was genuinely concerned about Ellie’s well-being.

Ellie saw Melanie shift in her seat uncomfortably, and she realized the woman was unsettled for other reasons besides her unbridled tongue. “Is there something else on your mind?”

Melanie tapped her pen against her notepad, as if debating her best plan of action. “There are some other things that you may want to know.”

“Like what?” Ellie asked.

“The story that agent babbled about the Bradford home fascinated me, what with him thinking it was haunted and all,” Melanie started.

“I think the story had that effect on everyone there, obviously,” Ellie said.

“So I’m gathering.” Melanie paused again. “So I’ve been doing some digging into the Bradfords myself. That fairy tale seemed a little too farfetched for my tastes.”

Ellie leaned forward in her chair, her afternoon’s revelations forgotten for the moment. “Did you find anything?”

“I found quite a bit actually,” Melanie said. “More than I expected really. And the interesting thing is the bits and pieces that you dreamt line up pretty well with what I’ve found.”

“Tell me everything,” Ellie demanded.

Melanie flipped over her notebook and started looking through the pages. “For starters, Joseph met Lillian when he was visiting some friends in Louisiana. They fell madly in love, like kids those days always did, and decided to get hitched.” Melanie’s finger ran down the page through her notes as she continued.

“The problem was, Joseph didn’t really have a lot of money, and his soon-to-be bride definitely had a lifestyle to which she was accustomed. Joseph wasn’t real keen on the idea of working for Lillian’s father or living in Louisiana. He wanted to return to Minnesota. So he came back up here determined to make his fortune so that he could provide for his wife and the expected kids that he figured were just over the horizon.”

“So far it doesn’t sound that bad,” Ellie commented.

“Just wait—it gets better,” Melanie said, waving her hand in the air.

Ellie wanted to ask another question, but decided to wait. She could see that Melanie was on a roll.

“Like I said, Joseph didn’t have a lot of money. So he decided to invest everything he had in the iron mines up in northern Minnesota. See, he had a buddy that had done that, who was starting to make a little bit of money.”

Melanie looked at Ellie for a reaction. Ellie shrugged, not sure where the story was going.

Melanie dropped the bomb. “His buddy was a Mr. Henry Decatur. The Decatur family had a long reputation of having mob connections here in the cities. Joseph was desperate to earn a decent wage, and Henry’s family had the connections. Shortly after that, Joseph took Henry with him on a visit down to Louisiana to see Lillian.”

“Henry met Emma,” Ellie said, starting to connect the dots.

“Bingo. Everyone was so delighted that the tides of fortune appeared to be turning for Joseph, and as an extra added bonus, he brought home a handsome young man who promptly asked for Emma’s hand in marriage.” Melanie glanced around the empty café. “Would you mind terribly if I had a cigarette?”

Ellie couldn’t have cared less at that moment, even though she hated the smell of cigarette smoke. “Go ahead, but only one,” she said.

Melanie smiled gratefully and pulled a cigarette pack from her purse. As she lit the end, her eyes closed in an expression of ecstasy. Ellie just shook her head. Smoking was one habit that she would never understand.

“Can you keep going now?” she asked Melanie.

“Oh, yes, things are right as rain again,” Melanie said, digging back into her story. “So all is going well in the lives of our two young newlywed couples. Emma was apparently braver than her sister, or perhaps less used to the creature comforts in life, so she came back to Minneapolis with Henry right away. Now that Henry was married, he was more than a little uncomfortable with the dirtier dealings that he had previously been associated with and seemed more interested in going legit. So he got himself a clerk position with an accounting firm downtown, and Emma got herself a job at the downtown Dayton’s department store. Money was tight, but by all accounts they were content.”

“They didn’t seem like flashy people in my dream,” Ellie agreed. “Not like Joseph and Lillian.”

“No, those two were the exact opposite. Lillian stayed behind in Louisiana, and Joseph got himself embroiled deeper and deeper in some pretty unsavory business transactions. But between that, and his legitimate holdings in the iron mines, he amassed a small fortune in just a few years. So he started work on Lillian’s dream home.”