Marriage and Murder (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 4) (11 page)

Angie buzzed Mike just after he’d
ended the call with Luke.

“Mike, sorry to bother
you, but Lem’s on line one. He says he’d really like to talk to you if you have
a few minutes.”

“Thanks, I’ll take the
call.”

“Good afternoon, Lem, how
was your vacation?”

“As always, way too short,
but we really had a good time. We left right after your wedding and went up to
Seattle for a couple of days. Love that town! My wife’s a big Dale Chihuly fan.
He’s the guy who does all the art glass stuff. His pieces are pretty incredible,
and he’s got exhibitions all over the world. Fascinating stuff. Wish we could
afford a piece of his work. I think my wife’s one regret in life is that she
never bought a piece of his years ago when she was a student at the University
of Washington, and he was selling his art glass out of the trunk of his car. If
she had, I could probably retire.”

“Kind of rings a bell, but
I’m not familiar with him, or for that matter, anybody in the art world. It’s one
of the things I never got around to learning about,” Mike said.

“He’s got a permanent
exhibition in the Tacoma Art Museum. We stopped there on our way up to Seattle,
and there was also a special show of his blown glass pieces at the Seattle Art
Museum. Take a minute and look him up on the Internet. I think you’ll like his
work. Some of his pieces are huge, I’m talking twenty feet tall, or more. It’s
amazing! You look at his stuff, and you can’t figure out how anyone could blow
glass and make those huge pieces. It’s kind of ironic he was blinded in one eye
by glass, but it wasn’t from blowing glass. He was in an automobile accident,
and it was from the windshield.”

“Next time I go to Seattle
I’ll check it out. I know Kelly loves things like that. We didn’t take a
honeymoon, and the stay at-home and relax honeymoon we were planning only
lasted about half a day, until we found Jesse Allen’s body. When this case is
solved, might be time for a belated honeymoon.”

“That’s why I’m calling. I
have some information for you about Jesse. My poor secretary says that Jesse’s
ex-wife Sydney is driving her nuts. She says Sydney must have called twenty
times a day for the last two days, to see if I’d checked in with my secretary
while I was gone.”

“What was she calling
about?”

“This is kind of a dicey
situation. Jesse had a large life insurance policy he took out when he was married
to Sydney. They agreed he wouldn’t have to pay her alimony since she was a
school principal and had a fairly nice income, but instead he would keep her on
as the primary beneficiary on his life insurance policy in case something
happened to him.”

“Can’t blame her for
calling. She probably wants to get that money sooner rather than later.”

“That’s the dicey part.
She’s not going to get the money.”

Mike interrupted him. “What
are you talking about? When I was going through Jesse’s files, I found his life
insurance policy, and Sydney was named as the primary beneficiary.”

“Correction, Mike. You saw
the old insurance policy. Early last week Jesse made an appointment with me. He
told me he was deeply in debt and couldn’t remember when I handled the divorce
for him if he’d signed anything that meant he had to keep Sydney on as the primary
beneficiary of the one million dollar policy. I told him no, that it was a
gentleman’s agreement between the two of them and not legally enforceable. Bottom
line is he decided he didn’t want to play nice and be a gentleman any longer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Jesse changed
the person named as the primary beneficiary of the policy from Sydney to me
with the stipulation the proceeds from the policy were to only be used to pay
off his creditors. In other words, Sydney is no longer a beneficiary, and she gets
nothing.”

“Have you told her?”

“No. I wanted to talk to
you first. I know she’s going to be furious when I tell her, and quite frankly,
she can be a hothead at times. The reason I called is to ask you if you could possibly
come to my office at 4:30 today. She has an appointment with me then, and I’m
going to have to tell her about the change in the life insurance policy.”

“Sounds like what you want
me to do is sit there and keep my gun in my hand in case she pulls one out.”

“Yeah, and you might also remember
she won the pistol shooting competition at the county fair a few years ago.
I’ve never known her to be violent, but I don’t want to find out the hard way.”

“I’ll be there to make
sure she doesn’t do anything she might regret.”

“I’m the one who might
regret it if she does anything,” Lem chuckled.

“One more question, Lem. Do
you know if Sydney knows that Jesse changed the beneficiary designation on the insurance
policy?”

“No, I don’t. I’d have a
hard time believing he would have told her knowing their stormy past and her
temper, but maybe she found out. Maybe that’s why she’s been calling so much,
to see if what she heard is true. I have a hunch you’re thinking that if she
found out about it, it might have provided a pretty good motive for her to kill
him.”

“Unfortunately, that’s
exactly what I was thinking. Well, we should know more this afternoon. See you
then.”

Mike buzzed Angie. “I’m
going to have to leave early today. I have a meeting over at Lem’s office at
4:30. I’ll go home after that.”

“No problem. By the way,
the state police DNA lab called. Want me to get them on the line for you?”

“Give me about five
minutes. I need to call Kelly and tell her I might be a little late for
dinner.”

He called Kelly on her
cell phone. “Hi, sweetheart, how is Mrs. Reynolds doing this afternoon?”

“Mrs. Reynolds is fine,
thank you. I’m just pulling out of the market. Plan on pork chops stuffed with blue
cheese and artichoke hearts along with a killer sauce when you get home.”

“I wish I was on the way
right now. There’s a meeting I have to attend, so I may be a little late
tonight. Hope that doesn’t ruin your menu.”

“No, I won’t even start
until you get here. Take your time. Anything happen of interest today?”

“Yeah, a lot. I’ll tell
you all about it when I get home. Loves!”

He looked down at the
phone and saw that line two was blinking. He buzzed Angie. “Angie, I see there’s
a call on line two. Is that the state police lab?”

“Yes, they’re on hold for
you.”

“Thanks,” he said,
punching line two on his phone. “This is Sheriff Reynolds, may I help you?”

A few minutes later he
hung up, wondering how the information he’d received from the state police lab
was going to affect his and Kelly’s lives.

At 4:25 Mike walked into Lem’s law
office and saw Sydney sitting in the waiting room. “Good afternoon, Sydney, how
are you?”

“I’ve been better. I’m
glad Lem’s back in town, because I really need to talk to him. What are you
doing here?”

Before Mike could respond,
the door to Lem’s office opened, and he walked out into the reception room.
“Sydney, Mike, it’s good to see both of you. Please come into my office. Would
you like some coffee or water?”

“No thanks,” they both said
simultaneously. Sydney sat down in one of the two client chairs located on the
opposite side of the oak desk from where Lem was seated. Mike sat on the brown
leather couch behind Lem’s desk.

“Lem, why is Mike here? I asked
to meet with you, not him. I expected to have a private and personal meeting
with you. What we talk about is none of the sheriff’s business.”

“This meeting regards a
person who is now deceased. Since Mike is investigating his murder, I thought
it was appropriate for him to be here. You aren’t my client, your ex-husband
was, so there’s no violation of an attorney-client relationship.”

“Well, if you want him
here, it’s your law office,” she said scowling at Mike. She turned back to Lem.
“I want to know when I’ll get the proceeds from the life insurance policy Jesse
had naming me as his primary beneficiary. I don’t know who the executor of
Jesse’s will is, but since you’re his attorney, and neither his mother nor
sister ever said anything to me about it, I’m assuming it’s you.”

“That’s right, Sydney, I’m
the executor of his estate, and as such, I have to tell you that you won’t be
getting any proceeds from the insurance policy.”

“What are you talking
about? Jesse and I had an agreement,” she said, jumping up from her chair and raising
her voice. “That was part of our divorce settlement. He was to name me as the
primary beneficiary on his life insurance policy. You know that.”

“Sit down. What you’re
saying is true. At the time you were divorced, Jesse named you as the primary
beneficiary on his life insurance policy, but you may remember that there was
no written agreement about it. It was only an unenforceable oral agreement.
Early last week Jesse changed his mind. He was deeply in debt, and named me as
the primary beneficiary of the policy with the caveat being that if he died, I
was to distribute the proceeds from the insurance policy to his creditors. The
balance of the proceeds are to be given to The Wine Institute of Oregon to be
used for educational purposes.”

“He can’t do that! We had
an agreement. So what if he was in debt? That doesn’t have anything to do with
me!” she screamed as her face turned red with anger.

“Please lower your voice,
Sydney. You’re absolutely right. If you had been the recipient of the policy
proceeds, you would not be legally bound to distribute any of that money to his
creditors, however, that’s not the case. I will be the recipient of the policy
proceeds. Here’s a copy of the legal document Jesse signed, instructing me how
to distribute the proceeds. This copy is for you. The original will be part of
the documents I’ll be filing with the probate court tomorrow.”

Sydney stared at Lem in disbelief
as her shaking hand snatched the piece of paper he handed her, her gold
bracelets jangling. She quickly read it and stood up.

“You’re just as slippery
as he was. I’ll have my attorney look at this, and the next time I see you will
be in court when I sue you for the proceeds from that policy.” She flounced out
the door, slamming it behind her.

Lem sat back down in his
chair. “I thought that went well, didn’t you?” he asked Mike sarcastically.

“Well, the good news is
that she didn’t pull a gun on you. Can she sue you over that document Jesse
signed?”

“You’re right about the
gun and yes, she could sue me. You can sue anybody for anything, but the question
is ‘does she have a case?’ Any honest lawyer knows she’d lose in a court of
law, however there are a lot of unethical lawyers around who might tell her she
could possibly win while they make her pay a fat retainer and bill her at an outrageous
hourly rate. It could end up costing her a lot of money, and she’d still lose
her case.”

“She’s a big girl. That’s
a decision she’ll have to make. What I find interesting is that she certainly
seemed shocked by what you just told her. If she knew about the change in
beneficiaries before she came in here, she’s one heck of an actress.”

Lem took off his
tortoiseshell rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I agree. You said you saw an
insurance policy in his files naming her as the beneficiary. Where did you find
it?”

“It was in his desk in the
small office he had at The Crush. Why?”

“Pretty far out thought,
but what if she’d seen that policy recently and knew he was getting farther and
farther into debt? He may have even told her he was sinking financially and
about to go broke. If someone needed to cut their expenses, what’s one of the
first things they’d do? They’d cancel their life insurance policy. I’m not
saying she’s the one who shot poor Jesse, but it certainly is food for thought.
Perhaps she was afraid he’d cancel the policy and she’d never get any money
from him, so she figures it’s better to kill him while he still has the policy
in full force and effect.”

“Next time you’re looking
for work, Lem, let me know. Think I could use you over at my office. That’s a
pretty interesting theory. I need to mull it over.”

They both stood up. “Mike,
thanks for coming on such short notice. Fortunately you didn’t have to do any
lawman stuff or pull out your gun, but I felt better knowing you had my back
covered, literally, from where you were sitting.”

“You’ve got a permit to
carry a gun, don’t you, Lem?”

“Yes, but I’ve never found
it necessary to carry a concealed weapon. My wife made me get a permit to carry
one several years ago when I was representing a wife in a messy divorce case,
and the husband threatened to kill me. Why do you ask?”

“I kind of remember
issuing the permit to you. Given that you’re the bad guy in Sydney’s eyes, might
be a good thing for you to keep a gun near you, like in your desk, in your car,
or by your nightstand. I’m sure you won’t have to use it, but I’d feel better
if you had it handy.”

“Thanks. That’s enough to
make anybody’s day – have the sheriff tell you he thinks you need to keep a gun
near you. Okay, I will, but I’m not particularly happy about it.”

“I’m sure you won’t need
it, but it’s been my experience when people are prepared for things, they don’t
get caught off guard and get themselves hurt or worse yet, get themselves
killed.”

“Consider it done. Tell
Kelly hi and that she was a beautiful bride. We thought it was a nice touch to
have Cash and Julia in the wedding. Gotta tell you, from where I was sitting, I
could see a lot of handkerchiefs brushing away tears. Again, congratulations.”

“Well, Lem, you have a good
evening,” Mike said, as he put on his signature white Stetson hat and gave him
a mock salute. He walked out the door to the patrol car where Rebel was
patiently waiting for him, standing up in the front seat and making sure the
car was just as Mike had left it when he went into Lem’s office.