Chapter 30

Chapter

Thirty

KEIR

I wasa nervous wreck standing in a small room in the bank with one of the tellers while we waited for the safe-deposit box to be brought into the room. Dash had sweet-talked our way in by saying I was Horace Green’s attorney and was there to document the contents of his safe-deposit box.

We said his daughter was coming to collect the contents the next week, and we needed a detailed list to close out Horace’s estate. My man was a silver-tongued devil.

“Here we are, Mr. Dearly. We’re sorry for your client’s passing. He’s had the box for a very long time, according to our records,” the security manager informed as he carried the box into the room and placed it on the table.

I handed him the key from Horace’s personal effects, and he pulled a matching one from an envelope, inserting both into the box lid. “I’ll leave you to inspect the contents. When you’re finished, just ring the bell and we’ll collect it to hold for Miss Green.”

Nodding, I watched the two men leave the room. Guilt was consuming me, which was ridiculous. Dash had waited outside, so I opened the door and motioned him in.

Apparently, he could see I was a little rattled because once he was inside, he placed his hand on the back of my neck to ground me. “Let’s see what we have, Dearly.”

I lifted the lid and peered inside, seeing a lot of brown envelopes on the top. I removed them and stacked them on the table, seeing a few boxes inside. I took those out and put them next to the envelopes, and last, was a letter-sized white envelope that wasn’t sealed.

“I feel shitty doing this. These are Horace’s private things, Dash.” I still had his dog tags and wedding ring that had been found on him when he died. The safe-deposit box was the sum-total of his life’s worth. It felt wrong for me to be the one going through it.

My long-suffering fiancé sighed. “I have no guilt about it at all. I’ll look through it.” I chuckled. Leave it to Dash.

Thankfully, none of the envelopes were sealed, so he began lifting the flap and checking the contents. “Cash.”

Dash removed ten bundles of ten thousand dollars each. “Damn! These are all uncirculated. I hope they’re not counterfeit.”

There were three more envelopes with the same. Another envelope had a stack of legal documents. I scanned those as Dash went on to look at the rest.

“These are beneficiary documents. She’ll need to find a lawyer to claim the life insurance proceeds.”

Dash nodded. “We know one of those.”

The next envelope had pictures, and on the back was small tight printing that named everyone in the photos. Some appeared to be family, and some were Army buddies. Sibley’s brother, Sandy, was in several of them. I was sure she’d be happy to see those.

One box held postcards and coins from Horace’s travels during his time in the military. He’d written the dates on the back of the cards, but nothing more.

In one of the envelopes there was a certified copy of his birth certificate, his marriage license to Naomi—along with the divorce papers—and pictures of Rachel when she was born. A certified copy of her birth certificate was also in the envelope.

“That’s all the legal documents to show they’re related. She’ll need those to claim the inheritance.” For a man who had his struggles with drugs, Horace certainly had been detail-oriented.

The rest of the large envelopes were filled with letters from Naomi to Horace at his various duty stations. We didn’t read them because it wasn’t any of our business. I hoped to hell some of them showed that the couple had been in love at one point in their lives. That should give Rachel some comfort that her parents were happy at one point in time.

I opened a black leather box to find Horace’s Bronze Star nestled in a bed of navy velvet. It had a red, white, and blue ribbon affixed with the five-point star as bright and shiny as the day it was given to him.

The other box held mementos from when Rachel was little—her hospital bracelet, a tiny baby ring with an ‘R’ engraved, and folded drawings of Horace in his camo gear holding her hand.

Dash sniffled. “I want things like this to look back on. I gotta talk to Lenny about getting my record sealed. I want children with you, Dearly.”

He reached for me, and we held each other for a moment. It was everything I ever wanted to hear.

We reverently restacked things into the box before Dash slipped out unnoticed, and I pressed the button on the wall. When the security officer came in, he offered a cordial smile. “Everything accounted for?”

I didn’t think it was illegal to have three hundred grand in cash in a safe-deposit box—or I hoped not—but I wasn’t disclosing the contents to anyone. That was Rachel’s business, not mine.

“Yes, thank you. I’d like to arrange for his daughter to retrieve the contents next Wednesday afternoon if that’s okay.” We didn’t need to be along for that. It was probably best to not show ourselves at that bank again.

We left, and Dash took us to a nearby hamburger place to get food. We sat down in a booth, and he grinned at me. “What?” I reached up to be sure I didn’t have anything gross hanging out of my nose.

“Nothing. I’m just glad we’re able to help Rachel. She stands to inherit about a million, plus that cash. Keirnan will know how to help her invest it and see that she has a safety net for the bad times. Hopefully, there won’t be any.”

I had to agree. She’d been through enough in her short life. I had high hopes that Rachel Green-Morton would enjoy sunshine and smooth sailing for the rest of her days.

Monday afternoon,the doorbell for the funeral home rang. I was in the office working on year-end financials to take to the accountant.

After the burial for Horace, Dash and I would be driving down to Monterey for Christmas and the wedding. We would stay a couple of days at Louver’s Hideaway after the reception to give the couple time at the house by themselves, and I was looking forward to a mini-beach getaway with just the two of us.

Dash and I had gone to the quaint little B&B when we’d first gotten together while his brother’s murder was being investigated. I’d already talked to Chuck and Bill. They were looking forward to seeing us again.

Then, we’d drive home with Mom and Lenny in tow and get married on New Year’s Eve. Mom and Lenny would fly out of Sacramento for their month-long honeymoon in Bali and Australia on January 2nd.

Dash and I planned to take our honeymoon later in the spring—or so we hoped. In our business, death was unpredictable. We took our responsibilities at the funeral home very seriously.

I hurried from my office to the foyer to answer the door. Amelie was out to lunch with Trent, and Vale was running errands. Dash was helping at Clegg Cycles so Fish could visit a buddy for the holidays, and Lake was finishing up her classes at cosmetology school. I was alone in the funeral home and honestly enjoying the quiet.

I checked my phone before I opened the door to Keirnan, Sibley, and Rachel on the porch, so I pulled the door open and offered my funeral-director smile. “Hello. I’m Keir Dearly. Please come inside.”

Sibley stepped forward and shook my hand. “It’s nice to put a face with a name, Mr. Dearly. The notice sent to Rachel by the Army regarding her father’s burial referenced Dearly & Son as the funeral home that held Sergeant Green’s service, so we wanted to stop by and thank you.”

Okay, that was easy. “Here, let me take your coats. I’m glad you stopped by, but I was planning to see you on Wednesday at the burial service. I want to make certain everything goes as planned. We consider it an honor to provide a service for a fallen soldier, and I’ll make sure there are no hiccups. Let’s go into the hospitality suite. I have some of Sergeant Green’s personal belongings I was planning to bring on Wednesday, so this works out well.”

I showed them into the large room where we had refreshments and places for family and friends of the deceased to take a break. It had been refreshed recently, and I believed it was quite tranquil.

“Mr. Dearly⁠—”

“Oh, please, call me Keir. Can I get you something to drink?”

After setting them up with water and sodas, I went to my office to gather the envelope Jonas had brought when he’d dropped off Horace weeks ago. I carried it to the hospitality room and handed it to Rachel.

“Dr. Arroyo, our county medical examiner, was instrumental in helping me track down your father’s identity. From there, his assistant contacted the Army, and we were able to give your father a military funeral with an honor guard from the local VFW. There will be a military burial on Wednesday, Miss, uh⁠—”

“Morton. Keirnan’s brother married my mom and adopted me years ago. How did you ever find me? Mom seemed to think it was impossible.”

I glanced at Sibley, thinking about the Ouija board and all the snooping we’d done a few weeks ago, and it was all I could do not to smile. “Well, I felt I owed it to your father to find any living relatives he had, and I was fortunate to have a few friends who helped me work through the proper channels. These things were on your father’s person when he passed.”

I handed her the envelope, and she opened it, dumping everything on the table. I’d added an extra item—the business card for the head of security at the bank where Horace’s safe-deposit box was located.

The key was clipped to the card, and I offered no explanation. Some things were better left unsaid.

I felt a presence behind me, so I turned to see Horace standing next to one of the sofas, his eyes fixed on his grownup daughter. I wished to hell Dash was there with me to witness the smile on Horace’s face. It was truly beautiful.

We chatted for a few minutes about what Rachel could expect at the service on Wednesday, and she told me about a job interview she had in Sacramento at a school for children with special needs. She had trained to be a teacher, and she was excited for the opportunity.

The pride on Horace’s face at hearing her describe her volunteer work with an organization in Iowa that worked with kids with challenges was beautiful. Naomi should have been horse-whipped for keeping them apart when Rachel was a child.

Rachel slid the chain with Horace’s dog tags and wedding ring over her head and tucked it into the top she was wearing before they stood to leave. She handed Keirnan the key and business card, and he said he’d make a call. I planned to text Sibley later to tell her the time of the appointment I’d already made to help them out. I hated that Dash wasn’t back to see them before they left, but he’d see them on Wednesday.

Escorting them to the front door, I took Rachel’s hand to shake, clasping my left over the top. “I can tell you that from what I saw of Horace’s military files, your father was a decorated soldier. You can be proud of him.”

She smiled and hugged me, which was nice, and then she pulled away, a puzzled look on her face. She stared at me and then Keirnan. “That’s so weird. You all look a lot alike! See it, Aunt Sibs?”

“Uh, maybe a little around the eyes. Let’s go feed the baby. We’re starved.” Sibley winked at me, and the three of them left.

When I closed the door, I saw Horace standing at the window in the lobby area, watching them. “She looks like my mother.”

“She’s a beautiful young woman, Horace, inside and out. You have a lot to be proud of.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say, but he turned and nodded before heading toward the chapel and disappearing.

Tuesday afternoon, Dash and I met with Keirnan and Sibley while Rachel was at her interview. We took them to our favorite barbecue place in Sacramento, and the four of us sat at a table away from the noon-time crowd.

“Did Darryl ever go home?” Dash was trying not to laugh, likely remembering the asshole running into the dark that night. I chuckled as well.

“Eventually. He got home the Saturday after Thanksgiving. His story was he’d been abducted by aliens, and I nearly pissed myself when Dad told me while I was helping him milk one evening.”

“Oh, so you’re still at the farm? How’s the book coming along?” I couldn’t help myself. After walking in the man’s shoes for a few days, I was invested.

Keirnan chuckled and put his arm around Sibley’s shoulders. “It’s going to be dry as dust, but I have to account for the time off, anyway. Sibley told me how you figured out my plan. I was sure there was no way to get out of it, and that demon didn’t help. It sounds funny now, but I was scared shitless.”

Dash reached over the table and patted his forearm. “Dude, it’s not funny at all. It’s a whole different set of crazy, trust me. Are you all going to stay in Ames, or will you move out to Gilbert to be closer to the family when the baby comes?”

Sibley grinned as she looked at Keirnan and put a hand on her bump. “It’s a boy! We’re so excited, and we’ve talked about building a little place on the land my father owns so we can spend weekends and summers there. Keirnan can work remotely on occasion, so we’d be able to let our little peanut spend time with the grandparents. That way, maybe we can give him a sister someday.”

Keirnan leaned forward and kissed her lips before his right hand covered hers on her belly. “We owe you two so much. Thankfully, there are things I don’t really remember, or I’m sure I’d never sleep a wink, but I’m grateful you came along to help us with this unfathomable turn of events.”

Dash put his hand on the back of my neck and gave me a gentle squeeze. “We’re glad it’s all worked out.”

Our food came, and we changed the subject to happier topics. We told them about our wedding on New Year’s Eve, and they congratulated us.

We exchanged hugs with a promise to go to lunch the next day after the short graveside service at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery. I was sure we wouldn’t ever see them again, but it was good to know we’d been able to rectify more than one mistake. Chalking one up for the good guys for once felt good.