Enchanted to Death (The Crayon Kitten Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) by Constance Barker

Author:Constance Barker [Barker, Constance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Constance Barker
Published: 2022-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Warren smiled at Kacie, as he was genuinely glad to see her. He wasn’t sure why, but it had been the same with April. He liked being around her.

“Yep, me,” Warren said. “May I come in?”

“Sure, sure.” Kacie stepped back. “What brings the Sheriff to my door?”

“News, big news.”

Warren stepped past her and spotted April’s cat slipping away. It was a weird cat, more colorful than most. April had loved the cat, well, if cats could be loved. They weren’t dogs. Cats didn’t always return affection.

“What?” Kacie asked.

“Grey Collins is dead,” Warren said.

“You’re...not kidding. I don’t understand. Accident?”

“Suicide. He took his own life.”

Kacie blinked and stepped back. “That makes no sense. Suicide? Why on earth would he do that?”

“We don’t know at this point, but it’s very weird. He was an heir in Vivian’s will. He seemed to be in good health. The ordinary reasons for suicide don’t seem to apply.”

“We need more information. No one just commits suicide. There has to be a good reason. Maybe not a valid one, but a good one.”

“Exactly. And, I’m thinking it has something to do with the will, Vivian’s will.”

“What about it?”

“Well, it’s not standard fare. For one thing, Vivian included a lot of conditions in the language.”

“Conditions? What sort of conditions?”

“Remember, Vivian loves games, and her will is sort of a knockout game.”

“Now, you’re really out there in left field. What sort of knockout game?”

“According to the will, if one of the heirs dies before the estate is divided, then that heir is out. His or her inheritance does not pass along to his or her heirs. It stays with Vivian’s estate and increases the shares of the other heirs.”

“Wait, wait, that means that the last person alive inherits the entire amount?”

“Exactly. With Grey gone, the others get a larger share. Vivian was clear about that.”

“Who are the heirs? Who might be culling the herd?”

“Bruce, Mina, Grey, and, get this, a mystery party.”

“Mystery party? What is that?”

“Someone whose name isn’t in the will but is known to the lawyer who wrote the will. It must be a codicil or something.”

“All right, we’ll find out later, I guess. It seems incredibly complicated. Why would Vivian do such a thing?”

“Who knows. We certainly don’t.”

“Did Grey leave a note?”

“He did, of sorts. He left a short message on his computer. He said he couldn’t live with himself any longer. That’s not an admission of guilt as far as Vivian is concerned, but it does speak to motive.”

“You can’t take a typed note seriously, well, not too seriously. That doesn’t make much sense.”

“I agree. At this point, I don’t know what to think, which is probably what Vivian intended.”

“I’m right there in the maze with you, Sheriff. I can’t seem to get a handle on this. Grey is dead. That's a new wrinkle in this.”

“It is, and while we have the note, we’re not going to just accept a suicide. In fact, I believe Danielle is about to question Mina. Want to tag along and listen?”

“You’ll let me do that?”

“It’s what April would have done.

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