Ten Days in Summer by Susan Calder

Author:Susan Calder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: alberta murder mystery, calgary stampede literature, calgary woman sleuth, canadian professional investigator, female heroine whodunit, hoarders and family, insurance adjuster crime fiction
Publisher: The Azrieli Foundation

Chapter Seventeen

“Why would my uncle shut me out?”

“Shouldn’t the question be,” Paula asked. “Why did he leave his property to Florence?”

She stepped sideways so Brendan could get the pot from the stove drawer, bumping Leah, who stood beside the microwave table. There wasn’t room for three people in this kitchen. Leah retreated to the hallway next to the staircase.

Brendan rinsed the pot under the tap. “You never know what’s been crawling around in it.” He opened an upper cupboard. “Does canned soup go bad?”

“Check the expiry dates,” Paula said.

Brendan peered at the can lid. “Still good, barely.”

“Are there any vegetarian?” Leah asked.

Brendan picked out a cream of asparagus and chunky vegetable. He clipped a can to the electric opener. It made a grinding sound, but didn’t move. Another opener on the counter wouldn’t grip the lid.

“Fuck,” he said. “Shit. This place is crap.”

Paula took a turn at struggling with both openers. No success. The blade on a third opener was so rusted she insisted they look for a manual gadget.

Brendan rifled through a drawer filled with spatulas and serving spoons. “There are probably hundreds of openers buried in the stupid place. We can use this ladle for serving.”

“I’ll go change for work,” Leah said.

“Found it.” Brendan held up a hand opener. It peeled off both soup can lids with ease. “Uncle Caspar wrote that will right after I left for Queens. Was he mad at me for taking off?”

“The will may not have been about you, Brendan,” Paula said.

“Florence won’t leave me a cent. Uncle Caspar knows that. Knew that. She never liked me or my mother.”

Paula had heard little about his mother, other than that her name was Dixie and she was the second wife of Caspar’s older brother, Kurt. “What does your mother have to do with this?”

“Florence dumped my dad, but she still hated someone taking her place.”

Brendan hadn’t stuttered since they got to his apartment. Did he have a speech problem that flared up when he was stressed, as he’d been during the revelation upstairs? He had a point about his disinheritance being the main effect of Caspar’s new will. Assuming Florence didn’t gamble away her assets—and she didn’t seem the type—she would likely leave the property to her children. Cynthia and Johnny would each receive fifty percent rather than one third. In the long run, the first branch of Kurt’s family benefited from this new deal. It also wouldn’t be unusual for Florence to dislike the offspring of Brendan’s mother, her replacement.

“Your uncle might not have been thinking about how the will would affect you when he wrote it,” Paula suggested.

“Assuming the will is for real. I want your handwriting expert’s opinion.”

“I’m sure that between us, the police and Garner, we’ll verify or dismiss the document. Do you think your relatives are contacting him?”

“They’d be stupid not to, with all that money in it for them. Cynthia will be crowing about this.” Brendan sniffed the soup, dumped the can contents into the pot and sniffed the second soup can.

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