“I told you not to buy all those fancy things for him when you were first married,” Teresa said. “Now they are hanging in one of those other women’s closets. They’ll take them to a consignment shop and make a fortune on them.”
“I don’t care if they burn them and dance naked around the flames. I just want this thing settled. I never want to see those women again.” Kate shoved it all into the bag.
“Well, this isn’t going to take long.” Teresa reached for a box on the shelf. “Are you even going to look in this or do we just put it in the bag, too?”
More to appease her mother than anything else, Kate flipped the lid off onto the bed. His last five years’ tax returns were there, but no will, which might have simplified things. The deed to the cabin he owned up by Lake Kemp, along with the taxes and insurance papers concerning the cabin, were tucked into a big manila envelope. She flipped through the federal business—no dependents, married but filing separate, with her listed as his spouse, and very little return for any of the five years. They’d been prepared by an accountant whose card was stapled to the front of each copy.
Kate set the box aside. “I’ll take this to the lawyers tomorrow. Looks like that cabin where we went on our honeymoon is his primary asset, so I’ll have to deal with it. I’ll get in touch with his accountant tomorrow to see if he has kept the utilities paid.”
“How many times did I tell you that man was trouble?” Teresa sighed.
Kate didn’t answer. Arguing with her mother was like fighting with a tornado—lots of wind and noise with only mayhem and destruction remaining at the end of the argument. It wasn’t totally unlike fighting with Conrad these past thirteen years, but at least he didn’t start every other sentence with “I told you so.”
Teresa glanced around the room. “Anything else?”
“I don’t think so.” Kate looked down at the bag. Fourteen years all neatly tied shut with a red plastic drawstring. Nothing remained but a few phone calls and selling a cabin located two and a half hours north of Fort Worth. “I’ll take this out to your car and put it in the trunk.”
The mistake she made fourteen years ago was finished and over. He wouldn’t appear at her house once a month and rant about a divorce.
“Nothing else in the rest of the house?” Teresa put the lid on the box, picked it up, and followed Kate out into the foyer.
“Not one thing,” Kate said.
She’d long since gotten rid of pictures or anything that might remind her of him when he was gone. What he had was contained in a room she hadn’t set foot in since she came home from the hospital after losing the baby. That was the first time he’d asked her to divorce him. Emptiness was worse than any emotion that she could imagine, but that’s the only thing she felt as she carried the trash bag out.
“Okay, then, I’ll drop the bag by the charity donation center at the church. I’m going to the office an hour or so this afternoon, so I’ll put this box on your desk,” Teresa said as they made their way out to the curb where her car was parked. “You could come home for a few days if you don’t want to be alone.”
A sweet offer, but Kate would rather ask her housekeeper to come over and stay a couple of days as spend time in a house with her mother.
“No, thank you. I’m fine.” Kate tossed the bag into the trunk and slammed the lid shut. “I’ll deal with the accountant and start proceedings for probate on the cabin tomorrow.” She didn’t need or want sympathy that day. She wanted to be alone—period.
“If you change your mind, just give me a call.” Teresa slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
Kate waved over her shoulder as she slowly walked up the sidewalk to the big two-story house in one of the elite sections of Fort Worth. God, she hated that house and had for the past thirteen years. She’d loved her little two-bedroom bungalow set back on a wooded five acres south of Fort Worth, but Conrad wanted a big house, and in those first few months, he got whatever he wanted. Thank goodness she’d had the foresight to leave his name off the deed.
She opened the front door, went inside, and slid down the back of the door. She drew her long legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. She would sell the house and either build or buy a smaller place down around Aledo, where she’d lived before. She liked that little bedroom community.
Her phone rang while she was making plans. Figuring her mother forgot something, she rolled up on her feet, fished the phone out of her purse without even glancing at who was calling, and hit the “Answer” button.
“What did you forget?” she asked.
“Lots of things. Can we meet tomorrow?” a masculine voice asked.
“Who is this?” Kate snapped back.
“Detective Waylon Kramer. This is Kate Steele, right?”
“Yes, it is, and I’ve already answered your questions,” she said.
“This is a murder investigation, and there will be new questions coming up every week. May I talk to you tomorrow morning?” he asked.