Letters From Al by Pieper, Kathleen (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

a few things. Get started on the paperwork and such. I'm sure you have questions."

Relieved, Maddy followed him into a neat office and watched as he closed the blinds hanging over the big plate glass window. A massive, old, oak desk gleamed in the fluorescent light, immediately catching her attention. The walls of the office were done in rich wood paneling.

"What a beautiful desk, Mr. Lancaster. It's from a very interesting period, and so well taken care of." Sliding her finger over the polished wood, she sat back in the leather chair he indicated.

"Well, thank you. Yes, it's an antique. I got it from a client of mind when he sold his estate at auction. You, ah, know your antiques."

"No, not really. I like antiques, is all. I read a lot in my line of work. I'm a librarian." She smiled and tried to relax. "I think I work with the written word so much I absorb things through my pores whether I know it or not." She laughed, but he didn't respond. So much for workplace humor, obvious that he missed the point altogether she thought to herself.

"Yes, I see. Now where in the world did that girl put the file? I don't know what Mr. Drake told you, but we're still looking for some papers your aunt misplaced. A dear, dear old lady, but not very organized, I'm afraid."

"I wouldn't know anything about that. I didn't know my great aunt very well. We only lived in Nielsen a short time when I was younger."

Looking around the office as Leland shuffled papers, Maddy waited patiently while he went through files and other piles of paper.

"Oh, so you really didn't know her and her affairs and such?"

"Your parents are both deceased, then?"

"Yes, killed in a car accident over two years ago. There are a few uncles and cousins left, but no one close to Great Aunt Madeline that I know of." Or, for herself for that matter, she thought sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Part of the problem was in finding you. You were a very difficult young woman to locate." He smiled, wrinkling up his narrow nose. "Your great aunt married a man named O'Keefe. Madeline Morris O'Keefe. We found a marriage certificate and a death certificate, and various other papers saying he was an orphan and had no living relatives. Finally we found a letter with your parent's name and address. I let Mr. Drake, her lawyer, know that I'd found you and he contacted you from there."

"I hardly recall Great Aunt Madeline and I feel bad about that." Maddy spread her hands and then let them fall to her lap, a thousand questions on her mind.

"Well, she probably didn't know about your parents deaths. Miss Madeline was very old and had been ill a long time with cancer. You realize your parents were not named in the will, only ."

"Yes, that's what Mr. Drake's letter said. That's what I don't understand. There weren't any other friends or family members named?"

"No. None that we could find, like I said we had a heck of a time finding you. Evidently her husband died before she settled here, in the war, I believe. You may have not known her but she evidently knew all about you and wished you to have all her worldly possessions. We'll have to continue tomorrow, my secretary must have put the rest of the papers somewhere else. I can't seem to find what I want." He frowned at the stacks of paper now on his neat desk.

"Where are you staying so I can contact you in the morning?"

"Well, I had planned on a motel but they're booked solid clear back to the next town, I checked on my way here. I hate to think of driving around all night looking for a place. Would it be okay if I just stayed at my aunt's house tonight?" Maddy asked hopefully.

Leland rubbed his mustache, his eyes darted side to side, as if he were thinking of a reason to say ‘no’. He wore a nice suit, but his tie was very loud colors in yellow and green. "I guess so.”

"It would be a good place that's close. It's over 25 miles back to the turn off. I don't feel like driving that far tonight."

"Well, of course, the house is yours. Just the formality of reading the will is all. I'll get the key and I can accompany you over there. I just hope it's clean enough." He shrugged, loosening his ugly tie a bit.

"There's no need for you to bother going with me. I'm dead tired and could probably sleep on a picket fence, so this will do nicely."

"I can pick you up for breakfast at eight tomorrow morning. We'll get something to eat and get started on the paperwork."

"Make it nine at least, and you've got a deal."

"It's a date. Sure you don't want company going through the house for the first time?"

Maddy couldn't put her finger on it, but Leland Lancaster didn't appear too anxious for her to stay at the empty house. Of course, she was so tired by this time that she didn't know what, if any motivation he had. Was it really concern for her safety and comfort? Or, was it something else?

Chapter 3

The streetlights flickered on in the soft dusk. Walking back to her car she noticed the crickets chirping and the quiet sounds of a small town winding down for the day.

"Careful, you could really get to like this type of living, Maddy," she said to herself, caught up in the freedom of walking alone at night. She loved to walk and run. Jogging opened her up, relaxed her from all the cares and stresses of the day. Some of her friends like to jog, but they weren't as devoted to it as she was. Rain or shine she picked her routes carefully in the big city, but here she felt she could be