Baptist DISTINCTIVE: An Adam Mykonos Mystery (The Adam Myknonos Mystries) (5 page)

Ric
nodded.

“Oh
yes the new Archie’s come in.” She said with an ironic grin.

“Actually
it’s a big Spider-Man week.” I sent the irony back at her.

“Spare
me. Is Thursday morning at ten good?”

“Make
it so.”

While
the next day was busy at work I made sure that found the time to pray and read over
the letter that Joshua had left for me. I read over Joshua will and Mac’s as
well. Ric was the Executor of Mac’s modest estate and for various reasons we
had felt it best to read the wills at the same time. I consulted with my wife,
the best advisor I have this side of the heaven and brought Christina up to speed
on what was going on.

As
we had predicted the judge had denied bail and while Christina was going to
appeal that decision we were more than a month away from the next major legal proceeding.
In the meanwhile Ivy was at the Washington County Dentition Center, in general
population at her own request. She had told Christina that there may be souls
to be lead to Christ amongst the women and so she did not want to be excluded
from them.

 
I got confirmation of one piece of information
I was going to need for the reading of the will from Christina and then made it
a point to invite her to the reading. She thought it would be a good for her to
be there, and once we consulted with Ric over any conflict of interest we were
good to go.

Thursday
Morning brought the kind of mid-summer weather that brings hope to the world.
The birds were singing their morning song as late as 10:15 when Rita and I walked
into Ric’s Office, fashionably late, as they say.

Jeannie
smiled at us. “Everyone is up stairs. They began arriving at 9:30.”

“Anxious
little buggers” my wife said with a smile.
 
She wore a light blue summer sun dress and blonde sandals which played
off her dark coffee skin quite nicely, at 5’9 Rita was almost as tall as I was,
her bone thinness adding to the illusion of height, she would tower over any of
the women upstairs, with the exception of Ric herself, and she would even dwarf
more than a few of the men.

We
entered the second floor conference room with as much flourish as a displaced
New Yorker and his wife could muster.

 
I swear the birds stopped singing as we walked
in, it was a uniformly unhappy little group. The only smiles we got came from
Ric and Christina who sat next to each other at the far end of the table.

Luke
was in the first chair on the right as I entered and on the left was Dr. Longstreet,
his Southern showing today in a white suit with a cream colored shirt and
darker cream tie; in his hand was a wide brim white panama hat. Next to him was
young Joshua Longstreet looking grim and more than a little annoyed: he was
flanked by an older man wearing the stereotypical coke bottle glasses. We had
only met once before but I knew him to be Ivy’s father Pastor Michael Horatio
Glover, fundamental radio’s “singing pastor”. He wore a dark brown suit that
may have been new in the Regan era. I registered the gun bulge on his ankle and
was more than a little concerned about what he thought he could hit at his age
and with those glasses.
 

Next
to Glover sat what could have been Ivy’s twin, except for the marked use of Botox,
which the elder Mrs. Glover was apparently addicted to.
 

Continuing
down that side of the table was Jim Sinclair, Pastor Longstreet’s blonde
haired-blued eyed Aryan son-in-law. He was built like an outlaw biker, minus
the tats.
 
His attitude was always
aggressive and his racism barely contained. As always the way he glared at my
wife made be both angry and nauseated

Tim
Lafayette closed out that side of the conference table, the two chairs at the
opposite end were clearly set for Rita and I, on my right would be Mr. and Mrs.
Daniels, looking small and damaged in that way that only people who have lost a
child can look.

I
was startled to see Ryder Mathewson the chairmen of the board of Christian Fundamental
Radio sitting next to the Daniels. I had never meet the man in person, but had
seen his picture numerous times over the years. He was named in Joshua’s will
but it was a minor bequest and I thought he would forego the reading.

Mathewson
was the driving force behind bringing fundamental radio to the FM market. Long
regulated to the lower channels of the AM band, Mathewson had poured his
personal fortune into competition with Clear Channel and others for a piece of
the FM market. A true visionary he had also made the early leap to Sirrus. WCBC
Radio a part of the ministry that Joshua had brought to Calvary was one of the
flag ship stations of the line, its unique location in Hagerstown making the signal
viable east to Washington DC and Baltimore and North to Harrisburg PA. Next to
the sharply dressed Mathewson was a rather surprisingly disheveled Douglas
Hallman III, heir to the powerful Hallman Family Christian Law firm and from
what I had heard through the grapevine, Mathewson’s personnel attorney. I knew
Hallman from some work he had done at Calvary but I ventured to guess he did
not remember me.

Ann
Blaine, Pastor’s wife sat between Halllman and her husband, not an unusual
place for the elegant young woman, who was a close friend of my wife’s, the
story was she had dated both men in college, choosing the young dynamic
pastoral student over the prodding lawyer.

“Hello
Everybody” I said in my best Dr. Nick voice. No one but Christina caught the
joke. She gave a small laugh and then stopped abruptly, embarrassed I suppose
to be the only one finding humor.

I
pulled a chair out for Rita and waited a moment before sitting down. Mathewson,
Longstreet, Mr. Daniels, Glover and Lucas were all ordained preachers, use to
taking charge and being the center of attention. Hallman, Blade and Denmark
were attorneys, the reading of wills was something they were each use to. Lafayette
ran a mid-size construction business and Sinclair was the owner of a furniture
store and a frequent local spokesman on the rights of gun owners.

Neither
my wife nor Ann Blaine could be considered anyone’s idea of a quiet little
woman nor did I suspect that Mrs. Glover lacked the steel that made her
daughter so formidable. All of these people were use to being in charge.
 
But they all held their tongue as I settled
in. I placed my briefcase on the table and took the file out with as much
flourish as Doug Henning in the Magic Show.

“What
I want to know is why that harlot’s family is here.” Came the shrill voice of
young Joshua Lexington, ruining my moment and making a fool of himself all in
one fell swoop.

“Josh,
keep a tone of respect in your voice and apologize to the Daniel’s right this
minute.”
 
Luke snapped at his nephew.

“Why
Uncle Luke, you know what I am saying is the truth, she ruined my parents’
marriage and I bet she killed my father.”

“Young
man, please.” Came Rev. Daniels small voice.

“Please
what Sir? Please don’t tell the truth?”

“Please
shut the hell up!” I snapped.
 
“Josh you
are here because you and your sister are named in your father’s will but as His
Executor I will have you removed if you continue to disrupt these proceedings.”

“The
boy has a right to speak his mind.” Said Jim Sinclair flatly.

“And
when he develops a mind, my husband will allow him to speak.” Snapped Rita.

“Uppity.”

I ignored
Sinclair and turned to his father-in-law: “Dr. Longstreet, your dog is in here
because you asked Ms. Blade if he could attend, he is not a necessary party to
this. Chain him or send him out into the yard.”

Before
either man could answer I turned to Joshua Jr. “As for you young man, give it a
rest. Your grief does not give you the right to be rude or inconsiderate, your
father would be ashamed and your mother would smack your face.”

“That
she would.” His Grandfather Glover murmured, surprising me by doing so.

I
finally acknowledged Sinclair. “Insult my wife again and you will not be able
to draw that gun from the small of your back fast enough to save your life.”

He glared,
I grinned, and Rita laughed at him.

Longstreet
gave his son-in-law a look that said settled down and so Sinclair sunk into his
seat scowling as he did.

“Now
let’s start again. I know that some of the people who were left small legacies
could not be in attendance, but I am concerned as to the absence of Miriam, as
she is named in both wills.”

“Miss
Miriam is still too upset to be in public.” Said Longstreet.

I glimpsed
over at Luke and Ann, then turned to the Glover’s “Is that your opinion as her
grandparents?”

Pastor
Glover cleared his throat and for a horrible second I though the singing pastor
was going to sing.
 
He looked over at his
wife and spoke with the deep treble of one use to speaking on radio.

“We
have not seen Miriam yet, we arrived in town only a few hours ago and thought
it best to come here and then to see Ivy.
 
Brother Beau is a longtime family friend and if he says that Miriam is
indisposed then I am in agreement.”

“Why
is she with the Longstreets and not with the Blaines?” I asked.

“My
sister wants nothing to do with that side of the family.” Snarled young Joshua.

“Did
I give you permission to speak again?” I asked calmly.

“Nevertheless
that is the case.” Said Pastor Longstreet. “I have spoken to the child and
attempted to get her to reach out to her Aunt and Uncle but she refuses.”

“You
would not even put her on the phone when I called.” Snapped Luke.

“She
would not speak to you, son, I am sorry.”

I
glanced at Christina and Ric. Ric cocked an eyebrow and gave me a tight nod.

“I
am going to go ahead with the reading of these wills, but as I said Miriam is
named in both, and her custody in the case of the death or indisposition of one
or both of her parents is also addressed.”

“Excuse
me Mr. Mykonos” said Pastor Daniels meekly.

“Yes
Sir?”

“I
am afraid I do not know why these two wills need be read at the same time, are
my daughter’s last wishes so tied to that of her fiancé?”

There
was an audible sigh at the word fiancé from any number of people in the room, including
my wife.

“I
am afraid so Sir.”

Ric
stood up and addressed Pastor Daniels. “Sir, Mr. Mykonos is not the executor of
your daughter’s will.
 
As her attorney
she appointment me, but there are a number of complications in both her will
and her insurance which necessitate the reading be conducted together.”

“Before
we get started I would like Ms. Denmark to address a matter concerning the
times of death, I do this as a formality as both wills include a 30 day clause
rendering anything left one to the other void if they die within 30 days of
each other.”

Christina
stood up and puffed the hair out of her eyes as she began to speak. “While the
state will not have a full report until later this week, they have done his
preliminaries….”

Mr.
Daniels cut her off “Excuse me does that mean they will release our baby?”

Ric
smiled kindly “My understanding is that you may claim the body as early as
tomorrow morning.”

“Thank
you” he murmured.

Christina
nodded at him and went on; “The preliminaries indicated that Joshua and Mac
died within minutes of each other, it is nearly impossible to tell who…who was
murdered first but indication are that it was Mac.”

Both
of the Daniels sobbed.

I gave
Christina a small smile and said “Thank you Chris, I am not sure what
difference it really makes but as far as we know that is the case and so I am
going to ask Ric to read Mac’s will first”

Ric
stood up again; she liked using her height to her advantage.

“I
will not trouble you with the details or legal language, sufficient to say that
McKenzie had left her entire estate including an insurance policy in the amount
of one million dollars to Joshua but since he died within 30 days of her death,
the secondaries have kicked in on both the estate and the policy. Her estate
which includes her home, car and antique book collection is left to her parents;
the insurance policy names Calvary Baptist Church as the secondary.”

“What?”
said Luke. “But she left that church.”

“And
never joined yours.” Said Sinclair.

“But
you used her as a scapegoat” Luke said accusing Longstreet.

“I
did nothing of the kind. Mrs. Lexington made those accusations, which turned
out to be the case, not me.”

“I
wash my hands of the blood of this innocent girl?” I said raising an eyebrow.

“In
short. Yes.” Snapped Longstreet.

“I
protest.” Said Luke