FORGET ME NOT (Mark Kane Mysteries Book One) (10 page)

Over my shoulder I said, “You may be
interested to know that I’ve seen the will now. It was apparently
signed at the Boylston Recreation Club and witnessed by two of
Gloria’s friends there. So now I can make some progress by visiting
the various beneficiaries. Gloria was fond of birds I understand.
She’s made a small bequest to an ornithological society that she
belonged to.”

Susan gave no indication that she had
listened to anything that I had said so far.

“Do you have cream and sugar with your tea?”
she asked, without turning around to look at me.”

“I’ll have it black please, no sugar.”

I strolled back to the table. Susan brought
two mugs over to the table, laid them down on the bare wood and sat
down opposite me.

“I’ve a few more questions about your
background, Susan. It won’t take long, but Gloria’s attorney is a
bit of a stickler for details. Can you tell me where you lived when
you were growing up and where you went to school?”

“We lived all over the place. My father was
constantly relocating because of his job. I had a disruptive
childhood because of that, always changing schools. Sometimes I
would only be at a school for one semester. When my parents died
they were living in Denver. I was in Boulder at that time, but I
hadn’t lived there long.”

“Are you still in touch with any friends
from your childhood?”

“I was never in one place long enough to
make any friends. It wasn’t like today, with Facebook. There
weren’t any computers when I was growing up, no emails, nothing.
After my parents were killed I moved from place to place. I suppose
I was used to it. I’ve probably lived in more places over the years
than most people visit in a lifetime.”

“Do you know where your parents were living
when you were adopted? Did they ever tell you that?”

“I told you, I didn’t know I was adopted
until I was sixteen. It didn’t seem important to me then.”

“But before you found out you were adopted,
wasn’t there any discussion about where you’d been born?”

“I know from my birth certificate where I
was born, but I never saw that until I was sixteen. That’s when I
found out that Joyce and Richard weren’t my real parents. My
earliest memory was when we were living in Tulsa I think. That’s
before I went to school.”

“Where were you when you first went to
school? I expect you can remember that. It’s a big milestone in
most children’s lives.”

“I don’t have any impression about that.
It’s quite disorienting you know when you’re always on the
move.”

“How about photographs? Do you have any
pictures from the period before your parents were killed?”

“Look around you. I travel light. I guess I
would have if there’d been digital photos in those days. I didn’t
even have an Instamatic.”

I’d already noticed the lack of any
photographs hanging on the wall or displayed anywhere else.

“You don’t seem to harbor the memories of
childhood and adolescence like most people do.”

“It was a long time ago. I’m a different
person now.”

I wondered if that was a Freudian slip.

“How was your relationship with your
parents? I mean before you learned you were adopted and afterwards?
Were you happy?”

“We weren’t close, if that’s what you mean.
It got worse after I found out because as I told you last time I
felt different towards them and they lost their sense of authority.
If we had arguments I would remind them they weren’t really my
parents, that sort of thing. I wasn’t a monster, just a teenager.
When I was seventeen I took off.”

“No boyfriends who might still hold a candle
for you?”

“No,” she said, and laughed drily. “I’ve
never been interested in accumulating things. When you travel from
place to place as often as I do it would be too much of a hassle
anyway.”

“Is there any reason that you have never put
down roots somewhere?”

“I like seeing new places and I get bored
easily. I don’t have anyone else to worry about. I’m not interested
in men; I like girls as a matter of fact if that doesn’t completely
freak you out”

“I like girls too so it doesn’t freak me out
at all.” I grinned at her. I wondered if the Josette, whose name
I’d seen inside some of the books, was her girlfriend or lover.

“When I get bored I sling my stuff in the
trunk and head off somewhere else. My car’s the only thing I care
about really, we’ve been together years. Funny how you can get
attached to something like that. I even have a name for her.”

“I thought about my old Chevy that my
brother had gifted to me many years ago. As if she was reading my
thoughts she said:

“You should take better care of that Chevy,
it needs a paint job.”

“I don’t want to pry into your private life
unnecessarily, but I’m sure you’re intelligent enough to realize
that the probate attorney is anxious to confirm your identity. It’s
not because he personally has any misgivings in that regard – he’s
just doing his job. If he doesn’t do his job diligently he could be
open to a lawsuit.”

“Of course I understand that. I’d offer you
a DNA swab if it was worth anything, but as far as I know there’s
nobody on Gloria’s side of the family to compare it with. It’s not
my fault.”

“Well that’s a good idea that I hadn’t
thought about. Probably if you are willing to provide a saliva
sample it would put Bill’s mind at rest, although between you and
me it’ll be about as useful as ducks at a dog show. Gloria was
cremated as you probably know which is why nobody’s thought of that
angle.”

“Her ashes are at the bottom of Greg’s
garden,” she said. “Did you know that? He even offered me some of
the ashes as a keepsake before he scattered them. Gross.” She
shivered exaggeratedly.

“Did you go to the funeral?”

‘No. Greg invited me but it didn’t seem
appropriate. I don’t know any of the family. I’d have felt as if I
was intruding. Anyway, funerals are pointless. It’s the way you
treat people when they’re alive that matters.”

“But Greg says you continued to visit Gloria
after she became ill; even when she could no longer recognize
you.”

“She was my mother. I’d lost her for all
those years. It was the least I could do not to abandon her when
everybody else did.”

“Why do you say that everyone abandoned
her?”

“Well, I’m not saying that her family didn’t
visit her at all, but let’s just say they didn’t linger. It was
like a duty they performed, probably just to keep their father
happy. The nurses were kind to her and looked after her as well as
they could, but it’s not the same thing.”

“When you visited her, were you alone with
her?”

“Except for the nurse; the one that came in
the evening. I never saw the other one. She always looked relieved
whenever I turned up because she’d be able to go outside for a
‘smoke break’ as she called it.”

“Can you tell me how you managed to find
Gloria so many years after you were adopted? What prompted you to
make contact when you did?”

“I’d always known about Gloria. Well, since
I was sixteen anyway, when my parents told me about the adoption.
They told me that they’d never had direct contact with her but they
knew her name, that she was married. They told me her married name.
I knew she lived in Boston. They said that one day I might want to
get in touch with her. For years I couldn’t see the point, but when
I found myself living nearby I guess curiosity finally got the
better of me. As a result this is the longest I’ve lived in one
place all my life.”

“And how did you first make contact, if you
don’t mind me asking?”

“I telephoned her one day. She was shocked
to say the least. She wanted to meet, so we did. The first time was
in a coffee shop in Boston, she was worried about me going to the
house. Not because she was ashamed of me or anything, but she
didn’t want to delay seeing me and she wanted to tell Greg before
she introduced us. After that we wrote to each other by email and
then Gloria invited me to the house. That’s it really.”

“Well thank you for your time Susan. I don’t
suppose it’ll be necessary for me to see you again, but I hope all
goes well for you. Oh, I’d better take the saliva sample you
offered, just to keep Bill happy.”

I took some swabs from inside Susan’s cheek
and popped them into a plastic bag that I’d brought with me, making
sure the seal was airtight. Ten minutes later I was on the scenic
route home. I had a post mortem about my performance. Lucy wasn’t
going to be impressed. On the other hand, I had Susan’s DNA sample,
so it wasn’t a completely wasted day. Was that a sign that Susan
really was who she claimed to be? Or was she simply calling my
bluff? Only time would tell.

I drove to Cambridge to deliver Susan’s
sample. Jill wasn’t in but I left it at the reception. They placed
it a sealed envelope, wrote my name and address on it and marked it
for the attention of Jill Bloom. I asked if it should be
refrigerated but was told it wasn’t necessary. I headed home.

When I got home I called Greg to tell him my
news.

“I managed to get a DNA sample from Susan
today, a swab from inside her cheek, and I’ve already delivered it
to the lab. Hopefully we’d have the results of both sample tests by
the end of next week.

“Oh, that’s very good news, well done.”

“Susan volunteered the swabs actually so I
can’t really take the credit.”

“Oh, really? Well, perhaps we’ve misjudged
her then. I’m glad you called. I can arrange for you to see Mrs.
James and Mrs. Munro tomorrow if it’s convenient. Saunders has
contacted them and they will be happy to come to my house in the
morning if that’s all right with you. I don’t recognize their names
but I’ll probably recognize them when I see them.”

Pauline James and Sandra Munro were the
signatories on Gloria’s will.

“Okay, let’s say ten o’clock then, shall we?
Or later if you prefer.”

“I’ll arrange it for ten. If there’s any
change I’ll let you know; if not I’ll see you then.”

Lucy dropped in at seven. She couldn’t help
noticing the box of orchids which I’d placed in the center of the
dining table.

“Greg sent those for you,” I said. “He grows
them in his greenhouse.”

“They’re beautiful,” she said, leaning over
to smell their fragrance. “Why don’t we share them?” Then, as if
the orchids had prompted the thought, she said: “we’re doing yard
work tomorrow.” Apparently she hadn’t deemed it necessary to
consult me about the matter first.

“Well it won’t be until the afternoon. I’m
off to Greg’s tomorrow morning to interview a couple of ladies from
the Boylston Club.”

“Ooh, can I come?”

“I said from the club, not at the club.
They’re the two that attested to Gloria’s signature on the will.
I’m going to find out whether she was dealing with a full deck at
the time.”

“You haven’t mentioned your interrogation of
Susan, so I assume you’ve got nothing to crow about there.”

“As a matter of fact I got a sample from her
to test her DNA.”

“What did you do, retrieve one of her
cigarette butts from the trash?”

“She doesn’t smoke.”

“Steal one of her coffee cups before she had
a chance to wash it?”

“I got some swabs from the inside of her
cheek.”

“What, without her knowing about it?”

“Lucy, she volunteered it, you dummy.”

“Hmm, well that puts a different complexion
on it. Perhaps she’s been falsely maligned.”

“Nobody’s maligned her. She’s under
suspicion, that’s all. And anyway I don’t think you should read too
much into it. She’s a smart cookie and she’s probably confident
that we don’t have anything to compare it with. She knows that
Gloria was cremated and that she has no living blood relatives.
None that we know about anyway. Any luck with the plane crash?”

“I don’t think ‘luck’ and ‘plane crash’ can
really be used in the same sentence,” Lucy said.

“Well, have you?”

“Not yet, no. They say that if you die in a
plane crash your whole life flashes in front of you. Before you
die, obviously.”

“The people who say it aren’t dead Lucy; how
would they know?”

We went to sit out on the porch for a
while.

“So did you find out anything useful about
Susan’s background today?”

“She’s gay.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me. It’s about the only thing she
did tell me, and I don’t think that information is going to help.
She told me that the reason she contacted Gloria when she did is
because she happened to be working nearby where Gloria lived. I’ve
asked at the restaurant where she worked and it checks out.”

“Okay, then yard work after lunch tomorrow.
Don’t forget.”

She set off on her short journey home.

“They’ll be here shortly. They seem to know
me, so I’ll probably recognize them when I see them.”

I was back at Greg’s house for the meeting
with the two ladies from the club.

“Well it shouldn’t take long. I’m just
curious about why Gloria wouldn’t have chosen people she knew
better. It all rather tends to suggest that she was purposely
trying to keep the matter confidential; even from you. And from
what you’ve told me about your life together that would tend to
suggest that she wasn’t in her right frame of mind.”

“It seems to be the only explanation.”

“Suppose I determine that Susan is who she
says she is, would you want to challenge the will on the basis of
her mental incompetence?”

“I think that’s something I’d have to discuss
with the boys.”

“Perhaps with Susan too,” I said, “she might
be prepared to relinquish some of her share, which is seemingly
disproportionate, in the interests of a speedy settlement.”