The Missing Dough(10)

“She’s Grant’s mother. Kevin, if you haven’t told her yet, I want to break it to the woman myself. She’s getting older, and the shock of hearing about what happened to her son just might kill her.”

The police chief looked very uncomfortable suddenly, and for some crazy reason, I wasn’t all that surprised when he said, “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” Maddy asked.

“I didn’t realize that the two of you were that close. I’m sorry, Maddy, but Sharon died last week herself.”

“Was she murdered, too?” I asked.

“Why would you jump to that particular conclusion?” the chief asked.

“It seems to be happening a lot lately, that’s all,” I said lamely.

He decided not to comment on that any further. “No, from what I’ve heard, her death was strictly due to natural causes. Was that why Grant was here? Was he trying to work up the nerve to tell you about what happened to his mother?”

I looked at Maddy, and we had one of those silent conversations we had grown accustomed to over the years. It was something we’d developed as girls, and the two of us could convey more in a few glances than most kids could manage in half an hour of text messages these days. With my expression, I was arguing that she should go into more detail about Grant’s averred reason for coming. I insisted, and she finally agreed.

“I’ve already told you that he wanted me back in his life,” Maddy said reluctantly. “At least that was what he claimed when he came by the pizzeria this afternoon. What I didn’t tell you about was his level of enthusiasm, and the harshness of my rejection of the very idea of ever being with him again.”

“So, even without your current boyfriend, there was no way you were going to take him back?” Kevin asked her.

“Not on your life,” my sister said, and she must have realized how bad it sounded. “What I’m saying is that it wasn’t exactly an amicable divorce. I caught him cheating, and not even Grant was stupid enough to believe that I would ever take him back after that happened. Honestly, I don’t even know why he’d want to try. He had to know what I would say to any attempt he made to reconcile with me.”

“My guess is that he had some kind of ulterior motive,” I said.

“Hang on a second,” the chief said as he looked oddly at me. “There’s something in the squad car I want you to look at, Maddy.”

He started back to his car, and I saw Maddy put a hand on Bob’s as she whispered, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re the one I’m worried about,” he said. “I know he wasn’t a great guy, but you loved him enough at one point to marry him, and I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

Maddy shook her head as she began to cry, and I had to check myself to keep from consoling her myself. Bob was doing a fine job of it, and there was no need for anything but an extra pat on her shoulder from me. David looked like he had no idea what he should be doing, so I smiled at him to try to reassure him.

The chief came back with a letter that had clearly been folded at one time but was now open fully in a plastic evidence bag. There was enough light coming from the porch that Maddy could read it, and I did my best to look over her shoulder so that I could see it for myself.

It was some kind of legal document, and I saw a scrawled signature at the bottom of it. It looked a bit like Maddy’s, but not enough to fool me.

“That’s a forgery,” I said the second I saw it.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” the chief said.

“Maddy, is that your signature? Did you sign this document today?”

“No, of course not. What is it?”

“It’s a quitclaim deed,” Bob said, clearly recognizing it for what it was. “It’s pretty common in my circles.”

“What exactly does it mean, though?” Maddy asked.

Bob looked at the document in question a little closer and then said, “If you had signed it, you would have relinquished any and all of your rights to the estate of Sharon Appleton Whitmore.”

“But I didn’t even know that she was dead,” Maddy protested. “Why would my former mother-in-law leave me anything in her will, anyway?”

“That’s kind of what I was hoping you’d be able to tell me,” Chief Hurley said.

“I wish I knew, but in all honesty, I don’t have a clue.”

The chief nodded and then said, “Grant’s sister, Rebecca, is coming by in the morning to handle things for the family, so if you’d like to ask her, you can.”