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"Ladies, would you care to join me for lunch, before we return to the office?" Mr. Smith asked as we left the bank.
"That sounds great. We've got a lot of work ahead going through Renee's house," Cassie said.
"I agree. It's been quite a morning," I said as we walked down the street with Mr. Smith.
He led us to a nice restaurant just down the block from the bank. Over lunch, he told us what little he knew about Dr. Bellamy. She came to him a couple of years earlier wanting to get her affairs in order. She was single with no living relatives, and she wanted to make sure her legacy was handled the way she wanted. "She came in last year and made a few changes, then came back a few months ago to give me the letters."
"Do you know anything about her home?"
"I've never been there, but I understand it’s very remote. She seemed to value her privacy and enjoy the outdoors, from what I could tell. We kept the utilities on assuming you'd want to make a decision about selling the home. The bills are being paid from the estate."
"Sounds like we better make a stop for groceries on our way," Cassie said, as we walked back to the parking garage.
On the drive back to the law office, I pulled up the location of Helen's home. It appeared to back up to national forest land much like Chance's and Tom's homes do. I pulled up the map and handed my phone to Cassie. "It looks like this is the closest place big enough to have a grocery store," I said, pointing to a spot on the map. "It's about thirty miles from the house."
"Do you want to take both cars or just one?"
"We probably should take both in case we decide to leave at different times," I said. "I'll have to come back into Little Rock at some point to deal with the bank, and we still need to figure out what to do with the stuff in the safe deposit box."
Cassie drove out of the parking garage first, and we headed for Dr. Bellamy's house. I realized as we drove that this would be the second time I'd gone to someone's home after their death when I'd never visited when they were alive. It was a little strange. I didn't know Renee Bellamy well. It was odd to think about rummaging around in her drawers and cupboards. Cassie didn't seem to know the woman any better than I did. I was glad to have company in this undertaking. I would have preferred to do it with Chance, but I was glad to get better acquainted with Cassie. We seem to have a lot in common.
I took advantage of the drive time to call Laurie and check on things in Wilkins' Gap. "Hi, Laurie. How are you?"
"Hi, Em. I'm fine. Where are you?"
"Currently in Arkansas."
"Was that part of the plan?"
"Not really, but things have changed again. How are things in Wilkins' Gap?"
"Surprisingly quiet without you," she laughed.
"Hey, are you insinuating something?"
"Never. Is Chance in Arkansas with you?"
"No. He's on a hunt in New Mexico. I was supposed to be with him, but something else came up. How's Tom?"
"He's good. I get the idea that he's not too happy with Jim these days, but I don't know why. They were getting along great before. Something changed, but I don't know what. Maybe one of them will tell me someday or they'll just get over it."
I wasn't going to tell her, but I had a pretty good idea what caused her brother's opinion of her boyfriend to plummet. I was probably the one responsible for that. Before I left for El Paso, I met with Tom to bring him up to speed on what happened with the BITES lab. It had taken me an entire evening to explain the story that included kidnapping, hostages, and spies. The spy part was where Jim came in. Our friend Jim, who is now Laurie's boyfriend, is a DHS internal affairs agent undercover as a small-town lawyer in Wilkins' Gap. I still haven't been able to forgive him for deceiving us and putting us in danger when he had information that might have convinced us of the danger we were in. I was trying to get over it but, so far, I was failing miserably.
"I'm sure they'll work it out over time."
We finished our talk, and I made calls to my mom and sister before we stopped in the small town closest to Renee's house. Cassie pulled into the parking lot for a small market.
"We probably should get anything we think we'll need food wise," I said. "If we need something we don't get, it'll be a long drive back for it."
We loaded up on junk food and things that didn't require anything special to prepare. We didn't know how Renee's kitchen would be outfitted or what spices she might have on hand. Simple and easy was the name of the game.
"That should hold us for a few days," Cassie said as I pushed the cart toward my car. "It'll be dark before we get there. I hope we can find it."