A Large Chunk of Change

Carolyn returned to work. It was nice to be back to work. She was restricted to desk duty, but it was alright. She gradually began to update herself on the case load and by the end of the week she was up to speed on all the cases.

Mike had taken the papers to a lawyer and she was looking them over and would give them a call when she was done. No further sighting of Lyn Carol was made and life returned to pretty much normal.

Except Carolyn couldn't rid herself of the urge to find out more about the woman. So she went on the police database and put in all the information she had on the woman. She had no criminal background, not so much as a parking ticket. Beyond that she wasn't listed anywhere in the NYPD data base. She appeared to have vanished.

They got a call from the lawyer. She wanted to meet them in her office. That made Carolyn uneasy. Truthfully she was nervous over the entire thing. It made no sense. She was a grown woman, a police detective and a mother. She was more than capable of taking care of herself and her family. She made the appointment and called Mike.

The appointment was at 3:00. The lawyer invited them into her office at three on the dot. "Please have a seat." She said.

"What did you find out?" Mike asked without preliminaries.

"It's a standard estate distribution. As far as I can tell, there's nothing unusual about it. Each one of the surviving children get an even split of the money to do with as they please, after inheritance taxes, of course."

"Surviving children? How—How many children are there?"

"I did find it a bit unusual but not unheard of for there to be a nondisclosure agreement here that no one person is allowed to know how many others there are or who they are. If any one of them fails to respond to the notice by two weeks from today that share is to be divided between the rest of them. So I'd say you are lucky to have this brought to you. You should be thanking whoever did."

"So there's some money there?"

"Quite a substantial sum, actually."

"How….substantial?" Carolyn asked quietly.

The lawyer wrote a number on a piece of paper and slid it across the desk. "That is, of course, if nothing changes between now and then."

Mike whistled at the amount. "Honey, that's a chunk of change."

"Suppose I said I didn't want it. What would be the procedure to refuse it?" Carolyn asked the lawyer.

Judging by the look on her face, that question had never been asked of the lawyer. "You, uh, just wouldn't reply. It automatically reverts to the estate. Is that what you want to do?"

"I'll have to let you know." Carolyn stood up. They thanked the lawyer and left the office.

"Are you serious? After all that man put you through?" Mike asked.

"I don't know, Mike. I guess I expected this to be a trick for her to talk to me. I never expected this."

"I'm happy for you, honey. If you take it, I think you ought to buy yourself something nice then put the rest away for the future."

"You mean you don't want to be a kept man."

"I am. You keep Jenna and I happy and satisfied. That is all I want."

"I Mike, I think I'd like to find and talk to her."

"Her? You mean Lynn?

"Yeah. I looked her up on the police database. I didn't find much on her. I don't even know where to look."

"I uh, I know where she is."

Carolyn jerked around to stare at him in surprise. "You know? Has she been in contact with you?" she demanded angrily.

"No. And she doesn't know I know either. I just had some uniforms keep and eye out for her and keep me posted on her activities is all."

"What kind of activities? Is she into drugs, or…."

"No, Carolyn, and get yourself under control. Is this how you always react to her? This isn't like you at all."

"She pushes my buttons, alright?"

"Well, don't let her. You're smarter than that."

"I can't help it. Just that she exists makes it all seem so painful. What kind of activity is she involved in?"

"Buying and selling."

"You said she wasn't into drugs!" she accused.

"She isn't. She's buying and selling horses. That's what she does."

"Horses. Like a cowboy?"

"High end horses, but yeah, she's a cowboy. She's in town making deals to buy and sell high priced horses. As far as I can tell, she's clean as a whistle."

"Can-can you set up a meeting?"

"I can go see her and see if she will meet you. You said you didn't want to see her and she's kept her word. I don't know how she'll react now."

"Would you try? For me?"

"For you I'll try to track the moon."

TBC