Chapter Seventy one
Jarrod opened the mail pouch from the rail mid-morning. He had a letter forwarded to him from Nate.
It was from Paul Franklin addressing the letter Nate and Jarrod drafted in response to his earlier demands.
Jarrod's blood pressure raged at Lisette's husband's arrogance. He read—
$50,000 in cash
Control of Henry's stock proxy in east coast hotel
An interest in the new Stockton hotel, as her husband.
Lisette's jewelry from her Mother
Any proceeds from the estate in cash after debts were settled.
Independent audit of her finances and jewels.
He would pay for Henry's education in an appropriate boarding school for a boy of his stature and a clothing allowance for the boy in return for giving her full physical custody of the child along with his demands.
If Lisette was to continue her pursuit of the divorce without the five codecils, he would take custody of the boy on the grounds of abandonment.
"How dare him?"
He searched the rest of the packet for the financials they had asked for—the arrogant man had ignored their requests for an accounting of the Taylor Hotels and his personal accounts. He did mention in a document that he and Mr Miller had dissolved their quid pro quo partnership. He was now living in Mexico, retired.
"That gives him plausible deniability about Miller's actions and his men,"
"At least, Lisette has no direct ownership in the Stockton hotel. She is listed as the general manager of the hotel. The materials were transferred to the Barkley holdings for ten dollars under the same sort of trust until Henry's majority. And Jarrod was guardian of the trust—-Baxter Vanderpool was his second."
Nate had discussed the next step with them in San Francisco. A copy of Paul's birth certificate could be sent to him with the implication-—
"Would Lissy do it?"
"What if her courses don't come next week?"
He had an early morning drink—-trying to figure out how to approach Lissy. He finally decided not to decide for now—-
He went through the rest of the mail; a copy of a bank draft for the Modesto casino and deposit slip sent to him—-
"It's just a clerical error. I will send it back to the bank in Frisco of the new owner. It was probably meant to be sent to him."
He inspected the envelope; it was from The First Bank of Modesto.
"That makes no sense. The casino was sold by a broker in San Francisco to a firm in Sacramento and the money was wired to the Bank of Stockton by a San Francisco bank from a Sacramento bank."
"I will go by the bank again tomorrow and look at Lissy's account. Check it out. Have Esther send an inquiry too."
He shuffled the papers as he heard someone coming. The tap of Nick's cane preceded the door opening.
"Jarrod? Jarrod? Are you here?"
"Yes." as he placed the bank papers and Paul Franklin's letter in the drawer. He left the rest of the mail on top.
"Fred is here. Wants to talk to Heath. Told him he's in Merced—so he wants us," with caution in his voice.
Nick and the sheriff walked in, "Jarrod."
"Fred."
"As your brother just said to give you a heads up—-" and he rolled his eyes.
Jarrod chuckled. He knew the Barkleys too well
Fred closed the door
"What's this about?"
"Needed to talk to Heath. Brother Jehu is missing. No one has seen him since a protest at Big Annie's. A couple of those followers of his filed a missing person report yesterday afternoon."
"What does that have to do with us? He out witch-hunting again?" Nick said with sarcasm.
"Went out to his house. Several folks saw Heath out there two days ago. Walking around his yard and looking in windows."
Jarrod and Nick shared a look, "He went out of town on Tuesday. Paid our crew at the site and rode to Merced. Will be back tonight or tomorrow."
"Well Jarrod, he may have been the last one to see him. It was about seven am. Want to find out what he knows."
"Doesn't this yahoo wander around and sleep under the stars waiting for another vision?"
"Yes Nick. That's a possibility. But he missed a meeting he called at his church. To ordain deacons. I gotta check it out."
Nick said with disgust, "Heath didn't have anything to do with him disappearing."
Fred sighed, "I need to talk to your brother. Will you have him stop by when he gets back."
"Of course," Jarrod spoke up.
"I can see myself out," Fred sounded annoyed and walked out, closing the door.
"Heath was pretty mad Sunday at the announcement." Nick spluttered.
"He came back here and left the next morning for Merced."
"Yep, two days earlier than he planned."
"Nick, don't be reading too much into this. We know Heath didn't have anything to do with him going missing." more convincing than he felt.
"Well, I don't mind one bit that preacher is missing. Good riddance. Maybe a vampire got him."
Jarrod chuckled, "Or a bogeyman."
"Do we tell Grete?"
"No—no need to worry her. She's been through a lot. Being labeled a witch, disowned by her cousin, kidnapped, busted jaw and Kai on crutches. She's probably wondering what kind of family she married into."
"Well when you put it that way—"
"Little brother found a good one didn't he?"
"Ah yeah. Pretty as a peach and sweet. And a baker of the finest breads I ever ate."
"I do wonder what Heath was doing at Jehu's house so early in the morning."
"Me too,"