The early dew had nearly burned off, its last glitter broken by trails of cloven hoofprints leading away to the woods that surrounded three sides of the small cemetery. This was Esther’s bit of twisted irony? Sending Hesmerra off on a day of love, when there had been little love between them? And then, tonight, a late supper to mark what Joe hoped would be an incredibly long and happy married life, as Ryan and Clyde celebrated their first anniversary-and to top it off, it was Valentine’s Day, a strange day, indeed, for Esther Fowler to choose to bury her mother. The auction this evening that should bring happiness to any number of lives, human and cat. February weather on the central coast was always fitful, cold one day, hot the next, but on this day the events to occur were even more at odds: Hesmerra’s burial this morning that marked the end of an unhappy life. At the edge of the cemetery, Joe slipped down from the branches of a thick and twisted oak onto the manicured lawn.
Yesterday’s snow seemed long forgotten, the morning was nearly too warm, the birds and squirrels were out everywhere, soaking up the sun. Right now, Erik was still in control, he had ended each life that crossed him: Greta. In the shadows, Joe and Dulcie were both thinking the same. If not for murder, then for fraud, for as many felony counts as they could provide.” Working together, they thought they could put him in prison. Mother and daughter, teaming together to ruin him, each to have her own revenge. “A year or so after Greta was killed,” she said, “though Debbie still hated Hesmerra, they came together in this.
I see him as sly and smooth, I think he may be totally without conscience. Greta was never an angel, Hesmerra said she was headstrong, defied her at every turn. Allowing Greta too much freedom, not keeping track of where she was. In her opinion it was Hesmerra’s fault, that Erik was able to lure Greta into bed. That’s what she and Debbie were working toward, together.” Evidence of fraud, real estate scams, and theft. She made copies at night, from Erik’s personal files, then put the originals back. “All along, while Hesmerra was taking his money, she was working to destroy him.” I think she was getting tired of being watched and followed, tired of his sly bullying.” “No one said he wasn’t fool hardy, that he didn’t make stupid choices.” Emmylou frowned. “He’d be a fool to do that, to harm someone who’d testified against him.”
She was afraid she wouldn’t have enough to convict him, that he’d go to trial but then go free, and would come after her.” “But Sammie saw him kill her, she could have come forward.” Erik may never serve time for Greta’s death, there may be no sure way to prove he killed her. “Those papers,” she said, “together with what Debbie has, should be enough to put Erik Kraft in prison. It took her a long time to collect these, working in his office at night, and cleaning Alain’s house, too. Hesmerra stole these from Erik?”Įmmylou looked down at her hands, then shyly up at Kathleen. “Where did Hesmerra get these? Some of the dates are recent, business that seems still in progress. Kathleen shuffled through, pausing to read passages, her expression growing more intent as she compared a number of pages. Below in the shadows, Joe was so edgy to have a look that Dulcie had to nudge him to be still. Kathleen nodded, and picked up the stack of papers. I dug it out of the burn.” She reached into her canvas tote, withdrew a thick packet of business papers and letters and laid them on the desk she had the grace not to deny she’d lifted them. When Emmylou didn’t continue, she said, “You had a box of papers with real estate letterheads, and with the Kraft letterhead. “Hesmerra had something else in mind,” Emmylou said. “We could have reopened an investigation into Greta’s death.” “Did Hesmerra see that? Why did she go along with it? She could have come to us,” Kathleen said again. I always felt his friendliness, and the money and whiskey were like a sales pitch, like window dressing.” When he came, Hesmerra would ask me over for tea, but I was never comfortable. And because Erik seemed to be truly fond of Hesmerra.” He thinks Erik came to see Hesmerra out of guilt because Debbie wouldn’t visit her.
“Billy’s aunts never came there to see her,” Emmylou said, “so Billy wouldn’t have overheard any comments from them. I didn’t repeat to her anything Sammie told me, but Hesmerra figured out for herself about the bridge ‘accident,’ she was certain Erik had killed Greta, she was certain Erik was Billy’s father. “As far as I could tell, Hesmerra managed to keep it all from him. “But Fowler never gave her money, presumably to support the boy? It was always Erik? And Billy had no clue to the truth?”