It was well after four in the afternoon when I walked into our Office and spotted our visitor. He looked so out of place to be almost funny. He was dressed in a suit that would be ideal for a court in a big city. Custer County is a long way from any big city. He’d stand out a mile. People around here only wear suits for Weddings and Funerals. No one I knew could afford the duds that he was wearing.

“Mr Rieck? Sheriff Matt Harker. Welcome to Custer County.”

He smiled and stood up from his chair. He extended his hand. I shook it. He had a firm grip. That was unlike most lawyers I’d encountered over the years. Most of them had a grip that was limp and sweaty or even on the odd occasion, downright slimy.

“Nice to meet you at last.”

“Kelly will be joining us in a few minutes. She’s just making sure that her Patrol Car is ready for duty tomorrow.”

That was a lie. Kelly was waiting outside the office. We’d agreed that she would wait so that I could size up our visitor.

“Mr Rieck, please come into my office then we can get down to whatever it is that has caused you to travel to this back of beyond place almost halfway across our fine nation.”

"Thanks, Sheriff. I don't normally travel this far but the instructions of my client were very clear in the matter. So here I am. I must say that I had to look up Custer County. You aren't really on the beaten track here."

I smiled as I showed him to a chair.

“That’s kinda how we like it. We know pretty well everyone in the county by their first name, what they do for a living when they were born and the like. We have very little crime here. Most of what we get is from outsiders but we treat every case on its merits here."

Mr Rieck smiled.
“Thanks for that Sheriff. My client mentioned that sort of thing.”

“Your client has been here?”

“Yes indeed.”

Kelly chose that moment to appear.

“Hello Mr Rieck, I’m Officer Kelly Fitzpatrick.”

Mr Rieck smiled.

Kelly shut the door and took a seat.

Mr Rieck opened his soft leather briefcase and took out a buff folder that was about an inch thick.

“I’m here to inform you that you are named in the will of a client of mine. I gather that you are acquainted with a Mr Lawrence Monahan?”

Kelly lot out a gasp. I remembered our encounter with ‘Lol’. He was a bit of a character and a half.

“Mr Monahan was as you know a bit of a crook. For most of his life, he wheeled and dealed and generally operated on the wrong side of the law but was generally left alone because he was a small fry criminal.”

“and one with a lot of family in the NYPD,” added Kelly.

“Indeed. As I said Mr Monahan was a chancer until he met his match in Mrs Dorothy Hill. Mrs Hill took a shine to Mr Monahan but she knew his game because her late husband was very much like him when it came to wheeling and dealing. Mrs Hill set a trap for Mr Monahan. He fell right into it and she had him where she wanted him. Mrs Hill had recently received some bad news in that she had an inoperable brain tumour. With him caught in her trap, she proposed a deal with Mr Monahan.”

“Lol never did a deal where he came out second in his life!” remarked Kelly.

“That is very true. Mrs Hill was a very wealthy woman. She came from old money and married Mr Hill just to displease her family. They were happily married for almost thirty-five years before he died in a hunting accident in Alaska. Because of the rift with her family, Mrs Hill decided to give away all her money in such a way that her family could not challenge.”

I looked at Kelly. She was smiling and shaking her head at the same time. I’d seen that look before when Lol told us about how he’d stolen the BMW back east.

“She planned to marry Mr Monahan and enjoy what remained of her life. Upon her death, he would inherit a good portion of her fortune but with certain strings attached. To his credit, Lawrence agreed to her request."

“Lol always said that he’d find a rich widow and live the life of riley on her money,” commented Kelly.

“Yes, but as I said, there were strings. His sole task following her death was to distribute the majority of his wife's estate to small charities especially where the money would make a difference. She reckoned that as he came from what she called, ‘humble stock’ he could choose those deserving of her money. The sums involved were not to be very large amounts but large enough to make a difference to those concerned. For each donation made Lawrence was to receive a payment into a trust fund that could only be accessed when the donation kitty was empty.”

Kelly was having trouble keeping a straight face.

“I can’t believe that Lol went straight. Never in a million years.”

“Perhaps it was the thought of a large payout free of tax at the end that made him agree,” said Mr Rieck.

“I take it that Lol is now deceased?”

“Sad to say that he is. His body was washed up on the shore of Alcatraz a month ago.”

Mr Rieck opened the folder and took out a report.

“This is a copy of the coroner’s report into his death,” said Mr Rieck as he handed me the report.

I scanned it briefly. The cause of death hit me like a sledgehammer.

I passed it to Kelly and pointed to the cause of death.

“He was executed,” I said in as calm a voice as I could.

"That is the conclusion of the SFPD. Lawrence was always honest about his past especially the incident where he stole a mobsters car, with his late wife and later with us. We agreed with him that there were some people from New York who more than likely wanted him dead. The donations that originated from Dorothy's will included a very comprehensive 'no publicity' for the donor clause but eventually, his identity found its way onto social media. To his credit, he refused to run but in the last two weeks of his life, he gave away almost all the outstanding funds. The funds that are left unallocated will be donated to a major charity in a few weeks. Again, this is fully in accordance with the wishes of his late wife."

Mr Rieck sighed.

"That leads me to the real reason for my visit. Before his marriage, Mr Monahan made a will in the full knowledge that his time on this planet could be limited. He’d clearly demonstrated to us that he wanted to complete his task and then disappear and live off the trust fund as he’d agreed with his late wife. That wasn’t to be and under the terms of his will I am to distribute the funds in his estate after all taxes have been paid to the two of you.”

Mr Rieck opened the file again and took out a sheet of figures. He handed it to me.

Naturally, I looked at the bottom line. I gasped when I saw the sum.

Kelly just shook her head when she saw the bottom line.

“As you can see,” said Mr Rieck as he carried on with his duties.
“There is a considerable sum coming your way.”

“You can keep it,” said Kelly.
To reinforce her stance, she crossed her arms.

“I don’t want Lol’s money. I know from first-hand experience that inheriting money is nothing but trouble.”

She turned to look Mr Rieck right in the eye.
“Mr Rieck, for your information, some years ago, I inherited a seven-figure sum from a relative. I gave it to charity but the wrath I received from my family for not dishing it out to them was terrible. It was one of the reasons I left New York and came west. I do not want a repeat of that. Once was enough.”

Kelly had put her foot down and usually once that had happened, only a magnitude seven earthquake would shift it. Mr Rieck was however unfazed by this.

"Mr Monahan told me that would be your likely response. He prepared a statement for you if as he said to quote his very words… ‘you’d probably tell my Lawyer to take a hike and cross your arms’.”

I tried to suppress a small laugh but failed. Kelly glared at me for a second or so. Then she relaxed. Lol had certainly shown how well he knew Kelly.

Mt Rick extracted another document from the folder. He handed one copy to Kelly and the other to me.

“Kelly, if you are reading this then you have told Mr Rieck to get lost (politely I hope because he is one of the good guys and there are very few lawyers like that believe me). Please don’t say no to this bequest. Meeting my match with Dorothy was the best thing that could have happened to me. She played on my skills as a wheeler and dealer. She showed me that a bit of doing business on the right side of the law could be just as profitable as the other side could be and without the risks of jail time.

I made her last months on this planet fun. We went all over the world ticking things off her bucket list. To see the delight on her face when she’d fed a newborn Elephant in Sri Lanka was the moment that I decided that it was the straight and narrow for me from then on. Sadly, history has caught up with me but the money that I'm leaving to you is totally clean. Dorothy's money came from her family who was in California right at the start of the '49 gold rush. I even paid tax for the first time in my life. The IRS got their back taxes from my years in NYC. There will be and awful lot of people back east turning in their graves at the thought of a Monahan paying money to the IRS but I did just that as the records that Mr Rieck has with him will show.

Please take the money and put it to good use. If you have not done so already, get hitched to Sheriff Matt. The two of you put your jobs and lives on the line helping me out when you did. This is my way or repaying at least part of that debt.

Lol.
“

I looked at Kelly. I could see a tear forming in the corner of her eye.

I reached over my desk and took her hand. For an instant, she almost took it away but then she smiled at me.

“I need time to think about this,” she said after she’d wiped away the tear.

Mr Rieck smiled.

“That is to be expected. I’ll leave the acceptance documents with you. If you decide to accept then sign them and get them witnessed. Once we receive them the funds will be transferred within seven working days.”

He handed me a stack of forms from the folder. It struck me that this was the sort of task that was nothing out of the ordinary for him. I didn't like many lawyers but I felt that his sort was more on the side of the good guys than many especially the ambulance chasers. I knew that his services did not come cheap but if what he'd said about Lol’s late wife was true, she would have made provision for this sort of trip in her agreement with his firm.

"Thanks for coming all this way, Mr Rieck. We do appreciate it. We’ll let you know what we decide to do about the inheritance. I asked one of my Officers to find somewhere for you to stay tonight. We don’t have a Hotel in town.”

“Ah yes. Your officer did indeed book me a room at the Intersection on the Interstate. I hadn’t realised just how long it would take to drive here from Denver. Thankfully, my flight home isn’t until midday tomorrow.”

“The diner next to the Motel is not one of those chain places. They’ll look after you. They try to serve food that is different from pretty well all the other places on the Interstate.”

“Thanks for the tip. And thank you for your time. I know how hard it can be to receive both bad and good news at the same time.”

He stood up and after putting the folder and the other documents that he was not leaving behind, back in his briefcase we all shook hands.

---

After he’d gone I sat and thought for a moment. Kelly soon returned from seeing him out of the office. She sat down and looked at me and said,

“You want to take the money, don’t you?”

Kelly was direct and to the point as usual.

“I do. It would make moving somewhere else a lot easier. We could move without having to wait for our place here to sell.”

“Don’t you mean Ma’s place?”

“Ok. Ma’s place.”
Before she could reply, I added.

“It would be our grubstake to get moved and settled without worrying about selling up here before we move.”

“What about Ma? You can’t have forgotten what she said about moving?”

“I haven’t but if we can show her somewhere nice and ready to go she may just budge on that front. I know that she’s never been west of Denver or east of Kansas City apart from that one trip to Florida in her life. Getting Ma to go anywhere is going to be a problem.”

“But where are we going to go?”

“That my darling is the sixty-four-million-dollar question. At the moment, I have no idea at all.”

---

It took me less than a minute to realise that all was not well when Kelly and I arrived home. Ma was sitting at the kitchen table with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"Hi, Ma. What's wrong?" I asked cheerily.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

Just then Kelly joined us. The welcoming smile disappeared from her face in a flash.

“It is a bad day for everyone when a lawyer wearing a thousand-dollar suit stops by.”

She had summed up Mr Antonio Rieck perfectly. He hadn’t mentioned that he’d called at our home when we met him earlier but then I realised that neither of us hadn’t thought to ask him.

“Ah, you mean Mr Rieck?”

“Who’s died and how much do we owe him? That sort of shyster never does anything without a huge bill.”

“Ma,” said Kelly as she sat opposite him.
“A relative of mine has died. I’m, or rather we are beneficiaries in his will.”

“Pull the other one. People like that don’t come halfway across the country to give you a few bucks. They mail you a check and are done with it.”

“Ma, it isn’t a few bucks and I’m not sure that we are going to take it.”

It was clear from Ma's body language that she wasn't impressed. Her dislike of lawyers went back to when I was three and my mother ran off with a Lawyer who just happened to have emptied his employers' client escrow account. A week later, she turned him in after relieving him of some fifty large in cash. Since then I'd only heard from her twice.

“Not going to take free money? Who are you kidding?”

“Ma!,” said Kelly.
“There are strings attached and besides the estate isn’t exactly squeaky clean.”

Ma looked Kelly right in the eye.

“Kelly, you have never really lied to me in the past. Please don’t start now. I know your tell.”

I knew what Kelly’s tell was. A vein on her right temple appeared.

“Ma, Kelly isn’t exactly lying. She is right in that there are strings involved. Her relative was executed and his body washed up on the shores of Alcatraz. He ended up dead because he stole a car from the wrong person and his death was payback for it. That’s why we don’t know if we are going to accept the money. The last thing we want is for that wrong person to come after the money and come after us.”

Ma looked at me right in the eyes. That had long been her way of making me flinch and tell her what had actually happened or what I did. I didn't flinch and that was down to the fact that what I'd said was almost the truth and certainly not an outright lie.

After about ten seconds of her stare, it was Ma who blinked.

“How much is this bequest? I suppose it is enough for you to head off to pastures new without a thought for your Ma?”

I was about to speak when Kelly spoke.

“Ma, we’d never go anywhere without you. But it is enough to be able us to go and not have to have sold this place first. If we go and you come too and it does not work out then you can always come back here.”

“There is no way I’m staying here on my own.”

Ma stood up and disappeared into the family room. The sounds of the TV could be heard a few seconds later.

Neither Kelly nor I said anything for well over a minute. Then she broke the silence…

“That settles it. I’ve always thoughts that money is the root of all evil. This just confirms it.”

"Most of the time I'd agree with you. But there are times when having some in the bank allows you to do things that you'd normally never do in a million years."

“Ma seems to be saying that she’s not for moving.”

I managed a smile.

“As we don’t have any idea where we are going to go or do then we are staying put aren’t we?”

“I suppose so,” came Kelly’s slightly weary reply.

“I think we should take the money.”

Kelly was about to say something but I put up my hand to stop her.

“We should take the money and if after say, three years we have not touched it then we should give it away to charity. That excludes using it as a temporary balance for the move.”

Kelly thought for a moment and then smiled back at me.

“I think we have reached a compromise, haven’t we?”

“We have.”

Then I changed the subject.

“Who’s turn is it to cook tonight?”

Kelly didn’t hesitate.
“Yours.”

“Spag Bol?”

She smiled.

“Don’t overdo the garlic on Ma’s plate.”

A voice from the other room shouted out.
“I heard that.”

I kissed Kelly. Things in the Beecher household were back to normal.

[to be continued]