Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“Then again, I’m not a guy to fuck with,” he told her.
She came back to him, smiled in return, and remarked, “I’ve noticed that.”
“Yeah,” he replied, then got back to what he was saying. “Trustees also couldn’t give them away, but no one was buying. They tried several times to put all this property on the market. They’d get offers, but nothing near what it was worth, so they couldn’t take them. Even tried once to parcel off the land so people could build.”
She gasped in horror, and he chuckled.
“I know. But that didn’t work either. Years went by, the stink from the mess Lincoln made didn’t lessen, they were still paying property taxes out of the estate, not to mention all the legal action eating into it, something had to give. Dave and Brenda got your cabin for a song. I heard that, had a good look at this place, the resources and know-how to fix it up, bid seriously low thinking they’d tell me to go fuck myself. They took my first offer.”
“Boon for you,” she noted.
“Everyone in town thought I’d lost my mind. But now I got a legacy to give my son, so I’m laughing.”
“Right,” she whispered.
He gave her another squeeze and really should have walked away, moved it to the living room.
But he didn’t.
He looked back to the lake and felt it when she did too.
“You know what I’ve noticed?” she asked the view.
“What?”
“Well, two things. The only outdoor space is your pier, and that area set off to the side, which is surrounded by trees, your house and the driveway. That space just barely has a view to the lake, though nothing else, but your trees, house and driveway.”
“Yeah?” he said leadingly because he didn’t know where she was going with this.
“This house, this location, no balconies, no decks, no porches?”
“Yeah?” he repeated in the same tone since he still didn’t know where she was going with this.
“Which leads me to the second thing. Your place has a lot of windows, but from what I can tell, you can’t see the cabin from any of them.”
He looked in that direction, and he saw her pier in the moonlight, but she was right.
He couldn’t see the cabin. It was tucked too far back in the trees. And even from the back bedroom on the next level, you probably couldn’t see it.
He’d just noticed it, but he didn’t miss noticing how he really didn’t like it, since now, Nadia lived there.
“Do you know how much of a hand Lincoln had in designing this house?” she asked.
“Word is, he worked closely with the architect to create it.”
“Well, that tells me, even if he wasn’t about to go there in his head, he knew something was up with his brother and his wife. I don’t have a sibling, but if I built close to one, especially if I was emotionally close to them, I’d want to be able to see their space.”
He would too.
“Methinks Lincoln wasn’t as surprised as it seems he was with what he found in those stables,” she remarked. “You said he served seven years? That’s not much for two murders.”
“He confessed and was sentenced for manslaughter.”
“Thriller writer would probably know what premeditated murder would buy him,” she noted. “And the man didn’t shoot them then call the police to turn himself in. He made sure he didn’t start a wildfire before he set the stables alight. I mean, how much work would it be to drench the land and trees around an entire building?”
Jesus.
“A lot,” he grunted.
“Mm,” she hummed before she allowed, “I could see being in emotional overload after you shot your twin brother and wife to death, so you went through the emotions, doing strange stuff while not thinking clearly. But how long would that actually last? And seven years is a long time, and it isn’t like he’s thrown into a room and not allowed to speak to anybody during that time. How could he not sort his affairs so his children and family were taken care of when he took his own life? Especially if he was going to take his own life, you’d think he’d make those plans. Furthermore, how easy is it to get your hands on a bottle of arsenic? I can’t imagine that’s something you can stroll into the local CVS and source.”
“Nope,” he agreed.
“Not to mention,” she kept at it, “Roosevelt obviously couldn’t know he was soon to die, but if you have a lot of money, you make arrangements. How is his estate tied up with Lincoln’s?”
“I don’t know, and when I bought this place, I didn’t ask. But you’re correct. All this shit is fishy.”
“No one ever asked these questions before?”
“I didn’t, because other people’s mess isn’t something I give a shit about.”
Though, he was starting to give a shit about it now.