Chapter Eighteen

Saturday morning also saw Rick and Faith enjoy waking up together, this time in her bed.

“I love waking up with you," he whispered, stroking her back as she lay on his chest.

“Mm, the feeling is very mutual,” Faith whispered back, tracing little kisses across bare skin.

He lifted his head to look at her alarm clock.

“Eight-thirty,” he said. “Don’t have to be at the store until ten.”

She lifted her head to look into his eyes.

“My turn to lead, then,” she said against his mouth before doing just that.

***

Not too long after Rick left extremely satisfied and with a mega-watt grin, Faith’s phone rang. The caller identified herself as a Mary Mullins with Prudential, and could she please speak with Faith Thomas Tucker?

“Speaking,” Faith said. “But it’s just Faith Thomas these days.”

Mary proceeded to fill her in. She was sure Faith had received the sad news by now, blah blah, the data her office had received indicated no reasons why the claim could not immediately be paid out as prescribed in the policy. They just needed to confirm her mailing address and would be overnighting her papers to sign, and upon those pages being returned to the company, the policy proceeds of two million U.S. dollars in a certified check would then be sent overnight.

Faith confirmed her address, ended the call, and sat on her bed, hands shaking.

Two million dollars.

She’d had no idea this was coming. She’d known about the policy, of course; she’d been the one to handle setting it up.

But she’d had no clue until Detective Mitchell mentioned it that Kevin had been his usual lazy self and failed to follow through with taking her off the policy.

Which also meant, she was probably going to have to be the one to handle all his other stuff, too.

Unless the lawyer was willing to handle it all…

It was like she’d sent a summons out into the universe. Her phone rang again, and it was the lawyer she’d just been thinking of.

“Hello again Faith, how are you?” Marty said.

“I’m good, Marty, how are you?”

They’d always gotten along. Marty hadn’t been Kevin’s divorce lawyer, because Faith had moved faster and had gotten to him for that piece of business first. But Marty had previously done all their final expense planning and wills and was very familiar with the whole layout of their financial world during their marriage.

“I’m good. Faith, I’ll get right to the point. This is straightforward stuff here. He never changed anything, even though that other lawyer that represented him in the divorce suggested it more than once. The will states you get it all. My question is, what do you want to do with it?”

“Sell it all, Marty, I don’t want to keep anything. Bad juju. Just sell it – house, cars, whatever – and send me a check please.”

“Let’s do this, keep it all official. I will be sending you, via courier, a copy of the will, along with a complete detailing of all his assets, and any monies he owed to anyone. You look that over, send me back instructions in writing, okay dear? And we will proceed from there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Good. Now, dear, we need to talk about the next piece of business. The coroner’s office will be releasing his body to you, as next of kin per all his paperwork.”

She closed her eyes. This was the part she dreaded.

“As you know, his will states he wanted to be donated to science.”

“I remember, Marty. What I don’t remember is, can we just arrange for the coroner’s office to transport him directly? I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to even be near him.”

A pause on the phone.

“To be honest, Kevin’s my first client that’s chosen donation,” he said. “So, I’m not sure. I can find out, though, and include the data on that in the packet.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Marty.”

“Anytime, kid. For what it’s worth, I always thought he was a complete schmuck, running around on you like that.”

She laughed.

“Me too, Marty. Me too.”

They said their goodbyes and she hung up the phone.

Restless, she called her boss for an update.

“The FBI team arrived just a while ago, with that Mitch guy leading,” he informed her. “They’re setting up some gear and it looks like it won’t be long before they hit it running.”

She was glad to hear the hope in his voice.

“That’s great,” she encouraged. “From my end, the accounting stuff is as updated as it can be at this point. We’ll have a really, really solid place to restart from if needed.”

“Good to hear,” he said. “Hey, why don’t you plan on just enjoying yourself until Wednesday, then plan on coming in at eight. We’ll get all the managers together, and we can revisit all this and see where things stand.”

“Are you sure?” Faith asked him.

“I’m sure. Faith, I appreciate that you’ve been willing to be on standby through this, but really, until these guys can get us some solid answers, I don’t see the need.”

“Your call, boss. If something comes up and you need me to do anything before Wednesday just let me know.”

“Will do. Take a breather.”

“Huh,” she mused as she hung up the phone. “What am I going to do with myself until Wednesday?”

Rick’s store hours meant that he would be working every day of the weekend. Unless she could convince him to take a break.

Her eyebrows arched as she contemplated it.

She had no idea what his financial status was. It simply hadn’t come up yet. She felt bad at the thought of asking him to play hooky with her if the lost revenue would mean problems for him. She paced a bit and thought some more. She wouldn’t know unless she asked, now would she? Only one way to find out.

So, she’d wander down to Book Keepers. It was lunchtime anyway, and she was betting he’d be ready for a break. She packed up the leftover roast and some additional items and headed his direction.

Stepping into Book Keepers around one p.m., she was welcomed with a smile and a kiss.

“Thank God you’re here,” he said. “Faith, you’re the first person through that door today since I opened.”

“Ouch,” she winced, and immediately felt even more guilty for what she was about to suggest.

***

He saw something flash across her face but couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

Before he could ask, she piped up and said, “I brought roast for sandwiches, if that’s okay.”

“That’s totally okay,” he answered, and he flipped the sign and locked the door before they went upstairs.

Once they were situated in the kitchen with plates filled, he looked at her directly, and said, “So, okay, about before. I mentioned you were the first person to come in today. I saw you wince, and then something else flashed over you. What were you thinking just then?”