Murder At The Bed & Breakfast by Dianne Harman Page B

was going to the reverend’s Bible Study class, and that if I found out anything, I should call you on your cell phone.”
    “Does that mean you found out something about Nancy Messinger?”
    “Well, yes and no. I found out she worked for Don Messinger as his secretary for about a year before he divorced his wife and married her. I guess he and his former wife weren’t getting along, and Nancy was there for him. Happens all the time. I can only assume he married her because she worshipped him. I talked to several people who had known her husband, and that was the general consensus. She waited on him hand and foot and did everything she could for him. Guess he got to liking it, and it seems his wife wasn’t doing that for him.”
    “I’ve not met Renee’s mother, but I have a sense she’s not like that. Renee certainly isn’t. What else did you find out?”
    “Not much. When they met it was before Facebook or Twitter or any of the social media sites, and it’s much more difficult to find out things about people prior to the advent of social media. Bottom line is she comes from a small nearby town. Her parents are deceased, and she was an only child. She wasn’t married prior to her marriage to Don Messinger, and she has no children. Other than that, I didn’t find out much.”
    “Did you check out Don Messinger?”
    “Yes. He owned a ranch, sold it for a great deal of money to a developer, and then he began playing the stock market and investing in this and that. He had a small office in Red Cedar, and that’s where Nancy worked. She continued to work in the office a couple of hours a day until he died.”
    “Did you find out the cause of his death?”
    “Yes. Evidently he had a history of heart problems and died from a massive heart attack. He was estranged from Renee and Laura, so there wasn’t a funeral service or a celebration of life ceremony, even though he’d been the Mayor of Red Cedar many years ago. Nancy had him cremated, and that’s about it. Since I found nothing about her purchasing a place for him in a cemetery or a memorial park, I imagine she probably still has his ashes in the house, or maybe she’s got some kind of a shrine in the back yard. People do some strange things. You never know what to expect.”
    “Thanks, Sean. Naturally I wish more could have been turned up on her, but given my brief meeting with her, I’m not surprised. I’m sure you would have told me if you’d found out any character flaws that she was treated for, like an addiction or mental illness.”
    “Of course. That’s part of the overall search. No, she’s clean as a whistle. The only thing I kept hearing was what a cold person she was, and how she totally worshipped Don, almost to the point of obsession.”
    “Have to wonder if she adored him enough to kill a stepdaughter.”
    “Could be Liz, could be. Stranger things have happened. I just keep getting a vision of this cold ugly woman – I did see her photograph – in her home with her husband’s ashes. Kind of gave me the creeps.”
    “Me too. One more thing. Do you have any idea how much she inherited from her husband when he died?”
    “Yes. She filed a Will, and it’s a matter of public record. She inherited twelve million dollars from him.”
    “Wow! I wonder what she’s doing with it. There’s nothing about her or the house to indicate she has that kind of money. That’s weird. Again, Sean, thanks.”
    “No problem. I’ll look into his finances in the morning. Let me know if you need anything else.”
    *****
    “That’s the last time I’m going to a Bible Study class at that man’s church,” Roger said, as he walked in the door.
    “I gather it wasn’t your finest hour,” Liz said.
    “My finest hour? Try my three non-finest hours topped off by the fact that you wouldn’t let me have a glass of wine with dinner tonight, and the good reverend was secretly drinking straight vodka from a coffee cup.”
    “You’re kidding! Sit down