Page 38 of June's First Murder
Or he could have been establishing his presence in public, making sure people saw him while his brother died alone on a park bench.
June paused at the bottom of the steps, letting Pippi sniff around the courthouse lawn while she processed what she'd learned. Horace was genuinely grieving hisbrother. That much she believed. But grief didn't preclude guilt. In fact, grief and guilt often walked hand in hand.
"What do you think, Pippi?" she asked the dog softly. "Did the judge protest too much?"
Pippi just wagged her tail, more interested in a particularly fascinating smell near the courthouse's foundation.
Sara Lee appeared at the corner of Main Street, slightly breathless. "Nana June! I thought I might catch you." She had Mister Smee's carrier with the wide-eyed cat peering out.
June smiled. "Perfect timing. I could use your company for the next part."
"Where are we going?"
"The county records office. It's just around the corner from the courthouse." June adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "I want to look at some real estate documents."
They walked the short distance to the county clerk's office, a squat brick building that shared a parking lot with the courthouse. Inside, the air was cool and smelled of copier toner and old paper. A bored-looking clerk sat behind a counter, scrolling through her phone.
"Help you ladies?" she asked without much enthusiasm.
"We'd like to look at some property records, please," June said pleasantly. "Public real estate holdings for Meadowlark Creek."
The clerk gestured toward a room lined with filingcabinets and a computer terminal. "The search system is over there. Let me know if you need help."
June and Sara Lee settled at the terminal while Pippi sprawled at their feet, clearly happy to rest after their short walk. June unzipped Mister Smee's carrier, and the cat emerged to investigate this new environment, his tail held high, his whiskers twitching.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Sara Lee asked, pulling up the property search database.
"Properties owned by the Meltons. I want to see what real estate holdings they have. There was something he said about Petunia not needing Raymond’s share of the inheritance.”
Sara Lee's fingers worked the keyboard, clicking through screens. After several minutes of searching, she leaned forward. "Nana June... look at this."
June moved closer to read the screen. There were several properties listed under Petunia Melton's name alone, not joint ownership with Horace. Prime real estate plots along the waterfront, commercial properties, and significant holdings. And then she noticed the previous deed owner… it was Horace’s mother.
"That's quite a bit of property," Sara Lee said quietly. "All in her name only."
"Interesting. It appears her in-laws decided to leave her a land inheritance, which isn’t unusual." June pulled out her notebook and jotted down the information. "I wonder if Raymond knew those properties weren’t part of the inheritance he would receive."
"Or if he thought they should have been part of his share," Sara Lee added.
"Exactly." June made a final note, then closed her notebook. "File this information away, sweetheart. It might be important later. Or…”
“Or?”
June chucked. “Or, it means nothing at all. That’s one thing with searching… we’ll find many threads that don’t make a pattern and eventually will lead nowhere. But we can’t dismiss anything right now.”
A soft sound made them both look around. "Where's Mister Smee?" Sara Lee asked.
They found him in the corner of the room, crouched low with his tail twitching, completely focused on the baseboard where a tiny gap showed between the wall and floor. His enormous eyes were fixed on the spot with predatory intensity.
"Mister Smee?" June called softly.
The cat didn't move. His haunches wiggled slightly, his whole body tensed in hunting mode.
Sara Lee peered closer. "I think there's a mouse hole there. Look… you can see where they've been coming through."
June laughed, a warm sound that echoed in the quiet records room. "Well. So much for mystical guidance."
"He's just being a cat and not an investigator today," Sara Lee said, grinning as she bent down to scoop up the feline. Mister Smee protested with a small meow of complaint, his eyes still locked on the mouse hole even as Sara Lee tucked him back into his carrier.
