Page 77 of York

I could picture her sitting on the branch of a tree, legs swinging, watching the bighorns and bison graze, enjoying the sunset, even though she knew she would get in trouble for not being home for dinner, planning her escape to a life that was fully her own.

“Did her parents die or something?” I asked.

“They did. Just a year ago, actually.”

“Together?”

“Small private plane crash. Her father was the pilot. Seemed like they were just going up for a joyride. But something failed, they crashed, and were found a few hours later.”

Damn.

I got that they were estranged, but I didn’t like the idea of having to tell Runa that her parents were dead, that there would be no chance for reconciliation in the future—if she decided she wanted that. The opportunity had been taken from her.

“Shit,” I said, exhaling hard. “So, what? They had an estate?”

A private plane, an estate, and Runa and Denali were living in shitty motels, scared for their lives.

“No. Everything I can find points to them having a pretty steady influx of large sums of money, but they blew through it all. Planes, cars, vacations. The house was about in foreclosure when they died. Seems like the bank took it from there. I can’t find any kind of evidence that they left something behind for Runa.”

That made it even worse.

The loss would have sucked for Runa either way, even if her feelings toward her parents were complicated, but having a big nest egg to fall back on might have eased it a bit.

“So, we just did that segue for no reason?” I asked.

“You asked.”

“Back to the lawyers, man.”

“It seems more likely that the lawyer worked for the grandfather.”

That bastard.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because a few years back, rare minerals were found on his ranch.”

“I’m not sure I know what that means.”

“Money,” Arty said. “It means money. A lot of money.”

“How much money? A couple hundred thousand? A million?”

Arty shrugged at that. “Impossible to say for sure. But my guess would be twenty or more.”

“Thousand?”

He snorted. “Million.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Do you think Runa has some kind of trust or something?”

“Maybe. But I think what is more likely is she inherited the estate.”

“Wait. What?”

“Her grandfather seemed to get something degenerative. Can’t find a lot about it. But he was sick for a while. And he died two years back.”