Page 90 of Left Behind

“Thank you,” Carey said.

“I’m guessing you’re calling about your brother’s estate. He did leave a will, you know. Are you able to come to the office?” he asked.

“I am not allowed to drive at this time, but I could catch an Uber to get there and back.”

“Can I be so forward as to assume time matters here?” he asked.

She sighed. “Yes, sir, it is. My fiancé was recovering from surgery when all this happened, so he’s still unable to drive, and now I’m out of commission as well. He gets compensation because he was injured on the job. I found out this morning that I was fired weeks ago for not showing up at work.”

“Then I will tell you now, you are the sole heir, and your brother has taken good care of you. Fret no longer. I wish we could just handle this through a Zoom call, but there are papers you need to sign, so we’ll go over details in the office.”

Carey started to cry. “I’m so grateful, but at the same time so sad he’s gone.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lee said. “I’m going to transfer you back to my secretary. You two can figure out a time that’s convenient for you to come in, and we’ll have the papers ready. We’ll also need a copy of his death certificate to apply for his life insurance on your behalf, and a copy to go to his car insurance. We understand the insurance company declared the car totaled, so that payoff will go into his estate, which will go to you as well.”

“He had life insurance?” Carey asked.

“Yes, a five-hundred-thousand-dollar policy.”

Carey gasped. “Oh my God! I had no idea. I’ll see to getting those certificates and bring them with me,” she said.

“He also owned his home and forty surrounding acres. In the current market, being a seller is definitely on your side, unless you plan to live there, of course. But you can be deciding that on your own. He also has two healthy bank accounts. One personal. One business. You will inherit those as well. His earthly belongings will be yours. In the interim, take care, and I’ll be seeing you soon. Now hang on while I transfer you back to Linda.”

Carey gave Johnny a look, and then the secretary came online, and after some discussion, Carey settled on an afternoon appointment three days hence and disconnected.

“Billy had a five-hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy, and I’m the beneficiary. His house and forty acres are paid for. He has two healthy bank accounts. One personal. One business.”

“Good lord,” Johnny said. “I would never have imagined.”

“Me neither,” Carey said, and then leaned her head on Johnny’s shoulder. “I have to go to the lawyer’s office three days from now to sign papers, and I need to bring copies of Billy’s death certificate.” Her voice broke. “I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”

“You don’t have to go through this alone. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. It’s more of a checkup. I’m hoping they’ll finally put me in a walking cast so I can ditch these crutches. If they do, I’m going with you.”

“Thank you, Johnny.”

“No thanks needed, sweetheart. I will always have your back,” he said.

***

Detective Gardner had the latest forensic reports on the Eggers murder back from the lab. Junior Henley’s truck had been wiped clean. There wasn’t a fingerprint on it anywhere. Not even Junior’s. There was no DNA. No remnants of grass or dirt. No lingering scents of anything. As far as the police were concerned, that pointed to an attempt to hide a murder. But it did not point to a particular killer, and at this point, they had three possible suspects—Carl Henley, Junior Henley, and a thug for hire named Lonny Pryor.

They had Lonny Pryor’s DNA under Eggers’s fingernails. That was solid evidence. And Pryor’s DNA was also found on the scene at the house where Eggers died, but as Eggers’s cryptic phone call mentioned, in the grand scheme of things, it meant little. A good lawyer could easily explain that away, considering the fact that the men knew each other and Pryor was a periodic visitor to the property.

The police were looking at security footage all over the area where Pryor had lived to see if they could catch him driving the truck. They finally found footage at a car wash, dated just before Lonny Pryor went missing.

So, he had been in the truck at some point. And Pryor’s DNA was under Eggers’s fingernails. It might pin Pryor to the murder, but it still did not eliminate the Henleys from abetting, because the truck belonged to Junior and the murder weapon belonged to Carl. What they needed was to find Lonny Pryor and get him to implicate who hired him.

At that point, their entire focus shifted back to Pryor, and acting on the assumption that he’d left town, they began checking airport reservations and bus stations. They had security footage from the bus depot but no one matching Lonny’s description was visible, until they applied facial recognition to the footage and he popped up with a bald head and a vandyke beard.

A couple of detectives paid a visit to the bus station and, after visiting with employees, discovered the man from their video had purchased a one-way ticket to Miami, Florida.

Finally, a trail to follow!

The next step was to check deeper into Lonny’s background. Did he go there simply to disappear, or did he have connections there? It didn’t take long for them to find a Roly Pryor listed as next of kin from one of Lonny’s stints in prison, and his last known address was a rural route address in Miami, Florida. Now all they had to do was find the cousin. And to do that, they notified the Miami PD that there was an arrest warrant out for a man named Lonny Joe Pryor, whom they suspected might be hiding out with a relative in the Miami area named Roly Pryor, and asked if they would go to the residence, check out the premises, and interview the owner.

The order to search for Lonny at Roly Pryor’s residence was given to Homicide Detective Wesley Davis. He took two units and four officers with him, and then drove out of Miami and into the rural area of the county to the address they’d been given, with an arrest warrant in hand.

***

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