Page 57 of Lorna's Savior
“Yes. One of the reasons why I asked for the plane. During my rounds of research, I sought each of her ex-husbands and had a little chat with them. It seems that Kristen has a certain chapel in Vegas on retainer. She even goes there to get her divorces. I believe the only reason why you haven’t found out, is because she refuses to take her new husband’s last name. She always keeps Hepplewaite.”
“Bitch,” Marvin growled.
“Oh, it gets better.” Andy gave his employer an evil grin. “For retelling purposes, I won’t include you as a husband. So, husband number one, Paul Lewis, he is a lawyer from Chicago. He, along with all the ex-husbands I talked to, didn’t have anything good to say about Kristen. Nothing really stood out to me as to why they married and divorced, other than they met, fell in love, then when she refused to move her and her daughter to Chicago, they divorced, because the long distance thing wasn’t working.” Andy saw he had their attention.
“Husband number two. Wade Rafferty, a stuntman from Las Vegas. He had been from LA, but became injured during a movie he was filming, and went home to Vegas. After he healed, he got a job at one of the casinos and became a dealer. That’s how they met. She was there getting her divorce from number one, and instead of a one-night stand, they spent the weekend together. By the time she left a few days later, they had married, and he followed her home. They broke up, because they got into an argument about how she was raising her daughter. Wade didn’t agree with her.” Andy flipped through his papers until he found the one he wanted. He leaned forward to look, then glanced up at Marvin.
“All this is in your files, but this is what Wade said,‘Kristen is a psycho bitch from hell when it comes to her daughter.’ He goes on to explain how he didn’t want to leave the child, but knew she was in good hands with Annie, Lori, and Murphy.”
“Who are they?” Marvin asked.
“The staff I mentioned earlier. When I caught up with him, he was back in Vegas, but he and a few buddies of his from LA, retired stuntmen, opened a school to teach youngsters how to do stunts. He’s happily married for over fifteen years and has four children.”
“Not that it matters, but what about husband number one?” Phillip asked. “What’s he doing now?”
“He’s on a vicious cycle of doom.”
“Explain.”
“He’s on his third wife after Kristen. After each divorce, it seems the new wife is younger than the previous one. Because he has alimony to his first three wives, he works longer hours, staying away from the current wife. She gets angry, and leaves. He’s had two heart attacks, is fifty, but looks and acts ninety. I’d say he’s got one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel. He’s not doing good, personally, professionally, and health wise.”
“Damn. Should never have remarried after Kristen,” Marvin said. The three men shared a chuckle. “Who’s next?”
“Number three, Randall Fife, accountant from Philly. Nothing remarkable. Same as number one, Kristen refused to move to Philly.”
“Husband number four, Henry Leslie. Billionaire rancher from Wyoming. Again, nothing spectacular. Broke up for same reason as numbers one and three, refusal to move to Wyoming. Same with number five, Gary Smythe, personal trainer from LA. Refused to stay in LA for more than a week at a time, but several months between visits, Smythe never stepped foot in Montana. Basically their marriage was on paper only. She’d only go to LA when she wanted work done.” Andy looked up at that statement and grinned when Marvin only shook his head, and sighed.
“I know, you’ll get to it.”
“Correct. Next we have number six, Raoul Hernandez, actor, New York City. This is where it gets interesting. Oh, before I continue, each marriage lasted between eighteen and twenty-four months. Nothing longer, and there was at least eighteen months between husbands.”
“Okay, but what’s interesting about Hernandez?”
“It turned out that when Kristen realized he’d inherited millions from his parents’ deaths, she went after him with a vengeance. But not until he had cashed the checks. No clue as to how she found out about it.” Andy shook his head and scrubbed his face. “Anyway, he followed her to Montana. Two months into the marriage, she demanded that he pay the mortgage on the house.” Andy paused long enough to watch Marvin’s face. “Yes, the one you were paying on. And, get this, she demanded he pay for her daughter’s tuition for the private school she attended. In about fifteen months, she had drained him dry.” Andy refilled his coffee cup, and stretched his legs out from beneath him. “I asked, and he paid her in cash. He never saw a bill for the mortgage, nor the school.”
“Damn,” Phillip said as he shook his head to write that information down.
“Kristen kicked his ass out when he had no more money to spend on her. No clue what she’d done with it.”
“Fuck,” Marvin jumped to his feet and paced. After several minutes, he looked at Andy and shook his head. “Please continue.”
“Next, we have Dr. Michael Lawrence from Los Angeles. He’s a plastic surgeon.” Andy waiting until he had Marvin’s attention, before he said, “You’re going to want to sit down for this. This is where it gets interesting and fucked-up even more than it already is.”
Chapter 23
They decided to take a break before continuing, and once they were back in the conference room, they had to wait until Phillip made up a sign to put on the door. It had taken longer than they anticipated, and he’d put up a sign stating they were in a private meeting. He even pulled the blinds so no one could look in. When they were ready, they looked at Andy.
“Okay, as I said before the break, this is where it gets confusing. First, let’s back up to husband number two.”
Marvin looked at the pad he’d been taking notes on. “Rafferty, stuntman, LA, retired, returned home to Vegas.”
“Correct. Now, Marvin, how old was your daughter when Kristen told you that she had been in an accident that caused her to have a traumatic brain injury?”
“I’d have to say between the ages of five and six.”
“Good, good.” Andy nodded. He sat up and flipped through his papers. “Okay, please bear with me. During the time Rafferty was married to Kristen, he taught the child to ride her bicycle with no training wheels. Not even a helmet. They were doing great, until Kristen came outside, saw what they were doing and began screaming. The child freaked out, and dumped the bike.”
“Okay, but what’s wrong with that?” Marvin asked.
