Riordan made a couple of notes and then moved to another topic.
“I need to ask you about paying off the loans on the property belonging to Stanton’s brother, and also his sister’s property.”
Leigh nodded, then glanced over her shoulder, a little concerned Jesse wasn’t back.
“Bowie, would you make sure Jesse is okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bowie said, and left the room.
Riordan could only imagine what it cost her emotionally to take care of a grown man with a child’s mind. Her situation strengthened his determination to solve this crime as soon as possible.
“Did you and Stanton know when you decided to pay off those loans that your estranged family was heavily invested in the resort, and did you know they owned the lending institution that bought up the loans from the local bank?”
“No, of course not. Like I said, I know nothing about them now. Nothing. We did it because Polly and Carl are living on the Cyrus home place, and because Thomas and Beth are living on the Youngblood home place. Stuff like that matters to us. People hit hard times. It’s not the first time the homesteads were ever mortgaged, but it was the first time the loans were called in. It was the abruptness of it that caused the hardship, and the new owner of the loans wasn’t giving anyone a break.”
The moment Leigh said that, her eyes welled with tears. She’d forgotten for a moment that there was no more “us.” She took a slow, shaky breath and looked away.
Bowie came back at a lope.
“I had to take a picture,” Bowie said. “You need to see what Jesse’s doing.” He was smiling when he sat down beside Leigh and handed her the phone.
The sight of her son happily sitting in the middle of the chicken yard hand-feeding peelings to the hens all bunched around him was exactly what she needed to see. She laughed.
“Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen him do that before,” she said. Then she leaned forward to show the picture to Riordan. “He’s going to be my saving grace in this heartbreak.”
Riordan grinned. “If you could bottle up that joy and sell it, you’d be a rich woman,” he said.
Leigh sighed. “I already am rich...in love and family.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Riordan said, as he handed the phone back to Bowie.
“Is there anything we can do?” Leigh asked. “I’ll do anything to get justice for Stanton.”
Riordan frowned. “No, ma’am. You do not put yourself in harm’s way. You have a family who loves you and a son who needs you.”
At that moment the back door banged, and then they heard footsteps.
“Speaking of that son,” Leigh said, as she got up and caught Jesse on the run long enough to pick a little chicken feather from his hair, then check the back of his jeans to make sure he hadn’t sat in chicken poop. “Go wash your hands, Jesse, then Bowie will get you a root beer.”
“Root beer!” Jesse cried, and loped toward the hall.
Riordan’s admiration for Leigh Youngblood rose even more as she sat back down.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t more help,” she said. “Maybe Polly or Thomas could tell you more, only they aren’t at home today. One of Thomas’s grandchildren is having surgery to fix a broken arm. They’re all at the hospital.”
Riordan nodded.
“No matter. Again, sorry to have bothered you, and thank you for your information.”
“It wasn’t nearly enough,” Leigh said, and then got up to see the constable to the door.
She stood in the doorway until he was gone, then turned around and went to check on Jesse.
Even though she’d maintained her emotions, Bowie could tell she was upset. He heard her calling Michael and leaving a message, asking him to find out who now owned all the foreclosed property around the lake.
A short while later Michael returned her call. Bowie didn’t know what was said between them, but whatever it was, she was quiet all afternoon as they sat out on the porch breaking beans. When they had finished, she carried them straight into the kitchen, ran some water into the huge basins of beans waiting to be canned and once again headed for her phone.
Bowie knew something was brewing when she called Samuel to ask if he was free to go to Eden with her now, and apparently he said yes, because she asked him to wear good clothes and bring Bella to stay with Jesse. Then she called Aidan and Michael and asked them the same thing, to which they, too, apparently agreed.
When Leigh turned around and saw Bowie looking at her, she lifted her chin.
“I’m going to change clothes. Did you bring any dress clothes?”
“Yes, ma’am. What I was going to wear to Daddy’s funeral.”
“Well, I need you to change into that for me, son.”
“Where are we going, Mama?”
“To visit my family. They’re not going to break ranks unless I rattle them, and I know just how to do that. I think it’s time I introduced my sons to the enemy, and then I’m going to scare them so bad they’ll uncover the guilty party and turn him or her in on their own.”
Bowie’s eyes widened. “Can you do that?”