People don’t realize that sometimes other people do listen in on their private conversations. For instance, on the night the judge and his wife were having dinner, discussing the contents of Hanna Marie’s will, their cook, Mrs. Grace, had left the door to the dining room just slightly ajar. She had been very interested in what the judge had to say. She had worked for Mr. and Mrs. Swensen before they’d died.
Although it had taken a while for it to go through the probate process, Hanna Marie’s will had just been validated by the judge, and when people heard about what was in it, they would be absolutely astonished. It was almost unbelievable that Hanna Marie would have left all of her relatives and charities completely out of the will. It just wasn’t like her. But according to the will, she had left her husband everything. And at the end of the last quarter, company assets were up to about thirty-six million. Even Laverne Thorneycroft, the judge’s wife, questioned it that night at dinner. “I don’t care what you say, Sam. There’s something rotten going on. She no more left that business to him than the man in the moon.”
The judge shook his head. “Laverne, what can I say? All I can do is follow the letter of the law. I have to authorize closing the estate.”
“Well, I still don’t believe she left everything to him.”
“According to the will, she did. Hanna Marie was deaf, but not blind, Laverne. She could read and write. And as long as it’s on paper, it’s legal.” The judge carefully buttered his dinner roll, then added, “But if I were him, I’d be real careful crossing the street in this town from now on.”
When word got out about the contents of the will, everybody was upset. They couldn’t understand how Hanna Marie would do such a thing.
After the taxes were paid, and the dairy was now officially his, the first thing Michael Vincent did was fire anyone who had been closely associated with the Swensen family. The first person to go was Hanna Marie’s cousin Albert Olsen, who had been manager of the company for almost thirty years.
Albert was devastated. He told his wife that Ander would be rolling over in his grave if he knew how Vincent was running the dairy now. “That guy has no idea how to run a dairy. He’s fired almost everybody in management, and these new farm workers he’s brought in aren’t trained to work with cows. He doesn’t care about the cows or the quality of the product—just how much and how fast. This used to be a one-company town. Everybody knew everybody. These new workers don’t have any roots here. Hell, some of them are still living in their cars. God knows what he’s paying them. Mark my words. Before he’s through, he’s going to run that dairy right into the ground or he could turn around and sell it to some big conglomerate.”
Albert’s wife sighed. “When I think of how hard Ander worked all those years to build it up, how hard you and everybody worked, it just breaks my heart.”
The next day, one of Albert’s sons told Police Chief Ralph Childress, “I’m telling you in advance, Ralph, after what Vincent did to my dad, if I ever catch him alone, I’m gonna beat the hell out of him.”
He was the third person that day to tell Ralph almost the same thing. There wasn’t a person in town who didn’t entertain thoughts of killing Vincent, or at least maiming him in some way, including Ralph. Even his own wife, Edna, had remarked, “I’d like to poison the rat.”
When Mrs. Grace, Judge Thorneycroft’s cook, passed away, and she told her friend Verbena Wheeler about Hanna Marie’s will, the news spread like wildfire that the husband had gotten everything lock, stock, and barrel. The people up in Still Meadows were as shocked as the people in town had been. And Hanna Marie was utterly dumbfounded.
She knew what was in her will. Her father had trained her to read documents, and she had read every word before she’d signed it.
Under no circumstances shall the business and properties known as Sweet Clover Dairy be sold or deeded to any individual, other than a Nordstrom, Olsen, or Swensen family member.
Ander was particularly upset. He had promised Lordor on his deathbed that the dairy would always be a family-run business.
Hanna Marie had done exactly as her father had requested and included in her will the very same clause that had appeared in his, and she had been careful to make sure that all her charity donations would continue after her death. “I don’t know how it could have happened,” she said. “I’m just at a complete loss.”
Little Miss Davenport, over in plot 258, had not wanted to say anything before, but now she felt she just had to speak out. “Hanna Marie?” she said. “It’s Dottie Davenport. I used to work for your daddy…and then your husband.”
“Oh, yes, of course, Miss Davenport. How are you?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m just as mad as hell at myself.”
“Oh, no, why?”
“If I hadn’t gotten sick and died when I did, I could have stopped that man from stealing all your money.”
The cemetery was suddenly all ears.
“You probably don’t remember, but I was in the office the day you came in to sign your will. And after you signed it and left, your husband handed me a key and told me to go put the will in the private security box in the file room.”
“I remember that.”
“Well, he doesn’t know it, but on the way to the file room, I read your will, and I know where you wanted your money to go.”
“You read it?”
“I wasn’t supposed to, but I did. And I’ll tell you something else he doesn’t know. Before I put it in the box, I stopped and made a quick copy of it, just in case he ever tried to pull something funny.”
At this point, Verbena Wheeler was almost beside herself and yelled, “Oh, my God…did everybody hear that? Little Miss Davenport made a copy of Hanna Marie’s will!”
“And what did you do with that copy, dear?” asked Hanna Marie.
“I hid it.”
Verbena yelled again. “She hid it, everybody. Little Miss Davenport hid a copy of the will!”
Ruby said, “Be quiet, Verbena! Let her finish. Go on, Dottie, where did you hide it?”
“Well, I didn’t have much time, so on my way back with the key, I folded it up and stuck it behind your daddy’s portrait.”
Ander spoke up. “The one in the boardroom.”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone see you do it, Dottie?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, but they might have. At that point, people were always spying on one another, trying to get in good with him.”
“Do you think the copy’s still there?” asked Ander.
“I have no way of knowing, Mr. Swensen.”
Hanna Marie said, “But you were so brave to try and protect me. I really appreciate it, more than you know.”
“Oh, thank you. But if I only had outlived you, even by a few months, I would have heard about it and could’ve stopped him cold. I think he and that woman lawyer got together, pulled a fast one, and changed your will, and I could have proven it.”