Southern Greed Read online

  I went from wing to wing looking and it didn’t look like anyone occupied any of these rooms. I wondered why they didn’t use these for the servant’s quarters. There would have been less stairs to climb.

  When I got to the West wing I found a little girl’s room. It was furnished in different shades and prints of pink. It was beautiful. I looked in the closet and saw little girl’s dresses and casual outfits. They were very expensive looking.

  I suddenly became very dizzy and had to sit on the bed. When I put my head in my hands I saw a fire and I heard screaming. A woman was screaming, “Run, Kathy, Run.”

  Just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped and I almost fell onto the pink carpet, I was so off balance. It was almost too quiet after all the noise.

  There was a large room off of the little girl’s room and I thought it must have been for the parents or for the nanny. It shared a bathroom with the little girl’s room but most all of the other bedrooms had their own bath.

  The second floor was pretty much like the third but, instead of bedrooms, they were all apartments with their own sitting rooms. There were one, two and three bedroom apartments.

  Each was very elaborately furnished and I decided to pick out one for Adam and me. I picked out one facing the South. It would have sun all day. It was furnished in bright green and white with plenty of white wicker.

  I didn’t wait for Adam to approve but decided to move all our things on over there.

  Once I got that done I went down the stairs to the first floor and found sitting rooms, both formal and informal, and several rooms for eating, dining rooms of all sizes and breakfast nooks. I was amazed I had found my breakfast this morning.

  I didn’t stop to find Ronnie but continued to the basement. I heard water splashing when I got halfway down the stairs and heard Ronnie, “Watch this, dad.” I smiled to myself. It must be an indoor swimming pool. I wondered if there was an outdoor one too.

  I didn’t go in but continued to see what else was down there. I found a bowling alley and a movie theatre. It had everything anyone would want and I could see why Adam said it should be made into a resort.

  I found a sauna that included a cedar lined steam room and several types of hot tubs and showers. It was amazing.

  I made my way back to the swimming pool and noticed it was Olympic-sized. Ronnie was swimming with his dad and he was a good swimmer.

  I liked to swim too and planned to use the pool often.

  When Ronnie saw me, he waved and swam over to the edge of the pool, “You ready to go see granny Grace?”

  “As soon as you get on some dry clothes,” I said as I laughed at him.

  CHAPTER 10

  Rachael was coming out of Gracie’s bedroom when we went in and told us we could go on in, that she was awake.

  Ronnie took my hand and pulled me into the bedroom. I was sweating bullets. All I could think about was that they were going to find out I was a fake and I was going to end up in jail. I was beginning to doubt my sanity, that I would even consider doing something like this.

  She had her eyes open and they were light blue. She smiled as Ronnie climbed right up on the bed with her. He kissed her cheek, “I love you granny Grace.”

  “I love you too, sweetie.”

  Her voice sounded strong but, when she tried to raise herself to a sitting position, she appeared to be very weak.

  I went over and helped her and she eyed me the whole time. When she was sitting up with many pillows behind her, she said, “So, you’re Kathy?”

  I nodded while trying to maintain eye contact but I had to look away under her intense stare.

  She didn’t say anything but just sat there studying me, “Do you remember me?” She asked.

  I decided to be truthful and that way, if I was ever caught maybe the judge would go easy on me.

  “Adam found me and said I look a lot like your granddaughter. I don’t know for sure if I am, but I don’t remember my childhood before the age of seven.

  She chuckled, “I’ll bet you took one look at Adam and fell in love with him. All the women do. He could have talked you into to anything.

  “Well, in my day he could have probably talked me into anything too. He reminds me a lot of my own husband, God rest his soul. it sure didn’t get rested while he was alive.

  “Rachael tells me you two already got married. If you are my granddaughter you’ve sure changed. Kathy was smart and could have never been conned. She saw through everyone. Most kids do, though.”

  I got tears in my eyes. It hurt for her to think ill of me. I don’t know why it should have mattered.

  I planned to end this farce and leave there, get an annulment and go home where I belonged. I didn’t know how I thought I could do something like this. It just wasn’t me.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her, “I should not have let Adam talk me into this. I will leave here and go back to Rehobeth where I belong.

  “Rehobeth? Did you say Rehobeth?”

  When I nodded she started coughing. I started for the door to get Rachael but she waved me back in.

  I went into the bathroom and found a glass and filled it with water and handed it to her. I noticed that Ronnie had fallen asleep at the foot of her bed. I had forgotten he was there.

  She took some water and got control of her breath. “Adam found you there. That’s where he looked. He knew to look there. I wonder how he knew?”

  “What are you talking about? You wonder how he knew what?’

  “Kathy’s parents, your parents if you are Kathy, died in a car fire near there. I had never heard of the place before then. They never found the child. We advertised in every newspaper around there as well as in Savannah. No one ever came forward.

  “We hired private detectives, but she was never found. Police went door to door right after it happened to no avail.”

  Once again, I started feeling dizzy and lost my balance. I fell across the bed and heard the same thing I had heard before and saw the fire. Now I knew what it meant and I knew I was the real Kathy, but didn’t understand how my parents ended up with me.

  My grandmother rang a bell she picked up from the bedside table and Rachael came hurrying in.

  I felt like I couldn’t breathe and Rachael said, “She’s having a panic attack.”

  She took both my hands in hers and said, “Slow the breathing down. Come on, breathe with me. In…out…in… out.”

  Before long I was all right. I thanked her and she left.

  I looked at my grandmother and said, “I went exploring today and found a little girl’s room on the third floor. While I was in there, I saw a fire and I had a panic attack but not as bad as what I just had.

  “Was that room mine, grandmother?”

  “Yes it was your room,” she said and she reached for me. “At last, you have come home. But please, if you’re pulling a con, don’t tell me.”

  “I was but now I know the truth. I know I’m you granddaughter.”

  We both cried as she held me and I felt like I had come home.

  CHAPTER 11

  As I was coming out of my grandmother’s apartment, Susan was on her way out.

  “Hi,” she said. “Do you want to go shopping? Where have you been, by the way?”

  “I think I’ll pass on the shopping. I’m kind of tired. I explored the mansion and then went to see my grandmother. She’s sleeping now and I think I’ll go upstairs and have a nap myself. Have you seen Adam?”

  She shrugged, “He’s at work, I suppose. I guess you don’t know him well enough to know he’s a workaholic. Do you know each other at all?”

  I didn’t answer her and she shrugged and left. As I made my way upstairs to our pretty green and white suite, I was deep in thought. I really didn’t know Adam at all. I felt like a fool, marrying a man I didn’t know and going to an unknown place.

  Did he marry me for my money? I don’t think he could possibly love me anymore than I could love him. He had schemed and I had gotten caught up i
n the moment.

  I had never been pretty and the only experience I had had with men were the boys I had dated from the church who were as brainwashed as I had been and then with the evangelist who had raped me and I had had to lie to protect him.

  Did I really think that someone like Adam could fall in love with me? I had wanted so badly to believe it that I was willing to give up my career that I had worked so hard for, my friends, my mama, my life as I knew it, to follow this stranger.

  Now what was I supposed to do? My grandmother was in no position to help me and I didn’t want to leave her. I had just found her. But I didn’t think Adam loved me or wanted me in any way.

  If Adam had cooked up this scheme for money, which I suspected he had, then was he going to be happy keeping me for his wife? I decided the answer was no.

  He had given me just enough attention to get me to marry him, but now he didn’t have to pay any attention to me, in fact, I could take it one step farther and say I would be no use to him at all.

  Would he kill me? Was he killing my grandmother? What if he and the pretty nurse, Rachael, were planning on getting rid of both my grandmother and me?

  What was wrong with her? I went back down the stairs to question Rachael.

  CHAPTER 12

  Rachael wouldn’t let me in to see my grandmother. She led me across the foyer to a small sitting room telling me my grandmother was asleep.

  “What’s wrong with my grandmother?” I asked before we had sat down. “How long has she been ill?”

  “Your grandmother’s illness has come on gradually over time. The doctor is not sure what’s going on with her. She thinks a lot of it is just old age. She is 74 after all. She has headaches, drowsiness, and confusion. She seems to need more and more sleep all the time.”

  “When does she have her next doctor’s appointment? I want to take her so I can talk to him.”

  She laughed, “The doctor comes here every day. Her name is Dr. Sims.” She looked at her watch, “She should be here in about a half hour. She usually comes around three.”

  “Good, I want to talk to her.”

  Rachael glanced over her shoulder and then back at me, “Don’t you think you’re carrying this granddaughter charade a little far?”

  That’s when I knew she was in on the scam. I decided not to tell her I was really the granddaughter.

  Instead, I said, “I want everything to look authentic, don’t I? A loyal granddaughter would be concerned and want to talk to the doctor.”

  She shrugged, “I suppose so.”

  When the doctor came I took an instant dislike to her. She was a small woman in her mid-forties with hair dyed pitch black and dark brown eyes. She wore her white coat for the home visit and for some reason it made me distrust her.

  When I started asking her questions about my grandmother, she became defensive like I was questioning her competence.

  She talked to the nurse for a few minutes while ignoring me and when I followed her into my grandmother’s room she looked annoyed but didn’t say anything.

  She sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand and patted it, “How are we doing, Miss Gracie?”

  My grandmother opened her eyes, “I don’t want to see you. Get out of here.”

  “Now, come on, Miss Gracie. I’m Doctor Sims. You remember me. I want to examine you to see how you’re doing. I brought some more medication to make you feel better.”

  My grandmother saw me standing by the door and motioned me over, “This is my granddaughter. I just found her after all these years,” She said to the doctor. Then to me, “Make her go away, Kathy. I don’t like her.”

  The doctor reached into her bag and brought out a hypodermic needle and started to fill it with a milky looking liquid.

  “What’s that?” I asked and the doctor looked at me and didn’t answer but moved toward my grandmother with the needle extended.

  I had never been good at sticking up for myself but when I saw this indifferent doctor acting like my grandmother was a piece of meat, I knew I had to help my grandmother.

  “Stop,” I screamed and she turned toward me.

  She turned toward me and said, “I have to give her this medication. It will help her rest.”

  “No, I want to get another opinion. I want to find her another doctor.”

  She laughed, “It’s not your decision. You aren’t her guardian. Adam Kramer has power of attorney.”

  “That’s my husband,”

  “Your husband?” She asked looking me up and down like she didn’t believe a mousy little thing like me could be married to Adam Kramer.

  I tried to speak in a more calm voice, “Please, don’t give her anything else until I talk to my husband.”

  She sat looking at me and I noticed my grandmother had tears in her eyes. After letting out a long breath, the doctor put the syringe back in her bag and got up to leave, “She’s going to have a restless night. You don’t know what you’re doing but I’ll suspend treatment until you talk to Adam.”

  CHAPTER 13

  I stayed with my grandmother for awhile and she told me that professor Murphy was writing her memoirs and that she needed to continue with that because she might not have much time left.

  “How long have you been sick, grandmother?”

  “It seems like forever but, let’s see, it was shortly after the professor started writing my memoirs.”

  “Where did you meet Eugene?”

  “I put an add in the newspaper that I wanted someone to write my memoirs. I interviewed several people but as soon as I met Professor Murphy and his little boy, Ronnie, I knew I had found a match.

  “A good match in life is very important, Kathy. You remember that. Not just in marriage but in every encounter. Now tell me about your life in Rehobeth.”

  I told my grandmother everything which took so little time because I hadn’t had much of a life.”

  She listened intently and when I got to the part about the Reverend Jacobs raping me, she said, “I’ll get a private detective on that right away. We’ll find him and have him put away.”

  “Finding him is not the problem, grandmother. But no one would believe me back then, why do you think anyone would believe me now?”

  “Because you’re a Boston. You don’t lie. It’s impossible. It’s not in your blood. We’re a proud family with honor.”

  I let it go because I thought what she was saying was hogwash and I wanted to get back to her illness and try to figure out what was going on and I didn’t know who I could trust.

  “So, grandmother how did Susan and Adam come to be here and when did they come?”

  “Professor Murphy needed someone to type up his notes so he would have more time to spend writing my memoirs. I suggested he hire a secretary.

  “He asked Susan if she would be interested. She was one of his graduate students.”

  “What does he teach?”

  “He teaches English Literature.”

  “Oh, okay, so you hired Susan as a secretary and then what?”

  “Then we continued to write my memoirs.”

  I laughed and she joined in although I don’t know if she knew what I was laughing about. “When did Adam and Rachael come on board?”

  “Well, Adam hired Rachael when I got sick, and Adam is Susan’s brother. I met him through Susan.”

  I was getting frustrated. I was trying to find out the timing of her illness but she didn’t get it. She acted like she totally trusted all these people.

  I let it drop and I intended to question the rest of the staff. I would start with Mrs. Hildebrandt.

  My grandmother was getting tired and had started dozing off so I said goodnight to her and headed for the kitchen.

  I found Mrs. Hildebrandt supervising the kitchen staff and I was surprised at how huge the kitchen was. When she saw me she came over wiping her face on her apron.

  “Hey, Miss. Kathy, did you want to take over the menu planning now that you’re here? I started planning t
he meals after Miss. Gracie got ill.”

  “No, I don’t want to take anything over but I would like to talk to you if you’re not too busy.”

  She looked around the kitchen and nodded like she was satisfied that everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing and then led me into a small dining room I hadn’t noticed before.

  “This is the dining room the kitchen staff uses,” She said as we seated ourselves. “Where are my manners? What would you like to drink?”

  “I don’t want anything, Mrs. Hildebrandt. I just wondered, do you remember when my grandmother became ill?”

  She looked over into the corner of the room and then back at me. She was hesitating and I guessed why, “Was it after Adam came here?”

  She nodded but she looked fearful and I guessed why she was nervous, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Hildebrandt. You will always have the job you have until you want to retire. I promise. You can be truthful with me.”

  “At first he came to visit Susan every now and then, but then he started coming more and more often. He began to spend more and more time with Miss. Gracie and, he can be very charming, no offense.”

  “None taken, Mrs. Hildebrandt, please go on.”

  “Well, before too long, he started bringing Miss. Rachael with him as his date,” Her face became more red than usual but I didn’t flinch.

  “Then what happened, Mrs. Hildebrandt?”

  “Excuse me a minute, mam. All of a sudden my mouth is so dry I can’t hardly talk. I’m going to get me some sweet iced tea. I’ll bring us both some.”

  When she came back and we settled back down, she drank about half and then held the glass against her forehead. I waited and she soon continued.

  “It was kind of nice at first having all these folks to cook for, but soon Miss. Gracie quit coming to the table and asked that a tray be sent up. She was in the gold suite on the second floor.

  “I took the trays up myself and I began to worry about her. She’s one of the most decent ladies I’ve ever met and I love her like a sister. She’s not stuck up either. I would sometimes stay while she ate and she ate less and less.