Monday, July 21, 2014

A Final Victory (3)

The kitchen was dark as night as the storm raged on. Early spring rain mixed with snow hit the windows with a deafening clatter.  Monte switched on the lights and worriedly looked outside, then sat down at the table and began to search through everything.  Files and billfold both.
She recognized Jon's handwriting.  There were papers apparently dealing with a court case involving a farm. Although she didn't recognize any of the names.  Another file was about a court case; a Jack Smith and a woman.  The amount, $10.000 dollars stood out in big numbers.  She took a deep breath.
Another file had a map and a paper that had "deed" printed on the top. Then she picked up the billfold.
This must belong to someone else, she thought in relief as she saw a strange name on the drivers license, until she saw the picture of Jon smiling his easy grin. And here the name said Jason Smith!
Oh God, this was unbelieveable!  I don't even know his real name. With a sinking feeling then, she remembered telling him about her inheritance early in their relationship.
Monte sat at the table in her kithen as the storm raged on with both rain and snow. The wind whipped tree branches against the roof of the house. The lights flickered.
She got up from her chair and began pacing around the house, she stopped in her bedroom and looked at the bed where they had spent so much time.
Damn you Jon, or whoever the hell you are!
She stood there, angry and heartbroken. Mascara streaked down her face, and a few cobwebs still stuck in her hair from the basement. Her sobs turned to small whimpers as she began ripping the sheets off her bed and carried them, blankets and pillows into the laundry room and stuffed as much as she could in the washer. She had trusted him, but apparently he had just wanted her money.
"Monte," she remembered his saying, "Let's go and look at this property up north that's for sale."
As a salesman for a tire company, Jon traveled and had been in town again for a few days. They had driven to Detroit Lakes on a sunny day earlier, and it had turned out to be a lovely log cabin nestled in the woods next to a clear blue lake. The trees were aglow with brilliant reds, gold and yellows leaves. Wildflowers and birch trees grew everywhere and Monte had fallen in love with it. The price was $50.000 dollars.
Another weekend came to mind now. They'd had a cozy evening together, and he had brought a   bottle of champagne.
"Monte," she remembered him saying, "I can't get that cabin out of my mind, it would be great if we could split the price and buy it. Maybe we could even call it our honeymoon hideaway," he had added with a mysterious wink.  They had talked about it late into the night.
"It's a good investment, and we could resell it later and make a good profit on it," he had added.
Monte had decided she would use some of her inheritance for her half.  And he promised when they resold he would repay her the ten grand he'd gotten earlier with interest. And right now, he'd get his twenty five thousand out of his year end bonus that was due.
Maybe we'll get married this fall, she daydreamed.
"Jon," she had said that weekend, "I have the money for my half of the price of the cabin." 
"Monte, that's great! I've got alot of vacation to take this summer and we'll have a wonderful time."  He had reached over and  given her a excited hug.
On Monday, she saw the cashiers check was missing from her desk drawer.