Saturday was a busy morning at work for Reese. She had planned on coming in just in the morning to finish up a few things before calling the Bay Pointe Orphanage. But she got so busy that it was noon before she found time to make the call.
Reese knew Annie Smith, the manager of the orphanage, personally, so she had no problem getting through, but getting answers was another matter. Mrs. Smith very politely told Reese that she couldn't give her any information over the phone, but if she would drop by her office later that afternoon, they could talk. Reese immediately agreed.
Almost as soon as she had hung up the phone it rang again. It was Blaine checking in to see if she found out anything. She filled him in on the phone call and almost as an after thought invited him to meet her at the orphanage for the meeting.
When Reese arrived at the orphanage Blaine was outside waiting for her. Once they greeted each other, Reese led the way to the director's office.
Blaine thought it a little odd that Reese seemed to know her way around the building, but he didn't think much of it until they met Mrs. Smith in her office.
"Hello Reese. It's so good to see you," Annie greeted Reese with a hug. "How have you been?"
"Just great," Reese replied with a smile. When she was aware that Blaine was staring at them curiously, she suddenly felt self-conscious. "This is Blaine Kitteridge. He's been working with me on the search."
"It's nice to meet you," Annie greeted him with a handshake. "So what can I do for you?" she asked, offering them a seat.
Reese explained the situation. They were searching for the heir to a client's will and the only lead they had so far had brought them here. "We were hoping you would be able to give us some information that could confirm this is the person we're looking for and help us find out where she is now."
"I looked through my files after you called," Annie said slowly. "And I did find someone by the name you mentioned. There was a little girl who came here as a newborn 35 years ago, but she was adopted almost immediately."
"Can you tell us who adopted her?" Blaine asked.
"Normally, no. We're very careful about privacy issues here, but I think this is an exception," Annie replied and handed a thin file folder to Reese.
"It's a good thing you've got connections," Blaine remarked as he and Reese walked out of Annie's office. When Reese didn't reply, Blaine stopped her in the middle of the hallway and asked, "I don't want to pry, but I'm too curious not to ask. How do you know everything? You knew just where to look on the computer and you know your way around here. How is that?"
Reese hesitated, deciding how much she wanted to reveal. "I've done some research into another case that brought me here before."
"Another missing heir?" Blaine asked with a grin.
"No. Someone searching for family ties." Reese replied cryptically.
"Have you had any luck with that search?"
"No," Reese answered, a little surprised that he had asked. "But maybe we'll do better with this one."
"I hope so," Blaine said as they walked outside and Reese started glancing through the file.
"Hmm. According to the records, this Dorothy was adopted by a Frank and Evelyn McAllistar and they lived here in Bay Pointe at the time of the adoption. I wonder what the chances are that they still live around here."
"I don't know," Blaine replied. "I'm starting to wonder if we've got the right person. If this girl was adopted as a baby, wouldn't her name have changed to McAllistar after the adoption? Mrs. May wouldn't have known her by the name of Summers unless she knew her before the adoption. What are the odds that she knew her in those few months as an infant and decided to leave her money to her over 30 years later?"
Reese gasped as she read over the rest of the paper. "Better than you'd think. Take a look at this."
"I'm leaving now," Alma announced as she walked through the living room. Originally she had planned to move out the night before, but she decided to wait until the next day, claiming she still had some sorting and packing to do before the big move.
Amanda was sitting on the floor, sorting through some of their mother's old boxes. She was so interested in the paper she was reading that she barely looked up. "Ok. But you should take a look at these sometime."
"At what?" Alma asked.
"These old love letters to mom," Amanda replied, handing one of the letters to her surprised sister. "Did you know she dated a soldier during the war?"
"No," Alma answered as Amanda continued.
"I forget sometimes that she lived half of her life before we were born. There's so much that we didn't know about her."
When the phone rang, Amanda set the papers aside to go answer it. As Amanda walked out of the room, Alma dropped the letter she was holding onto the stack with the rest and picked up her bags to leave. She was about to walk out the front door, when Amanda motioned to her to wait.
Amanda was very quiet while she was on the phone. Her answers were terse, giving Alma no clue as to what the call was about. "Thank you," Amanda said quietly before hanging up the phone.
"Well?" Alma asked impatiently .
"That was Reese Burroughs, the woman from the law firm who is looking for mother's heir. They think they've found her."
"Who is she?" Alma prompted, eager to find out.
"Apparently she's our half-sister."
No comments:
Post a Comment