Chapter 2

When I awoke in the morning I saw the fire had died again. It was warm wrapped in the blankets with Jessie. My morning wood was poking through the cleft of her ass cheeks and I so desperately wanted to thrust a few times. Instead I did the mature thing and pulled myself from her, covering her back up with the blanket. I poked the fire a few times and fed it more wood. I went to my room, drained my morning erection, having to wait until it went down enough to go, and then put on a pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt. I headed to the kitchen where the electrical control panel was on the wall leading to the laundry room. Flipping one switch to auto, various electronic devices throughout the house chirped or hummed as the generator cranked up. The generator was in an outbuilding along with the batteries for the solar panels. You couldn't even hear the generator when it was running. Since this was the first storm of the season, I knew the underground diesel tank was full and would run the generator for weeks if needed.

I started breakfast while Jessica continued to sleep in front of the fire. Finally the smell of cooking bacon caused her to stir, and with a yawn and stretch she said, "I'm hungry." Using the blanket to wrap around herself, she came and sat at the counter.

Bacon along with eggs, grits, toast and orange juice seemed to satisfy her appetite ... at least for the time being.

"Jessica, where do you keep your clothes at your Grandpa's house," I asked, using the last of my toast to clean the remaining egg yolk from my plate.

"I had a box at the foot of the bed," she answered. "Why?"

"Well, when I go over there," I said, "I need to find you some more clothes to wear. Is there anything else you want me to get?"

"I thought I was goin' with ya," she said.

"You don't have the clothes necessary to be out in this weather," I told her. "Much less riding on a snowmobile. I'll check on your grandpa and pick up some things for you. I shouldn't be gone for long."

By 7:45 a.m. I was dressed and on my way off the plateau. What would normally have taken fifteen minutes to get to Gus' house took almost forty five in the heavy snow.

I pulled up in front of the porch, the porch where Gus and I had sat many afternoons as he told me stories of the mountains. When I approached the door I knocked lightly and called his name. "Gus," I called. "It's Keith Bradford."

I knew it was silly to be calling his name, but if Jessica had been wrong about his condition I didn't want to be looking down the wrong end of a double barrel shotgun.

As I pushed open the door the bright light of the sun lit up the interior. The entire cabin was small enough to fit inside my great room. In the center was an old pot belly woodstove. Just beyond was a chair, and there sat Gus. He had a log in his lap and the door to the woodstove was open. Apparently he had a heart attack as he was trying to stoke the stove. As Jessica had said, his eyes were open. They were dull and lackluster. His skin was white and you could see tiny icy crystals on his skin and in his beard.

Along one wall of the cabin was a double bed. Only one bed. He and Jessie must have slept together. There was a box at the foot that was half full of neatly folded clothes. On the bed, which had been made, was a stuffed monkey propped against a pillow. I grabbed the monkey and pillow and put them in the box with the clothes. I looked along the opposite wall where there was a counter with a sink. Next to the sink was a hand pump. "Damn," I said to no one but myself. "No electricity, no running water, no insulation. Gus must have been one tough old bird. Jessica too, for that matter."

I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of Gus, then called Sheriff Langston.

"Ray, this is Keith. How you doing,"

"Keith. Great to hear from you. You calling about that job. My offer still stands."

"No, no. I'm actually calling to make a report," I told him. "Do you know old man Gus that lives about a half mile past my driveway?"

"Sure," Ray said. "If I ever need information about anyone in that part of the county, he's the man I go to."

"Well, not any more," I said. "Seems he died sometime night before last. It looks as if it was natural causes, possibly a heart attack. I've taken a few pictures I'll send you. Tell the coroner the body is frozen stiff in a sitting position. I'll email you a statement when I get back to my cabin."

"Hell, Keith. You might as well let me put you on the payroll. Seems you're already doing my work for me," he said with a chuckle.

"That's okay, Ray. Just consider this my civic duty. By the way, did you know he had a granddaughter living with him?"

"No, can't say as I did. I always thought he lived alone. At least as long as I've known him."

"That's what I thought," I said. "Turns out he'd always told her to stay inside anytime someone stopped to visit,"

"You don't think he was abusing her, do you," he asked with concern.

"No, I haven't seen any signs of physical abuse," I told him. "She's lived with him about a year, apparently dropped off to him by her mother. She hasn't attended school since she's lived with him."

"Damn. Child Services would have a hey day with that," he said.

"I've got her at my place right now," I told him. "Poor thing had tried to make it to my place during the storm. Luckily I found her in my driveway when I was coming in yesterday, otherwise the coroner would have been coming for two bodies. Anyway, hold off telling Child Services for a few days if you don't mind. The kid's been though a lot and she seems comfortable with me. I'll bring her to you when things clear up."

"Sounds good," he told me. "I'll get with the county's highway department and have them open the roads out that way so the coroner can take care of Gus."

"Thanks Ray, and by the way, let the power company know the lines are down somewhere between here and town. I lost power during the night."

"Will do, Keith," and we said our goodbyes.

I stowed the box of clothes into the trailer attached to the snowmobile and went back to close the door. Looking inside one last time I noticed a small metal box under Gus' chair. It was a small fireproof box with the key inserted into the lock. I grabbed the box, pulled the door to, and headed back to the cabin.

"You brought me Monk-Monk," Jessica said when she looked into the box.

Jessie had the kitchen cleaned when I returned. I had carried the box into the room she was using and placed it on the bed. The bed had been made and it looked as if a quarter would bounce a foot high if dropped onto the covers. She didn't ask about Gus, probably because she already knew the answer.

I grabbed the fireproof box and headed to my office. After typing up a statement, I emailed it to Sheriff Langston along with the pictures to verify there were no signs of foul play. I then opened the box to check out the contents.

On top was an envelope with my name. 'Strange, ' I thought to myself. 'Why would Gus have written a letter to me?'

I open the envelope and read;

Last Will and Testament of Gunther Gainey

I, Gunther Gainey, being of sound mind and body, do hereby leave all my worldly possessions to my granddaughter, Jessica Weston. If my granddaughter is a minor at the time of my passing, her guardianship is to be awarded to Keith Bradford.

Sign: Gunther Gainey

I stared at the document in disbelief. Gus had given me custody of Jessica. Why? Why hadn't he talked to me about this? During our conversations I had mentioned regret that I never married and had children, even joking that it would have been nice to have children without a nagging wife. I'd always loved kids, and had started the Police Athletic League, or PAL Program, in the police department.

I folded the will and placed it back into the envelope. Looking back into the metal box I found several newspaper clippings, a picture of a young woman and a military award. At the bottom of the box was a stack of bonds. There must have been at least a hundred of them. Looking at the value, the bonds were stamped at $5,000.00 each.

'Damn, ' I thought. 'With the maturity of the bonds, they would now be worth a small fortune.'

I looked closer at the military award and noticed it was a Bronze Star. Opening the newspaper clippings I read that First Sergeant Gunther Gainey was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery in single handedly attacking a machine gun bunker and saving the lives of his platoon. Another clipping said Lula Mae Parker had wed Gunther Gainey on June 3rd, 1957. Glancing at the back of the picture I saw the name Lula Mae.

I placed all the items back into the box and closed the lid.

Jessie was sitting on the sofa watching television clutching Monk-Monk to her chest when I returned to the great room. She had dressed wearing a pair of jeans with holes in each knee, and a flannel shirt. I have to admit it wasn't as thrilling as when I'd seen her sitting there naked, but at least she had some warm clothes to wear.

"Jessica," I said, sitting next to her. "What is your mother's name?"

"Leanne," she said.

"Do you know what happened to her after she left you with your grandpa," I asked.

"No. She and grandpa had a big argument. Something 'bout him not giving her no money for medicine."

"How about your father? Do you know his name?"

"I ain't got no daddy," she said.

"What did Gus tell you about me," I asked.

"Said you use to be a policeman and you was good people," she answered. "Said you'd take good care of me."

"How long has he told you this?"

"Ever since the end of last summer," she said. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "You'll take care of me, won't you?"

I put my arm around her. "It's a little more complicated than that, sweetheart. I'm a single man. The county has families with both mommies and daddies who can keep you. Wouldn't you want to live with both a mommy and daddy?"

Tears started flowing freely now, as she put her arms around me and buried her face into my side. "No! I want to stay here with you," she answered.

"Okay, baby," I told her. "We'll see what we can do."

I noticed she had stopped crying and had fallen asleep. I stretched her out on the sofa and covered her with the blanket folded across the back.

I replenished the firewood and began to make us some lunch. With sandwiches and sodas in hand, I woke Jessica and we enjoyed our meal with light conversation. When we had finished eating she crawled into my lap and thanked me again for bringing her Monk-Monk. She snuggled into me as I put my arms around her. I could get use to this. She was hard not to like, and I adored her affection.

The ringing of my telephone startled me awake. I looked and saw it was Ray Langston. "What's up, Sheriff," I asked Ray.

"Hey Keith. Wanted to let you know they found where the lines were down feeding electricity out your way. Seems a tree came down across the lines and shorted out a transformer at the substation. Won't be until tomorrow before they can get it repaired."

"Well," I started. "Thank goodness for generators and solar panels."

"Yeah. Anyway, I've got the plow heading out your way to clear the road," he said. "They plan to salt it after it's clear, hopefully to prevent it from freezing back over from the melt-off. I'll send the coroner out when they are finished to pick up Gus. Your investigation sure made my job a lot easier."

"About Gus," I told him. "It seems the old man was a war hero. That might get him a decent burial. I know they would accept him at Arlington."

"I'll be damned," Ray said. "I didn't know the old coot was in the service. Hell, I've never seen him anywhere but that old cabin."

"Yeah, me either," I said. "He was married to a Lula Mae Parker Gainey. I was planning to call the funeral home to see if they have ever handled a service by that name. He may have a space reserved beside his beloved as his final resting place."

"Sounds good, Keith," he said. "Thanks for all your help on this."

"No problem. I'll let you know what I find out."

We hung up and I looked up the phone number to the funeral home. I made the call and they said they would have to get back with me after checking their records.

Jessica had remained in my lap during both conversations. She had squirmed around and I could feel that soft beautiful ass moving against my cock. It had responded as any red blooded male, and I had to get her off of me before I released.

It was getting late in the afternoon so I asked Jessica if she wanted anything particular for supper.

"Can I fix supper," she asked. "I always cooked for grandpa."

"Sure, if that's what you want to do."

She slid off my lap and I let out a groan as my prick tented my pants.

"Sorry about the blue balls thing," she said, looking at the tent. "I felt it grow and kind of liked it pressed against me."

Before I could respond she had turned into the kitchen. She rummaged through the refrigerator for a few minutes and asked, "How 'bout Beef Stew."

"Sounds good to me," I said. "You need any help."

"Naw," she said. "That's easy to fix."

I watched as she busied herself browning the meat and peeling the carrots and potatoes. She was amazing to watch. Her brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, the red flannel shirt slightly baggy on her with just noticeable bumps on her chest. The jeans, a little snug, hugged her shapely bottom. Damn what a bottom it was. She wore thick socks with no shoes. I was imagining that sweet, soft bottom rubbing against my crotch and causing my erection to return when she stopped and looked at me.

"What," she said, looking down at her body.

"Like I said, it's not every day I see a little nymph walking around my cabin."

"Least I ain't naked like last time," she said, grinning.

"No," I said. "But you're still beautiful."

She started towards me at a walk and progressed to a full run over the short distance. At first I thought she was going to attack me with the potato peeler. When she was close enough, she leaped on top of me and hugged me tightly.

"Ain't no one called me beautiful before," she cried.

I returned the hug. "I'm sure there are a lot of people that would think you're beautiful," I told her. "You've just been shut up in that cabin too long and no one has seen you."

Just then the phone rang and she slid off me and returned to the kitchen.

"Hello," I answered.

"Mr. Bradford. This is April King with the funeral home. I'm sorry it took me so long to return your call."

I was actually thinking she had returned my call rather quickly. I hadn't expected to hear anything back from her until tomorrow.

"No problem at all, Ms. King. Did you find anything," I asked.

"Actually I did. It appears Mrs. Gainey passed away in August 1972 while giving birth to a child. We handled her services, and at that time Mr. Gainey purchased side-by-side burial plots."

"Great. I'm glad to hear that," I said.

"That's not all, Mr. Bradford. Our records also indicate Mr. Gainey purchased a 'Pre-need' at that time. We have a complete list of his service as he had planned it."

"Fantastic," I told her.

"Uh, Mr. Bradford."

"Yes, Ms. King. Was there something else?"

"Actually, there was, sir," she stammered. "It seems when this pre-need was handled, the cost was only $1,500.00. That is considerably less than the cost of a service at today's expenses."

I could see where she was heading and it pissed me off. I had worked many funeral precessions when I was on the department, and gotten close to some of the directors. I knew it was common for them to play on families during their time of lost just to jack up the cost of the service and make more profit.

"Ms. King. What was the cost of Mrs. Gainey's funeral," I asked her.

I could here her shuffling paper on the other end.

"Mrs. Gainey's service totaled $1,689.38," she finally said.

"I see. And I would expect that bill has been paid in full, has it not?"

"It has, sir," she answered.

"Ms. King, the typical service at today's expense is anywhere from $12,000.00 to $16,000.00, depending on if the deceased wished to be cremated or embalmed. A pre-need usually runs about $1,000.00 less because the funeral home is being paid in advance, rather than having to depend on insurance policies to be paid, or not being paid in full because the family simply doesn't have the money."