Chapter 16: Investigation

Ricky’s drive home seems to be over in an instant as he is fully lost in thought, ruminating on the information Robin told him over coffee. As he parks the car, he realizes that he has learned a great deal of history about the Brimble family, but he is not sure that knows anything new about current events. He parks the car and aimlessly wanders into the kitchen.

“You didn’t call. Sit, spill,” orders Maggie as soon as he enters.

Ricky pauses mid-step and sees Maggie and Barb sitting at the table, ready to hear the details of his meeting with Robin.

“Come on,” says Barb, “the suspense is killing us.”

Ricky says, “OK, but first things first.” He excuses himself for a run to the bathroom before coming back to give a recount of his morning.

“I got there a little earlier that scheduled, but Robin was already seated and waiting. She has a very classy, well-bred, air about her. She’s also no-nonsense. She definitely controlled the conversation.”

“You better speed up this conversation, or I’ll be controlling something,” threatens Maggie.

Ricky laughs at his wife, but continues at his deliberate pace. He tells them that they begin with small talk about the houses, how long we’ve lived in each, and if we’ve done any enhancements.

Maggie and Barb and getting antsy. “Would you hurry it along and get to the real information?”

Unabated, Ricky says, “Robin told me she has received two very unusual phone calls in the past week. In both cases the called was trying very hard in an indirect way to get information about her history with these houses. After the first she passed it off as a non-event, but after the second she started to wonder. She hired a PI to look into what has been going on.”

The women’s reaction was similar to his in the restaurant.

“What! She hired a PI to snoop on us?” says Barb.

Ricky clarifies what he thinks happened. “I think she hired the PI to get information about what’s going to see if it was related to her unusual phone calls. I don’t think her intent was to gather information on us.”

Somewhat satisfied Barb motions for him to continue.

“Robin asked me if I knew much about her family. I told her only what we had heard through the realtor when we bought the house.”

Before Ricky recounts anything further he honors Robin’s wish and stresses the need for the information to stay private between the three of them.

“She is very sensitive to the reputation of her family name,” explains Ricky.

Ricky tells them the history of Robin’s mom and dad, including the birth of a bastard son, Robin’s step-brother, her being shunned by her father because of her gender, and the scandal that found the father of the bastard son being found guilty and sent to prison.

“Holy shit, that’s more than I expected,” blurted out Maggie.

Ricky tries to temper their rising expectations. He concludes by telling them that Robin’s mother was suffering dementia and only told her all of this information one night when she was particularly lucid. On at least two other occasions when Robin tried to discuss the topic again she was soundly rebuffed.

“Her feeling is that if there ever was any money, it’s long gone. Her dad was not the most shrewd investor or businessman, so if he had a hidden cache he probably dipped into it regularly to bail himself out of various jams.”

“That’s how your meeting ended?” asks Maggie.

“Not quite,” Ricky says as he takes out the envelopes from his pocket. “Robin hired a PI when her mom gave her this info, and then another after she died. She asked both if they could verify the existence of a step-son. Neither could, but she gave me their final reports.”

“What do they say?” asks Barb.

“I’m not sure. She gave them to me as we were leaving so I haven’t had time to read them,” replies Ricky.

“Seriously,” says Maggie. “You didn’t pull them out as soon as your were in your car?”

Ricky grins, “Nope. Thought we could do this together.”

He gives a report to each of the ladies and sits back as they read. When they finish they exchange the documents with each other, forcing him to wait to read both documents last. When he finally gets to read them he tries to quickly scan the words and at the same time listen to the speculation that starts between Maggie and Barb.

They spend hours talking about the history Robin told them and the content of the two flimsy PI reports.

Ricky finally concludes, “If we have any advantage over the PIs, it is that we have a more indexed world.”

“What do you mean?” asks Barb.

“The Internet. More and more historical sets of data are being digitized and made available online. It’s possible we can find something that the first investigator couldn’t because it is now more readily available. The second guy was looking at what’s happening with the break-ins and not necessarily about Robin’s family.”

Maggie’s eyes light up at the idea. She looks to Barb but sees that her friend has a blank stare.

“Damn,” she finally says. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, but I have been responsible for doing exactly that digitization work for my hospital. I’m sure everyone is doing it to some extent. If we assume Robin was correct when she said her mom had the baby in Norfolk, I can make a few phone calls in that area and see if the records are online.”

“I’m no expert in this area,” says Ricky, “but please be careful. The records are decades only but are still protected by HIPAA, and if there is an adoption I’m sure there are other safeguards in place.”

“Absolutely,” says Barb. “I don’t plan on doing anything other than call and ask if records are digitized.”

“It sounds like we have a plan, then,” says Maggie. “Ricky will work his magic on the computer and Barb will make some phone calls. Want to plan on getting back together Wednesday night for dinner? We can compare notes.”

“That works for me,” says Barb.

“Same here,” says Ricky, “but I’d be more comfortable if dinner was at one of our houses. It can be a take-out, but I don’t want to be talking in public about this material given our word to Robin that it would not be made public.”

“That’s fair,” says Barb. “How about I get a bunch of take-out from Lucella’s and meet you here at 6:30 Wednesday?”

“Perfect, well have the table set and the wine chilled,” says Barb with a wink.

The trio reconvenes on Wednesday night to discuss what they have learned in the past few days. As soon as the food and wine has been served, Barb opens the conversation with her news.