The Fall of Never(150)

“Great news for both of us,” she said, sharing a look with Josh. Neither of them had ever commented on the absurdity of Nellie Worthridge’s video footage reappearing soon after Kelly had returned to the city with her sister. There were too many strange things that had happened to linger on any one in particular.

Too many strange things.



On some random Tuesday, Kelly felt the presence of eyes at her back. Several times while on the street she turned, thinking she’d catch someone following her, but there was never anyone there. Shivering, she chalked it up to stress and didn’t think about it again until she was approached by her admirer an hour later while sitting by herself at a coffee shop. The stranger stepped up beside her table, his long shadow looming across her face, and she looked up, startled.

It wasn’t a stranger at all. It was Jeffrey Kildare.

“You,” she breathed, shocked.

“Miss Kellow.” He tightened his lips. “May I sit?”

She didn’t know what to say. “Sure.”

Kildare unbuttoned his black wool coat, tugged at the knees of his dove-gray slacks, and folded himself neatly in the chair opposite Kelly. “No doubt you’re surprised to see me. I’m quite busy, as I assume you are, so I’ll make this quick.” He produced a thick envelope from inside his coat and pressed it against the table. “Your parents left no money and no will,” he said.

“No money? How can that be?”

Kildare frowned and sighed, his eyes dark and unmoving. He seemed annoyed. “Listen,” he said, “I’m not going to sugarcoat things for you, and I don’t suspect you’re the type of person to swallow such things anyway. Your parents were strange people, Miss Kellow. And I use ‘strange’ in the vaguest sense, as I’m sure you can understand. Whatever was the cause of their condition, I do not know. I was merely hired to perform a service and that was all. I asked no questions beyond that, and such a relationship was fine by both parties. I can assure you it was fine by me, in any case.

“Your parents didn’t have any money because everything they ever owned was inside that house. Everything—money included. No bank. According to any number of savings banks upstate, no one’s ever heard of your parents. Gordon and Marlene Kellow did not exist to them.”

“So what you’re saying is that there would be money—”

“If the house hadn’t burned, yes. But money burns just like everything else, I’m afraid. Shame. I imagine it was quite a lot.”

She tapped the envelope. “Then what’s this?”

“The last wishes of Gordon Kellow.”

“You said there was no will.”

“Correct,” said Kildare, “no will. This is simply a deed to the house your father had me reinstate just recently.”

“The house is gone.”

“The property is still there. All of it. For a pair of reclusive eccentrics, your parents understood the value of real estate. Or maybe it was just stupid luck. I don’t know. What I do know is that your father owned a lot of property, not just the house. He owned the entire hillside, the forest valley surrounding it, and all of Spires itself.”

“The town?” The notion seemed absurd. “He owned the entire town?”

“If you’re one for anecdotes, I can tell you that your father expressed to me one evening that after the house was built, he would take pleasure in sitting in the windows of the spires atop the roof and looking down upon the town. After he purchased it, he had the name changed to something more fitting. At least, to him. So he called the town Spires.” Kildare appeared to grimace. “Of course, I’m not one for anecdotes myself.”

“I never knew…”

“I was hired to rework the details of the property ownership. He never expressed why he wanted these things changed and I never bothered to ask. He was a peculiar man, as I’ve said, and sometimes it appeared as if he didn’t consider too much beyond what shoes to put on at the start of the day. But occasionally he’d dip down to reality and pay us all a visit. That’s when we discussed business.

“He left the property to you, Miss Kellow.”

She blinked. “Me? Why the hell me? I could have been dead for all he knew or cared.”

“Apparently he did care,” said Kildare, “not that that’s any concern of mine. He had me rework all the documents claiming you as the sole beneficiary of both the Kellow Compound and the entire town of Spires, New York. As a man of duty, I am now here to fulfill the last leg of my business and inform you about this, and to pass along the requisite paperwork.” He tapped the envelope. “This,” he said.

She opened the envelope and flipped through the paperwork, stunned into silence.

“You’ll just have to sign the bottom form for me,” Kildare said, dipping a hand into his coat pocket. “I thought I had a pen with me…” He held his hand up to attract a waitress. “I’m sorry.”

Feeling a pen suddenly in one fisted hand, she said, “I have one,” and scrawled her signature at the bottom of the last page.

Kildare watched her, almost wanting to smile. For a moment, his eyes lingered on the pen in her right hand. There was something behind his eyes, Kelly saw…and she suddenly wondered just how much her father had told this stranger.