Page 22 of Lorna's Savior
“After Henry, came Gary Smythe. That’s S-M-Y-T-H-E. He was a personal trainer from Los Angeles. He preferred the Keto diet. Let me tell you, that was an eye opener. Next, there was Raoul Hernandez from New York City. He was an actor. After him came Dr. Michael Lawrence. He was a plastic surgeon from Santa Monica. Oh, Raoul didn’t do dairy, while Dr. Lawrence was allergic to nuts.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of information. Thank you.” Andy scrubbed his face and it wasn’t long before Annie jumped up and disappeared. She was back in less than five minutes with a thick folder.
“Since I won’t be here when Kristen returns, I guess I can give you this without getting into any trouble, or being fired.”
“What is it?”
“It’s all the information on the men Lori just mentioned, but mostly, a copy of their divorce papers.”
“Holy shit, can I get copies of those? Do you have a copy machine here?”
“Can you give me time? But yes, there’s a machine in my office in the garage.” Murphy admitted as he took the folder from Annie. He disappeared and Andy took the refill on his coffee. He’d had every intention of coming here and getting maybe one or two small tidbits of information, but not the windfall he had received. His mind was going in a million different directions as to what the next step would be. As they continued to wait for Murphy’s return, Lori made sandwiches. When Lori said that they needed to use up the food before it spoiled, he took the sandwich offered.
“Don’t think we always eat like this, but with Miss Lorna gone, and Kristen on that cruise, we didn’t want a lot of food around, especially with all of us not being here after today.”
Andy stayed at the Hepplewaite house for only another hour. When he left, he thanked everyone who had given him the information he sought. As he went to leave, he snapped his fingers, and turned back to the trio.
“I forgot. Were there any lasting side effects to that accident Lorna had when she was little. You know, the one where she fell off her bike?”
“No,” the three said.
“Do you know if Kristen kept any medical records on Lorna?”
“Let me check,” Annie said as she hurried away.
While they waited, Andy asked the other two, “Do you happen to have any pictures of Kristen and Lorna?”
“Not a lot of Lorna. She hated having her photo taken, but there are tons of Kristen,” Lori said as she hurried back inside the house. The two women returned at the same time. While Murphy took the file and went to his office to make copies, Andy and the two ladies went through several photo albums. At one point, Andy smirked. “Did she always wear white to her weddings?”
“Yes.” They nodded. After taking a recent picture of Kristen with his phone, Andy took the folder Murphy handed him, and thanked the three.
“I can’t tell you how much this has helped me.”
“I was happy to help, but I only have one regret,” Annie said.
“What’s that?”
“The fall out that will occur when Kristen returns, and she finds out that Lorna has moved out and we’ve all quit.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. This Lorna person sounds like she’s a smart woman.”
“Oh, she is. She graduated high school with honors, and was in the top five of her class from college. She was just promoted to a very prestigious job at work. We’re all very proud of her.”
“It’s good she has friends in her corner then.” Andy shook their hands and took his leave. His mind was on the boatload of information he’d retrieved as he left the house.
“Mr. Ball!” Murphy yelled as he hurried after Andy.
“Yes?”
“Just remember, all that information we gave you was on her marriages. That’s not taking into consideration the men she dated between the marriages.”
“Oh, shit, I never thought of that. Thank you for letting me know.” They shook hands and Andy quickly left.
Chapter 10
Lorna walked into her office at seven the next morning, and stopped in her tracks. “May I help you?” she asked the woman who looked a few years younger than she was.
“Are you Ms. Hepplewaite?”
