The Inheritance

"Ok..." Mom paused and drew an extended breath. "I'm not going to sugarcoat this. You're both adults now and you also know my feelings toward the man," she continued, addressing me and my sister Thea as we sat in the family living room, summoned there out of the blue on a Wednesday night. "Your father's dead," she flatly revealed, and I wasn't surprised at how little emotion I felt at the news.

"You're sure?" I stated after a moment's silence.

"Well, a lawyer called me earlier today to inform me. God knows how he got my number. I didn't think to ask," Mom confirmed.

"So... how?" I inquired. Not out of any genuine interest, merely to further confirm the fact.

"Natural causes," Mom matter-of-factly replied. "Wrapped his car around a tree."

"That's not very 'natural'," I smirked.

"You remember the man, Jude, he was a drunk. And had repeated DUIs. I'm surprised he didn't do it earlier. I'm just relieved he didn't take anyone out with him."

"So... if that's it?" I stood, preparing to get a move on. "Cause I'm starving. I came here straight from work."

"Are you guys serious?" Thea herself rose from her seat. "Dad's dead and you're making jokes!"

"Oh, Honey we..." Mom began.

"Thea," I interrupted her. "He was an asshole. He's dead. So what?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Finally, he can't hurt anyone else."

"But he was still our father!" she rebutted.

"That's true," Mom relented. "And that's actually what the lawyer was calling about," she added, and I turned my attention back to her. "He died intestate."

"Well of course," Thea stated. "He was living in Arizona or somewhere, wasn't he?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "No, 'intestate' Thea. Not interstate!"

"Uh huh," Mom nodded. "He didn't leave a will. Which means, it'll all go to you two. Whatever assets he had anyway. I know there's a house."

I was amazed he had that. He'd never held down a real job for long as far as I'd ever known, apparently making his money from gambling and petty crimes. I doubted the sale of whatever house he had would cover the probate legal fees.

"Great, well, when they sell it, I'll donate my half to charity. I don't want anything from him," I declared, and the statement brought half a smile to Mom's lips.

"Well, when's the funeral? I'd at least like to pay my respects," my little sister stated, and I scoffed at the suggestion.

"Your 'respects'?" I questioned. "Thea. The guy was a scumbag. I know you don't remember, but what he did to Mo..." I began but the woman herself cut me off.

"Oh Baby, there wasn't one. I don't even know if he had friends for a wake," Mom tried her best to console my sister. "You two might be able to find out when you go there," she added, and I bristled at the suggestion.

"Wait, what?" I questioned.

"To Arizona," Mom explained. "You'll need to settle things with the estate; clear out the house of his personal items."

"Seriously? Mom. Can't the lawyers take care of all that?" I proposed.

"Well, they could," and here she paused. "...but you know the things he took from me; from us," she added, and I was well aware of what she spoke. Dad had been a drunk, yes. He'd also been abusive, cruel, and vindictive. When we were finally rid of him, with the help of the police and courts, he'd taken just about everything from Mom including items significant to her; family photos, heirlooms, all of little value but sentimental. I knew Mom wouldn't set foot in his house to collect them, even with his passing, which left the job to Thea and me. "I'd really appreciate it if you could at least see if he kept them," she asked.

"We'll go!" Thea surprisingly declared. "We could go this weekend. How far is Phoenix from here?"

"About 7 hours driving," I estimated. "I'd rather fly," I posited, and it was then Thea's turn to bristle, not unexpected knowing her fear of flying.

"I say we drive," she stated adamantly. "We can share the load. It'll be an adventure," she enthused. "We haven't been on a road trip in years."

"I'll give you money for gas," Mom offered. "Expenses," she added, and I looked from her to Thea.

"You good to do this?" I questioned and couldn't help but smile at her excitement despite the nature of our journey.

"I'd leave today if we could," she enthused.

*

We didn't. I picked her up from Mom's after leaving work early Friday afternoon and I'd planned to do the bulk of (if not all) the driving that night. By five and the sun still high in the sky we were skirting the Joshua Tree National Park when Thea, her feet up on the dash and revealing an uncomfortable amount of thigh in my peripheral vision, called for us to rest a while, a roadside lookout catching her eye. The park brought up mixed feelings in me but after two hours at the wheel agreeing a pause would probably do us good.

"This is fucking beautiful," Thea remarked as we looked out over the desert. An expanse of Yucca and granite boulders stretched away in every direction as far as the eye could see. "It's so quiet," she added. "We could be the only people on Earth right now."

I agreed, looking each way along the highway at not another car in sight, back to her, her arms resting on a wooden guard rail. The dress she hardly wore was backless, more an apron, and the way she stood displayed an ample amount of side boob, my eyes attempting to divert from the awkwardly attractive vision.

"Photo op," Thea broke the silence, climbing up on a boulder, and I drew my phone out to capture the moment, Thea going through her series of poses we in the family knew all too well. "Come on. Selfie time big brother," she held a hand down to drag me up beside her and I turned the phone on us, getting a large amount of the scenery in the background. I looked at the photo and was greeted with me with eyes closed and Thea poking her tongue out provocatively and I suggested we do another we could 'actually' send to Mom.

"This is where it happened," I stated after jumping back down from the rock, looking up to watch a hawk or falcon circling high in the clear sky overhead. "Where we ran," I added, and Thea gave me her full attention.

"What do you mean?"

I picked up a small pebble and tossed it in my hand before throwing it out to join the rocky landscape.

"You were probably too young to remember much," I began. "I know I was ten, so that'd make you about four at the time."

"What are you talking about?" Thea inquired, furrowing her brow.

"When Mom left Dad," I explained. "We were staying here," I waved my hand at the desert. "Some motel or B&B or something. I don't remember where. It was out of the way though. I remember that! They'd been fighting for days, Mom and Dad. Well, Dad mostly. Which is why I thought it was weird we were going away that weekend. Mom told me a few years back she was pretty sure he was fixing to kill us."

I let the weight of my words settle on Thea and could see her demeanor change from carefree to contemplative.

"Yeah, Thea," I continued, nodding, seeing she was processing the thought. "He wasn't a good guy."

"So Mom says," she interjected.

"No. So I say!" I challenged. "That last night was bad. I mean real bad. I got between them to stop him hitt..." I paused. "...just know it was bad. It was when he threatened you and me that Mom made the decision to go."

Thea climbed down from the rock and stood not two feet from me.

"She waited for him to go into the bathroom, and we left. Just took our bags and walked off down the road until we reached the highway. I doubt she'd thought it through much, but the first truck that came by she flagged down and we hitched a ride back to L.A."

"I don't remember any of that," Thea softly responded.

"You were only little. I remember you crying when we left. Dad yelled from the bathroom for you to shut up and Mom froze thinking he'd come out and see us packing. I'd never seen her so scared in those last few moments."

"And that was the last time we saw him?" She asked.

"Up close," I nodded. "For a while, he'd park in the street outside Aunt Sadie's when he found out we were living there."

"Do you think he would really have...?" She failed to finish the sentence, but I knew what she was asking.

"Cops thought so. They knew more about him than we did, it turned out. Said we were right to have run when we did. All he'd done, it's crazy he wasn't behind bars."

"But Mom stayed with him, all those years," Thea still retained some hope he wasn't the monster I knew.

"Don't blame her," I refuted. "Fear'll make you do some crazy things. Up until that night... here, she probably thought it was safer to be with him than leave. You don't want to hear this..." I paused. "But I'm glad he's dead."

*

It was on my third yawn that I realized we wouldn't make it to Phoenix that night.

"I could drive," Thea proposed when I'd awoken her from sleep.

"Dude," I laughed, pulling into the first roadside motel I came across with a 'vacancy' sign illuminated, the sat nav still displaying two and a half hours until our destination. "I've seen your car," I referred to her dinged-up Mazda. "You're not driving my Pony."

*

"Two rooms or a double?" The night manager of the motel questioned us. "We've got the 'honeymoon suite' free if y'all are interested. Mirrored ceilin' above the bed," he winked at me, and I felt myself blush.

"I don't mind sharing Jude," Thea remarked, doing her best to ignore the clearly lecherous eyes of the clerk as he looked her up and down. "If it'll save us some money."

"Ah, we're good," I smiled at her. "I've heard your snoring. We'll take the two singles," I handed over my credit card and we collected the keys before heading back to my car and getting our bags.

"Will you come in and make sure it's all ok?" Thea asked when we reached our rooms, side-by-side at the end of the upper story of the building. "This place creeps me out. Who the fuck would come here on their honeymoon anyway?"

I laughed, having been thinking that myself, and opened up her room, doing a cursory check that there was no one hiding in the bathroom or under the bed.

"We good?" I questioned as Thea stood in the middle of the room seemingly loathe to touch anything. "Cause I've gotta get some sleep Freckles," I admitted, and the use of her nickname brought a smile to her face.

"You haven't called me that in years," she grinned, seeming genuinely happy to be called such.

"You got a problem with it?"

"No. I like it," she smiled, and I moved to exit the room.

"Ok. First thing then," I added. "Around seven. Come get me if I'm not already up. We'll get some breakfast somewhere and then get going." I looked once more around her room, admittedly, the overprotective big brother gene kicking in, before wishing her a good night.

*

Drapes that did nothing to screen the light from the flashing 'vacancy' sign and Thea alone in the room next door in the admittedly creepy motel kept me awake, and lying in bed, I wondered if it would've actually been better to have chosen the 'honeymoon suite' after all. A fleeting thought of us sharing a bed came to mind and I chased it away by grabbing my phone and looking for some rainfall sounds or a babbling forest stream to help me relax. The photos I'd taken that afternoon caught my attention and flicking backward through, I smiled at our selfie before hitting the shots of Thea upon the rock.

I spotted it immediately and was surprised I hadn't noticed it when I took the photo. A gust of wind had caught her skirt at the moment of capture, and having lifted the front it revealed her upper thighs and most notably, her unclothed groin. It was stark, and due to the low angle of my perspective, the most perfect upskirt anyone could've hoped to have witnessed. My little sister's perfect mound of Venus, smooth, sitting above a hint of labia, and struggling to lift my eyes to hers, I found her staring down at me with what looked like a knowing glint.

Had she been aware? Her words from the motel reception desk immediately came back to me. 'I don't mind sharing, Jude,' she'd purred, and I thought of the 'honeymoon suite' bed, the mirrored ceiling, and despite the glaring fact she was my sister, I allowed my cock to harden.

*

"How'd you sleep?" Thea asked as we made our way to the car.

"Fine!" I fired back possibly too forcefully, and Thea seemed to notice my tone, furrowing her brow.

"God, I didn't. I tossed all night," she admitted, and I felt myself blush as I thought of jerking off to the photo, the shame I felt at my action when the job was complete.

"...And turned," I corrected her.

"What?"

"It's 'tossed and turned all night'," I elaborated. "Oh, let's just get something to eat and get going," I changed the subject. "We've got about two hours' drive ahead of us," I pulled the keys from my pocket and unlocked the car as we approached, Thea opening the trunk and throwing her bag in before heading to the passenger side. I found myself looking at her ass, barely covered by the smallest denim skirt imaginable, and again the guilt of my fantasizing kicked in. "Hey Freckles, think fast," I called and as she turned, I threw the car keys to her.

"You're serious!?" She beamed as she caught them in both hands and made her way back toward me. "I promise I won't dent it!" she laughed as she ran a hand across my chest playfully before we both climbed inside my Mustang.

*

"So, this is it," Thea said as she pulled up in the driveway of our deceased father's house, now essentially ours. Ranch style, it was bigger than it looked online, and with a large block and mountain views I marveled how our father had managed to come by it, especially own it outright. The online evaluation was around $3oo k and it angered me even more when I thought of some of the homes we'd been forced to live in over the years, even with Mom often working two jobs to support us. What crime had paid for this house, I wondered. "How the fuck did Dad get this?" Thea voiced my imaginings and I smiled at our synchronicity.

"Come on, keys should be in a lockbox," I said as I opened the car door and stepped out into the Arizona heat.

*

"God, it's just as hot in here," Thea remarked as we entered the darkened home, an oppressive smell of stale cigarettes greeting us as we ventured inside.

"Yeah, makes the chill I just got even more profound," I admitted as I stopped to open the curtains beside the front door, the harsh sunlight not kind to the clutter, empty alcohol bottles, and takeout containers littering the living room.

"This feels so weird," Thea whispered as she crept tentatively through the open-plan layout into the kitchen. "Like we're breaking in or something."

I felt the same way. Almost expecting someone to pop out of nowhere and question our intrusion.

"Dishes haven't been done," Thea continued, commentating on her own experience. "Should I open the fridge?" She questioned but proceeded without my say, the light inside shining brightly on her face. "Beer. Oh, and ketchup!"

I smiled and looked around the living room, seeing past the litter to notice the plethora of magazines on the coffee table and decorating the couch. Their nature obvious, I stupidly debated hurriedly hiding them from Thea before she noticed to save everyone from embarrassment.

"Oh. Looks like Dad liked porn!" Thea brushed past my shoulder, heading straight to the couch and peering down at the titles on the table. "'Milkers. Juggs. Titten,'" she read. "I think that's German!" she chuckled to herself. "I didn't even think they made these magazines anymore."

Nor did I, and seeing a closed laptop on the shelf beneath the coffee table, I dreaded to think what that could contain.

"We can put them out in the recycling," I addressed the subject of her comment and was shocked to see her pick up one of the magazines and begin flicking. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I was just curious," Thea grinned, pausing on some pages before dropping the porn back onto the table.

"Well, I'd wash your hands if I were you," I snickered. "Come on, let's check out the rest of this place."

Thea led the way, flicking on lights in the hallway as we delved further into the house. A bathroom that looked like it had never been cleaned; a guest room that on the contrary seemed never to have been used. I stepped into another spare room that had been set up as a gym and large packing boxes caught my eye, leaving Thea to progress as I made a cursory examination for anything that belonged to Mom.

The first box contained sports gear and clothing, it was as I began to open the second box that Thea screamed from further on in the house and I immediately turned, running out into the hallway to see her backing out of a room two doors away.

"What?" I charged toward her, ready to tackle anyone or anything I came across and she managed to point back into the room she'd exited.

"There's... Oh God, I think I'm gonna be sick. There's a body," she struggled to voice, and I now realized the source of the chill I'd experienced when we entered. I peered tentatively into the darkened room, clearly my father's, and for a moment couldn't understand where Thea had spotted the corpse before noticing the feet on the floor protruding from the other side of the unmade bed.

A lump forming in my throat, I began to enter before Thea grabbed my arm.

"What are you doing?" She questioned.

"We have to check it out," I whispered back, unsure as to why. "They might not be dead," I added as I proceeded, her hand slipping from my bicep. Bare, were the feet. A woman's; and as I rounded the bed, maintaining a reasonable distance so as not to disturb the apparent crime scene, discovered a pair of pink panties halfway up her lower leg.

It was then I managed to breathe. Quickly followed by laughter.

"Oh Jesus," I exhaled as I lay my eyes on the rest of her body. Naked. Her mouth frozen open in suggestive exclamation. Eyes wide and indeed lifeless.

"What is wrong with you!?" Thea overcame her fear and I felt her near my side. "Is she alive?"

"No," I waited until she was able to view the body herself until I continued. "She's fucked!" I giggled and the relief Thea as well felt was palpable as she lay her eyes upon the admittedly lifelike sex doll, clearly fallen from the bed.

"Oh God," Thea sighed. "Well, we now know Dad had a partner," she managed a joke and again I was overcome with laughter.

"Seriously, you touch that, you'd really better wash your hands!" I stated and threw an arm around Thea's shoulder. "Come on, we still haven't checked the garage."

*

The state and contents of the house, I didn't hold out much hope the garage would contain anything of note. But upon finding the doors securely locked, with even the windows shrouded and bolted, I figured there must have been some reason for the safeguards, and a subsequent search of the house had Thea discovering a set of keys in Dad's bedside table drawer.

"I don't even want to know what else was in there!" I winced at the possible contents of Dad's bedside table as we made our way back to the garage, the day having become hotter in the time elapsed.

"You're right," Thea agreed, laughing. "You don't."

The first key I chose was correct and with some caution, again expecting someone to jump out at us or an alarm to sound, I swung open the door, the desert wind disturbing motes of dust from their mid-summer slumber.

"Nothing!" Thea exclaimed despondently, the sun revealing an empty floor before us. I walked further inside and reached up to tug the pull cord for the lights and fluorescent tubes lazily and noisily sprung to life illuminating the remainder of the garage.

"No, wait," I ventured, spying two large boxes slid beneath a bench beneath one of the windows. "There's something."

Dusty and taped shut, 'cunts' was written in black felt tip on the sides, and pulling one out I immediately sensed this was what we'd come for.