The Ring of Fire Pt. 01

When he finally got tested for it, it was already too late, and he knew it was his death sentence. His plan was to get himself taken out. That way the life insurance policy for accidental death double indemnity would click in. I made a mental note to see if it had been collected.

He wrote requesting that I let go of the bitterness he knew I carried. After all he wrote every human is a sinner or a saint depending on the circumstances at the time. Learn from my mistakes he wrote as he ordered me not to allow my temper to dig a hole for myself like he did. Use the tools I have left you he wrote to do whatever you need to do 'legally.'

I was dwelling on my father's final thoughts to me when I heard the knock at the door. Answering, I saw immediately that it was the chief of police. He had come to see me so he could close the open file they still had on me. I remembered him because he had been there at the court at the end of each day willing to answer any questions if I had any.

"Branden, I know you believe what happened to your father was a miscarry of justice," the chief said, "caused by what you perceive your mother and sisters did. What you do not know is that the weekend he got killed he had just won his appeal and was about to be released. The appeals court ruled four to two that since he didn't start the fight there should not have been a conviction. He was basically defending himself against a man with a knife. Neither the district attorney or his defense lawyer had argued or stressed that point during his original trail. If they had of it may have changed the outcome."

"To little to late I'm afraid," I replied. "Besides from what I have heard since coming back the rumors are saying that she is at it again."

"We have heard them to," he replied. "Sadly, there's not much legally we can do. She is not the first woman, nor will she be the last woman who has ruined lives to get what they perceive is an advantage. Time and time again we see that these ones don't get what they expected and end up being worse off. She comes from a family that has a history of making a living by skirting the law because they know just how far they can go. Off the record we have been trying to catch them at something for years, but we have not been successful."

When I did not respond the chief went on, "We did a background check and you have done well for yourself. Do not allow the family history to pull you down to their level. Settle your father's estate, go back to where you have built a life and leave the past behind."

"One question before you leave what do you think of Judge Fiona Araceli," I asked?

"She's a progressive second-generation Mexican American who is associated with the woman's movement. For years she raised her children on her own because she claims her husband walked out of the marriage. She said he moved back to Mexico because he felt he could not fit in with our society. It took her a few years to get her divorce on the grounds of abandonment. In the twenty years she has been on the bench your father's case was the first where her decision was reversed on appeal."

"Is she still in the area," I asked?

"No, she got appointed to the state appeals court and now lives in the capital," the chief explained. "She had to excuse herself for your fathers appeal."

I thanked him for his insights before he left and started formulating a plan. My father's last communication with me played on my mind. Legally could be deadly if applied in a certain way. One of the things I knew I had to do was to have the Judge's personal life investigated. If she had indeed got the divorce on abandonment, how did she know he had gone back to Mexico? Did she know where he was or what happened to him? Did their children have a relationship with him?

I had learned from experience that there were always two sides to a story and that you had to know both sides to begin to get to the truth. Judge Fiona Araceli had a squeaky-clean reputation which either meant she was above board or had to be that way because of something she needed to keep secret.

With what I had gone through to keep myself out of mind and out of the sight of the authorities it had given me an unblemished reputation. I wonder if she was doing the same thing for the same reason. Knowing that I needed to learn what her secrets would reveal.

Back in the early days when Dna was being brought to the fore in legal cases the FBI asked that a sample for dna be drawn on all the unidentified bodies be taken and submitted to them before the remains were dealt with. It gave them an extra tool that could be used to identify missing persons. Over the last few years some twenty or more missing persons cases had been closed because of being able to identify an unknown body.

********

Early Thursday morning as I drove down the long country driveway to my grandfather's home, I was reminded of all the times I had stayed in their eight-bedroom three floored home. I was there so much as I was growing up that I had always considered it my second home.

I watched my grandfather who was a proud solitary man slowly start bringing the tractor he was riding towards the house. It was nice to see that he still wore the worn and torn straw hat to protect him from the hot sun. Seeing the strange out of state license plates on a fairly new ford explorer must have caught his attention. After he shut it down, he started to get out. I knew his curiosity would force him to come to the house to find out what was going on.

After parking my ford explorer, I started getting out as my grandmother came out the backdoor off the kitchen to see who had dropped by unexpectedly. Although I had not seen her in five years, she really did not appear to have aged much. I could see the shock and surprise on her face as I walked towards her. The last time I had seen her we had been about the same height. Now I towered over her. She stood still as if she could not believe what she was seeing. "God dammit Brandon James Allen, you got a lot of explaining to do," my grandmother said while running towards me. "God it's good to know that you're still alive."

Then she hugged me as tight as she could fighting the tear of joy as they flowed until grandpa got to us. All he said in his firm voice was, "You didn't have to run. We might have found a way that would have allowed you to live with us. But no, you had to be muleheaded and act like your father."

For the first couple of hours, I had to answer the hundreds of questions they had concerning my life since I had disappeared. From the littlest detail to the big, every sacrifice I made and why, had to be explained to their satisfaction. After learning about what I was doing and what I owned I could tell they both were impressed.

Both my grandparents listened attentively as I explained things. From them I learned that my father had been killed while working in the laundry room in the prison from two old industrial dryers that had exploded. During the conversation I gleamed that they had no knowledge of his liver cancer. The investigation into the accident said it was caused by equipment failure because of fatigue. I wondered if he had rigged them so that he could take himself out in a way that would never be questioned.

It was when they learned which motel, I was staying in that they put their foot down. My dad's father, my favorite grandfather drove with me back to town to check myself out. They felt I was a better person then what that place deserved. I would stay with them until I left.

On the way back to town my grandfather and I had a private chat concerning the situation that led to my father's death.

Grandfather said, "Branden you mother allowed me to copy your goodbye letter to her. Both my wife and I took it so that your dad could read it. He broke down saying I didn't believe my own son. He said dad when he comes back let him know how proud I am of his thinking on the whole situation. Then he told me not to worry about you because you had the mental toughness to make it."

When I did not respond my grandfather watched me trying to discern what I was thinking before saying, "I recognize that determination you have in your face just as I did with your father. What are you planning to do?"

"Once I have gathered all the information I need," I said. "I'm going to file a wrongful death civil suit against all concerned jointly and separately."

"It may take years," my grandfather said, "Only to find out in the end it was not worth the cost."

"I hope so," I replied.

"Why?" My grandfather asked. "Your thinking does not make sense."

"The longer it takes the more it costs and the longer it wears upon any relationships my mother and sisters may have. Living with the knowledge that you could be dead broke tomorrow because of the past actions of your spouse will cause every minor situation in their lives to become exaggerated," I said. "You don't have to go mad in anger to get even."

I caught the smile on my grandfather's face just before he said, "It's brilliant. Using the legal system against them is something they will never see coming. Their spouses will have to face every day the possibility that everything they try to achieve in their lives may be for naught. No one can live with that in front of them that long. I can see the possibility of up to three marriages ending already. Who do you plan to name in the suite?"

"The Judge, the state, the police department, the district attorney, my mother, her new husband, and my two sisters. The suite will come from my father's estate," I explained. "If I can convince my father's lawyer to take the case. He will be instructed to say the reason the suit was filed because the estate can't be settled until a decision has been rendered."

"That's going to be hard to prove," he said.

"It's the circumstances that tie it all together," I explained. "If A hadn't of happened neither would B. That is why it has to be jointly and separately."

"You will need the transcripts from the trail, and the divorce hearings to start," he said. "But that may not be enough."

"When we get back to the farm," I added. "You can read the daily logs I kept back then. I brought them with me in case I needed the information in them. It goes into great detail about what I saw and heard from day one. Using their own words and thoughts against them is what will end up causing their problems for them."

"Your Dad kept logbooks about his thoughts and plans when going through his various business dealings," My grandfather said. "It allowed him to keep every detail in mind and saved him a lot of money at times."

"Do you know where they are," I asked? "There might be titbits of his personal life that could further tie into the suit I am planning."

"We stored most of his personal stuff before he went to prison in the basement," he said. "Along with the belonging we brought back from his jail cell. It legally belongs to you. I will show you where it is when we get home.

"I'm also going to have to hire some investigators to do an investigation of the Judge's background," I disclosed, "because my father's lawyer believed there was something about her personal situation that led him to believe she hated men. If we can prove that it might be the lynch pin that hangs them all in the long run."

"Why do you think that" my grandfather asked?

"Something about her divorce does not add up.' I explained. "When you put together what has been said it does not make sense. I did things to ensure that I did not attract attention to myself and developed a stellar reputation. Like me she has done the same which leads me to believe she has something that she wants to keep hidden. For example, how did she get her divorce on the grounds of abandonment if she knew he had moved back to Mexico. Abandonment only works if there has been no contact with the missing spouse for a long period of time."

Within an hour we were back at the farm.

********

After my grandmother showed me the bedroom, I would be using I quickly unpacked then took down my logbooks for her husband to read. It took him about four hours. During that time grandma and I started doing the prep work for the first home cooked meal I was going to have in years. For both of us it was a bonding moment that brought back memories for both of us.

During that time, my grandmother passed on all the latest information on all her children, their spouses, and families. That was when she decided to have a family barbeque on Sunday as a welcome home celebration for me. We were still chatting about general things when he came back into the kitchen.

"Branden," my grandfather said, "the dates, the details, and who said what paints a very disturbing picture. I would have never believed that three women could be that devious, but your notes show a definite pattern. Clara with what I have read it clearly showed me that my feelings about Branden's mothers conduct at that time had been right all along. Branden's logbooks prove she was trying to find ways to drive our son out of their marriage by doing thing to cause and aggravate the situation. Our son's mind at that time had to been pulled in different directions which made it impossible for him to see the real picture. Their own words and conduct prove that their actions were deliberate."

After dinner, my grandfather took me downstairs to where he had put my father's personal items. It took us quite a while to go through the boxes. Packed among all the stuff was the computer he had used while in prison. There was a lot of items I would keep, some that my grandfather wanted, and the logbooks written from the time we were looking up until his dying days.

I was up most of the night reading what he had written. With what I had already knew I was able to tie in his thoughts to what was going on at that time. Looking at it from both sides I could see that if I intertwined what I had recorded with his thoughts that an unbelievably detailed picture of the timeline presented itself. Individual situations that could be explained as circumstantial when laid out in a timeline format proved beyond a doubt the intent that applied.

That's when I found his password for his computer and the access information for his bitcoin account which had never been disclosed in the divorce proceedings, using my cellphone I went into the account and learned it had both his name and mine listed as owners. I thought well done dad while thinking that he had known all along that my mother had screwed herself. By the looks of it she had ended up with less than two percent of his assets.

He had started investing when it first came out with a steady one hundred dollars a month. His total investment over the years had been around sixteen thousand now it was worth millions. I was surprised that he had done that because my father's biggest fear was that an impulse wave from the sun would wipe out electrical grid thus wiping out anything related to it. The very next day I began to transfer what we owned into good old American cash.

********

Friday, I set up my father's computer on the basement's floor and used the password I had found in his logbooks to sign myself in. That was when things started getting interesting. It seems that my father had followed through on my suspicions and had hired a private investigating firm to investigate things.

Their electronic report had been received by him once he had paid their bill which had been after he had been able to possess and use a computer. As a result, I learned a lot of things that I did not know before. It did a lot to help explain what my mother was doing and helped to expose what I now considered had been her plan from day one.

In order to manage the civil lawsuit, I realized it would require me to move back to the area. I had to be on top of things if I was going to release certain facts and information at the appropriate time. That way the weight I would be bringing down on a few individuals would keep getting deeper and deeper putting more and more pressure on them when they least expect it. I hollered up to my grandfather and asked him to come down and see what I had found.

When he came down and saw where the computer was, he laughed and said, "At my age if I got down there, I might not get up again. Let's talk to your grandmother to see where we can put it."

We found her in the kitchen working on another special treat for me for lunch. She was in the middle of rolling out the dough for her homemade cheddar biscuits which she served covered in red gravy. Growing up it had always been one of the things I would ask for regularly when I was staying with them.

I guess she had heard us because she asked when we entered the room, "Is it for a permanent spot or just temporary."

"Permanent," I said, "If the two of you don't mind if I move down here to the farm."

Just the look on both their faces said it all. I knew it was a possibility that both had prepared for.

"The whole third floor can be remodeled to whatever you want," granddad said, "I can talk to your uncles this weekend to find how soon we can get together to get it done."

"Then for now I will move a few things around in my sewing room," my grandma said, "That will give you room for a small desk to set it on until the rest is done."

"Have you thought what you will do for a living," my grandfather asked?

"Thanks to dad, I now own a huge parcel of land, at the corner of the second exit into Jackson off the interstate," I said. "I think he saw the future growth that was possible in that area. On the west coast there has been a lot of chain gasoline stations with convenience stores that have installed mini fast food chain restaurants in them. I think white castle would be a company that might be interested in doing that. I'm going to investigate that and next year start learning from granddad how to run a farm operation full time."

My grandfather got tears in his eyes and seemed to choke on his words when he said, "your dad always said you were naturally drawn to the land. That's why he bought the place from us. He would be so proud that your coming home to become a farmer."

"For now, its best we keep thing quiet," I said, "The longer most don't know of our plans the longer those who need to know won't know who's behind the lawsuit that's coming. Dad had a double indemnity accidental death insurance policy on him. As far as I know it hasn't been collected. I'm going to prepare a detail synopsis of the suit I am going to be filing to see if their asset recovery section wants to join in."

Granddad stood there in silence, I figured he was trying to adjust to my thinking. It took him a few before speaking, "it is brilliant, the estate and the insurance company would make it appear that its nothing but big business taking on the government. Your sisters and mother would see themselves as victims caught up in the circumstances because of their relationship."

"Both would be in no rush to resolve it," Grandma said, "and would trickle out the information to show the government they were strengthening their case. That would allow you to get on with your life as if you had no clue about it at all."

"After dinner, I will layout roughly how I want the third floor remodeled," I said. "We will just have to come up as to a reason why that will be acceptable to everyone."

"That's easy," my grandfather said, "I'll just say that we have convinced you to move home as soon as you can get things settled on the west coast. If they ask why I will explain that as the executor of your father's estate that I want you here until its settled."

"Won't that make things difficult for you with my sisters and mother," I asked?

"Brayden, we haven't had any contact with any of them since we read your letter," grandmother said. "Your father and we decided as far as we were concerned, they were by their own actions declaring they were no longer family. They didn't have to do what they did just to get your mother's divorce. We don't understand why they did what they did, and I guess we never will."