What’s Yours Is Mine

by Rebecca D. Elswick

Part 1 appears
in this issue.

conclusion

Brittany realized this would be a good time to tell Frannie some confidential tidbits about her stepmother; she also knew Frannie couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it. That’s what she was counting on. Abruptly, Brittany turned, crossed the room and shut the door. When she turned around she spoke softly, “Frannie, I need to keep an eye on my stepmother.”

Eyes wide, Frannie breathed, “Why?”

“I have my reasons. Good reasons. That’s all I can say right now.”

Bright and early on the first day of summer vacation, Brittany drove to work at her stepmother’s veterinarian clinic. She pitched right in tackling any task, no matter how mundane or unpleasant. She cleaned out animal cages, changed food and water containers, took out the trash, even volunteered to stock the shelves. Before long, she was allowed to assist with the actual examinations.

At first, Lynn treated Brittany like a tolerable nuisance. Anticipating her stepmother’s behavior, Brittany was cheerful and upbeat and concentrated on her work. After two weeks, Lynn reluctantly admitted to her father that she was “doing a good job”. By midsummer, Lynn welcomed Brittany’s presence, even giving her a couple of books on the study of veterinary medicine. At dinner, Brittany proudly showed them to her dad.

“Well, Britt, are you thinking about vet school?”

Instead of smiling like she expected, her dad just looked relieved. Before she could answer, Lynn spoke up, “She does show some potential, but she’s going to have to dedicate her senior year to taking math and science courses. Of course, she’ll need two years at the community college before she’ll be ready for university study.”

Stunned, Brittany tried to keep her voice calm. Knowing she’d see triumph in her eyes, she refused to look in Lynn’s direction. Instead, she leaned toward her father hoping he’d see the pleading look in her eyes and said, “Daddy, I want to go north to college like my mother did; you know that.”

Brittany could see the redness creeping up his neck, a sure sign he was upset. He kept his eyes on his plate and became unusually busy cutting his roast. Concentrating on his plate he said, “We have a while yet to discuss what college is best for you.”

“But Daddy, you know I’m planning to apply for early admission as soon as school starts.” Brittany stopped. Panic paralyzed her diaphragm. Each breath was a painful stab at her heart. Luckily, Lynn chose that moment to launch into her your father knows what’s best for you speech, or Brittany would have ended the perfect teenager game and thrown a screaming fit. Instead, she held on, letting the screaming inside her drown out Lynn’s words. It didn’t matter; she’d heard them all before.

Finally looking up, her father spoke: “Of course you can apply. In fact, you should apply to several colleges. Then we can discuss your options as your senior year progresses.” His eyes shifted to Lynn and he smiled. “But if you’re interested in veterinarian medicine, then Lynn could certainly advise you.”

At that moment, Brittany knew it was all over. The cold stillness of his blue eyes devastated her. There was no room for Brittany in his life anymore; she was sure of that now. Brittany turned to look at her stepmother and flinched at the triumphant blaze in her smoky gray eyes. Flashing the same smile Brittany had seen her use on people at the clinic when she wanted to get away from them, Lynn added, “Brittany, we both want what’s best for you.”

Thank God Frannie chose that moment to call, so Brittany could excuse herself. Answering the phone in the kitchen, she could still hear her stepmother’s voice: “Bill, with your blood pressure, you shouldn’t let her upset you. Remember what the doctor said about your heart.”

Brittany made sure she repeated to Frannie exactly what her stepmother said.

With summer vacation speeding toward an end, Brittany found the veterinarian assistants relying on her more and more. When her stepmother and dad went on their Hawaiian vacation, she volunteered to do the stock inventory. She made sure the office manager saw her report. More importantly, Brittany decided to use their absence to show Frannie what she’d discovered. It was time to stop dropping hints.

Late that night, Brittany led Frannie into her father’s study. She handed her a folder full of papers and watched Frannie’s face as she started reading. All of a sudden, Frannie started shaking the papers like they’d caught on fire.

“I told you I needed to stay close to her this summer.”

“But what is she up to?”

“Jesus Frannie, what do you think she’s up to?” The tone of Brittany’s voice must have gotten through to her because Frannie’s face paled.

“Oh, my God!” Frannie breathed.

“Think about it, Frannie. I’ll be eighteen soon and out of high school, and if my dad dies, she’ll take everything. “Here,” Brittany said, taking the folder away from Frannie and sifting through the papers, “read this.”

“What does this mean?”

“It’s called a codicil. I looked it up on the internet. It means that the old will which gave me most of Dad’s estate is null and void.”

“Are you sure?”

“Read this,” Brittany said pointing to a paragraph. “It says here that all other wills are null and void and that he leaves all of his estate to his wife, Lynn. That means the only thing I get is the trust fund my Mother left me, and that’s just because she can’t touch it.”

Brittany started putting everything back in her father’s desk. Carefully, she arranged it just like he had it so no one would suspect she’d looked at it. She had to be so careful. If there was one thing she’d learned this summer, it was that her stepmother was incredibly smart.

Wide-eyed, Frannie grabbed Brittany by the shoulders and turned her around to face her. Slowly and deliberately she said, “Brittany, you have to tell somebody.”

“No!” Brittany took Frannie’s face in her hands. She looked deeply into Frannie’s eyes. “Nobody can know about this but you and you have to swear you won’t tell. Not now.”

Senior year began and Brittany started marking off the days until her eighteenth birthday. Just before the holidays, she found out she’d been accepted to Wellesley College in Massachusetts, her mother’s alma mater. Brittany remembered so little about her mother, who’d died tragically when she was five. Her father never wanted to talk about her.

When she was twelve, he’d given Brittany her mother’s keepsake box. He seemed to think that would satisfy Brittany’s curiosity about her mother. Brittany treasured that box of her mother’s memories. She poured over a photo album filled with pictures of her mother with her college friends and cherished the scrapbooks filled with Wellesley memorabilia. Brittany knew her mother had loved this college and that’s where she’d been determined to go since she was twelve and no one was going to stop her.

“Call 911! Brittany, call 911! Your father’s not breathing!”

The rest was a blur of sirens, ambulances, and the neighbors standing in their front yards watching. When her stepmother disappeared inside the ambulance with her father, Brittany buried her face in her hands so the neighbors assembled to comfort her wouldn’t see her smile.

Brittany graduated from high school a week before her stepmother went on trial for murder. She sat and wept softly while Frannie and her high school guidance counselor, Miss Williams, formed a cradle of comfort around her.

As the terrible murder plot unfolded, Brittany appeared amazed that her stepmother had switched her father’s heart medication for a harmless over the counter cold medication look-alike to increase his blood pressure and make his heartbeat erratic. And of course, a veterinarian, who euthanatized animals, would know exactly how much barbiturate to administer to stop his heart so it would appear like a fatal heart attack.

What Lynn hadn’t counted on, the prosecution pointed out, was that Brittany would stumble upon her father’s new will and insurance policy and confide her fears to her friend Frannie. And, even though Brittany was too scared to tell an adult her suspicions, her friend Frannie had confided everything Brittany told her to the school’s guidance counselor, Miss Williams.

As the trial wore on, the evidence against Lynn accumulated. A syringe containing traces of the barbiturate injected into Brittany’s father’s jugular vein was found with Lynn’s fingerprints on it. It was hidden in a toothbrush holder in the guest bathroom.

The most damaging testimony of all came from Lynn’s office manager, who swore under oath how the inventory Brittany had done at Lynn’s veterinarian office showed that barbiturates were missing. The prosecution produced Brittany’s note written on the inventory sheet asking her stepmother to recheck the stock of barbiturates.

By the time summer was losing its grip to fall’s friendly handshake, Lynn was behind bars for good and Brittany was making ready to embark on a new life. With her black Volkswagen packed, she locked up her house, climbed into her car, and backed out of her driveway. Without looking back, she headed for Massachusetts to the college of her choice where she would begin her new life.

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