Sifting Through the Past
Originally posted on December 13, 2007
Asher: From the dates here, it looks like my father must have used Gideon’s mother’s place as his address for a long time.
Kohana: There certainly is a lot to go through, isn’t there? Do you have any idea what we’re looking for?
Asher: No, not really. Anything with my father’s name on it, personal correspondence…. things like that. You know, there were always boxes like this up in the…… damn!
Kohana: What is it, Asher?
Asher: How would you like to take a little trip with me this weekend?
Kohana: I could, I suppose… Why? Where will we be going?
Asher: I need to go retrieve some papers from where they’re stored in the attic at the old house. Get some things out of safe deposit and move them to a bank up here. I should have thought of it when I first got back from meeting Gideon.
Kohana: That sounds like a very good idea. I’ll be happy to come along with you.
Asher: We can make a weekend of it, if you want. I’d like to show you the old place. It’s between renters right now, so we can even stay there.
Kohana: It would mean a lot to me, to see the home where you grew up…… I’ll start packing tonight. (long silence) Ahem, now I suppose we’d better get back to work on these boxes.
Asher: *sighs* Guess so.
Kohana: Someone appears to have been pretty haphazard about filing. Well, everything except these old playbills, that is. They’re quite neatly organized. Everything else looks rifled; it’s a real mess…..
Asher: Wonder if Gideon sent me on a wild goose chase here. Hardly anything with my father’s name on it. His real one or……oh damn, Kohana, I forgot to tell you….
Kohana: What?
Asher: My father wasn’t a Williamson. Grandma changed our last name to hers when she legally adopted us, so we have my Mom’s maiden surname. My father’s was Wilkins; his stage name was Alexander Winfield.
Kohana: And his real first name was…..
Kohana: Amos? *stifles a giggle*
Asher: *smiling* What’s tickled your funny bone there, Sweetheart?
Kohana: “Amos Wilkins” sounds more like the guy down at the feed store than a Broadway actor, doesn’t it?
Asher: *laughs* Is it any wonder he changed his name for the stage?
Kohana: Oh! I just saw something……
Asher: What is it?
Kohana: Just a scrap, but it was stuffed between a couple of playbills. I didn’t pay any attention to it before, because of the different name, but…. oh my.
Asher: What does it say?
Kohana: It appears to be a receipt for reimbursement of…… hmmm….. attorney’s fees and court costs. Handwritten, but signed by an Amos Wilkins. Oh my goodness, Asher, does it cost this much to legally change one’s name?
Asher: It can’t. That’s astronomical. No one would ever bother if it cost that much. Add that to our evidence pile, Kohana. It might turn out to be important. But why the old man would have paid anything to permanently change his name ….. it’s common practice for actors to adopt a different name for the stage – he wouldn’t have had to bother making it legal.
Kohana: No, Asher, I don’t think that’s it at all. Your father signed that. That means someone reimbursed him for this outlandish sum. Wait a minute…..
Kohana: *uses his laptop for a moment* There. I was right. His death certificate was issued in his birth name. So he never used his stage name for legal purposes and he….. Asher?
Asher: Yeah?
Kohana: Your father – he died……actually, was killed …….here in West Virginia.
Asher: He what?