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“Let’s not play games, Estes. He’s the best lawyer in Rio.”
“So some would say.”
“He will represent me.”
“He is very expensive.”
“And I am very rich,” Jake said coldly.
Estes chuckled. “Rich, and hard-headed. The same as your father.”
“I told you—”
“You will spend years trying to break this will, senhor, and you will not succeed. You will never know the names of your half-brothers. I regret this, but it is as your—as my client wished.”
Jake glared at the other man but he knew he was right. Even Marin had told him as much during the hour they’d talked on the phone yesterday.
Estes seemed to sense that Jake was weakening. “How difficult could it be, Senhor Ramirez, to watch over this girl for two short months? She is a child, and she has spent eight years in a convent.”
“You’ve met her?”
“Certainly.”
“And?”
Estes mentally crossed his fingers. “And she is what one would expect.” It wasn’t an out and out lie. The girl was precisely what one would expect, if one expected a spitfire mated to a whirlwind.
“If I were to agree,” Jake said, emphasizing the “if,” “what would I have to do? Pay her school bills? Send her birthday cards until she’s eighteen? I have no idea what a guardian does.”
“Well, for starters, you should know she already is eighteen.”
Jake cocked his head. “She’s eighteen? Then why does she need a guardian?”
“You won’t be her guardian. Not exactly.” Estes cleared his throat and reached into an open file drawer. “Perhaps it would be best if you read the pertinent clause yourself.”
Jake narrowed his eyes. Things were more complicated than Estes wanted to admit. What was going on here?
“I’m American,” he said coldly. “I don’t read or speak Portuguese.”
“I’ve had the document translated into English, senhor. Read it, please, and then we can talk.”
Jake took the will. He read what Estes indicated. After a minute, he looked up.
“This is insane.”
“I’m afraid not. Senhor Ramirez was perfectly competent when he insisted the clause giving you this responsibility be included in his will.”
“The girl is twenty-one?”
“As of today, yes.”
“And I’m supposed to…” Jake found the clause. “I’m supposed to ‘nurture and protect her, introduce her to polite society and to men of good character and excellent means, and see to it that she marries such a man within two months’?” He stared at the lawyer. “Of course it’s insane.”
“It is the only means by which you will gain the information you want, senhor.” Estes rose to his feet. “Shall we go to the convent so you can meet the girl?”
Jake flung Enrique’s will to the floor. “I’d tell you where you can go,” he said grimly, “except I know this is Enrique Ramirez’s work, not yours. Goodbye, Senhor Estes.”
“Good-day, Senhor Ramirez,” Estes said.
