Page 40 of Key West Homecoming

“Maeve called me yesterday afternoon, so I’ve been expecting you. Are you ready to work?”

Emma smiled for the first time that morning. “I am.”

“Good. Start at the beginning and tell me everything you know up to this point.”

Emma had spent enough years preparing for important calls to know the value of being organized. She walked Rachel through Gloria’s later will, the earlier will Arthur had taken through probate and the sale of the cottage. Then she explained Samantha Larson’s call, Jake’s letter and everything Maeve had told her the day before.

Rachel listened without interrupting.

When Emma finished, there was a brief silence.

“Emma, I’ve practiced law in Monroe County for twenty-two years, and I don’t like much of what you’ve just told me.”

Emma picked up her pen. “Neither do I.”

“Do you have a copy of the later will?”

“No. I haven’t actually seen it. Samantha found it in the Monroe County property records and told me what it says.”

“All right. I’ll get a copy from the county this morning. I want to see the document myself before I file anything based on it.”

Emma wrote WILL on her legal pad and then crossed it out. For the first time in three days, there was something on her list that belonged to someone else.

“Thank you.”

“That’s what you hired me for. Now, the first thing we need to do is stop the sale.”

Emma sat straighter. “Can you?”

“I can file what we need this morning and get it in front of the court. I’ll take the papers over myself before noon.”

Emma wrote STOP SALE across the top of the page and underlined it.

For three days, she’d been collecting information without knowing whether any of it would be enough. This was the first time someone had told her there was something they could actually do.

“What happens after that?”

“Then we deal with the will, your uncle and the money. In that order. I’ll also want the title company’s entire file, including anything connected to the letter your tenant received.”

“Jake.”

“Yes. Jake Kelleher.”

Emma glanced at the list she’d made on the patio.

Protect the tenant.

Rachel continued. “I’ll send you an engagement letter this morning. My retainer is five thousand dollars, billed against my hourly rate. Once I know more about what remains in the estate and what your uncle has done, we can talk about the rest.”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll also need you in my office tomorrow morning. We’ll go through the history with your uncle and prepare an affidavit. Can you be here at nine?”

“I can.”

“Bring everything you have from him. Emails, texts, letters and notes from any calls. I also want whatever you wrote down when Samantha Larson contacted you.”

“I have all of it.”