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“And if you boys hurry, you should be able to catch Ellie at my house before she leaves. Not that I’m sure any of you deserves her, the way you’ve allowed things to happen, but I’ll accept that you were all well and truly hoodwinked, so I guess that’ll be for her to decide.”
Chapter Eleven
Since a quick look around proved that Tono seemed to live mostly on convenience food and things that could be grabbed on the go, Ellie went to work on stocking his cupboards and freezer with a few meals and treats. The vet had been nothing but good to her from the first moment she’d met him, and even though it had only been a week, it was still sobering to realize that he was the closest thing she had to a friend.
She threw together a quick stew that she could freeze in single portions and made a couple of individual lasagna’s, then went on to a few treats that would last well or could also be frozen.
Since Tono still hadn’t returned when she put the last tray in the oven, Ellie switched on the laptop, which she’d put on to charge that morning, with the intention of looking up her travel options. She really didn’t have any idea where she should head for, and if she was honest, the thought of just sticking a pin in a map and seeing where it would take her didn’t really appeal to her all that much. She was almost tempted to see if there were any opportunities for work here in Libby, except she didn’t think she could bear to come face to face with Cody, Ezra or Syrus going about their business. And it would be even worse if she were to bump into them hand in hand - literally and figuratively - with the trifecta.
Trying not to let the reality of her situation get her down all over again, Ellie logged into the Wi-Fi and was immediately inundated with a slew of messages in her email box from Gran’s solicitor. Oh great! There was probably more to pay on Gran’s debts. Was she responsible for them as the only living relative, or did things like that get written off? Ellie honestly had no idea. Well, they couldn’t have what she hadn’t got. They’d already taken everything of value.
With a sigh, she saw he had left an increasingly more urgent email almost every day for the past five days, asking her to ring him. Well, that wasn’t going to happen since she didn’t have a phone and she wasn’t going to feed quarters into a payphone and have everyone listen to her private business.
She eyed Tono’s landline. There was no way she was going to use it without his permission and run up his bill, but she wondered if he’d mind if she gave his number to the lawyer and asked him to ring her back on it. She could give him a window of time for a return call, that way he wouldn’t be harassing Tono after she had moved on.
Biting her lip, she eventually sent off a quick email. If he didn’t get back to her within the admittedly rather short timeframe she’d specified, at least that was on him and he couldn’t complain that she hadn’t at least tried.
She still wasn’t prepared to hear the telephone ringing insistently almost immediately. Surely that couldn’t be the lawyer already?
She looked suspiciously at the handset and then cautiously picked it up. She could hardly not since she’d told him she’d be here.
“Hello?” she said, hesitantly. “This is Ellie speaking, how can I help you?” She hoped that sounded both friendly and professional enough, should it be one of Tono’s customer’s calling.
“Ah, at last,” a disembodied voice replied with obvious relief. “This is Mr. HarperatLansdowne, Harper and Grieves. I’m your Grandmother’s lawyer.”
“Yes, I remember, Mr. Harper,” Ellie said politely, then waited for him to fill her in.
“I’ve just been tying up the final pieces of your Grandmother’s estate and putting all her affairs in order, when I came across something that we really should have addressed already.” There was a brief pause as if he was waiting for her to speak, but she wasn’t sure what he expected her to say, so she stayed silent.
“Er, well, the thing is…”
Here goes, Ellie thought in consternation. This is the bit where he tells me that his fees haven’t been covered or something.
“There’s a Trust Fund that should have been administered some time ago, but with your Grandmothers ailing health it seems to have been overlooked.”
Ellie frowned as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. “Trust Fund?” she repeated inanely.
“That’s right. It’s the residue of your parents’ estate which was placed in trust until you reached the age of twenty-one.”
“A Trust Fund,” she said over again, still not quite understanding. Trust Funds were something rich kids had. She cringed when she realized how idiotic she sounded and scrambled to cover herself. “I’m sorry, I’m not aware of one.”
“Well, I can only guess that your Grandmother imagined you were too young to be privy to such information when you first became her ward. After that, her dementia issues undoubtedly meant that she wasn’t of sound enough mind to inform you of its existence.”
Ellie scowled at his words and wanted to deny them, but she held her tongue. Unfortunately, he was probably right, although she had the distinct impression that he was trying his best to make sure that his neither he, nor his firm were held accountable for the oversight.
“Anyway, since it’s come to my attention, I need to get it signed over to you. Can you come into the office?”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option right now, Mr. Harper. I’m currently in Montana and I’m in the middle of… relocating. Is there another option?”
There was no way she was driving all the way back to Washington State to end up right back where she’d started.
“Oh, well in that case, you can provide your own lawyer’s details then he can notarize the paperwork and I can set up a secure payment, via his credentials, for the funds.”
Like she could afford to hire a law firm! Would it even be worthwhile? She hated to ask, it seemed unseemly, but she needed to know if this entire process was going to end up costing her more than she got back.
“Just how much are we talking here, Mr. Morgan?”
“Well now, your parents had paid off a good portion of the ranch and had never missed a payment.” He droned on, and Ellie wished he’d just get on with it. She would have encouraged him to spit it out, if it didn’t seem so avaricious. “And additionally, the residue has been excellently invested over the past… well, almost fifteen years, so it has accrued a considerable amount of interest.”
