AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“From what I am seeing here,” I said, flipping through my notes, “you think there might be documentation that would back her up in your grandfather’s will that’s vague enough that she might be able to argue her claim, right?”
“There might be,” he said. “I don’t really know. I don’t speak legalese.”
I smiled thinly. I hated that word but had long accepted it as a layman way of describing language that was perfectly reasonable and almost an art form if you put the time in to understand it. The way some lawyers were able to bend the English language to do their bidding was nothing short of awe-inspiring sometimes.
“Okay,” I said. “As your friend, I will look into this for you. But because it’s as your friend, I can’t tell you when I will be able to get back to it. I’m pretty booked up for the foreseeable future, and I might not be able to find time to go deep into this immediately.”
“I understand,” he said. He didn’t look terribly thrilled, but the look of frustrated desperation on his face told his story well. He didn’t have any other choice.
“Well, then,” I said. “If I find something out, and I can help you, I will offer you the family rate to actually hire me, okay?”
“What’s the family rate?” he asked.
“Cheap,” I said. “We will talk about that later. Just don’t worry about it. Focus on the business itself, and I will work on the legal stuff. I’ll let you know as soon as I have advice one way or the other.”
He nodded, standing. “Thank you, Carmela,” he said.
“You’re welcome, Mark.”
With that, he nodded again, tried to force a smile, and brought the mug to the sink. He rinsed it out, put it in the drainer, and waved as he headed out of the door.
8
MARK
Aunt Judy apparently didn’t have a phone number, email address, or physical address beyond a P.O. Box, as far as I could tell. I had tried everything legally available to me to find a way to contact her and talk about things, but she wouldn’t speak to me. And she hadn’t gotten my messages. Her attorney wouldn’t say either way, but he also seemed absolutely positive that they were going to be successful in court if it made it there.
No matter how many pleading messages I could leave, none of it was going to get to Aunt Judy. She had decided to play hardball, and there was no going back now. It sucked, but I was going to have to deal with it.
“Well, if you happen to see her—” I said as I spoke to her attorney on the phone.
“I won’t, but continue,” he interrupted with a smug tone.
“Just tell her that I would love to speak with her in person. Either on the phone or I will come to her wherever she is.”
“I will relay that message,” he said. “But I have to tell you, it won’t do any good. She won’t see you. She is adamant that she gets what she deserves. What is rightfully hers.”
I sighed.
“I wish she had said anything about this before Dad passed,” I said. “She could have made this whole thing a lot easier.”
“Is that an admission of her rightful claim?” he asked, excitedly.
“No, it’s not,” I said quickly. “Thank you for your time.”
I hung up before he could object any further. He was a snake of a man, and I was glad just to be off the phone with him. If Carmela did end up helping me, I was going to feel extra guilty just in her having to deal with him.
The sound of a horse whinnying outside caught my attention, and I brushed aside the curtain to look out of the window. It oversaw the corral where someone was being led through a lesson by an older gentleman with one arm. I assumed it was part of Camden’s veteran support program, a program our mutual friend Ryan had benefited from and was now a spokesman for.
I could see Camden in the background, tooling around in the stables and shrugged. I might as well spend some time with my friend and offer to help where I could while I could, especially since he refused to take any pay for rent or anything.
Grabbing a ballcap and my boots, I got myself ready to go outside and headed out of the back door. Camden saw me coming and waved me in, grinning wide. I didn’t know a whole lot about horses, having grown up around them in the same general way most people from Murdock were familiar with livestock and work animals. But it didn’t take a horse expert to know how to muck a stall. I figured doing a little bit of grunt work might make me feel better about crashing at his place for a while.
