Chương 6
I listened without hearing much.
At 7:42, my mother sent a message.
We need to talk before you start making accusations you can’t take back.
I did not respond.
At 8:03, she sent another.
I have sacrificed more for you than you will ever understand.
At 8:19, Brittany texted.
Mom says you’re freezing her out over Emily.
At 8:21, Lily sent a single question mark.
Kayla sent nothing.
That worried me more than the others.
At 8:30, I called the number from the old law office email.
A recorded voice told me the firm had changed names after a merger.
It gave a new number.
I wrote it on the back of a grocery receipt Marcus found beside his microwave.
The new receptionist transferred me twice.
Then a woman named Denise came on the line.
Her voice was calm and careful.
I gave her my grandfather’s full name and approximate date of death.
“I’m trying to find out whether your office handled his estate.”
There was keyboard tapping.
“What was your relationship to Mr. Walter James Cole?”
“Grandson.”
More tapping.
“And your full name?”
I gave it.
The line went quiet.
Not dead quiet.
Listening quiet.
“Mr. Cole, I’m going to need to verify your identity before I discuss any file.”
“Okay.”
She asked for my date of birth, mailing address, and several other details.
Then she put me on hold.
A piano version of a song I almost recognized played for nearly four minutes.
Marcus walked past twice.
The second time he held up the coffee pot.
I shook my head.
Finally Denise returned.
“Yes, our predecessor firm handled certain estate matters for your grandfather.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Was I a beneficiary?”
Another pause.
“I can confirm there is a file referencing you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I can confirm your name appears in the estate records.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“I’m not comfortable doing that over the phone without reviewing the file and confirming what authority we have to release.”
My heart started beating harder.
“Was money left to me?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Cole.”
“Was my mother involved?”
That produced the longest silence yet.
“I can tell you that Teresa Cole is also referenced in the file.”
I stood up.
Emily watched me from the table.
“What do I need to do?”
Denise explained that some of the older records had been archived.
She could request them.
I could submit identification and sign a records request.
Depending on the file, an attorney might need to review it before disclosure.
“How long?”
“Usually not long, but I don’t want to promise a timeline until I see what’s there.”
“Can I come in today?”
“Yes.”
I wrote down the address.
Before hanging up, I asked one more question.
“Did I sign anything with your firm?”
Denise hesitated.
“I can’t verify that from the summary screen.”
“Can you see whether something was signed in my name?”
“I can see references to executed documents.”
Cold moved through my stomach.
“What kind?”
“That is exactly what I need the archived file to answer.”
After the call ended, I remained standing with the phone still at my ear.
Marcus pointed at it.
“They hang up on you?”
“No.”
“That bad?”
“I don’t know.”
He hated that answer as much as Emily had.
By nine fifteen, Emily had showered and changed into a loose sweater Renee lent her.
The sleeves were too short.
Nobody cared.
I insisted she stay at the apartment while I went downtown.
She refused.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I’m not lying in somebody else’s guest bed wondering what’s happening.”
“You’re supposed to rest.”
“I can rest in a chair.”
“That is not what they meant.”
“Ethan.”
There was steel in her voice.
I recognized it.
Emily rarely raised her volume.
She simply stopped negotiating.
Renee sided with her.
“She’ll do less walking with us driving her than she will pacing here.”
I looked at Marcus.
He lifted both hands.
“I enjoy being married.”
So the four of us went.
Marcus drove because I was too distracted, and Renee sat in the back with Emily.
Downtown traffic crawled.
A delivery van blocked one lane.
A cyclist slapped the side mirror of a cab.
A man in a suit argued into a headset while crossing against the light.
The city did not care that my entire understanding of my family had become unstable overnight.
I found that strangely useful.
At the law office, Denise met us in a glass-walled reception area on the eighteenth floor.
She was probably in her fifties, with silver hair cut to her jaw and red reading glasses hanging from a cord around her neck.
“You’re Ethan.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward Emily.
“My wife.”
Emily offered her hand.
Denise shook it gently.
“This may take a little while.”
“We’re fine.”
We were not fine.
But there were forms to fill out, identification to copy, releases to sign.
Practical tasks helped.
They put borders around panic.
Marcus and Renee waited downstairs at a coffee shop while Emily and I sat in a small conference room.
At 10:37, an attorney named Daniel Price joined us.
He carried a thick paper file and a tablet.
The paper file scared me more.
There was something about its physical weight.
He set it on the table.
“Mr. Cole, I want to be careful here.”
“Okay.”
“Our office did not administer the entire estate.”
“What did you handle?”
“A trust created by your grandfather several years before his death.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around mine.
“For me?”
“For multiple beneficiaries.”
He opened the file.
“You were one of them.”
My throat went dry.
“How much?”
“Originally?”
“Yes.”
He turned several pages.
“Your designated share was eighty-five thousand dollars.”
I stared at him.
Emily stopped moving.
The ventilation hissed overhead.
Daniel continued speaking, but the words blurred for a second.
Eighty-five thousand.
I had worked overtime through back pain.
May you like
I had delayed dental work because the copay felt irresponsible.
Emily and I had spent three months deciding whether we could afford a crib that converted into a toddler bed.
