The Widow and the Will (8 page)

With his brother gone to court and the office to himself, Ford was able to better concentrate on the documents he was reading. Too often, Hudson hovered around interrupting his train of thought so he couldn’t parse out whatever question was put before him. Ford loved his little brother more than Hudson would ever know, but sometimes he irritated the piss out of him, too.

As he read through the probate file, Ford found himself getting more irritated by the moment. The Kingston family had outright lied in their filings. They claimed Jack was unmarried and without a will. No mention was made of Jack’s adoption or where his original wealth had come from. They were doing everything in their power to keep control of Jack’s millions. An unfamiliar feeling of protectiveness thumped in his head as he thought of Tess and what the Kingstons were trying to do to her.

He switched over to the financial documents and was shocked to see the extent of the Kingston estate. Sure, Ford had been around here and there when Hudson had worked up the estate plan, but he hadn’t paid much attention at the time. It was a cut and dried case and then they had moved on. Now, he was seeing the full value of everything Jack owned and that would be Tess Kingston’s.

There were multiple investment accounts: IRA’s, 401(k)s, mutual funds and lots of different stocks. Ford noticed it was all the usual stuff, Apple, Boeing, Microsoft. But the amount of property was what astounded him. Houses in the Hamptons, London, and Malibu. Apartment buildings in Los Angeles and New York and acres of property in Canada, Ireland, and Scotland. Ford whistled long and low at the variety of real estate. Tess Kingston was in for a big surprise when she realized just how filthy rich she had become.

Ford switched gears to review the transfer documents, the birth father’s original will and trust, and everything else in the file. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, either, and was disappointed that he wouldn’t have any nuggets of wisdom for his brother. It didn’t mean they weren’t there, but nothing stood out.

Ford refilled his coffee and then pulled a laptop computer out of the drawer in the desk. He flipped it open and logged on to begin downloading probate forms. When he was finished, he put in another call to his contact at the ME’s office to get a status update on the toxicology report.

As he sat and thought about the situation, Ford allowed himself to conjure Tess’s image in his mind. She was a beautiful girl in her mid-twenties and she should have been experiencing some of the happiest times of her life. Instead, she was a widow embroiled in a nasty estate battle.

Ford didn’t like surprises and Tess had done just that. Only knowing her on paper, he thought she was going to be broken and damaged from all she’d been through. Instead, she was way hotter in real life than he expected and a hell of a lot stronger than most people in her spot. When she walked into that kitchen, he immediately recognized her from the post office. Her blonde hair looked soft and it was full of waves, not the crunchy, manufactured curls Ford usually saw on the bar flies where he hung out. Tess wasn’t anorexic-thin or flirting with obesity, either. She seemed just the right size for her five-and-a-half-foot frame, fit and curvy. It was her eyes that had really caught him off guard. Electric blue, energetic, contradicting the exhaustion and pain shining through. Clear enough to see the world around her, in spite all of the trauma she’d just experienced in the last few months. She hadn’t broken down during the meeting at her parents’ house. She looked close a couple of times, but as he watched her, Ford could tell when she pulled it together by the tensing of her jaw and clenching of her fists. She soldiered on.

Usually, Ford just did whatever Hudson wanted him to do. He didn’t get emotionally involved or invested in any of the cases they took on. But this one was different. He admitted to himself that she reminded him of the type of woman he used to go for, back when he was a normal guy. More years than he cared to remember ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to pursue a girl who looked like Tess, when he was the captain of the football team and cute blonde girls were the head cheerleaders. But that was before shit got real in his life and he took a different path. Since then, his perception of life and himself had become somewhat altered. Nice, cute, blonde girls weren’t in the cards for him anymore.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t fight hard for this one, though. Ford had plenty of contacts in plenty of places. He wouldn’t hesitate to use every single one of them to make sure Tess Kingston ended up with the result she deserved.

Chapter 12

Tess contemplated the pile of paperwork at her feet and reached for the first few pages. She had finally gone through every scrap in Jack’s desk and filtered out everything she thought needed saving. A few years’ tax returns, a couple of years of bank statements, just in case they still weren’t available online for downloading. Other than that, the rest of the utility bills and miscellaneous nonsense Jack had squirreled away was ready for the shredder. She fed a few sheets into it and smirked when the loud whirring noise made the cats flee the room.

Tess’s own rummaging had not yielded anything more than Lilly’s had. She found nothing pertaining to Jack’s secret past. If he had gotten copies of the estate documents, he hadn’t kept them at home. If Lilly hadn’t found Hudson’s card, Tess wasn’t sure where she would be right now. She had spent hours reading over the documents her new lawyer had given to her, but little of it made much sense. It was typical legal mumbo jumbo and she was waiting for their meeting on Saturday to get a full explanation.

To keep busy while she waited, Tess had finally decided to tackle the job of cleaning out the office. All of Jack’s clothes were now boxed up and ready for donation. She hung on to all of his portfolio books of the graphic and web design work he had done over the years. She also couldn’t part with his favorite Detroit Lions football jersey or his pillow.

It was difficult for Tess to see the boxes and bags piled up to be taken away for some other person or family to use. It seemed so strange to give away things Jack had loved or worn. There was just no reason for her to hold on to them, other than sentimentality. Tess was torn between her heart wanting to keep everything Jack had ever touched and her brain that logically spoke of the spirit of giving and donating so someone else could benefit. She knew it was perfectly normal, but it didn’t keep her from feeling the conflict anyway.

Only for a minute had Tess considered giving the things to Jack’s family for them to sort out and deal with. Perhaps it would have been the kind and thoughtful thing to do. But because they had been so nasty to her, she couldn’t find it in her heart to have anything more to do with them until she absolutely had to. Tess knew that confrontation was coming and she wanted to put it off for as long as possible. If giving Jack’s things away on her own was a way of doing that, she refused to feel guilty over it. Besides, none of the items in the boxes and bags were from Jack’s childhood or held any value to his mother or father. They were things he had acquired in his adult life with Tess and she felt confident that it was her decision to make.

When the entire pile was shredded, Tess gathered the bags of minced paper and combined them all into one giant bag. Tossing it into the corner with the other trash, she would haul it out to the dumpster later. The room was decidedly blank now, with all of Jack’s personality stripped from it. Timothy and Spencer hesitantly ventured back in, looking around for the machine that had caused them such fear before. Not seeing it, they both wandered over to her and rubbed against her shins.

“What should we do with this room, I wonder?” she said out loud to the felines. She wasn’t disappointed when she didn’t receive an answer. “I guess it can be my office now.”

Tess had given her notice to Dr. Guildford the day before. She called him and explained the situation about the insurance policy, saying she wouldn’t really need to work for a while. Since she was having such a hard time doing a good job for him anymore, she didn’t count on him being as upset as he was by the news. Dr. Guildford had argued with her for fifteen minutes that she could still keep her job, just take an extended leave of absence. A million dollars wouldn’t last forever. He needed her; she was the best transcriptionist he’d ever had. In the end, Tess had told him no and that she was really honored by his disappointment but that she couldn’t in good conscience continue working with him. She agreed to finish the last of her backlogged work, but he would need to find someone else as soon as possible.

Tess decided it was as good a time as any to honor her promise and finish the last of the transcription. She had told herself she would do that before she started thinking about the insurance money and what to do with it. Until it actually hit her bank account, she wasn’t really sure she believed it was coming.

In spite of Lilly’s insistence that the windfall was the best thing that could ever have happened, Tess wasn’t so sure. It was true; she’d never really struggled where money was concerned. Her parents had taken good care of her until she was old enough to work and then she had gotten jobs to pay for the things she wanted. A few times she had gotten in over her head with credit card debt, but those were valuable lessons learned. Now, she was going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars at her disposal and the thought was daunting. Her first impulse wasn’t to go out and buy a car or a house or do something stupid. Instead, she was worried about all the tax implications. The coming lawsuit and fight with the Kingstons. What would be left after she paid all the attorneys’ fees? Money, to Tess, wasn’t a Godsend; it was a curse.

Chapter 13

“Can I help you?”

Lilly Langford stepped inside the small office, a business card in her hand. “Yes, I’m looking for Hudson Marks.” She looked around and wasn’t impressed. It certainly wasn’t a silk stocking kind of firm. Not that it mattered, she was really only interested in knowing what kind of a
person
was representing her sister. Yet, the dingy and somewhat bare office didn’t lend a lot of confidence, to her way of thinking.

The handsome, tall guy behind the metal desk stood up and came around to extend his hand. “You’ve found him.”

Lilly took his large hand in hers and gripped it with what she hoped was a decent amount of firmness as she admired his kind eyes and boyishly handsome face. “Nice to meet you. I’m Lilly Langford, Tess’s sister.”

“Hi!” He looked stunned and did not release her hand right away. Leaning in toward her, his face clouded with concern. “Is everything all right? Is it Tess?”

Lilly relaxed, deciding that he didn’t seem to be like the jackass lawyers she saw on television. He certainly was good looking enough to be on some crime show, but she didn’t let that blind her. “No, everything is fine. I just wanted to come by and meet the attorney who would be handling her case. She has no idea I’m here.”

Hudson motioned for her to take a seat on the couch and she did, while he pulled the rolling chair from behind the desk and positioned it a few feet from her.

“Well,” Hudson said with hesitation, “I can’t really discuss any specifics of the case with you unless Tess is here…” His voice trailed off, a look of embarrassment flitting across his face.

“I don’t expect you to and I don’t plan on asking any questions.”

Hudson chuckled. “Just sizing me up?”

Lilly smiled and nodded. “Something like that.” She made sure to look at him directly, hoping she could convey her concern without coming across as a meddling sister. “I know you met with my folks and Tess already, but I want you to understand a few things. The last six months have been really horrible for my sister. She was just starting to get back to normal when all of this happened. She brought me up to speed about Jack’s adoption and inheritance and how shitty the Kingstons have treated her so far. I need to make sure you are the right person to take care of her.”

Hudson rubbed his chin with his hand and nodded. “I understand. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Tess. I’m only three years out of law school, but I’m confident I can handle it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s nothing more than a good old fashioned dog fight. David Kingston might think he’s the bigger dog, but I’m pretty scrappy myself.”

Lilly laughed and leaned back into the soft leather couch. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. I don’t care if you haven’t been a lawyer very long. What matters is that you have the testicular fortitude to stand up to them. I never liked them. Jack was all right, but the rest of his family is a bunch of pretentious assholes.”

Hudson laughed with her and she liked the deep, rolling sound that emanated from his chest. He leaned his elbows on his knees. Looking her in the eye, he sobered. “I haven’t met all of them and I’ve only spoken with David on the phone, but I’m inclined to agree. I promise that I will do everything in my power to make things right for Tess.”

“Thank you,” Lilly said softly, suddenly realizing how close he was to her. He was pretty broad in the shoulders and gave off a strong male presence with the muscular build that she was certain lurked beneath his button down shirt. Struggling to remain calm and reserved, Lilly tried to think of anything but his nearness.

“Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t done anything.” Hudson straightened and leaned back, crossing one long leg over the other at the knee.

“We? Do you have a partner?” Lilly cringed inwardly at the way her voice sounded a little breathless and hoped he didn’t notice.

“Not exactly. My brother works with me. He’s sort of my investigator and law clerk all rolled into one.” He looked as if he would say more, but the door to the office whooshed open. “Speak of the devil.”

Lilly turned to see a slightly older, considerably grungier version of Hudson stride through the door. His face was covered with five o’clock shadow and he wore jeans, motorcycle boots, a white t-shirt, and black leather vest, in direct contradiction to Hudson’s professional, navy blue suit, clean shaven face, and tidy hair.

“Good afternoon to you too,” Ford muttered as he walked directly to the coffee pot.

“Ford, this is Lilly Langford. Tess’s sister.”

Lilly took the opportunity to stand up and take a step or two away from Hudson. She put out her hand and Ford swiveled to shake it. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses so she couldn’t get a look at them to see if they were just as opposite as his brother’s. She thought he oozed a certain kind of dangerous charisma, but it didn’t give her the nervous jerks like Hudson did. Still, she smiled and tried to be open and friendly with him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ford.” She kept her own cornball joke about their names to herself, figuring they’d heard them all before anyway.

“Same,” he responded as he took the coffee pot to the bathroom to dump it out. When he came back, he didn’t seem all that interested in talking with her and busied himself with making a fresh pot.

“Would you like some coffee?” Hudson asked. “Ford makes the best.”

“No, that’s okay.” Lilly shook her head and then took another step toward the door. “I need to get going. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about this. Please don’t tell Tess that I was here.” Hudson took two steps and was beside her, reaching for the door to open it for her.

“It’s our secret. When we meet in front of Tess, I’ll pretend like it’s the first time. We’ll probably see a lot of one another in the coming weeks. I’m going to have a lot of questions for Tess and she’ll probably need all the support she can get from her family. I’m glad to know she’ll have it.”

Lilly smiled and nodded as she stepped out into the humid July heat. Coupled with the warmth she felt just by looking at Hudson, she wasn’t surprised when sweat popped out on her upper lip right away. “She will. You just make sure you do everything you can, or you’ll have
me
to deal with.” She winked at him and immediately felt like an idiot.
How cheesy
.

“You bet.”

He flashed her one more grin, and Lilly forced herself to walk away before she said any more stupid things. She climbed into her car and headed for her apartment on Little Mack Avenue near the Meijer grocery store, chastising herself the entire way.

“You’re such an idiot,” Lilly said out loud to her reflection in the rear view mirror as she drove. “Do not get a crush on your sister’s lawyer. Do not!”