Chapter 28

Tuesday Morning…

The phone woke Doreen the next morning. She groaned a weary greeting. It was Nan.

"The news is full of it. Why didn't you tell me?" she cried out.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me that you solved the case," Nan said, almost in happy tears.

"Will you make any money on it?" Doreen asked, as she stared at the ceiling, listening to the long silence. "You hadn't mentioned gambling for so long that I figured maybe you decided to not do it anymore."

"What? Of course not." Then she got cagey and added, "I finally just decided it was a conversation that upset you, so I didn't mention it this time."

"So, who made money on me last night?"

"Richie," she declared in disgust. "Richie cleaned up on this one."

"How much did he get?" she asked, with a sigh.

"Seven hundred and twenty pennies," Nan announced.

Doreen chuckled. "That's quite the haul. Good luck to him taking that to the bank."

At that, Nan added, "Sorry I woke you up, sweetie. When you're feeling better, give me a call." And, with that, she disconnected.

As Doreen lay here, thinking about 720 pennies and how irritated Nan was about Richie winning, Doreen burst out laughing.

Those were the kind of betting matches Doreen could handle. Just fun and games. She was sorry she hadn't called her grandmother last night, but Doreen really had been done in, and letting Nan know had escaped Doreen's attention. Doreen was moving gingerly at first, unsure how getting hit in the head and falling down the stairs might feel this morning, But, a little while later, all showered, dressed, and downstairs with coffee, she realized that, for the most part, save a few scrapes and bruises, she really was okay. More important, she knew it was over. Really over.

She stepped outside and called out to Mugs, "Come on, buddy. Let's go down to the river."

Richard called out to her from over the fence, his face popping up over it. "Good morning. Are you okay?"

"Hello, Richard. I'll be fine, and I want to thank you for whatever part you had in calling the police."

"Did you hear the animals?" His eyes went wide. "What a racket. One way or another, the police were bound to come, even if I hadn't called."

She giggled at that. "So, did you hear that I was being held prisoner in the basement?"

He shook his head, his jaw hanging open. "Oh, good Lord. Could you just stop this for a while? I want to sleep, and all this trouble is making it impossible, never knowing what'll happen next."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not exactly sleeping very well myself," she muttered. "So, yeah, I vote for no more trouble too."

"Sounds good, but you really are okay, right?"

"I'm okay. Thank you for asking." Especially considering I got knocked on the head, tied to a chair in the basement, then tackled before falling down the stairs trying to escape, she thought to herself, with a smile.

Richard beamed and retreated behind the fence on his side.

Slowly, cup of coffee in hand and the animals at her side, Doreen carefully wandered toward the river, where she sat down and just relaxed. It was another day and a whole new world, as far as she was concerned. Still, it would take some time to process Mathew's death and what that would mean. She didn't have to get a divorce now. And all that time and effort Nick had put into trying to get a divorce for her was obviously for naught, but maybe it was a good thing they had gotten this far and no further. And today was the reading of the will.

As a matter of fact it was at nine this morning. She checked her watch and noted she had only fifteen minutes left, before she had to set up for the meeting.

By the time she finished her coffee, it was time, and she walked back up to the house with the animals. Propping the kitchen door open, so they could come and go, while she was online for the reading of the will, she opened her laptop and set it up.

Just before it was due to start, she heard a truck pull in her driveway. She got up and walked to the front door and saw Mack hopping out. Looking at him, she asked, "Decided you guys needed to attend after all?"

He shook his head. "No. I decided I needed to be here… to support you."

She looked at him, then a slow smile dawned. "Thank you, Mack. That's nice, lovely even." She reached up and gave him a gentle kiss. He really was here to support her, despite several times during this investigation where he seemed to be more about supporting Insley. Her smile grew bigger, and her heart filled.

"Come on. It's almost time," he said.

She walked back to the kitchen table to see the lawyer on the laptop screen. He looked at her, and she nodded. "Good morning, Roger. Mack's here with me too."

He nodded. "I understand from my conversations with the police this morning that there was quite a show over at your place last night."

"Yeah, that's a perfect description. Reggie attacked me and tied me up in my basement. He was trying to get me to sign all these property documents, transferring them into his name."

Roger just shook his head. "Good Lord, I'm glad to hear that's all over with."

"Yeah, me too. So, what is in this will that's causing all the drama?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Because of Reggie's recent activities, his bequeath will be tied up for a time, while he enjoys his right to due process. However, should he be found guilty, he'll be excluded. So, in the end, basically everything is yours."

"But what does that mean? I don't even know what Mathew had." He stared at her, and she shrugged. "For all I know, he sold the house after I left. I have no idea what he's got."

"Your attorney handling the divorce proceedings has the list of all that. I don't understand. Did Nick not give it to you?"

At that, Mack leaned forward and explained, "I can vouch for the fact that she made it clear to her divorce attorney that she didn't want to count on anything, so she didn't want anything to do with the numbers during the process. Her instructions to him were to negotiate something fair that would give her enough for a modest living."

Roger's jaw dropped.

Mack nodded. "I know, but that's what she's like," he said, with a note of pride.

"To sum it up, if you were in a poker game," Roger told Doreen, "you just won the whole pot."

"So, how about telling me what is in this pot?"

"That includes the properties transferred to you because they were transferred legally. None of the people who were involved have any claims. It's not even a legal corporation. It's a shell corporation, where they were money-laundering. So, when I say you won the pot, you won the whole pot." After summaries of those properties, he began to list the properties in Mathew's name alone.

By the time he was done, Doreen stared at him in shock. "Why would Mathew have so many houses? You can only live in one at a time."

Roger's lips twitched. "He had four houses here and one in France."

"France?" she asked in shock. "We never even went to France."

"It was a recent purchase, something I believe Robin was interested in. All the furnishings and contents and the artwork are included."

Doreen rolled her eyes at that. "Fine, so that's the property listing. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Yes, there are the contents of the safes in the house here. I have a listing, which includes jewelry, some of which may have been yours and would have been part of the divorce settlement."

"Yes," she agreed.

"There is more jewelry than that—some pieces that he bought as investments, for example. Then there are stocks, bonds, and multiple bank accounts. In summary, the total value is well over twenty million and could run as high as thirty and even more. I don't have true values on many of his paintings and jewels."

She sat back, stunned, then turned to Mack but couldn't get any words out.

He burst out laughing, then leaned over and gave her a big fat kiss. "Thank you. She seems to be at a loss for words. Is there anything that she needs to do right now?"

"As estates go, this one is simple in some ways and quite complicated in others. As such, we'll want to be very diligent as we go through probate to ensure we get everything done correctly and position ourselves to address any claims against the estate that may arise. Anything we expect to be challenged, we'll hold back until that is resolved. What was intended for Reggie will be held until such time as he is convicted or exonerated, which doesn't seem likely. So, Doreen can definitely have access to some assets. Other things will take longer. Virtually everything was left to her."

"Next step?" Mack asked.

"I'll sort it out and send the paperwork. There will be plenty enough to keep her busy, figuring out how best to deal with it all." The lawyer nodded to Mack.

Then he focused on Doreen. "Doreen, I'll detail this in a letter coming with the paperwork, but this is a big deal and no doubt overwhelming. You should get yourself some trusted advisors and take some time to think about what you want to do with this. Unless you have any questions now, we're through here, and you can expect an email soon with some documents attached, including a copy of the will itself. So, if you don't have any questions for me now, we'll talk soon." He looked at her and Mack, and they both nodded. "Thank you. I'll sign off then."

As soon as the screen went blank and the call was terminated, Mack looked at her and started to laugh. "If you could only see your face right now," he said. "He's right, you know? As far as a poker game goes, you just won big."

She shook her head, but still no words would come out.

Seeing the need to get some blood circulating through her body, he reached for her hands, pulled her up, then twirled her around in his arms. "Guess what? You can have steak now, if you want."

She beamed at that thought, seeming to come alive. "Does that mean I can have, I don't know, soup?"

"That's the richest thing you can come up with in your brain?" he asked, chuckling.

"Brain? Are you kidding? My brain stopped working about halfway through that call," she said pitifully, "so take it easy on me."

He smiled, cuddled her close, and declared, "You can have soup. You can have lobster. You can have anything you want because you are a very wealthy woman."

"Not yet. I don't have it yet. It has to be real." She sighed. "You know I didn't even care about that, right?"

"I do know that. You only wanted to ensure you had food for the animals and that you had enough to get by. But you always took better care of them than yourself," he stated, glaring at her. "We weren't made to live on plain pasta and coffee."

"Now there's enough food for all of us," she declared, still beaming. "And plenty for you too."

It was slow coming, but his smile slowly transformed his face, and it was beautiful to see.

She reached up and kissed him gently on the chin. "Wow. I get that there's still a ton of paperwork to do, and I can't even begin to imagine the massive amount of stuff to deal with, but wow."

"Wow is right," he muttered, shaking his head. "Now add in all the antiques you've yet to get paid for, and you are beyond a very wealthy woman. Like Roger said, you should find some good financial advisors to guide you, to give you suggestions," Mack pointed out. "You'll be up in Bernard's level."

She shook her head. "Nope, there are no levels in my world," she announced. "I'm just me, and I plan to stay that way."

Mack picked her up, hugged her close, and whispered, "I'm so glad because I think just you is pretty perfect."