Chapter 5 - The Test of the Empty Estate
I sat in the leather chair for ten minutes, watching the morning clouds drift over the river below.
The grief that had sat like an anvil on my chest was suddenly wrapped in the profound, protective warmth of my father’s embrace. Even from beyond the grave, Walter Hail had stood between his daughter and a family of wolves.
“Samuel,” I spoke, my voice steady, clear, and quiet.
“Yes, Clare?”
“What happens if Mark asks about the reading of the will?”
Samuel leaned back, a faint, razor-sharp glint appearing in his wise old eyes. “That is entirely up to you. But if you want to know whether your husband loves you or the ghost of your father’s ledger, Walter left a contingency memo. A financial stress test.”
Samuel handed me a single typed sheet on Hail Mechanical letterhead.
“Tell him the truth—the partial truth,” Samuel said softly. “Tell him Walter’s estate is tied up in a mandatory five-year environmental reclamation audit for the mechanical factories, and that the only immediate asset available is the old family house, burdened by an outstanding four-hundred-thousand-dollar equipment tax lien.”
A slow, chilling smile touched my lips.
May you like
“You think he’ll break, Samuel?”
“A man who quits his job seventy-two hours after a death does not have the stamina for reality, Clare,” Samuel replied. “Go home and see what is left of your marriage.”
