Page 41 of Snow Going Back

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘Nothing,’ Kate said, waving the question away. ‘It’s…’ She squeezed her gaze, suddenly realising that if anyone knew why, it would likely be Jenna. ‘Actually, there’s just something that strikes me as odd.’ She looked down at the table, gently tapping her finger on the grainy wood as she picked her words carefully. ‘The last will we have on record is from 1962. It doesn’t specify any names, only gives instructions on how I’m to decide based on different possibilities. I’m just surprised they never wrote an updated one.’

Jenna met Kate’s gaze with a frown. ‘But theydid,’ she said with certainty. ‘I remember. I was there when they had the witnesses round to sign.’

Kate sat upright, her eyes widening. ‘Are yousure?Absolutelysure?’

‘Yes,’ Jenna replied. ‘I was off school sick, so Cora had me laid up on the sofa in her office.’

‘Was there a lawyer there?’ Kate pressed.

‘No.’ Jenna shook her head. ‘I remember, Cora wanted one there, but William told her that he’d already run it past their lawyer friend, who’d said that so long as they got witnesses to sign, it was legally tight.’

‘Jacob,’ Kate breathed.

‘They had some friends of theirs in, got it signed, had some coffee and then they all left except Cora. I was curious, being a kid, so I asked, and Cora explained what a will was,’ Jenna told her.

‘Where did it go?’ Kate asked urgently. This would change everything. Her mind whirled. ‘Their lawyer friend, Jacob, he was my firm’s founder, but we never got a copy of this. Do you know what it said or where it went? When did this happen?’

‘Er…’ Jenna’s eyes darted from side to side as she tried to recall the details. ‘I was about nine, I think. Yes, I was because it was around Sam’s sixteenth birthday.’

If she was seven years younger than Sam, then Jenna was thirty-one, Kate noted, adjusting her mental profile of the woman. She looked much younger.

‘Where it went, I couldn’t tell you. It’s not in the company safe or in Cora’s office, and she’s never told me. I just assumed Sam knew or thatyouhad it.’ Jenna grimaced. ‘As for the contents, I have no idea. So, what does this mean now?’

Kate took a deep breath and blew it out through her cheeks, lying back against the chair. ‘Well, unless we find it, it meansnothing,’ she told her. ‘Legally we have to abide by the last known will on record. Without it physically in front of me, legally speaking, it doesn’t exist. What about the witnesses? Do you remember who they were?’

‘I do, but that won’t help. They both died in a crash a few years back,’ Jenna replied.

Kate grimaced.

‘You should ask Sam,’ Jenna advised. ‘If anyone knows, it will be him. I’m surprised he hasn’t brought it up already though.’

‘Hmm,’ Kate agreed, biting her lip. ‘Whyhasn’the?’

Kate finished up her text conversation with Lance and walked through the door, disappointed to hear the sounds of men watching sport coming from the lounge. Clearly her hiding spot wasn’t as clever as she’d thought. She hung her coat and slipped off her boots, then walked towards the kitchen, but as she passed the archway to the lounge, she jerked to a halt and turned to stare in amazement.

Pieces of plaster and drywall littered the floor, and a jagged gaping hole that revealed the timber frame behind nowsurrounded the TV. A sledgehammer leaned on a piece of wall that was still intact below. Someone hit a ball, and a loud cheer erupted. Only Sam’s head turned towards her, his glare piercing into her from across the room with a mixture of anger and defiance. Kate closed her mouth, suddenly aware it had dropped open, and then slowly turned to continue into the kitchen, completely lost for words.

She’d give himonething – he was certainly determined.

After putting away the few grocery items she’d picked up on her way home, Kate grabbed a drink and headed up to bed.

She lay staring up at the ceiling for some time, thinking over her conversation with Jenna. Eventually she heard the men downstairs trickle away, and then Sam went up to bed. She bit her lip and listened closely, waiting for the moment he found the remote. She still couldn’t believe he’d actuallydestroyed a wallto watch that game rather than miss it. Hearing him curse and march back out of his room, Kate quickly grabbed a book and pretended to be reading. Her door almost instantly flew open, and he appeared in the doorway.

‘Didn’t your mother teach you to knock?’ she asked dryly, not looking up from the pages.

‘No,’ he answered shortly. He held up the remote in the air accusingly. ‘Really?’ he asked. ‘Seriously?’

Kate just shrugged, keeping her eyes on the page and watching him in her peripheral vision. ‘I told you it was in the house.’

Sam made a low growling sound in the back of his throat and wrung his hands in the air as if imagining her neck was between them.

‘Shut the door on your way out,’ Kate said sunnily, but as he turned, she remembered what she’d wanted to ask him. ‘Oh, Sam?’ She sat up, putting the book aside.

‘What?’ he seethed.

‘The will I’ve been working from – it’s an old one.Veryold. Jenna told me they wrote a more recent one, about twenty-two years ago.’ She watched as his frown lessened slightly and couldn’t help but notice how much nicer he looked when he wasn’t glaring at her or plotting something. Her gaze slipped from his face down to the curve of his collarbone and she pulled it away quickly, clearing her throat. Why did she keep doing that? ‘Do you know where it is? Have you seen it?’ She paused, but he didn’t answer. ‘It would really help speed things up.’

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