Page 67 of An Island Summer
“We’ll start calling lawyers in the morning just to get advice. There’s nothing we can do tonight. Let’s take a hot bath and relax.”
“I like the sound of that,” Meghan said, although she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to relax, not with Toby on her mind… If she took everything from him, would he ever speak to her again?
TWENTY-THREE
“The ambiguity of this could be a tough battle, especially if there are, in fact, no accounts in Hester Quinn’s name,” the lawyer, Mr. Wilson, said from across his desk as Meghan and Tess sat together in the guest chairs on the other side. He closed the journal and slid it across his desk to Meghan. You could always see if the will was recorded in probate court.”
With the day off, Meghan and Tess had gotten straight up and headed into the office of the first lawyer they’d reached, after they’d stopped in to Lost Love Coffee for a big dose of caffeine to see them through.
“Do you know where a copy of it would have been filed?” the lawyer asked. “It would be public record.”
“I’m not sure,” Meghan replied, not very hopeful, given Hester’s track record, but perhaps Rupert had filed it for her. “Could it have been in California where she lived?”
“Yes. You’d have to find out the city where your loved one passed away.”
“Brentwood,” Meghan said, turning toward Tess. “Remember the article we read?” She addressed the lawyer. “You are a genius, Mr. Wilson!” If Rupert had recorded it, and she could prove the money was hers, she and Toby could hopefully settle this without things getting messier than they should. She prayed they could somehow both find a happy ending in all this.
Mr. Wilson smiled smugly and folded his hands on his shiny desk. “Glad I could help.”
“So, how are we going to get to Brentwood, California?” Tess asked, as they let themselves out of the office, stepping under the shade of one of the large palm trees lining the sidewalk. She tugged at Meghan’s shorts. “Got any free plane tickets in those pockets?”
Meghan wriggled away playfully while she tapped her phone, still thrilled from the lead, however small it was. “The documents are all available online,” she said, turning the screen toward Tess to show her the results of the search. Then she swiped the screen away and slipped her phone back into the pocket of her shorts. “I don’t want to look yet, though,” she said, taking in a steadying breath. “I want to wait until we’re back at the house so I can see it on my laptop.” What she wasn’t saying was that she wanted to make each step slowly, taking her time and focusing on the very best way to handle this. The last thing she wanted to do was to ruin what she had with Toby and risk not seeing him or Rupert again. She needed to think about the best way to handle this.
“Have you thought about what your next move is if there’s nothing recorded in the Brentwood public record?” Tess asked, as the two of them walked past the bright umbrellas of the beachside ice cream parlor where Meghan had lost Hester’s journal pages.
“Hester will lead me to it like she’s led me to all the other answers,” Meghan said.
Tess leaned in, bumping shoulders with her. “Are you saying thatfatewill lead you to the will?”
Meghan laughed, her eyes on the dune she’d tried to climb that day. “It was as if Hester knew that I didn’t need those pages,” she said, the memory of them floating in the air coming back to her so clearly.
“First the muffins, now this? I never thought I’d see the day.”
“I came here, asking Pappy what to do. But it’s like they’reallup there together, trying to show me.” She tipped her head up, a flock of seagulls soaring above them. “I’m just as lost as Hester was. But now I have her journal—a clean slate—and I just have to figure out how to fill it. Money or no money.”
“And how are you going to figure it out?” Tess asked.
“One step at a time.”
Meghan stared at the email on her laptop, a heaviness the size of a boulder in her gut.
“What’s wrong?” Tess asked from the chair across from her in the living room of The Seabreeze. The large doors were open, the wind blowing in, but Meghan’s thoughts were too preoccupied to notice it.
“I just saw the bills for the electrical and the central air on Pappy’s cottage.”
Tess leaned forward, her forearms on her knees. “And?”
“Combined, I owe them $8,275.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“No luck on finding the will?”
Meghan shook her head. “I can’t find it in the Brentwood public records. I’ve checked all the nearby localities, and even the Outer Banks in case Rupert registered it here—nothing.” She took in a jagged breath, her chest tight.
“I have some savings,” Tess said.
“I don’t want to do that—no way—but I have no idea what to do.”
“Was Toby going to loan you the money?”
