Chapter 1
 
 Dallas
 
 “Hello?” Dallas’ hand gripped her phone harder than
 
 necessary.
 
 She figured it was a stress reaction triggered by
 
 answering the call from an unknown number. She usually let
 
 those ones go to voice mail, so she could decide what to
 
 answer and what to leave. Usually they were telemarketer calls
 
 that she was happy to delete without listening to.
 
 Unfortunately, she was in the middle of walking down the
 
 sidewalk on her way to the gym during her lunch break and
 
 she’d pulled her phone out of her bag without thinking.
 
 “Hi, I’m looking for Dallas Tenison?”
 
 “This is,” she replied, growing more edgy since she
 
 didn’t know who the deep male voice belonged to on the other
 
 end. It was brusque and businesslike. She wondered for a
 
 second if she’d forgotten to file her taxes or something, but no.
 
 She remembered getting her refund in the absurd amount of
 
 two dollars and thirteen cents and having to cash that silly
 
 cheque.
 
 “My name is Jim Johnson. I’m a lawyer with Johnson,
 
 Kashinsky, Ferrison, and Mayler.”
 
 “Umm… Alright.” Dallas’ heart beat wildly. What the
 
 heck was going on? Was someone suing her? If they were,
 
 didn’t they have to serve that stuff in person? Could a lawyer
 
 do it over the phone? Who the heck would want to sue her
 
 anyway? She tried to be a good neighbor. She was a decent
 
 driver. No fender benders lately that she recalled.
 
 “I’m calling on behalf of my late client, Willford
 
 Smyth.”
 
 Now Dallas’ heart wasn’t beating at all. It ground to a
 
 painful stop like an old car dying in the middle of heavy
 
 traffic. Putt, putt, putt, clunk, bang. She imagined the smoke
 
 flooding out of her tail pipe and the honks behind her. She
 
 looked quickly behind her, left, then right, and tucked up into
 
 the corner of an alley between two towering older buildings.
 
 “O-okay,” she stammered. She could hear better out of
 
 the wind and away from the rush of traffic. Even though it
 
 wasn’t far, the buildings blocked out a lot of the extra noise.
 
 She was almost certain she’d heard the guy wrong.
 
 “I know this might be a shock to you, because I
 
 understand that you haven’t been in contact with the family in
 
 years.”
 
 “You could say that,” Dallas rasped. It felt like there
 
 was something blocking her airway, but she was still able to
 
 gulp in a breath around it.
 
 “The reason for my call is that Mr. Smyth left you a
 
 substantial sum of money when he passed. Of course you