Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(37)

Louie laughed. “You’re at the bottom of it.”

Max didn’t bother to respond. The thought of losing something that rightfully belonged to him crawled under his skin and caused an itch that was impossible to scratch.

~

Two days later Max announced that he had an appointment with Susan Schleicher and planned to uncover the truth about the will. This time Laricka refused to tag along as a witness, saying it was a waste of time and her grandsons were coming to visit.

“They’re here all the time,” Max said. “Can’t you skip a day?”

“Not with my precious grandsons!” Laricka replied. She reminded everyone within earshot how children were only young once and you had to take advantage of every moment you could spend with them. “Just look at what happened to poor Ida,” she said and shook her head sadly.

Only Doctor Payne was willing to accompany Max on the trip, and even he was skeptical as to whether such a venture was worthwhile. “What is there to prove?” he asked, but Max’s answer had been just a sly nod of his head.

On the drive to South Rockdale there was very little conversation. Max drove and Doctor Payne leafed through the pages of the Today’s Dentist magazine he’d brought along.

After Max had suffered in silence for nearly two-thirds of the trip, he said, “How long’s it gonna take you to read that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Payne replied. “Is there some kind of hurry?”

“Not so much a hurry,” Max said, “but I was figuring on you giving me some kind of encouragement. Bolstering my spirits a bit.”

“Encouragement?” Payne repeated. “For what? Going on a wild goose chase and making everybody’s life miserable?”

“What wild goose chase? I’m just trying to set things straight.”

“Stop kidding yourself.” Payne looked up from his magazine. “That will’s legitimate, and you know it. You’re just too much of a pompous ass to admit it.”

“Me?” Max’s eyes grew big and round, and his nose began twitching side to side. “You’re the one! Everybody says you’re pompous. Not just me, everybody!” Max angrily floored the accelerator, and they arrived in South Rockdale forty-five minutes before their appointment with Susan Schleicher.

Up until now Payne had considered Max a principled man who could at times be difficult. But that last comment was something he couldn’t brush aside. “I’ll meet you back here in forty-five minutes,” he said and walked off. A second later he turned the corner and disappeared.

“Well, if that don’t beat all,” Max grumbled. “I figure him for a friend, and he gives me this kind of crap.” The anger inside his head swelled and pushed against his brain. It was difficult enough to think through the questions he had to ask, and Payne was making it harder. “I should never have brought him,” Max said with a groan as he paced back and forth across the lobby of the building. He thought and rethought what he should say to Susan Schleicher, but in between every thought was the echo of Payne’s words.

With not a minute to spare, Payne returned carrying two new magazines. “Let’s get this over with,” he said. Without another word passing between them, they entered the elevator.

When they walked into Susan’s office, all of the well-planned arguments Max had practiced disappeared. A red-hot ball of anger aimed at Caroline Sweetwater had replaced them. She was to blame for everything. She was the reason he’d have to pay rent to live in a house that was rightfully his. He pulled a copy of the will from his pocket and waved it in the air.

“Did you do this?” he shouted accusingly.

“Sit down,” Susan commanded. “And do not use that tone of voice with me, or I’ll have you thrown out of my office.”

Max took a seat and mumbled, “Sorry. I’m just a bit overwrought about this will.” He passed the copy to Susan.

She leafed through the pages then looked back at Max. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Wrong? Everything’s wrong. I doubt this is even a legitimate will!”

Susan’s voice grew quite a bit testier. “On what basis?”

“This girl is not Ida’s granddaughter!”

Susan chuckled and leaned back in her chair. Since Max had introduced himself only as Mister Sweetwater, she’d assumed he was the son. “Ida suspected this would happen,” she said. “That’s why she left you the thirty silver dollars.”

With his face growing redder by the minute, Max shouted, “I’m not Ida’s son! I’m Big Jim’s brother!”

“I don’t care if you’re Santa Claus,” Susan said. “One more outburst, and you’re out of here.”

Max, unaccustomed to being bossed about by a woman, came right back at her. “You can’t talk to me this way! I have rights!”

He probably would have said something more, but by then Susan had already called for security. Within the minute an armed guard appeared and took Max by the elbow.

“Let’s go,” the guard said and eased Max toward the door.

Standing behind the desk with her arms folded across her chest, Susan chided, “And for your information that will is completely valid and will stand up in court, whether Caroline Sweetwater is Ida’s granddaughter or not.”