Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70566 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
We turned the corner and crossed the street, and we were there.
Denver walked through the metal detector and set it off, but the guard waved him through.
Jedidiah did the same but didn’t slow down to show he’d heard it go off.
I, however, was the only one who didn’t set it off.
Then we were moving again, heading for the single courtroom that Jesper County had to offer.
And even better, it was shared between three towns that also had to utilize it.
It’d likely been getting a lot of use lately with all the arrests made with the dog fighting ring, my case, and Denver’s case that was coming up tomorrow for a custody hearing.
The doors were open, and the judge was already sitting, going through his notes.
My mom was, however, late.
Her lawyer sat there tapping at her desk with a pen and did a double-take when she saw me.
Yes, I knew I looked just like my mother.
Which was so very unfortunate.
The judge looked up, noted my mother still missing as we took our seats, and sat back in his chair.
“Mrs. Montgomery, where is your client?”
Mrs. Montgomery bit her lip. “On her way, sir. She’s running late. Traffic.”
Denver snorted.
She was full of shit.
There was never any traffic in our small town unless they had a parade or shut down the streets for Summerfest. Which was actually in a week, but the roads weren’t affected yet.
The doors were slammed open moments later, and I heard my mother’s telltale “click-click” of her heels racing toward us.
I remembered when I was younger hearing that sound.
It always meant I was about to get the fire beat out of me for some imaginary slight I’d inadvertently caused her.
She walked right past us, waved at the judge, and did a fucking curtsy.
The judge didn’t seem impressed, thank God.
My mother’s lawyer hissed under her breath at her, and she sat.
“Sorry I’m late, sir,” my mother cooed. “Traffic was a beast.”
The judge didn’t say anything, just leaned forward in his chair and said, “Let’s get started. Mrs. Montgomery. You first.”
“My client has shared an alternate will that she thinks should be counted over the one that was redone just last year,” the lawyer said. “This is the will that’s been updated every year since her and her husband were married. It’s always been stated that anything comes to her after Mr. Cain’s passing.”
“Was this will filed with a lawyer?” the judge asked.
“It was resigned yearly with a lawyer outside of Hollywood, yes,” Mrs. Montgomery said.
“What was the date of the filing for the last will you’re aware of?”
Mrs. Montgomery read off the date.
“The new will that you have on file, Jedidiah?” the judge asked.
“It’s dated one month after that one,” Jedidiah answered.
“And was there any cause to think that Mr. Cain wasn’t in his right mind at the time of the filing of this new will?” the judge continued.
“No, sir, Your Honor,” Jedidiah answered. “I spoke with his lawyer, and he’s given a sworn statement that he was of sound mind and body at the time.”
“And would a man of sound mind and body just go and kill himself?” my mother asked.
My head whipped around as shock, anger and defiance powered through me.
She was an asshole, of course. But acting like the man had killed himself while under oath? That was a new low.
“From the records we have, ma’am,” Jedidiah drawled, “he was killed in a home invasion.”
Denver had tensed so completely next to me that I was now worried.
He was absolutely rigid.
“And what makes you say that he killed himself, Mrs. Cain?” the judge asked the question that was practically burning on the tip of my tongue. “And let me clarify, you were married to Cantrell Cain at the time of his death, correct?”
Another touchy subject.
Mom had fought Dad tooth and nail through the years as he’d tried to obtain a divorce.
In the end, Dad was too sick to keep trying.
That, and too poor.
Mom had thought it would look bad for her career if she had a divorce under her belt, so she’d stayed married. Despite Dad fighting not to be.
“Yes, Your Honor. Which was why I know why he killed himself. We talked quite a bit on the phone in the end. He called and told me he was going to do it. And that I needed to watch out for our daughter.” She snorted. “As if I haven’t been doing that.”
The absolute nerve on this woman.
Her scoff had my eyes narrowing.
Jedidiah leaned back in his chair and said, “But have you?”
My mother turned to look at him. “What do you mean, have I?”
“From what I was able to collect,” he said, “you have over a million and a half dollars that you owe in back child support.”
My mother’s face went pink. “That’s a lie.”
Actually, it wasn’t.
Every once in a while after she left, Mom would get a good-paying job, and the state would take some money out of her paycheck in back child support. But most of the time, she didn’t have a job that they could do that with.