1

Corrine sat at her desk at work, but she wasn’t working. She gazed out the window, but didn’t see anything. Instead she was thinking about Joe.

Joe Tyler was an old college friend, who was now the sheriff of a small town by the ocean where she had been staying for the holiday weekend. She was remembering all that went on when he re-entered her life. True, the circumstances weren’t the most pleasant, what with the “murder” and all, but he was back in her life and she intended to see that he stayed that way.

It had been only two weeks since she had seen him. She called him every evening. But it wasn’t enough for her. She wanted to see him; to be with him again. But he was over fifty miles away, too far to go after work, and her weekends got hectic with no end in sight for visiting. She was trying to figure out a way to get back there.

She sighed and looked at the time. It was later than she thought and she still had a pile of work to do. She shook herself mentally. Enough of this daydreaming. I’ll see Joe, sooner or later. I just wish it was sooner. She shook herself mentally, buckled down & got to work.

After about an hour, her phone rang. It was the floor receptionist, who said, “There’s a gentleman here to see you. He’s a lawyer and says it’s important.”

“Okay, send him in.”

She went to the door and opened it to find a tall black man outside. “Miss Alcott, my name is Henry Freeman.” He handed her a business card. “I’m representing the Collier estate. Do you have a few minutes?”

“A few minutes is probably about all I can spare. Wait a minute. Did you say the Collier estate? As in Michael Collier?”

“That’s correct. I will be reading the will as soon as his cousin, his only living relative, arrives. You are mentioned in the will and should be there.”

“You’re joking. I’m in the will?”

“It’s no joke, Miss Alcott. You are in the will.”

“ How can that be? We didn’t even like each other. Are you aware of the details surrounding his death?”

“I am. I am also aware of the kind of man he was. I have been his family’s personal attorney for many years and was persuaded to remain so after his parents’ death, against my better judgement. It seems he left no stone unturned in his efforts to irritate as many people as possible. He made changes to his will about six months before his death, putting you into it.”

“I’m stunned. I don’t know what to say. I’ll be there, of course. Where and when?”

“His cousin Thomas Collier will arrive the day after tomorrow. I’ve set it up for Friday, at 2:30 at Michael’s townhouse. The staff from the beach house are also in the will and need time to get there. Is that convenient for you?”

Corrine checked her calendar. “Yes, I can be there.” She marked it down. “Is there anything else?”

“No, that will be it until the reading.” The lawyer rose to leave.

Corrine rose to see him to the door. “Then good bye until Friday.” She held out her hand.

He shook her hand. “Good bye for now.” He walked out the door and disappeared down the hall.

She stood in her doorway, stunned. What on earth has Michael done now? Why am I in his will? He wouldn’t have left me anything, would he? Will I never be rid of him? All thoughts of Joe disappeared as she pondered this new twist in her life.

While she stood there, these thoughts running through her head, Carla came toward her. She smiled at Corrine and was going to just pass by, but the look on Corrine’s face made her stop. “Corrine, what’s happened? You look strange. Are you all right?”

“Come in here.” Corrine took Carla’s arm and pulled her into the office, closing the door. “You’re never going to believe this. The lawyer for the Collier estate was just here. He told me that I’m in Michael’s will and need to be at the reading on Friday.”

“You’re joking!” Carla looked at Corrine intently. “You’re not joking! What was in that creep’s mind? Why did he put you in the will?

“I have no idea. I’ll have to wait until Friday to find out.” Corrine went around her desk and sat down. “I wish this was some kind of bad joke, but,” she picked up the lawyer’s card and handed it to Carla, “It seems that Michael hasn’t finished with me, yet.”

Carla looked at the card. “Henry Freeman. I’ve heard of him. He’s reputed to be very good and completely honest. I wonder how he became Michael’s attorney.”

“He said he was the family attorney. But there’s too many questions. And I’ve got all this work to do. It’s going to be hard to get through the rest of the week, I can tell you.”

“I’m going to talk to Paul. Maybe he can find out some of the answers before you go.” Carla stood up. “Are you going to tell Joe?”

“I don’t see how I can keep this to myself. Maybe Joe can get some answers, also. Being a policeman, he has channels of inquiry we civilians don’t. I’ll see you later.”

Carla left, closing the door. Corrine put her head in her hands. Oh brother, what next, she thought. She ran her hands through her short, wavy hair and looked at the stack of work. She was determined to try to put this new twist in her life out of her mind until she found out what was going on and could do something about it.

Meanwhile, Carla stopped in Paul’s office. “Paul, you won’t believe what just happened to Corrine. The lawyer for the Collier estate came by and told her she’s in Michael’s will and needs to be at the reading on Friday.”

“What? You’re kidding!”

“No, I’m not. Have you heard of Henry Freeman?”

“Yes. He did some legal work for my brother, Luke. He’s good, fair and honest, according to him.”

“That’s the name on the business card Corrine showed me. So it must be true.”

“Did he tell her why or how she got into the will?”

“No. Is there any way you could find out more about this for her?”

“I doubt it. Joe Tyler would probably have more luck in that department than I would.”

“Corrine said something like that. This is weird! Just when we thought he was finally out of our lives for good, this pops up. Will it never be over?”

“Now take it easy, Carla. This has nothing to do with us.”

“Corrine’s our friend - my best friend, after you. That makes it our concern.”

“Getting all worked up won’t help her, or anyone, honey. Take a deep breath. We’ll support her whatever happens, but until Friday’s reading, there’s really nothing we can do. Don’t borrow trouble.”

Carla calmed down. “Okay, Paul. But I sure hope whatever it is, it is temporary and over quickly. Because I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen because of this.”

“You’re not the only one. If Michael’s involved, it can’t be good.”

Corrine didn’t get to talk to Joe Tyler until late that night. When he answered the phone, he sounded tired and depressed. Instantly, she forgot the events of the afternoon.

“What’s wrong, Joe?”

“There’s been a heavy fog here for over a day. This afternoon there was a bad multi vehicle accident on the highway. The highway patrol didn’t have anyone nearby, so we went out to take care of things until they could get there.”

“How bad was it? Was anyone killed?”

“No one is dead, yet. But four people were critically injured. It’s going to be touch and go for a while.”

“How did it happen?”

“Some guy in a pickup was in a hurry, and tried to pass a moving van. He ran right into a minivan.”

“What’s wrong with some people? You just can’t hurry in a fog.”

“‘Rinne?”

“Yes, Joe?”

“Two of the vehicles had kids in them.”

“Oh, no!”

“One of the kids is only 18 months. A little girl. She’s in intensive care with a severe head injury. She was properly in a safety seat, but something in the car was jolted loose and hit her in the head. Her mother suffered a broken collar bone and a concussion and is in a coma.”

Corrine remembered Joe telling her that when he was a kid, his family was in a head on collision with a drunk driver. His baby sister was killed and his father was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. She knew this was probably making him relive that awful day so long ago. She wished there was something she could do to help him.

“What can I do to help?”

“You’re doing it, letting me dump this on you. But it really exhausted me. Do you mind if we cut this short? I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep on you and all you’ll hear is my snoring.”

“You actually admit that you snore?”

Joe gave a tired chuckle. “Yeah. Amazing isn’t it?”

“Look, you go get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll talk more when you’re rested and have more information.”

“Okay, ‘Rinne. Good night.”

“Good night, Joe. Sleep well.”

She hung up the phone slowly. Now is not the time to spring my news on him. Maybe tomorrow he’ll be better able to hear about what had happened. But why is this happening? Why me? She suddenly felt very tired. She went to bed and was so exhausted, fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.