A Good Man
Copyright© 2011 by Marc Nobbs
Chapter 30: A Meeting with the Lawyer
Emily touched my arm and said, “Catch you later, Paul.”
I nodded my understanding.
“No, it’s okay. Actually, it might be better if you hear this anyway,” Lily said. “Let’s go in here.” She opened a nearby classroom door.
“Lils, it’s break. Can’t this wait?”
“Trust me, Paul. You want to hear this. Five minutes. That’s all.”
I shrugged and followed her into the room. Emily slipped in too and closed the door behind her.
“Make it quick, Lils. I’ve got Maths next and—”
“I know, Paul. Look...” She took a deep breath. “Usually when I’ve finished my homework, I go back downstairs to make a drink. A hot chocolate. It helps me sleep. And usually, I ask my parents if they want one too—”
“Lils, what has this—”
“If you keep interrupting, this will take twice as long as it should. So shut up.”
Emily sniggered.
“The point is that last night, Daddy wasn’t in the lounge with Mum. She told me he had a visitor in his study, so I went to see if his visitor wanted a drink too, ‘cause, you know, that’s polite, right?” She didn’t wait for an answer, and I daredn’t interrupt her again. She had a head of steam. “So, anyway, the study door was open, and as I got closer, I could hear them talking. I know I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but I couldn’t help it. It’s not like they were whispering or anything. And then I heard Daddy say that Chrissy had been on to him about ‘maintaining the trust’ or something. Christine is Clarissa’s mum’s name, isn’t it? And Chrissy would be short for Christine?”
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s her mum.”
“They were talking about Clarissa’s inheritance, weren’t they? That’s what a trust is? I’m sure I’ve heard Daddy talking about trusts before.”
I nodded. “If someone under eighteen inherits some money, then it can be kept in a trust until they are old enough.”
“How do you know that?” Emily said.
I turned to look at her. “I had one. Long story.”
“I look forward to hearing it.”
“Anyway,” Lily said, “the other man said that Christine had spoken to him about it, too. I don’t know who he was, but he sounded like a lawyer or something because Daddy asked him what the situation was, and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
“He said that two of the three ... Oh, what did he say? Trusters, or something. Does that sound right? I’m sure that’s the word he used.”
“Trustees,” I said. “That’s the people who look after the money for the child.”
“Right. Well, the other man said two of them had to agree to make it happen. Then Daddy said he didn’t see any reason to delay, and the other guy said he didn’t either. Daddy then said, that’s that then, and they’ll sign everything over when she turns eighteen, regardless of what Chrissy says.”
My eyes got wider with each word out of Lily’s mouth.
“What was the lawyer’s name?” I said. “Did you hear his name?”
She shook her head. “No, sorry. I’ve never seen him before, either.”
“So, you saw him? What did he look like?”
She shrugged. “Tall. Bald. Old. Well, about the same age as Daddy, I guess.”
“It’s Will. I know it is.” I looked at Emily. “He as good as told me he represented the trust.”
“Who’s Will?” Emily asked. “And when did he tell you that?”
I shook my head. “It’s not important.”
I took my phone from my pocket and picked out Will’s number from the address book. He answered within five rings.
“Paul? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Look, sorry to call you at work, Will, but this is important.”
“Fire away.”
“It’s true you’re one of the trustees of Clarissa’s inheritance, isn’t it?”
“Paul, you know I can’t—”
“Is it true that there are three trustees and that two of them have to agree in order to postpone signing everything over to her?”
“How did you—? Look, I told you I can’t—”
“This is important, Will!” I took a deep breath to compose myself. Losing my temper with Will wouldn’t help. He was just doing his job. “Look, do you know what Clarissa’s mum is making her do? Do you know why? You can put a stop to it. You can give her back her life. You can let us be together again.”
“Paul, I don’t understand. I thought the two of you had split up.”
“Exactly! We split up because her mum threatened to withhold all her money unless we did.”
“I see.” He paused, then said, “Can you meet me after school? Both of you? It’s Clarissa I really need to see, but ... Say, four at your house?”
“We’ll be there. Thanks, Will.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Not until Clarissa has heard what I have to say. I’ll see you at four.”
Will’s car was parked on the road outside my house when I arrived. He was in the lounge talking with Vicky, and they both looked up when I entered. Vicky touched his arm and said, “Thanks for the advice, Will.”
“Don’t make any decisions yet, Victoria. Like I said, this isn’t my field of expertise. But I’ll put you in touch with my colleague, Jeremy. He’s the man to speak to about it.”
She nodded. “Tell him I’m waiting for his call.” She stood. “I’d better go and get ready for work.”
“Where’s Clarissa?” Will asked after Vicky had left.
“She’s on her way. I hope. It’s Emily’s job to get her here.”
“Emily?”
“A friend.”
He nodded. “Paul, you know I can’t discuss anything with you unless Clarissa’s here. And then only if she asks you to stay in the room. If she wants you to leave, that’s her right.”
“I know. But she’ll want me here. I know she will. Can I get you a drink while we’re—” The doorbell rang before I could finish the offer. “That’ll be her.”
She threw herself into my arms when I opened the door, clutching me so tightly I could hardly breathe. Then she kissed me with all the seismic passion we shared, leaving me gasping for air when we had finished.
“Hi,” she said with a goofy smile. “I’ve been waiting to do that since Christmas.”
I returned her goofy smile with interest.
“So, what’s this all about? Ems wouldn’t tell me, but when I told her I couldn’t risk Mum finding out, she said that after I’d heard what you had to say, it wouldn’t matter if Mum found out or not. I told her to stop being so damn cryptic and just tell me, but she just smiled at me and said it would be better coming from you.”
I grinned and said, “What a bitch, huh?”
Clarissa laughed. “Yeah, total bitch. I hate her. So, are you going to hold out on me, too? Or did you get me around here on false pretences so you could take advantage of me?”
“Come with me.” I held out my hand.
“You are taking me upstairs to take—” I leaned in and kissed her.
“Maybe later. But for now, your lawyer has some questions to answer. And you need to hear the answers.”
“Lawyer? Do you mean Mr Brown? He’s here?”
I nodded. “In the living room. Come on.”
I led her into the lounge, and after she and Will had exchanged greetings, she sat and said, “Now are you going to tell me what this is all about, Paul?”
“You mean you haven’t told her?” Will said with a frown.
“Not yet. I haven’t had the chance.” I turned to Clarissa. “Lily told me something interesting today. A conversation she overheard between her dad—” I glanced across the room. “And Will.” I quickly recounted the story, adding at the end that Will shouldn’t be upset with Lily.
“We should have been more careful about who was listening, although, to be fair, I didn’t expect we would be overhead.” He shrugged.
“Is it true?” Clarissa asked. “You and Mr Williams are both trustees, and Mum’s been trying to persuade you to withhold my money?”
Will sighed and then sat back in his chair. “I can ask Paul to leave before I start if you want. Client privilege still holds even if this is his house.”
“Paul stays.” She sat stiffly. She looked and sounded more like the ‘Ice Princess’ some people thought of her than I’d ever seen.
“Fair enough.” He paused. “I guess you could say this starts back when the four of us were at Oxford together.”
“Four of you?” Her demeanour softened. But only slightly.
“Me, Pete Williams, your Father Andy...” He paused. Then looked at me. “And Ben.”
“Ben?” I said. “You can’t mean...?”
He nodded.
“Ben who?” Clarissa asked.
“Ben Robertson,” Will said quietly. “Paul’s father.”
Clarissa looked at me. She’d been holding my hand since we sat down, and now squeezed it tightly. “Did you know they were at university together?”
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