Read Online Fall Guy by Carol Lea Benjamin - Free Book Online Page A

O’Fallon’s attorney, Melanie Houseman. She said she’d get started on the paperwork, the letter of testamentary that would give me the power to function legally on O’Fallon’s behalf, and the death certificate. She asked me to collect and messenger her the bank statements, the lease and any other legal documents I might find.
    â€œI’m sorry to hear this,” she said. “He seemed like an awfully nice man.”
    â€œI didn’t really know him,” I told her.
    â€œIs that so?”
    â€œI thought it was odd, his choosing me this way, without even asking. I wonder, did he say anything to you about it, when he gave you my name? Did he happen to say why he’d chosen me to do this for him?”
    â€œHe told me his mother had died. She had been the designated executor of the previous will. So naturally he had to make a change. I told him it didn’t have to be done in such a hurry and he said that was true, he understood that, but if I didn’tmind, he’d appreciate making the changes and signing the new will all in one visit. I figured he was busy and he wanted to get it done, get it off his mind. A lot of the officers are like that, they want something and they want it done immediately. Like lawyers. Now that everything’s computerized, I was able to do that for him.”
    â€œYou said a lot of the officers?”
    â€œMy father was a lawyer. His brother was a cop. This started way back when. Before we were Houseman and Houseman, we were Houseman, Riley, Friedkin. For anything personal, not Department business, of course, a lot of the men would come to us. They still do, even more than years ago.”
    â€œI guess you give them what they want.”
    â€œMostly, it’s speed. That, and good advice. What Tim asked for, same day service, it’s not all that unusual.”
    â€œWere there many changes in the new will?”
    â€œWell, the executor, from his mother, Kathleen, to you. And the beneficiary was changed from Kathleen to his sister Mary Margaret. That’s all. Nothing fancy.”
    â€œAnd he didn’t say anything about why he wasn’t making Mary Margaret his executor?”
    â€œNo. Well, yes, he did. He said that you would know…let me think…he said that you would know what he wanted.”
    â€œDamn. What does that mean?”
    â€œI guess whatever’s spelled out in the will.”
    â€œWouldn’t his sister have known what he wanted in that case?”
    â€œI suppose. He must have had his reasons.”
    â€œSo I’ve been told. That’s what one of the detectives said.”
    â€œYou know, Rachel, had he told me he hardly knew you, I would have strongly advised against this. But he didn’t tell me. I didn’t have a clue. In fact, that wording was his, the part that says, ‘my dear friend.’ I guess it’s a cop thing. They’re not very talkative, not to civilians, anyway. Not even to their own lawyers.”
    Guys, I thought, not just cops. Someone gets the message through to them before they’re toilet-trained: stiff upper lip, don’t complain, don’t explain, the whole John Wayne thing.
    â€œYou’re not required to accept this burden, Rachel. It’s an awful lot of work. Of course, if you do take it on, you’ll be paid for your time and effort. You do know that, don’t you? I only ask because an awful lot of people don’t, and because Detective O’Fallon never discussed this with you.”
    â€œNo, I had no idea.”
    â€œThe executor receives a percent of the value of the estate.”
    â€œThe only other estate I dealt with was my mother’s, and my sister and I were the beneficiaries, so that wasn’t an issue. I don’t feel right about this, that part of Mary Margaret’s money will go to me.”
    â€œOh, don’t worry about that. You’ll earn it. And it’s what Detective