Fatal February by Barbara Levenson

the estate so both husband and wife have equal parts of it.”
    “So, what’s the point? What does this have to dowith Lillian’s case? She wasn’t going to get any greater benefit if Gary died, was she?”
    “No, that’s not it. Don’t interrupt. You never have learned to listen,” Jonathan said.
    “I am listening. What?”
    “After Gary’s death, I got a call from a woman who wanted to know when Gary’s will would be published. I asked her who she was. She said she was one of the beneficiaries, Maddie Rodriguez. I said I had no knowledge of her being a beneficiary. She became upset. She asked, ‘aren’t you the lawyer who revised Yarmouth’s will recently.’ I told her that I couldn’t discuss my client with her, that if she had some proof that she was a beneficiary she should present it in person, and that if she intended to contest the will, she ought to obtain an attorney.”
    “Had you ever heard of her from Gary?”
    “No, but something Gary said came back to me. He repeatedly told me he wanted to be sure that Lillian and the kids were protected. I told him he was doing the right things in his estate planning. I guess I just thought that he meant protected from Uncle Sam. You know, the tax ramifications.”
    “Did you ever hear more from this Maddie person?”
    “Oh, yes. Two days after the phone call she appeared in my office demanding to see me. My secretary called me out of a meeting with clients. Thiswoman was making such a fuss that my office crew was almost ready to call the police.”
    “Did you meet with her? What was she like?”
    “I came out to the reception desk. She was screaming at Louise. You know what a good secretary Louise is, but she was having no luck shutting this banshee up. She was screaming at Louise, ‘I don’t give a fuck how busy this asshole is. He better get out here.’”
    “What did she look like?”
    “She was attractive in a cheap sort of way, long hair, tight pants, huge boobs. I led her into the back conference room and shut the door. I warned her that if she didn’t quiet down, we would call the police.
    “She said that she was sure that Gary had a provision in his will to take care of her. I asked her if she had any documents to back up her assumption. I told her that the will would become public in a few weeks and she would see for herself that she was not named in it. She called me a liar and said she’d make sure that I would be sorry for ‘fucking with her.’ She absolutely lost it. I thought she might be psychotic. I told her to get out of the office. She walked out of the conference room, and I called security. They escorted her out of the building. The whole thing was bizarre.”
    “Her name has surfaced more than once in this case. Please, this is confidential. Gary had a thing with her, and, when he was through playing, she wasn’t. He couldn’t get rid of her.”
    “Do you think Lillian knew and that’s why she killed Gary?”
    “I do not think Lillian killed Gary. I need to find Maddie Rodriguez.”
    Someone pounded on the bathroom door, and William yelled at us. “Jonathan, are you in there with Mary? How come I still get left out of the secret stuff?”
    “Middle children always suffer,” I reminded him.
    The evening went pretty well. No one argued with anyone except about politics. Carlos and my nephews watched a soccer match on TV, and Carlos taught the older ones some Spanish soccer terms. This caused Mother to comment that Carlos liked children.
    “Who doesn’t?” he said.
    Mother looked at me and said, “Some people don’t seem to.”
    Jonathan opened his presents: a hideous tie from his kids, a new briefcase from Randy, a gift certificate to a South Beach restaurant from William and his family, two tickets to a Heat basketball game from Carlos and me (Courtesy of Carlos. I was too busy to shop), and a weekend stay at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach from my parents (their way of getting the grand-kids for a