open it.”
Lizzie didn’t say anything, she just stared at the envelope. From past experience she knew that when a messenger hand-delivered something to a lawyer, it meant either impending trouble or bad trouble that was already lying on your doorstep. Obviously, Cosmo was of the same opinion.
Lizzie made a production of tossing the remains of the coffee in their cups over the railing of the deck before she refilled their cups. “Okay, Cosmo, now you can open it.”
Cosmo immediately picked up on his name change. He nodded as he pushed back the little tabs under the tape. He used the butter knife on the table to slit the heavy yellow paper of the envelope.
Lizzie waited until Cosmo had scanned the papers in his hand. “Does it concern your deceased client, the madam?”
“Yes. It’s a copy of her will and her power of attorney. Both are dated a week before she came to see me. These are the originals. I know the attorney who drew them up. Lily Flowers must have had…a premonition that things were not going to go as she planned. This, together with the paper I told you about earlier, gives me all the authority I need to go after whoever she wanted me to.” He slid the legal papers across the table for Lizzie’s observation and opinion.
Lizzie looked over the top of Cosmo’s half-moon reading glasses, which she snagged out of his shirt pocket. “Sounds to me like Lily Flowers’s car accident maybe wasn’t a car accident after all. Uh-oh, did you see this, Cosmo?”
“What? Something in her will?”
“Look at the last page, Sweetie. Stapled there is a list with the names of her girls and the amount of money she gave each one of them to clear out of town. Cell phone numbers, too. She must have been frightened out of her wits to send you all of this,” Lizzie said, rattling the papers in her hands. “I have to give her credit; she was thinking about her girls right up to the end.”
Sweetie? She’d called him Sweetie. Cosmo decided he loved being called Sweetie. Just loved it. Even his own mother had never called him Sweetie. She’d called him Honey or My Darling Boy or something like that. “I guess we have our morning’s work cut out for us.”
Lizzie peered over the tops of the borrowed glasses, her eyes full of questions.
“We have to call her girls and apprise them of their employer’s untimely death. And I need to make funeral arrangements for my client. This isn’t much of a mini-honeymoon, now, is it?”
“I’m loving every minute of it. We’re together, doing what we do best. Not to worry, Cricket, this is going to happen again and again. The next time it might be my crisis that interferes with our plans.”
Lizzie had no sooner finished speaking than her cell phone rang. It was Annie, alerting her to Bert’s imminent arrival and his plans. Cosmo watched his true love as her head bobbed up and down, agreeing to whatever was being said. He actually jumped in his chair when she snapped her cell phone shut.
Lizzie removed the glasses and handed them back to Cosmo. “This is what you need to do, and you need to do it now. Pull whatever strings you have and claim your client’s body. Have her cremated immediately. Pay off whomever you have to pay off and do it handsomely. I’ll call all the women on the list and put them on alert. I have a friend here, several, actually, who can help us if need be. Rena Gold, I told you all about her earlier, and her friend Little Fish.”
Cosmo was already through the door leading to the kitchen. He grabbed his briefcase and was almost to the front door when he turned around. Lizzie knew he was on his way back to the deck because she could feel it shaking under her chair. She held up her face for his kiss before he stomped his way back to the front door. She heard the powerful sound of an engine and knew he’d drive like a bat out of hell to do what he needed to do.
Lizzie sighed deeply as she poured fresh coffee before going into the house for
Lizzie didn’t say anything, she just stared at the envelope. From past experience she knew that when a messenger hand-delivered something to a lawyer, it meant either impending trouble or bad trouble that was already lying on your doorstep. Obviously, Cosmo was of the same opinion.
Lizzie made a production of tossing the remains of the coffee in their cups over the railing of the deck before she refilled their cups. “Okay, Cosmo, now you can open it.”
Cosmo immediately picked up on his name change. He nodded as he pushed back the little tabs under the tape. He used the butter knife on the table to slit the heavy yellow paper of the envelope.
Lizzie waited until Cosmo had scanned the papers in his hand. “Does it concern your deceased client, the madam?”
“Yes. It’s a copy of her will and her power of attorney. Both are dated a week before she came to see me. These are the originals. I know the attorney who drew them up. Lily Flowers must have had…a premonition that things were not going to go as she planned. This, together with the paper I told you about earlier, gives me all the authority I need to go after whoever she wanted me to.” He slid the legal papers across the table for Lizzie’s observation and opinion.
Lizzie looked over the top of Cosmo’s half-moon reading glasses, which she snagged out of his shirt pocket. “Sounds to me like Lily Flowers’s car accident maybe wasn’t a car accident after all. Uh-oh, did you see this, Cosmo?”
“What? Something in her will?”
“Look at the last page, Sweetie. Stapled there is a list with the names of her girls and the amount of money she gave each one of them to clear out of town. Cell phone numbers, too. She must have been frightened out of her wits to send you all of this,” Lizzie said, rattling the papers in her hands. “I have to give her credit; she was thinking about her girls right up to the end.”
Sweetie? She’d called him Sweetie. Cosmo decided he loved being called Sweetie. Just loved it. Even his own mother had never called him Sweetie. She’d called him Honey or My Darling Boy or something like that. “I guess we have our morning’s work cut out for us.”
Lizzie peered over the tops of the borrowed glasses, her eyes full of questions.
“We have to call her girls and apprise them of their employer’s untimely death. And I need to make funeral arrangements for my client. This isn’t much of a mini-honeymoon, now, is it?”
“I’m loving every minute of it. We’re together, doing what we do best. Not to worry, Cricket, this is going to happen again and again. The next time it might be my crisis that interferes with our plans.”
Lizzie had no sooner finished speaking than her cell phone rang. It was Annie, alerting her to Bert’s imminent arrival and his plans. Cosmo watched his true love as her head bobbed up and down, agreeing to whatever was being said. He actually jumped in his chair when she snapped her cell phone shut.
Lizzie removed the glasses and handed them back to Cosmo. “This is what you need to do, and you need to do it now. Pull whatever strings you have and claim your client’s body. Have her cremated immediately. Pay off whomever you have to pay off and do it handsomely. I’ll call all the women on the list and put them on alert. I have a friend here, several, actually, who can help us if need be. Rena Gold, I told you all about her earlier, and her friend Little Fish.”
Cosmo was already through the door leading to the kitchen. He grabbed his briefcase and was almost to the front door when he turned around. Lizzie knew he was on his way back to the deck because she could feel it shaking under her chair. She held up her face for his kiss before he stomped his way back to the front door. She heard the powerful sound of an engine and knew he’d drive like a bat out of hell to do what he needed to do.
Lizzie sighed deeply as she poured fresh coffee before going into the house for
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