A Wedding and a Funeral Pt. 03

"So, how do you feel about her now?"

"Torn," I nudged my glasses, "she's a friend but she could become a girlfriend, but that brings its own set of problems too."

"It always made me wonder why you and her didn't," she replied, "but I get it, I've had friends in the past who could've been something else, both before I married your dad and afterwards when we were divorced. Tread carefully, think of the worst that could happen and the best, they're extremes of course but if you can't handle the worst case scenario then back off."

It was wonderful advice, I'd call it life changing. I've used it many times and little did I know it, but I'd have a chance to use that advice in the next few months.

***

Saoirse looked relaxed that Sunday when she picked me up and as we drove towards Montrose she mentioned that she'd broken the drought after breaking up with Ling.

"We met at a club in the city and I went back to her place out in Southbank."

"Southbank? She must have money."

"She does, but it was just one night. I'm not going down that route again, she's a finance manager for a building company. She's got the beautiful flat in a tower block, plenty of money and she likes to play the field. The cheeky bitch actually offered to make it a regular Friday night slot, complete with a night spent at her place, use of the communal spa and gym. I didn't know whether to laugh or slap her face. I'm twenty eight for feck's sake, not eighteen, I said thanks but no thanks."

"Why? How old is she?"

"Linda is thirty two," she slowed for the Montrose roundabout, "she doesn't look it to be honest, I thought she was younger than meself to be fair."

She told me more about Linda on the way up the mountain. One of the things she didn't like about Linda was her gambling obsession, she went to the Crown Casino two or three times a week. It had all the hallmarks of someone with a gambling problem, but she'd enjoyed the sex.

"I knew exactly what I was getting into the moment we hooked up, but I had to break the spell that Ling held over me. But that doesn't mean I'm going back to the club though, it's a meat market, a lot of lonely people looking for a one night stand."

As to where that left her now was another question.

"I'm interested in seeing women but I think from now on I want to look before I leap," she said as we sat down with coffee and Devonshire scones.

"Ling was a useful bulwark against other women who might've been good partners."

"So, why didn't you make yourself, available to them? If Ling hadn't been there that is."

Saoirse stared past me and frowned.

"Sorry, if it's painful then don't answer that."

"It is painful but there's a lot of water under the bridge," she replied.

"When I came out here, I met a woman called Carina through Annalisa. She was a year younger than me and had a steady job, a good work life balance and we seemed to click. I thought that there was a good possibility that we'd set up house together," she peered over the rim of her cup.

"We moved in together after three months and for the next eighteen months everything was perfect, perhaps too perfect," she put her cup down.

"When Annalisa told me that she'd seen Carina with another woman I didn't believe her at the time, I thought she must've been mistaken. But a few months later I came home unexpectedly and found Carina with her head between some woman's legs, I found out later on that it'd been going on for at least eight months," she frowned.

"Fuck," my eyes narrowed, "eight months?"

"Yeah, the other woman was her counsellor, she'd been getting therapy for depression and anxiety, and I was blind sided. You hear about that kind of thing all the time, but I never thought I'd live to see the day when it happened to me."

"It's also unethical," I mused, "she should have been struck off for that."

"I did consider it," she confessed, "Penny was even going to take the case pro bono but I changed my mind and left her to it, they broke up six months later but by then I was seeing Ling and the rest is history. She came crawling back, pleading with me to rescue her from this psycho, Carina was one of those obsessive types, a real dominatrix and because they'd met during therapy there was a power imbalance that she certainly exploited."

"That's what worries me about Emma. She's the more experienced one, I could see myself falling for her thinking that because we're best friends it'd work out but at the same time we're the same age and we've got our own ideas about life in general. She's supposed to go up to see Paula today to talk about something."

"Paula? Her boss?"

"Yeah, she's shitting herself because there's a possibility that there might've been a camera in the room where we got hot under the collar. She was supposed to be working but Paula told her she'd pay her for her shift even though she's not at work. It could be a way to sack her, Paula's got loads of money, her parents are worth millions and she's certainly worth a crust."

"What's her last name?"

"Petersen," I replied, "her parents live in," I stopped, "Queensland?"

"Oh, I know them, they're our clients. They get the platinum service, one of the senior partners flies up to Queensland and stays in the Hilton at their expense. They'll pay for anything, meals, drinks, even prostitutes if you want but they expect service."

"What's Paula like?"

"I don't know her that well. Another lawyer has her account but apparently she's the polar opposite of her parents, laid back and easygoing. She could've had the same lawyer as her parents at a pretty good discount, one of those once in a lifetime deals but she refused. I don't think there's much love lost between Paula and her parents," she glanced at her watch.

"Shall we make a move or do you want to stay a bit longer?"

"Let's go," I replied.

I'd ordered nine items on the 30th, two white silk polyester blouses, two black mini skirts, one had a side fastening and the other was leather with press studs all the way down the front. I also ordered a red cocktail dress, a white silk pussybow blouse with a satin diamond pattern, a striped tie blouse, and more two double-breasted blouses. One was white silk and the other had a light tan bodice and dark brown for the cuffs and collar.

"I might order one of those for myself," Saoirse picked up the brown blouse, "I like it."

"Sure thing, I'll add that to your list?"

"Please," she nodded.

I glanced at Robyn's laptop but Saoirse shook her head.

"You go, I need to use your toilet."

"Use the one at the end of the hallway," Robyn replied.

By the time she returned a few minutes later, I was halfway through my selections. The first two were blouses with mandarin collars, they were peach and white but with subtle accents, the placket and cuffs were a different shade, but they both had box pleats. I selected fawn trousers with a back fastening and a matching belt, and a white silk polyester blouse with white cuffs and collar.

"That one," I pointed to one of the double-breasted blouses, "but in black satin."

"Uh huh," Robyn wrote down the number.

"Me too," Saoirse flicked her hair out.

"Noted," Robyn flipped back to the previous page and wrote the number down again.

It took a couple of minutes to select more clothes, the first was a flared mini skirt with its own belt and a pull-through buckle, followed by two silk blouses in pink and royal blue. The pink one had a placket but the blue one came with silk-covered buttons.

"That's enough for now," I stepped back.

Saoirse ordered the same two blouses I'd chosen, a summery wraparound skirt, a white dress and a white, short-sleeved blouse.

We couldn't stay for coffee because Robyn had some work to do and Penny was having a nap, we headed back down the mountain with my new clothes. Mum was impressed with them and promptly ordered some more herself.

Over dinner that night mum showed Saoirse the letter the lawyer had sent her. It was complicated but Saoirse explained it easily.

"It's perfectly legal. Your ex husband has named the firm as the executor of the will, probably due to the possibility his widow might contest it."

"It's going to the Supreme court though," mum pointed to a line on the page.

"That's standard, they all go there, the court has to decide if the will is genuine and if so then the executor can distribute goods and monies as per the will. She can contest it of course but that means going to court and she can't use this law firm, she'd have to get her own lawyer. They can't accept her as a client, it's a conflict of interest."

"What would be her grounds for opposing it, legally?" mum asked her.

"If they can prove he wasn't of sound mind, which is hard for obvious reasons. A psychiatrist or a psychologist would have to make a judgement call, which can also be challenged in court by their psychiatrist. Some of these cases can drag out for years. We've got the Johnson verses Blake case on the books, it's been running for three and a half years with no respite."

"It's all a bit of a shock really," mum replied, "the fact that I was mentioned at all, we barely spoke to each other unless it was to do with Sandra. The last three years I sent a Christmas card but this year I had a spare men's toiletry gift bag."

"All will be revealed soon no doubt," Saoirse replied, "but if you need any advice call me, some of the legal jargon can be a bit intimidating."

Overall, it was good advice and later on I finally discovered why Paula wanted to to see Emma, she called me about eight o'clock.

"She offered me another job as a deputy manager at a bed and breakfast in Warbie. I'd get free bed and board, food is included and there's a clothing allowance. She's got an account with Robyn, so I said yes, it's almost double what I earn at the moment."

"Wow, a deputy manager?"

"Yeah, she said I was too young for the managerial role but she wanted someone open minded as a deputy."

"So, when do you start?"

"Next month at the earliest. She's still waiting for the renovators to finish work, so about four to six weeks."

"I'm proud of you, congratulations."

"Thanks," she replied, "although it's certainly shocked me though. Me, a deputy manager."

"She must see something in you, and you're always very organised or at least you were at school," I nudged my glasses.

"She said I was trustworthy, I guess that has something to do with me house sitting for her."

"And she doesn't know about what happened between us?"

"I don't know, maybe," she paused, "I said something about it being so quiet and I felt a bit nervous being here on my own and that's why I had you there, she told me it's pretty safe, she's got cameras outside and inside, and a silent alarm system. She can log into it from the other side of the world to see if anyone's been snooping around."

"She knows then," I sat up on my bed, "those cameras can be hidden anywhere."

"Do you think that's what she meant by open minded?"

"Maybe, but she hasn't mentioned it yet though."

"No," she replied, "but it makes sense. I should've realised that."

We talked a little more, mostly about the job and a bit about Roxy. There was some talk about us meeting for a coffee next week sometime but we didn't make any concrete plans.

***

The probate hearing was relatively straightforward despite my misgivings. The only people there were Hannah and the named executor. Thus, that Friday morning we went to a law firm located in Box Hill. The hearing was in a conference room, I hadn't seen Hannah since the funeral, she looked a little better physically but mentally, it was written all over her face in the form of a frown. Mum's smile wasn't returned and then a man I'd never seen before came into the room. At first I thought he was Sarah Davis-Smith's assistant because he was wearing a suit and carried a briefcase but then he was introduced as the lawyer for Marcus X. An odd sounding name but as he explained, his client wished to stay anonymous.

There were reasons, when the terms of the will were read out five minutes later. Marcus X was awarded a whopping 51%, mum got 10%, Hannah got 9% and I got 30%, and it only got uglier when Hannah demanded to know who this Marcus was. The lawyer declined to divulge much at all, only that Marcus was my father's trusted friend.

"I don't believe you," Hannah's eyes narrowed, "I was married to him and I never met Marcus, we didn't even know a Mark. I'm going to contest the will."

Sarah didn't even blink, she merely nodded. It suggested she'd expected this all along, the lawyer representing Marcus left immediately afterwards, Hannah stormed out and it was just mum, Sarah, and me left sitting there.

"What do you think is going on?" mum asked Sarah.

"I don't even know who this Marcus is," she replied, "he did have another will lodged with us, but he changed that a few weeks ago. I called him to verify it, but when I asked about Marcus, thinking he was perhaps a child from another marriage or a brother he simply said he was a friend. We filed the will and a few weeks later we were notified that he'd committed suicide."

"And suicide doesn't negate the terms and conditions?"

"No, that was the other change he made," she turned a page, "ordinarily you tick boxes for things like death by misadventure, natural causes, murder etcetera, but there's a box for other and a space to write what the other is, he wrote suicide."

Which made me wonder why Sarah hadn't notified the authorities, but I guess that's not their job or so it would seem.

"It's in the grey zone," Saoirse told me that night when I dropped in to see her, "we can and do recommend a psychiatric assessment if a client mentions suicide," she handed me a coffee.

"However, it's not mandatory, only a suggestion and a good one too, the last thing people need are years of appeals from grieving relatives fighting for the scraps from the table. But conversely, that can mean more money for the firm fighting the appeals, which ultimately means more of the estate is eventually swallowed up by lawyer's fees."

"She seemed quite polite," I replied a minute later.

"Sarah's a good lawyer, I've come up against her a few times. She's diligent, compassionate and as you mentioned, polite. She may have intended raising the matter with your father after the festive season, but then he killed himself and left everyone, including her stranded. She's duty bound to go back to court to fight again and again. Nobody called Hannah has contacted our office yet, but it's only been a few days."

"Do you think Marcus was dad's lover?"

"Most likely, yes. I'd say it's a ninety nine point nine percent probability. As to why he committed suicide rather than just leave his wife is a mystery, and that's what Hannah's lawyer will argue, that he wasn't of sound mind. Sarah should've raised a red flag the moment she read the new will, at our company it's written into the regulations, admittedly it's only a recent change. Prior to that it was all up to your discretion," she pulled a wry grin.

"I feel sorry for Hannah though, she's not only dealing with the loss of her husband but she's also just found out he was a love rat."

"There is that and all," she replied, "wills get messy when lovers emerge from the woodwork for a slice of the cake. It was one of the conditions I laid down with Ling, that I would never benefit from her estate at all but that's because I deal with the fallout at work fairly regularly. One of my clients has two lovers on the side, a woman and a man and they're both mentioned in the will. The wife is refusing to even acknowledge their existence because in her opinion her husband wasn't the type to cheat on her."

"How did he die?"

"Oh, that's the ironic part," she smiled crookedly, "he died in his boyfriend's bed after a particularly heavy session, the police charged the boyfriend because cocaine was found in the bedroom but they were forced to drop the charges after blood tests revealed the boyfriend hadn't used cocaine in the last few days. So, we're back in court next week for yet another appeal, the wife will fork out more money for legal fees and when the matter is settled she'll have less than what she started with in the first place," she raised her mug.

"Lawyers cost money."

"So, her lawyer is screwing her."

"Pretty much, it's a cut throat business. In general, lawyers are supposed to tell their clients of their chances in court, but when you add competition against other lawyers and ego then they'll deny the truth to their clients. Many of them are terrified that if they admit any weaknesses to the case that it reflects personally on them, meaning the client might ditch them and get a new lawyer," she raised the mug to her lips.

"I used to make that mistake back in Ireland when I was doing criminal law, until my mentor pulled me up about it and told me to be honest about their chances. These days I lay it all on the line, don't bullshit to people, you'll wind up with egg on your face and a bad reputation."

"I've got so much to learn."

"You'll be fine, Annalisa is a good lawyer, and you're starting your paralegal course this year aren't you?"

"Yeah, the end of February, it goes for six months."

"And best of all they're footing the bill," she smirked.

"Absolutely," I leaned back against the back of the couch, "sometimes I pinch myself because it's like something out of a dream."

"It's real enough," she shrugged.

"So, tell me? What happens with my dad's will? What's the next step or steps?"

"Marcus's lawyer will have to produce Marcus in court, the legal term is habeas corpus, which is an old Latin term that literally means produce the body. He'll be questioned about his relationship to your father, there will be an opportunity to cross examine but if the lawyer is up to his job he will have other witnesses to testify that your father was in a relationship with Marcus."

"And then?"

"Then the judge decides if the relationship is valid. It may be socially unethical to have an affair but the court isn't concerned about social ethics, it just needs proof that they were partners."

"And if it's appealed?"

"That's when they question his mental stability, which is where Sarah could be in trouble, you could argue that a sane person would've at least told his wife that there was another party, the judge might then ask why she didn't inform her client. The other lawyer might also seek to have her reviewed by an independent inquiry, which is when the big guns are rolled out but that's a long way in the future, we're talking eighteen months away or more. The court has a huge backlog."

We talked a little more about probate law in general before moving onto other topics like work and the upcoming Women Who Talk meeting the following Friday. We arranged to go in the same car, I'd come to her place and leave with her.

"It's saving the planet, one tank at a time," she opened the front door.

"Too right, so, I'll see you next week?"

"Aye, unless you want to come over on Sunday?"

"Maybe not, we'll see each other on Friday but maybe over the Australia Day holiday we can go for a coffee or a drink somewhere."

"No worries," she opened the flywire door, "my social calendar is free these days."

We stood staring outside at my car for a minute or so and then I turned and gave her a hug.

"Thank you."

"For what? The coffee? The advice? The company?"

"All of the above," I rubbed her back, "right now I feel a little less overwhelmed."

"That's the way," she replied.

We held each other for a few more seconds before letting go and she squeezed my arm.

"Have a good weekend,"

"You too, you too."

***

Australia Day is our national day, its official date is January 26th, marking the day the First Fleet landed at Botany Bay with their cargo of prisoners, soldiers and supplies. Their first notable act was a double hanging after a riot on one of the ships, not exactly an auspicious start for a new colony. It isn't just one day though, the holiday itself lasts about five days, taking a weekend into account as well. There are parades, free entertainment in the cities and towns and a lot of barbecues, but it is also a controversial holiday too.