Page 54 of Justice & Liberty

Hex rolled her eyes, but agreed with her sister that she’d prefer to stay home, and I let them back into the house before setting off for the coffee shop.

The coffee shop was open and booming with business, and frankly, it seemed to have more life than usual. Not that I’d ever tell Sabrina that, but I also remembered one time when she’d suggested to her grandfather that they play some quiet music in the background, and he’d threatened to sell the shop instead of letting her “ruin it.”

On this particular morning, they were playing swing music over the speakers, and it wasn’t even quiet or in the background. There wasn’t a single annoyed-looking customer, though.

No, if anything, people were smiling whom I wouldn’t have expected that from. Ed Kelley. Helen Potter.

Hell, Walter was smiling.

It was a little less of a smile than the others, but hisgirlfriend was in jail, so that made sense. When I walked in, he smiled and called back behind himself, “Flat white and a pain au chocolat for Jaycie.”

Aww, he remembered.

“Hey hey, J,” Rita said from her place at the espresso machine. “Want that heated up?”

“Only if you’ve got the time. This place is hopping.”

She grinned in return and did a little dance. “Well who wouldn’t want to be at the best coffee shop in Iowa? Walter said that when she gets back, Sabrina is going to redecorate. That she always wanted to do the place up in tropical colors, but the old bastard wouldn’t let her. Well we don’t do ‘won’t let her’ anymore. Do we, Walter?”

“We do not,” he agreed. “And never again. Nobody in a healthy relationship ‘lets’ anyone do anything, they only decide if they can live with it or not.” He said the words like he was quoting from a textbook he didn’t entirely understand, but also, his face and voice were utterly earnest, so I found myself unexpectedly charmed. Especially since I was sure he hadn’t been the one standing between Sabrina and changing the coffee shop around.

Rita reached out and pulled him in for a little side hug, beaming at him. “See?” she told me, as though we’d had extensive conversations on the topic. “He can be taught. Best kind of man, that.”

Sitting at the small table near the front counter, Ed Kelley nodded to him. “Best way to live your life, young man. Listen to what the lady says. Life’s always better when the people around you are happy.”

I blinked at him, stunned for a moment. This was the man who’d held purple hair against me for over a decade?

This couldn’t be reality.

But then...I glanced around, gauging the business of theshop—no line—and deciding they could probably spare a moment. “Hey Rita, how are you with legalese?”

She scrunched her nose. “Not...great, but I can try if you need something parsed. Why, what’s up?”

I looked to Walter, and he smiled and waved both of us off. So Rita came over to sit with me, and I pulled the documents out of their envelope again. “There’s something in here that’s going to get Sabrina off. Don’t ask how. I don’t know. I just know this is important.”

So I handed her the bottom document, and I started reading Mom’s will.

The will was...well, it was as I expected. She’d left me everything, and specifically named most of it. House and business, but also, bank accounts that were specified, along with the amounts that should be in them, which was...well, I’d been worrying about my dwindling savings, but if I had that money, I’d be just fine.

The car, the cats, a safety deposit box at the local bank...there was just so much stuff. A lifetime worth of it.

By the time I hit the second page I was crying like a baby, even as impersonal as it all was, written there in computer font in black and white.

“Son of a bitch,” Rita said, and when I glanced up she looked...disgusted? “This lying son of a—you didn’t sign any of this, did you?”

“I...no. I told him I’d have to read it first. Why?”

“Smart girl,” she assured me, reaching over to pat my shoulder. She dropped the paper down and pointed at a line. “He’s trying to charge you for ‘back owed fees,’ but he never says how much they are or what they’re for. Never says who owes him, but real carefully doesn’t say your mom owed him squat. It’s all bullshit. Smoke and mirrors.”

Back owed fees?

Slowly, I nodded. “He did mention me needing to paywith a check. Said his office didn’t take credit cards. Seemed ridiculous to me.”

She looked back up at me, shaking her head. “No, honey. He’s not asking for money. Right here, it says you’re forfeiting ‘the business, building, and land it is located on’ in lieu of paying the fees.”

I blinked, staring in absolute astonishment. “That’s...that’s got to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much could Mom have possibly owed him?”

“Did he defend her on a murder charge?” Walter asked, coming over and looking at the papers. “Because he told me he doesn’t do that. Said I needed to find someone in Iowa City.”

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