Lawyer for the Cat Read Free Page B

left a box of stuff—I didn’t go through it, but it looks like she kept notes on the cat—and those go to the caregiver.” He points to two cardboard boxes on the floor. “I’ll have it all delivered to your office.”
    â€œIt’s an interesting case, but I don’t know what you need me for. There’s a trustee, right?”
    â€œSouth State Bank, but their role is solely to manage the money. I need someone to choose the caretaker and make sure the cat’s properly cared for.”
    â€œBut this says … you’re to choose the caregiver.”
    â€œLike I told you, old Burney should have advised her against that. I’m retiring.”
    â€œI hadn’t heard that.”
    â€œJanuary first.”
    â€œBut couldn’t you—”
    â€œI’m old, I’m tired, and my wife is ill. The new associate judge, Ann Wilson … I don’t want to burden her with something like this when she’s just starting out. You know Ann?”
    â€œNot personally. She’s a good bit younger than I am.”
    â€œYou women are taking over,” he says. “Anyway, you’ll need to interview the people Lila named, then make a decision. Like I said, the statute gives me the authority to appoint a trust enforcer—that will be you—and the trust assets are quite sufficient to pay your fee.”
    â€œWhat are the assets?”
    â€œThree million, plus the plantation on Edisto—three hundred acres and the house.”
    â€œWhere did all that money come from?”
    â€œHer husband, Verner Mackay, died a while back. A moneymaking machine if there ever was one. Kept up with the stock market minute by minute. Lila was the opposite. Never did care much about money, but when she met him she was about to lose her family place—Oak Bluff—and he was rich enough to keep it up.”
    â€œYou knew her well?”
    â€œDistant cousin. She was always irrational about that old place. Should have sold it a long time ago.”
    â€œWhat happens when the cat dies?”
    â€œThe money goes to the ASPCA, the plantation property goes to her son Randall. Which reminds me—steer clear of him.”
    â€œHe’s been calling me,” I say, “but I thought I ought to talk to you first, before I call him back.”
    â€œHe’s mad as hell because he won’t get his hands on the real estate until the cat dies.”
    â€œI guess I can’t blame him.”
    â€œBut Lila was plenty generous to him when he was young, set him up in a string of businesses. All of them failed. He’s a spoiled brat, with a bad temper.”
    â€œHe’s dangerous?”
    â€œOh, I think he’s mostly talk, but he came up here the other day on a rampage, demanded to see me, went on and on about how his mother was incompetent when she arranged the trust. You go right ahead, I told him. You go hire yourself a hotshot lawyer if you want to, but I warned him that if he tries to set the trust aside on the grounds of lack of capacity, and he fails, he stands to lose the remainder—what he’s entitled to after the cat dies. Burney Haynes wasn’t the sharpest tack in the box but at least he remembered to include the standard penalty clause for contesting.”
    Now I’m feeling like the neophyte lawyer again. “I don’t understand.”
    â€œIf he contests the validity of the trust and loses, and the court finds that there’s no probable cause for his challenge, he forfeits what she left for him. Lila was eccentric, but that’s not enough to set a trust aside.”
    â€œHow did he … the son … how did he even know I was involved?”
    â€œBecause I took the liberty of informing him that I’m appointing you as trust enforcer,” he says.
    â€œBut, sir, I haven’t even agreed—”
    â€œLike I said, I’d steer clear of him. Randall’s always had