Playing the Game Read Free Page A

guillotine.
    Roxanne didn’t know what the assembled friends and relatives were more eager to hear—the reading of the will or her dressing down at the hands of her mother-in-law.
    At last the attorney began and Penelope took her seat next to Roxanne. “Relatives and friends, we are gathered to hear the last will and testament of the late Donald P. Boswell III. As you all know, the execution of the conditions of this will are pending the completion of the police investigation of Donald’s death and any implications of the results therein.” Dillon looked directly at Roxanne. She felt heat rise in her and struggled to maintain her placid stare. She scolded herself to shore up her mental armor. That was only the first shot; the battle hadn’t even started.
    “Very well then, being of sound mind…” The attorney droned on that way, inserting neither comments nor emotion into the legal jargon of the document. The speech was punctuated only by the appropriately subdued reaction of each benefactor as they were named. Until he stopped altogether and asked those already named to leave. The servants, the cousins, the few friends, all left, confused in their mumblings as they went out the door. Another man from the lawyer’s office ushered the last of them out and closed the door behind them.
    The only people left in the room other than Roxanne were Penelope’s people. There was Penelope, Penelope’s daughter Jane, her sister Louise and her husband, and her late husband’s brother, Donald’s uncle Jerome. They sat silently, waiting. Roxanne had never been to a will reading. She had no idea what to expect, but this seemed odd to her. That only added to her growing discomfort.
    “It was Donald’s wish that this part of the will where he bequeaths the bulk of the family fortune, left to him by his father, be read in semi-privacy.” The man looked down at the papers and then up again. “Donald came to me several months ago to alter the will that had been drawn up just prior to his marriage to Ms. Roxanne Monet. As all of you were familiar with the contents of the will at that time, let me point out the major difference.” He stopped again and Roxanne could feel cold stares in her direction. She heard the other members of their small party shifted in their seats. Roxanne stared ahead and dared not guess what Donald had done to the will. His mother had insisted that Donald have a prenuptial agreement before marrying Roxanne, and had dictated the terms of the previous will. Roxanne cooperated without a fuss, relieved at the time that she couldn’t rightly be accused of being completely mercenary. Of course she was so accused, nevertheless.
    Now she didn’t move. She held her chin up and forced thought from her mind by trying to concentrate on the brick in the fireplace directly above the attorney’s head.
    But she thought of Donald instead. He’d been an adoring husband and she wanted that, needed it at first. But she couldn’t give him the same in return. He deserved so much better than she could give him and now he would never have it. She bowed her head and blinked her eyes. There would be no escaping the guilty mistake of her marriage now. She instinctively put a hand over her eyes. There were no tears, only that twisting knife feeling in her gut. But crying wouldn’t do any good. There was nothing she could do for him anymore. Donald was dead.
    She steeled herself.
    The attorney cleared his throat. “Whereas in the prior will, Ms. Roxanne Monet was to be bequeathed nothing, it has been amended. Ms. Monet is now bequeathed all remaining cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, and other material items such that were in the deceased’s possession at the time of his death. In other words, the remainder of the estate in its entirety goes to Roxanne Monet.”
    “NO! This can’t be!” Penelope bolted up out of her seat and stood in front of Roxanne. Murmurs of shock ran through the small group. Roxanne’s heart must have