When the boys backed off from one another, all grins and smiles, Matt reached over and offered me a brief hug. “Thank you, Matt. For everything,” I said in his ear before pulling away.
“You’re very welcome, Melissa.”
“Jackson, honey, this is Matt. He’s Chase’s brother and he’s a friend of ours.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, little guy. I’ve heard that you’re quite the sailor.”
Jackson beamed at the compliment and reached back for Chase’s hand. “I’m his first mate!”
We all laughed but the mood shifted as the breeze carried the sound away. “Well, Melissa, we can go back to my office unless you’d rather talk here.”
I nodded. “I need to make hotel arrangements. Could I use your phone on the drive?”
“Of course.”
Chase, still holding Jackson’s hand, stepped forward and set his other hand at my elbow. “Do you want me to go get you a new phone and tablet? Then I’ll meet you at the hotel. I can take Jackson with me.”
“Sure. Jackson, is that okay? You can go run some errands with Chase?”
“Can we get ice cream?”
Chase chuckled. “Sure thing, buddy. Anything you want.”
Jackson cheered and they headed off toward Chase’s truck which was still there in the lot and had Jackson’s booster seat in the back from our original departure. I watched them go and then returned my gaze to Matt. He led me across the lot and we hopped into his black SUV.
“Here’s my phone,” he said, sliding the device across the center console. “Why a hotel? The house is yours.”
I sighed. “I know. I’m just not ready to go back there.”
“I understand. Sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”
“You’re fine. I think Jackson and I will stay in a hotel for a few days and then get back to…” I stopped short, having almost said ‘our normal life’ but quickly realized there was no such thing.
“Life?” Matt suggested.
“Something like that.”
Matt fell silent as we pulled out onto the highway and I used my credit card to book online reservations on his phone. When that was done, I dared to peek at my email and saw the hundreds of messages lined up. I quickly clicked out of all that and handed Matt the phone again. “All set.”
“Good. So, where should we start?”
I gave a hollow laugh. “I have no idea.”
“Well the first thing you need to know is that the FBI investigation is still open. After everything went south with the sting, they obtained warrants to search Henry’s vehicles, homes, and offices. Those searches have all been concluded as far as I know. You might want to send a team of your staff to the house to make sure everything is in place before you arrive. I don’t know the condition it was left in following the search.”
I nodded, adding it to my mile-long to do list. “Did they find anything? Do they know what he did?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t got anyone on the inside and now that he’s…gone…I doubt we’ll ever really know. They rarely release the details of these types of investigations to the public. Although, I’m sure they’ll want to speak with you now that you’re back in town and you might be able to wheedle some information from them.”
“Okay. What about the funeral arrangements? Do you know anything?”
“I don’t. Melissa…” Matt paused to draw in a breath. “Henry never changed his will. Even with everything that’s happened in the last month, he didn’t change anything.”
I shook my head. “What does that mean?”
“Everything is yours.”
My eyes went wide. “What?”
Matt nodded and glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “The houses, the money, stocks, bonds, everything.”
I couldn’t process what he was saying. We’d been estranged for so long, I figured he’d changed his will a long time ago to cut me out in the event of his death. “Why didn’t he change it? I mean, I expected money to go to Jackson, his trust and schooling funds, but I didn’t think…”
“I know. I was surprised too. But it looks like he either never got around to it or maybe he didn’t want to admit the marriage was failing to his legal team. Or, maybe not even to himself. From what I know of him, he wasn’t a man well acquainted with failure of any kind.”
I marveled. My mind spun with figures. Most of the wealth management had been left to Henry’s advisors and consultants. I knew it was in the billions range, but not anything beyond that. The idea that it was all mine, including his thriving business, was mind-boggling.
Even more shocking was the realization that I didn’t want any part of it.
45
Melissa
Matt and I wrapped up our conversation back at his office. He recommended a friend of his who could help me get things organized and decide what to do with the now-tarnished business. A couple of hours later—I was waiting downstairs on the sidewalk in front of the Plaza for Chase and Jackson to swing by and pick me up.