Five Years a Fool, A Lifetime Apart novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Codicil
The old man walked down the length of the table and set his briefcase in front of Margo.
"Fifteen years," he said. "I wondered whether anyone would ever ask me."
Lorna stood up.
"Who let this man in?"
"I let myself in, Mrs. Dunning. I was your late husband's lawyer for thirty-one years."
"You retired."
"I did, and I took the original files with me."
He clicked the latches.
"The sheet you passed around this table is the first two pages of the will."
He took a stapled bundle from the case and held up the last page.
"This is the third. It is a codicil, dated three weeks before he died."
Lorna's voice came out low and flat.
"There is no codicil."
"There is, and I mailed you a copy by registered post at the time. You sent it back unopened with a note telling me to destroy it."
He turned to the board.
"I did not destroy it. I am not in the habit of destroying a dying man's wishes."
A silence went along the table.
Lorna's hand moved to her pearl earring and stopped.
"This is a stunt," she said. "Margo bought him."
"Mrs. Dunning, I was your guest at your husband's funeral lunch. You did not offer me a chair."
The uncle held out his hand.
"May I?"
The lawyer gave him the page.
The uncle read it slowly, his lips moving.
Then he took off his glasses.
"I signed this," he said. "I was his witness. He asked me not to tell anyone until the day Margo turned thirty, and then I was sick, and then I thought it was done."
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