Ethan walked in first, his suit slightly wrinkled, his face pale and drawn.

Linda followed him, wearing a black wool coat and carrying a large leather handbag.

Ryan came in last, looking at the floor, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

They were accompanied by a lawyer named Mr. Gross, a small man with a thick mustache and a frayed leather briefcase.

No one spoke as they took their seats across the table.

Linda stared at me, her chin tilted upward.

“We want this settled quickly,” Linda said, ignoring her lawyer. “We have the document. It is legal, and it is signed.”

“Let your counsel speak, Mrs. Miller,” Arthur said calmly.

Mr. Gross opened his briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

“This is a copy of the codicil executed by the late Mrs. Vance,” Mr. Gross said. “It leaves sixty percent of the estate to her son-in-law, Ethan Miller, in recognition of his care during her illness.”

He slid the paper across the table.

Arthur did not touch it.

He simply looked at it through his reading glasses.