Ethan came first.
He was wearing his charcoal suit. The one he wore to real estate closings and important client meetings. A crisp white shirt. A navy tie. He’d gotten a haircut sometime in the last two days. Two days after my father died, my husband found time to get a haircut.
Marjorie came in behind him. Navy blue dress. A fresh blowout. The pearls. The gold bracelet. And under her arm, a leather portfolio with a gold zipper that she clearly believed made her look official.
Dean came in last. Rumpled khakis. A wrinkled blue shirt. He hadn’t shaved. He had the hollow, haunted eyes of a man whose restaurant had missed another payment, and who knew it, and who hadn’t slept.
And then, to my surprise, a fourth person walked in.
A woman I’d never seen before. Mid-fifties. Gray pantsuit. Sensible shoes. A black leather briefcase.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
Martin was standing beside me, straightening his bow tie in the reflection of the glass. Burgundy, with little gold anchors. It was a Friday.
“Ms. Carol Pruitt,” he said. “Of Pruitt & Lowe, in Poughkeepsie. Mrs. Whitaker’s attorney.”
I stared at him.
“Marjorie hired a lawyer?”
“She called me last night at home. Ms. Pruitt, that is. She was most insistent on attending.”
“To do what?”
“To protect her client’s interests.”
“What interests? Marjorie’s not in Dad’s will. She barely knew him.”
Martin’s mouth twitched. Just slightly. At the very corner.
“That,” he said, “is rather the point.”
He picked up a thick manila folder from his desk and tucked it under his arm.
“Are you ready, Lydia?”
I looked down at the gray flip phone in my hand. The smear of grease shaped like my father’s thumb.
“No,” I said.
“Good,” said Martin. “Nobody ever is. Let’s go.”
Adrian Hawthorne is a celebrated author and dedicated archivist who finds inspiration in the hidden stories of the past. Educated at Oxford, he now works at the National Archives, where preserving history fuels his evocative writing. Balancing archival precision with creative storytelling, Adrian founded the Hawthorne Institute of Literary Arts to mentor emerging writers and honor the timeless art of narrative.