Meeting the Johnsons

Thad would be staying with Nick and Jeff on this trip to New York; his brother's home was in disarray, as he and Michelle were in the throes of moving to a larger apartment, which was closer to his work and the same distance from the Spotlight Diner as their current home. It would have a third bedroom, which would allow them to have guests without evicting little Thad from his room, or having to sleep on the sofa bed themselves. On his arrival, Thad received a warm welcome from little Wes, and then he had the opportunity to talk to Jeff about how he was feeling about the death of Seth, knowing it had affected him quite a bit. He had also been asked to do so by Nick, who was concerned that his husband was feeling guilty about Seth's early demise, thinking that the events of Easter had contributed to it all…

To that end, the Head Warbler had brought with him a copy of the official medical report written by Hayden McLeod, and confirmed by his own brother. He handed it over to Jeff, and the blond read it whilst Thad kept Wes entertained, and once he put it down, he was ready to deal with the inevitable questions. However, to his surprise, Jeff did not seem to have any.

"I kind of understand it all better now, and I guess that what happened was going to take place anyway sometime… We did our best to keep him alive and gave him the best care that we possibly could, and that is all that we could have done when it all comes down to it…"

Thad nodded, and was about to respond when his phone began to ring. He saw that it was Aaron Carmichael, and he answered it. He let the older man speak, and Jeff watch with interest as Thad's eyebrows raised, and then a frown appeared on his face. When he ended the call, he shook his head sadly, then sighed. "Well, well, it appears that these lovely people that refer to themselves as Seth's loving parents are much worse than we thought. It seems that they are up there in the parent stakes with a certain Jonathan Anderson…"

"You mean…" began Jeff.

"Yes, blondie, I do. It isn't 100% definite yet, but it certainly appears that they forged Seth's grandmother's will…"

Jeff sighed, and shook his head sadly. "Doing something like that to your own children is awful, all so that they could line their own pockets! What is worse is that having seen them, it does not surprise me in the least. I sometimes wonder if all of the Warblers turned out to be such kind, well-balanced and generous people because, with a few exceptions, so many of us have had issues with our parents, to the extent that some robbed us and many rejected us!"

Thad pondered that, thinking as he did so about his own year at Dalton; in his case, David, Beats and Drew had all had good parents, and Ethan's had just been distant. Flint's mother was a nightmare, it was true, but in his year at least, it had only really been him that had been cursed. "I would not go so far as to say a majority of us had those issues, but yes, we do seem to have been given more than our fair share of awful parents. What makes their actions worse is that it wasn't just Seth, or even their own children, it was the whole family. They even took a percentage of the cash that was destined for their own children; the house was supposed to go to her brother, and there was property here in New York that was set aside for Matthew's mother, from what I have been told. The question is what happens now? If it can be proved that Seth's grandmother was deceived and tricked into signing the new will, or that the signature on the new will is a forgery, then the old will would come back into play, and even Seth's two siblings would be entitled to a payout. As the executor of Seth's estate, Mrs Carmichael can make the challenge, but as yet she does not know that the legality of the will is questionable. Something tells me though that the minute she does find that out, she will be more than happy to contest it!"

"I agree; if there is one thing that she cannot abide in any form, it is dishonesty! I suppose the other question now is this; do we tell Matthew tomorrow?" asked Jeff.

"That is something I actually want to ask your husband about, and possibly Grace too, just to get a legal standpoint. Also, if I was going to raise the issue with him, then I would like a copy of the original will to show him as proof that what I am saying is true. Something in black and white is always an excellent trigger. In an ideal world, we need a copy of the other will as well, so we can compare the signatures. Of course, there could also be a role for Matthew's mother in all of this. Having met the lady more than her son, she might be a little more familiar with her penmanship and the signature she used."

At that point, Nick arrived home, and after greeting everyone, Jeff went to make the final touches to their evening meal, whilst Nick took Thad into his study, so that they could discuss the issue in private. In the end, Nick made a call to his sister to get the most up to date standpoint, as he was not as familiar with family law these days. She also had experience in challenging wills of course; she had challenged Gordon Clarington's which had given them the house they were sitting in. She sat quietly and listened as Thad told her all he knew, and then, after a pause for thought, she responded.

"Obviously the case would be much easier to prove if there was physical evidence to back up all that has been said, or it could be dismissed as hearsay by the couple's lawyers, and even end up with charges of libel. Then there is the very real risk that it would be seen as a case of sour grapes between the two lawyers, the original one angered at losing a valuable account and hitting back at their successor. To have any hope of getting a result, you will need to trace the witnesses to the second will. Having said that, should we not be able to, that might also work out well, as if there is no trace then how do we know that they ever existed? The other factor is the length of time that has elapsed since the lady in question passed away. It has been over a decade, and that could also have an impact. I am not saying that it could not be won; far from it, and if there was a paper trail then I would be happy to take it on as a case for you, free of charge. It would also help if you got as many of the other original beneficiaries onside too. I doubt that his siblings would go against their parents, but if you could get his uncle, aunt and cousins involved, it would have more weight. They all missed out after all…"

Thad nodded, and realised that Grace was correct. He might well have to mention it to Matthew when he came to dinner the next day. In some ways, it was a pity that Beats had not extended the invitation to his mother and sister too…and then he realise that it might not be too late to do that, even now…

After dinner, Thad headed along the street to see Beats, and made the request about extending the invitation to the two other members of Matthew's family. Not querying the reason why for a moment, Beats called Matthew and extended the invitation. In a few minutes, there was an extra guest at the table, as his mother was free, and would be happy to come. Beats then passed on the information to Elliott, who was actually quite happy to have an extra person, as it would even up the numbers at the table to a nice round ten. She would be the only woman at the table, and Dante would be downstairs with Ty, looking after Evie and little Wes…

Elliott had prepared a menu that catered for everyone's tastes, and he even had an emergency vegan dish on standby, as his husband had forgotten to ask if Matthew or indeed his mother were of that persuasion. He would spend most of the following day preparing the food, knowing now how Nick had to feel when the whole group of Warblers descended upon him. The latter had offered to help Elliott with the prep, but he had declined. As he cooked, Beats cleaned the house, tidying things up to a higher standard than usual, then had set the table properly too.

He had decided to sit Mrs Johnson between Thad and Nick, who could be counted upon to keep the conversation going, and be the most polite and polished. Thad had offered to sit beside her, and although Beats suspected that there might be an ulterior motive there, he had not asked what it was. As the appointed time approached, Beats changed into a suit and tie, and was thus looking at his best when his guests began to arrive. It was no shock that Flint would be the first, armed with dozens of new pictures of his daughter. Ethan arrived a few minutes behind him, Drew running just a little late. He would arrive with Nick, Jeff and Thad, with the former two having dropped off little Wes on the way up. Now all that they could do was wait on the arrival of Matthew and his mother…

The two guests would arrive in a cab from uptown, something that his mother had insisted upon. Matthew could tell that his mother was pleasantly surprised by the venue for the meeting with some of the close friends of the nephew that she had not even known existed just a few days ago. The cab driver had dropped them off at the end of the street at her insistence, and they walked the last little bit along a quiet street in which the houses were well kept and neat. The first place they passed of course was the little apartment which had once belonged to Seth; Matthew was able to work that out from the ramped access and the easy access gate and he paused a moment to look down at the sympathetically converted home.

His mother stopped too, and wondered at first what her son was looking at, and then she realised. Looking around, she said frankly, "A conversion like that would not have been cheap to do. If they did do this specifically for him, as you told me, then these friends of his really did care for him, and that is good to know, given that his parents did not."

"I just wish that we had known about him and the situation before he passed away," her son replied sadly. "I promise you here and now that if I ever do something that society would not approve of, then I will publicly admit the error, regardless of what other people might think. It's not that I intend to do anything like that, but still…"

His mother nodded in agreement, understanding his sentiment, then glanced at her watch. "Unless you wish to be fashionably late, we had best get going," she said, and then smiled as her son took her arm, and carried on down the street. The next house seemed empty, apart from a cat in the window that seemed to study them; the one after was occupied, and there was music playing quietly enough inside. Then they were at the steps to their destination, and they headed up, Matthew ringing the bell for Beats' flat, and hoping that everything went well that night…

Ten minutes later he found himself in a room full of people that he knew could easily become his friends. Beats had introduced the two of them first to his husband, and then had moved on to Flint. The Warbler had just stared at them both for a moment, then had apologised. "You will need to forgive me; I am a little sleep deprived at the moment, as my daughter is just two weeks old… also, your face; I see elements of Seth in it so clearly…"

Mrs Johnson looked confused at that until Beats produced a group photo of the Warblers, and pointed out Seth. She gasped herself as she saw the little similarities between the man in the photograph and her son…

Then it was on into the living room to meet the others; Thad first, who was dapper politeness itself, as ever; Nick, whose UN credentials had earned him an approving smile from Mrs Johnson, and then he had introduced his husband, and her smiled had widened even more. The blond Warbler had ended up blushing, as he always did, when she started to talk about his work, and how much she loved that first famous drawing of Wes with his outstretched wings and gavel…

Drew felt like a slight anti-climax when he was introduced next, and that feeling didn't diminish when she was introduced to Ethan. She was silent for a moment, then she smiled, and said, "You are the chairman of the Mackenzie Trust; you gave us money last year for the 9/11 Memorial Fund." Ethan nodded, and Mrs Johnson smiled widely at them all. "Well, all I can say is that my nephew certainly moved in exalted circles!"

Matthew coloured at that, a little taken aback by his mother's frankness, but Thad just laughed, and replied, "We haven't done too badly as a generation, that much I will grant you! Missing from the room tonight are Sebastian Smythe, as he is on stage right now in what will be his final Broadway show for the time being, and Trent Nixon, one of the senior speechwriters for the President…."

It was Matthew's turn to laugh then as his mother's mouth dropped open in surprise and awe. At that moment, Elliott appeared to say that dinner was ready, and they all headed to the table to continue the conversation as they ate. There was talk of others that had been around, not least David and his wife Mercedes, which left Mrs Johnson surprised again, and of course, of Skylar, the friend that had been there for Seth right up to the very end. Thad admitted that he would probably have joined them that evening had it not been for the fact that his wife was due to give birth at any time.

After the meal, they remained at the table, as the collected photographs were brought out, images that covered Seth's life from his first days at Dalton until almost his final moment. Thad then surprised everyone by producing something that Mrs Carmichael had given him as he had left the day before; she had been keeping it for Seth until the moment was right, but the time had never come, and now it was too late. It had come from his grandmother, and it was a series of images of an even younger Seth, some of them featuring his grandmother too, which made both of the Johnsons smile.

"You can see from her expression that she doted on him; I would go as far as to say that he was the apple of her eye," said Mrs Johnson sadly. "I guess that it was natural, having already lost one son when he was born, and then losing another, to see him as another chance to raise a good young man. That makes me all the more surprised, given that, that from what you have all implied this evening, he had no real money of his own…"

"She left funds to ensure that he would be educated at Dalton, and would also be accommodated there in the school vacations; I suspect that although she never told him, she knew that she was ill and would not be around. She also left a fund to cover his college fees, although from what the Carmichaels have told me, the allocation was not quite sufficient with the rate of inflation and other factors. They had to top it up from a school hardship fund to ensure that he graduated, and had he not been forced to give up on his wish to continue his studies due to his condition, then the cash flow situation would probably have prevented it," said Thad. He knew he now had an opening, so he continued, "What has puzzled them most, and me now that I am aware of the situation, is that she left him nothing more in her will…"

"That is a touchy subject I agree," said Mrs Johnson. "We had never been close, but even for her the will seemed uncharacteristically cold, cutting out everyone but those two and their children. However, I don't know exactly how things were at the time she drew it up, as we hadn't even spoken for a couple of years."

"We think that we do know," said Beats suddenly, attracting the attention of the whole room. "We have good reason to believe that the will was foisted upon her in the last few days of her life. We believe that because we have spoken to the lawyer that set up Seth's trust funds, who had been the family lawyer for decades, and he had written a very different will for her, one that was only cancelled three days before she passed away…"

There was a momentary silence in the room as the majority of those gathered found out about the situation for the first time. Of course, Thad, Beats, Nick and Jeff had all known; for Elliot and the other three Warblers in the room, the news made them all feel disgusted and horrified, and it at least cemented the instant dislike they had taken to the two interlopers at Seth's funeral, if not intensifying it greatly. As for Matthew, he was left open-mouthed, his first thoughts being to wonder why such things were even of concern to people that he hardly knew, until he realised that they all wanted justice for their late friend, and the fact that he was no longer with them was not going to put a halt to that quest.

As for his mother, she nodded, and was the one to break the silence. "I have always suspected that might be the case. As mother-in-laws go, she might not have been the warmest, kindest or most demonstrative, but she did love her grandchildren. When I was first engaged to her son, I spent so much of my time in her presence on tenterhooks, wondering what reason she could find to hate me more, but it faded after the wedding, if only slightly. I always knew that she loved my children, if she wasn't fond of me, so when she died, and there wasn't even a mention of them in her will. I expected nothing for myself, but I was bitter that she had cut them out!"

"I wasn't just your children that were cut out; the original will left legacies to the children of your brother-in-law, as well as to the gentleman in question," said Thad, taking over from Beats. "I needed to get a will of my own sorted out, now that I am in my thirties and have a nephew to leave things to, and I decided that her lawyer would be the ideal person to do it for me, as he has an excellent reputation. Seth came up, and well, he was happy to talk given the events at his funeral. He still has a copy of that original will on file, but alas, it is signed but not witnessed. The copy that was is no longer in his hands; when he received the notification that the old lady had created a new will and changed lawyers, he was obliged by state law to send the entire contents of her existing files to the new firm, and he complied. By keeping that other copy he is technically in breech of an unofficial code of honour in the legal community, but it is a welcome break for us. To give a brief breakdown, the house in Ohio was supposed to go to her surviving son, proof that she loved him, even if they were estranged at the time. There was property here in Manhattan as well, and that was destined for you, Mrs Johnson. The remaining family wealth was to be divided equally between her seven grandchildren. To put that in context, only a tenth was split between your niece and nephew…"

Mrs Johnson looked at Thad, then smiled wryly. "So by the sound of it there was nothing for those two in the will, and that is a powerful motive to replace it if you are aware of that fact! So, let's be blunt; the figure that I heard as being given to each of the two children that they acknowledged as theirs was $3.5million. From what you have just said, if that sum is true, then they should actually have had $10million, along with the other five grandchildren, my own two included…"

"Ten Million Dollars!" exclaimed Matthew, shaking his head in disbelief.

"We are already looking to see what can be done to remedy this situation," said Nick. "My sister is a family lawyer, and has experience with will and legacy issues of this sort. In the most high profile incident, she fought hard to have the words 'my son' that had been written in a man's will attributed to his eldest son, who had been cast out by him in childhood, and was the only surviving son of the man in question."

"Although my husband hasn't named names, that son was me," added Jeff quietly. "It is the only reason that we are sitting here, in the West Village, instead of somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens… Anyway, although it is too late for Seth to take advantage of his share, we will still be fighting on his behalf, with the cash going to either a charity, or to be shared amongst the beneficiaries of the will he did write."

"Our former high school principal, Aaron Carmichael was a quasi-guardian of Seth until he reached the age of majority, and he has contacts in Ohio that he was speaking to earlier today," continued Nick. "The hope is that he can gain access to a copy of the current will, and compare the signature upon it to that on the original will and the documents setting up Seth's trust funds. That way we can see if the signature was faked. On top of that, we will be looking to speak to the witnesses of the new will, and check them out. That will not be easy, none of it, but we have to try for the sake of justice for everyone."

Mrs Johnson nodded, then said, "Well, you certainly have my backing to do all that you can. I'm not interested in whatever property she had for me so much as getting what my son and daughter are entitled to."

"I don't need the money, mom!" protested Matthew. "I am used to not having it."

"None of us need money per se," responded Beats to his young colleague. "However, life is a lot easier when you have it to fall back on. You can invest it by purchasing a home for yourself and your future family, or in seeing some of the world. You can give some to charity too, if it makes it easier. Don't forget that the money was intended to come to you, and it should never have been taken away by others who were not deserving…"

Elliott chose that as the perfect moment to offer coffee, and they all accepted it. The fact that Mrs Johnson knew the size of the legacies left to her niece and nephew had put a new spin on the whole affair for everyone involved, but the topic of conversation moved on as they drank their coffee. Afterwards, the Johnsons made their farewells; addresses, phone numbers and e-mails were exchanged, and Thad offered them his hospitality should they ever be in Ohio, knowing only too well that the Carmichaels would happily put them up if he could not….

As Beats showed them out, the others remained in the room in silence for a moment, before Ethan shook his head. "Right, so we need to get this mess fixed for everyone's sake. I would like to see that copy of the original will sometime…"

As they all murmured in agreement, Thad smiled, then said, "The funniest thing about the whole situation is the fact that those two people were desperate not just to have the money and the property, but every item of said property, every last item in her house included! When I spoke to that original lawyer, he joked about how they badgered him about one missing item, then threatened him with the law over it. He could not figure out for the life of him why they were bothered so much about that one thing!"

"I take it that it was something of now value then?" responded Ethan with a chuckle. "Having seen those two, I would struggle to imagine that they could find sentimental value in something. Maybe there was something in the house that looked old and tired to an outsider, that had something concealed inside it in a hidden compartment that was worth thousands, like gold bars or diamonds…"

That remark set them all laughing, but somehow that idea did strike a chord in Thad's head. It would certainly explain why they had been so desperate to retrieve the item that the lawyer had mentioned, the thing he had described as being worthless in his eyes. He realised now that in all their talk, the lawyer had not actually told him exactly what the item in question was, and now he was more than a little curious; he made a mental note to call him on Monday and ask.

In the meantime, however, he made the first move to break the little gathering up, citing the fact that it was fast approaching little Wes' usual late bedtime hour, and that spurred Drew on to, as it was time for Evie to be abed as well. When they arrived downstairs, little Wes was already half asleep, so Nick decided to carry him home. He was glad that the distance was not far, as his son was nowhere near as light as he used to be, and was harder to balance as he had grown taller too. Arriving back at the house, Jeff offered to carry him up the stairs to his bed, and Nick happily placed his recumbent son into his husband's arms.

As Jeff headed up, Nick sighed, and Thad smiled. "Do you know I can still recall how heavy your boy was the first time that he was placed in my arms, but now I would not wish to have to cradle him for any length of time!"

"I do not blame you!" replied Nick. "He is getting pretty heavy, and if something like this happens again, he will be getting woken up and asked to walk. It is a reminder I suppose of how we are all getting older, how life never stops in its relentless march forward. Between us, I have even found a grey hair or two recently…"

"Me too, not that it concerns me all that much. I am looking forward to getting old in some ways," said Thad, with a wry smile. Nick knew exactly why he felt like that, and said nothing on it, knowing that if he was in the Head Warbler's position, growing old would be a blessing. "So, what do you really think about what Ethan said, about there being something valuable concealed in something of no apparent worth is the house of Seth's grandmother?"

"I do not think so," responded Nick. "Jewellery and that sort of thing is always known about in a family, and people will always query where it could be. My personal theory is that there is some sort of evidence of their misdeeds concealed somewhere; a stash of papers that proof that they were mistreating her, or possibly even her personal copy of the trust papers for Seth, that they wanted to reverse. I mean, they could easily have stated that she was not of sound mind when she created those trusts, and had then cancelled. No, I am afraid that hidden gemstones and bullion is the stuff of mystery novels and daytime soaps; the world of Murder, She Wrote. I would say no…"

Thad would arrive back at Dalton after his weekend in New York late on the Sunday evening, and so it was Monday before he had a chance to catch up with Aaron Carmichael. The ex-Principal was pleased to hear that Mrs Johnson was more than happy to join in the fight for the sake of her children, and admitted freely that it might well come to that in the end. "I spoke to one of my friends that works in the records office, and he has promised to send me a copy of the will that was approved in the end. What is new is that he recalls that there might have been an issue with the witnesses to the document, questions raised by the judges at the time about how impartial they could be perceived as being. If he recalls, one was a close friend of her daughter, the other the daughter's maid."

"That also raises this question; why would they be at the old lady's home when the relative in question was in Brazil?" asked Thad.

"That was my first thought as well when he told me, but I said nothing. The problem is that they will be happier to back up the story given where their loyalties will lie, and that is particularly the case for the maid, if she still works for Seth's mother."

Thad nodded, knowing full well that when it came down to a choice between justice and your own personal security in all senses of the word, even the best of us would be tempted to opt for the latter. "Well, on another note, an idea was put in my head at the dinner on Saturday night, so my first task to day is to make a quick call to our original lawyer. I am going to ask him what it was that those two were so desperate to find in her house. It might turn out to be of absolutely no importance in the end, but until I know what it was, my curiosity will be aroused."

"Hmm, and then maybe the answer will just lead you to more questions that you had before!" cautioned the older man.

"That may well be the case, but there is only one way to find out…"

Two hours later, Thad had his answer, and the minute he was told, the identity of the object had suddenly seemed so obvious that they all should have known exactly what it was all along! As he pulled up in his car outside Skylar's house, he had to also admit that he was even more curious now that he knew that they had been so desperate to find the old, red leather, wing armchair, that now sat in his friend's lounge. He also wondered if that was why the old lady had always insisted to Seth that he should take it once she was gone…

He found his young friend out, having headed into work to collect some papers. Julia was glad to see him, although she had to admit that she was feeling exhausted, and her feet were now killing her.

"I will tell Skylar that I let myself in," Thad said sagely, which made Julia laugh, as she had been left lying on the sofa by her husband, with instructions that she should only move if the house caught fire… She dutifully headed back to that spot, and let Thad place the blanket back over her legs.

"So what brings you her today, not that you aren't very welcome," she asked.

"A conundrum mixed with a dilemma," he replied. "It would appear that there is an unassuming item in this room that has a quite well hidden significance. I am reliably informed that when his grandmother died, Seth's lovely parents were desperate to the point of obsession with taking possession of that tatty old wing chair. The question that of course raises is, Why?"

Julia looked at Thad, and then burst out laughing, stopping abruptly when she realised that he was being completely serious. "They were desperate to find that chair? I know that it is exceptionally comfortable, but it isn't an antique that is worth thousands of dollars! In all honesty, were it not for the connections to those that have recently passed away, I would not be prepared to give it house room…"

"Exactly, which as I said, begs the question, why? The only conclusion that I and the others could reach on Saturday was that there is something concealed within it that is extremely valuable. At the time, there was much speculation about jewels and gold bullion…" Thad paused as Julia laughed again, and he rolled his own eyes in agreement to her sentiments. "However, maybe it does contain something that is worth more to that lovely couple. I am thinking that there could be something hidden away, some paper that proves that the will that was used when the old lady died was not her true intention…"

"That's a lovely idea, but surely Seth would have discovered any paper that was placed in it whilst he had it in his possession? Plus, if it was just a slip of paper, he could easily have found it and discarded it at the time…"

"There is that, I guess. He was only a freshman at Dalton when she passed away, and the chair was taken at his request on the day after she passed away, when he was able to go and collect his few remaining possessions that were there; his grandmother had always said that he should have it once she was gone. However, he only started to use it when he moved to New York, and was in his first place with Luke and Duncan in Bushwick. That was four years later, and it was in storage all that time. The paper could have been removed then…"

"Yes, someone would have cleaned it, and a scrap of paper would have been thrown away without a second look. Still, if you do want to take a quick look, then there is no better opportunity than now, when Skylar isn't here," said Julia.

Thad nodded, and began a thorough inspection of the chair, removing the seat cushion, checking down all of the seams, and turning it upside down to inspect the underside… Of course, there was nothing, nor did he feel any sort of bulge that could have been hidden treasure…