In a Courtroom in Columbus.
The nature of Sue Sylvester's future plans were a mystery to most, but Grace would be the one that knew the most of all of them in the end. She had asked her mother about the rumours, and she had been sworn to secrecy… It transpired that Sue had absolutely no intention of running for either of the top two jobs in the nation; indeed, she was only throwing her name into the running for Minority Leader so that she could be the one to withdraw gracefully at the right moment, and then bestow her support onto whichever of the other candidates could do her the most favours. Grace had shaken her head with a wry smile; she had heard about the manipulative ways of Sue Sylvester before from both Kurt and Blaine, but she had taken all that they told her with a significant pinch of salt until now…
She was staying at her mother's home in Columbus that Sunday night as she had business in the city. The case concerning the will of Seth's grandmother was being held the following morning, first thing, at the Franklin County Common Pleas court in South High Street, and Grace had not wanted to travel very early and risk being late, and she did not see the point of booking a hotel when she had family close by. It would be her first time in that particular court, although she had visited similar courts many times before as a teenager in Illinois, and had seen her father in action more than once, back when she thought he was a great man, and not the terrible individual she knew him to be now…
She was glad that her father had by all accounts left Ohio now, as she had dreaded walking into the court complex and finding him there on a case of his own. It would not be an easy encounter when they did eventually come across each other, given what she had done to him at the start of the year. She would be joined in the court that day by the Carmichaels, who had appointed themselves without any objection from anyone else, as Seth's representatives. Mrs Johnson had also flown in from New York, representing herself and her children, and Barnaby would be at her side, standing for himself and his sister. He knew that his presence would serve to further deepen the rift between themselves and their parents, but he did not care. Finally, his uncle would be there, with his own lawyer, on behalf of his family. Grace had talked to the man briefly, and talked more with his lawyer. She and her colleague backed the same strategy; they would make no grand arguments, they would just allow the facts to speak for themselves. It would be easy then to watch as the other side dug their own holes…
The case was to be heard at 9am sharp, which Grace knew from experience meant that it would actually get going about half an hour later, as invariably someone would be late in arriving, stating that they had been delayed in the rush hour traffic. She herself had left early, and had arranged to meet her little group at the French café across the street from the court building at 8am. That allowed for them to be delayed, and for them to have a final discussion in a civilised manner over a cup of coffee. Grace knew that she had to focus her attention that morning on Barnaby, who now that the time when he would actually see his parents again had arrived, was finding that his nerves were increasing by the moment…
"You do not have to be there if you would rather not face them," Grace eventually said as she noticed how all the colour had slowly drained from his face as time went on, and how he wasn't touching his coffee. "Nobody would think any the less of you for it."
"No, it is okay. I said that I would be there in court, and I will be. They cannot touch me now anyway," came her reply.
"If it would help, you can sit between my wife and I," said Aaron Carmichael. "We are here for your brother, so we should also be here for you."
Barnaby agreed to that, secretly relieved that he would have moral support from a couple he had to admire. Then it was time to head across the street to the court, then make their way to the room that had been assigned for the hearing. They all took their places, either in the gallery, or in the case of Grace, at the table before the judge's place. She was joined there soon after by the other lawyer on their side. They swapped notes as behind them an uncle and brother-in-law greeted two members of his family that he had not seen for a long time, something that they all promised to resolve in the future. And then, they sat there, waiting, as the clock slowly ticked onwards…
It was, as Grace had surmised, nearly 9.30am when the door to the court opened again to admit the lawyer that was working for Seth's parents. At once, Grace could see that he looked annoyed and more than a little flustered. She could not help herself, and made a point of checking her watch pointedly, then rolled her eyes at the lateness of the arrival of the man that she was due to be arguing with. The court staff also seemed to be angry with the tardiness of the man in question, and it was no surprise when they all heard the terse comment, "You have 2 minutes to prepare, then the judge will be in to commence the hearing. Trust me, they are not at all happy at being made to wait by your late arrival!"
Grace turned to see if her fellow lawyer had heard, and the smile on the face of the man beside her showed her at once that he had heard clearly as well. It was never a good idea to delay or frustrate the judge in any court case; whilst it was true that a judge was supposed to be the most impartial of arbiters in the legal system at all times, they were only human. Being late for a case was tantamount to the total disrespect of both them and the office which they held. When the judge appeared exactly two minutes later, it was clear from the smile that she gave Grace and her colleague, and then the glare that she gave the other lawyer, that the lady in question was all too human…
She took her place, and then said, "My apologies for the delay in commencement of this hearing, especially to those of you that were not tardy; that is all the more admirable given that you have travelled some distance to be here today. Very well, we are hear to investigate claims concerning the will of…"
"Your honour, if I may interject," said the late running lawyer, "I have some pertinent information which you and the counsel opposite needs to be aware of…"
Grace looked at her fellow lawyer at the table as the judge gave the poor man opposite a look which could easily have killed. "Sir, not only can you not tell the time; not only do you interrupt me when I am opening this hearing; but now I fear that you are about to furnish us with some new piece of evidence that has suddenly appeared, that will of course support your clients case. Were you a newly qualified lawyer, such mistakes would be forgivable as a youthful error, but you, sir, are a lawyer of many years standing. Somehow you still seem to be blissfully unaware of the correct procedures and rules for the submission of new information in a hearing! Let me tell you plainly that I do not intend to delay or postpone this hearing, so unless this new evidence that you are about to submit destroys and repudiates every other shred of evidence we have before us, might I suggest that we do not get into it!"
The lawyer looked sheepish, then replied, "It isn't new evidence, your honour. It is actually my clients; they were due to meet me for a briefing before the hearing began, but they failed to arrive. I have made strenuous efforts to contact them on the telephone, and sent an agent to their residence to see if anything untoward had happened to them. They reported back that they were not on the premises, and that there was no sign of any vehicle at the location either."
The judge nodded, then said, "We cannot discount the possibility that they have been involved in some sort of accident en route to your arranged meeting then. Do you happen to know the licence plate of their vehicle, as I can then arrange for the police department to check if the vehicle in question has been involved in an incident of that nature…"
"I am afraid not, your honour. I do however know the manufacturer, model and colour of the vehicle…"
The judge's expression darkened again as he spoke and told them what those three things were. "So, basically we are looked for America's most popular car in the most popular colour? That should make things simple!"
Grace spoke up at that point, having glanced over at Barnaby, who had been trying to attract her attention. "Your honour, I might be able to assist here. As you will be aware, I am representing Mr and Mrs Robinson's two children, and their son is in court today. He knows the licence plate of the vehicle in question; it is his mother's car, and he drove it himself on occasion…"
In no time it was 10am, and still nothing had been achieved. The judge had taken the number from Barnaby, and had sent one of her staff off to investigate. It was only as the clock hit the hour that they returned, and handed a note to the judge, before heading out once more. She read the note, then shook her head. "Well, the good news is that your clients have not been involved in an accident, at least not in the vehicle in question. It is currently parked in one of the lots at Columbus Airport. That would seem to indicate that instead of coming here, as they should have done, to defend their actions in respect of the will of the late Evadne Johnson, they have chosen to fly somewhere… I will be instituting enquiries as to exactly where, and am minded to raise a charge against them in light of the delay they have caused to proceedings, and the disrespect they have shown to this court."
She took a breath, then continued, "Their absence does not, however, prevent us from the continuation of this hearing. As their lawyer, you will no doubt have prepared some sort of statement on their behalf. Having studied all of the evidence in this case, I must say that I am looking forward to hearing how you will justify their decision to disinherit the rest of the family, and reduce the legacy to the two children that they actually acknowledged as their own at the time. I propose that you have the honour of making it first, and then I will allow the lawyers for the opposing side to speak, and indeed question you on that statement; those should of course be questions that your clients answered, but in their absence… Then I will make my judgement, based on what I hear today, and the evidence that I have already seen. I must say that the evidence in question is extremely damning, so whatever they have asked you to say will have to be pretty good to override all of that…"
With that the judge motioned the lawyer to begin, and Grace settled back in her seat to better enjoy the man's attempt at explaining why and how all of the evidence that they already had was fake… In all, the other lawyer was on his feet for a little under two minutes, suggesting that the lawyer that had confessed that the will that had been used was a fake had done so as he knew he was about to be dismissed and replaced; that the so called 'evidence' on the memory stick was computer generated, and even had that not been the case, it should be excluded from the case as the parties involved had not given written consent, in advance, for their images to be recorded on film…
Grace shook her head sadly, trying her best to remain professional and not laugh at the ridiculous claims being made. She stayed seated as the other lawyer sat down, and, as had been agreed between them, when the judge nodded in their direction, it was the lawyer for Seth's uncle that stood up…
"Well, that was interesting to listen to… So, the video on the memory stick was computer generated? We have a certificate, from one of the leading computer experts in the world, which states that the recordings on the memory stick were made with a program which has not been supported by any of the major computer manufacturers for over a decade. The last time that it was viable to use it on a home computer was four years after the death of the writer of the will, Evadne Johnson. There is no way that a recording on that format could have been made since that date as there is no operating system on a mainstream computer that would support that; it was only by referring to the same computer experts that we could actually view the footage! To therefore suggest that someone has created an animation, a fake, by using images of Mr and Mrs Loomis, is verging on lunacy!"
He paused, and was gratified to see the judge nod in agreement. He then turned to Grace, and she stood up, and continued. "As to the secondary point, that the evidence is inadmissible as the parties involved did not consent to the film being made, you do realise that if that was indeed a valid point, it would invalidate any conviction that has ever been made on the basis of footage from hidden cameras… It would make convictions for traffic violations and pilferage from stores invalid too, as all the accused would have to do was state that they had not signed a release form before the film was made! If my learned friend really believes that this should be the case, then he is guilty of wishing to collapse much of the justice system of the nation. So, let us just return to the facts; the recordings clearly show the process behind the validation of the fake will, and the lawyer that was hired to write that will has confessed to the crime. The case that the defence is making is at best pointless, at worse, risible…"
The judge looked at Grace, and said, "I am in total agreement with that statement, Ms Duval. To state that we should discount the taped evidence as it is fake, when it was found be an independent witness, concealed within the arm of a chair that was known to be Mrs Johnson's favourite; when the memory stick it was found on is of a brand and type that has not been manufactured since prior to the lady's death, is laughable. I am sure that we could sit here and listen to a story of how such an old memory stick was obtained by a member of the family that wished to overturn the will; a member of the family that then planted it within the chair, and ensured that it was found and brought to our attention. However, such a case would rely on the family being aware of the existence of Mr Seth Kennedy, and as we have been informed, in evidence given to the court by yourself on behalf of your clients, only they, his parents, and his late grandmother, actually knew of his existence until his funeral…"
The judge paused, shaking her head sadly. "Given that fact, there was no way that any of the other claimants could have been in his company to 'plant' the evidence, and not just because they did not know that he existed; none of them had any knowledge of the prior will either! So, I think that we have spent enough time listening to fictional accounts of the events that lead us to where we are now. Having reviewed the evidence, and having heard nothing that can render it invalid, I find that the will that was settled on the estate of the late Mrs Evadne Johnson was not one that she had written personally, and not one of which she approved. I therefore declare it void, and reinstate the prior will, that she wrote in the company of the long standing family lawyer and witnessed by two of her trusted friends, a year prior to her demise. Those named in that document should receive the legacies that she wished them to have, plus any accrued interest, within a maximum period of three months from today's date. I further rule that all court costs should be paid by the absent Mr and Mrs Loomis."
With that, the judge rose, and those in the room stood. She frowned once more at the Loomis' lawyer, then smiled at Grace and her fellow lawyer, before she headed out of the room. The moment that she was gone, the hapless other lawyer headed for the door, without a word to either try and defend the actions of his clients, or to threaten that an appeal against the result would be lodged.
"So that is it? We have prevailed, and they now have to pay up?" asked Barnaby quietly.
"Yes, and there is no way that they can escape doing so. In anticipation, we already applied for and were granted an order that places a hold on their bank accounts. We also were granted an order which banned them from selling any property holding, or any other major asset, before the case was placed before a judge and resolved. As such, we know the value of their holdings, and there is no way that they can now declare themselves to be bankrupt, and avoid paying that way. I have a suspicion that they went to the airport as they were attempting to flee the state, if not the country. They might have thought that they would be able to transfer the cash and other assets to an overseas holding company; they would have also found that was impossible, thanks to our orders. Perhaps they already knew that, having tried, and did not want to come here to avoid the public humiliation. The issue is that they will have been summoned by the court to attend, and their failure to appear will have landed them a fine at the very least."
"At least?" said Barnaby, looking a little worried.
"They could be looking at some other punishment as well; possibly a custodial one," Grace replied.
It would transpire in the end that Seth's parents had been heading to O'Hare in Chicago, and it was at the check-in desk there that they were stopped and detained, as they tried to bored a flight to Montego Bay in Jamaica. They did not seem to think that they had done anything wrong, and stated that they believed that all they were required to do was send their lawyer to court; enlightened, they tried to say that they would sort everything out on their return. However, it quickly emerged that the tickets that they had booked were one way, and it also transpired that they had a property in Jamaica, undeclared on their tax records….
By the time that Grace received an update on the situation on Wednesday, sitting back behind her desk in her office in New York, the outlook was even more bleak for them. Investigations had shown that they had transferred a sizeable amount of money to a bank account in the Virgin Islands over the last decade, and records from the bank in question showed that they had written to them only a week earlier, informing them of their intention to close the account and transfer the funds to a new one at a bank in Jamaica. The fact that they had failed to show up in court was now nothing compared to the fact that they had attempted to flee the country and had not declared all of their holdings; the charges they now faced were far more severe, and a custodial sentence seemed to be highly likely…
Faced with that, they now actively sought to make a deal with the courts, as their former lawyer had done. Whether that was going to be possible or not fell into the laps of Grace and her fellow lawyer acting on behalf of Seth's uncle in Ohio. For her part, Grace knew what she would want from such a deal, and she knew her clients would approve of it. Neither Hilary or Barnaby wished to see their parents locked up, or find a wave of negative publicity hitting them at some point in the future; Mr and Mrs Loomis understood that as well. She made the call to her colleague in Ohio, and the statement she made to him was succinct.
"I feel that we should agree to the plea bargain on the condition that the transfer of assets is expedited, and completed in days, not the weeks they initially suggested. The property can be easily signed over to the correct people; the cash payments can be made in part whilst they work to free up the remainder. The paperwork to transfer the cash from the accounts they hold will be relatively simple, and as such, I would not see it as unreasonable for us to request part payment by the end of this week…"
Grace did not mention her conversation to any of her clients; she already had their bank details on file, and so when confirmation that they part payment would be made came, she just sat back and waited to see which of them would be the first to notice on Friday morning…
As it happened, that fell to Matthew. He had been heading to work, and had decided to withdraw a few dollars to bolster the contents of his wallet at an ATM. He took the receipt that was provided as a matter of course; for some reason he did not just fold it up and shove it into his pocket to be abandoned like so many others, but took a glance at it as he walked away from the machine. He was putting it in his pocket when he stopped, his brain finally computing what he had just seen, and took another look. He shook his head, deciding there had to be an error, and seeing the machine was not in use by anyone else, headed back to take a balance…
The figure on it was the same; according to the bank, the balance of his account had swelled by $.7.5 million overnight. He shook his head again, then sighed, recalling how long it had taken to get through to speak to someone at his bank the last time there had been an unexplained error. There was no time for that now, as he had to get to work.
He had no sooner sat down at his desk, having arrived with seconds to spare, than his phone rang, and seeing that it was his cousin Barnaby on the line, he decided to answer it. They greeted each other, and then Barnaby came straight out and asked him if he had noticed something wrong with his bank balance. Matthew admitted the truth immediately, and suddenly it dawned on him. Having finished his chat with his cousin, he took great pleasure in calling his sister; once she had stopped complaining to him about the time of his call, he asked her to check the balance of her bank account on her phone app. She grumbled, then complied… The squeal of delight that he heard down the line made his day. For the first time in his life, money was not a worry; he had no intention of spending wildly, but as Thad had once said to him, having it felt so good…
Grace would be called by all four of her young clients within the first hour of her being in the office, and she told them all what they already knew; it was from the estate, and the balance of $2.5 million would follow within a few weeks. With that done, she made a call to Mrs Johnson, and asked her to meet her for lunch that day, if it was at all possible. For once, the lady in question had no committee meetings to attend, and her work schedule was also clear. She agreed, but was rather surprised when Grace did not name a restaurant as their meeting point, but a street corner in the Upper East Side. With that done, Grace settled down to her usual work, which seemed to take her no time at all to complete.
She made the spot on Madison Avenue with time to spare, and was there when the cab drew up and dropped off her client. Mrs Johnson immediately looked confused, as there was nothing that looked like a restaurant anywhere within sight. Grace saw her expression, and said, "I'm afraid that we aren't having lunch quite yet; I had an ulterior motive in asking you to meet me here. First off, have you spoken to either of your children today?"
The answer was in the negative, and so it fell to Grace to tell her that her children had received a large chunk of their inheritance that morning. As her client looked stunned at the speed of events, Grace went on, "Sorting out the majority of the cash was simple enough, as indeed was sorting out the property side of things. Now, look across the intersection diagonally, and you will see an eight storey apartment building; that entire building, save half a dozen apartments that were sold before your mother-in-law died, is your inheritance from her estate. The papers have been signed, and it officially became your property at noon, so that would be five minutes ago. I thought you might like to inspect it before we eat.."
To say that Mrs Johnson was left speechless would have been an understatement. When she had been informed that it had been her mother-in-law's intention to bequeath her a property in the Upper East Side, she had expected an apartment, and not what amounted to more or less an entire building.
Seeing her shock, Grace continued, "I believe that an ancestor of your father-in-law founded a firm which grew to be highly successful here in Manhattan back in the 1870s, and like many at that time, he purchased a large property that stood on this plot of land in the middle of that decade. As the city grew, and the transport infrastructure improved with it, this area became much more built up, and the family moved out to the greener surroundings of the Hudson Valley. The canny gentleman, however, did not sell up; instead, he employed someone to build this apartment block on the plot. Apart from the 6 exceptions I mentioned, the family retained title on the block, and collects a substantial income on the 20 or so apartments they still own. They are well appointed, and command a good rental; most of that from the last decade will be available to you, as the income is still sitting in the maintenance accounts. Even with the extravagant lifestyle of those two, they could not spend it all…"
"This is just…" Mrs Johnson began, then paused. She took a breath, then continued, "I am going to need to take a crash course in property management, because I have no idea how I will go about running this place!"
"Fortunately, neither did your sister-in-law and her husband, so they retained the services of one of the city's leading specialists in the field to oversee the day to day management, the repairs, and the collection of the rental payments. Now, I should also mention that there is a family apartment on the top floor; it is a double unit, which you could move into yourself, or given that it would be relatively simple to divide it back up into the two original apartments, you could have that work done and give your children their first apartments in the city."
Mrs Johnson nodded, thinking about that idea, and then said, "That idea has a certain appeal for me. This is a wonderful neighbourhood, and it is high time that the two of them started living on their own. I have been pondering moving out of the city to somewhere more rural for a while; if the kids were living here, then I could sell the house without any guilt and use the funds to get myself something smaller out of town. Of course, the kids might not want to come here, but they would have funds of their own now to afford to go elsewhere…"
There was no more to say, and so Grace guided her across the street and into the building so that she could inspect her new domain…