“Listen, Joely, we will work everything out, so don’t worry.” He lingered in my doorway.
I wasn’t sure if he was referring to our problems or my anxiety about Armand, but I took comfort in knowing that he truly meant it.
“I know,” I said. “Can you also tell Javier that he can give Tanya some basic corporate work? I was thinking that she could update the minute books.”
“Sure thing,” he replied.
The next 60 minutes flew by and the dreaded hour of Armand’s arrival was upon me. Dr. Soundtree was settled in Ethan’s office, waiting patiently for Armand to show up. I remained hidden in my office in the hopes of avoiding a scene with him. Unfortunately, as predicted, Antonia arrived with him, causing my bouncers to take action and forcing me out of my bunker.
“Out of my way!” Antonia screamed. “We are here to sign some very important contracts.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but the appointment is only for Armand,” Trevor said, planting his feet firmly.
“I ain’t no ma’am,” Antonia shrieked. “I’m only 24!”
“Honey, you were 24 a few decades ago,” Janice laughed. “I’ve got plastic surgery scars that are younger than you.”
“I will not be spoken to this way,” she shouted, her Italian accent drifting in and out. “Armand, get your daughter out here to fire these people. What kind of hired help are they?”
“Calm down,” Ethan requested as he ran out to greet Armand. “Please accept my apologies for not being out here sooner, but I was caught up on a teleconference with Zurich. Financiers, you know how they can be.”
“Oh yes!” Armand exclaimed, perked by the discussion of money. “Were those financiers calling with interest in my film?”
“Could be,” Ethan advised. “We cannot expect Miss Antonia to be your only investor, especially since the money has yet to be deposited in the production bank account.”
“You understand, Mr. Berg, why the money is not yet there. It’s solely for my protection,” she said, furiously batting her eyelashes.
“I completely understand. That is what this meeting is for — protection,” Ethan advised. “So you understand why you cannot accompany Mr. Zeller into the meeting.”
Armand had lost interest, or focus, on the conversation. He wandered around the vestibule looking at the art on the walls and flipped through magazine pages without knowing what he was doing.
“I know what you said, but—” Antonia started, looking at me.
“You thought you would come anyway?” I asked, eyes wide with mock-belief. “For moral support?”
“Yes,” Antonia said, buying my sarcasm. “And what does it matter anyway if I am there when film contracts are signed?”
“Well, those contracts are not the issue. It’s the power of attorney you are insistent Armand sign,” I stated.
“What Joely is trying to say is something that you and I have already discussed. In order for the contract to be valid, you cannot be present when specifics are discussed,” Ethan advised, putting an arm around Antonia and guiding her to a chair. Janice took the opportunity to grab Armand’s hand, walking him over to Ethan’s office.
“Janice Strauss!” Armand exclaimed as he took Janice’s hand. “When did you get here?”
“Armie, how you doin’, babe?” she asked as she patted Armand’s hand. “I work here, for Joely.”
“Really, Syl didn’t tell me,” he said disappointedly.
“Well, I’m sure it just slipped her mind,” she said. “I’m going to take Armand into Ethan’s office while y’all settle things out here.”
“Sounds perfect,” Ethan replied, turning back to Antonia. I stayed planted next to the front door, attempting to send Antonia a not-so-subliminal message that I was kicking her out of my office.
“Listen, Antonia, may I call you Antonia?” Ethan asked.
“Tony, please,” she replied, leaning forward and pursing her lips.
“Tony, this is going to take approximately four to five hours, and I’m certain that a beautiful and important young woman such as yourself has far more important things to do than to sit in a reception room on such a lovely day,” Ethan said.
“Well, I have many important appointments,” she replied.
Of course she did, I thought to myself. The spa, Fredrick’s of Hollywood, collagen injections and some fake-and-bake tanning.
“Of course you do,” Ethan said, taking her hand to walk her towards the door. “So you should go and take care of them and I will call you personally when Armand is ready to be picked up.”
“Well, thank you,” she said to Ethan. “You have been most helpful.”
“I must say, if I was not a taken woman, I would be young enough for you,” she flirted.
“Ok, bye bye now,” I said. She air-kissed Ethan on both cheeks as I stood with the front door wide open, waiting to shut it on her ass.
“You could learn something from the charming Mr. Berg regarding client relations,” she advised me as she stalked out of our office and slammed the door behind her.
“What was that all about?” Tanya asked Ethan.
“Nothing that you need to concern yourself with,” he advised tersely, returning to his office to get the assessment underway. Dejected, Tanya returned to Javier’s office to continue their work.
“Show’s over, everyone back to work,” I instructed. “By the way, has anyone seen Coco?”
“Not in yet,” Trevor advised.
“Call her and put her through as soon as you reach her,” I instructed. “Rita will be here in two hours for her deposition and Coco is supposed to be present for that.”
The day was not going well at all. In addition to the unresolved drama with Ethan from the weekend, I still faced dinner with him tonight. If having Armand within 50 feet of me was not bad enough, it was made worse by my newly developed emotions, which found me both pitying his deterioration and confronting his mortality. Coco was nowhere to be found, but was likely off somewhere dealing with Lucky drama. As such, I had no emotional anchor, but I had to pull myself together to meet Rita and take her deposition. I left the office and ran over to the nail shop in the mall next door for a quick lunchtime mani-pedi to clear my head. When I returned to the office, Rita was already waiting for me. There was still no sign of Coco.
“You still haven’t found her?” I whispered to Trevor anxiously as he handed me my files en route to the boardroom.
“No,” he said, “I really hope that everything is ok.”
“Just let me know when you locate her and tell her that we need to talk,” I said with an extra edge. Trevor left and shut the boardroom doors behind me. Janice was already set up with her laptop, while Rita was comfortably resting with a cappuccino.
“Rita? Joely Zeller,” I said. “Lovely to meet you.”
Rita Samuels looked nothing like I had imagined. A physically slight octogenarian widow, she was dressed impeccably in a vintage Chanel suit and matching Tahitian pearl set.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Rita replied smoothly, her voice hardly weathered with age. “I realize that my visit was scheduled a bit too closely to your hearing and, for that, I apologize. You see I have had quite a difficult time being away from Ivana’s grave.”
“I understand,” I said, liking the woman immediately. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
Rita was soft-spoken and kept a genteel manner throughout our conversation. She told me that her husband was a prominent heart surgeon, and, although she was a Wesley graduate, she opted to become a housewife and raise their three children. During her marriage she spent much time on her own, especially once her children were in school for a full day, as her husband was a slave to his career. When Ivana Iretzski moved into the two-room house on the neighbouring seaside property, Rita found herself befriending her new neighbour.
Their friendship was difficult to form, as Ivana was quite the tomboy. Ivana had declared the very instant they met that she had no lord or consort
and was both mistress and master of her domain. Rita, being a typical East Coast WASP, kept her distance simply because she did not know how to relate to Ivana. Rita admired Ivana’s resolve to forge her way in the world on her own. Rita described Ivana as a strong, athletic and tall woman, who stood just less than six feet tall, and rivalled many men in stature alone. Rita said that Ivana’s statuesque physique was met with equal vigour in her determination to succeed in whatever she did. Rita learned that Ivana’s ownership of the land was not by virtue of inheritance or a strategic marriage. Rather, Ivana, without any formal education and a love for the outdoors, was able to find a job during the war as a lumberjack. The owner of the company, who never had any children of his own, was quite fond of the young woman who had been insistent that she was just as capable of performing such labour-intensive work as a man. So he took her under his wing and taught her the business. By the time the owner of the timber company died, he had taught Ivana how to run it without anyone’s assistance and, with her saved earnings, too proud to accept the owner’s offer to leave the company to her in his will, she bought it from him before he died. Ivana took the company from a small regional business to a national enterprise, making her a multi-millionaire by the age of forty-five. Desirous of travelling the world and having time to enjoy its leisurely delights, Ivana sold the company in the mid-1960s and purchased the Southampton home for $52,000. Not one to be a slave to the trappings of luxury, Ivana invested her money wisely in various financial instruments and travelled the world for two years before settling into life on her estate.
The two women found that they had much in common despite outwardly dissimilar appearances. Their friendship began with Ivana borrowing books from Rita. Rita learned quickly that Ivana was interested in women due to Ivana’s expanding curiosity in alternative sexual lifestyles, which she discussed openly. Over time, Rita’s feelings of friendship for Ivana grew into a strong physical attraction that was mutually reciprocated. The two women began and maintained their affair in secret, mostly for the protection of Rita’s children, whom she felt would not understand her feelings for Ivana.
“Ivana was a lovely and tender woman,” Rita said wistfully. “She was quite the unexpected visitor and ended up being a big part of my life until she died.”
“You’ve spoken so highly of Ivana and left me with the impression that she was very astute. Given this, I need you to clarify for me why Mandy and the Sumners were able to victimize her,” I said.
“My children had moved away so long ago and I’d been a widow for twenty years, so you might wonder why Ivana and I didn’t simply come out of the closet. However, we both took great comfort in the routine of keeping a private relationship. While the world around us had evolved to a point where society grew to tolerate and then to accept lesbians, we felt most safe remaining ‘closeted’ to the world,” she said. “Also, when little Esty came into Ivana’s life, something deepened Ivana’s resolve to keep her private life private. So no one ever knew the nature and extent of our relationship. Once Ivana fell ill, despite my willingness to step forward as her partner, Ivana was determined to keep our relationship out of view from people’s prying eyes and probing questions. Alzheimer’s robbed me of my Ivana before we could take our love out into the open.”
“So no one knew that she was a lesbian?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” she retorted. “Ivana was a screaming dyke.”
I was taken aback by Rita’s impromptu forwardness and choice of words.
“Please don’t be so provincial. While I was not the type of woman anyone ever suspected of being gay, Ivana was so butch that she couldn’t hide it if she tried. If anything, people just thought that she remained a hermit as a means of not letting people know who she really was,” Rita explained.
“What about Esty and her parents?” I asked. “Did they know?”
“Certainly. Esty’s mother, Ivana’s half-sister from her father’s second marriage and only sibling, was raised in a hippie commune and knew very early who Ivana was. Ivana and her sister were never close despite their kinship and shared love of the outdoors. Esty’s parents were liberal bohemians and Ivana, like me, was a staunch Republican. Yes, dear, I know that may seem like an oxymoron, but genetics and politics have always made for strange bedfellows,” Rita said, looking stern and proud.
“I understand the dynamic of your relationship. I’m uncertain as to why you did nothing to stop what was happening to her, though,” I stated.
“I had no rights. We weren’t formally known as partners or lovers. There was no written agreement between us. Nor was there any legal document that would have allowed me to care for Ivana. She had a strong mistrust for lawyers. They were always coming around with clients trying to buy her land for a song, believing that she was a weak woman who could be taken advantage of. So she failed to protect herself despite my best efforts to see otherwise,” she explained, looking sadly into her lap.
“I’m very sorry for your loss. Please know that I only have Esty’s best interests in mind,” I said, smiling lightly.
“Dear, I understand. I am sure you also want to know why Ivana, who was my one true love, left me nothing,” she stated.
“The thought had crossed my mind,” I replied.
“It’s quite simple, really,” she said. “I refused to take anything from her. When Esty’s parents were killed and Esty first came to live with Ivana, something was ignited in Ivana that I had never seen before. It was almost as though she found a purpose and reason for living separate from her own selfish interests. Ivana was not an easy woman to love, nor did she express her affection well, but, in her own way, she loved Esty as though she had given birth to her herself. Esty was the only person in the world who should benefit from the material way in which Ivana was able to express her love. I love Esty like she is my own and she is Ivana’s rightful heir. I have plenty of money that my husband and parents left me, so I have no need to take Ivana’s,” Rita informed me.
“Can you give me some clarity as to where some of the jewellery came from?” I asked. “For someone who sounds uninterested in the trappings of wealth, she owned quite a bit of expensive jewellery and art.”
“Art and jewellery were things I introduced her to,” Rita said, her voice rising sweetly. “She had no real interest in them, but bought both because she saw how I delighted in them.”
“Well, you have certainly provided me with great insight into the inner workings of Ivana’s mind, especially with regard to the codicil in which she left Esty everything,” I said. “Given her eccentric nature and the way she lived her life, I know that the second will could never have been drafted by Ivana.”
“Heavens no!” Rita exclaimed. “Ivana was a very thorough woman. Her first will was drafted by a lawyer — one shared by the Sumners and myself, in fact. It was simple and straightforward, and she only did it because I told her that she needed one in the event of her death. As you see from the expanse of time between the dates when the first will and the codicil — under which Esty inherits everything — were executed, almost fifteen years had passed. Once Esty came to live with Ivana, she changed her will to give everything to Esty and swore it was never to be changed again.”
“Is there anything in writing to that effect?” I asked hopefully.
“No,” Rita replied. “Only my memory of what she said. This fake second will was written and executed by demonic people more than fifteen years after the codicil was conceived. It makes no sense when you compare it to the detail in both of the earlier testamentary documents.”
“I did find it odd that the handwritten words ‘everything to Mandy’ were overly simplistic and seemed to be crafted in haste,” I said.
“Of course it was. It was done as a ruse,” Rita exclaimed. “When Ivana’s memory started to go downhill and when that Sumner boy brought in his girlfriend to nurse Ivana, I ensured that I was around as much as possible.”
“Esty did tell me that you faked being blind,�
�� I said. “That was ingenious.”
“I am no fool,” she stated firmly. “I could see what they were trying to do especially since that man, Sumner senior, came round even when my Howard was alive, trying to steal Ivana’s land. Ivana would never have written such simple instructions. She loved words and knew how to use them. The only reason that Ivana’s handwriting is on that so-called second will was because that Mandy tricked Ivana into thinking that she was practicing her handwriting as a ‘memory’ exercise.”
“So were you there to witness Mandy doing this?” I asked excitedly.
“Sadly, no,” she advised. “I know that it happened because Ivana would tell me that Mandy did these exercises with her, but that they had stopped after three times of doing them. That must have been when the writing was legible enough for their needs.”
“What I don’t understand though is how you managed to stick around in spite of your act,” I said.
“As far as they knew, I saw nothing and I said nothing, so, in their eyes, I was harmless. Also, I kept Ivana company, which freed Mandy to only come in to bring food and increase Ivana’s morphine drip,” Rita said. “I’m sorry that I was not there to see what took place with the second will.”
“It’s ok,” I said, though somewhat deflated. “We have a very strong case even without that piece of eyewitness evidence. Your testimony has strengthened our case, tipping it in Esty’s favour.”
“But my first-hand testimony would have sealed the case for our darling Esty” she said, frowning.
“I won’t lie that it would have made this case a slam dunk, but take comfort in knowing that in all of my years of practicing estates law, I have never had such a clear case of undue influence and fraud supported by enough evidence to win as this one,” I said confidently. “Also, Ivana’s letter to Esty that she wrote a month before the second will was executed does cast a shadow of doubt over its credibility.”
I looked down at my watch and noticed that we had been in our meeting for four hours.
“You must be exhausted, and I have some other matters to attend to in preparation for the hearing, so I suggest that I leave you with Janice to finish the deposition. I’ll review the document prior to when you sign it tomorrow morning,” I suggested.
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