La Photographie Moderne

by Neil Crenner

Just go get dressed." He let go of her hands and she went to her room. He headed for the shower himself. He wanted to feel refreshed and awake.

  Chapitre 38

  1 hour later.

  They pulled up to the gallery and stopped. "I will open up while you take Colbert for a short walk. Do you mind?"

  "Oh sure I will. Come Colbert," Catherine got out of the car and Colbert followed her. Reason unlocked the back door and went inside. He turned off the alarm and went to his desk. He had been talking to Joe who referred him to a lawyer that he knew that might specialize in Probate law.

  Reason dialed the number and heard it ring.

  "Monaghan Law Offices," the man's voice said.

  "I am Mr. Simon, I was referred to you by a Mr. Joe Handel, he thought you might be able to help me out with some estate law."

  "Oh yes Mr. Simon. I do have a message for you. You can call Mr. Ince and discuss it with him. He specializes in Probate law. Are you ready for the number?"

  "Yes I am." Reason wrote the number down on the pad he had on his desk. The Desk of Reason Simon it said on the bottom of it.

  "Well thank you so much and I appreciate this."

  "You're most welcome. Good day."

  Reason hung up the phone. "Now that was easy. I wonder how this will go." He heard Catherine come in from the back door. "I am here in the office," He called.

  "I am coming." Reason waited for her to get to his office before calling Mr. Ince.

  "There you are. Colbert & I had a nice walk around the block. Here's her leash," handing the leash to Reason.

  "I just got the name of a Probate lawyer and I was just about to call him and make an appointment. You want to have a seat. Colbert sit over here on your bed," Reason pointed to her bed on the side of the desk. She trotted over there and laid down.

  "Do you want some privacy?" Catherine asked.

  "Catherine, this is about you, it's your inheritance. I will just call and make an appointment.''

  "Yes, I guess so," She relented.

  "Now let me call him up," Reason dialed the number.

  "Mr. Ince's offices. How may I help you?"

  "Hello, My name is Reason Simon and I was referred to you by a friend, a Mr. Monaghan. I wanted to talk to Mr. Ince about some property that a friend of mine might be the inheritor of."

  "When would you like to talk to Mr. Ince?"

  "Today would be great, this afternoon."

  "Hold please. Let me check his schedule."

  "I am on hold," Reason told Catherine. He sat there and doodled on the note pad. He turned the page and began to doodle more.

  "Hello. Thank you for waiting. Mr. Ince is available at 3 p.m. Is that good for you?"

  "Oh yes, defiantly. Perfect. What is your address?" Reason wrote it down and hung up the phone.

  "So today we have an appointment at 3 p.m."

  "Wonderful. I hope he can help us out."

  "I am sure that he can."

  3 p.m.

  "Hello, I am Mr. Ince."

  "I am Reason Simon and this is Catherine Gaston."

  "I hear you have some questions about some property. Who is the inheritor?"

  "It is I," Catherine piped up.

  "So why do you think you are the heir?"

  "Well it was my grandparent's estate. They are both dead and it's in the States hands. No one has a claim on it and it's going up for public auction."

  "I see," Scratching on a notepad. "How about if I have my assistant look up the property and find out a little more about it. Then we can discuss this more."

  "When did you find out about the property?"

  "Just recently, within the last two weeks. I thought that it might have been giving to another heir, but to my surprise it hasn't and now the State has it and it's going to auction it off."

  "Inheritance is a very touchy subject. Do you believe that no one else in your family has come to claim it?"

  "Well no, if there has then so be it."

  The lawyer looked up, "I will let you know as soon as I find out. My assistant will call you."

  "Do you think we will have a chance to stop the auction?" Reason piped up.

  "That all depends on the circumstance of the property. Once I find this out then we might be able to. The question is how will Mrs. Gaston prove that she is the heir?"

  "We are working on that," Reason answered.

  "It will have to be some concrete evidence. Like a copy of a Will."

  "Right now we don't have one."

  "You better have something in writing." He said sternly.

  "Like Reason said, we are working on it Mr. Ince," Catherine interjected firmly.

  "Good day to you," Mr. Ince said, "And good luck."

  "Thank you for your time."

  "My assistant will get the info from you on your way out."

  "Good bye and thank you again, Mr. Ince."

  They stood up and a man entered the room. I am Greg, Mr. Ince's assistant. Come this way." They followed him to another office and give him the address and their contact information. They explain to him about going to the records office and not getting any info.

  "I will request the information on the estate."

  "As soon as you find out something please let us know," Reason asks.

  "You got it. Have a nice day."

  They leave the office and head back home.

  "So what do you think Catherine?"

  "I think he thought I was a gold digger."

  "Catherine do not say that. You are entitled by blood to have that property. Not some developer."

  "I just feel like if I deserved the property then arrangements would have been made and I wouldn't have to be doing this. I do feel like a gold digger."

  "Now Catherine, sometimes things don't work out and we don't really know the history of your family in detail. Maybe we can find out more. We will have to do some research."

  "I still feel a bit seedy."

  "You shouldn't feel that way, but if you do then just feel it and then move on."

  "The great balancer."

  "Yes I have been called that before."

  "Well if it things go smoothly then I will be glad. I do feel like my inheritance was stolen from me."

  "You see, now you are talking. Let's go reclaim it."

  "Yes, sounds good to me." They drove on home.

  Chapitre 39

  30 minutes later.

  "So what happened?" Didier asked.

  "Well we talked with the lawyer and he was not exactly supportive. He made Catherine feel like a gold digger."

  "Mother, how did he do that?"

  "Well he wanted to know why I felt that I should be the heir to the property. I didn't even know what to say."

  "I told you that it would be hard and that you really should not pursue this."

  "Didier you have never been very adventurous and that's why you don't think I should pursue this. This is my inheritance and it has been stolen from me and I want to reclaim it," Catherine exclaimed.

  "Well when you put it like that, then it sounds legitimate. I can understand it better now. I think you might not be able to prove it though. That is what I fear more than anything. You will have wasted all that time and energy."

  "Son, I need your support right now and if it is all in vain then I will have some peace about it. If I just let this go then I couldn't live with myself and it will always bother me."

  "Mother, you're getting loud."

  "Then maybe you can hear me over that brain of yours thinking."

  "I can hear you fine. You don't need to yell."

  "I am not yelling, just talking a little louder."

  "I am right here."

  "When I am talking it seems like you are not listening."

  "I am listening. I just feel that you are going way out of your way for this and don't feel like it will come to fruition."

  "Let me tell you, if you were as formidable as Reason here, it would no doubt come to fruition."
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  "Yes, thank you for comparing me to my boyfriend."

  "Reason has been supporting me in this endeavor from the beginning and you are standing on the sidelines watching."

  "I have to work every day, I can't take off like Reason."

  "If that is not an excuse then fine. I will not bring it up again. I am going to my room."

  "Mother don't leave. I didn't mean to upset you. I just don't have the optimistic attitude that Reason has. Why I don't know. Can't you just accept me for how I am?"

  "Yes dear I do accept you for how you are and I don't ask you to change. I am tired now and don't want to talk about it right now. I am going to go lay down."

  Reason never said a word but listened to both Catherine and Didier speak. He felt bad for each of them. He couldn't figure out why Didier was so unsupportive and was this really making Catherine not want to pursue it. Catherine had left the room.

  "I need a drink. Shall I open a bottle of wine?"

  "Yes that might just be a good idea."

  "Let's just drop the subject for now. I really am not in the mood to discuss it."

  "That's fine with me. I thought that you had discussed it enough."

  "Was that a sarcastic remark?" Didier asked as he turned the corkscrew.

  "No, not at all. I heard you and you were honest with Catherine how you felt. I don't think she really should get so upset about it."

  "Good, I don't want you jumping on my back. I want you to support me."

  "I will support you. Can we just have some wine and relax now?"

  "Yes, hug me?" Didier asked. Reason hugged him and squeezed him hard. After a few minutes he released him. "Feel better?"

  "Yes, I do. Thanks. Now for some wine." Didier held his glass up to cheer, "To a brighter future."

  "Cheers, to a brighter future," Reason repeated without hesitation. He didn't want to seem disagreeable at that moment. They sat down in the living room without saying another word.

  5 minutes later.

  "Reason, do you think that I am being unreasonable?" He paused. "I just don't think