Eating Chinese with his mom wasn’t fun at all.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Ben? These people really know their business, and Jim is such a good guy, too—I’ll be reporting to him directly. I can’t wait to get started. It’s like a dream come true!”
More like a nightmare, Ben thought. He had to keep smiling and nodding as he tried not to choke on his pork fried rice.
What these people were doing to his mom? It was so wrong!
In his room after supper he called Jill and told her the whole thing.
“Did you tell Robert yet?” she asked.
“No. I almost didn’t tell you—but don’t take that the wrong way. It’s not like I was gonna back off from our work or anything so my mom would get all that money. I . . . I just don’t want other people knowing about this. I feel so bad for her. That’s all.”
Jill was quiet. “My dad buys real estate at least a couple of times a year. And I know he never does anything without his lawyer. I think you need to talk to a good lawyer, the kind who specializes in real estate. I’ll call you back.”
The line clicked dead.
Ben stared at his phone. Her dad’s lawyer? That was a terrible idea!
He punched redial, but it went right to Jill’s message. He did that four more times before he tossed the phone on his bed, disgusted.
He leaned back in his desk chair and looked out the window, which ran up the slanted wall of his room. The sky was mostly clear, and some high-flying gulls looked gold, painted by the last beams of daylight. It was the kind of scene that usually made him feel good just to be alive. Not tonight.
I shouldn’t have called her! No matter which way this spins, Mom gets hurt!
He pounced when his phone buzzed.
“I sure hope you didn’t call your dad’s—”
Jill cut him off. “What, my dad’s lawyer? Do you think I’m that stupid, Benjamin? I called Amanda Burgess.”
She was also a lawyer, and Ben liked her. They’d talked with her after finding that codicil, the addition to the captain’s will. But she hadn’t been able to help because she was already involved in the case.
“Of course, I didn’t tell her anything,” Jill went on, “but I did ask her to recommend a good real estate lawyer, someone we can trust and someone we can call right now, tonight. And I told her we can pay real fees, too. Got a pencil?”
“Um . . . yes,” said Ben.
“His name is Harold Chamden, and Mrs. Burgess said she’d warn him, so he wouldn’t think you were some kid pranking him.” She read Ben the phone number.
Then she said, “So, the second I hang up, you call him. You want to know three simple things: one, can he look in public records and see exactly what properties Glennley has been buying during the past year; two, are the deals final; and three, is there any way to stop or delay any of them. And you can tell him we’ve got plenty of money to work with. These people try to mess with us, we mess with them.”
Ben hesitated, then said, “Is this . . . I mean, can we . . . like, is this kind of thing even legal?”
“How should I know?” she said. “Ask your lawyer!”
And for the second time in ten minutes, Jill hung up on him.