Page 111 of It's About Time
Greg is like a second father to me. He’s been a constant since I was a child, which means more to me now as I’m realizing that my own father has been deceiving me for quite some time.
Greg is also one of my father’s oldest and closest friends. If anyone might know something, it’s him. Whether he’ll tell me remains to be seen.
“That means a lot, Greg. But I’m not sure you’re going to like the subject matter that I need to discuss with you.”
His brows pinch together. “What’s going on?”
Blowing out a breath, I lean closer to him over the table. “I think someone close to me is lying to me.”
“Okay…”
“And it involves a will.”
Realization passes over his face. Shifting in his seat, he clears his throat. “And what makes you think that?”
“I’m pretty sure I saw a different version of this will with my own two eyes, Greg.”
His eyes move to his coffee as he picks it up, bringing the cup to his mouth. “Are you sure, Elliot?”
“I’m almost positive.” I wait for him to meet my eyes again. “And, as executor of my grandfather’s estate, I would hope you would know if there were two wills. I guess I could just use some help making sense of this.”
His throat bobs as he swallows roughly, setting his cup back down while contemplating his answer. When he finally smiles at me again, something tells me that I went to the wrong source. “Elliot, it’s not uncommon for people to have multiple copies of a will. As an attorney yourself, you know that.”
For a second, I debate mentioning my father’s financial issues that I’m aware of as well, but at this point, I already think I’ve said too much. If I push further, Greg might run back to my father and this could blow up before I’ve put the pieces together, and I just need more time. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I was wrong like you said. I guess seeing it just made me think the worst, you know?”
Greg smiles. “You miss your grandfather. Grief can make us believe in something that isn’t even there.”
“It can also make people act uncharacteristically,” I add.
Greg nods. “Absolutely. But I assure you, everything with your grandfather’s estate was managed with the utmost care.”
Sure, Greg. Whatever you say.
I blow out a breath like I’m relieved, even though I’m far from it. “Thank you…for assuring me that I’m probably reading too much into this. And you’re right. I do miss him, more so than I realized.”
He nods. “Of course. You know you can always talk to me, Elliot. Now, is there anything else I can ease your mind about, or can we discuss something else?” He lifts his coffee to his mouth again. “I mean, I heardtheFletcher Adams is thinking of retiring soon. Do you happen to know anything about that?”
We spend the next twenty minutes discussing football, once it’s clear I’m not getting anything else out of him, we part ways.
On my drive back to Blossom Peak, I call Rhonan.
“Elliot?”
“Hey, Rho. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Voices ring out in the background, but they begin to fade. “Just at the station. What’s up?”
Sighing, I adjust my grip on my steering wheel. “I need your help.”
“All right…”
“I need you to run a background check on Tori again, but something more thorough than the one you ran last year. I need the dirty stuff—shit you’re not going to find in your system at work.”
He lowers his voice. “Everything okay?”
“Let’s just say, my intuition was correct. My dad and Tori are hiding something, which means I need you to dig up some dirt on him too.”
“You sure you want to do this, Elliot? I mean…”
