My Boss is a Serial Killer Read Online Free PDF Page B

Risk Management Department had okayed this
interview.
    “ Mrs. Maxwell’s death is being
considered suspicious,” Gus explained. “It initially looked like
suicide by drug overdose, but we have a witness who states that an
unidentified subject was seen leaving her house on the night of her
death. One of Mrs. Maxwell’s neighbors was out looking for his cat
and noticed a person leaving her house. He didn’t think anything of
it until the following day when he heard about her death. Also
there are some questions about the drugs Ms. Maxwell allegedly took
in order to end her life.”
    “ Questions about drugs?” asked
Bill.
    “ At this point, I’d rather not go into
detail about that. In combination with the sighting of the
unidentified subject, her death definitely warrants further
investigation.”
    Bill and I exchanged glances. All very
interesting, but why was he speaking with us?
    Gus said, in answer to our confusion, “As I’m
sure you’re aware, Mrs. Maxwell had a fair amount of money and
assets. I found out from her daughter that you, Mr. Nestor, drafted
her will and other estate documents for her.”
    “ That’s true,” said Bill. “We did her
estate work in 2004. She paid her invoice and took the originals.
We haven’t heard much from her since then.”
    “ No?” Gus jotted notes in his little
detective notebook. “How can you be sure about that? Two years is a
pretty long time.”
    “ When a client calls or emails us,” I
explained, “I keep a record in the file. With an email, I’d print a
copy; with a phone call, I’d log the call on a blue sheet that
included the details. Even though this is an old file that is kept
in storage, I’d still send copies to our clerks, who would
eventually put them in the right file downstairs. But I checked
with the file room, and there’s nothing pending for this file
number. So there’s no record of any contact in here until her
daughter called Bill last week to let us know what
happened.”
    Bill picked up the rhythm of my explanation.
“And this week, I’ll put together a memo including the details of
Adrienne’s death and any conversations I had with her family, and
we’ll add that to the file as well.”
    “ Then the file will be closed?” asked
Gus.
    “ Her file is already technically
closed,” said Bill. “Once the estate documents are finished, I
often don’t see the clients again. There is no further need for me
to be involved in their lives, unless there is a problem with the
documents or a change in life status. For example, if Adrienne had
gotten remarried, she could have come back to me to draft a new
will. Or she could have gone to someone else just as easily. She
paid her bill, so we no longer had any obligations to each
other.”
    “ So now that she’s died, what
happens?”
    “ In Adrienne’s case? Nothing here. I’m
not her executor.”
    “ You don’t have a reading of the
will?”
    “ It’s not like in the movies,
Detective. There may be a reading of the will, or there may just be
a family meeting of some sort. But whatever happens, it will be
handled by her daughter, who is the executor of Adrienne’s estate.
I’m not their family lawyer. I’m just the guy who drafted
Adrienne’s estate documents for her to ensure their legality. Now,
if one of Adrienne’s relatives decides that the will is unfair or
even bogus, attention would turn back to me—and not in a good way.
But I do my best to take care of my clients and make sure that
their estate documents are as good as can be. Because everybody
dies, eventually.”
    I was impressed by this pithy little speech,
and Gus seemed all right with the answer, too. He asked Bill, “Do
you remember your meetings with Mrs. Maxwell?”
    “ Oh, fairly well,” Bill replied. “But I
do a great deal of estate work, and most of the client meetings
progress along the same lines. They all begin to feel the same
after a while.”
    “ How do those client meetings usually
go, in