The Big Kitty (30 page)

Ollie the Barnacle even apologized for his bad behavior. “I was having a little cash-flow problem. Sometimes these hiccups happen, and, well, I suppose I kinda went off the deep end.”

He didn’t give her a raise, however.

So, just as everything was returning to normal again, Sunny was not happy to find a letter from a lawyer. This one was different from the usual legal garbage that had been clogging the Coolidge mailbox.

It was an invitation to attend the reading of Ada Spruance’s will.

Fine,
she thought.
So Ada leaves me her undying thanks, and then the whole shebang goes to Gordie, who probably died without a will. Which means her estate will either go to the state or into court for as long as those vulture relatives have money to fight over it.

Sunny appeared at the lawyer’s office, a place on Main Street in downtown Kittery Harbor. She was shocked to find Jane Rigsdale in the reception area, too.
Maybe the veterinarian gets Ada’s thanks, too,
Sunny thought.
Wonderful.

Jane reacted to the unexpected encounter pretty much the way Shadow had greeted the return of the Jeep Wrangler to the Coolidge driveway, by circling around suspiciously. At least Jane didn’t try to sniff Sunny.

Finally Jane said, “After all I heard on the news, I guess I owe you an apology. Those guys really were after you.”

“Let’s just say you didn’t pick the best time for a confrontation,” Sunny replied. “I was wound a bit tight—frankly at that point, I was wondering if my boss was trying to kill me.”

Whoops, maybe too much information,
Sunny thought, taking in the look on Jane’s face.

“Anyway,” Sunny went on, “I hope we can be friends.”
With just the occasional body slam and elbow in the eye when it comes to Will Price,
she finished silently.

Nobody else joined them in the outer office. Sunny and Jane kept glancing around, feeling weirder and weirder, until Peter Lewin, the attorney, came out, greeted them, and seated them in front of his desk with almost old-fashioned courtliness. “Mrs. Spruance came to me the day that the first story about her ticket appeared in the
Harbor Crier
,” he said. “She was feeling very optimistic about finding it—an optimism that, despite everything, turned out to be well-founded,” he added with a smile at Sunny.

“The terms of the will are actually very simple, so, if you agree, I’ll just state them without the usual legal language,” Lewin said. “There was a small trust fund set up for Gordie, provided he stayed clean and sober. As that apparently didn’t happen, those funds go back into the main estate.”

He turned to Sunny. “To thank you for your kindness
and promise to help, Ada offers you your pick of any of the cats living at her house.”

Sunny couldn’t help laughing. “Actually,” she said, “one of the cats has already picked me.”

“The remainder of her estate after taxes is to be invested into a foundation for the care of animals—especially cats. And Ada wanted you, Dr. Rigsdale, to run the show.”

Jane looked as if she were about to fall out of her chair. “We’d talked many times about the specific problems that cats face—dogs get adopted much more often—and how Ada always hoped the town would have a no-kill shelter. But that was always pie in the sky!”

“Well, now you should have the wherewithal to accomplish some of those hopes,” Lewin said. “I can hardly wait to hear the reaction from Ada’s so-called relations.”

“And that’s it?” Jane asked. “It all goes to … me?”

“There will be papers to sign—lots of them,” Lewin replied. “But that can be left to the future. I thought you should know the basic disposition of the estate.”

Jane still looked a little shell-shocked as they stepped out onto Main Street. “It all seems just so … so
unfair
!” she burst out. “You not only found that ticket for Ada, you risked your life to find out who killed her and her son.”

She broke off as a black pickup truck pulled up in the street and the window rolled down. Will Price stuck his head out. “Hey, Sunny!” Then he realized who was standing beside her and ducked his head. “Jane.”

“You’re just in time to congratulate us,” Sunny told him, laughter bubbling up again. “We just heard the reading of Ada Spruance’s will. I inherit a cat, and Jane here gets the millions.”

Might as well let him know now,
she thought.
Jane’s hit the trifecta. Looks, personality, and buckets of money.

“Actually,” Jane broke in, embarrassed, “it’s a foundation to benefit animals.”

“Huh,” Will said, looking a little shell-shocked now himself. He glanced over at Sunny. “Maybe we’ll get that no-kill shelter you were talking about—even if it is a New York kind of idea.”

Sunny felt a grin tug at her lips. So, he remembered that, did he? Maybe she had a chance after all, in spite of Jane’s obvious advantages.

“Definitely,” Jane said. She took Sunny by the hand. “I know it’s not much, but I can promise you this. As long as I have any say, you won’t ever have to worry about a vet bill for Shadow—ever.”

Sunny was actually touched. “Thanks, Jane. I’ll be sure to take you up on that. Knowing Shadow, he’ll need more patching up than the average cat.”

“It’s little enough,” Jane told her.

“Oh, no,” Sunny replied. “I’ve gotten my payment.”

She smiled, thinking of the look she would see on her dad’s face when she told him
this
story.