THE ADVOCATE 527
VOL. 80 PART 4 JULY 2022
“Gerald, you won’t believe this.”
Louise couldn’t know that Sabina heard everything from her post at
reception. The acoustics delivered all manner of hallway conversations
directly to her: tense conversations with spouses, the start of an affair and
the procurement of B.C. bud.
“William is such a disappointment. He is in there alone with Mary now.
I told him that she wants to leave me the house. And I showed him the doctor’s
report saying she isn’t looney. What else does he want?”
Good. Mary will be strong. What a bloody bully Louise is.
“I think she knows what to say.”
Several minutes later, William came looking for Louise, who was still
rage-pacing in the hallway. She hung up and smiled.
“Everything okay?” The lilt was back in her voice.
“Yes, fine.”
They returned to the conference room. Several minutes later, they all
exited.
“It won’t take long to create a new will with just the one change. You can
come back anytime later this week.”
“Aunt Mary, shall we come back tomorrow? Maybe in the morning and
then we can have lunch. Anywhere you like. My treat.”
Mary nodded.
Sabina followed William back to his office. She paused at the nearby photocopier,
pretending to sort through abandoned documents.
William spoke to his legal assistant, Vivian. “Can you do a new will, identical
to this one, except in Clause 9(c), please change the beneficiary of the
Yew Street property from Darren Robert to Louise Jane Groves.” William
nodded.
Sabina stewed all afternoon. Unbelievable. That bitch won. Why did Mary
cave? Should she talk to William? Not terribly likely he would listen to a
summer receptionist. After 4:30, when the phone rarely rang, she pulled up
the Mary Groves file on the reception laptop. A new document had been
created that afternoon. A memo to file. She clicked on it.
Memo to File
From: William J. Smith
Mary Groves attended at our office with her niece Louise Groves. Louise
advised in the absence of her aunt that Mary wanted to change her will
to make her the beneficiary of her home. She had a letter from Randall
Marks, Registered Psychologist. Dr. Marks indicated he conducted a clinical
examination and found Mary Groves to be of sound mind, seeing no
indication that she did not have full capacity to enter into a legal arrangement
(attached).