Megan Decrux's morning had been rough with far more ups and downs than she was used to. In fact, thanks in part to her mother's actions it had often been difficult for many to trust her, particularly as unlike many of the other children that Alice Decrux had raised, Megan had kept the name Decrux. It was something that many had thought meant that she was supportive of her mother's activities and it often took time for her to explain that she didn't approve of or support her mother's actions. Though not everyone accepted that, at least not easily.
That had left Megan's apartment rather quiet more often than not. However, this Sunday morning had been different and began with a visit from one of the Moon Lake Police Department informing her that her mother died in a car wreck north of Moon Lake trying to flee from the police, apparently after somehow getting her Love Potion Number Nine into the punch at the High School's Halloween Dance. That had been heart breaking for Megan, as while she had greatly disagreed with her mother's actions and was often frustrated by the fact that if Alice Decrux couldn't reach her lawyer, she was then contacted when there had been issues between her mother and the law. Megan didn't like having to be the one to have to bail her mother on those issues.
And it was that sort of thing that had fueled their arguments over the years. Megan tried to get her mother to seek counseling to address the broken heart she'd gotten when she was in High School and deal with that sort of thing in a responsible way. She'd tried to get her mother to recognize that the male that had betrayed her in high school was not representative of every man and that using them to milk them for child support payments was not right. All of those attempts had failed though, and now with Alice dead, Megan knew that there was no way to get her mother to accept things or truly change her ways. That was painful.
Then there was the meeting with her mother's lawyer where Megan found that she was really the sole beneficiary in her mother's will. That was something that she didn't expect, given the arguments they'd had over the years. What became even more of a surprise was that what her mother's lawyer presented was that Alice Decrux's financial assets amounted to being a multi-millionaire. Now, while her mother wasn't the youngest of weres, neither was she near the middle aged weres like Akane Tachibana or the elderly weres either, and even if she was, Megan was also well aware that child support payments were not enough to make one a millionaire, let alone a multi-millionaire.
“It had to have been the stock investments that she’d made,” Megan thought, “she bought some stock and when the stock went up, she could make more. And over time that compounded…”
Of course that only further raised questions on what her mother was up to. Investing in Tachibana Enterprises made some degree of sense as while its work mostly focused around the production of the were-birth control pill and specifically engineered to every specific were-species, it also worked in a fair number of other pharmaceutical projects, which so far as Megan knew worked well. However, all of that was a form of "honest money making." In doing this, Megan was sure that her mother's schemes were never all that necessary to begin with, at least not from a financial perspective, and that only raised the question of what her mother was using it for. But Megan knew she couldn't figure that out because her mother was now dead and she would have to pick up the pieces, and the latest arrival at her door was probably one of them. Either a former "conquest" seeking justice or some officer of Moon Lake's courts with billing issues.
She opened the door to find a blond haired woman standing there in a pair of jogging shorts and a faded Seattle Supersonics tee-shirt and Megan felt some sense of ease creep in to a degree. As the person at the door wasn't anyone her mother had wronged.
"Marsha! What brings you here?" Megan said to the woman, Marsha Meadows, a young wererat that was a secretary for one of the schools in Moon Lake.
"A lot of activity," Marsha answered with a worried look to Megan, "I was tidying up my nest when I heard a knock on your door... it was early, but then... hey... you could have had an appointment or an emergency at the College's book-store. So at the time I ignored it... at least at first. But then I thought I heard sobbing and that got me up and dressed. By the time I could get out into the hall, I saw some guy in a suit walking away from your door, looking a bit relieved in a way... Is something wrong?"
Megan managed a small smile and then gave a sigh. Marsha's arrival was unexpected in terms of its timing, but the sentiment made some sense. Marsha was one of the few people that Megan had been able to talk and explain the complex situation she'd had with her mother. Many who'd run afoul of Alice Decrux didn't trust Megan because of the same family name. Some did come to accept it in time and saw Megan as different from her mother, but that didn't mean that Megan saw many of them all that much or that dealing with Alice Decrux was something they wanted to deal with. Marsha had been a bit different, and being Megan's neighbor, Megan had gotten the time to try and explain her issues with trying to get her mother to let things go.
"Only a sad conclusion and a mystery to a lifetime of mistakes," Megan gave a sigh and stepped back ushering Marsha in.
"So, what happened?" Marsha asked, getting the real sense that something was wrong. She'd had some worries on that when she thought she'd heard sobbing coming from Megan's apartment, but Moon Lake's apartment walls were fairly sturdy and many were often well insulated. While the walls wouldn't muffle everything they weren't so thin that anything and everything could be easily heard.
"Some of my mother's schemes finally caught up with her," Megan sighed, "she apparently tried to drug the Halloween Dance last night and then fled. In the course of doing so... she ended up killed when she went off the road and down into a ravine north of town."
"I'm sorry, Megan," Marsha said slowly. She wasn't a fan of Alice Decrux by any means and there were some times where she privately felt that Alice Decrux deserved much of the criticism and suspicion that she got, but she also knew that Megan wasn't like her mother saying "I told you so" or "she had it coming" wouldn't exactly be friendly. And Marsha considered herself a good friend, "I know you saw good in her... or at least the potential for it..."
"If she could only let things go," Megan nodded as the two sat down on a small couch, "but she didn't... and probably paid the price for it."
Marsha nodded, but didn't say anything. She really didn't know what to say, as she also knew that Megan had taken some degree of suspicion over the years because of her name, even if Megan didn't deserve it. But she couldn't defend Alice Decrux and at the same time a part of her also figured that Megan didn't want Marsha to defend Alice Decrux. They'd had plenty of conversations where she just let Megan rant and grumble at some argument that she'd had with her mother.
"And that really isn't the biggest surprise out of all of this," Megan continued which got Marsha's attention.
"It isn't?" Marsha asked looking to her friend.
"We both know that my mother didn't make too many friends," Megan nodded, "about the only reason her sweats shop has stayed in business is that she hasn't had dedicated competition. Sure one could point to some of the other stores and shops in town also carrying candies and sweets, but these would be extras to their stock. They don't focus on it. Shoot... the college bookstore will sell some sweets too, and we generally sell out during finals weeks. Which is where my mother had the market cornered. Yes, she'd have some factory made candies... but she also made a series of hand made chocolates, toffee, and other sweets. And with no one in town to compete with, people HAD to go to her if they wanted to stay in town."
"Which made a lot of her relations business related," Marsha surmised.
"Even her relations with me," Megan nodded, "Most of the men she's swindled are still here in Moon Lake... but all of them don't want to hear from or about her in anyway. My own biological father hates me because of what my mother did to him... and when I confronted my mother on this... we fought and squabbled. I managed to get her to admit why she's done what she's done. Not that it helped my mother realize that she'd been in the wrong."
Marsha nodded, but didn't say anything.
"And all of my half siblings have changed their names and left Moon Lake because they couldn't put up with my mother's antics and reputation," Megan continued, "maybe they had heard the rumors of the things my mother did and couldn't stay as a result... they were so put off by the truth that their mother wasn't what she portrayed herself as and left."
"That'd make sense," Marsha commented, "you grow up and you defend the parent you have, because that is all you know. Then you find that what you've grown up with is wrong... most people will then reject everything they've been because of it..."
"I didn't," Megan pointed out.
"Which shows that you aren't most people," Marsha countered, "and given that you've tried to give your mother the help she truly needs... help her try to find the good that you've said is there... that might even show that you're perhaps better than most people in that regard. I know I wouldn't have done what you've done to get your mother to see things right. And that shows how good you are as a person, Megan. Your name doesn't affect that."
Megan managed a small smile at that. She'd vented her frustration with things her mother had done to Marsha enough that it actually felt good to hear some measure of comfort and assurance from Marsha was a good thing regarding to Megan's dealings with her mother. It was quite helpful.
"Thanks," Megan managed after a deep breath. She then watched Marsha nod before she continued her explanation. "Anyway... to my surprise, my mother apparently named me as her sole beneficiary. Everything... her house... her business... her formula for "Love Potion Number Nine," the works. She left everything to me. Not something I expected give the number of fights we've had over the years. Sure... I've kept her family name, but we've gone back and forth over her antics... I really didn't expect to be left everything. I'd actually find it more likely that things would be left to some feminist group or someone that really wouldn't know just who was leaving them things."
"Maybe... but then things like Love Potion Number Nine can be pretty strong," Marsha commented, "Harold and I have loved it... but it's something that we'd have to burn through and can't be counteracted... which has largely left it limited to Moon Lake, your mother, and Tachibana Enterprises with regard to some of the chemical research. If it goes beyond Moon Lake... someone like the FDA would be bound to find it and demand it be outlawed."
"Perhaps... but then one would think that she'd then leave the chemical formula to Tachibana Enterprises, since they have the laboratory facilities to actually make it and then sell it as an ingredient to anyone that picks up my mother's sweet shop if they even keep it," Megan commented, "why give the chemical formula to me? Why give everything to me? I might see some of the clothes and nick-knacks as it were... but why everything?"
"I really can't say, Meg," Marsha said slowly and with a heavy sigh, "maybe you were starting to get through to her in some ways... that she was slowly starting to come around."
"Very slowly," Megan commented, "I don't even think the police know just how many people that my mother drugged last night."
Marsha sighed and nodded and was privately grateful that she'd been visiting her parents the previous night and didn't arrive back in Moon Lake until after the time that the dance ended. She knew how potent Love Potion Number Nine was, even when used responsibly, and that was why Moon Lake heavily regulated the drug's use. People had to be aware of its presence and likely consequences beforehand, and if not that could qualify as drugging. And while a were's high metabolism might burn through most drugs quite quickly, Love Potion Number Nine had proven to be quite potent and long lasting. Which would then mean if the number drugged wasn't known, it'd be quite possible that there could be a fair number of normals that went to the dance as normal human beings and gained a fursona as a result because both the normal and were had too much of a powerful aphrodisiac in their system to be able to say "no." And as word of that got out, that probably wouldn't help the public perception of the name "Decrux" all that much.
"I don't think there's much I can say to help..." Marsha said slowly.
"Just having a friend to talk to helps," Megan replied and managed a nervous smile, "and I haven't even got to the point where I'd really need the help with."
Marsha could feel her mouth fall open for a moment as she really didn't expect to hear that. Though, after a moment she did manage to recover and let Megan then continue.
"And that ultimately comes down to finances," Megan spoke, "From what I've looked over... she's left around twenty million dollars in terms of financial assets." She paused to watch Marsha's eyes practically bulge out of their sockets for a moment. She then continued, "That is a lot of money. And about the only way I can figure she did it was by taking a lot of the money she took from the men she sued for child support and invested in the stock market... and particularly with companies that succeeded. Then when they made money, she somehow used that to compound her money when they did well... and somehow managed to avoid major problems when the market went down."
"Sounds smart... and reflects how your mother avoided real legal troubles over the years," Marsha commented, "given how often you've complained about her seducing men into child support payments"
"Yeah... but that has only left me the question of what to do with it all?" Megan answered, "I'm sure my mother had a plan for herself... or the hope that I'd carry on where she started. Which I don't want to."
"Why she did it might be the bigger question," Marsha commented, "Yes, she's seduced a fairly large number of men, likely with the intent of becoming pregnant to take in child support payments. But if she's invested it to become a multimillionaire... the question is then why? Granted we weres can live for a long time if we avoid a major disease, parasites, fights, accidents, or war... but if simple survival was the issue, once she passed one million, she'd probably already secured that."
"But with all the men she'd seduced over the years and all the men she'd successfully forced into child support payments over the years... there would then be some need for that..." Megan said slowly.
"Maybe," Marsha said slowly, "but then if it were for family reasons, how would you then explain the Tachibanas? I think many have lost count trying to figure out how man grandchildren that Vixen has, and many of them live independent lives from their grandmother and she is far more involved with her family than your mother was."
"True," Megan admitted, "so maybe we won't know the why. The real question is what to do with it all? I could easily retire and either move into her home or stay here and retire on that and still have money left over when I die of old age."
Marsha paused to look over her friends serious look and then looked over her friends rather Spartan décor. True, prior to this point Megan Decrux had lived on a rather modest income that wouldn't be easy for many to live on. And to some extent that might have been expected given Alice Decrux's reputation.
"So we'll have to ask why for some..." Marsha managed.
Megan nodded agreement, but for the moment she had no answer beyond what she already knew and had.