Masha sat quietly on Megan Decrux's couch listening as her friend and neighbor in one of Moon Lake's apartment buildings relayed all the information related to Alice Decrux's downfall. It relayed some rather surprising news in that Alice Decrux had left her daughter a lot more than what Megan had expected. Were families generally did okay, particularly those that had managed to avoid disease or violent deaths, but attaining the sort of wealth that Megan relayed was not that common. It was only a select few families that had managed that level of success, and most of them often had some noble lineage behind them, and that wasn't common across the board.
Of course, Marsha also knew from Megan's downcast eyes that inheriting a fortune wasn't something she wanted. For many people, that sort of thing would mean a lot. Weres in particular would enjoy that sort of thing because of how long they could live, providing they avoided major disease, parasites, or violent deaths, as things like inflation and other changes were always there and occurred in ways that always made the world different. Thus having financial stability was always a good thing, but Megan's situation was a bit different. For Alice Decrux was not like Akane no Tachibana and most of Moon Lake knew it. Those who didn't know were usually pretty new to town and hadn't run into Alice Decrux.
"I really don't know what to do with all of this," Megan said after a moment or two, "it's all too much... and..."
"And you don't want to be forever tied to your mother's legacy," Marsha said slowly, rehashing one of the lines that Megan had used when an argument between Megan and her mother got heated.
"Yes," Megan nodded, "I mean the money and the store would be nice... but with the exception of her candy shop, practically everything I've been left has my mother's schemes to seduce men and get child support money from them... The last attempt that I know of was with a George Leprune. But the attempt failed when the Leprune family made the accusation that my mother effectively raped their son during the trial for child support. There was never any evidence to prove rape, but the court did accept evidence that they did have which gave the indication that regardless of whether or not the sex was consensual, they did have enough to find that Alice had deliberately insured that she would get pregnant as a result of the liaison to make George Leprune a father..."
"I remember that from the news... your mother ended up losing custody of the infant daughter," Marsha said slowly, "Do you..."
"I couldn't get any more detail out of that," Megan answered, "at the time... George was still in High School... he may have been eighteen at the time, but still in High School... but because of that the case was closed for George Leprune's privacy, and my mother was sore that she wasn't able to fleece the family for child support payments... So I was never able to get the full details... and to some extent... I don't want to know."
Marsha nodded and accepted that. That was one of the things that she highly critical of Alice Decrux on and she remembered reminding Megan on that when it happened.
"But yet... I'm left with all this..." Megan said slowly and waived one hand out toward her kitchen where papers that her mother's lawyer had left were presently laying, "and I really don't know what to do with it... Not all of the money is from the money she claimed in child support payments... but..."
"But without those payments and claims, your mother never would have had the opportunity for it, regardless of the smartness of her investments," Marsha finished and watched Megan nod with agreement.
"So... what do I do with it?" Megan asked with a sigh, "my mother's lawyer had the opinion that I save it and don't waste the money... But he's not the one who's had to live with the resentment of people thinking I'm just like my mother."
"I really don't know on what to say," Marsha said slowly, "Maybe you could divide up the money you inherited and return it to those that your mother made pay her in child support..."
"That's assuming I can confirm all the men she did that with over the years," Megan sighed, "when I first found out about all this... I'd thought it was something my mother had done at a regular pattern... about once every twenty years. Essentially raising the child between attempts..." Marsha watched as Megan paused for a moment. "And growing up... when I was little, I'd figured that my siblings were all full siblings and that we'd all had the same father, and thus the relationship didn't pan out well for mom and so on... It wasn't until I got into high school that I began to figure things out on how often my mother had lied on that subject. I didn't have several full siblings from one relationship. I had several half-siblings from several one night stands. Some times there were court cases for child support and apparently sometimes the father had willingly agreed to pay and thus there was never any court fee... all things that hurt when one finds out the things you were told as a child were wrong."
"And they wouldn't want to get their money back... with interest?" Marsha wondered, sounding a bit shocked.
"Some might... but as I've said... my own father didn't want to have anything to do with me when I was able to find him," Megan sighed, "so a fair number probably wouldn't want anything that would have connections to my mother's schemes... and even if they did, I'm not sure I'd be able to track them all down. Unless my mother kept a list of names and addresses in some safety box that I've never known of... which I doubt. She'd even brag in her arguments with me that the police would never have the paper trail needed to convict her."
"Maybe... but with things like child support payments... she'd need to keep some form of receipt for them," Marsha told her, "without that, she wouldn't be able to prove that the person in question might have owed it. And it would all be things the police have seen before, so it wouldn't be like hiding evidence. Technically speaking this would all be something that was perfectly legal, even if it was morally wrong."
"Maybe," Megan sighed, "though... I won't be able to figure that out until I can get a look at the house and figure out if I want to keep it and move in or... sell it."
"What would you want to do?" Marsha asked.
"I don't know," Megan answered, "it'll be something to get started on tomorrow... but right now... I don't know what to do with it. I'd be tempted to stay here... just to stay out of the way of people my mother antagonized... but I don't know."
"Some of it you shouldn't have to run away from," Marsha commented, "while people have had issues with your mother's actions... on a professional level, they have enjoyed her sweets."
"I'm not much of a cook..." Megan said slowly, "I can do okay for myself, but making candies... for people to buy... not so much. That, I'm pretty sure I'll sell. I might want to see if the person interested would want a sweets shot so that Moon Lake doesn't lose it, but I'm not as good as my mother was with candies or baking. So even with the one part of her life where she actually did something "good," I can't match it."
"So... what if you can't find all the men your mother hit up for child support? Or if they don't want the money? Or the house?" Marsha asked.
"Right now... that's where I don't know," Megan sighed, "I'm not sure it'd be wise to keep the money... it'd only leave a bad taste in my mouth and others, thinking I was in on my mother's schemes. Maybe once everything clears taxes... just donate it some charities that need the support."
Marsha nodded as she looked over to her friend. Alice Decrux might not have had the most popular reputation in Moon Lake, but Megan wasn't like her mother and she deserved support. Eventually, Megan looked up with a small smile.
"Thanks for listening to me with all this," Megan commented, "it's been a rough day... with things I never expected stuff I needed to vent on and think through... You've been a big help."
"It's what friends are for," Marsha replied, "and who knows... maybe the future will be better."