"Yes, I am," I answered the man.
"Oh, good," he said. His voice sounded as if he was relieved to get this information. He walked over to the gate and pressed a button. The gate swung open and out so I had to step back to avoid being hit by it. "Sorry about that," he said. "Forgot to warn you. Come, please." I crossed the threshold of the gate as the chauffeur walked to the limo and opened a door for me. "I need to get you up to the house as soon as possible," he said.
Since he seemed to be eager for me to get in the limo, I didn't bother to ask him any questions. I walked into the car and the chauffeur shut the door once I was seated. He got into the driver's seat and quickly drove the limo to the front door. It was a couple hundred yards or so to mansion. Once he stopped the car I opened the door myself and practically hit him with the door. Apparently his was accustomed to opening the door all the time. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm just not used to this."
"That's OK," he said. "Let me get you inside." I followed him to the door which he opened for me and allowed me to enter first. I took a few small steps and took in the magnificence of the house. The ceiling was very high and the room was very wide. On either side there were entrances to other rooms. Directly in front of me were two curved staircases, one on each side that led to a kind of indoor balcony which disappeared on either side, presumably to more rooms. "He's here!" the chauffeur called out excitedly. "Follow me, please," he said as he led me to the left.
I followed him into what appeared to be a large drawing room. A woman was seated in a chair on the far side. She had a great deal of papers around her and was immersed in some kind of documents when she looked up to see me. She appeared to be in her mid-30's with light brown hair. She wore a very professional business suit. "You are Joseph Williams?" she asked me.
"Yes, that's right," I answered.
She stood up and extended her hand. "I'm Carissa Flanagan. I represent Richmond & Westfield, which is currently in charge of Mr. Wooten's estate."
"O...K," I said slowly. I decided to feign ignorance just a tiny bit.
"You remember receiving a summons from us, do you not?" she asked.
"Um, yea," I said as I fumbled over the words. "You mean this?" I asked as I wished for said summons to appear in my back pocket. I pulled out a folded-over sheet of paper with the letterhead of said law firm at the top. I handed it to her.
She looked it over and said, "Yes, this is it. So no doubt you are wondering why you are here?"
"Indeed," I said.
"You can rejoin the rest of the staff, Albert," she said to the chauffeur. He bowed slightly and disappeared in the direction from which we entered. "As you may or may not know, Mr. Chester Wooten owned this house and left a rather sizable estate. However, he had no living heirs and until yesterday we could find no copy of a will. One finally turned up, and it named Joseph T. Williams, last known address 27B Ruppert Drive, as sole beneficiary. In short, Mr. Williams, you now own this entire estate."
I gave her a dumbfounded look. "Wait, you're saying that...I've inherited all of this?"
"In short, yes," she said. "We have a few things to go over to confirm this, but as long as there are no discrepancies, you will inherit this house and all assets of Mr. Chester Wooten."
"Um...wow," I said. "This is...unbelievable."
"As it is to us, Mr. Williams," she said. "At midnight this evening, if no will had been found and no heir stepped forth, Richmond & Westfield would have assumed full legal control." Something in her voice told me that she was not happy with the current situation. Or at least her law firm was not thrilled. I suppose that was only to be expected.
"So what is it that I need to verify?" I asked.
"First, I'd like to see you're driver's license," she answered. I took it out of my wallet and handed it to her. She wrote down all of the information from it onto a form she had. "I see you're at the same address as was listed in the will."
"Yes, I've lived there for about six years," I said.
She continued to write information on her form. Without looking up she asked, "So how did you know Mr. Wooten, Mr. Williams?"
Uh-oh, I thought.