I was in Love with Monster

Inheritance

Officer Tower had just finished explaining that they would need to arrange to see the copy of Rebecca's grandfather's will when I looked through the hospital-room window.

I couldn't leave her.

Not like this.

"I don't have to go back to the ranch."

Ryan looked at me.

"What?"

"You can get it."

Officer Tower glanced between us.

"Only if you're comfortable with your brother retrieving it."

"I am."

I looked at Ryan.

"When you get to the house, ask Grandma to show you the little black box in my wardrobe."

Ryan nodded.

"Little black box. Wardrobe."

"The will's inside it."

"Okay."

"And the key is in the drawer of my dresser."

Ryan pulled out his phone and typed it down.

"Key in dresser drawer. Black box in wardrobe."

"Exactly."

Then I narrowed my eyes at him.

"And don't start going through everything else in my drawers."

Ryan stared at me.

"I wasn't planning to."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Officer Jasper tried to hide a smile.

"Go into my room, get the key from my dresser drawer, ask Grandma to show you which wardrobe is mine if you've forgotten, get the little black box, open it, take out Rebecca's grandfather's will, lock the box again and bring the will straight here."

Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"I did live at the ranch once. I think I can find your bedroom."

"You've been gone three years. Things have changed."

"Fair point."

Officer Tower spoke.

"When you retrieve the document, don't write on it or alter it. Bring it back in the condition you find it."

Ryan nodded.

"Understood."

I looked back through the window at Rebecca.

"I'm staying here."

Ryan's expression softened.

"I know."

"I don't want her waking up and nobody she knows being here."

"Then don't leave."

That simple answer caught me off guard.

Ryan reached for his car keys.

"I'll go back to the ranch."

"Tell Grandma what's happened."

"I will."

"And Jake."

"Of course."

"And tell Jamal I'm okay."

Ryan smiled.

"I'll tell him Auntie Erin is fine."

"And Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't lose that will."

"I'm twenty-one, Erin."

"That doesn't magically make you responsible."

"Apparently managing an investment firm doesn't either."

"Correct."

He laughed quietly.

Then he turned to leave.

"Ryan?"

He stopped.

"Thank you."

For a moment, neither of us said anything.

Then he nodded.

"I'll be back."

I watched him disappear down the corridor.

Officer Jasper looked at me.

"You trust your brother to retrieve it?"

I looked towards the empty corridor.

Three years ago, Ryan had walked out of my life.

Now I was trusting him with something that could potentially matter to a police investigation.

"I'm learning to."

Officer Tower nodded.

"We'll speak with you again when he returns."

“Final Will and Testament of Archibald Alfie Tale.”

Ryan had already taken a few steps down the corridor when another detail came back to me.

"Ryan!"

He turned around.

"What now?"

"The will."

He looked down at his empty hands.

"Yes, Erin. That's generally what I'm going to the ranch to get."

"I know that."

I walked towards him.

"I've just remembered exactly what it says on the front."

Officer Tower and Officer Jasper, who were still nearby, stopped to listen.

Ryan unlocked his phone again.

"Go on."

"The document should say, 'Final Will and Testament of Archibald Alfie Tale.'"

Officer Jasper immediately wrote the name down.

"Archibald Alfie Tale?" he repeated.

"Yes. Rebecca's grandfather."

Officer Tower looked at me.

"You're certain that's the name?"

"Definitely. Archibald Alfie Tale. I remember because Rebecca joked that her grandfather had the most old-fashioned name she'd ever heard."

Ryan typed it into his phone.

"Final Will and Testament of Archibald Alfie Tale."

"That's it."

"And it's in the black box?"

"In my wardrobe."

"Key?"

"Dresser drawer."

Ryan nodded.

"Anything else you'd like to tell me before I make it to the lift?"

I thought.

"No."

He took another step.

"Wait."

Ryan slowly turned around again.

"Erin."

Officer Jasper coughed to hide a laugh.

"I'm serious. There might be other paperwork in the box. Don't just grab the first document you see."

Ryan walked back towards me.

"So I'm looking specifically for the document with Archibald Alfie Tale's name on it."

"Yes."

"Final Will and Testament."

"Exactly."

"In the little black box."

"Yes."

"In your wardrobe."

"Yes."

"Using the key from your dresser."

"Yes."

Ryan stared at me.

"I think I've got it."

"I'm making sure."

"I manage an investment firm."

"And yet I still don't completely trust you to find a piece of paper in a box."

Ryan put a hand over his heart.

"That hurts."

"You'll survive."

Officer Tower stepped forward.

"Mr Shilton, once you've located it, don't make any changes to the document. Bring it back exactly as you find it."

"Understood."

Ryan put his phone away.

Then he looked at me.

"I'll bring it back."

Something about the way he said it made me stop joking.

Three years.

Three years of him not being there when I needed him.

Now I was giving him a chance to prove that when he said he'd come back, he meant it.

"Okay."

Ryan started walking away.

This time I didn't call him back.

Officer Jasper looked down at his notes.

"Archibald Alfie Tale gives us another name we can verify."

"Good."

Officer Tower nodded.

"We can establish the family relationships and the arrangements surrounding the inheritance."

I glanced through Rebecca's hospital-room window.

"Maybe the will tells us why her uncle was so interested."

"It may provide useful context," Officer Tower said. "But we'll follow the evidence rather than assume the inheritance and the crash are connected."

I nodded.

They were right.

There was still a lot we didn't know.

I returned to Rebecca's bedside.

I sat down and looked at her.

"Archibald Alfie Tale."

I smiled faintly.

"I remembered."

Rebecca had laughed when she'd first shown me the document.

Grandad sounded like he should've owned a castle.

At the time, it had just been another ridiculous conversation between best friends.

Now his name could matter.

I looked at Rebecca.

"Let's see what your grandad had to say."

Because somewhere inside a little black box in my wardrobe was the Final Will and Testament of Archibald Alfie Tale.

And maybe, hidden among its pages, was the reason Rebecca had been so worried about keeping it safe.