Free Twelve Rooms with a View by Theresa Rebeck

talking quickly. “As you are aware, our mother passed only a few days ago, so obviously we are reeling, completely caught off guard, so I’m sure this is our fault. But I think there’s been some confusion about the status of the estate. We spoke with Stuart Long just yesterday. He was in possession of your father’s will—have you seen it? I brought an extra copy in case you hadn’t.” She handed it to him and kept talking. “Anyway, there is some real question about who the beneficiaries of the estate are at this time. Your father seems to have expressed in no uncertain terms that our mother was to inherit everything, largely meaning the apartment, it’s unclear what else is included, but in any event I’m going to have to ask you to hold off on changing the locks for now. Until we get this sorted out.” She smiled at him, very pleasant, but there was a definite don’t-fuck-with-me edge behind it all. She works in PR and she can be very daunting.
    Doug Drinan, unfortunately, didn’t get on board with what she was saying. He barely glanced at the papers she handed him, then tossed themon top of the old radiator that was hissing in the hallway. “I’m aware we’re going to be in a holding pattern for a little while with regard to the dispensation of the will,” he told her. “Which is why I thought it important to secure the apartment. Obviously we can’t have just anyone wandering in and out, disturbing the effects before we’ve even begun to probate this situation. I hate to say it, such a sad time—I mean really, condolences on your loss—but it sounds to me like this is going to get pretty complicated. This is just precautionary. Don’t want things to get ugly down the line or anything.”
    Okay, the speech was good, but he was not as good as Lucy. He pressed those thin lips together, trying to smile and explain things like a nice guy, but he couldn’t be bothered to pretend all that hard, so it came off like what it was, condescending and mean and like he was kind of enjoying messing with us. Which maybe he was. The more I saw of this guy the less I liked him. His hair really was dirty, and he had too much disappointment in him. Sometimes those are the worst people to deal with because they aren’t even thinking anymore, they’re just hoping they can make you as miserable as they are.
    Lucy didn’t care. Honestly, she has ice water in her veins, so this guy and all his unhappiness were just no match. “I completely agree,” she said. “That’s why we felt it was best to have Tina camp out here for the time being, to have someone on site making sure nothing untoward happened to the property while we sorted this all out. For instance, I think you and your brother stopped by in the middle of the night last night and removed some items?”
    Doug Drinan stared at her, aghast at her nerve. She looked right back at him. “My mother’s wedding ring,” he said finally, as if the righteousness of the situation would mean something to her.
    Lucy shrugged. “We have no way of ascertaining that.”
    “Except that she saw it.” Drinan turned his cold stare on me, like I was the one who was fucking with him.
    “I never said it wasn’t, I didn’t—ah—” I started.
    Lucy raised her hand, fearless, and cut me off. “Tina, your actions are completely blameless in this matter.”
    “How do you figure that?” asked Drinan. “We got there, she’d already completely cased the joint.”
    “I was looking for my mom’s perfume,” I explained again.
    “You went through my father’s underwear drawer,” he sneered. “You managed to find his wallet, which was conveniently empty by the time we got there.”
    “I didn’t—”
    “It doesn’t matter what you were doing, Tina,” Lucy said. “The point is, you did not remove anything from the premises, nor are you—or I or Alison—doing anything except insisting that we hold to the status quo until our lawyers and their lawyers have a chance