Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 21

wanted to send to New York. They then looked over the whole house, Stone listing things—a mirror here, a chair there—that might work in his New York, Connecticut, or Maine houses.
    “Who did Mom leave this house to?” Peter asked.
    “I don’t know, Peter,” Stone replied. “I haven’t read her will yet. We’ll get together soon with Bill Eggers and go over everything.”
    “I don’t want this house or the property,” Peter said. “I’ll always think of it as the place Mom died.”
    “I understand. We’ll look into selling.”
    The five of them dined at a table in the study, then went to bed.
     
     
    The following morning Somes drove everyone to the airport and loaded their luggage into the airplane.
    “What are you going to do with the Gulfstream?” Peter asked.
    “I don’t have any idea yet,” Stone replied, “but I think it’s more airplane than we need, since we already have the Mustang.”
    Peter nodded. “I think you’re right.” He walked Hattie into the hangar and showed her the interior of the larger aircraft.
    Stone preflighted the airplane and got a clearance, then they took off into clear blue skies. They touched down at Teterboro at eleven, and Stone drove Hattie and the Bacchettis home.
    “Do you want to have dinner tonight?” Peter asked.
    “I think I’d better eat with my parents tonight,” Hattie said. “How about tomorrow night?”
    “Sure.” He gave her a kiss and got back into the car.
    “Hattie’s quite a girl,” Stone said. “You’re lucky to know her.”
    Peter managed a smile, something he had not done often since his mother’s death. “I know that,” he said, “believe me.”
    An hour later Stone was at his desk.
    Joan came in and gave him a big hug. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
    “Thank you.”
    “I know we’re going to have a lot of work to do, settling the estate, and I’ll do everything I can to help.” The phone rang, and she answered it. “Bill Eggers for you.”
    Stone took the phone. “Hello, Bill.”
    “How did things go in Virginia?” Eggers asked.
    Stone told him about the service.
    “Can you lunch with me tomorrow in my office?” Eggers asked.
    “Of course.”
    “I think we should go over Arrington’s will and the estate.”
    “I’ll bring Peter,” Stone said. “I want him to hear all this from you, not me.”
    “I’m glad to have him.” They agreed to a time and hung up.
    Stone spent the rest of the day returning phone calls, catching up on paperwork with Allison, and replying to letters of condolence, including one from Herbie Fisher that was more legibly handwritten than Stone would have expected. “How’s it going with Herbie?” he asked Allison.
    “We’re seeing a lot of each other,” she said.
    “Why don’t you take over his legal work?”
    “If he has no objection,” she said.
    “I don’t think he’ll have any objection,” Stone replied. “Don’t fill out a Woodman & Weld timesheet for that; Herbie is a special case. Give Joan your hours, and she’ll handle it.”

    Stone made omelets for dinner for himself and Peter, and they went to bed early.
     
     
    The following morning they met with a cabinetmaker to look at the plans Peter had drawn for his study, then they walked up to the Seagram Building to see Bill Eggers in his office, where a table had been prepared for them before the fireplace.
    They finished lunch, then Stone took Arrington’s will from his briefcase and handed it to Eggers. “Here’s the original,” he said. “Peter, your mother met with Bill to draw up her will, then I sealed it and put it in my safe.”
    “That’s true, Peter,” Eggers said. “Stone didn’t want to have knowledge of her estate planning, and he asked for nothing.”
    “I understand,” Peter said solemnly.
    Eggers broke the seal on the envelope and opened it. “Most of it is boilerplate,” he said. “Peter, that’s just necessary legalese. Your mother left substantial sums to a dozen charities, coming to about twenty million dollars, but the heart of the will is what she bequeathed to you and your father.”
    Peter nodded.
    “Stone, she left you approximately half of her liquid assets and the Bel-Air property. That’s it. Peter, she left you the remainder of her estate—a little more than half of the total, including the Virginia property and horse farm and all the Centurion Studios stock.”
    “Wow,” Peter said softly.
    “Because of your youth, all this was left to you in trust.