Behind the Scenes of AWAKENING MACBETH

AWAKENING MACBETH: Part 2

Begin Part 2:

"You're going to be a very wealthy woman, Dr. Macbeth," the attorney said.

He'd said his name was Smithfield. Like the ham, Brodie thought ridiculously.

She looked around the modern glass box of a conference room as the two lawyers across the polished conference table spewed legal mumbojumbo at her and Diana; estate tax and regrettable delay due to the investigation. Complications due to the decedent being born in Scotland and status as a naturalized U.S. citizen with continuing financial holdings in Edinburgh.

The legalities of dealing with a suicide.

The last six weeks had been hideous. There had been the awful trip to Boston, the police investigation and shocking verdict, the funeral, and a huge memorial service at the university. She'd drifted through it all in a state of detached numbness, dry-eyed and dry-mouthed, holding herself together by sheer force of will. There'd been no energy left for breaking up with Stanton and so he'd been by her side during the funeral and memorial service, looking expensively mournful in a succession of dark Brooks Brothers suits. Back in California filming his documentary, Stanton was now another entry on a continuing nightmarish to-do list that included today's final reading of her father's will.

"The advantage of having been an only child," Mr. Smithfield said ingratiatingly. "I hope you consider our services as you enter the wealth management phase of your life."

Brodie stiffened, Diana put a restraining hand on Brodie's, and Mr. Smithfield kept on talking.

The attorney, and his sidekick named Cooper, were part of a slick and expensive practice in downtown Richmond, Virginia's state capital. Brodie had been surprised to learn that her father had gone to them to write his will and execute his estate. Wallace Macbeth had always used his old friend Judge Perkins in Charlottesville for his few legal transactions.

"Ah, yes," Mr. Cooper said with an awkward little cough. "What we mean to say is that you are essentially the sole heir. A relatively small but significant bequest goes to Dr. Katherine Macbeth of Edinburgh, Scotland. Your aunt, I believe?"

"My father's only sister," Brodie said.

"The will states that she is to inherit a landscape painting by Campbell Mackay that currently hangs in the living room of the house on Granite Castle Road in Charlottesville."

He looked at Brodie over the top of his half-moon reading glasses and she nodded.

"She will also receive Dr. Macbeth's share of the townhouse on Moray Place in Edinburgh, Scotland," the attorney said.

Brodie nodded again. Her aunt Kay had always lived in the stately townhouse in Edinburgh's New Town that had been left equally to Wallace and Katherine Macbeth by their parents. Brodie knew it well; growing up she'd spent every summer with Kay in Edinburgh while her father ranged all over the world looking for history and writing his books.

"Also, a minor bequest goes to the University of Virginia's library fund." Mr. Cooper looked up at Brodie. "The sum of twenty thousand dollars."

"Okay," Brodie said distractedly, only because he seemed to expect her to say something but that hardly seemed like a minor amount of money.

Mr. Smithfield cleared his throat. "This leaves you to inherit the remainder of your father's estate. Namely the property on Granite Castle Road in Charlottesville, the contents of your father's office at the University of Virginia, his bank accounts in both the United States and Great Britain, and an investment portfolio managed by this firm. As you can see, this is quite a sizeable inheritance."