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“I wish I could tell you how and when Collin acquired it, but I don’t know. We were in our twenties when Collin moved into the manor. Honestly, I don’t remember that painting not being in his office once he set it up.”
Sadie came in with a mug of coffee and a glass of water.
“Sadie, Collin, and I went to school together.”
“I tried them both out. No spark. Turned out I like girls.”
She went out, closed the door.
Deuce shook his head. “She marches to her own—and drums you right along with her. I couldn’t manage without her. She and Maureen have been together nearly thirty years, I’d say. They’d be among the few who spent any real time with Collin the last four or five years, so may be able to fill in some blanks if you need them filled.”
“She’s a little scary, but I may risk it.”
“Oh, she’s a lot scary.” He said it with a laugh. “And she was fond of Collin. So. Trey gave you information on the local banks, doctors, and all of that. Do you need any guidance there?”
“I’ll open an account this week. I should’ve done that today, but I wanted to just… look around. I decided I’ll use the bank my uncle used. It seems simpler.”
“I think that’s a good choice. You set up your office in the library! Another good choice. It’s a marvelous room.”
“It is. Everything is. I don’t know how to handle it. What I mean is, I didn’t expect to love it. And I do, and at the same time it’s so intimidating.”
“That sounds like how I feel about Sadie. Are you worried about being up there alone?”
“Not exactly. I like the quiet, and being alone will help me focus on getting my business running, hopefully expanding. I did want to ask about the Pooles—the cousins—if there’s any problem with them—with me—the inheritance. It’s not just the house, which is a lot, but the money.”
“Collin left them all but the five percent of his share of the business, and it’s substantial. None of them, or their attorneys, have questioned the terms of the will. Owen—I know him very well, as he and Trey are friends—runs the business here. The hands-on business, you’d say. Believe me, I’d know if he had any issues. His cousin—and yours—handles the PR, and another the business of the business, another the design, and yet another lives in London and handles that end.
“Your share in Poole Shipbuilding is minimal, Sonya, and changes nothing for any of them.”
“All right. I don’t want any resentments. I think I should know more about the history—the family history.”
“I can certainly help with that. I made Collin a book—that’s in his office. And there should be a digital copy of the family tree on his computer. Also a family Bible, in the library, but it’s not completely accurate.” He gestured toward her. “As you prove by being here.”
“Why would they have done it? Separated the brothers?”
“Patricia Youngsboro married Michael Poole, and like some converts became a fanatic regarding the Poole name. Though she refused to live in the manor.”
“Really?”
“To my knowledge, she never stepped foot in it. She was a hard woman, Sonya. I expect she took Collin, placed him with her daughter simply to keep the line intact. She had no reason to keep both children, not in her mind.”
“But there had to be people who knew.”
“Money can obfuscate very well. The story put out, and one Collin spent the first decades of his life believing, was he was born out of wedlock, and his father died in Vietnam before he and his mother could marry. Gretta was a dutiful mother.”
“Dutiful.”
“Cowed by an overbearing mother. She never married. Collin was raised in his grandmother’s house, where he and his mother lived. His grandfather had little interest in the business, but Patricia more than made up for that. Michael spent his time traveling, indulging in what did interest him. Women, drink, adventure. He flew planes—and jumped out of them—raced boats, scuba dived, climbed mountains. He died at fifty-eight, in a climb of Denali in Alaska.”
“Mr. Doyle—”
“Call me Deuce. Mr. Doyle or Oliver can get confusing around here.”
“Deuce. You said before she—Patricia—refused to live in the manor, closed it up for years. Why didn’t she just sell it?”
“For the simple reason it wasn’t hers to sell. Michael left it to his son Charles, and he, in turn, to his brother, Lawrence.”
“All right. I’m going to take a good look at that book, and the family tree. Is the daughter—the woman who raised Collin—still alive?”
