The Laws of Attraction by Howard Reiss

Author:Howard Reiss [Reiss, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Krance Publishing
Published: 2014-09-27T22:00:00+00:00

My Dear Susannah,

Thank you for everything. I have deeded the house from me to you and me as husband and wife, which means if you are reading this letter it is yours now. I’ve also set up an account so you can afford the upkeep. Until our souls meet again.

Ben

“It’s an odd letter for a dead husband to write to his wife,” I said. “It doesn’t sound very affectionate.”

“When’s it dated?” Mitch asked.

“February 9th.”

“They’d only been married two months at that point,” Mitch said.

“Why didn’t he sign it love?” I asked.

“The old man hated that word,” Peter said. “He complained that it was overused and meaningless. I never heard him say it. I suppose he did to my mother when they were alone.”

Peter figured that she doped him up and told him what to write. Jeff said his father never did anything without discussing it a month in advance, particularly when it came to money, so she had to be lying when she said it was a big surprise. Mitch thought it looked like his father’s handwriting, but said he wasn’t hard to imitate since his letters were all pretty much the same, big and slanted to the left.

“He hated spending money,” Mitch said.

“Or giving any of it way,” Peter added.

“He had that Depression-era mentality, no matter how much he had he was always afraid of running out.”

I picked up the letter.

“And why is it so short?” I asked, expecting that most husbands would have a lot more to say in a post-death farewell.

“He was a man of few words,” Mitch said, “particularly when it came to writing them down. I don’t think he ever wrote me a letter or a postcard when I was at college. My mother used to take care of that. After she was gone he’d send birthday cards with a check and sign his name, but that was about it.”

The letter would suggest to the reader that Ben knew what he was doing when he married Susannah. It certainly sounded as if it was written by someone still of sound mind, which is probably why Susannah wrote it or had Ben write it and Bill wanted to introduce it.

Of course, if it was a forgery I had no time to retain a handwriting expert.

“Can they keep a letter like this a secret and then surprise us with it at trial?” Mitch asked.

“No, they were supposed to produce it in advance, and she certainly should have mentioned it in response to some of my questions at her deposition. He’ll probably say she just found it.”

When we went back into the courtroom I asked to speak with the judge before the jury was brought in. Normally, counsel would sit with the judge in the robing room with the court reporter called in if a ruling was necessary, but I suspect the judge didn’t want to lose any televised airtime and she confirmed that by taking the bench to hear my objection.

“Your Honor,” I said, standing up behind counsel’s table, “we object to the introduction of this letter as an exhibit.

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