Crime (h.s. au)

Chapter Twenty Nine

Ava

"Hi, my name is Ava Nicks, the daughter of Winston and Amanda Nicholas," I say to the lawyer, looking through the various notes I've taken.

I looked into where my father filed his life insurance claim, along with his will, and I made a mental curse to my father. He had put the damn necklace in his will and put my mother as the beneficiary. This was information I had not known and I wish I did. If the necklace was in the will, I'd have made sure it was written out immediately.

"Hi, Ms. Nicks. Good to speak with you. Is your mother here to discuss the will of Winston?" he asks, and I bite my tongue.

"No she's unavailable at the moment. I'd like to be the one to discuss it with you, if that's no problem. I work in law enforcement and I feel it'd be easier to talk with me," I state, making sure he understands that I'm not here for funny business.

"Of course. Would you be willing to come to my firm? It's in downtown," he tells me, and I agree. I get the address and gather my things, telling him I'll be there shortly.

My hand shuts my laptop and I get dressed, pulling my hair into a tight bun. I put on a sweater and jeans, boots pulled onto my feet. Making sure I have my badge and all of my papers from my father's insurance, I make my way downstairs.

"I'll be back later. I'm going to speak with the lawyer," I tell my mom, her head nodding.

"Please be careful," she tells me, and I nod. I grab her car keys and get into the car, starting it and putting the address into the GPS. I tightly grip the steering wheel the entire drive, knowing that my willpower is everything right now. This mess was one I had wished would stay in the past, and my father got too excited about this damn necklace.

"Ms. Nicholas," the lawyer says, and I frown. "I'm Bennett Black." I shake his hand out of courtesy.

"It's Nicks, for me. Lieutenant, even," I state, and his eyes widening.

"My apologies," he says, leading me to his office. I'd put the man around fifty years old, his hair receding with specks of gray scattered about.

"Now, I had contacted your mother in regard to your father's will," he explains, and I nod.

"Yes. What's the concern?" I inquire, his body taking a seat behind the desk. He signals for me to take a seat and I do so.

"She received his life insurance upon his death, but in the will there had been a few possessions listed in her name as well," he says, pulling out the paper.

"Which are?" I ask, and he places reading glasses on his nose.

"The ones that are known are the property and his inheritance from his father. It was stored in a bond that has now been transferred to Amanda Nicholas," he says, and I nod in agreement.

"He had a firearm, a nine millimeter handgun, which was pawned off upon your mother's request," he says, and I agree once more.

"There was a Rolex watch your mother inherited," he says, looking up at me.

"She keeps it on her nightstand," I nod, his head reciprocating with a curt nod himself.

"Then the one missing is a necklace," he tells me, and I press my lips together. "There is a necklace which is listed as consisting of nearly 100 three-carat diamonds, ten five-carat diamonds, five eight-carat diamonds, and one twenty carat diamond. A rather...expensive necklace with a cost of nearly $112 million," he tells me and I nod.

"When we had first received word of the necklace, neither my mother nor myself had any recollection of it. We had the police search for it in our house and they found nothing. I have the police report in my bag," I say, pulling out the file. Using my own access to the database, I was able to pull it up myself. There has been no foul play to the file; it's just as it had been when written nearly ten years ago.