Zero at the Bone by Mary Willis Walker Page A

been asking a question.
    She shook her head. “No. I don’t remember anything about that time, except maybe … today at the zoo I thought I remembered being there before.”
    The old lawyer was silent, looking up at the deer head on the wall. He seemed lost in thought.
    She said, “I was surprised to learn you were my father’s attorney. Because of your close relationship to the Driscolls, you know.”
    He came back to attention. “Yes. But I think your father held no animosity toward the Driscolls. Actually, I believe he went to see Anne on several occasions. I think they had buried the hatchet. But as for his coming to me for the will, he and I got to know one another well when I headed up the committee for the Phase Two building project, to house the big cats. We worked together on that very well, so it felt natural for him to come to me.
    “He was a pleasure to work with, the steadiest, most competent of the keepers. He rarely missed a day of work and he often stayed all night with sick animals. Unpaid. Just for the love of it. He was a man so steadfast”—here the old man curled his long, trembling fingers into fists to illustrate—“if he said he would do something, then it would be done, even if it was long and difficult. Year in and year out, a man you could count on.”
    Katherine didn’t want to hear this. She knew it would sound crass, but impatience drove her to boldness. “Mr. Hammond,” she said, “I never knew my father, and I feel nothing toward him one way or the other. He never came to see me or…”
    The old man surprised her with the passion of his reaction to this. He shook his head violently and grabbed both her hands, squeezing them in his thin dry fingers. He spoke as if he were pleading for himself. “Oh, Katherine, try not to judge so harshly. Sometimes we do things when we are young. We make mistakes that we regret so bitterly, but we can never—” He stopped himself abruptly. “Well, we wish we could change them, but we can’t,” he finished lamely and let go of her hands.
    “Well,” she said with a shrug, “my father wrote me for the first time last week. He said he had something for me, to help me out of the financial difficulties I’ve been having. Could you tell me how much? I need to know because on November seventh everything I own will be auctioned off if I don’t come up with ninety-one thousand dollars.”
    The lawyer sat forward and opened his eyes wider in surprise. The tic in his right eye sped up. “He wrote that he had ninety-one thousand dollars for you?”
    “He didn’t mention an amount, just that it was enough to cure my debt.”
    He shook his head and, with a sigh, hoisted himself from the sofa and walked over to the simple wood trestle table that served as his desk. From a stack of folders he picked up the top one and brought it back to Katherine. He drew out a document and laid it on the low table in front of her.
    Katherine held her breath.
    “This is your father’s will. I’ve just been reviewing it. Very simple. You are the sole beneficiary.”
    He did write it down! Katherine held the breath in to restrain herself from grinning. Things might work out after all.
    “But I’ve just been talking with the bank, my dear. I’m afraid there’s not going to be anything for you to inherit.”
    Katherine exhaled the breath she had been holding in a long sigh. Her stomach felt hollow. She hadn’t eaten all day.
    “Are you sure?” she asked.
    “Yes. Unfortunately. I’ll go over it all in detail with you, but the bank has frozen his assets. It’s pretty clear that there’s not even enough in his estate to pay off his creditors. So there’s really less than nothing.” He looked at her with his eyebrows squeezed so tightly together that a crevasse formed down his forehead. “What exactly did he say in the letter?”
    “He said he had the money to pay off my loan so the bank wouldn’t foreclose on my home. He mentioned something I could do