Never Tease a Siamese: A Leigh Koslow Mystery by Edie Claire Page A

the attorney began, casting a stern glance over the assembly, "that the will I am about to read is not yet being probated. No action will be taken with regard to the deceased's estate until a certificate of death has been issued. Is that clear?"
    He looked directly at a young woman on the couch to his right, who had been twittering noisily into the ear of the young man beside her. She was wearing tight jeans and an even tighter Lynyrd Skynyrd tank top, but it was her algae-green lipstick that demanded the most attention. "Oh, right. Whatever," she said with a plastic smile.
    The lawyer nodded slowly, not bothering to conceal his disdain. "I myself personally prepared this testament quite recently. I will admit that its terms are a bit unusual, but rest assured that Mrs. Murchison was in perfectly sound mind at the time, and that she followed all the necessary legal steps in altering her previous testament."
    "Now, what do you mean by 'previous testament?'" the young man on the couch asked loudly, puffing out his chest with importance. This presented a challenge, since the severely wrinkled suit he was wearing was so small that it held his shoulders like a straight jacket. The suit's equally missized pantlegs ended somewhere in his mid-calf region, revealing worn tube socks and a heavily scuffed pair of loafers. But by far the most striking part of the ensemble was his belt—a wide plastic device laden with pounds of key rings, tools, and beeper-type appliances. "I know she had one with Lang and Madia a while back," he said authoritatively.
    The attorney's voice was mild, but he looked down at the other man as if he were something on the bottom of a shoe. "As we have already discussed at length, Mr. Murchison, your mother was in the habit of updating her testament rather regularly. And though her business interests remain with Lang and Madia, she had chosen relatively recently to move her personal affairs to my firm."
    Adith sniggered. "She wanted a little more action, that's why. You think this guy's a dud…Those other stiff-necks have all got one foot in the coffin."
    Leigh tried not to smile.
    "Don't believe me, do you?" the older woman continued. "Lilah carried on with every one of her chauffeurs, didn't you know? My friend Virginia's brother-in-law Milton got a job doing her gardening and when he wouldn't play footsie with her she canned his behind, she did." Adith gave a wink and a knowing nod. "She lived for it ." She raised her chin superiorly. "That's what they say, anyway."
    Struggling to maintain her composure, Leigh quietly shushed her companion, having the odd feeling that if she didn't, they were both going to wind up in detention. She tried hard to concentrate on the attorney's ramblings, but she had never had much patience with legalese, and Mr. Sheridan seemed consumed with pressing home the concept, particularly to the charming young couple on the couch, that nobody was getting anything yet.
    By the time he cleared his throat and began reading the actual document in his hand, an elderly woman in an armchair at his left had dozed off.
    "Firstly," the lawyer read, "I would like to reward my most trusted employees for their years of faithful service. To Peggy Linney, I leave—" Mr. Sheridan paused, then bent down to nudge the sleeping woman awake. "To Peggy Linney," he repeated with irritation, "my most devoted housekeeper, I leave a trust, in addition to her existing pension, which will be used to provide her with room and board in a very comfortable independent-living facility for the rest of her days, with the proviso that none of her wretched, money-grubbing relatives be allowed to move in with her or mooch off of her in any way."
    Leigh had to snigger a little herself, not at the words, but at the lawyer's efforts to pronounce them with dignity. Peggy Linney smiled broadly for a moment, then closed her eyes again.
    "And to my most faithful chauffeurs…"
    Adith gave Leigh a giant wink and delivered a