The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard Page A

will this woman has submitted.”
    The clerk walked over, took the letter from John, and gave it to the judge, who carefully examined it.
    â€œAccording to this letter your brother planned to leave all his property to his daughter, Amanda Elizabeth Shaw,” the judge said. “But the will this woman has states it all goes to her. I cannot accept a letter as a will.”
    â€œYes, Your Honor, I realize that, but would ask that I be given time to locate the will that Jim’s daughter, Amanda, found just recently, and which was stolen out of my house before I could get it filed,” John Shaw replied. “We are currently trying to locate at least one of the two witnesses to the will. The will which Amanda found left everything to her.”
    The judge looked at him and then at Etta and said, “Hmmm.” He looked back down at the papers in front of him. “As far as I can tell, the signature on this will and the one on the letter look identical, but of course I will have an expert compare them. You may have ninety days to come up with the will that you speak of. At the end of that time we will have a hearing to decide this matter.”
    Mandie smiled as she heard that remark. She squeezed Joe’s hand on one side and reached Uncle Ned’s hand on the other side.
    â€œThank you, Your Honor,” John Shaw said, and Mandie realized the judge was finished and they were free to leave.
    When everyone stood up, Mandie glanced over to where Etta had been sitting and was surprised to see her rushing out ahead of them without even glancing their way. She couldn’t understand why the woman would not even look at her. And she wondered why Etta was alone. The woman claimed she had divorced Zack, but Mandie didn’t believe her. Etta would never let go of any man she managed to hook. She was incapable of living alone.
    â€œLet’s go, Mandie,” Joe told her as the adults went ahead.
    Mandie quickly followed with Joe. “Oh, Joe, we have ninety days to find the will, but how are we going to do it? We can’t stay out of school that long,” she said as they descended the staircase.
    â€œOf course not, Mandie,” Joe agreed. “We’ll just have to find it real fast somehow or another.”
    When they caught up with the adults at the rig, John Shaw looked at Mandie and smiled. “We have ninety days,” he said.
    â€œBut we don’t actually have ninety days to find the will, because Joe and I will have to be back to school,” Mandie said with a big sigh.
    â€œNo, Amanda, remember I told Miss Prudence we may be gone all week,” Mrs. Taft reminded her. “We’ll just take the week so you can spend it looking for the will.”
    â€œOh, thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie told her. She turned to look at Dr. Woodard and asked, “But what about Joe?”
    â€œHe may have a little time out, too, but when you two finish searching the house, then he must go back to school. If you do find the will, I would imagine your uncle John here will ask the judge to reschedule the hearing sooner than ninety days, right, John?” He looked at John Shaw.
    â€œThat’s right,” John Shaw said. “As soon as the will is found, I will immediately notify the judge.”
    â€œBut need witnesses’ friends,” Uncle Ned reminded him. “Maybe braves find friends of Tom Kennering or Jacob Smith.”
    â€œIf they do we’ll have a talk with the friends and see what we can do,” John Shaw replied. “Anyway, right now I suggest we go back to Dr. Woodard’s house, and then we’ll make a quick trip to your father’s house, Amanda.” He looked at Mrs. Taft as they still stood by the rig. “Then we’ll head for home.”
    â€œYes, that’s the right thing to do,” Mrs. Taft agreed. “We know the will is not at Dr. Woodard’s house. Therefore we need to get back and search where it