Free Sample
Inheritance of Ash
by Leonard Prosky
Chapter 1: The Keys
The solicitor's letter had arrived on a Tuesday in April, cream-colored paper with the kind of letterhead that suggested the firm had been handling estates since the nineteenth century. Miriam found it beneath a stack of conservation reports on her desk in Edinburgh, unopened for three days before the cream of the envelope began to feel like an accusation.
It is with deep regret that we inform you of the death of your father, Edward Ashford, on the fifteenth of April. He passed quietly at Whitmore House, attended by medical professionals. As his sole heir and executor of his estate, your presence will be required for certain matters regarding the property and its contents. We trust this letter finds you in reasonable health given the circumstances.
Miriam read it standing in her kitchen, still in the wool jumper she'd slept in. The language was so precisely funeral that it took a moment to understand she was reading about her father—a man she had last spoken to in 1999, a conversation conducted entirely through the medium of her mother's disappointing silence on the telephone line.
She set the letter on the counter and made tea. The kettle had a whistle that needed replacing. Everything in her flat needed replacing eventually. That was the nature of things.
By Wednesday evening, she had booked a train ticket to the Midlands. By Thursday morning, she was regretting it.
The train pulled away from Waverley Station with the kind of finality