The receptionist was expecting me. He was pleasant and quiet and respectful, asking if I needed water or coffee, showing me into a conference room with many framed photos; one of which was of Bernie Sanders and another elderly man.

‘Two old rebels without a true power base,’ came a voice behind me.

I looked up and found myself staring at a diminutive guy in his eighties, wearing a simple tweed jacket and a blue button-down shirt and khaki pants. He had round wire-rim glasses and the air of a retired professor.

‘You must be Brendan,’ he said. ‘I’m Stanley Greenbaum. I started the firm with Elise’s husband, Wilbur. And I was still close to Elise after his death. We are all beyond shocked by what happened.’

‘It’s … terrible,’ I said, unable to meet his eyes.

‘It is indeed,’ he said, just as an African American in his early forties, dressed in a severe black suit, came toward us.

‘Brendan, very good to meet you. I’m Dwight Simplon and this is my associate Jennifer Cooper.’

She was in her late twenties, also wearing a black suit and edgy black glasses.

‘It’s very good to meet you, sir,’ she said.

I was pointed to a seat at the conference table. Coffee was offered. And water. There was a plate of cookies. I wanted to eat them all, I was so tense. Stanley Greenbaum saw this, saying:

‘I know this all must be an immense strain for you.’

‘And for you.’

‘From what Dwight told me: you expressed immense shock at the discovery that Elise left her home to you.’

‘I can’t accept it,’ I said.

‘Why is that?’ Mr Greenbaum asked.

‘Because I don’t deserve it. Because she has a daughter.’

‘Her daughter has been informed that you are the sole beneficiary of the apartment and that the rest of the estate is going to the Women’s Choice Group with which she was associated,’ Mr Simplon said. ‘Her daughter has raised no objections.’

‘That makes no sense,’ I said.

‘Ms Flouton has indicated that she does not want to contest her mother’s will. We have a scanned statement from her attorney in New York, signed by his client that she accepts her mother’s wishes … and she pushed us to get all probate matters settled straightaway. This is why we contacted you so quickly. Because we were instructed to.’

Before I could ask why, Stanley Greenbaum’s lips tightened as he said:

‘Alison Flouton is a law unto herself. As such the apartment is yours and yours alone.’

Jennifer Cooper opened a file.

‘The apartment has an estimated market value of around $880,000. As I think Dwight mentioned to you on the phone Mrs Flouton also left you $24,000 to cover two years’ maintenance on the apartment. If you choose not to live in the Westwood apartment, the balance of that $24,000 is yours to keep. And the Volvo is yours to keep as well.’