‘The bigwigs in Sydney who handled Ivy’s estate?’ Mandy raised her eyebrows. ‘They were sniffing around here not long before you arrived, when we all thought the cottage was going on the market.’

‘Charlie’s estate now, I guess.’ Nicole shrugged.

Mandy stood up. ‘What?’

‘Ivy left everything to him when she died. The boatshed, the cottage, the land, her money, too, I suppose. She wasn’t all that specific.’

‘Hang on.’ Mandy spun round. ‘She wasn’t all that specific? She, as in Ivy?’

Nicole nodded. She would have to explain that later.

Her phone rang.

‘Yes, this is she,’ answered Nicole. ‘No. He passed. This morning, actually. Oh. Okay. Of course.’

She listened for some time without speaking.

‘What? Are you sure? I … um … okay. Thank you. Sure.’

She hung up.

‘Sit down.’ Mandy guided her to a seat. ‘You’ve gone very pale.’

‘That was Mr Dixon. Charlie’s solicitor. He got a letter from Charlie saying he knew his time was up and he wanted to sort everything out. Dixon rang to see if he was still with us.’

‘Oh my.’ Mandy exhaled.

‘Why ring you?’ Trevor asked.

‘I’m named as his executor.’ A tear fell down Nicole’s cheek.

Mandy’s mouth dropped, but no words came out.

‘I’m confused.’ Trevor shook his head.

‘Mr Dixon said someone will be paying a visit in a few days.’ Nicole continued.

‘To un-confuse me?’ Trevor asked.

Mandy shook her head. ‘I need a drink.’

Trevor picked up her cup.

‘A real one,’ she said.

Trevor poured two glasses of red from the bottle on the kitchen bench.

‘Someone will come and go through his will with me, I guess.’

‘And what about the other letters?’

‘What are you talking about, Trev?’ Mandy snapped. ‘We’ve far more important things to worry about than a letter.’

‘Nicole said Dixon said he got a letter, singular. But Nicole sent three letters. If the first letter has created this much drama, what’s in the other two?’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Mandy gasped. She narrowed her gaze. ‘He’s a secret kazillionaire and he left it all to you.’

‘I doubt that.’ Nicole smiled. ‘I only sent the third one today, so who knows what’s in that one.’

‘I guess we’ll find out when Dixon sends his man.’ Trevor collected the teacups and put them in the sink.

‘I guess.’ Nicole put her glass down.

‘And, until then,’ Mandy looked at Nicole with raised eyebrows, ‘there are some other gaps that could do with some filling in.’

Trevor headed home, leaving the two women to talk and Nicole told Mandy all about the letters, all about Ivy.

‘Hang on.’ Mandy put her hand up. ‘You knew Charlie was behind this crazy rental-reno deal?’

‘I only knew for sure when I read the second-last letter. I was going to ask him about it, but …’