Dean Warner Intrigues - 5. The Will

Chapter 5 The Will

Dean and his mom arrived at the lawyer's office promptly at nine in the morning on Monday. They were shown into the firm's law library which had a big conference table and a sideboard with coffee and rolls and told to help themselves.

Shortly thereafter, detective Turner from the police department arrived with the U.S. Marshal who had sat in on Dean's deposition. Dean was surprised to see them and went to introduce them to his mother but found out that she too had been deposed and already new both men. The lawyers came in with several folders and papers and spread out on one side of the table with Dean his mom and the detective and the marshal on the other side.

The lawyers introduced themselves and started explaining that Dean was a minor beneficiary in the estate of Bruno Weiss, formerly known as Bernard Wetzel. Only that portion of the Will pertaining to the parties present was to be read and a redacted copy with only those parts pertaining to them would be provided. The representatives from the police department were there for a specific bequest which would be detailed separately.

The lawyers indicated that it was Mr. Weiss' wish that his complete estate be liquidated and divided among his two surviving siblings as his parents were deceased, except for 20 percent which was to be placed in trust for his neighbor Dean Warner. It further provided Dean Warner was to be furnished $10,000 per month from the trust until he attained age twenty-six when he would gain control of all proceeds from the trust, except the principle. The trust was being invested and managed according to the terms of the Will and that would continue until Dean attained age thirty-five at which time he was empowered to change the investment strategy and management of the trust if he desired. Debbie asked what was the expected amount of the proceeds Dean would control at age twenty-six and the answer was approximately $5,000,000. Dean put his head down on top of his arms on the table and gave out a big sigh. The lawyers said there is one additional provision of the Will which mandated that if Dean did not have his bachelor's degree at the time of his attaining age twenty-six that the proceeds were instead to be donated to the needy student scholarship fund at MIT and the trust dissolved with the principal divided between the siblings of Mr. Weiss.

The lawyers then turned to the two law enforcement individuals and asked them if the government had made any progress in deciphering the chip found inside the bullet from Mr. Weiss' pistol. They both started and looked at each other and then the Marshal, James Mason indicated that was confidential information and asked what the lawyers knew about the chip. The lawyers replied that there was one further bequest in the Will and it was directed to the Marshal Service and the local police department but it made no sense and they handed over a plain piece of legal paper covered with numbers, symbols and letters in no apparent order. The Will stipulated that they to give it to the police and Marshal Service as it was without photocopying it, transcribing it, or even taking a picture of it, because it was key to understanding what was on the chip.

James Mason knew what the page represented and he asked for a plain folder and placed the paper in it and then asked to be excused. He and the detective left the room and the office. Once they were outside and walking to the police station where the marshal had his car parked, he turned to the detective and said: “It's the cipher key.” “I know” came from the reply from detective. “Are you going to fax it to the FBI?” “No it will be delivered by hand. This is the only version of the key. Since the Will indicated it was not to be scanned, copied, duplicated or faxed and only the original was to be handed over to us so that there is no analogue, digital or pixel duplicate of it anywhere. From the feel of the paper, the numbers, letters and symbols were typed on it by a manual typewriter. Weiss took extreme care that this was the only copy.”

Back in the law office, John Trask III, attorney and son of one of the partners, was busy talking to Dean while Dean was on a computer where he logged into his bank's website and his account. Dean's personal account number for his checking and savings accounts were linked and John called the trust's bank and arranged for a wire transfer of the monthly payments to recur on the first of the month. Payments for June and July were promptly deposited in Dean's checking account while he was still on-line. He moved fifteen thousand dollars to his savings account which brought that total up to $19,659.89. His remaining balance in his checking account was $5632.24. John explained that Dean was to forward to them all his tax records for the past three years as their office would be responsible for preparing and helping him file all tax returns in the future per another provision of the Will. He explained the records that Dean needed to keep including receipts and statements to assist in keeping his taxes in good order and to comply with the provisions of the trust. It was a lot for a not quite twenty-one year old to take in, but Dean was thankful as he now knew he could try to transfer to IU at Bloomington and afford living on campus and not have to worry about a part-time job.

He mentioned that he wanted to try to get into IU at Bloomington and had finished his Associate's degree in Business Administration at the local community college. John Trask smiled broadly and said: “That's my alma mater, I will see that you get in and get set-up in one of the better dorms. John was seven years older than Dean and he knew that the Will's provisions provided a lot of income for the firm. He also knew that the Will had several codicils as to the administration of the estate and trust and that not all of them had been explained to Dean at the direction of Mr. Weiss' Will. One of them was that tuition, books, fees and room and board at the State University was to be covered even if the cost exceeded the allowance otherwise provided. John had Dean log into the University's web site and start the enrollment process. He walked Dean through the entire application and seemed to know exactly what was required. Transcripts were requested to be sent to IU from his highschool and the community college. His SAT scores were provided through an online request as well. An appointment was made with a faculty advisor for Thursday the 12^th of July at the school and Dean said he could get off work and his mom was off that day as well. John Trask III, offered to drive them as he would be accompanying them to show them around and what was available.