Maddy read the notice. She was about to dismiss it as spam and delete it when something prompted her to read it again.
Like everyone else, she had gotten her share of emails claiming she had inherited a fortune from some long-lost relative. All she had to do was provide her banking information and they would wire her the money.
But this one was different.
To start with, there was no request for her bank account information.
Second, the email signature named a law firm that looked pretty legit.
Maddy opened up another tab on her computer and did a Google search for the law firm.
Yep, there it was, Google verified and everything. It even had reviews. Reviews that did not look like they were generated by robots.
She clicked through to the website and spent some time looking through the website. It looked like any other law firm’s website, which didn’t tell her anything.
She decided to call the phone number listed on the website.
A woman’s voice answered on the second ring. She named the law firm on the website and asked how she could direct Maddy’s call.
Maddy gave the name of the lawyer who had signed the email and asked to speak with her.
The woman asked Maddy for her name.
Maddy gave it and was promptly transferred to another line.
A woman picked up right away with, “Ms. Ver Halen?”
“That’s me,” Maddy said automatically.
“Thank you so much for calling. We’ve been trying to get hold of you about your aunt’s will.”
“Yeah, so I gathered from your email. But there must be some mistake. I don’t have an aunt named Alison. I don’t have an aunt at all.”
“You are Madison Marie Ver Halen, correct?”
“Yes.”
“How many Ver Halens have you heard of to whom you are not related?”
Maddy had to think about this. She didn’t know any.
The lawyer took this as confirmation. “Look, I’m sorry you never got to know your aunt. She was a really great person, and she was always sorry she never got to know you.”
“Then why didn’t she?”
This time the pause came from the other end of the line. It ended with the lawyer saying, “You should talk to your parents about that.”
To be continued…