Chapter 1

Ringing cell phone, Bette looks at it, looks at her watch and looks at the phone again. She sees Kit’s name on the caller ID.

“Hi Kit, why are you calling so late? Well, I guess it is early there, what’s wrong?”

“Hello to you too! Why you always gotta’ be thinkin’ something’s wrong when I call?”

“Because you don’t call me at home unless there is something wrong. Now you are calling me in London? There is obviously something wrong. RIGHT!”

“Well baby sis, it’s not a bad thing that is wrong. Not bad, sad, I guess.”

“Kit, what is it?” Bette’s impatience was beginning to show.

“Aunt Agnes died and we have to go to the reading of the will.”

“Fuck, Kit, I couldn’t care less about Aunt Agnes’s will. Why do we have to go?”

“Well, because we are the only blood relatives left. The attorney says that there is some other woman’s name listed. I am not sure who she is.”

Pensively, “Kit, did daddy have another daughter someplace that we do not know about?” Bette was shocked at the thought.

“Damn Baby Sis, why would you think that? Anyway, the reading of the will is on the 28th  in Louisiana. We gotta’ be there.”

“Shit, what could she possibly have to leave us? Did she have money? Surely not. I don’t even know if she still had that monstrosity of a house.”

“Anyway Bette, we have two weeks to decide what we are going to do. I just wanted to let you know so we could get a plan together. I’ll talk to you when you get home.”

“Thanks for calling Kit. I appreciate the interruption.” The phone goes silent as Bette is more than a little perturbed at this intrusion into her junket to London to visit galleries and look for new artists. She only has two days left before she is to return to LA and she really wants to get to Paris for one of those days.

Still holding her cell phone, Bette decides to call James to check on the gallery.

Answering the phone, “Good morning, Porter Gallery.”