“You could join her.”
He gave her a look, one eyebrow arched. “Tennis? With my hip? And her book club, as far as I can tell, is just an excuse for the wives to drink wine and rag on husbands. I don’t think I’d fit in.”
“You can’t fault her for having a life, Kins. We’re gone so much.”
“I know.”
“What about counseling?”
“Been there.”
“What about more counseling?”
“I don’t know.”
Anthony Holt’s office was on the second floor of a building not far from the University of Washington. He specialized in family law, and his partner specialized in wills and estates. Holt met Kins and Tracy in a modest lobby, and they walked across the hall to a conference room he shared with other lawyers on the floor. Tracy estimated Holt to be in his midforties, though prematurely gray, which gave him an authoritative appearance. He was marathon-runner thin.
“You were Mr. Collins’s divorce attorney,” Kins said after they’d settled into chairs.
“I was. I was sorry to hear about what happened to him.”
“How did you hear?”
“Angela’s divorce attorney called and advised me.”
“When was that?”
“It was the day after the shooting.”
“What time?”
“It was in the afternoon. I could get you a specific time, if it’s important.”
“What did the attorney tell you?”
“She said Angela had called her and told her what had happened. She wanted to file the paperwork to dismiss the divorce and begin probating the estate.”
Kins shot Tracy a glance. Angela must have called first thing after leaving jail. “Do you know when that paperwork got filed?”
Holt smiled. “I do. Bright and early Monday morning.”
“That surprised you.”
“Surprised?” He smiled again. “Nothing surprises me in this area of the law. Just . . .” He paused to choose his words. “Just seemed quick, given the circumstances.”
“Like the fact that she was in jail until Friday afternoon?”
“That thought crossed my mind, yes.”
“And she was facing a murder charge and the prospect of a long sentence?”
“That also.”
“Any thoughts why she’d be in a hurry to file the paperwork?”
“The sooner the divorce proceeding is dismissed, the sooner the estate can be probated and the sooner she gets the money. But I tend to be cynical about these things.”
“How contentious was the divorce?”
“Scale of one to ten, this was a six, but only because Tim did a lot to not escalate things.”
“Can you explain what you mean?” Kins asked.
“Angela was pushing for fifty-eight percent of the assets. In the interim she was blowing through a lot of the money. She kept asking Tim for more and chiding him when he refused.”
“Do you know how she was spending the money?”
“No. That was the problem. She claimed it was everyday living expenses, but in three months she’d spent close to forty-five thousand dollars, and every time we asked for receipts we got the runaround. Her attorney couldn’t explain it either. Tim suspected she was squirreling it away or using it to fix up the house.”
“How close were you to getting a resolution?”
“Not close. We went to mediation, but it didn’t last long. I didn’t see it resolving without a trial.”
“Most cases settle, don’t they?” Kins asked.
“Ninety-five percent or more.”
“So why not this one?”
“Again, I’m probably biased, but from my perspective Angela had dug in her heels and wasn’t going to budge. I’m also not sure she wanted to settle.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“As long as the divorce continued, she had something to hold over Tim’s head.”
“But I’d imagine going to trial would be expensive for both parties,” Kins said.
“It already was expensive, but, yes, once you step foot in court, the price escalates quickly. Since the fees come from the estate, though, Tim would bear much of that burden.”
“How big was the estate they were fighting over?”
“Not all that much in the scheme of things. Roughly a few million dollars. Tim owned a rental property before they got married and never put Angela on the deed of trust, but Angela was alleging they’d used community funds to fix it up and that she was entitled to a percentage. She also accused Tim of hiding money.”
“Was he?”
Holt smiled again. “No. Tim wanted to get this resolved. He was reaching a breaking point emotionally. I was the one telling him to hang on.”
“What do you mean, ‘reaching a breaking point emotionally’?”
“Angela had worn him down pretty good. Tim was ready to just throw in the towel, give Angela what she wanted, and move on with his life. It isn’t uncommon in divorce proceedings, but often the person who caves ends up regretting it. I kept telling him not to rush, that it would play out, that he’d already given Angela the house.”
Tracy had been taking notes. Upon hearing the latter comment, she sat up. “What do you mean, he gave her the house?”
“Tim had agreed to let Angela keep the house so Connor wouldn’t be displaced from his home until after graduating. He was worried about Connor’s emotional well-being.”
“He was just giving her the house?” Tracy said.
“No, not exactly. We were proposing a settlement in which Tim would get the rental unit outright and be compensated for his share of ownership in the house with other assets. Basically, it’s just a matter of how you balance the assets in each spouse’s column.”
“The home wasn’t being sold?” Tracy asked, remembering that the night she’d arrived she’d gotten that distinct impression from the condition of the yard and the interior.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Holt said. “That would have gone directly against Tim’s wishes and the interim agreement we’d reached pending final resolution.”
“What agreement?”
“Angela had to get Tim’s consent to sell, and anything obtained over the appraised value at the time of separation would be split at the time of sale.”
“You have a copy of that agreement?”
“I do, and I can get a copy to you.”
Tracy nodded to Kins to let him know she was through. He said, “We understand that Mr. Collins was also redoing his will.”
Holt slid documents across the table. “My partner was creating a trust for Connor. It isn’t uncommon in a divorce. Tim was also changing his personal representative from Angela to his brother, Mark, and appointing Mark as the trustee of his estate.”
“Practically, that means that if anything happened to Tim, his estate would go to Connor, with the brother keeping a watch on it, not Angela,” Kins said.
“Correct.”
“Angela wouldn’t have any right to any portion of that trust or control over how the assets were distributed?”
“None. The brother would serve as a trustee until Connor reached the age of thirty-one, or he deemed the trust was no longer necessary.”