New Gods of North America.

Chapter 734 Will
After some back and forth and conversation, when Wayne's image of this young and beautiful cousin officially changed from "an rude rich girl" to "a troublesome brat,"
Wayne finally got a basic understanding of the whole story, at least grasping the superficial aspects.

To be honest, the laws regarding wills in the United States are quite comprehensive these days.
This is mainly because the nobles of the Old World were actually more particular about inheritance, and the United States had enough experience and lessons to learn from them.

According to the legal definition, a template will requires an executor and witnesses, and must be formally documented, clearly outlining the specific division of the property.
Ideally, the portion that each beneficiary is entitled to should be clearly written down, leaving no blanks or ambiguities, to avoid future disputes.

The Auster family has an entire legal team that could act as executors of the will, including some so-called "star lawyers." The wording and drafting would be no problem for them; even the rookie lawyers in their firm could probably handle it easily.

The reason this matter has come to Wayne is that the old man in his family has suddenly designated Wayne to be the main witness to his will.

At first glance, witnesses seem to have little to do with "how the inheritance is specifically divided,"
However, the old man in the Auster family is still alive, and being a "witness" means being trusted to a certain extent and being able to see the will before all the beneficiaries—even the executor sometimes only has the right to "keep" and "announce it to the public when appropriate," without knowing the specific contents in advance—and might even be able to take the opportunity to offer some suggestions for modification.
Moreover, the old man's sudden request for Wayne, a grandson he had never even met, to be a witness makes it hard not to speculate among those who hear about it—who knows if there will be another "sudden" event like this.

Wayne recalled the emotional appeal of the old Mr. Basque of the Beaton family and concluded that the old man of the Auster family must still have feelings for Mrs. Constantine, who had married out of the family, so his feelings for "Wayne" were merely incidental.

Although this might be filtered through the lens of "not seeing each other for many years," it remains to be seen whether they would actually dislike each other if Mrs. Constantine were still alive, or if Wayne had truly passed away.

However, given the current situation, Wayne's identity as "the grandson of the Auster family and a witness to the will" alone is probably enough to qualify him to attend social balls in the local high society—whether he can actually make a deal or be accepted is another matter, but at least he shouldn't be considered "unqualified" and kicked out.

Rationally speaking, if this were considered a commission, Wayne would be willing to do it even without taking a penny.
Steam train lines in America are now more densely distributed in the broader "North," where there are fewer large estates and plantations than in the South, resulting in less resistance to building public infrastructure. Northerners are also more enthusiastic about developing local industries, and "building railroads" is an excellent way to meet that demand.
Therefore, although Wayne did not intend to receive an extra share of the inheritance by acting as a "witness," if he could make connections with influential people in New York, the detective agency's business expansion would be much smoother.

However, this little brat is a bit annoying, so Wayne plans to leave her out for now, thinking he'll deal with her once the cannery and dock area are mostly settled. In the meantime, he can also gather more relevant intelligence.

Anyway, judging from what she said, the old man of the Auster family is not in a hurry to die, and it wouldn't matter if he were to die ten or eight days or a month or two later.

……

"The Auster family? I didn't expect Wayne to have quite a few relatives on your maternal grandfather's side."

Back at the temporary base, Wayne exchanged information with Inessa and Lina over dinner.
Today, Inessa went to Willie's place to arrange the investigation into the whistleblower at the hearing, and also witnessed Connor, who was pretending to be drunk, being taken away by council police.
Lina's main task was to summarize the current gang situation in the dock area. She also took the opportunity to tease Wayne, saying that he had even missed Luke Matthew's visit today, neglecting the cannery business and instead going to visit relatives instead of doing his job.

After the gang meeting, the detective agency's night patrols were reduced to a minimum. The temporary hideout was now empty of prisoners, Rabbit Gang henchmen, and the likes of Inspector William who did absolutely no work; it was entirely staffed by "our own people."
In addition, the birds were mostly taken back to the workshop or moved to the cannery, which made the space feel much more spacious and comfortable.

The empty office that Mr. Paul had previously used was still in pristine condition. Although Mr. Paul said he wouldn't come back unless necessary and even invited Wayne to visit him sometime, he remained unmoved.

However, he left behind all the new furniture he had replaced, according to the original "donation" agreement, and before officially leaving, he had his henchmen stuff the low cabinet with alcohol and cigars.

Wayne temporarily assigned this area to Seth's team as their office and lounge. He came over to check on their tax collection progress, previewed the latest issue of the dockside tabloid, and then returned to his own area.

He planned to search for more information about the Auster family in the old newspapers that Doug had specifically brought over. When Old Master Basque first mentioned it, Wayne had already considered investigating his illegitimate maternal grandfather.
However, due to the scarcity of relevant clues, the intelligence team had not made any progress. The detective agency was also constantly busy. If it weren't for the arrival of this wild little devil cousin today, Wayne probably wouldn't have remembered it again for who knows how long.

Before she could even flip through the stack of newspapers, Lina burst through the door and practically flew in: "Aaaaaah—that Auster family sounds so rich! Wayne, you're going to be rolling in their inheritance, aren't you going to be rich?!"

Wayne had anticipated this. Lina, this "foreigner," probably hadn't heard of them before, otherwise she wouldn't have reacted that way; she probably would have jumped up on the spot.
Wayne had originally planned to take the opportunity to say something teasing, like, "Why are you so deferential at first and then so respectful, my dear subject?" But seeing how excited Lina was, he thought it would be better to pour some cold water on her first:
“As I’ve already said, they just want me to be a witness to their will. Even if they give me some gifts or compensation, it’s just a small ‘gift’ and doesn’t count as ‘division’.”

"Yes, the key is the 'witness'."

Lina seemed to think, "This is easy to handle. Logically speaking, if there is more than one will in the end and a dispute arises, then the person who can truly determine which will is valid is the so-called witness, right? You can even make up a 'disputed' will yourself."

Lying trough,

Lina truly lives up to her reputation as the "wise sage's" handpicked daughter; she managed to come up with such a feasible method of committing the crime in such a short time...

Even Wayne hadn't imagined that this move could be used in this way...

But upon closer reflection, this vulnerability has likely already been exploited throughout history.

Wayne couldn't help but remind him, "They say I've been designated as the 'primary' witness, which means there will actually be other witnesses..."

“That’s easy,” Lina said without hesitation, a clever idea immediately popping into her head, “Just get the other witnesses to…”

"Wait a moment."

Lina was interrupted by Wayne raising his hand and speaking halfway through her sentence.

A multitude of thoughts flashed through Wayne's mind in that instant.

For example, the "cooperation" mentioned by that cousin today, or the idea that Lina just provided to make the witness "disappear" or unable to "attend on time".

hiss……

Given the size of the Auster family's wealth, wouldn't it be dangerous for me to be a witness to this will?
(End of this chapter)