Cain hadn't made his living at the poker tables by telegraphing his feelings, but it was difficult to hide the ugly emotions that sprang up inside him. "I wasn't aware she'd remarried, but yes, that's my mother's name."

"Was her name, don't you mean?" Woodward glanced at a paper in front of him.

"She's dead, then?" Cain felt nothing.

The attorney's plump jowls jiggled in distress. "I do apologize. I assumed you knew. She passed on nearly four months ago. Forgive me for having broken the news so abruptly."

"Don't trouble yourself with apologies. I haven't seen my mother since I was ten years old. Her death means nothing to me."

Woodward shuffled the papers before him, not appearing to know how to respond to a man who reacted so coldly to the death of his mother. "I, uh, have a letter sent to me by a Charleston attorney named W. D. Ritter, who represents your mother's estate." He cleared his throat. "Mr. Ritter's asked me to contact you so you can be advised of the terms of her will."

"I'm not interested."

"Yes, well, that remains to be seen. Ten years ago your mother married a man named Garrett Weston. He was the owner of Risen Glory, a cotton plantation not far from Charleston, and when he was killed at Shiloh, he left the plantation to your mother. Four months ago she died of influenza, and she seems to have left the plantation to you."

Cain didn't betray his surprise. "I haven't seen my mother in sixteen years. Why would she do that?"

"Mr. Ritter included a letter that she wrote to you shortly before her death. Perhaps it will explain her motives." Woodward withdrew a sealed letter from the folder in front of him and passed it across the desk.

Cain put it in the pocket of his coat without glancing at it. "What do you know about the plantation?"

"It was apparently quite prosperous, but the war took its toll. With work, it might be reclaimed. Unfortunately, there's no money attached to this bequest. And there's also the matter of Weston's daughter, Katharine Louise."