“No!” I wasn’t used to him pushing me. “I said I’m not changing my mind.”
“I think you should.” And there was something cold in his voice, as well.
Fred called at eight twenty.
“Is Jacob Rosenberg working for you?”
“Good morning to you, too. Yes, he is. He’s on the board of the foundation.”
“I know who he is. He’s filed SEC papers concerning the change of ownership of your stocks.”
“That’s what I told him to do. He works fast.”
“And news travels fast. I am not the only one who will hear about this. You must reconsider!”
At that moment I felt sorry for him. “I won’t. You’ll be better off without me.”
“Everyone will be better off without you. But your divestment plans are disastrous. They must be stopped.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“I won’t. I will take more effective measures.”
“Stay out of it.” Now I felt murderous toward him. “You can go down, too, Fred. In fact, you’re a big part of what I’m trying to demolish.” A very big part-very, very big. “And by the way, you’re fired.”
“I won’t rant.” His voice was very cold. “Just be warned.”
“You too.”
Nathan called at eight forty.
“I’m worrying about you, Jason.”
“That would be justified,” I said.
“What should I be doing?”
“Tell me I’m doing the right thing.”
There was dead air, then he tried. “I believe you are. But it’s your decision.”
“Fred disagrees with both of those statements.”
“What about Katie?”
“She’s not happy.”
“I’m sorry. I could talk to her.”
She was going to be homeless soon. Maybe she could take advantage of some of his programs. “Maybe later. Right now it wouldn’t help.”
“If I can help at any time, please tell me.”
“I will. Thanks.”
At nine, Stan Morton called.
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m sitting in my office, looking out the window,” I said.
“Your silence is deafening. I can’t get anybody at the statehouse to tell me what you’ve told them to do. So I called Forrester at his house. He’d never pass a chance to cut down Harry Bright. What do I get? A very uncharacteristic ‘No comment.’ What kind of gag have you tied on to everybody? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’m not telling anybody to do anything. They’re on their own.”
“Really.”
“And Forrester will be his insufferable self soon enough.”
“Okay,” he said, and I could hear the suspicious look on his face. “So what’s the story here?”
“I’d tell you but I’m tired of talking about it.”
“If you’re tired, I’ll send a reporter over with a pillow.”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“I’m taking that as a promise.”
“Whatever. Good-bye, Stan.”
Jacob Rosenberg called at nine twenty-five.
“I have a couple papers for you to sign.”
“I’m just sitting here,” I said.
“Then I’ll be right over.”
I was ready to make my own calls.
“Get me Senator Forrester’s office in Washington.”
“I don’t think he’s there yet,” Pamela said. “He was flying back this morning.”
“It doesn’t matter. I just need to talk to somebody to deliver a message.”
I stood by her desk as she levered and forced, and after only a few moments she had a person. I took the call on Pamela’s phone.
“What may I do for you, Mr. Boyer?” said the person.
“Please give my regards to the senator,” I said. “Tell him that he’s free. He can do whatever he wants. I don’t care if the blathering idiot rots in Washington, but he better get his own machine to get elected because mine is out of business. And tell him to keep Tweedleleine and Tweedlevieve away from my family or I’ll change my mind and tell the newspaper everything about him spying for the Communists.”
The person recovered fast. She must have had plenty of practice. “Mr. Boyer-”
“Nyet, comrade. I will say no more.”
Pamela couldn’t approve of my behavior, as much as she wanted to. “You shouldn’t burn all your bridges,” she said after I’d hung up.
“I like to watch the flames.”
“You might need friends later on.”
“Not Forrester. And not Fred. I don’t want friends like them.”
It was almost ten when Jacob arrived. Lawyers are supposed to be precise with words, but his “couple papers” was not.
“Did you work all night?” I said, looking at his stack.
“Six of us did.”
“I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.”
“Well, Mr. Boyer, time is against us. The faster this gets done, the better, before we start getting resistance.”
“The resistance has already started.”
He smiled a lawyer smile. “And due to the expenses we’re incurring, and the nature of the job, this first paper is to create an escrow account with sufficient funds to cover our bills.”
“No problem,” I said. That was probably the first thing they teach in lawyer schools, to charge up front if the client is bankrupting himself. I changed the amount from two million dollars to five million.
“The two million was meant to be more than enough,” he said. “Anything unused will just go back into the main estate.”
“We don’t know what might happen these next couple weeks. Let’s be very generous, just in case.”
“Yes, sir. These papers create a single trust, which all the assets will be assigned to. It’s in your name to begin with. These are the papers that will transfer the trust to the foundation. You can sign those when you’re ready.”
“I won’t sign those yet.” That would be the crucial moment. “What is the trust called?”
“I’ve put down Jason Boyer Asset Trust as the name.”
I found the page where that was written and crossed it out. Above the line I wrote, Trust for the Termination of Boyer Family Power and Riches.
“Let’s go with that,” I said.
“The name is public information, Mr. Boyer.”
“I know.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And these are all the specific assets?”
“Yes, sir,” he said. “We got as many as we could. These are transfers designed to avoid sales and capital gains taxes whenever possible. There will be some taxes.”
“Which trust includes my house?”
“Let’s see.” He riffled for just a moment. “This one.” It was the trust that also owned the sailboat and the cars and furniture and all my personal assets. “There is a waiver for your wife to sign, if she would.”
“I don’t think she will.”
“That’s a sword hanging over the whole thing. She can contest this transfer.”
“We’ll proceed anyway.”
“And as I said before, if she files for divorce, all of this can be delayed or even halted.”
“I’m trying,” I said. To do his job, he needed to know how it was. But I didn’t like discussing it.
“Yes, sir. I just want to make sure you understand that she is the biggest threat to your plans.”
“I understand.”
He understood that he was not to press the subject. “And this is a power of attorney. It gives our firm the right to conduct transactions on your behalf for the sole purpose of moving assets into the main trust. It’s to prevent delays when we need ancillary papers signed.”
I was reading the fine print. “No. I want to do my own signing.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll keep some couriers available if we need to bring papers to you quickly.”
We got to work. Pamela only interrupted one time.
“Fred’s on the phone,” she said.
“Tell him I’m busy signing lots of papers.”
“Do you really want me to?”
“No.” I picked up my phone. “Yes?”
Fred’s voice came out of the receiver like an earthquake. “I want to know if you’ll change your mind.” That was all he said.
“I won’t.”
The line went dead.
We trudged on through the papers, and it was after eleven when we finished.
“Am I free to discuss this with Nathan Kern?” Jacob asked.
“Sure. It’ll all be his in another week.”