I guessed that most of those people had seen right through my big cheese act, even though Fred told me I’d been very impressive. They were all twice my age and there was no rational reason that I should be their boss. No one asked me bluntly, What right did I have to be here? No one but me.
Driving back into town against the rush hour traffic, I started thinking about the governor and his chief of staff. Clinton Grainger would not pretend to be impressed.
And I thought about what I’d seen. The empire was vast but concentrated. It was all in one state, mainly in heavy industry, and dependent on government largesse and lack of strong competition. It was obvious why Melvin had kept such tight control on the governor’s mansion. It was obvious why I needed to.
Clinton Grainger did not impress me. He was nondescript, flabby, a poor dresser, and he had bad hair. Even his eyes were blank where I’d expected some flash of brilliance to sneak out, and his voice was whiny. No wonder he was the brains behind, since he’d never make it as the politician out front.
“I’m so glad to meet you,” he said, and it sounded like he had a clothespin on his nose.
“And likewise,” I said. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long.”
“Yes.” There was no sign of intelligence. Of course, Fred Spell-man had fooled me for years.
“There’s a lot of ground to cover.” We established ourselves on opposite sides of the white tablecloth.
“You went sailing over the weekend,” he said. What did that mean?
“I often do,” I said.
He peered at me. “Are you serious about running your father’s businesses, Mr. Boyer? Or are you just going to spend his money?” Fred had said, Be direct. Grainger was being very direct. I was being sacked before I even knew the game had started.
“I was taking a few days to decide.”
“That’s a lot of time to make a decision.”
I was in way over my head, and there were sharks in the water. I had to think of what to say next, and I could see Grainger counting each second against me.
But why was I here, anyway? To impress this slob? The old Jason wouldn’t have cared what Clinton Grainger thought about anything, so why was the rich and powerful Jason worrying?
I didn’t want to play this game. I stood up. “To tell the truth,” I said, “it’s been a long day and I’m not very hungry.”
He was surprised, and he stared up at me. “You’re leaving?”
“Yes. I’m done with this conversation.” I dropped a fifty on the table and started walking. He was up and after me.
I waited at the curb a moment until he caught up.
“Mr. Boyer…”
“And please give Mr. Bright my regards,” I said. “I still hope we can work together, as partners.”
Clinton Grainger stared at the darkening night, then turned to me with his blank eyes and bulbous nose. Then he shook his head. “He doesn’t like partners.” He shrugged; he was giving up, too. “Good night, Mr. Boyer.”
I called Fred to report, and he was not impressed by my actions. “We’ll just have to wait for his response.”
“I guess that will be soon?”
“Yes, and unmistakable.”
It wasn’t late when I got home, and Katie met me in the hall.
“I don’t like this,” I said.
“What happened? How did everything go?”
“Terrible. I nearly died.”
“What?” She stepped back and looked me over for blood. “What happened?”
“I met with my financial adviser to find out how filthy rich I am and then I had a board meeting to hear how much more filthy rich I’m going to be and then I had dinner with the most powerful man in the state government to show off my filthy riches.”
“Were you in an accident? What did you mean about dying?”
“What I said. Jason is just about dead. He barely survived, right at the end.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Forget the melodrama. You’re doing what you need to be doing.” Then she smiled. “And you still look like Jason.”
“The big bad wolf has eaten granny, and now he’s wearing her clothes.”
“You talk like Jason.”
“That would be harder to fake.”
“Now tell me what happened. What did George Elias say?”
I shrugged. “Let me sit down.” I led the way to the study and called for Rosita to bring me some milk and a sandwich. I don’t mind lying, but I’d told a real whopper to Grainger. I was plenty hungry.
I took my time. When I was done, and Katie had been very patient, I took my new checkbook and wrote her a check for a million dollars.
“Don’t spend it all in one place.”
Her mouth dropped open when I handed it to her. “What is this for?”
“You need me to tell you? Just take it. Celebrate a little. Have a party. Buy a new dress.”
“But…”
“That’s nothing, Katie. You want to know what I’m worth now? Guess.”
“I can’t.”
“Yeah, I bet you couldn’t. Remember Eric said fifty million?” I shook my head. “Wrong. Way wrong.” I was being mean, but I couldn’t help it. I was feeling a lot of pain from the day, and I wanted to share it.
“That seemed like a lot.”
“It is a lot. Way too much for one person. That’s why the truth hurts even more.” I looked her in the eye. “A billion dollars.”
“Jason!”
“Yeah. Who’d have thought? He acted rich, but not that rich.”
It took her a few seconds to get her breath back. “A billion dollars?”
“That’s right. That’s not an M, it’s a B. You have hit the jackpot, cupcake. Call your momma and tell her she was wrong. No, I think I’ll call the little rapscallion myself.”
“It’s all ours?”
“To the last brass farthing. If you invested a billion dollars in the bank, do you know what the interest would be? Two hundred thousand. Per day. You could even have hard feelings against the old man for being stingy, with the paltry thirty grand a month he was giving us.”
“What are we going to do?”
“If we keep on a budget and don’t spend too much, we’ll manage somehow. A billion dollars isn’t what it used to be, you know.”
She took a deep breath and we both calmed down. “That’s not what I meant. Oh, never mind. Are you all right?”
I wasn’t. A billion dollars weighs a lot, and right then I was feeling it all. “I want to get to bed.”
“Come this way.” Mama Katie took command.
6
Tuesday morning I went running. I do it for exercise and I don’t push myself, but that morning I set a world record in the four mile Run Away From Your Problems event. Katie was still asleep when I left, and was just coming down to breakfast by the time I came back in.
“That was fast.”
“Paparazzi. You have to sprint to keep ahead of them.”
“Really?”
“No.”
She was waiting when I came back down from my shower, and we ate together. We always eat breakfast looking out over the garden.
“What are you doing today?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I want to meet more of the people who worked for Melvin. And I want to catch Nathan Kern before he goes to Africa tomorrow, to talk about the foundation. That’ll be dinner out again tonight.”
“Could we have him over here?”
Our house could use the blessing of his presence. “Yeah. I’ll have Pamela set it up. It’ll be friendlier, in case he has hard feelings about not getting Melvin’s wad for the foundation.”
I finished breakfast, and Katie was still there watching me. “Did you see Angela yesterday?”
“We had lunch downtown,” she said. “It was very nice.”
“Does she know what she’s doing with her life?”
“No.”
“She has no money worries.”