Inheritance (94 page)

Voices were raised. "Felix, when did you read this?" Barbara Janssen demanded.

Judith Michael

Felix said nothing; his gaze was fixed hypnotically on Owen's letter.

"Go on," Paul said to Laura.

"— a small part of the family company, and this house, and all of my own corporation. This means the hotels will be yours when I die, and therefore you will be the one to oversee their rebirth if I cannot "

"And you*ve done just that," Leni said. "So wonderfully. He was right to trust you."

Laura was skimming the letter, going through the pages. 'These are the plans we made; I'd remembered most of them. Oh, he wanted to change those outside lights; I'd forgotten that." The room was silent; no one wanted to interrupt. Then she drew in a sharp breath.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

Laura looked at him. "He knew. . . .**

She bent her head and read from the last page, her voice low.

"/ have respected your privacy, dearest Laura, but I must tell you 1 found it trying at times. I have known about your youthful peccadilloes for quite a while, including your conviction and probation for burglary. I thought you knew me well enough, my dear, to know that I am not happy with mysteries; I like a world where I know the answers. I did some checking with the New York Police Department, which is many years behind in cleaning out old files, and I found your secret. It seems very sad to me that you cannot trust me with it, even now, after all our years together. It tells me the depth of your fears that you cannot tell the truth and get the past over with. I hope, when you find your own triumphs as a wise, strong, very lovely woman, you will be able to deal with your past and make it part of your future. I'm afraid the chances are I won't be around to see that, but I feel sure it will happen. I'm so proud of you, dearest Laura; for a long time I have thought of you as the daughter Iris and I never had. And so I leave you something else in

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addition to those legacies I am adding to my will: my great pride in you, and my love, to carry with you after I am gone."

The last words were muffled. Laura was crying. Paul put his arm around her. 'There was a greatness to Owen," he said softly. "Someday, if I work at it, I may be almost the man he was."

There was a silence in the room. It wasn't only revenge I wanted, Laura thought through her tears. It wasn't to take on any opponent and win. It was to be worthy of Owen's love and trust and faith in me. I knew I wanted to fulfill his dream, but I didn't know how much I wanted to be worthy of him.

"I don't understand," Asa's wife, Carol, said. "If Fehx had the letter when Laura was looking for it, why didn't he show it to us? Why didn't you, Felix?"

"He didn't want to," one of the cousins said impatiently.

"Is that true, Felix?" asked another cousin. "You didn't want Laura to inherit?"

"That's an awful thing to say," objected a third cousin. "That would be . . . what would that be?"

"Fraud," said Thomas Janssen quietly.

Felix's head shot up. As if he were just awakening, he shook himself and focused his look on Thomas. "What was that?"

"Fraud," Thomas repeated. "It is fraud to withhold a document pertinent to a court case. The jury never would have found for you had they known about this letter."

"I didn't withhold it," Felix said shortly. "I never saw it."

"But you said it had been thrown out with the trash," Cole Hatton recalled. "How did you know that?"

There was a pause, then Felix shrugged. "I did see it, ear-Uer. It was on my father's desk."

"On it?" Thomas asked.

Once more he shrugged. "What difference does it make? It was in the drawer. I was looking for something and I found it. When I went back later, it was gone. I assumed, when"—he gestured toward Laura—^"didn't show it to the family, it had been thrown out. Evidently someone else had taken it. And planted it in my safe. That's a criminal act, planting evidence that incriminates someone."

Judith Michael

"It would be if you could prove it/* said Hatton. "Can you?"

"Is this an inquisition? That letter was planted! Someone wanted it to look as if Fve had it all these years. I did not have it! And that's all there is to it!"

*Tell me one thing," Thomas said. "If you saw it in Owen's desk, why didn't you tell us that when Laura said there had been a letter? I remember we all waited in Owen's library while she went to look for it. Why didn't you say anything then? And later, why didn't you tell the court? As a matter of fact, why did you even go to court? You knew, from the letter, that Owen was perfectly healthy when he decided to change his will, but you didn't say anything at the will reading, and you brought that suit to invalidate Laura's inheritance when you knew Owen wanted her to have it. I think we deserve an explanation of this; you took us into a painfiil lawsuit, with considerable publicity, and made us believe we'd been cheated by someone we cared for. We've been influenced by what you've done, Felix, and we deserve an explanation."

"Daddy?" Allison demanded. Her eyes blazed. "You hid it? You lied to us?"

"Shit," one of the cousins said and another said, "I wouldn't have believed it, you know?" and another called out, "What the hell for, Felix? I mean, she wasn't taking all that much from you."

"Daddy," Allison repeated furiously, "you stole! You blamed Laura for steahng, but you were the one who stole her inheritance! And you ruined what we had. We were all so happy! Why did you do it?"

Felix glared at all of them. "I am not required to explain anything. That document was placed in my safe illegally. She did it!" he roared, pointing at Laura. "She snuck in here— she's always been a thief—snuck in and planted it, and now she sits there, smirking, trying to make a fool of me. I can't believe you're taking her seriously!"

"I'm quite sure Laura did nothing of the kind," Thomas said. "But the fact is, it doesn't matter how it got there. It might have flown by itself into your safe, for all I care. What's really important is that you've admitted you saw it and concealed your knowledge of it. At the least, that's withhold-

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ing evidence. At the worst, it's fraud, and Laura could sue you, with all of us as witnesses. That would be bad for the hotels and therefore bad for all of us. Are you going to sue him, Laura?"

She shook her head. '1 don't know. Can I? After all these yearsT'

"Absolutely. There is no statute of limitations on fraud.**

Felix's face was contorted. 'There will be no lawsuit. This company has enough problems without— ** He took a sharp breath. "No one is going to sue anyone. We can all—work together— " The words were wrenched out of him.

"Laura?" Hatton said.

"I don*t know yet. I have to think about it.** That's what Clay knew. It was his joke on Felix. Maybe that's why he came back, to tell me he knew it was in the safe.

"But even if Laura doesn't do anything," Carol said hesitantly, looking at Asa, beside her, and then at Thomas, "what happened was wrong, wasn't it? Shouldn't something happen when something is wrong?"

"You mean, should someone be punished?" Thomas asked. Slowly, trying to understand, she nodded. "It's not for us to punish Felix," he said. "But the whole business certainly makes me wonder if I want him to continue to lead the company."

"I agree," Hatton said. "It doesn*t suggest wise leadership. Which is what we*ve been worried about for a long time, even before this affair of withholding evidence.*'

*That's why this meeting was called,** Thomas went on. "Felix, for some time the consensus has been that you should step down as president and chairman of the board— '*

"I will not," Felix said instantly. "You're using this illegal maneuver, this sham—^"

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. For some time the consensus has been that you should step down. There are a number of significant problems in the company—you said so yourself, just now—and we don't think you can solve them."

"I will not have this discussed today. It was not on the agenda—we had no agenda. You gave me no warning—^"

"You're wrong. I told you we'd be discussing your position in the company when I called you about the meeting."

Judith Michael

"I don't remember. It*s irrelevant, in any case. You can*t push this through; you don't have the votes.'*

"I could make a motion," Hatton said. "But first, I think we might just go around the room and find out how the shareholders feel. We all know about the problems in the company; we've been talking about them for the past few weeks— months, in fact—and now, since Owen's letter was found, we have additional information. So I'd like to get everyone's opinion on the motion I intend to make to elect Thomas Jans-sen chairman of the board and Ben Gardner president— "

"You son of a bitch! You'll never do it! You and your gang are a minority, goddam it! You don't have the votes!"

"Oh, yes, we do," Asa said, very clearly, and for the first time anyone could remember, he did not stutter.

There was a dead silence in the room. The color had drained from Felix's face. "Before we ask everyone for an opinion," Hatton said, "I want to add that we are also discussing a merger of two hotel chains. If—and only if—^Ben is elected president, and Thomas chairman of the board, Laura has agreed to discuss a merger of the Salinger and Beacon Hill hotels." Questions and conMnents rose in a flurry throughout the room and he went on, above them. "Each would retain its individuality, and the Beacon Hill name would remain, but we would be one company."

"Judd's son and Owen's daughter," Leni murmured. "Getting back what was stolen from them."

Felix heard her. Slowly, he turned to face Ben. Their eyes held in a long look and FeUx was the first to look away. His glance passed over the twenty men and women who were strangers to him. They were all against him. So was his father. He'd been so sure, when Owen died, that he was finally free of his long shadow. But Owen had dominated the afternoon.

And so had Judd, Felix thought involuntarily. After all this time, it was as if Judd had come back, to eclipse Felix Salinger.

Hatton was asking the people in the room if they would support Thomas Janssen and Ben Gardner at the head of the company, but Felix paid no attention. His thoughts were a whirlpool, sucking him down. If I hadn't fought his will, none of this would have happened. No, it wasn't the will; it was

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before that. If Vd told them about the letter . . . No, it was even before that. If Td let Judd keep his puny little company . . . But it was there for the taking; I couldn't ignore it. And it wasn't puny; it was growing. It's still making money for us. He had no right to it anyway; he wasn't strong or smart.

It doesn't matter; none of it matters; it's done. I don't believe in looking back; the past is irrelevant. I have to get clear and think of what to do next.

But in the wild churning of his thoughts, no ideas came to him. He heard the sounds of voices, but what he saw was Judd's son with his arm around Felix's daughter, pregnant with their second child. Ben Gardner, president of Salinger Hotels, father of Salingers, someday head of the Salinger family . . . The thought filled his throat like bile.

His glance moved past Ben and Allison and then, before he could stop himself, he was looking at Laura, meeting her eyes. He saw the look in them, and his color rose in rage. Pity. This bitch, who came from nothing, who stole and connived and lied and fucked her way into this room, was pitying him!

He had to get away. He couldn't think straight. He had to get away from all of them, not have to look at them. Then he could think of what he'd do next.

Without a backward glance, without a word, he walked out of his library, down the stairs, and out of the house. He'd go back to Boston, to his own office, where he belonged. And then he'd think of what to do next.

In the library, the conversation had stopped when Felix walked out the door. The family was subdued, and most of them were not sure how to feel: they were used to Felix, he'd been running the company for as long as they could remember, but it really was time for a change, and it would be better for everyone if he made it easy for them, instead of starting a bruising family fight.

After a moment, Paul said musingly, 'The last time we all got together to hear a document read, Laura left the house. This time it was Fehx. There's a nice synmietry in that."

"But I think we ought to leave," Laura said. "He should have the privacy of his own house to come back to. Can we go on with the meeting somewhere else?"

Judith Michael

"We can adjourn to my apartment," Paul said. "If it's all right with Ben."

Ben grinned at him. "I haven't been elected yet. We should ask Thomas."

Thomas shook his head. "No one has elected me, either. Asa? As vice president, would you agree to adjourn to Sutton Place?"

"I think you should make the decision on your own." Asa's voice was hoarse, and he cleared his throat. "I don't think I should hang around. I'm sort of the past, you know? I went along with Felix all these years; he scared the shit out of me—of course, you all knew that—and I never quite knew why. It's not good to dislike a brother; it poisons a family. It poisoned all these years for me when I felt like a notfiing. I think I'd like to retire. Maybe Carol and I can get to know you all in new ways if we're out of the company. I think that's what I'd like to do. So I can't decide about adjourning the meeting."

"Yes, you can," Paul said gently. None of them had ever heard Asa say so much without stuttering, and they all were smiling at him for his triumph. "We need you. And the board hasn't accepted your resignation yet."

So Asa made the decision, adjourning the meeting for half an hour, to continue at Paul's Sutton Place apartment. Everyone stood up, gathering jackets and purses and briefcases, and, one at a time, they came up to Laura and apologized. As they passed by, on their way out the door, it was almost as if she and Paul were in a reception line, greeting the Salingers, and being welcomed back.

Ben and Allison kissed Laura and left the room. Leni put her arms around Paul and Laura. "It's a good family, isn't it? Even with its problems. I'm so glad we're all a part of it."