The Philanthropist's Danse (34 page)

A few conversations were held where guests were fortunate enough to be seated next to a well-matched partner. Camille and Bethany engaged in a whispered conversation though Bethany kept a wary eye on her brothers. Winnie Tremethick and Janice were chatting. The housekeeper appeared relaxed and to be enjoying herself. William wondered about Betty’s claims of Janice being abused by Junior. He thought it could be true, but he also thought there was no chance she would say anything.

At length, dessert was served, to the relief of most guests. The morbid routine of serving the host’s seat first no longer surprised them. The act of serving an entire meal to a dead man’s chair had been uncomfortable but served the purpose of reminding them all they had been gathered together by a man who had the ability to influence them from beyond the grave.

Winnie Tremethick was the slowest eater of the assembled company, and as she placed her spoon on her plate, the dessert dishes were whisked away, and coffee and brandy was served.

W
illiam waited until Jeremy and his staff left the room before he reached into his pocket and withdrew the letter. He walked to Johnston Thurwell’s traditional place at the head of the table. He showed the sealed envelope to the group. “This is a letter from our host. It is a letter he wrote for this occasion at the end of your deliberations. He planned this dinner to the last detail. You ate what he decided you would eat, and you drank the wines he selected for tonight.

“Tomorrow, you will leave here and continue your lives as you choose. But it is my duty to read this letter to you. Once I conclude this final duty, you are free to do whatever you wish. Your cars will arrive at ten in the morning. Mrs. Tremethick will leave us earlier, as she has a plane to catch.” He nodded at the old lady who forced a smile for those who looked at her. Janice patted her arm with an encouraging smile.

William made a show of opening the letter with a butter knife. “I received this letter from Mr. Thurwell personally, and it has been locked in my safe waiting for tonight. My instructions are to read it to you once and then destroy it. I cannot answer any questions about its contents, and I ask you to respect Mr. Thurwell’s memory by not interrupting.”

Philip uttered a loud sigh. “Couldn’t he have just made a video and saved us the drama?”

He was surprised by Junior’s angry retort. “Shut up little brother. Let’s see what the Old Man has to say.” Philip shrugged and fell quiet, embarrassed.

William unfolded the pages of the letter and began to read.

“If my lawyer has arranged everything correctly then I am addressing twelve people who shared an opportunity to enrich themselves from the fruits of a lifetime of my labor. I have no way of knowing who got the most, or who got nothing and frankly as I sit here with tubes coming out of my chest, I don’t care. I have a few words for each of you, words you might not want to hear, but you’re going to anyway, because the advantage of being dead is that I have no concern for your discomfort.

“To my children, John, Bethany, Philip and Camille, I hope you got what you deserved. I’m quite sure John is upset I didn’t just bequeath my fortune to the family, and he’s right to be upset. In normal circumstances, a man should ensure his sons and daughters are taken care of after he’s gone. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with a deserving family, which is why you might have had to fight like dogs this week to get a single dollar of your inheritance.

“Let me start with my youngest. Philip, I don’t have enough life left in me to express all the ways you disappointed me, son, but let me tell you that it pains me to know such an indigent loser rose from my loins. My one regret is that I could not tell you this to your face. Once, in my haste to protect what reputation remains in my family name, I involved a good man in a scheme that might have ruined him. Philip, enjoy your life, son, you will never amount to anything. You might as well have fun rather than contemplate what a total waste of time you are.”

William read as calmly as he could, but the words he read were stinging. Philip’s eyes burned with fury before the weight of his father’s condemnation overtook him, and he lowered his head. The others were keenly aware this was going to be extremely difficult to listen to as William turned a page and continued.

“Camille, my newly discovered daughter. I did not know you well. I hardly knew your mother. I’m told DNA never lies, so I accepted that you were mine. I consider myself blessed that I found out about you so late in my life, I am not certain how much longer I could have put up with your shit. I don’t know if you’re angrier with your mother or me, but your naked greed shines like a beacon. I’ve seen it too many times before not to recognize gold fever in a woman. Remember the pact we made, my dear, you were included in the family and may share in my wealth, but you are never to take my name as your own. You are unworthy.

“Bethany, my beautiful daughter and greatest disappointment.”

William heard a sob and his heart wavered but he dared not pause. He steeled his resolve and plowed on.

“You were the family jewel for so long my dear. You were my solace that at least one of my children would amount to something. But you broke my heart, Beth. You know what you did, but you don’t know that I found out about it. I will never understand why you did it, but I took it personally and I hope you take my disapproval to your grave. No forgiveness, Beth, not in this lifetime or a hundred more.

“The hardest thing about dying is that I long for good company. Bill is too depressing to be any comfort. I would have liked you by my side at the end, Beth, but I will die without you beside me because I can’t stand the thought of you lying to me as I fade away. In the end, this will hurt you more than me. Now you know it cost me something to exclude you and I hope it tears you up, so you understand what you did to me.”

Bethany sobbed as her father’s words destroyed her. She felt something break inside. Camille held her hand and tried to comfort her, but she was inconsolable. “Monsieur Bird, please. No more, we have heard enough.”

Bird paused briefly but shook his head and returned to the letter without comment.

“To Johnston, my eldest son. What can I say? You were a brat as you grew up and never changed in adulthood. It’s ridiculous that a grown man allows others to call him Junior to his face. You’re a dangerous little prick, son. Don’t think I haven’t heard the horror stories about you. You might wonder why you didn’t get a straight inheritance, or you might have figured it out, depending how the Danse played out. I knew about your betrayal of me, I knew the moment you started. My biggest regret is that I continued the family tradition and gave you my name. I can prevent Camille from taking my name, but I willingly bestowed it on you, and that’s an error I take to my grave with bitter regret. Never was a man so unworthy of my name than you, son.”

“Fuck you too, Dad.” Junior muttered and flipped his middle finger at the ceiling, a childish gesture of defiance that illustrated perfectly the man his father had described.

William took a breath. The letter was far worse than he had expected. It contained all the pent-up rage Thurwell had for those who had wronged him. He should not have been surprised, the Old Man had been ruthless in his determination to gather these twelve people together to variously reward or punish them. His letter was the coup de grace.

“Freddie, my friend. Perhaps the nature of our long history has been revealed and perhaps it has not, but I want to publicly acknowledge your friendship. You know what it meant to me, and I hope I was as true to you, as you were to me. If you got some of my money, good for you. It makes me happy to think some of it went to a person that earned it.”

Freddie bowed his head and whispered a private goodbye to his old friend. He smiled because his friend had ensured he had the final word, even in death.

Betty Freah looked up as she heard her name and trembled at what she might hear.

“Betty, my dear, thank you for your years of tenderness. You entered my life as a practical solution to a problem, but came to mean so much more to me. I understand it was difficult for you, tolerating how the other women in my life looked down at you. But you gave me more understanding and showed more respect and kindness than my own children. You will see that you meant more to me at the end than any of them. Take whatever money you got and enjoy a long retirement, you earned it in noble fashion.”

Betty smiled at the last sentence. It had been a long time since the philanthropist had touched her. He had been impotent for years. At first, he kept her appointments to maintain appearances, but soon they were friends, and she became his confidant. She looked at Janice and Bethany, two women that had always hated her and wondered what they would have made of the fact she and JT had played cribbage more often than they had played around.

William tensed as he came to the next page, the pleasantries were over.

“Larry MacLean, what can I say about you? You claimed to be my best friend, yet stole my first wife from under me, only to abandon her. You may know already what I did Larry, but in case it has not been told, I ruined you. I bought your brother and drained your trust fund. I owe you more, but I’m out of time and must be satisfied that you will be left with a fraction of what you were worth, even if you do get some of my money.

“I trusted you so much that when I discovered what you did I couldn’t believe it for a long time. I even argued you were so honorable that even if you had done it, you would have confessed. I was wrong, you have no honor, and I regret we ever met. My life would have been better without you in it.”

MacLean wore a stoic expression. He did not look at William but at a point on the opposite wall. He deserved it. He had enough respect for his friend to know he had earned his scorn. If Larry regretted anything, it was that he had never admitted his guilt and apologized. The barb about his lack of honor stung because once Larry had been honorable. Now his friend, his reputation and his family fortune were gone, and he had only his settlement to live out the rest of his life. By the time he had taken care of his family, Larry would be living a shadow of his former profligate lifestyle. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the lawyer move on and looked at his neighbor to watch her reaction.

“Caroline Smith, I don’t have much to say to you. I know what you were doing at the Foundation, and you will soon know how angry I was when I found out. You’re fired, of course.

“It’s possible you might have gotten your clammy hands on some of my money. Enjoy it while you can, because when you return to New York, the FBI will be waiting. I worked hard all my life and the Foundation is my legacy. If you thought you could corrupt it, you were wrong.

“Your personal greed will not sully my Foundation’s reputation and so you must be publicly punished to restore confidence in the good that my legacy can do. It’s possible you have learned of some indiscretions by your fellow participants this week. Let me caution you against using anything you know to plead a deal. I have enough dirt on your husband to put him in jail too, stuff I doubt even you know about. Breathe a word of what you might have heard this week and your children will grow up with two parents in jail.”

Smith turned as white as the silk scarf she wore over her evening dress and had trouble catching her breath. She reeled, she had thought she had finally achieved wealth but now understood she had lost everything.

William’s hands shook as he finished reading Caroline’s section. He suddenly understood what one of the yellow envelopes in his safe was for. It was labeled
The Professor
and had puzzled the lawyer from the moment he saw it. There was no professor among the guests, but Caroline’s husband held tenure.

William took a drink of water, his throat was dry.

“Dennis and Janice, two of my trusted and loyal people. You helped make my house a home and took care of everything for many years, thank you. I hope you are taking away some of my money, you deserve it. Thank you for the services you provided that went far beyond your normal duties. You know what I speak of, and that is all I will say.

“I have a gift for you, Dennis. As the longest serving person on my staff, I hereby instruct William to sign over my New York apartment to you. Call it insurance, in case the others managed to short change you and your wife out of my money. You’ll find the place is worth quite a tidy sum. Do what you want with the place. Sell it or live in it, but if you sell, you must share the proceeds equally with Janice. Bill, take care of that business as soon as you get back to the city.”

The Elliots exchanged shocked looks. Thurwell’s home in New York was a two-story 12,000 square foot penthouse apartment with Central Park views. Dennis had no idea what such a property would be worth, but Janice immediately estimated its worth and a wide grin broke out on her face.

Bethany and Junior stared open mouthed at the servants. Junior had figured his father’s properties would be returned to the family, but now the most valuable asset had been given away to his manservant. Junior wanted to protest, but no words came and he sat in furious silence.

William continued to read, but made a mental note about another yellow envelope labeled
NYC Apartment
. His hands shook. The philanthropist had even managed to surprise the man that had been by his side for the entire preparation of the
Danse
.

“Judge Freeman, we never met in person, and I owe you an apology. Had I been less invested in the reputation of my family name, you would not have been dragged into this sorry mess. I know now that what I asked of you was too much and what I did to secure your assistance was regrettable. I should have looked into you before I acted, not after, because I see I compromised a man of honor and integrity.”

Junior and Philip grunted, and some of the others rolled their eyes as they recalled the Judge had ruined their first settlement with a blackmail attempt. William ignored the interruption, and the Judge listened carefully.

“I hope you are taking away some of my fortune and that any difficulties I landed you in can be relieved. I believe you had designs on a political future, and I wish you well with your future endeavors.”

“Is that it? An apology and he hopes I got some money?” Freeman was surprised and felt slighted. His anger grew as he recalled the methods used to drag him into the plot to free the philanthropist’s no-good son. He looked at Philip, and made a decision. He apologized for the interruption as William moved to the last person in the letter.

As she heard her name, Winnie Tremethick bit her lip nervously.

“So I come to Winnie, my lost love. You might have received a letter by now that explains what you meant to me. If not, you will very soon. I wish you had accepted my proposal all those years ago, but it was not to be. Our lives took a different path, one that sent us in very different directions.