Chapter 9: Forty Percent

At ten the next morning I sat down at a long table in a room that smelled like old paper.

The lawyer sat at the head of it with a stack of folders and my mother's string-tied folder in front of her.

Allison walked in at one minute past.

She wore a navy suit and held her chin high, and she did not look at me.

Brody came in behind her.

"Mr. Hartnell is a witness for the company," Allison told the lawyer.

"Mr. Hartnell has no standing in this room," the lawyer said. "But he may stay quietly."

Brody smiled and took the chair by the door.

The lawyer opened a file.

"This is the last will of Frances Kemper," she said. "I will read the relevant portion. Please do not interrupt."

She put on her glasses.

"To my son, Russell Kemper, I leave my apartment, my savings, and every share I hold in Draper Logistics."

Allison made a small sound in her throat.

"Every share?" she said. "Frances had no shares. She lent us money in 2014."

"I repaid it in full in 2018. I have the wire receipt."

"I have it too," the lawyer said. "Two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, with interest, sent from your company account to Mrs. Kemper."

"Then it was settled."

"It was received. It was not settled."

She slid a page across the table.

"In 2014, Mrs. Kemper invested two hundred thousand dollars, the entire sale price of her house, in exchange for forty percent of the company."

"It was a loan," Allison said.

"It was a subscription agreement. You signed it. Page three is yours."

Allison looked at the page.

I saw her read her own signature.

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