Chapter 23: Four and a Half

The office on State Street had been closed for four years, and the air in it was stale and warm.

I let Marin go in first.

The brass plate by the door still said ASHDOWN & DAUGHTER in raised letters.

Someone had polished it that week.

She put two fingers on the second word.

"He added that when I was twenty-two," she said. "I'd just finished my degree."

"He told me it was a joke, and he had the plate made the next day."

"It wasn't a joke."

"No. It wasn't."

I had the envelope in my coat.

I took it out and held it between us.

"The deed," I said. "It's yours. I'll have my lawyer sign it over today, and you'll owe me nothing."

Marin looked at the envelope, and then at me.

"No," she said.

"Marin."

"I said no in your kitchen over a check, and I'm saying it here."

"This isn't a check. It's your father's name."

"It's your property. I won't take it as a gift, Weston."

"I'll take it as something I earned."

I waited.

She walked to the window and looked down at the street, and I watched her think.

"I'll buy it," she said.

"For what?"

"What it's worth. Have it appraised by someone who doesn't like you, and I'll pay that figure."

"Ashdown Partners will borrow the money."

"From whom?"

"From Cabot Capital."

I felt my mouth start to smile.

"At what rate?"

"Market," she said. "Don't make that face."

"I'm not making a face."

"You're about to say two percent."

"I was going to say one."

"Four and a half," Marin said. "With covenants. Your lawyer can draft them, and mine will fight yours."

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