Chapter 16: The Offer

Lowell's lawyer had an office on the fourteenth floor, with a view of the James and a conference table the length of a bowling lane.

Lowell sat at the far end with his hands folded.

Beau sat beside him, tapping a gold pen on a legal pad.

The lawyer stood to greet us, a sleek grey man in a suit that fit.

"Mrs. Fitzhugh. Ms. Delgado." He gestured at two chairs. "Please."

"Mother Eleanor," Lowell said warmly. "You look tired."

"And you look well fed," Eleanor said. "Let's have it."

The lawyer slid a folder across the table.

"This is a settlement of all claims among the family," he said.

"Mr. Lowell Fitzhugh and Mr. Beau Fitzhugh have agreed to the following."

He ran through it in a pleasant voice.

Eleanor would keep the Monument Avenue house, free and clear.

She would receive three million dollars from the company, in cash, on signing.

She would resign as trustee, and sign the release, and the plan would be funded over twenty years from future lumber profits.

"Twenty years," I said. "The retirees are seventy."

The lawyer looked at me.

"The plan's own terms allow such a schedule."

"The plan's terms allow one hundred and thirty loans just under the limit, too," I said. "That isn't what makes it legal."

Beau smiled at his pen.

"And?" Eleanor said.

"And the second page." The lawyer turned it for her.

I read it upside down.

It said that Sam Delgado would agree, in writing, to have no further contact with Eleanor Fitzhugh.

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