Chapter 24: The Table Again

The lawyer took the head of the table.

Joost let him.

He stood two steps behind my chair with his arms folded, and I understood he was letting the man hang himself.

"This is a simple matter," the lawyer said, laying out his papers.

"Pieter Verwey's trust releases to his grandson by blood. A court has agreed that the child of Ms. Brandsma may be that grandson."

"May be," I said.

"It needs only a swab."

"It needs a lot more than a swab."

He smiled at me, patient and gray.

"Ms. Brandsma, you've been hiding this child for three years. Forgive me if the court is skeptical of your motives."

"Skeptical of my motives," I said, "from a man who has billed this club's money for three years."

The smile did not move.

But the room did.

Forty men turned their heads.

"Truus," I said.

Truus stepped forward with the club's ledger in both arms.

She had her reading glasses on, and her mouth set.

She dropped the book on the table with a bang.

"I keep the books," she said to the room.

"I've kept them for twenty years, and nobody ever told me to stop."

"Mrs. Wolters," the lawyer began.

"The trust costs the estate eleven percent a year."

She flipped a page.

"On four hundred thousand dollars, that's forty-four thousand. Paid to this man, every year, until the boy turns twenty-one."

A low sound went along the wall.

"That's eight hundred thousand dollars for a stack of paper," a man said.

"It's more," Truus said. "He's been on retainer since before Pieter died. Here's the payment, here, and here. Out of the club's account."

"With Pieter's authorization," the lawyer said, a little too quickly.

"Pieter Verwey is dead." Truus took off her glasses. "Whose authorization is it now?"

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