Chapter 15: Four Votes

The Auchincloss Maritime boardroom is on the top floor, with a table that seats nine and a window over Park Avenue.

I walked in on Friday at ten with my mother on my right and Derrick behind us.

Derrick stopped at the door, because only directors may sit.

He looked at me once before he stepped back into the hall.

Bradford was already at the head of the table.

He wore a fresh navy blazer, and there were white hydrangeas in a vase at his elbow.

"Honor. Cory," he said, with the smile of a man at a christening. "I'm so glad you came."

Nobody else said good morning.

Three directors sat beside him with their folders closed.

Two sat on my mother's side, and one empty leather chair stood between them.

It was my father's chair.

It had been empty since his funeral, and the family trust had never given it to anyone.

"Before we begin," Bradford said, "I want it on record that I take no pleasure in this."

He opened a folder.

"The motion is to remove Honor Auchincloss Ames from the Auchincloss family's voting shares, for gross misconduct."

"Specifically, she had the private phone records of a fellow trustee pulled without a vote."

"She used the family office to follow a man for three years."

"And her household is the source of a video that has made this company a joke."

"The charter requires five of nine," he said. "Let us see where we stand."

My mother sat very straight.

Under the table, her left hand pressed flat against her ribs.

I saw her slide a small white pill from her bag and put it under her tongue while Bradford was talking.

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