Chapter 15: The Vote

The Sterrett Holdings boardroom was on the thirty-first floor, with a table that seated twelve.

Nine of them were already sitting when I walked in.

Dorian sat at the head, in my father's chair.

He had a fresh suit and a fresh haircut, and he smiled at me.

"This is a closed session," he said. "Security will take you out."

"Security works for the owner of the company seat," I said. "That's me."

The night housekeeper came in behind me with a banker's box in her arms.

She had put on her good coat and a hat, and she set the box on the table with a thump.

I had the green stone at my throat.

Nine board members looked at it, and then at my brother.

The old man who had taught me chess met my eyes, and nodded once.

"Sit, Susannah," he said. "Please. The chair on your father's right is empty."

I sat in it.

"Dorian has called this session to say our father was not in his right mind," I said. "And that my mother's trust is a fraud."

"Everyone knows it's a fraud," Dorian said. "A clause nobody can find, read out in the middle of the night."

"The trust lawyer is in the lobby. He's held the signed original for fifteen years. Shall I send for him?"

Nobody answered.

A woman at the end of the table, who had sat on this board for twenty years, said, "I'd like to hear him."

Dorian's smile slipped a little.

The lawyer came up in the next elevator, a stooped man with a leather briefcase, and he read the clause to the room.

He confirmed my mother's signature, the date, and the witnesses.

He confirmed that a family member had refused my claim before five people, and that I had five sworn statements to prove it.

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