“Then what?”
It was still so hard to say. “I’m giving it up.”
“What? Giving up what?”
“Everything.”
“I don’t get it.”
It was too hard to do this! He wasn’t opposing me like Katie had, but I was still angry at him for not understanding.
“I’m getting rid of it all! Everything! The money, all of it. I said I would. Back at the beginning, when Fred was reading that stupid will, I said I didn’t want it. Why is it so hard to get anyone to understand?” He was staring at me, his eyes wide. I took a breath.
“I… I don’t understand, Jason.”
Two more breaths. “It’s okay.”
“Do you really mean everything?”
“I’m giving it to Nathan Kern and the foundation. They’ll break it up. They’ll sell all the businesses and the stocks, so no one will have it.”
“But last night…”
“That’s what did it. Do you have any idea what… how evil I was last night?”
“But you were telling him who was in charge.”
“No. You can’t know how it really was.” I was staring at the floor. “No one could.”
“But you don’t have to give up. Just get control.”
I looked back at him. “I know what I have to do.”
Somewhere inside him there was still a deep place, not silted up by hours of highway fumes. “I don’t think you’re evil, Jason. I think you’re better than Melvin. I think you can be better than he was. I think you’re smarter than he was. But if you think something is wrong, then you should do something about it. You always do what you have to.”
That was as painful to hear as Katie’s despair, because it was even more wrong. “Thanks,” I said.
He must have heard what I was thinking. “What does Katie think?”
“She’s angry and she hates me. I don’t know what she’ll do.”
“Man.”
This was much closer than politics and business. This was his parents splitting. Katie was nicer to him than anyone else he knew- he might miss her more than I would. Maybe she should marry him. He’d still have lots of money.
He heard me thinking again. Sweet young Eric-only now did his own welfare occur to him.
“What happens to me?”
“Nothing. Melvin set you up so I couldn’t touch anything. It’s all separate.”
“Oh. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet.”
“If you need a place, you can crash here.”
“Thanks.”
So there was some kind of safety net, even if it was sewn together by Melvin’s money. I hit the button for the forty-second floor and gathered myself for this next confrontation.
This would be different. Fred deserved no sympathy. Maybe everything I’d done was my own fault and my own decision, but this man was as bad as I was. Partway up I punched the button for thirty. I wanted to have the option of walking out of his office instead of getting a hernia trying to push him out of mine.
I called him and he let me in-he could unlock the doors from his desk. I knew he could get out of his chair, but just looking at him, a person would wonder. I started to look forward to this. I was not real stable at the moment.
“The impeachment bill is moving faster than I thought,” he said, as if the whole world hadn’t changed in the last twenty-four hours. “It will pass the House first thing tomorrow. I doubt there will be a single vote against it. The FBI has already requested a grand jury, and they should have a criminal indictment by the afternoon.” Fred had been building this house of cards for decades, but he was still fascinated by its fall.
There was still the issue of the King of Diamonds. “And Forrester.” He allowed himself a scowl. “After your performance last night, we can expect Malden to be a hostile governor.” The scowl was worth repeating, and he did. “Do you have any idea the damage you did? I thought we had agreed to overlook his arrogance and work with him. Was that merely a tantrum, or do you have another of your plans?”
“I have a plan, Fred. I came up with it this morning.”
“As well thought out as the previous one, no doubt.”
For a moment I contemplated the world inside his head and the laws that governed it. He would deserve every ounce of the stroke this would give him. “Even more so. Are you nice and comfortable there?”
“Get on with it.”
If I questioned whether I was doing the right thing, at that moment at least it felt good-it just felt a lot more like revenge than virtue. Fred was the serpent in the garden, even if that was not the first image that would come to mind looking at him. There was no regret here. I was going to be free of him.
“I quit.”
“Oh, you do?” He studied me and was hardly convinced. “I think not.”
This wasn’t worth anger. “I’ve tried the job and I don’t like it.”
He was already frustrated enough with a long day of wrestling with politicians. “When are you going to grow up? There is work to do. Save your childish antics for some other day. I’ve been on the phone for eight hours trying to restore some sanity to the statehouse, and now you’re losing yours.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. Actually I wasn’t even trying to be, but he did deserve an explanation. “I said at the beginning I didn’t want to do this. You almost persuaded me over this last month, but last night undid all that. I’m convinced now that I was right back at the beginning.”
“And I am convinced that you are an immature fool. But that can be remedied, possibly.”
“No. I’ll always be a fool. But I don’t have to be evil.”
“What?!” No stroke, but close. “Do you mean that petty comment last night vexed you? Of all the absurd ways to have your feelings hurt.”
I wasn’t angry yet, just annoyed. “You know it wasn’t one comment, Fred. It’s weeks of rolling in this pigsty. At least I can still see it for what it is, and I’ve decided I’m getting out.”
He had a huge repertoire of sounds of annoyance. “Then how do you propose ‘quitting’?”
“Everything’s going to the foundation, just like Melvin intended in the first place.”
His eyes narrowed; he saw this might be serious. “Nathan Kern is supposed to manage the Boyer assets?”
“He and his fellow do-gooder board members. If you want to cut a deal with Bob Forrester or Henry Malden, you can submit your request to the committee of philanthropists, and they’ll get back to you after they’ve discussed it thoroughly.”
“Foolishness. A committee can’t manage power. Someone will take control of it from them. They’ll be no match for one ruthless board member, or even an outsider who captivates them.”
“There won’t be anything to take control of. They’ll only have authority to divest and disassemble. It’ll take a year or two, but the whole cookie is going to end up a pile of crumbs,” I said.
“This is madness! Look at what you’ve done. You’ve torn down an entire state government. You can’t just walk away from it.”
“The thing was rotten by itself. Don’t make it my responsibility.”
“Just days ago you quite proudly took responsibility. I strongly advised you against it. If you hadn’t meant to carry through, you should have left it alone. This would be the worst thing you could do.”
It was all true, and I’d feel remorse for it when I had a chance. But everything I was saying was true, as well. “Maybe I made a mistake.”
“A mistake! Maybe?”
“But probably not. Everyone’s better off with Harry Bright exposed.”
“There are many others to take his place, and they will be worse.”
