“Not a problem.” I stopped the recording and put away my phone. She looked back at me a second time, but didn’t seem to register yet who I was.
We rode the rest of the way up to Abernathy’s office in silence. When we got off the elevator, we both headed toward Mr. Abernathy’s office. Her step was focused and determined as she breezed past Abernathy’s secretary and into his office. I stopped at the desk.
“Good afternoon, David McLaren to see Jason Abernathy, he’s expecting me.”
“Yes Mr. McLaren, just a moment please.” She picked up the phone and spoke to Mr. Abernathy. When she hung up, she told me that he had just stepped into a brief meeting, but shouldn’t be but a couple of minutes.
“While I’m waiting, to you have one of Ms. Abernathy’s business cards handy?”
She handed me one of Deirdre’s cards and as I hoped, her email address was there. I sent her a message with the audio file I’d made in the elevator attached, just for good measure.
“He’ll see you now, Mr. McLaren.” She motioned toward the door and I heard the mag-lock disengage. I went in and walked up to Jason’s desk, extending my hand. He stood and shook my hand with a firm grasp.
“Good to see you again, David. Please allow me to introduce one of our junior partners, this is Deirdre Abernathy, my daughter.”
“We sort of met on the elevator. It’s nice to see you again Deirdre.” I said as I extended my hand.
She looked as though she wanted to be anywhere else but right here, right now.
“The pleasure is mine Mr.….David McLaren! I thought I knew you.”
“So David part of why I called you today was to give you the final bits of your inheritance. And so you could decide where your interests and assets should be managed. Do you have an attorney of your own you’d like to use?”
“You’ve been dad’s attorney for as long as I can remember, Jason. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’d like to leave my legal needs here in the hands of your firm.”
“That would be wonderful. I had intended to pass your needs on to one of our brightest up and comers, but it seems that I misjudged his professional and personal ambitions. Now, I need to select another of our associates to assign to your needs.”
“May I have some input as to the selection of my attorney?”
“Certainly, I didn’t realize you were familiar with our staff or I would have consulted you first.”
“That’s fine Jason, until 15 minutes ago I had no idea who to choose now I do. I want her.” I pointed to Deirdre as she was moving toward the door to leave.
“Done.” Abernathy was all smiles, he turned to Deirdre, “Are you all right with that?”
“Certainly.” She seemed a little taken aback with my request, but I knew that if she was half a tenacious as an adult as she was as a kid, I’d couldn’t be in better hands.
Deirdre left Jason and I alone to finish the business at hand, he gave me 3 file folders and what looked like a safe deposit box outside a bank vault. The instructions for opening it were: ‘Connie knows the combinations forwards and backwards.’ That should be easy enough, just get the combination from my dead mother.
I left the office after an hour and a half, and came upon Deirdre in the parking ramp as I was heading to my car. She was standing in front of her Z3 with two uniform cops. The car had been trashed: Rag top shredded, key scratches down the doors, busted windows, slashed tires and the words ‘Fuck You Whore’ painted across the hood. The full package it would seem. The cops were just leaving as I came up to her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, Ian was suspended for two weeks pending my father’s investigation, but he’s also pissed that he won’t get to play with your money. Thank you for the audio file, by the way, it should move Ian along with ease.”
“I made it clear to your dad that if Ian gets anywhere near my accounts or information, my business and my money would go elsewhere.”
“Looks like you’re going to need a ride, I happen to have a couple of extra vehicles at the house, you’re welcome to any of them you want.”
“That’s very generous, but I…”
“Please,” I interrupted her. “It’s the least I can do, since this is in part because of me and my account. Besides, I can’t drive them all at once, and they need to have their horses exercised every now and then. You’d be doing me a favor. Get in.”
We drove to the house with some plans for how to proceed with the monies, the company and the properties that my old man left me and Rachel. When we got to the house, Rachel and the others were back. I dropped Deirdre at the porch and went down to the garage to get a vehicle for her.
When I got back up, she was talking with Sarah on the porch and Sarah was handing her an envelope as I pulled up.
Deirdre turned around and I thought she was going to pass out.
“I can’t take that…that’s a…”
“A Ferrari GTB 599 Fiorano? Yes it is. You said you liked Italian cars, this is the best example I have.”
“But…”
“You don’t like it?”
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