Bitter Business

still can’t believe that I did it, but I climbed up and stood on the seat of my chair, put two fingers into my mouth, and let out an earsplitting whistle.
    Astonished faces were lifted toward me.
    “Dagny would have been ashamed of all of you,” I declared indignantly. “And you should be ashamed of yourselves. Now go home, all of you. Your father will reconvene this meeting when everyone has had a chance to come to their senses.”
    To my utter astonishment, they all got up and left, including Jack Cavanaugh, who said not one further word to me the rest of the time I was down in Georgia.
     
    I was snapping the catches shut on my briefcase, silently berating myself for that afternoon’s debacle. I didn’t know what Daniel Babbage would have done to avert the total meltdown of the Cavanaugh family, but I was pretty sure he would have done something. After five years of practicing in one of Chicago’s most high-powered law firms, I thought I’d begun to acquire a certain confidence in my own abilities. A little less than a week’s acquaintance with the Cavanaughs had eroded it badly. I found myself wondering, once again, what had prompted Daniel to choose me for the Superior Plating file.
    Dagny’s daughter, Claire, slipped into the room, quiet as a ghost.
    “Jules is going to do the Mount McKinley climb with us this spring,” she said without preamble from the doorway. “He was Mom’s climbing partner. I think they used to sleep together. What do you think?”
    “I think you should definitely climb Mount McKinley,” I replied, not knowing which question she meant and choosing the safer one. “Nothing would please your mother more than the thought of you standing at the summit. She’d be happy to know that you’d managed to get up to the top without her.”
    “It’s so hard to believe she’s gone. I keep pretending that she’s just gone away for a few weeks, like the times she’d go climbing in the Alps with Jules. I don’t think that I can face the thought of her not coming back. I can’t believe she’d do this to me.”
    “She didn’t do this.”
    “I know, but who did? Nobody will tell me anything. They just keep on patting me on the head and telling me that my mother would want me to be strong. My mother would want to be alive, dammit. What happened to her?”
    “Don’t worry. We’re going to find out.”
    “Now you’re patronizing me, too!”
    “No, I’m not. I’m just telling you what I’ve been telling myself. I know it’s frustrating, but I promise you we’ll find out what happened to your mother.”
    “How? By sitting back and waiting for the police to do their job like Uncle Philip says, or should we follow Aunt Vy and Uncle Eugene’s example and just pray for enlightenment?”
    “I don’t know whether I’m supposed to tell you this, but your grandfather has hired a private detective to help the police. I know him and he’s good. Believe me, in the end we’ll find out how she died.”
    “Then what was the big fight about with all the adults? And don’t tell me nothing. I just got off the phone with Peter and he says that his mother’s storming around the house screaming and throwing things into suitcases. They were supposed to stay down here until Tuesday, but now they’re leaving in the morning. When I walked past Sally and Philip’s house on the way over here, I heard them arguing. Does all this have something to do with Mom dying?”
    “Yes and no. Do you know what’s going on with your Aunt Lydia and her shares?”
    “No. Mom never said anything about it.”
    “Well, now that you’re a shareholder, I think you need to know.”
    As simply as I could, I filled her in on Lydia wanting to sell her shares in Superior Plating.
    “Grandpa says I have to go and see some lawyer back in Chicago when I get back on Monday. Is that what it’s about?”
    “I don’t think so. You’re probably going to see one of my partners by the name of Ken Kurlander. He’s the lawyer who prepared your mother’s will. I’m sure he wants to explain the arrangements she made for you.”
    “As long as I get to live with Aunt Vy and Uncle Eugene, I don’t care about the rest. According to my mom, I inherited enough money for college when my dad died. I don’t want anything to do with Grandpa’s stupid company. All it does is start fights and cause trouble. You can’t believe the stuff that goes on—just one big fight after another. It’s so immature. It’s like a