Final Option

Pamela was more than reluctant to give it to her husband—even though her failure to do so would surely cause him financial ruin. It was a very disturbing episode. Finally I convinced her to lend Bart the money, but she insisted that he turn over ten percent of the shares of Hexter Commodities and that a formal loan agreement be drawn up. If I recall correctly, she even charged him a point or two over the current rate of interest on the grounds that in his position, he posed a credit risk and no bank would lend to him.”
    “That must have made for some interesting discussions at the breakfast table,” I remarked.
    “As I said, Pamela and Bart approached money from completely different directions. Pamela, who had never earned a penny in her life, found virtue in taking thrift to what appeared to Bart to be ridiculous extremes. Bart, who earned every penny, was a spendthrift in his wife’s eyes. And yet, as far as I know, Pamela and Bart were a remarkably contented couple.”
    “There are some interesting provisions here,” I said, turning back to the will. “A number of mortgages forgiven—Janice Titlebaum, 2719 Manor Drive in Skokie; Loretta Resch, 19501 Sherbrooke in Naperville; Tim Hexter, 2349 Lake Road in Wilmette...”
    “Over the years Bart made mortgage loans to a number of his employees. If I’m not mistaken, the loan to his secretary, Mrs. Titlebaum, is very nearly paid up. You’ll also see there is another loan of one hundred twenty thousand dollars that he made six months ago to his nephew, Tim. That loan is forgiven as well.“
    “That’s quite a sum,” I commented. “Do we know what it was for?”
    “It was made at the time of Bart’s brother’s death. I don’t know if you read about it in the papers, but it was a terrible tragedy. Billy and his wife, Lillian, were driving home from a party when apparently Billy suffered a heart attack, lost control of the car, and swerved into oncoming traffic. Billy died instantly, and a young woman who was driving the car he hit was also killed. His wife, Tim’s mother, was terribly injured. She had two broken legs, a broken hip, and I don’t know how many internal injuries. She did not regain consciousness until after Billy’s funeral. Finally, she recovered enough to be told what had happened, but within twenty-four hours of learning that her husband was dead, her condition deteriorated, and she died.”
    “How dreadful.”
    “That’s not all. Billy managed to keep it a secret while he was alive—though I’m sure that Bart knew— but it seems that he had always had something of a gambling problem. He’d owned a hardware store that appeared to have been profitable enough, but as soon as Tim began to wind up the estate, all sorts of things came out.”
    “What kinds of things?” I asked.
    “For example, Billy was six months behind on his rent on the store. He owed three years’ worth of back taxes, and was in for more than fifty thousand to some rather rough fellows. Worse, he hadn’t made health insurance payments for almost a year. Unfortunately, Lillian incurred tens of thousands of dollars of hospital expenses before her death.”
    “Poor Tim.”
    “Poor Tim indeed. He had no choice but to approach Bart, who in turn had no choice but to come to his nephew's rescue, especially since I believe that loan sharks were trying to force Tim to make good on his father’s debts. The entire situation was most unpleasant. Pamela, I’m afraid, did little to improve matters. I know she hectored Bart at every opportunity about throwing good money after bad, though I have no idea what she thought would happen to Tim.”
    “So where is the section that deals with Hexter Commodities?” I asked, flipping through the will. All this Hexter family history was very interesting, but I was at a stage in my career where I had less time for digression than Ken Kurlander. “Oh here, I found it.”
    I had to read it through twice before I was sure that I hadn’t misunderstood. I knew from the incorporation papers that even though ninety percent of the shares were owned by Bart, Hexter Commodities stock was divided into two classes, common and preferred. The preferred shares represented the entire cash value of the company but carried with them no voting rights. Upon his death, these shares were to be divided equally among the three Hexter children, with thirty percent of the company passing to Barton, Margot, and Krissy each, while Pamela retained