Dick, who’d never really come into the room, had wandered over to the window during the last interchange. When he spoke it was to the glass; we had trouble hearing him.
“My only role in this case will be as a witness.”
Teri and I were both stunned into silence, but she recovered first. “Dick! I can’t believe you would be such a—such a traitor. After everything Daddy’s done for you! You promised me—”
“I promised you nothing.” Dick kept his back to us. “I finally agreed to come today because you were so hot on the idea. I told you if you could get Vic to listen to you I’d undertake drawing up a proper agreement with her. But I’ve been trying to get you to understand all night that I cannot represent your father and uncle.”
“But Daddy’s counting on you.”
He finally turned around. “We’ve been through this a hundred times, but you won’t hear it. Leigh Wilton advised me very strongly not to represent them—that the appearance of impropriety would be too great, given my position on the Diamond Head board. I would do them more harm than good. And, Teri, I just don’t believe in them. I’ve talked to enough of their employees the last few days to believe they wanted to kill Vic. Your father set me up: he got me to deliver warnings to Vic under the guise of protecting me—keeping her from getting too close to the pension reversion. He must have known I’d never countenance an attack on her life.”
Ten sprang to her feet, spots of color blooming under her blusher. “You’re still in love with her! I don’t believe it.”
Dick gave a tired smile. “I’m not in love with her, Teri. I guess I should have said I wouldn’t countenance their trying to kill anyone, regardless of race, creed, sex, or in-quisitiveness.”
Teri’s eyes were bright with tears. She ran to the door. “Find your own way home, Mr. Hotshot. I’m not riding with you.”
I expected him to race off after her, but he stood frozen in the room, his shoulders slumped, long after the echo of the slamming door had died down.
“I’m sorry, Dick. Sorry for the bad time that lies ahead for you.”
“I was sure you’d brandish your gun in triumph and tell me I have only myself to thank.”
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
“You’d be right. I do have only myself to thank. You’ve always known how weak I am. Teri… if she saw through my—my facade of strength… didn’t let on. She built me up. Turned me into one of those see-through buildings.” He gave a harsh bark of laughter. “It’s not that I think of you often, but I did hope over the years when you saw how important I’d gotten you’d be sorry. Not sorry you left me, but sorry you despised me.”‘
I felt my cheeks flame in embarrassment. “I’m a street fighter, Dick. I had to be as a kid just to survive, but I’m afraid I never outgrew it. Someone like Teri suits you better than I do. You’ll see; you two will get through this time somehow.”
“Maybe. Maybe. Look—it was that damned pension agreement that started all the trouble. Not all of it—that prize asshole, Jason, letting his crew bilk Paragon didn’t help any. But trying to keep the reversion secret—two men died over that. And when it comes out—the legal stuff’s clean, but it could keep us in court for a decade. I talked to Ben Loring at Paragon this morning. He’s willing to help restructure the agreement, buy out the annuity and refund the plan, if the local wants to vote on it. We’d take it out of U.S. Met and give it back to Ajax Insurance to manage.”
I felt my shoulders sag in relief. Mr. Contreras’s pension—all the guys in the local—had been worrying me all week. “Can you afford it? I thought most of the money was in Diamond Head junk.”
Dick nodded. “Loring’ll work something out. And Peter will have to agree to put up some Amalgamated Portage shares as collateral. He doesn’t want to, but he’ll come around in the end. It’ll be his only hope for a plea bargain.”
“And you?”
“I don’t know. I offered Leigh my resignation. He wouldn’t take it. He did agree that we didn’t need young Pichea in the firm anymore after this year: that should please you. But—I need a leave of absence from the law, and Leigh supported that—more because he doesn’t want me embarrassing the firm than for any other reason, but I’ll still be gone six months. If I join an ashram, I’ll let you know.”
I offered him a lift downtown to the train, but he said he needed to walk, to clear his head. I went downstairs with him.
He took my hand and held it between both of his. “We had some good times together, didn’t we, Vic? It wasn’t all fighting and contempt, was it?”
I suddenly remembered Dick going with me every weekend to stay with my dad when Tony was dying. I’d forgotten that in the curtain of bitterness I’d draped across the past, but Dick, orphaned at five, adored Tony, and wept openly at his grave.
“We had some important times together.” I squeezed his hand, then pulled mine away. “Now you’d better go.”
He left without looking back.
Chapter 48 - A Long Way from Home