“I understand. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m in the middle of the rather delicate process of sorting out an insurance claim on a seven-million-dollar car owned by a man who’s not actually dead. The red tape is ridiculous.”
Kate nearly dropped her coffee cup, and it clattered onto its saucer. “The Shelby was real?”
“Oh,” Phillip said, looking alarmed. “I thought you knew.”
“I assumed it was a replica. I didn’t know his company brought in that kind of money.”
“His company was extremely profitable, but Ian’s also very technically gifted. I don’t know of many hackers who can code like he can. When he was in college, he did a lot of the early programming for a social network start-up. There may be a bit of rivalry between MIT and Harvard, but if I told you the names of some of his friends, you’d recognize them. Those Cambridge boys don’t mind helping each other out. But Ian had no interest in being a part of someone else’s company, so he accepted a small stake in lieu of any named credit or involvement. That company went on to be worth billions.”
“I told him once that he used his money to excuse his behavior. He agreed and said there weren’t many problems his money couldn’t solve.”
Phillip smiled, looking thoughtful. “I think he might have been wrong about that, Kate.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Kate cleared the coffee cups from the table and took them into the kitchen. Susan was unpacking her seeds and bulbs.
“Did you find everything you needed at the garden center?” Kate asked.
“Yes. It’s a little early yet, but I’m really looking forward to planting everything.”
“Do you know where Ian is?”
“I think he’s out front.”
She found him on the porch. “Hi,” she said, sitting down in the empty chair next to him.
“Hi.”
“That was nice of you to help Susan.”
He smiled. “It’s nothing compared to when she’ll want me to unload an SUV full of forty-pound bags of dirt. That’ll be next.”
“Phillip said the plane will be ready to take me home soon.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not… it’s not your plane, is it?”