Chương 9
Arthur attended as a witness, not a party.
Daniel did not attend.
He had been suspended.
Lily learned this when she texted him a photograph of a badly hung security camera at her dentist’s office and he did not answer for two days.
When he finally called, he said, “I’m on administrative leave.”
“Why?”
“Internal disagreement.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Evelyn thinks I shared information I should not have shared.”
“Did you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you call it disagreement?”
“Because adults enjoy nouns.”
She considered that.
“Are you fired?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you scared?”
Daniel looked around his apartment even though she could not see him.
He had no children. No spouse. A refrigerator containing eggs, mustard, six bottles of water, and a takeout container he no longer trusted.
“Yes.”
Lily had not expected the answer.
“Oh.”
“I make decent money, Lily.”
“I know.”
“I have a mortgage.”
“What’s that?”
He explained.
“That sounds terrible.”
“It can be.”
“Dad says owning things is a trap.”
“Your father currently has an unusual relationship with property.”
She laughed.
Then she became serious.
“Did you get in trouble because of me?”
“No.”
“Because of Dad?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Because I decided something mattered more than keeping my job easy.”
Lily was quiet.
“Was that smart?”
“Ask me in six months.”
The second mediation began with an offer.
Harcourt would recognize Owen’s claim to Woman at a Window and two other works.
They would pay a confidential settlement.
In exchange, Owen would release claims against the remaining consigned works and agree not to accuse the auction house publicly of intentional wrongdoing.
The number was twelve million dollars.
Owen stared at it.
Rebecca asked everyone to leave the room.
For fifteen minutes, it was just her, Owen, Dana, and Lily.
“You could take this,” Rebecca said.
Owen looked at her.
“You think I should?”
“I think my job is to make sure you understand what it buys and what it costs.”
“What does it buy?”
“Certainty.”
“And cost?”
“Most of the claim.”
Dana asked, “How much of the twelve disappears?”
“Taxes, fees, expenses, depending on structure—enough that you should not mentally call it twelve.”
Owen leaned back.
He looked at Lily.
She hated when adults did that after talking about money, as if her face might reveal what a responsible father should do.
“Don’t ask me.”
“I didn’t.”
“You were going to.”
“I was looking at you.”
“That’s worse.”
Dana rubbed her eyes.
Rebecca waited.
Owen said, “If I take it, they keep the other paintings.”
“They keep the right to contest them.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“Rebecca.”
“No. Words matter here.”
He stood and walked to the window.
The mediation office overlooked the East River.
A ferry moved slowly below.
For several minutes nobody spoke.
Then Dana said, “Twelve million is not losing.”
Owen turned.
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You look like it is.”
“My father built that company.”
“Your father also left your mother with no money and a box full of problems.”
Owen’s face hardened.
Dana continued.
“Somebody has to say it.”
“Not you.”
“Why not me? I watched Maria worry about you for years because every phone call from your apartment sounded like another crisis.”
Lily stiffened at her mother’s name.
Dana saw it but kept going.
“You want to make Benjamin into a saint because then what happened to you has a clean villain.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“Isn’t it?”
Owen looked at Rebecca.
“Can we have five minutes?”
Dana stood.
“Gladly.”
Lily stood too.
Owen said, “Stay.”
She stopped.
Dana looked between them.
Then left with Rebecca.
Owen sat down.
Lily stayed standing.
He tapped the settlement offer.
“This pays for college.”
“I’m twelve.”
“I know.”
“People keep saying college like I’m leaving Thursday.”
He smiled faintly.
“It pays for a house.”
“We have a house.”
“We have an apartment with mice.”
“One mouse.”
“There is never one mouse.”
“You don’t know that.”
“It pays for whatever you want to do.”
Lily stared at the number.
“What do you want?”
“I asked first.”
“No, you didn’t.”
He leaned back.
The question bothered him.
“I want to stop.”
She had not expected that.
He rubbed his hands together.
“I want to wake up and not check email for some dead lawyer’s name. I want to teach. I want to fix frames. I want you to be able to complain about normal things instead of seeing your face on videos.”
“So take it.”
He looked at her.
“You think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because you said you want to stop.”
He looked back at the paper.
Lily walked to the table.
“But Grandma’s letter.”
Owen’s hand stopped.
“What about it?”
“She said they told her your interest was separate.”
“Yes.”
“If that’s true, why are they paying twelve million for three paintings?”
Owen stared at her.
She continued.
“You always say when somebody offers me candy for doing something, I have to ask why they care whether I do it.”
“That is not remotely the same thing.”
“It kind of is.”
He smiled despite himself.
Then she said, “I don’t care if we’re rich.”
“That is easy to say before you have a horse.”
“I don’t want the horse anymore.”
“Good.”
“I want Grandma’s name back on the painting.”
“That’s part of the offer.”
“And Grandpa?”
Owen looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Lily touched the corner of the settlement paper.
“Dad, if they didn’t do anything wrong, why do they need you to promise not to say they did?”
“Because they’re protecting themselves.”
“From what?”
Owen had no answer.
They rejected the offer.
Two days later, Harcourt produced a document that nearly destroyed the claim.
It was a 2004 release bearing Owen’s signature.
The language was broad.
Very broad.
It appeared to release all claims connected to Carter Family Holdings in exchange for five thousand dollars.
Owen stared at the signature.
May you like
“That’s mine.”
Rebecca did not speak.
