For a Friday evening the bar was not too crowded, and to my relief we were able to find a quiet enough corner with an unoccupied table and chairs. Sam and I were wearing demure dark cocktail dresses for the occasion. Arlene had chosen a dark blue two-piece suit. Powalski was immaculate in a conservative grey suit and blue tie. Altogether, I thought we made an impressive group. Sam introduced us to the three committee members. Joe Kenney, in a black leather jacket and open-necked shirt, gave her a quick kiss on both cheeks.
‘I was sure sorry to hear about your dad, Sam,’ he said. ‘He was a good guy. Always had a good word for everybody. I always enjoyed meeting him.’
‘Thank you, Joe,’ Sam replied.
‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ Jeff Carlsen said to me, extending his hand. He had fair hair and blue eyes, and wore a casual beige suit with a tie with red and green stripes. ‘I’ve been hearing all about you, and it’s good to put a face to the name.’
‘Pleased to meet you too,’ I replied, taking his hand. ‘Sam says you practice in Salt Lake?’
‘Sure do. Insurance defense and general commercial litigation.’ He grinned. ‘Nothing as exciting as you folks in the DC area get up to.’
I laughed. ‘It’s not as exciting as it’s cracked up to be.’
Sam took my hand and walked me over to Aunt Meg, who was sitting in the corner chair. She was wearing a long black dress, her grey hair firmly pinned up in a bun. She wore no jewelry except for a small mourning brooch pinned high on her chest on the left side. I extended my hand. Aunt Meg did not respond immediately, and I had the impression that she was eyeing me rather suspiciously.
‘So, you’re the lawyer who wants to represent the family?’ she said eventually, giving my hand the briefest of shakes.
‘Yes, ma’am.’
She shook her head. ‘You don’t have to call me ma’am. Everybody calls me Aunt Meg. I’ve been around too long to stand on ceremony. Joe, get these folks some drinks.’
‘Right away, Aunt Meg,’ Joe replied, and disappeared in the direction of the bar. Powalski went with him.
Aunt Meg waved me into the seat next to her. Sam and Arlene sat on either side of us.
‘Miss Harmon, there’s no point in beating about the bush. Do you agree?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Good. What I want to know is: do we have any hope of getting anything from this lawsuit of yours?’
‘Well –’
‘Let me tell you why I want to know. Lord knows, it’s not to do with the money. The van Eyck family has been trying to get these loans repaid ever since Jacob died, and I think we’ve long since given up any hope of getting rich off of it. And it’s not like we haven’t tried. Most of these folks are too young to remember, but a few years back we were all trying to stir things up, writing letters to our congressmen and what have you. Much good it ever did us. Just got us all riled up, and for what? For nothing. They promised us the world as long as we would remember to vote for them again, come the election, but when it came right down to it, they didn’t do a damn thing, and that’s the truth.’
Joe and Powalski returned from the bar, and joined us at the table.
‘The waiter will be right over,’ Joe said.
‘We were all brought up on the story of Jacob and his loans as children,’ Aunt Meg continued, ‘but when I went to school, and they taught us about the War of Independence, the teachers never mentioned Jacob. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why. I kept waiting for them to tell us about him, but they never did. When I finally asked my teacher why not, she had no idea what I was talking about. So then, I had to go home and ask my parents, and they explained that there was no actual proof of the story. And I was left feeling rather foolish, to tell you the truth.’
‘It’s kind of like finding out about Santa Claus,’ Joe said, smiling. ‘It’s something every child has to go through. This is our family’s version of Santa Claus.’
‘It’s a story about buried treasure,’ Aunt Meg said. ‘Of course, when you’re a child you love stories about buried treasure. And even after you grow up there’s part of you that believes the treasure is there and that you could find it, all those pieces of eight and priceless jewels, if you only had a map and knew where to dig. That’s what this is, if you want my opinion. It’s a story about buried treasure. It’s about as real as Blackbeard’s gold. You can dig for it all you want, but you’re not going to find it.’
‘You don’t think Jacob made his loans, Aunt Meg?’ Joe asked. Oddly, after what he had said, he sounded surprised.
‘Who knows? Maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t. I guess there must be something in the story, if they’ve been telling it ever since he passed. Maybe Jacob loaned George Washington thousands of dollars, or maybe he just took him for a good lunch. Who knows? I’m eighty-five, and I’ve never met anyone who thinks he can prove what happened, one way or the other. And without proof, the government isn’t going to pay us a red cent. So all we do is get ourselves riled up for nothing. I think it might be better to let it go and stop driving ourselves crazy with it.’
‘Aunt Meg,’ I replied, ‘let me be honest with you. I can’t guarantee the result will be any different with this lawsuit than it was with the congressmen. But I can guarantee you that we will do something the congressmen never did, as far as I can see. We will try. A lawsuit is the one thing that’s never been tried, and it’s something the government can’t ignore. They have to respond to it. If there is any proof out there, we will find it. If not, then… well, at least the family will know, and maybe then they can put it behind them, as you say, and not drive themselves crazy any more. At least we will put it to rest, one way or another.’
The waiter approached with our drinks on a huge tray. Red wine for Sam and me; gin and tonic with ice and lemon for Aunt Meg; a Corona for Arlene with a twist of lime in the neck of the bottle, and no glass; Bud Lights for Joe and Jeff, with glasses; Jack Daniels over ice for Powalski – I never saw him drink anything else. A huge carafe of water for all of us. We toasted Jacob; it was a family tradition, I was told.
‘I hope you won’t be offended if I ask you this, Miss Harmon,’ Aunt Meg said. ‘But how long have you been out of law school?’
‘Five years, going on six,’ I replied.
She nodded, and turned to Jeff.
‘Mr Carlsen, I believe you have read the lawsuit that’s been filed?’
‘I have, Aunt Meg, yes.’
‘What is your opinion?’
Jeff seemed taken aback to be asked so directly.
‘Well, Aunt Meg, you have to understand that I’m no expert in that particular court. To my untutored eye, the pleading reads well, and it’s a bold step. And as Kiah says, nothing like this has been tried before, and it will mean that the government has to give us an answer of some kind. I guess the only reservation I have is that, like you said, no one really knows what happened back then at Valley Forge, and unless we suddenly come up with some kind of proof that no one has been able to find during all those years, we could waste a lot of time and money and still be back where we were before.’
Aunt Meg turned back towards me.
‘I agree,’ I said. ‘As I said before, there are no guarantees here, but I still think this will bring some closure, because at least the case will be properly investigated, and if there’s nothing in it, then at least you will know. I have a feeling there is something in it, but we won’t know until we do some digging.’
‘Why would you feel that way?’
I thought about it for a moment. That was one question I couldn’t answer entirely frankly. That would have involved me talking about Arya, and about my dreams, and I wasn’t ready to do that.
‘I’m not sure. Part of it is that when you have such a long, unbroken family tradition – in this case, going back more than two hundred years – there has to be something in it. Families have all kinds of stories, but you don’t come across such a long consistent narrative very often. Even the courts accept family tradition. It can be used as evidence in some cases. So, I think it’s worth a shot. As for the waste of time and money, that’s mainly my problem. I won’t receive a fee unless we prevail. I think it’s worthwhile.’
I looked around the table at everyone in turn.
‘I mean, just imagine if we were able to prove our case, and the government had to talk to us about commemorating Jacob. Just think about that; just imagine it for a moment. Wouldn’t that be something?’
No one spoke for a while.
Joe smiled. ‘It sure would.’
I turned back to Aunt Meg. ‘I can understand your concern that I haven’t been practicing law all that long, but…’
To my surprise, Aunt Meg actually laughed, and reached out a hand to touch my shoulder.
‘Oh, no my dear, quite the reverse, I assure you. Only a young person could take on something like this. In later life, we all become far too cynical. If you’d said twenty years, I would have dismissed you as a speculator, if not a confidence trickster. No, if anyone can do this, it has to be someone who hasn’t yet become disillusioned with the world; someone who still has her ideals intact; someone who doesn’t shy away from trying something just because it seems impossible.’