Chapter 17
Jamieson stood up and walked around the desk and offered her his white cotton handkerchief. Ethel took it, dabbed her eyes, and fought the onslaught of an emotional release she hadn’t had. Even at the funeral of four dead Beauregard men, she maintained her dignity and never shed a tear. Seeing the distress that threatened to consume her, Jamieson sat in the chair next to her and said, “I’m here to help, Ethel. What happened?”
“My butler overheard our conversation yesterday, Parker.”
Incredulous, Jamieson said, “That’s what’s bothering you?”
Ethel stopped crying suddenly, perplexed by his incredulity, stunned that he didn’t see the seriousness of the problem immediately.
“You act as if I have nothing to worry about. Did you hear me when I said he heard our conversation?”
“Yes. What’s the problem?”
Astonished, she said, “He blackmailed me.”
“What?”
She looked him in the eyes. “You heard me right.”
As if he knew the answer, he said, “Please tell me you didn’t pay him.”
Ethel diverted her eyes from his to the floor.
Jamieson exhaled hard. “Where is he? Maybe I can scare him into giving you your money back. But for the life of me, I don’t understand why you didn’t call me back immediately and let me deal with him personally.”
“It all happened so fast. When I hung up the phone, there he was, standing there, listening. He told me he heard it all.”
“Are you sure he knew what we were planning to do?”
“Quite sure. He even told me he knew about the creation of a second Will to cut Johnnie out of the first one. He threatened to get an attorney to sort the whole mess out when I tried to tell him he didn’t hear what he thought he’d heard.”
“Is that all?”
“Is that all? That’s enough, isn’t it? Am I going to jail for this?”
Jamieson laughed heartily. “Rich people rarely, if ever, go to jail in this country. For something like this, you won’t do a day of jail time.” He reached out for her hand and cradled it to comfort her. “But don’t worry, it won’t even come to that.”
“Why not? He knows everything, Parker.”
“He knows nothing . . . next to nothing anyway.”
Confused, Ethel said, “But he heard the conversation.”
“No, he didn’t. He heard part of the conversation, and that works to our advantage.”
“How?” Ethel asked, no longer in tears.
“This’ll be handled easily by putting something of value in the new Will for Johnnie and her brother.”
“But I don’t want her to have anything, Parker. Nothing! Not a dime! Not even a penny! I hate that girl. Don’t you understand?”
“If you want to get away with changing the Will and silence any charges your butler can ever bring against you, it’s smart to give her something. That way, she can’t say her mother or her grandmother told her he promised to leave her something in his Will, but didn’t fulfill his promise. If she gets a good attorney and he’s lucky enough to find a judge to hear any charges she might bring, her attorney could tie us up in a long court battle.”
“It was outrageous for Grandpa to leave her that much money! Didn’t he know this could get out?”
“I thought it was outrageous too. I did my best to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t hear a word of it. I told him the same things I’m telling you. Nathaniel found God a few days before the stroke ravaged him. That’s when he included the girl and her brother in the Will. He kept talking about being responsible and how he owed them both. He said he couldn’t acknowledge them while he was alive, but he could acknowledge them after his death.”
“Are you certain he didn’t have the stroke before he included them in the Will?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m quite sure.”
“Well, if Morgan ever accused me of changing the Will, couldn’t we say he was sick when he included them?”
“We could, but it would be so much simpler to give them something of value and send them on their way. They’ll be happy with whatever you give them, and they won’t question a thing because they never expected to get anything anyway. But if you cut them out completely and they get an attorney, we might have to go to court. Birth certificates and lots of other history are going to come into play. And we want to keep this thing as quiet as possible. We’ve both got a lot riding on this and if it falls through, I could be disbarred, and they’d still get the million, perhaps more. On top of that, you don’t want any more publicity. So give them . . . let’s say . . . college educations at one of the Negro colleges—perhaps Grambling, Howard, or perhaps Hampton. It would be up to them. We can even offer them the money in lieu of college and allow them to choose. I think about five thousand each should cover tuition, room, board, book fees, travel, and a little spending money. What do you think?”
Ethel smiled. “Ten thousand sounds a whole lot better than two million dollars.” She reveled in the idea of it and then said, “Now, are you sure this will take care of Morgan and any charges he could bring in the future?”
“I’m sure. This kinda thing happens more often than you know. When someone dies and money’s involved, there’s always a sibling or relative who thought the deceased forgot them unintentionally. That’s why you give them next to nothing and the judge rarely disputes the Will. Now, as for your butler, I’m certain I can persuade him to give back all your money. Just tell me where he lives and I’ll take care of that too.”
Ethel sighed deeply before saying, “I think Morgan has flown the proverbial coop, Parker.”
“What do you mean? You think he’s left New Orleans?”
“Yes. I tried calling all day yesterday and half the night. I went over to his house, I’m ashamed to say, but neither he nor his wife answered the door. I think they left yesterday afternoon after he collected his booty.”
“Well, that’s good! He won’t be back. How much did you give him? A few thousand?”
“I have no idea what he took out of the safe, Parker. I only know that he took it all. The only thing left are the gold coins.”
“If you had to guess, how much would you say he got?”
“Quite a tidy sum, I’m sure of it. He asked for fifty thousand and told me that if I didn’t have that much cash in the safe, he’d wait until I could get it little by little. So whatever he got, it was enough to make him flee New Orleans that very day.”
“Well, the good thing is, we know he won’t ever risk coming back. Now all I have to do is contact Johnnie and her brother, and this whole thing goes away.”
“You know, Parker, I read an article in the Sentinel, and it said she had been raped. I hadn’t given that a second thought until now. I suppose she’s all right by now. Negro women are accustomed to that sort of thing, I hear. Here’s her phone number, but if you don’t catch her there, you should try the Negro hospital. They’ll know something, I’m sure. I want this wrapped up today, Parker. See to it.”