The Legacy

"In the course of your discussion he will, I now believe that he's strong enough to do it, ask you to marry him. My gauging of the situation is that you have feelings for him as strong as he has for you, if so, please, put his mind at rest and accept."

"How did . . . does he? Yes I will, thank you." As he led her from his office she took his hand and Bernard turned to her. She kissed him softly, gently. "Thank you so much, not for the money, but for your understanding."

"He and his father had patched up their differences some time ago and he had been telling Mr Walton what a good job you were doing, and what a wonderful person you were, he told him in private that he loved you, and how the supporting hugs you gave him seemed to be getting more personal. He was sure that you loved him, but that neither of you had discussed the matter. I looked into it and have seen the way that the two of you look at each other and the way that you work so well together, it was obvious to me that you were in love, but that neither of you had any real experience in that area, you had done a great job keeping the two aspects of your life separate." She kissed me again and, with that she was gone, but Bernard knew that it would not be the last time that he would be speaking to her.

Bernard re-read the file on Sophie Foreman before he called her into my office. What he couldn't understand was that she had virtually divorced herself from her family to chase power and wealth, it wasn't as if she didn't already have that, her husband Robert was an extremely wealthy man in his own right and would have given her anything she desired. It was her quest for wealth that brought them together in the first place, she had worked her way up to the top within his company before they married and she took time off to present him with a son and daughter, Mike and Jacinta. Having decided that her maternal role was complete when Jacinta was old enough for pre-school, and there were people who could be paid to look after them, she returned to work, having accepted a job offer from a family friend that would see her with more power than she could achieve working with Robert. He was philosophical about the move, acknowledging that she had a greater drive to succeed than he had. He had long ago decided that gathering around him an efficient and loyal team and allowing them greater responsibility along with a profit sharing arrangement, ensured that he achieved his corporate goals without placing himself under any undue stress. Family time was important to him and he made sure that he was there for the kids when they needed him and vacations were a family affair.

He was also philosophical when Sophie announced that she wanted to end their marriage. He suspected infidelity with her boss but made no effort to prove it, and wished her well for her future. The divorce was amicable enough, she didn't get what she demanded, totally unrealistically, but then she was kite flying and knew that. She saw the children over ever increasing intervals until it was mutually decided that she no longer had any reason to see them. The kids had accepted that this time would come, the distance between them and their mother had widened too far to be bridged.

Sophie looked at her watch as she sat down. "I won't keep you, I just need to discuss with you what Mr Walton had left you and why." Bernard told her.

"Cut to the chase, what's the bottom line?"

"The bottom line, as you put it, depends very much on the outcome of this interview, these are Mr Walton's specific orders."

"Who the hell is this Mr Walton? I've never heard of him, at least I don't think so."

"Mr Walton has played a very important role in your life, the fact that you haven't heard of him is not surprising, you see he was very much a behind the scenes man who ran many businesses without interfering in their operations un-necessarily."

"Okay, so he had some connection with me, get on with it."

"Don't you want to know how your path and his have crossed?"

"He obviously didn't want me to know about it then, so why should I know now?"

"Because the how and when are important to this outcome."

"Well get on with it then, tell me all of the gruesome details."

"Very well. When you returned to work after your daughter was old enough to attend pre-school you were employed by Standford Manufacturing."

"Yes."

You had been there only a short time when your boss Tom Bevan was divorced by his wife, and the grounds of his infidelity with you was the motivating factor. Why do you think she did that when infidelity never occurred?"

"How should I know?"

"Because you told her that it had. Tom wanted you to give evidence to the effect that the rumours were untrue, but you refused, why was that?"

"I didn't want to get involved in their personal dramas."

"But you were already involved, you'd inserted yourself into their lives for one reason, and that was to undermine his reputation. He was seen as being an un-repentant cheat because of his refusal to acknowledge that he had been unfaithful to his wife. This damaged his reputation to the extent that he was asked to resign from the company. You achieved you goals when you replaced him as the Managing Director. Your attitude to business has been as ruthless since then, you have shown no loyalty to either your employers or employees, you have cut deals outside the company framework that earned you a great deal of money, money that should by rights have gone to the company."

Sophie couldn't believe what she was hearing, not because it wasn't true, but because she had thought that she had covered her tracks and no-one knew of these deals. "Where did you get this bullshit from?" 'That's it' she thought, challenge these details, go on the attack and hope that this sanctimonious lawyer wasn't certain that the facts were true'.

"This 'bullshit' as you call it, comes from within the very company of which you are the Managing Director. You see Stamford Manufacturing is a subsidiary company of Stamford Holdings, a holding company owned entirely, until his death, by Mr Walton. He has known about these deals for some time and had chosen not to interfere because you were still doing your job for the company better than your predecessor. Unfortunately for you, following his death it has fallen on me to straighten out his business affairs, and I am not as forgiving as he was. We have calculated the loss to Stamford Manufacturing of those deals that should have gone to the company, and have deducted that amount from the monies that he has left you in his will. Why did he leave you anything, you might ask, and my answer is I don't know. He was prone to making these seemingly illogical decisions from time to time, and we never interfered with them. This was one of those decisions, but I have chosen to interfere because I firmly believe in people only getting what they deserve. You asked earlier for the bottom line." I slid a sheet of paper across the desk to her. "This is your bottom line, for once in your life accept it with good grace because you have no moral right to any more."

Sophie snatched up the sheet and looked at the figures. She couldn't be sure of the absolute accuracy of the figures but realised that to challenge them would reveal her disloyalty, and this would cost more than a few dollars discrepancy. It would be best to keep her mouth shut. She stood up and glared at Bernard before stalking out of his office with as much dignity as she could muster.

'I don't deserve this torture?' Bernard thought to himself as he gathered the papers and placed them back into Sophie's file before taking Elizabeth Jacobson's file and skimming through it to reacquaint himself with the details before calling her in.

Elizabeth was nothing special, she was not glamorous, not overly intelligent and certainly not wealthy. She had, however, lived a life that wasn't without drama, she was a hard working woman who had a good marriage to a similarly hardworking man. They were not wealthy by any means, but by careful budgeting they managed to buy their modest suburban house and had almost paid off the mortgage when their mortgage contract had been sold to another mortgage company. The interest rate on the existing mortgage was within their modest budget until then, but was immediately raised to the point that they were no longer able to service the loan as well as eat. In desperation her husband Wayne found a better paying job on and offshore oil platform to earn enough to cover this debt, but this took him away from home for extended periods of time. They were on top of the repayments and were close to paying out the mortgage when disaster struck. Wayne was one of three workmen who were killed when, in a severe storm, part of the platform superstructure was torn free and slammed into them, throwing them all overboard. While the incident was witnessed and rescue efforts began immediately, the crew were unable to save them and they disappeared from sight. No trace of them was ever found.

This was where everything got messy. Wayne worked for a sub-contractor, and following the accident, when Elizabeth made an insurance claim, the company's Insurer claimed that the accident was an 'Act of God' and refused to pay. Elizabeth was faced with a dilemma, to fight this decision she needed money that she didn't have. Her Legal Aid attorney suggested that she re-mortgage her house to raise the funds. "But Wayne and I have struggled hard all of our lives to put a roof of our own over our heads. He had to get a higher paying job to service the loan after the Sub-Prime mortgage implosion. If I re-mortgage the house I will not be able to service the loan, but if I don't, I'll be on the streets and living rough. I need to think about this."

"Very well, but don't take too long about it, we will have to move on this matter soon."

That was where the matter now stood. "Won't you take a seat." Bernard indicated the chair opposite his. "Mr Walton has left a sum of money to you in his will. The actual amount of money involved is dependent on the outcome of this interview."

"How does this mysterious Mr Walton know me? I've never heard of him."

"You worked as a cleaner in an office building in the city, correct?"

"Yes."

"One of the offices on the third floor was that of Walco Holdings. Well that was the hub of the whole Walton financial business."

"That tiny little office? Why it was nothing more than a desk and chair and a computer."

"That was all Mr Walton needed to run his organisation. That was one very powerful computer and with that he was able to keep track of all of his business interests. It was his way of ensuring that he attracted minimal attention."

"He certainly succeeded. We. The other cleaners and I often discussed just what went on in that office. We had to clean it at a certain time each day, we couldn't enter it before that certain time, and had to be out of by a certain time. I remember walking past the building late at night and seeing the light on and wondering what he could be doing so late at night."

"He was probably dealing with one of his many overseas interests. Now to the matter at hand. You are in some financial bother just now, you're having problems getting a financial payout over your husband's fatal accident and the Insurance Company is playing hard-ball, does that sum it up?"

"Yes, how do you know all this?"

"Mr Walton kept track of every employee, from the Janitorial staff to his top Executives."

"I worked for him?"

"Yes, he owned that building."

"Wow, I would never have guessed that he was the building owner. I never actually met the man, so I don't even know what he looked like."

"That was the way he liked it. What he has done for you is to leave you a substantial inheritance."

"Enough to pay out the mortgage? I hope it's enough, then I won't have to bother with the legal hassles with the Insurance Company."

"Not only has he left you a substantial amount, but he has already paid off the mortgage, the house is yours, and, he has negotiated with the insurance company and they have seen the wisdom of paying out the full entitlement owing on Wayne's insurance policy."

"What? I can't believe this, I don't even know this Mr Walton and he's done all of this for me, there must be a catch, surely."

"No catch, no strings attached. What are you going to do with the rest of your life?"

"I'm going to keep working as a Cleaner, my workmates are my friends and I don't want to let them down. I will be able to take a proper vacation instead of sitting at home, because I can't afford to go away anywhere."

"You're a very sensible lady Elizabeth, Mr Walton knew that, it's in this file that you would do exactly that. I wish you well for the future. I'll see you out."

As he held the door for her Elizabeth took his hand and kissed him. "I wish that I could thank Mr Walton personally but I can't, so you'll have to do. Thank you, Mr Schwartz."

"Bernard, you may call me Bernard."

"Thank you Bernard." With that she was gone. This outcome more than made up for the previous, Elizabeth was truly deserving of the full amount.

The interview with Elizabeth made him feel much better with himself, here was a woman who struggled all her life and been dealt a blow by the greed of others but instead of deciding that she deserved the break given to her and kicking back to enjoy life, had decided instead to go back to work because she would be with friends.

Bernard's next interview was going to be an interesting one. Geraldine Browne had pretty much wasted her life. Here was a woman who had it all going for her, looks, personality and talent.

While she was still at school she entered a talent quest and won. This led to a recording contract and record sales for her first album were phenomenal. Her fame attracted men, wealthy men, who lavished her with gifts in return for her being seen with them at functions. Soon the men demanded more than just being seen with her and at eighteen she had her first abortion.

Her first marriage was to Alistair Madison, the youngest son of Boyd Madison, a wealthy businessman with interests in mining. The resources boom had seen his stocks rise and him being in the Forbes Top Ten several years running. Boyd encouraged the marriage between his son and Geraldine, believing that the responsibility of marriage would curb his son's wild ways. The opposite was the case, the young couple were seen at wild parties at which various recreational drugs were consumed in vast quantities and casual sex was the norm. It took an overdose before Geraldine realised that this lifestyle was not going to last and she checked in to a fashionable Re-hab Clinic. This achieved a lot of media coverage that didn't sit well with her parents who had been constantly bombarded with requests for gossip on her high profile lifestyle. They had a long talk with her while she was at the Clinic, the result of which was that she filed for divorce even before she had checked out.

"I want to get back into singing." She told her mother. "It's all I know."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't you be better off finishing school and looking for another career?"

"I want to get back into singing." She told her agent.

"You do realise, don't you that while you were having a great time partying hard and getting off your face on god knows what drug, your record company cancelled your contract and I doubt if anyone else is interested."

"I don't care, I want to try. While I was in re-hab I wrote several songs that I think will do well. The least that you can do is to set up a recording session and see what they sound like."

"Very well, I'll see what I can do. I can't promise you anything."

"Just fucking do it."

Even he had to admit that the songs that she'd written were good, and he arranged for a full on recording session, he booked the studio and session musicians to lay down her new songs plus some of the old stuff and a couple of covers. He managed to find an Indi label that would release the album and the sales were encouraging. A tour was booked.

Geraldine had just emerged from a rehearsal when she bumped into Byron Porter coming from a long lunch. He was feeling good about himself, just having managed to stitch up a business deal that would make him even wealthier than he already was, she was feeling good about herself, the rehearsal had gone well and the band were at last playing as a unit rather than a group of individual musicians. The tour was to begin in three weeks and was expected to last for a couple of months. It never happened. By the time the start date had come around Geraldine was married to Byron Porter and on her honeymoon abroad. Her agent threw up his hands and washed them of Geraldine, she was on her own. The musicians threatened legal action to recover the wages that they'd been promised for the tour. Byron took care of that matter and returned to his wife in Greece where she had been sailing around the Greek Islands on a chartered yacht. The combination of sun and sea and the sight of handsome bronzed sailors proved too much for Geraldine and by the time he had re-joined her she wasn't there.

The divorce was a media sensation, there were claims and counter-claims. He said that she had not wanted to have sex and she claimed that she was reluctant to let him shove his cock in her after it had been in some man's arse. He paid her a generous settlement and they never spoke to each other again.

Husband number three was the lawyer that she hired to take on her former agent for breach of contract. It took all of his considerable court-room eloquence to convince the Court that it wasn't she that had broken the contract as claimed by her ex-agent. When he presented her with his bill for services rendered she claimed that her money was tied up and she could not access it, but . . .

He accepted her conditions and they were soon married. This one lasted much longer than her previous efforts, mainly because he had her convinced that any indiscretions on her part would see her out on the streets without a cent to her name. She believed him and did her best to be the model wife he wanted. It lasted for seven years before he tired of her unsuccessful efforts as a wife and divorced her before she found out that he was having an affair with his secretary.

By this time her star was on the descendant. No-one remembered the name of Geraldine Browne and her talents had been well and truly shuffled off to the remainder bins in record stores, not even Amazon had copies.

What had followed were several non-committed relationships of diminishing financial benefit until now. She had not had any man in her life for at least six months and was wondering where she would get the money needed to live her extravagant lifestyle. Her parents were disgustingly healthy and looked as if they'd even outlive her. This then, was the shipwreck that sat opposite me.

"Geraldine, what does the future hold for you? Where do you see yourself in say, ten years?"

"How the fuck should I know, I don't even know where I'll be next week."

"So, the marriages and the other men have not left you well off? I would have thought that with a couple of million dollar settlements and living with men who could support you would have resulted in you having some money in the kitty."

"There might have been if the bastards actually supported me, in most cases I had to pay my own way, one way or the other. There's nothing left and my rent's a killer, believe me. If I don't come up with something and soon, I'll be getting kicked out."

"You could try somewhere cheaper, surely you don't have to live in something that you can't afford."

"I have to keep up appearances."

"Why? Do you think people will care how you live or where you live? A lot of really talented singers and actors have had to slum it from time to time. It's no big deal."