Chapter 21
CHAPTER
AFTER A FITFUL NIGHT AT his hotel in DC, a weary Nash looked out the window of the corporate jet the following morning as they soared along. The flight attendant provided him with breakfast; he could manage only the coffee.
He put his seat back, took off his shoes, let his long legs straighten in front of him, and closed his eyes.
He had already googled Duvall. There was the man’s pudgy face beaming out at him from the official DOJ website.
The number two government lawyer in the country was putting his faith in Nash to help bring down an international criminal scheme headed up by what sounded like a woman so purely evil as to be beyond belief.
And if that was not enough, she was being fueled and supported by the Chinese government with its limitless resources and cagey leadership.
Oh, and maybe the Russians were in the mix, too.
I’m not Tom Cruise or James Bond, for God’s sake. I wield a briefcase, not a gun.
It truly seemed laughable.
I will end up dead. My family will end up dead. There is no way in hell I can do this. Even if they paid me ten billion dollars. The dead can’t spend money.
Then, a simple solution occurred to him. Of course it would mean some personal disruption, but it was also a clear exit from this nightmare. Surprised he hadn’t thought of it before, Nash took out his phone and sent off some emails.
That done, he breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and quickly fell into a deep sleep. He awoke to the attendant gently tapping on his shoulder.
“We’ve arrived, Mr. Nash. Your Range Rover is on the tarmac and your bag is loaded in.”
Rousing, and in better spirits, he said, “Great, thank you.”
He got into his Rover and left the airport. Nash wasn’t going straight to the office. He had decided to take care of some other pressing business.
He drove to his boyhood home, and Rosie Parker answered the door.
“Mr. Nash?” she said. Parker looked frightened, and gave a quick glance behind her.
“Hello, Rosie, and it’s just Walter, okay?”
She kneaded her fists into her thighs and jerkily nodded. “Right, okay, W-Walter.”
“I came to pick up some things, and also to tell you that my father left you a life interest in the house. You’ll also inherit a substantial amount of money from him.”
“Money?” she said cautiously.
“Yes, a quarter of a million dollars.”
She slumped against the wall. “Where did Ty get that kind of money?”
“He didn’t tell you about his Agent Orange settlement?”
Open-mouthed, she shook her head. “No, nothing.”
“Well, that’s where it came from. I will have those funds placed into your account. You will be responsible for the property taxes and utilities and such, but the house is yours for as long as you are alive.”
The decision to give her the life interest had been made on the plane ride back. He had also decided to let Parker believe that his father had left her the life estate outright. He had a pretty good idea why his father had given him the right to make that decision.
Nash saw tears trickle down her cheeks and he diplomatically glanced away.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Well, that… that was so awfully, awfully kind of him.”
Now Nash looked at her. “He obviously thought a lot of you.”
“Well, I thought a lot of him, Mr. N—Walter.”
“I’m just here to go over some of my parents’ effects.”
“Um, Walter, can I… show you something first?”
“Okay,” he said, looking puzzled.
The house was spic-and-span clean, and many of the furnishings looked relatively new, while a very few he recalled from his childhood.
His mother had been a disorganized person, with odd things ending up in odder places.
But his father’s military background had lent itself to a neatness approaching compulsivity.
Nash had also always kept his personal and business spaces meticulous.
Like my father, he thought soberly.
“Just up the stairs here,” said Parker.
It was an enclosed staircase. Nash remembered the various times he had jumped from the top step to the bottom to land on some pillows and blankets he had piled there. Once he had crashed into the wall, sending his mother into hysterics, but prompting a show of blunt appreciation from his father.
“That’s how you take on life, sonny boy, with both feet and damn the consequences.”
Yes, damn the consequences. Nash touched his forearm where he’d broken both the radius and the ulna when he’d collided with the wall.
He felt himself smiling at the memory but then quickly became all business again as they reached the top landing and Rosie led him to Nash’s old bedroom.
She opened the door slightly and peeked through the gap.
“Okay, she’s awake.”
A startled Nash said, “I’m sorry, who is awake?”
In answer she pushed the door fully open and led him inside. “My mother.”