Page 45 of Go Now
Blackstone visibly paled in front of them.'He… Are you…' A muscle started to twitch in her cheek, and she held her hand over it for a second or two.'Are you sure?'she asked hoarsely.Marcus and Kate exchanged a glance.The woman's shock seemed genuine.
‘I request an immediate break in questioning,’ the lawyer thundered.‘My client has received some very disturbing news.’
'No,' Blackstone said, sharply, almost shouting.She took a deep breath; if the news had shattered her, she was now pulling all those fragments back together.'I'm good to continue.Please… carry on.'
‘I’d like to ask you again about the reasons for cancelling the exhibition.’
‘I think I was very frank with you yesterday.’
‘Not frank enough to mention your financial difficulties.’
‘Perhaps you’d care to elaborate?’
'Please don't treat me like a fool, Ms Blackstone.We've looked into your records.There's no money left, is there?Your father made a series of very bad decisions, and the whole Foundation, as far as I can tell, is now running on fumes.'
‘Is that why you’re not paying the artists?’Marcus asked.
Blackstone stared at her hands in her lap, saying nothing.After a while, Marcus gave a pointed look to the lawyer.
‘Ursie,’ the lawyer said, with surprising softness.She looked up, tears in her eyes.
'I've tried so hard to keep it all going,' she said.She sounded very tired.'And nobody can help.Nobody.Maybe it's all going to go down the pan.All that work, for nothing.'
Kate handed her a tissue.She took it, with what looked like genuine gratitude for this small gesture.
‘Let me tell you about my mom,’ she began.
Kate was about to object, but Blackstone pre-empted her, holding up a hand.
'It's germane to your enquiry.My mom graduated from Yale.In Economics.'She sniffed and wiped her nose.'People thought she was just a society hostess and… well, she is, but she's also a very bright woman. My dad… he cheated on her constantly.Constantly.He couldn't help himself, but he'd never leave her, nor she him.That generation, their background, it just wasn't done.So every time he went back to her, he'd give her money. She asked for it.No promises, no diamonds, no flowers, no romantic cruises.Money. And she took all the money my dad gave her, and she invested it.Wisely. So while my father threw away billions, she was sitting on a modest fortune of her own.And the one sensible move he made, at her behest, was to ring-fence it.It went into a private trust, which meant it was hers and hers alone, no matter what.'
The lawyer interjected.‘Ursula, you don’t need to-’
‘Let the lady speak if she wants to,’ Marcus said.The lawyer turned the full beam of his contempt on Marcus for a second or two, but then he seemed to think better of it.
‘She hasn’t got billions,’ Blackstone continued.‘But she’s got enough to pay Uncle Sam the back taxes. Nobody has to go to jail. She’s bailing us out.’
‘But there are strings attached,’ Kate guessed.
Blackstone nodded.‘Let’s call them conditions.I wasn’t lying.Her faith is very important to her. So at her request, I cancelled the exhibition, and she paid the IRS, plus a couple of other people you really don’t want to owe money to. I know it’s not great that all the artists lose out, but they’ve got their artworks back, they can sell them.They can make more.If by some chance, they do win the lawsuit, I guess we can sell the apartment.It would be a relief, to be honest with you.’
‘We’ll require proof of those payments,’ Kate said.
‘Naturally.Is there anything else, or am I free to go?’
‘I’m afraid there is one more thing we need to talk to you about,’ said Marcus.
He reached behind for his laptop and opened the screen. ‘Bear with me,’ he said. The lawyer sighed like a mastiff reluctantly settling down for the night.Kate offered them some water, which Blackstone gratefully accepted.
‘Do you recognise these?’Marcus said.
Blackstone gave a cry and dropped the water. Her eyes were fixed on the laptop screen, depicting the statues that had been found with the murder victims.
‘Vicky – ’ The lawyer leant forward and put a hand on hers.‘What is it?’
She continued to stare at the screen for a moment or two, then shook her head.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, hoarsely.‘For a moment there, I just thought…’
