Chapter 21

The room erupted in pandemonium. I was as stunned as anyone. I had no idea Richard arranged to have any documents for this meeting, and since the last two pieces of paper were ballbusters, that he had them so fast was incredible. My estimation of Richard has always been extremely high, but it had just increased. Immeasurably! This gunfighter just made a bullseye.

Four of the five people at the end of the table were all shouting, each trying to be heard over the others. The nephew just sat there with his arms folded across his fat gut. I heard Bottomsley wailing, “Ridiculous! It’s obviously a fraud!” I watched as Galante reached over and tried to grab the birth certificate out of Green’s hand. However, since Green still had a firm hold on it, the paper ripped in half. Richard wasn’t worried. He had several more copies of the birth certificate and the test results if anyone wanted them. Of course, nobody heard a word over the ruckus at the other end of the room.

Finally, Bottomsley managed to raise her voice loud enough that everyone heard her. “Shut up. Goddamn it! Will all of you just shut the fuck up!” She screamed, as she slapped the table several times with her open hand. With each slap she shouted, “Shut the fuck up!” Somehow her language didn’t surprise me much. When I first saw her, I thought she was a vulgar woman, and her speech only proved it. As the din became softer, she looked at her attorney. “What does this shit mean, Green?” she screamed at the poor little man. He cringed under her onslaught.

Before any of the others could speak, Richard smiled and replied, “May I have your attention? Quiet, please!” The pandemonium faded and Richard continued, “What it means Miss Bottomsley, is Miss Rockingham is definitely the daughter of Elmo “Slim” Rockingham. And, as his closest relative, his only living relative, she will inherit his estate. That is, unless a will is found dictating the distribution of the estate. Such an instrument has yet to be produced.”

The nephew stood, looked at his aunt, and spoke, “Fuck this shit. I’m outta here. I’ll see you around.”

Bottomsley told him to sit down, but the kid ignored her and started to leave the room. Green surprised all of us when he looked at the fat twerp, and told him, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll sit down. Now.” The porky brat scowled at Green and then waddled back to his seat and plopped down.

Chaos reigned. Jennifer and I sat quietly, but Richard remained standing. I don’t remember when it happened, but I noticed that Jennifer’s hand had found mine again, and she was now holding on tight.

Finally, Richard rapped his knuckles on the table. “Please, quiet down!” He repeated himself several times. Finally in the most commanding voice I’d ever heard him use, he shouted, “Be still ... all of you ... now!”

The room quieted down and Richard spoke again. “If everyone continues to talk at the same time we’re never going to get anywhere. Mr. Green, since you called for this meeting, why don’t you go first?”

Green had a smirk on his face as he asked, “What proof do you have that this birth certificate is real?”

Richard glowered. This was not the first time I’d seen him angry. To date, I’d never been on the receiving end of his anger, and I wanted to keep it that way. The room was silent as he stood there glaring down at Green. He leaned forward, his fists on the table, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low and menacing. “Are you suggesting I’d bring in a counterfeit birth certificate? Are you implying that I’d cook up a false DNA report? Are you calling me a crook? Mr. Green, if your comment means what I think it means, I’d suggest you tread very carefully. Because if you don’t, you might find yourself facing the biggest lawsuit for defamation you’ve ever seen, and it will be against you!”

Richard continued to glare at the little lawyer and when he continued his words were clipped and tinged with anger, “As you can plainly see, there’s an official seal from the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Are you accusing me of faking that? If you’d like, I will be happy to give you the name of the person I dealt with and the phone number of the City Registrar’s Office.” Richard’s voice had never risen in volume during his whole tirade, but the effect was the same as if he’d screamed at Green.

Green held up both hands, as if to ward off Richard’s comments. He seemed to shrink in his chair as he tried to apologize. “Mr. Silversmith, I apologize if you thought I was impugning your honesty. Perhaps I misspoke. We weren’t aware of this certificate and it’s a total surprise to us. I, no, that’s wrong. What I meant to say is that we, Miss Bottomsley and I, had no idea her brother had a daughter until a few days ago. To my knowledge he’d never mentioned it to her.”

Green glanced over at a very red-faced woman who vigorously shook her head negatively. The daisy on her hat bobbed enthusiastically as she shook her head. Every time she moved her head, I had a hard time not laughing aloud. Green then looked at the two other men who were with them, “Were either of you aware that Mr. Rockingham had a daughter?”

As he spoke, Galante shook his head. His voice was one of total disdain, “Of course not, Don. You know that.”

For a moment, Epstein sat quietly, and then cleared his throat. “Well, ah ... I ... well, um...”

Galante turned on his partner, and in a disbelieving voice asked, “Julius, do you know something about this?”

For a moment, Epstein fidgeted in his chair and then replied, “Well, a few years ago, when Slim and I were chatting he mentioned it was the anniversary of his wife’s death. I asked him what happened, and he told me she’d passed away a few years before, and every year he tried to go and visit her gravesite but this year he wasn’t going to be able to do that.” Epstein was now wringing his hands as he tried to explain. “I asked Slim if they had any children, and he said he had a daughter, but they hadn’t spoken in some time. He said for several years he’d had no communication with her, and he believed she lived in Europe. Slim’s comment to me was as far as his daughter was concerned, she was just as dead as her mother.”

“And you waited ‘til now to bring this up?” Galante growled.

Epstein was starting to become angry and retorted, “You said this whole thing was just a hoax. You said there was no way he could have a daughter without you knowing about it.” Epstein paused, as he recalled the specific incident with Slim. “Slim only mentioned it once, and if I recall the time it happened, well we were having dinner and there had been a lot of drinking and I ... well, I kinda forgot about the discussion. Besides, what was I to think, you seemed so positive.”

As I looked at Galante, I felt some concern because his face became very dark. He was so upset when he spoke spittle sprayed from his mouth. “Damn it, Epstein, you should have told me about this before now!” I watched as Galante visibly pulled himself together. He looked at Epstein a few moments more, and then muttered, “This isn’t over by a long shot. We WILL discuss this further. Later!”

Green looked helplessly between his client and Galante. At this point, I decided to bring up a question which had bothered me since the first time I talked to Jennifer. “Excuse me, but I’d like to ask a question.” I’d aimed the question at Galante. He nodded his head, and he seemed somewhat grateful for the break in the tension.

“Jennifer told me each month she receives checks from her father, and she also said your firm handled all of his affairs.” I paused, waiting for Galante to agree or disagree.

Finally, he spoke, “Well, most of his affairs, but not necessarily all of them.”

I continued, “If that’s the case, why is it that your firm had no idea he was making regular payments to her? If you handled most of his affairs, should you not have known?”

Galante tented his fingers in front of his face. He stared into the void between his palms. When he spoke, it was slow and very deliberate. “Slim was a very private man and there were several areas of his life he chose not to share with us. We were aware he had several bank accounts. He had several trust funds and some other holdings which he chose not to share with us. I know on several occasions both Mr. Epstein and I tried to convince Mr. Rockingham to put all of his affairs with us. We requested he do that for ease of handling and all.

“I know this sounds very self-serving, but if we’d been privy to all his affairs, this unfortunate situation would never have happened.” Galante pulled his fingers apart and motioned with open hands toward the people sitting around him at his end of the table. He continued, “We’d have known about Miss Rockingham.