The Last Day

FORTY-EIGHT

Ward was seated at the dining room table when Gene called him.

“You sitting down?” Gene asked.

“As a matter of fact I'm eating a late lunch. We're going to get Todd to take us to the cemetery in a little while.”

“Trey Dibble is dead,” Gene said.

“What is it?” Natasha asked.

“Trey Dibble is dead,” Ward told her. “No, that doesn't make sense, Gene,” he said into the phone.

“What happened?” Natasha asked.

Ward hit the speaker button and held the phone in front of him.

“You're on speaker so Natasha can hear. What happened?”

“A secretary in our office has a sister who works for EMS. It appears to have been an accident. Trey slipped and hit his head on a counter-top and died, probably almost instantly. His girlfriend found him an hour ago in his kitchen. The weird thing is, homicide detectives arrived there before EMS or the police.”

“But it was an accident?”

“I know. It can't be right. That would mean Tami called homicide before she called EMS. In case you don't know how these things work: You call nine one one and dispatch sends an ambulance, and the fire department, and the cops. Cops take a look, and if EMS or the officers suspect foul play then they call in detectives. That takes time, even if it's somebody famous. The detectives arrived before the others. This is beyond weird, and the secretary might have gotten it totally wrong, but I'm trying to find out more, and as soon as I can, I'll call you.”

Ward hit the speaker button again and turned to Natasha.

“He's right. Unless they were in the building anyway, they'd be an hour or better getting their act together and going to the scene.”

Ward's phone rang again and Ward flipped it open, said hello, and listened.

“Sure, Nolan. Let him through.”

A minute later, Ward opened the door to find his uncle standing on the stoop smiling like a used- car salesman who'd come to tell them their credit had failed muster so he was repossessing their new car.

“Unk,” Ward said. “I didn't expect you. Come in. I've got a lot to catch you up on.”

“I wish I didn't have to bother you, Ward, but I came to tell you something that's, well, it's somewhat delicate and I thought we ought to talk about it face- to-f ace. You got a minute?”

“Sure,” Ward said, opening the door and stepping back to let his uncle in. “Natasha is inside.”

“It concerns both of you.”

The two men walked into the living room.

“Natasha, Unk has something to tell us,” Ward said.

Natasha crossed to hug Ward's uncle. “Hello, Unk. Want something to drink?”

“No, thank you, Natasha,” Mark said. “This is difficult for me. I don't know how to begin.”

“Sit down,” Ward said.

When Mark sat, his tenuous smile vanished altogether.

“I just… deposited six hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars back into the account it came from. I stole it from the company.”

Neither Ward nor Natasha said anything.

Mark put his head in his hands and cried.

After a few awkward seconds, Ward walked over and put a hand on his uncle's shoulder. “I don't understand.”

Natasha went to the kitchen and returned with a tissue. “What are you talking about, Unk?” she asked.

“I embezzled money from our own damn company to cover gambling debts. I've been taking money for the past eleven months. I tried to stop, but…” He sobbed. “I put it all back an hour ago.”

Mark wiped his tears.

“My gambling. It just somehow got out of control. I was way down and I tried to double up and catch up. It was crazy, but I was desperate to pay these people. The more I tried to catch up, the deeper I went into the hole. Then, to get even with these men, I borrowed from a loan shark and bad got worse. I always intended to put the money back. I took cash as I had to have it.”

“Why didn't you tell me early on?” Ward asked him. “We could have fixed it before it got serious.”

“Ward's right,” Natasha said, firmly.

“It's my stupid pride. You had so much on your plate without my trouble. I'm so sorry.”

“It's all back,” Ward said.

“To the penny. It was wrong, but I did make it right.”

“Right,” Natasha said thoughtfully. “I'm not so sure. Unk, where did you get the money to put back?” Natasha asked.

Mark looked up at her, tears in his eyes. “It's all over,” he said.

“That might depend on where you got the six hundred thousand to pay back,” she said.

“A loan,” Mark said.

“From whom?” she asked him.

Mark said, “It was a personal loan. What does that matter?”

“What did you use for collateral?” Ward asked. “Was it a loan from Flash?”

Mark managed a crooked smile.

“I mean, who else has six hundred grand available they'd loan you?”

Mark nodded.

“Did he take your stock for collateral?” Ward asked.

“You know I can't assign or sell my stock.”

“I know that, but did he take it?”

“You think I'd lie to Flash about that? Commit fraud?”

“I know that the way my dad set it up, you can only sell your stock to me, at current value. In case you die, since you are divorced from my blood aunt, I would automatically get it after paying your estate fair market value.”

“If you died first, would I have to sell your stock to Unk?” Natasha asked.

Mark shook his head. “No. It only works one way. You or Ward are blood, and you can sell whenever to whomever you choose. That was all Wardo,” Mark said. “He set it up like a wall to protect his line, so he and his heirs would always control the company. I agreed to it and it's never mattered to me. When we started the company, I didn't know what it would be worth down the road. Nobody knew what NASCAR would do. Except Wardo. He always knew. He was the one with vision. I was always just a salesman.”

“But it mattered later, when the company became successful,” Natasha said. “You must have resented how Wardo set it up then.”

“No, I loved him like a brother. I made him a lot of money, but I never felt shorted. We both worked hard, but he had the original idea, and he got the ball rolling before I came on. I only had to take orders from eager buyers and watch it grow.”

“So if you didn't use your stock for collateral to Flash,” Ward asked, “what did you use for collateral for the loan?”

“When you sell the company, I'll get the six hundred thousand off the top of my end. I guess since you'll never sell, as an alternative, you could buy me out and I could pay Flash back from the proceeds of the transaction. I mean, I'm sure you don't want to ever see me again after my betrayal.”

“No,” Ward said. “I don't want to buy you out. I do that and I'd have to hire a sales manager, and I'd be incurring debt I don't need. I'll sell to Flash Dibble at the price he offered if he'll agree to take care of our employees the way I would have. He'll agree. He won't like sharing profits with employees, but he'll see it's smart business because they know what they're doing.”

Mark nodded.

Natasha spoke. “If Ward sells, and it's fine by me if he really wants to, he should take the video game out of the company. I'm sure you won't mind signing it away, Unk. He was just cutting the company in out of the goodness of his heart. He'll reimburse RGI for any money it put into the development.”

Mark looked surprised, but nodded. “It was Ward's idea, and he's the one who should own it. I never had anything to do with it. It's only right. Why should Flash get his hands on it?”

“Flash doesn't know about it, does he?” Natasha asked.

“No, he doesn't. I didn't tell him.”

“Because if you did, it might explain why he wants RGI so badly all things considered. It might explain a lot that's been happening.” She didn't elaborate, but Ward certainly understood.

“I don't want the company. Maybe Barney would have wanted it if he'd lived, but…” He looked at Natasha and smiled. “I know what is important.”

“But if Flash doesn't keep Trey away, he could destroy RGI.” Mark ran his fingers through his hair.

“Trey Dibble is dead,” Ward said.

If Ward had been holding a baseball, he could have slipped it into Mark's mouth without touching teeth.