Rain on Their Parade

 287.

"Should it surprise anyone that there was a struggle for power upon reading of the advance directive?" Davis asks. "Evidently the lawyers involved with the writing of the estate's Trust Fund Limited Partnership felt more comfortable in favoring the business side rather than the philanthropic, and assigned control to the CEO rather than the ex-wife. She, however is the beneficiary of the property, most assets and control of the several non-profits."

Julie scribbles notes as I lead the internal deposition.

"Sounds like Goldson put his guys, especially his lawyers, in the positions where they could influence the outcome and assume power, or am I missing something?" I question.

"As long as the widow feels she is being treated fairly, especially in regard to her community service equity, the waters are calm. She has retained the services of a third-party law firm to oversee the post-mortem dispensation of control, but mostly, from what I can gather, only as it relates to the business and not the family's estate or assets." Davis reports.

"Sounds like a potential nightmare, how the heck does one separate the family from the head of household's financial achievements?"

"That is the issue everyone is tap dancing around, up to and including Goldson. He has made it very clear that he intends to, shall we say, shoot first and ask questions later?"

"Dictatorship 101. Is the bug your guy planted still operating?"

"No, one of the janitors accidentally noticed it while doing a deep clean. Fortunately he didn't know what it was and tossed it out like a lost blazer button. No harm but we lost our ears. Happened about a week ago, sorry I should have notified you on that."

"Not a problem, we were a little concerned about Goldson's motivation and willingness to continue the dark relationship with Hartaugh, but that concern seems to have been lessened by their latest press release."

"I do know that Goldson spent a decent amount of time with his staff in the preparation of said document. There was, how do they say on the news, some fiery bipartisan debate?"

"This guy is street savvy. He may not be the sharpest knife in the kitchen, but he does control it. He has something up his sleeve, but, as long as we can steer him in the right direction I think he will do us a big favor. What is the latest on his meeting in St. Croix?"

"By all appearances he is looking forward to it. I know that he has arranged for security and blocked a solid week around the meet day. He asked us if we would like to travel with his executive party, an invite I couldn't pass on."

"Outstanding, we hope to be there as well, assuming Hartaugh accepts and asks for our help, which he should," I say. "Do we know when Goldson is going to formally invite the Senator to the meeting?"

"Sometime this evening."

"Excellent, so we should know by this time tomorrow," I summarize. "Great job my friend, see you soon."

"83 and sunny in the Caribbean today."

"Right, let's rain on their parade."

"Copy that boss."