Shepherd, who praised himself on being a good judge of character, judged Vincent’s character to be of a crappy variety. “He wasn’t, you mean,” Shepherd corrected. “Mr. Martinwasn’tone of you. It’s past tense now that he’s murdered.”
Vincent turned his attention away from the couch and towards the men who were allowed real chairs. High-backed chairs. Chairs that said these were men of class, both literally and figuratively. “Liquidating those assets requires a sacrifice on all our parts. Plus, this is incredible, incredible press. My campaign manager is blowing up my phone with interview opportunities. Obviously, the priority is Mom’s safety—”
Ginny said, “Bullshit.”
“But she isn’t in any real danger. We can wait twenty-four hours, see what the police and the FBI can turn up, and then decide if we should pay the ransom.”
Vincent sat down.
Elwin looked out to the room. “Anyone else have anything to say?”
“Grandpa!” Ginny stood up. “You can’t be serious? This is my mother! Of course we pay the ransom. Whoever took her has already murdered an innocent man.”
“We can’t attest to the man’s innocence,” Bradley said.
She glared at her father. “Dad, come on.”
He shrugged. “He’s unknown to us. We’ve never met him. Deandra hadn’t even told us about him. As far as we can see, he was a one-night stand. We have no idea if he was innocent in this or not.”
Ginny looked to Shepherd for help. He stood up, faltering only a little, and put a hand on the small of her back, a steadying gesture for him as much as for her. “Mr. Martin was a good man. He was a fair landlord. I don’t believe he’d bewrapped up in anything so dangerous that it could get him murdered.”
The elder Kents made eye contact with each other, some silent conversation happening between them. Ginny dried her wet cheeks with her knuckles.
“This is my mom, Grandpa. Please. She could be in danger!”
“Even Ginny sayscouldbe,” Brandy interrupted. She didn’t even bother to stand. With her legs crossed, she kicked her foot back and forth, her shoe sliding off her heel. The tennis sneaker, loosely tied, scuffed the Persian rug, uncaring at the damage. “She could be in danger, but she’s probably not. Besides, this is reallyherproblem, not ours. What is the downside of waiting for the police to find her? Letting Vincent get some airtime? Letting our name get some press? It can’t be bad for the firm to be in the news.”
“Brandy’s right,” Scarlett said. “We might even get some new clients from this.”
“New clients?” Ginny laughed in disbelief. “What would you know about clients, Scarlett?”
Scarlett reeled back as if she’d been slapped. “I worked at the firm, Ginny.”
“You worked for a single week as a secretary!”
“Virginia.” Elwin’s voice was biblical again. “These arguments are for facts, not for personal attacks.”
“It is afactthat she was only a secretary for a week! And not a very good one! Now, see,thatwas a personal attack.”
Elwin’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. Ginny stood her ground, but her breathing was shallow and fast, and her shoulders slumped forward.
Shepherd eased his way in front of her, taking the brunt of her grandfather’s judgment. “Sir, I know I’m not a family member yet. But it seems like a bad idea to me to leave a person with a kidnapper if you’ve got the means to end it. The sooner the better.”
Elwin’s narrowed gaze swept him up and down. He pointed to the couch with his chin. “You two may be seated. We will take the vote now. Do we liquidate assets to get the cash today? Ayes?”
Ginny said, “Aye!”
It was quiet for a moment. Bradley sighed. “Aye.”
She beamed at him, but her stepmother’s face scrunched as though she’d eaten a lemon. Bradley Kent would be hearing about that vote tonight.
“Nays?”
Everyone else said nay.
SEVENTEEN
Ginny was the first one through the door, stomping her way out in a hurry. Shepherd attempted to follow her, but was cut off by the women, and Vincent, and even Elwin. Once he made it out of the office, Ginny was gone. He moved to the stairs to see if he could spot her red hair in the sea of highly polished white marble.
