Chapter 16 - The Presidential Suite
The Four Seasons on Logan Square was quiet at 7:30 AM, enveloped in a silver autumn fog. Julian Vance was already sitting at a linen-draped table in the private corner of the mezzanine restaurant, reviewing a stack of fresh filings.
Across from him sat Arthur Vance.
He was seventy-two, with silver hair brushed back from a sun-spotted forehead, wearing an bespoke charcoal suit that screamed old European money. He cut into a piece of melon with surgical precision, not looking up as four people walked directly toward his table.
"Julian," Arthur said without raising his head, "I told you I did not wish to be disturbed until the Delaware marshal confirmed service."
"He can't confirm service, Mr. Vance," I said, stepping up to the edge of the table. "Because the Delaware court never issued the order."
Arthur froze, his fork hovering an inch above his porcelain plate. He looked up, his pale blue eyes narrowing as he took in the sight of me, Martha, David, and finally, his daughter Harper.
"Harper," Arthur said, his tone as flat and lifeless as a tombstone. "I see you have brought your former in-laws. Julian, what is the meaning of this circus?"
Julian Vance stood up, sweating through his starched collar. "Mr. Vance, I... there was an incident at the storage facility last night. The state police were involved."
"The state police weren't just involved, Arthur," Martha said, placing her heavy leather briefcase squarely on his white tablecloth, right next to his silver teapot. "The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Special Investigations Unit was notified at 3:00 AM. And so was the New York field office of the Internal Revenue Service."
May you like
Arthur sneered, wiping his mouth with a linen napkin. "Do you honestly think you can intimidate me with bureaucratic threats? I have survived senate hearings and European trade sanctions. You are a small-town real estate lawyer and an unemployed grandmother from Delaware County."
"I am the grandmother of the boy you tried to kidnap with forged Delaware jurisdictional filings," I retorted. "And this is the original ledger from your 2008 bunkering liquidation."
