“The prize at the end of the four days is one hundred thousand dollars. According to these records, he has a waiting list of people who want to enter one of his tournaments. He even publishes a magazine, of sorts, that is free to all contestants. He also publishes a quarterly newsletter for which he charges. A subscription is one hundred dollars. He did all this in the hopes that somehow, someway, he would become a household name in the world of chess. It has not happened, nor will it happen. At best, he is a mediocre player. Probably somewhere near my own ability with a chessboard. He makes well over a million dollars a year during his operational months with his little club. As I said, he’s been doing this for fifteen years or so. Do the math. The first seven years were not as lucrative as the later years. At this point in time, he makes more money than he could ever possibly spend.
“Still, he is not a happy man. The other three partners look up to him, and, by the way, all three partners and he himself enter the tournaments he sponsors. None of the four have ever won or even come close to being in the top three.
“Mr. Queen is married, and to a very nice lady, according to this report. They have one child, a son who lives in Rhode Island. He is a principal at a high school there. He is married, but has no children, so there are no grandchildren. Yet.
“Mrs. Queen does what most rich wives do—she plays tennis and golf. She lunches, shops, and goes to spas. The report says there have been no dalliances by either one. Strangely, the wives of the Chessmen are not close friends. They do the obligatory dinners, the photo ops, but then go their separate ways.
“That’s pretty much it on Maxwell Queen. Oh, and he does not like to be called Max by anyone, even his closest friends.
“As I said, that’s pretty much it on Maxwell Queen unless any of you have questions.”
Dennis raised his hand. “What kind of lawyer is he? Corporate, real estate, probate, what? Is he any good?”
“According to this report, he is mean and bombastic. He uses fear and intimidation to get what he wants. Is he a good lawyer? According to this report, the consensus is that he is about as good a lawyer as he is a chess player, which means that he is less than mediocre. That latter is just my personal opinion. Any other questions?” Seeing there were no more questions, Charles shuffled the papers in the folder he was holding.
“Though Eli Rook’s name comes last in the name of the firm, the order of the names in the title of the firm was decided upon at Queen’s insistence. I suppose it has something to do with the order of importance of the pieces in a chess game, but that is just a guess. Anyway, Eli Rook is actually the second partner in the pecking order at the firm. He’s also forty-nine years of age. He’s a tall man, with a deeply receding hairline. He wears shell-rimmed glasses. He is the only athletic one of the four. By that, I mean that he not only works out at his health club one day a week, but he runs every day before work. A five-mile run. He plays chess, but, like Queen, he is just a mediocre player.
“He also has a passion in life, which is racing cars. He bought up a racetrack that had gone bankrupt, around the same time Queen started his chess club. Like Queen, one weekend a month, he holds races. He invites big names like Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Junior, just to name a few to show up at the track. He pays them one hundred thousand dollars to appear, do a photo op, sign some autographs, and maybe take a spin around the track. The entry fee for competitors is the same as for Queen’s chess club, twenty-five thousand dollars. He has a fleet of racing cars that entrants can use, or they can bring their own race car. Also, like Queen’s, it’s a four-day weekend, once a month. He, too, closes up shop during June, July, and August. He’s pulling in as much money as Queen is. He’s just as privileged as the other three. His parents are still alive, but in very frail health. He’ll inherit a vast fortune, but he also has a robust trust fund. His lawyering skills leave a lot to be desired.
“Rook is married, no hint of scandal, pure as the driven snow. According to this report, his wife does a lot of volunteer work at different hospitals. They have twin girls, who live in California. Neither twin is married. One is an aspiring actress and the other one earns a living reading tarot cards for people on the beach. Both girls are what you would call free spirits. They never come back to Washington. The wife goes to California to see them once a year. They Skype.
“That pretty much sums up what we have on Eli Rook. Are there any questions?” When no one spoke, Charles again shuffled his papers.
“All right, then, let’s move on to Leo Bishop, the third man in the pecking order. He is described here as looking like a cadaver on steroids. I can’t quite visualize that, but if Avery says that’s what he looks like, then that’s what he looks like. I will leave it up to each of you to visualize someone meeting that description. He is the same age as the others, forty-nine. He’s married to a sickly woman, who is pretty much housebound. She has a nurse or aide who sees to her needs on a daily basis and lives in the house with the family. The report says that Mrs. Bishop is actually a hypochondriac.
“She became this way when their only daughter died in a car accident at age sixteen. There are no other children. There are no indications that either she or her husband strayed off the reservation. Leo Bishop’s passion in life is a survival camp he runs in the Adirondacks. He has the same deal as the other two. He runs a four-day package for those who like survival training. He and the others participate on his chosen weekend. He also closes the camp during June, July, and August. None of the other three are what you would call fit and robust, with the exception of Rook.
“He, like his two partners, patterns everything after chess moves. He’s not a good player, either, but he does like to play. He, too, has a waiting list of people who want to spend four days proving they’re the fittest of the fit. Like his partners, he offers a prize to the competitor who aces the course. Some weekends, there are no winners. In that case, the prize that month carries over to the next month. The prize is one hundred thousand dollars.
“As you can tell, the Chessmen do everything the same way. The cost for the four-day weekend is, you guessed it, twenty-five thousand dollars, which he happily carts to the bank on his chosen Monday morning. According to this report, the course is so hard, so rugged, it’s almost a guarantee that no one will complete it, yet some do. He also publishes a magazine, of sorts, along with a newsletter. One needs to subscribe to the newsletter for a fee, but the magazine itself is free and issued quarterly, along with the newsletter. Not even Bishop himself has successfully mastered the course, which is a goal of his, according to what I am reading here.
“Again, the course is designed after chess moves. Of the four, he is the best lawyer, but he is no F. Lee Bailey or Clarence Darrow. There is a note here that says that other than the four-day weekends, the partners do not socialize. By that, I mean they do not visit each other at home for dinners or parties, that kind of thing. Bishop inherited a string of high-end hotels, along the line of the Hilton chain. That’s it on Leo Bishop. Any questions?”
Dennis again raised his hand. “Are all four of these guys Harvard grads? If their lawyering isn’t all that great, how did they get admitted to Harvard?”
“Their parents endowed the school, how else?” Jack snapped. “Am I right, Charles?”
“Yes, Jack, you are absolutely right. Not one of the four was in any way extraordinary when he finished college. Their GPAs were less than stellar. Any other questions?” Charles shrugged, moved, and sorted his papers.
“I guess we’re ready to move on to the fourth and final partner, Josh King. This report refers to him as the weak link of the four. He’s a pleasant-looking man, has a ready smile, and is quick to shake hands with anyone he meets. In other words, he’s a likable chap, unlike the other three. He appears to be what I would call the normal one of the four. He has a nice family. Four children, all off on their own and earning a living. He has two young grandchildren, whom he would like to see more of, but with his sched
ule, he does not. His wife never worked at a job. She ran the household, took care of the kids, went to all the PTA meetings, alone. Attended all the dance recitals and ball games. She likes to garden and has won some awards for her roses. Josh, according to this report, is nerdy, geeky, terms used today for a bookish person. Josh hails from Alabama, a Southern boy. The other three are Yankees through and through.
“He inherited his money from his grandparents, who raised him. His parents died when he was seven years old in a train derailment. His wealth comes from cotton and several golf courses. He is a frugal man, and so is his wife. Neither one is into material possessions, unlike the other three. Their children were not raised with silver spoons in their mouths. They all held jobs after school to earn spending money. Josh owns a bookstore that specializes in out-of-print books and rare editions. He’s lucky to earn enough to pay the taxes on the building at the end of the year.
“His four-day weekend is for book discussions, poetry readings, and the like. And it’s all free. He even provides a continuous buffet for the four days. He does draw huge crowds. Sometimes he does readings himself. The other three partners suffer through that particular weekend. As to his lawyering skills . . . this report refers to him as a family lawyer. Neighbor problems, real-estate transactions, dog bites, car accidents. He buys his suits off the rack, drives a six-year-old Subaru. There is nothing to distinguish him from the millions of men walking around out there.
“He’s fair-skinned, with light brown hair that is starting to recede. He wears wire-rimmed glasses, bifocals actually. He’s six feet tall, not muscular but not fat, either. His profile doesn’t fit the others’, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what drew him to the other three back in the day. Like I said, his family is like the family next door. That’s it on Mr. King. Any questions?”
No one had any questions.
“Then that brings me to Mr. Wilson ‘Call me “Buzz”’ Lambert, the Speaker of the House and would-be president of the United States. He is a year older than the others, fifty, to be exact. The report I have is unclear as to how Buzz got tangled up with the Chessmen. It does say that Buzz likes to play chess and entered one of Queen’s tournaments. It is speculated here that that is how they came to know one another, but it has not been proven. There is a note in the margin that indicates he might have known the others early on in his career or possibly even during their college years, but that has not been nailed down, either, so we cannot take it as a given. They were not classmates. He has sent many politicians, friends of his, to the firm to have their divorces handled by the Chessmen. According to this, they were successful each and every time and became the go-to lawyers if you wanted to win.
“Buzz married Livinia Roland fresh out of college. He worked his way through college and got several grants and scholarships. Summers were spent working two jobs. He did not come from money. In fact, his life was pretty hardscrabble until he went off to law school, paid for by Livinia’s money.
“He adapted to Livinia’s money very well. Not only did she put him through law school, but she bought him fancy cars, as well as taught him how to dress and how to speak. She was very much in love with him and could not do enough to help him get ahead. It’s not clear how intense Buzz’s feelings were, but it is noted here that he absolutely loved her money.
“Livinia’s family was very politically active, and that helped him enter politics and succeed in every way possible. They had one son, Jeffrey, who a few years ago went public with a huge software company and is nipping at Mark Zuckerberg’s heels.
“Father and son were never close. The son is a fine young man, thanks to his mother. Mother and son are extremely close. It’s been rumored for some time that Buzz is going to make a run for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which, of course, he confirmed at the sham press conference he held. A run for the presidency would come with the backing of the Chessmen and all the politicos they have in their pockets. Maxwell Queen was heard to say, possibly in jest, possibly not, that the White House would hold a chess tournament Buzz’s first year in office. Leo Bishop was heard to say that the president, along with all his Secret Service detail, would be a regular fixture at his survival camp. Eli Rook promised to have a new race car painted and designated as ‘Air Force One on the Ground’ for the president to let off steam.
“Buzz earned his reputation as a man who can deliver. He’s a true politician and loyal to his party. He’s a lousy husband and father. He’s never been involved in a scandal of any kind. He’s known to go days without sleep if he’s needed on the Hill. He gets on well with everyone who is at his level and in a position to help him, and is considered very likable by those he needs to impress. Despite his wife’s assessment of his chances of becoming president of the United States, those in the know say he is very likely to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Which brings us to this point in time. His wife is suing for divorce. His son and daughter-in-law are also in the process of divorcing. Buzz has hired the Chessmen to handle his divorce. Nikki and Lizzie are handling both Livinia’s and the daughter-in-law’s divorces. Buzz had his attorneys call a press conference so he could state his case, which he did quite eloquently and preemptively before the media got hold of it and blew it out of proportion.
“That turned out to be a brilliant move on the part of the Chessmen and Buzz. So far, there has been very little coverage of the pending divorce, and I don’t expect to see any from here on out. It’s contained for now. The divorce will go off quietly, unless something unforeseen crops up.”
“Well, if that’s the way everything is going, why are we here? Two divorces with nothing out of the ordinary is not a reason for all of us to be here. People get divorced every day of the week, and we don’t call special meetings. What is it we’re trying to do?” Espinosa asked.
Nikki slapped her hands flat on the table, her eyes furious. “There is something wrong here! My firm has been played, for one thing. First by the young Mrs. Lambert, then by Mrs. Lambert senior. I take the blame for that. Whatever it is, I did not see it, missed it somehow. Something is wrong,” she said fiercely. “That’s why I called Lizzie. We’re trying to figure out what it is and how the Chessmen are involved. Maggie and Ted are digging into their backgrounds, especially Amy’s, who seems to have no background prior to her eighteenth birthday. You did say that you have a folder for Amy Lambert, didn’t you, Charles? Is there anything in it that we don’t already know?”
Lizzie Fox spoke for the first time. “I might be going out on a limb here, but I don’t think so. I think our answers lie with Amy Jones Lambert. That’s the beginning, the middle, and the end of it.”
Charles reached for the red folder that Fergus was holding out to him. “Let’s hope you’re right, Lizzie, because if you aren’t, we’re right back to square one.”
Chapter 14
“I think we need to go upstairs and take a break, people,” Myra said. “Coffee and apple pie sound good to me right now. We always seem to think better when we have coffee and something sweet. That means you, too, Charles, since you were baking those pies at five o’clock this morning. They’re just waiting to be devoured.”
“With ice cream?” Dennis asked, smacking his lips in anticipation.
“Of course, Dennis. You can’t eat apple pie without ice cream, everyone knows that.” Myra smiled at him. She really did love this rash yet shy young man, who was now one of their flock.
As they were all seated at Myra’s oversized dining-room table, the conversation turned to the Speaker of the House and how the media were downplaying his announced divorce.
“The Chessmen have clout, that’s for sure,” Ted said. He fixed his gaze on Annie, and said, “So that has me wondering why you would never let me do an article on the firm. I really don’t understand, Annie.”
“I don’t, either,” Dennis chirped.
“That goes for me, too,” Espinosa said through clenched teeth. “The Post is the best forum right now. Why are
you holding back? Just for the record, Maggie is pulling her hair out in frustration.”
“Because we don’t want the Speaker to know I’m involved, and that’s the first conclusion he and his attorneys will come to. We were all at the Daisy Wheel the night all of them were there. In fact, I stopped at their table to speak to them on our way out. Our day will come, and you’ll get the exposé, I promise. I would also like to remind you that patience is a virtue.”
Espinosa looked properly chastised as he dug into his apple pie.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” Lizzie said. “I can come back at any time. My plan is to stop at the Chessmen’s office on the way to the airport tomorrow just to . . . make an appearance.”
“What time is your flight, dear?” Myra asked.
Lizzie laughed, her special tinkling laugh that was so musical sounding that everyone smiled. “It’s whatever time I want it to be. Cosmo chartered a plane for me, so I wouldn’t have to rush. All I have to do is call the pilot to tell him I’m on the way. I’m thinking noonish.
“This is really good pie, Charles. I love the yellow raisins and the crushed walnuts. Cosmo likes to cook and bake in his spare time. He’s actually teaching Little Jack, who is taking to it like a duck to water. He makes the best, and I mean the best, macadamia-banana pancakes, with banana syrup and melted butter. Neither one likes to do the cleanup. They leave that to me.”
The others openly stared at Lizzie as they tried to picture the elegant attorney in an apron doing kitchen duty.
“And while they’re doing that, what do you do?” Kathryn asked.
Lizzie giggled, something the others had never heard her do before because Lizzie Fox simply did not giggle. “What do you think? I watch, then I eat.” She giggled again.
“All right then, ladies and gentlemen, our break is over. Time to finish up our meeting. Fergus and I need to get some sleep, since we’ve been at this for over three days now, not to mention we were baking these pies at five o’clock this morning. Let’s just leave everything, and I’ll clean it up when the meeting is over.”
Crash And Burn Page 14
