“Hello, Rhys.” She had last seen him when he had come to the house to bring her the news of Sam’s death. It seemed like years ago. Seconds ago. It had been one week.
Rhys was aware of the effort it was costing Elizabeth to keep her composure. He said, “Now that everyone’s here, why don’t we begin?” He smiled reassuringly. “This won’t take long.”
She gave him a grateful smile. The men took their accustomed places at the large rectangular oak table. Rhys led Elizabeth to the head of the table and pulled out a chair for her. My father’s chair, Elizabeth thought Sam sat here, chairing these meetings.
Charles was saying, “Since we do not have a—” He caught himself and turned to Alec. “Why don’t you take over?”
Alec glanced around, and the others murmured approval. “Very well.”
Alec pressed a button on the table in front of him, and Kate Erling returned, carrying a notebook.
She closed the door behind her and pulled up a straight chair, her notebook and pen poised.
Alec said, “I think that under the circumstances we can dispense with the formalities. All of us have suffered a terrible loss. But”—he looked apologetically at Elizabeth—“the essential thing now is that Roffe and Sons show a strong public face.”
“D’accord. We have been taking enough of a hammering in the press lately,” Charles growled.
Elizabeth looked over at him and asked, “Why?”
Rhys explained, “The company is facing a lot of unusual problems just now, Liz. We’re involved in heavy lawsuits, we’re under government investigation, and some of the banks are pressing us. The point is that none of it is good for our image. The public buys pharmaceutical products because they trust the company that makes them. If we lose that trust, we lose our customers.”
Ivo said reassuringly, “We have no problems that can’t be solved. The important thing is to reorganize the company immediately.”
“How?” Elizabeth asked.
Walther replied, “By selling our stock to the public.”
Charles added, “In that way we can take care of all our bank loans, and have enough money left—” He let the sentence trail off.
Elizabeth looked at Alec. “Do you agree with that?”
“I think we’re all in agreement, Elizabeth.”
She leaned back in her chair, thoughtful. Rhys picked up some papers, rose and carried them to Elizabeth. “I’ve had all the necessary documents prepared. All you have to do is sign.”
Elizabeth glanced at the papers lying before her. “If I sign these, what happens?”
Charles spoke up. “We have a dozen international brokerage firms ready to form a consortium to underwrite the stock issue. They will guarantee the sale at a price we mutually agree upon. In an offering as large as this one, there will be several institutional purchases, as well as private ones.”
“You mean like banks and insurance companies?” Elizabeth asked.
Charles nodded. “Exactly.”
“And they’ll put their people on the board of directors?”
“That’s usual…”
Elizabeth said, “So, in effect, they would control Roffe and Sons.”
“We would still remain on the board of directors,” Ivo interposed quickly.
Elizabeth turned to Charles. “You said a consortium of stockbrokers is ready to move ahead.”
Charles nodded. “Yes.”
“Then why haven’t they?”
He looked at her, puzzled. “I don’t understand.”
“If everyone is in agreement that the best thing for the company is to let it get out of the family and into the hands of outsiders, why hasn’t it been done before?”
There was an awkward silence. Ivo said, “It has to be by mutual consent, cara. Everyone on the board must agree.”
“Who didn’t agree?” Elizabeth asked.
The silence was longer this time.
Finally Rhys spoke up. “Sam.”
And Elizabeth suddenly realized what had disturbed her from the moment she had walked into this room. They had all expressed their condolences and their shock and grief over her father’s death, and yet at the same time there had been an atmosphere of charged excitement in the room, a feeling of—strangely, the word that came into her mind was victory. They had had the papers all drawn up for her, everything ready. All you have to do is sign. But if what they wanted was right, then why had her father objected to it? She asked the question aloud.