“Listen, Gene, I’m on my way to see Brubeck. I think it’s going to mean more work, so just hang fire until I call you back.” He hung up. Gene wanted to kill Barrington, he knew it, and he wanted no part of it. The guy was connected at the NYPD, so why would they want to buy trouble? The old man wasn’t around anymore to order them to do it.

Al got out of the cab and ran into the office building. He emerged into the reception room, and Hilda jerked a thumb toward Jerry Brubeck’s office. “He’s expecting you.”

Al went down the hall, patted his hair down, adjusted his tie, buttoned his jacket, and knocked. “Come in, Al.”

Al opened the door and found Jerry at his desk, as usual.

“Hi, I was on my way to the wake.”

“I’ve already been,” Brubeck replied. “Have a seat.” He pointed at the comfortable chair opposite him.

Al sat down and gazed at his uncle. “So,” he said, “how are we going to work this?”

Jerry regarded him with a semblance of sympathy. “First of all, I want to offer my condolences on the death of your father.”

“Thanks.” Uncle Jerry wasn’t usually this polite to him.

“I have some good news for you.”

This he had really not expected. “Okay.”

“Your father and I had a contract that we both signed twelve years ago.” He handed Al half a dozen pages stapled together. “Look at the last page, I’ve highlighted the relevant paragraph. Read it.”

Al read it, but he wasn’t sure he understood it. “Okay, I read it.”

“What the paragraph means is, we established a formula for working out the value of the company. If either of us wanted out, or if one of us died, the other could buy his interest in the company for the result of that formula.” He handed Al a page with a lot of numbers on it. “This is how the formula worked out. Look at the last number on the bottom right. That is the calculated value of the company today.”

Al looked at the number, and he was impressed; he hadn’t had any idea what the company was worth.

“Your father owned forty percent of the company. Now look at the last number in the bottom left corner of the page. That is the value of his shares.”

Al looked at the number. “Wow,” he muttered under his breath.

Jerry handed him a check. “This is my check for that number. I’ll sign the check as soon as you sign this paper, acknowledging the proper value of the company according to the formula and accepting that sum for your father’s shares.” Jerry handed him a single page and waited for him to read it.

Al read it and looked at his uncle, dumbstruck.

Jerry handed him a pen. “Your signature, right over your name.”