“Liam is frail,” she said to her grandfather. “Three weeks ago, a trio of men showed up at his house and stabbed him in the belly. If Patrick hadn’t been there, they would have killed him.”
She watched her grandfather carefully. She wasn’t skilled at sniffing out deception, but Frederick’s complexion turned pale, and he seemed genuinely shocked. He stopped pacing to take a seat.
“Last week someone tried to frame Liam and Patrick for theft from a church,” she continued. “We suspect someone knows who Liam is, and they are trying to eliminate him before he gets any closer to our family.”
“And if they can’t kill Liam, they will ruin his reputation,” Patrick said. “They can take me down in the process. I can’t be a lawyer if I’m convicted of theft.”
“There’s a warrant out for our arrest,” Liam added. “Whoever sent those thugs after me hasn’t given up, and the odds are that person’s last name is Blackstone.”
Gwen cringed at the blunt accusation, but Frederick was impassive as he digested the news. His gaze flitted between Patrick and Liam, sizing up each man in his cold, methodical way.
“We saw the resemblance between Liam and Theodore when we were in the courtroom,” Frederick said. “We commissioned private detectives to look into his past. I know about his history of brawling.” He turned his attention to Liam. “I know you were arrested for a fistfight with the son of a mill owner.”
“The guy insulted my mother,” Liam said with a shrug.
Frederick continued. “I know you bet on baseball games and that you once got rough with someone who failed to pay what he owed. You are not a man without enemies.”
“There’s a big difference between swinging a fist and swinging a knife,” Liam said. “Oscar Blackstone is the person who stands to lose the most if I show up on the scene.”
Frederick shook his head. “Oscar doesn’t need your shares to control the bank. I’ve got thirty percent, and he has twenty percent. Even if you take half of that, the other partners are loyal to Oscar. They move in lockstep behind him. He has more influence than anyone else, including me. If someone in our family tried to take Liam out of succession, it wasn’t Oscar.”
Frederick stood. “We mustn’t get overly concerned about something that is probably rooted in old Pittsburgh rivalries. We are well protected on this island, and I won’t permit anyone I don’t personally know onto the estate. Everyone will be gathering next week for the annual reunion and lobster bake, and I will use the gathering to welcome my grandson back into the family.”
Gwen beamed at her grandfather, then at Patrick.
“You see?” she said. Maybe it wouldn’t be easy, but in time, the rest of her family would be as welcoming to Liam and Patrick as her grandfather had been.
27
Dinner was a casual affair on the flagstone patio of Frederick Blackstone’s island mansion, but Patrick didn’t think any meal served by uniformed servants was casual. At least Frederick had shed his formal vest and coat in favor of a simple white shirt as they dined. The old man seemed relaxed as he asked Liam a series of congenial questions, nodding in warm approval and allowing Liam plenty of time to answer.
It wasn’t until the last course that Patrick realized Frederick had been neatly and efficiently cutting Liam down to size throughout dinner. Frederick was so elegant as he did it that Liam didn’t even realize what was happening. The young welder was simply too forthright to spot Frederick’s manipulation.
“Tell me about your work in the Philadelphia shipyards,” Frederick said as he stirred cream into his coffee. “I believe that’s where Vanderbilt’s latest steamship with the new screw-propulsion system was built. Did you take part in that?”
“I did!” Liam said proudly. “It was a monster of a job, and the engineers were looking over our shoulder during the entire installation, but it was a thing of beauty.”
Patrick had difficulty following the conversation as Liam spoke of how a steamship was welded together, using terms like bearing systems, impeller blades, and plenty of other shipbuilding jargon. He and Gwen both sat in silence during the discussion, but Frederick easily kept apace, and Liam loved every moment.
“Last year I worked on a triple-expansion steam engine,” he said. “I hear it’s the fastest thing on the water, and rumor among the crew is that there will be a quadruple engine soon.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Frederick said. “The British launched a new turbine design last year with the HMS Viper. It’s got four steam shafts and two propellers. It’s the fastest warship ever built, and it marks a revolution in steamship design. Things will get interesting in the next few years, which is why Vanderbilt is slowing production of his current design.”
Liam stared at Frederick in reluctant admiration. “How do you know all this stuff?”
“It’s my business to know,” the old man said. “I invest millions in ship construction every year. Before investing in a new ship, I must understand the design of the ship and all its competitors. I have to be conversant in every aspect of shipbuilding, but my bank also invests in railroads, port construction, skyscrapers, and the mining industry. Each project requires intimate knowledge of the industry before I can make an informed decision. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah,” Liam said. “It means you spend a lot of time hitting the books.”
Frederick shook his head. “I have investment analysts who hit the books for me, but I must understand each report they submit to me. After reading their analysis, I tour the factories, meet with the company owners, and study the current market economy. Then I decide if our limited capital is better invested in Vanderbilt’s latest ship or in Rockefeller’s new oil wells in Texas.”
“Or buying up Carnegie Steel,” Liam added.
“Precisely,” Frederick said. “Right now, you are obsessed with how the steel merger will impact the workers. Your concern is not misplaced, but it’s narrow. You don’t have the perspective to exercise your voting shares. Most of our shareholders assign their votes to Oscar or myself because acquiring this level of industry knowledge is a daunting task. I want you to be able to converse as easily about railroads or cotton mills as you just did about ship building. I want you to be able to speak about foreign wars, international tariffs, and how the weather patterns affect crop revenues. Until you can do that, you have no business controlling voting shares.”
Patrick folded his arms across his chest. This all sounded like a clever strategy to keep Liam off the board forever.
“I can learn,” Liam said, but he looked uncertain as he shifted in his chair.
“Don’t be discouraged,” Frederick said. “I can arrange for you to start training with our business analysts on the third floor. Spend a few months in each department. Read the newspapers every day. In the meantime, work on your croquet. It’s likely to be the primary activity once the rest of the family arrives. Watch out for Oscar’s wife. Poppy takes her croquet more seriously than the Duke of Wellington staring down Napoleon at Waterloo.”
Gwen chimed in with a funny story about an epic croquet game from last summer, but Patrick was too distracted to pay attention. Frederick had been masterful in undermining Liam’s confidence and setting the stage to make it impossible for Liam to vote on banking affairs for years to come.