Chapter 7 Chapter VII

Although the names of "Lancaster-Lancaster-Fitzgerald" are engraved on the door of the law firm's office, both of them have passed away.Simon Fitzgerald is alive and well.Although he is seventy-five years old, he is full of energy and still presides over the work of the firm.He has sixty lawyers working for him.He was shriveled and gray-haired, but he always walked straight, like a soldier.At this moment, he was pacing back and forth, and his mind was in a mess. He walked up to the secretary. "When Stanford called, there was no hint why he was so eager to meet with me?"

"No, sir. He just said he wanted you to come to his house at nine o'clock on Monday morning. He wanted you to bring a copy of his will and a notary." "Thank you. Please come in, Mr. Sloan." ※※※ Steve Sloan is one of the young and creative lawyers at the firm.A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was a tall, lanky man with blond hair and playful, curious blue eyes.He is friendly and well mannered.He was a veteran of the firm's problem solver and the future successor to Simon Fitzgerald.If I had a son, Fitzgerald thought, I'd have him like Steve.Here comes Steve.

"You should be fishing for salmon in Newfoundland," Steve said. "It didn't work out, there was an accident. Sit down, Steve. We're in trouble." Steve sighed. "What news?" "It's about Harry Stanford." Harry Stanford was one of their most prestigious clients.Half a dozen other law firms dealt with the various subsidiaries of the Stanford group, but Lancaster-Lancaster-Fitzgerald handled his private affairs.No one in the office had ever met Stanford except Fitzgerald, but he became a legend in the office. "What business is Stanford doing now?" Steve asked.

"He is dead." Steve looked at him in surprise. "What? He..." "I've just had a fax from the French police in Corsica. It's certain. Stanford fell from his yacht and drowned yesterday." "Oh my god!" "I know you haven't met him, but I've been his attorney for thirty years. He's not easy to get along with." Fitzgerald leaned back in his chair, thinking about the past. "There are actually two Harry Stanfords - the overt Stanford who coaxes birds off cash cows, and the son of a bitch who enjoys ruining people's careers. He's like a snake charmer, but He'll bite you like a rattlesnake too. He's a dual character, a snake charmer and a snake."

"It sounds fascinating." "That was thirty years ago, thirty-one years to be exact, when I joined the law firm. Old Lancaster was an attorney at Stanford. You know people use the word 'legendary' Words. Harry Stanford is a legend. If there is no Stanford in this world, then you can never invent such a man. He is not ordinary. He boxed and was a very polo player. Even in his youth Harry Stanford was a difficult figure to deal with. He was the only person I ever met who didn't have a tinge of empathy. He was an abusive Maniac and vindictive. His nature is insatiable. He loves to bankrupt his rivals. He is rumored to have caused his rivals to commit suicide more than once."

"He sounds like a devil." "In that sense yes. Yet he started an orphanage in New Guinea and a hospital in Mumbai. He gave away millions to charitable causes—and anonymously. Nobody I don't know who will be in his favor next." "How did he get on with it?" "Have you ever read Greek mythology?" "It's a bit rusty." "do you know?" Steve nodded. "He killed his father in order to marry his mother." "Yes. That's Harry Stanford. Only he killed his father for his mother's vote." Steve stared at him with wide eyes. "what?"

Fitzgerald leaned forward and said, "Harry's father had a grocery store here in Boston in the early thirties and it was doing well, so he opened another. Soon he had a small A food chain store of scale. After Harry finished college, his father made him a business partner and put him on the board of directors. As I said, Harry is very ambitious. He has his own dreams. He doesn’t want to Buying from the slaughterhouse, he wanted the chain to have his own livestock farm. He wanted to buy a few plots of land, produce his own vegetables, and produce his own canned food. His father disagreed, and they often quarreled over it. Then he came up with a whim , asked his father to build a chain of superstores, selling cars, furniture, and even life insurance at low prices. Harry's father thought he was crazy and didn't take his advice. But Harry didn't want anyone in his way. He decided to get rid of the old man He persuaded his father to take a long vacation. After his father left, he tried his best to lobby the board of directors. He was a very smart businessman, and he promoted his ideas to the board of directors. He persuaded his uncle and aunt to stand On his side, they were also directors on the board. He flattered the rest of the board and made them take his advice. He took them to dinner, hunting, golfing. He even slept with a director's wife and asked her to give her husband To exert influence. But his mother has the largest stake and has a veto. Harry persuaded the mother to oppose her husband and vote for him."

"It's incredible!" "Harry's father came back from leave to find out his family had voted him out of the business." "my God!" "Also. Harry wasn't happy about it. His father tried to go to his office once, but was stopped by the doorman from entering the building. Don't forget, Harry was in his early thirties. Everyone in the company paid him Nicknamed 'cold-blooded'. But believe the old adage 'what goes around comes around', Steve. He single-handedly built Stanford Enterprises into one of the largest privately held conglomerates in the world. He expanded the company's operations Scope, including lumber, chemical products, communications, electronics, and he also operated a huge amount of real estate. In the end he included all the shares."

"He must be very mysterious and difficult to see through," Steve said. "Yes. It's true of both men and women." "Is he married?" For a long time Simon Fitzgerald sat there remembering.Finally he went on: "Harry Stanford married the most beautiful woman I ever saw. Her name was Emily Temple. They had three children, two boys and a girl. Emily was born in Flo An upper-class family from Rida Long Island. She adores Harry, and she ignores Harry's deceit as much as possible, but one day Harry's behavior goes too far. She hires a governess for the children, a woman named Rosemary Nelson, she is young and beautiful, but what makes Harry Stanford more attractive is that she refuses to sleep with him. It pisses him off. He is not used to being rejected. Harry Stanford is obsessed with women At last he made Rosemary a prisoner in his bed and made her belly big. Unfortunately, when she went to the doctor, the doctor's son-in-law was a columnist, and he put the pornographic news in the It got in the papers. You know the hell out of Boston, you know. It's in every paper. I've got a lot of clippings and I don't know where.”

"Did she go for an abortion?" Fitzgerald shook his head. "No. Harry asked her to knock it off, but she refused. They had a big fight. He told her he loved her and wanted to marry her. Of course, he said that to countless women. But Emily overheard their conversation. She killed herself that very night." "It was dreadful. What happened to the governess?" "Rosemary Nelson is missing. We know she had a daughter named Julia who was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Milwaukee. She wrote Stanford a letter, but I don't believe he even replied. At that time , he already has a new love. He's no longer interested in Rosemary."

"It's so miserable..." "The real tragedy is what happened later. The children blamed their father for driving their mother to death. They were ten, twelve and fourteen years old. They were sensible and felt the pain of losing their mother. , but was too young to fight with his father. They hated him. Harry's biggest fear was that someday they would treat him like he did to their grandpa. So he tried everything to keep that from happening. He sent them to different boarding school and summer camps, and kept them seeing each other as little as possible. They didn't get a dime from him to live on and had been living off the property his mother had left them. Throughout their lives he'd always been 'carrots and sticks' They. If they piss him off. He puts the 'radish' away." "What happened to the children?" "Taylor became a judge in the Chicago Circuit Court. Woodrow had nothing to do and became a playboy. He lived on Long Island and played golf and polo for a living. A few years ago, he had a crush on a waitress in a restaurant. , made her belly bigger, and finally, to everyone’s surprise, he married her. Kendall became a successful fashion designer. She married a French man, and they now live in New York.” With that said, he got up and stood up. "Steve, have you ever been to Corsica?" "No." "I want you to fly there. They held Stanford's body and the police department refused to let it go. I want you to fix this." "no problem." "See if you can hit the road today..." "Okay. I'll take care of it." "Thank you. I'm glad." ※※※ Steve Sloan was on an Air France short flight from Paris to Corsica.On the plane, he flipped through a guidebook about Corsica.There is a mountain in Corsica, and its capital city, Ajaccio, is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.There are many interesting statistics in the book, but Steve did not expect this island to be so beautiful.When the plane was about to arrive in Corsica, he saw a high wall made of white rocks below, much like the white cliffs of Dover, which made people sigh. The plane landed at Ajaccio Airport, and a taxi took Steve to Rue Napoleon.The street is the main artery of the city, running north from Place General Charles de Gaulle to the train station.He had arranged for a plane to fly Harry Stanford's body back to Paris and then transfer his coffin to Boston.All he has to do now is let the police go. The police office building is on Avenue Napoleon, and Steve has the taxi pull up there.He climbed one flight of stairs and entered the reception room.A sergeant in uniform sits at a desk. "Good morning. What can I do for you?" "Who's in charge here?" "Captain Durer." "I want to see him right away." "Is there anything relevant to this!" The sergeant was quite proud of his English. Steve pulls out his business card. "I'm Harry Stanford's lawyer. I'm here to transport his body back to America." The sergeant frowned. "Please wait a moment." He walked into Captain Duller's office and closed the door carefully.The offices were packed, packed with reporters from TV stations and news agencies around the world.Everyone seems to be scrambling to ask this and that. "Captain, why is he out in this bad weather...?" "How did he fall from the yacht into the sea...?" "Is there any sign of murder?" "Have you done an autopsy...?" "Who else was on board with him...?" "Gentlemen," Captain Dürer raised a hand for silence, "Gentlemen, please be quiet! Please be quiet!" He looked around the room and found that the reporters were listening to every word he said, and they were so excited Excited.If he can handle this kind of thing properly, it means that he will be promoted three levels in a row... The sergeant interrupted his thoughts. "Captain..." He whispered close to Duller's ear, and handed over Steve Sloan's business card. Captain Durer looked carefully and frowned. "I can't see him now," he growled. "Ask him to come back at ten o'clock tomorrow." "Yes, sir." Dürer watched thoughtfully as the sergeant left his office.He didn't want anyone to take away his chance to be in the limelight.He turned to the reporters and asked with a smile, "Gentlemen, what was your question just now...?" In the outer office, the sergeant was saying to Steve, "I'm very sorry, but Mr. Durer is very busy at the moment. He asked you to come see him at ten o'clock tomorrow morning." Steve Sloan looked at him dejectedly. "Tomorrow morning? That's ridiculous—I don't want to wait that long." The sergeant shrugged. "This is your business, sir." Steve frowned and said, "Okay. I haven't booked a hotel room yet, can you recommend a hotel for me?" "Certainly, I have the honor to recommend the 'Columba' Hotel at 8 Rue de Paris to you," said the sergeant in his broken English. Steve hesitated for a moment. "Is there any way……?" "Come at ten o'clock tomorrow morning." Steve turned around and walked out of the office. In Dürer's office, the captain was happily responding to the reporters' barrage of questions. A TV reporter asked: "How can you be sure that this was an accident?" Duller looked squarely into the camera lens and said: "Coincidentally, there was an eyewitness who witnessed this terrible accident. Mr. Stanford's cabin had an outside balcony. Apparently, some important documents were taken out of his hands by the high wind. It was blowing onto the balcony and he ran to grab them. As he leaned forward, he lost his balance and fell into the water. His bodyguards saw this and called for help. The boat stopped Come down and find his body." "What did the autopsy report say?" "Gentlemen, Corsica is a small island. It is impossible for us to have advanced equipment to do a full autopsy. However, our medical examiner's report said that the cause of death was drowning. We found sea water in his lungs. He No bruises or any marks of murder." "Where is the body now?" "We put it in the freezer, and when to let them transport it away, we have to wait for the instructions of our superiors." A cameraman said, "Captain, you don't mind if I take a picture of you?" Captain Dürer hesitated dramatically for a moment. "Of course not. Gentlemen, please, this is your job." Then came the click of a camera. He had finished his lunch at Fontana's in the Rue Notre-Dame, and not knowing what to do with the rest of the time, he began to look around the city. Ajaccio is a colorful Mediterranean city that still seems to be proud of being the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.I think Harry Stanford would be a good fit for the place, Steve thought. It's the peak tourist season in Corsica.The streets are bustling with tourists, talking in a variety of languages: French, Italian, German and Japanese. That night, Steve had an Italian-style meal at Boccaccio's before heading back to the hotel. "Do you have a message for me?" He asked the room receptionist with a glimmer of hope. "No, sir." He lay in bed thinking about what Simon Fitzgerald had said when he had introduced Stanford. "Did she go for an abortion?" "No, Harry asked her to knock it off, but she refused. They had a big fight. He told her he loved her and wanted to marry her. Of course, he said that to countless women. Emily overheard their conversation, and that very night she killed herself." Steve wondered how she killed herself. Thinking, thinking, he fell asleep unconsciously. ※※※ At ten o'clock the next morning, Steve Sloan reappeared at the police station, with the same sergeant sitting in the reception room. "Good morning!" Steve said. "Good morning, sir. How can I help you?" Steve hands the sergeant another card. "I'm here to visit Captain Durer." "Wait a minute." The sergeant got up and walked into the inner office, closing the door behind him. At this time, Captain Durer was wearing a conspicuous new uniform, and was being interviewed by the crew of the Italian RAI TV station.He faced the camera and talked eloquently. "The first thing I did when I took over the case was to find out whether Mr. Stanford's death was murder." The interviewer asked, "Are you sure it's not murder, Captain?" "Absolutely. There can be no doubt that the case was an unfortunate accident." The director said, "Okay, let's switch to another camera position and do a close-up." The sergeant took advantage of the moment to pass Steve's card to Captain Durer. "He's just outside." "What's the matter with you?" Durer bellowed. "Don't you see I'm busy? Tell him to come back tomorrow." He had just gotten word that a dozen more journalists were on their way here, including several from Russia and South Africa. "Come again tomorrow!" "yes." "Are you ready, Captain?" the director asked. Captain Dürer immediately put on a smiling face. "I'm ready." The sergeant returned to the reception room. "I'm sorry, sir. Captain Durer is on business today." "Me too," Steve yelled loudly. "Tell him all he has to do is sign the papers releasing Mr. Stanford's body. I have to go back and report. It's not a big deal, is it?" "I'm afraid so. But Captain Dürer has a lot to do, and he has..." "Who else can call the shots for me here?" "Oh, no, sir. Only Captain Durer has the say here." Steve Sloan stood there, burning inside. "Then when can I see him?" "I see you try again tomorrow." "Try again." This sentence made Steve feel even more uncomfortable. "I'll come," he said. "By the way, I know of an eyewitness who was Mr. Stanford's bodyguard named Dmitry Kaminsky." "yes." "I want to talk to him, can you tell me where he is now?" "Australia." "Is this a hotel?" "No, sir," he said regretfully. "It's a country." Steve's voice rises an octave. "Are you saying that your police department released the sole witness of Stanford's death without an interrogation?" "Captain Dürer interrogated." Steve took a deep breath. "Thank you, Sergeant." "Nothing, sir." After Steve returned to the hotel, he reported the situation to Simon Fitzgerald. "It looks like I'll have to stay here another night." "What's up, Steve?" "The officer in charge of the case seems to have a lot going on. It's tourist season and he's probably looking for wallets for tourists. I'll be leaving tomorrow." "keep in touch." ※※※ Despite his anger, Steve found the scenery in Corsica fascinating.It has almost a thousand miles of coastline, and the granite mountains soar into the sky, and the snow on the top of the mountains does not begin to melt until July every year.The island has been ruled by the Italians and is now taken over by the French, so the two cultures blend together to make the island even more fascinating. He remembered what Simon Fitzgerald had said about Harry Stanford while dining at Wu San Carlo. "He's the only person I've ever met who doesn't have a tinge of empathy ... He's a sadist, very vengeful." See, Stanford even got into so much trouble when he was dead, Steve thought. On the way back to the hotel, Steve stopped by a newsstand, picked up a copy of The Wall Street Journal, and a headline leapt to his eyes: What's the Future of the Stanford Empire?He paid for the newspaper, and when he turned to leave, his eyes were attracted by other foreign language newspapers on the newsstand.He picked it up and glanced at it, dumbfounded.Stanford's death was reported on every newspaper's front page, and every newspaper featured a featured photograph of Captain Durer prominently.That's it, no wonder he's so busy!Things are easier now. At 9:45 a.m. the next morning, Steve came to Captain Durer's reception room.The sergeant was away, and the door to the inner office was ajar.Steve pushed the door open and walked in.The captain changed into another police uniform and was preparing to attend the morning press conference.When Steve came in, he looked up and asked: "What are you doing here? This is a private office! Please get out!" "I'm a reporter for The New York Times," said Steve Sloan. It was really immediate, and Captain Duller's eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, come in, come in. You said your name was...?" "Jones, John Jones." "What would you like? Coffee? Cognac?" "No thanks!" Steve said. "Please, please sit down." Du Le's tone was much gentler. "You must be here because of the tragedy that has happened to our peaceful little island. Poor Stanford." "When are you going to release the body?" Steve asked. Captain Durer sighed. "Ah, I'm afraid it will take many days. A well-known person like Mr. Stanford has to go through many, many formalities. There are also some diplomatic etiquettes to be followed, do you understand?" "I think so," Steve said. "Maybe ten days, maybe two weeks." By then, interest in the press had died down, too. "Here's my business card," Steve said.He handed Captain Durer a business card. The captain glanced at it, then took a closer look. "You're a lawyer! You're not a reporter?" "No. I'm Harry Stanford's lawyer." Steve Sloan stood up. "I want your order to release the body out of the country." "Ah, I wish I could give it to you," said Captain Durer regrettably. "Unfortunately, my hands and feet are bound, I really don't know how to..." "tomorrow." "It's impossible! No way..." "I advise you to contact your Parisian superiors. Stanford Industries has several large factories in France. It would be a pity if our board of directors decided to close all the factories and transfer them to other countries." Captain Durer stared straight at Steve. "I . . . I have no control over such matters, sir." "But I can," Steve said confidently. "You have to make sure that Stanford's body must be handed over to me tomorrow, otherwise the trouble you will encounter is unimaginable." Steve turned to leave after speaking. "Wait, sir! Maybe in a few days, I'll be able to..." "Tomorrow." Steve left. ※※※ Three hours later, Steve got a call at his hotel. "Mr. Steve? Ah, I have good news for you! I have managed to make arrangements, and Stanford's body will be released immediately. I hope you can understand my difficulties..." "Thank you. A private jet will pick us up here at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I'm sure you will have all the relevant documents ready by then." "Of course. Don't worry, I will take care of it..." "Fine." Steve hung up the phone. Captain Durer sat there for a long time.Oh shit!What a pity!Just one more week and I'll be famous. When the plane carrying Harry Stanford's body landed at Boston's Logan International Airport, a hearse had been waiting for a long time. The funeral will be held in three days. Steve Sloan returns to Simon Fitzgerald to report. "The old man is home at last," said Fitzgerald. "This is going to be a special reunion." "reunion?" "Yes. It's going to be interesting," he said. "Harry Stanford's kids, Tyler, Woody and Kendall, are coming to Boston to celebrate their father's death."

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