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The kicker came at the end.
"Until that bus arrives, I intend to be active and, I hope, useful. There is a job I have been told that I can do and which may be of service to California. After due thought, and consultation with my wife, who was uneasy about having me at home all day anyway . . . [Laughter] . . . I have agreed to join the staff of Golden State Power & Light. Not as a meter reader; unfortunately my eyesight is failing . . . [More laughter] . . .but as a member of the board and a public spokesman for the company. In deference to my hoary old age I am being allowed to set my own office hours, so I shall probably arrive -on the days I choose to show up at all-in time for an expense account lunch . . . [Loud laughter] . . . My new boss, Mr. Eric Humphrey, is here today, probably to collect my Social Security number and employment record . . . [Laughter and cheers].
There was more of the same.
Afterward, Humphrey would inform Nim: “The old boy insisted on secrecy while he and I were negotiating, and then he wanted to make the announcement himself in his own way. It's why I couldn't tell you in advance, even though you are the one who will work with him in helping him get oriented."
Meanwhile, as Mr. Justice Yale (he would retain the title for the remainder of his life) concluded his speech and sat down to sustained applause, reporters crowded around Eric Humphrey. "We have yet to work out full details," Humphrey told them, "but essentially Mr. Yale's role will be as be described it-a spokesman for our company, both to the public and before commissioners and legislators."
Humphrey looked pleased as he answered reporters' questions-as well he might, Nim thought. Lassoing Paul Sherman Yale, bringing him into the GSP & L orbit, was a tremendous coup. Not only did Yale have built-in public credence, but every official door in California, from the Governor's downward, was open to him. Clearly, what he would be was a lobbyist of highest caliber, though Nim was certain the word "lobbyist" would never be spoken in his presence.
Already, the TV crews were maneuvering GSP & L's new spokesman into position for a statement. It would be one of many, Nim supposed -some of them the kind of statements Nim himself might have continued making if he hadn't blown it. Watching it happen, be felt a pang of envy and regret.
6
"Apart from anything else," Beth Yale told Nim with a frankness he would later find characteristic, "we can use the money. No one gets rich being on the Supreme Court, and living in Washington is so expensive we rarely managed to save anything. Paul's grandfather did set up a family trust fund, but it's been horribly mismanaged would you mind putting on another log?"
They were seated before a fieldstone fireplace in a small, comfortable house located in a vineyard, a mile or so from where they had had lunch.
The house had been loaned to the Yales by its owner, who used it during summers, until they were able to locate a place of their own.
Nim added a log to the fire and stirred two others, partially burned, to a cheerful blaze.
A half hour ago Mr. Justice Yale had excused himself to have, as he put it, "a battery charge catnap." He explained, "It's a trick I learned many years ago when I found my attention wandering. Some of my colleagues even do it on the bench."
Before that they had talked for more than two hours about the affairs of Golden State Power & Light.
The "talk in a corner" with Nim, which Paul Yale had spoken of before the luncheon, had not happened for the reason that there Was no way he could escape his admirers while he remained at the Mondavi winery. He had therefore suggested that Nim come back to the house. "If I'm going to do something, young man, I like to get moving. Eric tells me you can supply the best over-all view of your company, so let us start viewing."
They had done precisely that. While Nim described the status, policies and problems of GSP & L, Paul Yale injected sharp, pertinent questions.
Nim found it a stimulating mental exercise, in a way like playing chess with a skilled opponent. And Yale's remarkable memory astounded him. The old man seemed to have forgotten nothing of his earlier days in California and his knowledge of GSP & L history at times exceeded Nim's.
While her husband was having his "battery charge," Beth Yale served tea before the fire. Soon after, Paul Yale reappeared.
He announced, "I heard you talking about the family trust."
His wife put fresh water into the teapot and set a cup before him. "I've always said you have ears which reach around corners."
"That's from years in court-straining to hear lawyers when they mumble.
You'd be surprised how many do." Paul Yale addressed Nim. "That trust fund Beth spoke of was set up because my grandfather hoped public service would become a tradition in our family. He believed anyone who traveled that route should not have to worry about having an adequate income. It's not a fashionable viewpoint nowadays, but I happen to agree. I've seen too many people in Washington's high places have to scratch around for extra money. It leaves them open to temptations."
The justice drank the tea his wife had poured, and observed, "A civilized custom, afternoon tea. It's something we owe the British; that, and the great body of our law." He put his cup down. "Anyway, as Beth said, the trust fund has been mismanaged. While I was on the Court there was nothing I could do, but now I've begun to repair some of the damage." He chuckled. "That is, as well as working for GSP & L."
"It isn't for ourselves," Beth Yale added. "But we have grandchildren who show signs of going into public life. It may help them later."
Nim sensed that the family trust fund was a sore point with the Yales.
Confirming this, Paul Yale grumbled, “The trust owns a winery, a cattle feedlot, two apartment buildings in the city and-can you believe it?-all of them have been losing money, creating debts, eating into capital. Last week I leaned hard on the administrator-read him the riot act about cutting down expenses." He stopped abruptly. "Beth, we're boring this young man with our family problems. Let's get back to God's Power & Love."
Nim laughed at the name, used by old-timers in the state for GSP & L.
"I'm concerned, as I'm sure you are, about all the sabotage and killings that have been going on," Paul Yale said. “The people who claim responsibility-what is it they call themselves?"
"Friends of Freedom."
"Ah, yes. An interesting exercise in logic: 'Be free my way or I'll blow you to pieces.' Are the police any closer to tracking them down, do you know?"
"Apparently not."
"Why do those people do it?" Beth Yale asked. "That's what's so hard to understand."
"A few of us at the company have done some thinking and talking about that," Nim told her.
Paul Yale asked, "What kind of thinking?"
Nim hesitated. He had mentioned the subject on impulse and now, under Mr. Justice Yale's penetrating gaze, he wished he hadn't. However, the question had to be answered.
Nim explained the police theory that the Friends of Freedom group was small, with one man the brains and leader. "Assuming that to be true, we thought that if we could get, even partially, inside the mind of the leader-we call him X-we'd improve our chances of catching him. We might even get lucky, guess what he would plan next, and be ready."
What Nim did not say was that the idea had occurred to him after the latest bombings when the security guards were murdered. Since then he, Harry London, Teresa Van Buren and Oscar O'Brien had met three times for lengthy brainstorming sessions and, while nothing positive had developed, all four felt they were moving closer to an understanding of the unknown saboteurs and 'X.' O'Brien, who still harbored hostility to Nim because of the Tunipah hearings, had opposed the suggestion at first, calling it "time wasting." But later the general counsel relented and joined in. He was something of a scholar and, with his sharp lawyer's mind, contributed substantially to the discussions.
"You've assumed your X is a man," Paul Yale said. "Have you considered the possibility of a woman?"
"Yes, but the odds favor a man, mainly because those tape recordings, received after every bombing, are of a man's voice and it's a reasonable assumption be is 'X' Also we concluded that in history almost all leaders of armed revolutions have been men; psychologists say women's minds are too logical and the details of revolution seldom make sense. Joan of Arc was an exception."
