Ginny turned to her father, in some kind of obvious appeasement, but he held out empty hands. “That’s always been the rule, sweetheart.”
“He may observe,” Elwin Kent said. “He may even make an argument for or against. But he may not vote.”
Ginny’s scrunched-up expression indicated that she disagreed with the ruling brought down by the old man, but she didn’t argue it. Instead, she rolled back her shoulders. “Fine. But mom is family, and she isn’t here. I should be able to vote for her by proxy.”
Brandy scoffed. “No way! You have to be familyandbe here! No one let me vote when I was recovering from my BBL surgery.”
Ginny spun around, finger wagging in the air, for once not pointed in Shepherd’s face. “I’d think a kidnapping is a bit more important than a BBL!”
“And how would you know?” Brandy pushed the finger he saw in his nightmares away. “You’ve never been through either!”
Ginny tossed her hands up in the air. “Dad!” she shouted. “Help me out here! She can’t be serious!”
Brandy was on her feet. “I couldn’t sit on my ass for two weeks! But you refused to have me wheeled in here or even have the family come to my room so I could vote! This isn’t any different!”
Bradley shook his head. “Sweetheart. You know the rules.”
“There should be an exception to the rules in extreme circumstances,” Ginny said. “She’s mymom.”
When the only reaction that got out of her father was a sigh, she turned to the man behind the desk. “Please, Grandpa. She’s mymom!”
Elwin leaned back in his chair, observing her before turning his attention to the rest of them. “We don’t vote by proxy. We never have and we won’t start now. Every family member present gets one vote. But I will allow you the floor to make an argument, Virginia. The rest of you, be seated.”
Once more, the women made room for Ginny on the couch, while Bradley took a seat next to his son. Shepherd hesitated. He bent his knees, thinking about sitting criss-cross applesauceon the floor. Ginny cleared her throat and patted the arm rest next to her.
Gratefully, he leaned a single butt cheek against it. He didn’t need a BBL.
SIXTEEN
“Let me lay out the facts of the matter,” Elwin said. Except he didn’t really say it. It wasn’t part of a conversation, or an anecdote. It was a decree. An order. It was Moses coming down from the mountain with two stone tablets. The desk before him might as well have been a judge’s bench. “Deandra has been involved in a murder and subsequently kidnapped. Her kidnappers are asking for one million and one hundred fifty thousand dollars. A year ago, after the death of her husband, Deandra was awarded one million and one hundred fifty thousand dollars from his estate. His children were unhappy at the reading of the will. The vote is in two parts. The first: Do we tell the police about Deandra’s stepchildren? Would anyone like to make an argument for or against?”
Shepherd swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like he was back in school and asked to give a book report out loud to the class.
But no one raised their hand. Elwin nodded. “Nays?”
There was no response.
“Ayes?”
Everyone in the room replied, “Aye.”
“The ayes have it,” Elwin declared. “The second vote is as follows. Do we liquidate assets in order to meet the ransom demanded? Would anyone like to make an argument for or against?”
Vincent raised his hand. Elwin motioned for him to take the floor. With a dramatic clearing of his throat, Vincent stood and addressed the women on the couch. And Shepherd. Shepherd was on the low, dark velvet couch with the girls. Well, at least part of his ass was.
“I think,” Vincent said, “we should wait.”
Ginny gasped. “Vincent! How could you say that?”
“Because,” Vincent continued, “it’s gotta be Mom’s stepkids.They aren’t gonna kill her, Ginny. They’re just trying to get her money.”
Shepherd held up his hand.
Vincent pointed at him.
“Yes, hi,” Shepherd said. “Whoever took your mother murdered my landlord. So.”
“Yeah, that’s different. He isn’t one of us.”
