Steve looked around the courthouse lobby, biting his nails nervously and without concern for his manicure.
After their confrontation in the laboratory, Friedrich had driven them all into town; he and Dieter in the front of the luxurious sedan with Steve and Dr. Pretorius in the back. And although they were supposedly in some great hurry, their first stop had been two hours at a beauty parlour. Grigore Albescu, Europe's foremost cosmetics expert had been there as promised, and among other things demonstrated how concealer could be used to cover Steve's forehead scar. Steve still didn't get all the big deal about hair and makeup, but he had to admit his painted nails looked kind of cool.
Now they were standing in the lobby of the Bistritz courthouse, although Steve was not entirely clear on their purpose there.
"Dr. Pretorius," said a tall, older man as he approached the group from across the lobby. Everyone was tall now, Steve thought to himself with regret. "And you must be Miss Stein."
"In fact it is Fräulein Stein," Dr. Pretorius corrected the man.
"Natürlich," the man addressed Steve in German. "Sie sprechen Deutsch."
"Uh, Spanish class was a few years ago," Steve replied. "Maybe we could stick to English?"
"Of course," said the man, eyeing the young woman curiously. "If you would follow me this way, I have arranged an office in the building for our use."
"I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name," Steve said as they arrived in the office. "And I'm not exactly clear on what we're doing here?"
"My apologies, Fräulein," the man replied. "My name is Michael Ebersbacher, and I have been Valeria Engel's lawyer for some years. Dr. Engel made some... unusual arrangements with regard to her will, to be handled immediately upon her death. I have been trying to arrange a meeting with you through Dr. Pretorius, although he has been extremely difficult to get hold of!" This last was said with a glare of disapproval toward the doctor.
"As I have explained," said Dr. Pretorius, "I have had a number of unusual arrangements to attend to as well. Rather more unusual than yours, I would venture to say."
We're here now, Mr. Ebe... Ebersb... can I call you Michael?" said Steve. "And I have, like, no clue what you are talking about. Maybe you could just tell me what's going on."
Mr. Ebersbacher took stock of Fräulein Stein once again. In spite of rather serious doubts, he continued.
"We are here to address an unusual clause in Valeria Engel's will, which I drafted under her direction almost two years ago. Dr. Engel had no children, and no surviving family. This being the case she left her entire estate to a number of charitable organizations: The National Aryan Terrorist Initiative, The American Nazi Extremist Organization, among others. This is all very straightforward and not in the least unusual, however Dr. Engel had me include the following paragraph."
Ebersbacher flipped through the pages of the will and read:
"Should I die unexpectedly, you as my legal counsel and executor are to contact Dr. Septimus Pretorius, who will then introduce you to a young woman. Under these circumstances only, the blank document included in Appendix 12 is to be filled out with her name, leaving her as sole heir to my fortune. This document is to be backdated prior to my death, then signed in my name by the young woman. If, in your opinion, her signature matches mine, then the document is to be considered my last will and testament, superseding the one you are reading."
Mr. Ebersbacher set Valeria Engel's will aside, and withdrew a file from his briefcase. In the file was a document.
"I have filled out this document, leaving all of Valeria Engel's worldly goods to you, Mila Stein, backdated to the day prior to her death. All that remains is for you to add Dr. Engel's signature at the bottom as indicated."
Steve looked up. He hadn't been paying complete attention, having zoned out somewhere near the beginning of the lawyer's legal ramblings, and now wasn't entirely sure what was expected of him.
"You want me to sign this?" he asked.
"That's right," he was told.
"As Valeria Engel?" he elaborated.
"Yes, as Valeria Engel."
"Her signature? The way Valeria Engel signs her name? Me?"
"If you can't do it then you get nothing," the lawyer confirmed.
"And get exposed as a fraud," Steve thought to himself. "Or worse," his thoughts continued as he glanced over at Dieter, who was casually drawing his thumb across his throat while nodding in the direction of Dr. Pretorius.
Steve took the pen offered to him by Mr. Ebersbacher, and turned the page to face him. He had seen Valeria Engel's signature on dozens of documents in his memory room. It was incredibly ornate, a signature of a woman who came from a time when penmanship was a valued skill. Steve's grammar school hadn't even taught penmanship, and if they had he likely would have failed.
Steve pressed the pen to the paper and thought real hard, trying to remember the signatures he had seen...
Steve's eyes widened, and his pupils dilated. Flashes of electricity blazed like a tiny lightning storm within his eyes. Within his mind synapses fired, axons transmitted in sequence, neurons aligned...
Steve looked up as if emerging from a trance. Mr. Ebersbacher took the page from him and reviewed the signature...
"It's a perfect match," he stated, after looking at the two wills side by side. "I'm not sure what this is all about, but you've fulfilled the requirements of the will."
Mr. Ebersbacher took the original will and put it through a shredder, then filed the replacement in his briefcase.
"Congratulations, Fräulein Stein," said the lawyer as he stood and shook Steve's hand. "Now if you will excuse me I have some preparations to attend to."
"What a lot of effort, and over a stupid will!" Steve thought to himself. He had been named in his grandmother's will a few years earlier. She had left him a random assortment of teacups, which he was able to sell on eBay for 75 cents each. He'd made about fifteen dollars. He couldn't imagine why the lawyer was even bothering!
_____
+–+–+
(@ @)
VVV
"I hope I never have to see him again," Steve said as he entered the corridor with Dr. Pretorius, closely followed by Dieter and Friedrich.
"Why on Earth would you say that?" Asked Pretorius. As far as he could tell the meeting had gone quite well. And Ebersbacher had just arranged to give her more than thirty billion dollars!
"It just seems totally ridiculous," Steve explained. "Why should I have to get my hair and makeup done just so that I can see a lawyer?"
Pretorius gave her one of those odd looks which seemed to be an almost permanent feature of his face these days. "That's not why you had your hair done!" he said as they crossed through the courthouse lobby on their way to the front doors.
"No?" said Steve, searching through his purse for a pair of sunglasses as they exited the courthouse into the bright sunlight. He put on the glasses as he asked, "Why then?"
"For the press conference, of course!"
Steve looked up to find the courthouse steps filled with people. Flash bulbs went off from all directions. As the crowd took a step forward, leading with microphones identifying every major news agency in Europe, Steve tried to escape back into the courthouse. Unfortunately that route was now blocked as well.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr. Ebersbacher, who seemed to have been preparing the crowd for this moment. "I give you the new CEO and majority shareholder of Strong Angel Industries, Fräulein Mila Stein."
Steve was lost in confusion, as more flashes than ever went off in his direction. Microphones attacked him from all sides, and everyone seemed to be yelling at once.
"Please!" shouted out Mr. Ebersbacher. "One question at a time!"
"Jack Trent, European Business Network," called out a distinguished gray-haired man, pushing his microphone that much further forward. "Can you tell us how you are related to Valeria Engel?"
"Oh, well, she's like..." stammered Steve. "See, I just woke up the other day and there was, like, see, I've got this memory room. I never actually met her..."
"Valeria Engel is Fräulein Stein's Great Aunt, by way of a half brother," Dr. Pretorius said, shoving toward the sea of microphones in order to salvage their deception. "Dr. Engel has looked after Mila since discovering their relationship, many years ago. She has seen to Mila's education by placing her in the best boarding schools."
"Yeah, like, that's totally what happened!" Steve said.
Pretorius looked at Steve, hoping to hide his disdain. "The best boarding schools in America," he added, hoping to cover for the Fräulein's underwhelming first impression.
"How does it feel to be the fourth richest woman in the world?" shouted a woman from the middle of the crowd.
"Pretty good, I would guess," Steve answered. "I don't know, maybe you should ask her?"
"You are the fourth richest woman in the world," Jack Trent helpfully informed him.
"What? Who, me?" said Steve. "Wow. So like, who's richer?"
The crowd laughed, easing some of the bizarre tension in the interview.
"Marilyn John, Financial Times Bucharest," said a beautiful blond woman from the second row of reporters. "Valeria Engel was, in fact, the second richest woman in the world before you took over her company. What do you have to say to your shareholders about the fact that Strong Angel Industries has dropped in value by almost 10% since her death was announced?"
Steve looked confused. "Why would her death change the value of the company?"
Jack Trent jumped in. "There is an expectation that prices will fall when there is a major unexpected change at a corporation," he explained.
"Unexpected?" said Steve. "She was, like, five hundred years old! How long did you think she was going to live?"
"Investors who hold your stock then sell, and the price falls," Trent continued his explanation.
"So who are these investors?" Steve asked.
"Mostly large banks and investment firms," Trent replied.
"So, let me get this right," said Steve. "Banks and investment firms, who have all the money in the world to get the best advice, decided the price would fall because nobody could imagine that a five hundred year old woman might die, so they sold their stock for less than it was worth, making the price fall and losing money in the process, and somehow that's my fault?"
"Things aren't that simple," said Jack Trent.
"Your stock price has actually fallen another 5% since this interview began," added Marilyn John helpfully as she checked stock prices on her phone.
"Look," said Steve. "I may just have a business degree from a community college. And maybe I never heard of Strong Angel Industries before today, and have no idea what it even sells.
"But I know that a company is more than just one person. We have factories that are still producing, and trucks that are still delivering, and customers who are still buying, and thousands of people still at their jobs, making sure everything runs like usual. None of that is going to change."
Everyone thought about that for a moment.
"What's the new colour for winter?" a woman yelled from the back of the group.
"Uh, blue?" said Steve.
Pretorius felt this was a good point at which to end the interview. "That is all! Please let us through."
Dieter and Friedrich cleared a path through the reporters, who all continued to yell their questions at the small group. Steve slipped into the back seat of the limo, and they drove off.
A/N: Roddy and Zolfina, back together again! Maybe this really is a love story. And Steve, a billionaire? It sounds great for him, but I expect he's going to find it just causes him trouble (and you don't want to get into trouble with Dr. Pretorius)!
As always, thanks so much for reading. A quick comment or a like would absolutely make my day "^_^"