The Inheritors

By David T. Sanders

Following the unexpected death of William Whiting, his children; Rachel, Bill, and Ralph, find themselves as sole inheritors of their father's vast fortune. William's widow, Joan, seeks help from professional investment manager, Shawn Howard, to guide the couple's three children in the management of properties and investments spanning the world, from South America into the desert of North Africa. Agreeing to take this challenge proves to be a difficult assignment, as Shawn finds himself pulled deeper and deeper into the fortune, the family, and the arms of the grieving widow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jul 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645368045

David T. Sanders

David T. Sanders is a professional geologist and published author with international experience as a U.S. Air Force officer and as a consulting geologist.

Book preview

Sail

About the Author

David T. Sanders is a professional geologist and former officer in the United States Air Force, with knowledge of many parts of the world. He draws inspiration from locals met on his travels. His work is, primarily, historical fiction. He has three previously published books, Shadowed Ascent, Texoma, and Magellan Point, published by Austin Macauley Publishers. This is his fourth novel.

Dedication

To the staff who work for the author in his office in Marina del Rey, California

Copyright Information ©

David T. Sanders (2020)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Sanders, David T.

The Inheritors

ISBN 9781643785257 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781643785240 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781645368045 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910164

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 28th Floor

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

The continued encouragement and support of Koney Austinn, Michael Soetaert, and others in Amador City, California, is appreciated

Chapter One

A Strange Request

Shawn was surprised when his secretary, Mary Woods, entered his office to tell him Joan Whiting was there to see him. He had known Joan’s husband, William, in college, but he and William had seen little of each other since, so he did not feel obligated to go to his funeral when he learned he had died, recently. He and Joan had met only a few times.

Show her in please, Mary.

A very attractive, middle-aged woman, dressed in fashionable, expensive clothes entered saying, Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Howard.

Sit down, Joan, please, and call me Shawn. I was sorry to hear about the death of William. Is there something I can do for you?

There is. William died so unexpectedly that the family was not properly prepared. We were prepared in the financial sense. He had adequate insurance, a will, and a financial plan, but none of our three children are capable of handling the burdens of managing his affairs.

How could I help?

You are in the business of managing large agricultural, real estate, and other ventures, are you not?

Yes. My clients are generally corporations or family trusts. Did William set up a trust?

Unfortunately, no. The children are the inheritors in undivided interests. William thought that might bring them closer together and force them to get along with each other.

You are not involved directly?

I am not. William gave me stock when we were married that has increased, greatly, in value and I am the beneficiary of his very large insurance policy. My future is secure, financially, and I have never been active in his business affairs.

Tell me about your children.

Rachael is studying at the University of California, Davis. Bill, William the Second, and Ralph both graduated from Ivy League schools and have become playboys. They waste the too generous of an allowance they are given.

I’m not certain I could function well in family disagreements that will surely come up.

Please! Come to my house to meet the children before you turn me down. You have a good reputation and have been highly recommended. A small group of friends and the children will be at my home on Friday for a welcoming home party.

I could do that, I guess.

Great! Here is the address, Joan said as she handed him a card and left the office.

Shawn sat there for several minutes after she left. He was stunned by the woman’s appearance and the job offer.

That was a very beautiful woman, Mary commented as she returned with typed documents. Do you know her well?

We have been at the same social event a few times. I knew her husband quite well in college. He died recently. She offered a job that I know I should not accept; for, if I do, we will be in for some rough times.

A property management job?

In a way. She needs someone to teach her children how to manage major assets that her husband acquired in many parts of the world. William told me about some of his holdings a few years ago. They were vast, then, and have surely grown since.

Apparently, the rough times you fear would be because it may be hard to get mother and children to agree on what should be done with some of the assets.

Just the children. Joan is not involved.

Don’t you think the children might be sensible adults that will take your advice?

I must determine that before I accept the job. I am to meet them on Friday.

Shawn had opened an office in a multi-story office tower at the edge of Marina del Rey two years earlier because he liked to go directly from the office to his boat that he kept at the marina and sail for an hour or two in the early evening. His condominium was within walking distance from the office, as well. These arrangements were far better for him than a trip on crowded freeways to an office in downtown Los Angeles. He had opened an office there when he left an investment bank where he had worked since graduating from Pepperdine University.

The evening after Joan Whiting had visited his office, Shawn went to his boat but did not sail. He opened a bottle of wine, reclined on the deck, and thought about Joan while he drank nearly the full bottle. She is very pretty, he thought, but he had known and dated several pretty women, so he did not know why her looks affected him so much. He did not want any feelings that might develop for her to cloud his decision about taking the job she offered. The concern he had that family rivalries, beyond his control, could have an adverse effect on very valuable assets, he knew was valid. If that happened, he would be blamed.

Shawn chose to sleep on his boat that night, as he often did, so he was in the office early when Mary arrived. She had a print-out from the internet of an article by a business reporter that listed the assets of William F. Whiting at the time of his death.

You should look at this, Shawn. I was curious about the assets you were asked to help manage. I had no idea that a man who was not well-known could have acquired so much.

Shawn sat at his desk and read the article. He, too, was surprised. The assets William had told him about certainly had grown. Apparently, he was now one of the largest landowners in the country.

He walked into Mary’s office and suggested she might see what she could learn from the internet about the children of William and Joan Whiting, knowing now that the challenge and opportunity Joan had offered him were much greater than he could have ever imagined.

Shawn had placed an advertisement in the local newspaper for a secretary when he first opened the marina office. Mary, a graduate of nearby Loyola Marymount, was the most qualified to apply. She had become more of an administrative assistant than a secretary. He paid her enough that she could live nearby with her teenage son.

Mary, Shawn had learned, enjoyed the type of research in which she was now engaged. He knew it would be thorough. By Friday evening, he would know a lot about the three with whom he was being asked to work.

When a client called, Shawn went back into his office to talk with him. After the call, he went back to work on a report he had been preparing for some time. By lunchtime, Mary was still staring at a computer monitor, so he waved to her and went downstairs for a sandwich and iced tea.

William Whiting may have been a private man, not subject to publicity, but that can’t be said of his sons, was Mary’s first comment when Shawn came back from lunch. William, the oldest, was written about regularly in the Boston papers while he was at Harvard, and after.

Joan said her sons had become playboys.

William certainly has. He must be attractive, or he has flaunted his father’s wealth, because he has been engaged to daughters of three wealthy New Englanders whom he never married.

How about the other son?

Ralph’s recorded college escapades are few, but he has been arrested for drunk driving at least twice.

And the girl, Rachael?

She appears to be a good student. She was a high-school athlete and has had years of horse-show experience. At UC, Davis, she has won on the track and at swim meets. I found no record of misconduct.

Mary, you are sensational. Now, go to lunch while I look over your research. On Friday evening, I will know a great deal about possible clients, thanks to you.

After reviewing the pages Mary handed him when she left the office, Shawn went back to work on a report. He did not hear Mary return or anything more from her until she was leaving for the day when she came into his office with another bit of information that Shawn found very interesting.

I know you did not ask me to look up anything about Joan Whiting, but I did. Talk about a perfect wife. She seems to have been one. From being very active in the Junior League and various charities in the city, to volunteering at hospitals, she seems to have kept busy since her children left home for school. One thing I found particularly interesting involved her brother, a famous dress designer. He sends her a dress in her size each time one of his designs is released. She assembles women to model his dresses with her in a fashion show from time to time, the proceeds from which benefit the Junior League. A beautiful, rich, and civic-minded woman like Joan Whiting is not someone you receive a job offer from every day.

Never before, that I can recall.

Chances are Joan would be of help to you, Mary said as she left the office for the day.

You may be right. Have a good evening, Mary, and say hello to John, Shawn replied.

Shawn had spent a great deal of time sailing with Mary’s son, John. He was teaching him to handle a small sailboat in marina waters by himself, and John helped Shawn sail his 23-foot boat in offshore waters. Sometimes after high-school classes, John went to Shawn’s boat to clean up, scrub or paint, as he had done that day.

I’ll say what I earlier asked your mother to say for me: Hello, John, was Shawn’s comment as he went aboard and saw John below deck.

John came on deck to greet him and responded, You seemed to have been here drinking wine by yourself last night. When I cleaned up, there was only one used glass. Is there something wrong?

No. I have just been doing a lot of thinking about a job offer. The job may be more than I can handle, and it may disrupt a fairly normal property management firm your mother and I have created.

Are the properties to be managed different than others with which you have had experience?

Not really, but they are scattered around the globe, and those who will be responsible for making decisions about them are three young people with no experience. I would be advising them. The clients we work with now are all sophisticated investors who generally take my advice.

You have a way with young people. All my friends think you are the greatest.

You have outstanding friends. I enjoy spending time with all of you. Too bad it is a school night; we could sail tomorrow. I am not scheduled to meet my potential new clients until tomorrow night.

I don’t have school tomorrow because there is some sort of teachers’ meeting. That’s why I came to your boat this evening. I was going to ask if I could spend part of tomorrow here.

"That is great. I will call your mother and ask her to hold down the fort and tell her we will see her tomorrow afternoon."

The two of them ate dinner Shawn prepared and spent the night onboard. The sail the next day was in perfect weather. Shawn let John take over the helm for an hour or more while he lounged in the sun. He was still thinking about the job offer, or more specifically, he was thinking about seeing Joan Whiting again. They sailed back into the marina at about four that afternoon.

Once the boat was secured in the slip, John called his mother to report their return, and, at Shawn’s request, he asked if anything important had happened at the office. His mother thanked John for letting her know that they were back and told him there had been nothing critical that happened at the office. John thanked Shawn for a great day and headed home.

Following a long shower at his condominium and considerable time deciding what to wear, which was often difficult for him, Shawn left in his car, a newer model Honda Accord, dressed in tan slacks and a white shirt, carrying a brown sport-coat.

The address Joan Whiting had given him was the location of a magnificent, two-story house in the older section of Beverly Hills. There were several cars parked in the driveway and along the street. Shawn parked behind those cars in the street, put on his coat, and went to the front door.

Joan greeted him wearing slacks and a colorful blouse. Shawn decided he had guessed right about casual attire. She kissed his cheek, took him by an arm, and escorted him into a large living room where nearly twenty people were mingling with drinks in their hands. From her introductions, Shawn got the distinct impression that Joan was trying to convince her guests that the two of them were old friends. He went along with the pretense.

As he mingled, speaking to the other guests, Shawn found that they all seemed to have had a part in the upbringing of Joan’s children: teachers, coaches, or family members. The party was to welcome the three of them home from school at the same time.

Rachael was the first of the children Shawn met. She was sitting on a couch with a woman she introduced as her high school swim-team coach.

The daughter looked very much like her mother. Thanks to Mary’s research, Shawn was able to ask a leading question about Rachael’s continuing to swim competitively at the university. Shawn realized that his question had pleased Rachael. It gave her the opportunity to tell her former coach about her successes at recent meets.

Ralph was with two other men playing billiards in an adjacent room. Shawn went there after he left Rachael, took a cue-stick from the rack, and joined the next game. He developed a good feeling about Ralph as they played and discussed everything from the stock market to world politics.

The presence of Bill had been apparent to Shawn since his arrival. He was loud, boisterous, and was drinking too much. Shawn had not even been able to shake his hand because he darted from one guest that he knew to another.

When he left the billiard room, Joan took Shawn’s arm again and led him to a patio. They sat on a bench looking toward a swimming pool.

I hope I am not being too forward. Having you here as a friend seemed like the best way to explain your presence. The children are always pushing me to find new companionship. They will not suspect you were here trying to get to know them.

Having a beautiful woman paying attention to me is thrilling.

Joan blushed and continued, This is clearly not the way for you to get to know my eldest. I had no idea he was drinking so much. What is your first impression of Rachael and Ralph?

Rachael is a very attractive young woman. She appears to be very mature and level-headed. Ralph has good manners, is intelligent, and is obviously keeping up with things happening around him. We should find another time for me to get to know Bill.

I will work on that.

Your husband must have had someone close that knows a lot about his properties and assets.

Harriet Baird. She worked with William for decades in his office downtown. I have been talking with her regularly since William died. She is overwhelmed. Daily, serious problems are communicated to her. She does not know how to react. I so wish you would agree to help, Shawn.

Before he could answer, Rachael came out and suggested her mother go back inside. Guests were preparing to leave. She added, I will sit here and talk with your friend.

They stood. Joan went inside, and Shawn motioned for Rachael to take her place.

Have you and Mother been friends for long? she asked.

Actually, I knew your father at university and have only recently had the opportunity to get to know your charming mother. You should know why I was invited here tonight. My business is property management. Your mother asked me to get to know her children, so I would be able to advise you in the management of your family assets.

Father was so foolish to think the three of us could step in and manage properties he acquired and has been familiar with for so many years.

He did not expect to die so soon. He planned to make you fully aware of what he was leaving to the three of you, I’m sure. A way must be created to make the best of an unfortunate situation. Do you think you and your brothers could agree to something that I might advise concerning a property or investment if I take on the job as your advisor like your mother has asked?

We three have not agreed to anything in our lives that I can remember.

I would have guessed that. Siblings in most families are that way. Your mother seems like someone that would have tried to teach you to get along and to respect each other’s opinions.

Mother is fantastic. She could not have done more for us, and she has tried to make us understand the importance of getting along with each other. Maybe we just have disagreeable personalities.

I don’t believe that, but you must understand my reluctance in taking on a job where I would constantly be confronting disagreements and confrontations over decisions that would affect not only your fortunes but the lives of others.

Why didn’t Father just turn the management of everything over to someone like you?

Your mother said he thought this way would bring the three of you closer together and, thereby, make sure that what he had worked so hard to build over many years would not be lost.

I truly wish that could be true. I can only tell you, Mr. Howard, that I would help you all I can in achieving that if you take the job. I love my brothers, and I greatly appreciate what Father has built for us.

When Rachael and Shawn went back inside, Joan was saying goodbye to the last of the guests. Her sons had already left.

Rachael excused herself, saying she was going to her room. Joan asked Shawn to stay a few minutes longer and to sit on a couch. She poured him and herself each a glass of wine, the only ones they would have the chance to finish.

Are you any closer to agreeing to taking on an impossible job?

I have one promise of help, from Rachael. Also, I know what Harriet Baird is going through and would like to help her. Monday morning, my secretary and I will go to William’s office to see if we can be of any help.

I will go here, too. I will be of little help, but I feel I should be doing something.

Great. Why don’t you see if Rachael will come? She needs to begin to understand the magnitude of all this, as we all do.

Joan escorted Shawn to the door after they had finished the wine. She started to embrace him as he left but shook his hand instead.

Realizing it was still early, Shawn decided to call John Woods on his car phone before he drove off to see if he wanted to sail this weekend. John answered the call, said he would like to sail again, and went to ask his mother if it was all right for him to do that. On the call once more, John said his mother not only approved, she wanted to go along.

Excellent. Let’s plan to get underway at nine.

Thinking about supplies onboard his boat, Shawn stopped at a grocery store for more food, soda, wine, and water. He also purchased large sacks of ice.

Once the boat was re-stocked, Shawn decided to stay onboard. He changed to a T-shirt, shorts, and deck shoes. With a bit of wine left in the bottle from his last night onboard in a glass in his hand, he checked the weather forecast on the radio and sat for a long time on deck. He could not get Joan Whiting out of his mind.

Mary and John arrived at eight. John went to work uncovering sails. Coffee was ready, so Shawn offered a cup to Mary as she sat at a table in the lounge.

The reason I came was because I could not wait until Monday to find out about your evening with the Whiting family, Mary reported.

Shawn poured himself another cup of coffee, sat across the table from Mary, and discussed the evening at the Whiting home. He also told her that he had volunteered the two of them to go to William Whiting’s office Monday morning.

Do you think you could work with the two children you did meet?

I think so, at least the daughter.

John interrupted them to say they could cast off. Shawn repeated the weather report he had obtained the previous evening and said they should plan to sail to Santa Barbara, stay the night tied to a buoy in the harbor, and return the next day. By nine, they were headed down the channel to the open sea.

The sea was relatively calm and the wind favorable, so the sail to Santa Barbara was very pleasant. John was at the tiller the entire way. Mary had never helped with the sails before but asked to be shown how on this trip. She learned quickly.

Secured to a buoy east of the pier in Santa Barbara Harbor, they all put on swimming suits, dove overboard, and swam to the beach where they lay on the sand until nearly sundown. Helping Mary back onboard, Shawn noticed, admiringly, her slim, shapely figure for the first time. He realized something that he should have known much earlier: Mary was an attractive, thirty-five-year-old woman.

Mary prepared an Italian dinner for them while the sails were covered. As they ate, Mary talked about living in Santa Barbara County with her husband before John was born, a husband who did not return from the Vietnam War where he was last serving in the Navy. They retired to separate berths early.

Strong winds from the northwest began to blow at sunrise. It took the efforts of all of them to get the boat back to the open sea, but the time it took to sail back was shorter than the time of the outbound voyage. They were back at the slip, the boat tied down, and the sails covered by early afternoon.

Shawn and Mary had left their cars in the office lot. Walking there, Mary and John both thanked Shawn for a splendid sail. They left for home. Shawn went to his place in Mariner’s Village and spent Sunday evening there.

Shawn picked Mary up at their office Monday morning and drove to Whiting Company offices on Wilshire Boulevard. Harriet Baird, an older woman with gray hair and a pleasant manner, greeted them and escorted them into a conference room, saying that Mrs. Whiting had called to let her know that she should expect them.

Harriett left them for just a few minutes. Returning with a stack of her handwritten notes, she said, These summarize the inquiries and complaints I have received from tenants and on-site managers since Mr. Whiting died. They range from someone improperly moving a property boundary, to perpetual trespassing, to thief of personal property, just to name a few. I have no way to respond.

Why don’t we start by you and Mary sorting and listing those by priority and let me review the ones you consider the most serious, Shawn suggested.

That effort had just started when Joan and Rachael arrived. Rachael came into the conference room and began to help as soon as the sorting procedure was explained. Joan went into what had been her husband’s office. Shawn followed her.

Joan sat behind the desk. Shawn moved a leather chair in front of the desk and explained what was being done in the conference room.

You may not want to get involved, Joan, but until this big backlog of property issues is addressed, you may have to sign certain responses to tenants and managers that let them know their grievances will be handled as soon as possible.

Will I be able to do that successfully?

I think nearly everyone who receives correspondence from Mrs. William Whiting will believe what is stated in that correspondence.

Would you prepare such notifications for me?

"I will do that. Where appropriate, I will compose e-mails for your review and approval before they are sent. Letters will be dictated by me, typed by Harriet, and you will need to sign them, probably below the statement: On Behalf of Whiting Family. Some of the complaints Harriet has received that I glanced at were addressed to Whiting Company. That means William must have executed leases and other agreements in the name of his private company. Much of what we can do now will be a temporary accommodation until we can study the corporate structure. The by-laws may define succession. Future management could be divided between what can be done under documents executed on behalf of the Whiting Company and actions and decisions requiring approval of your children because of their undivided ownership. That would make the job you offered me easier."

Count me in. I will do what you decide needs to be done to eliminate what seems to be a crisis right now.

Back in the conference room, Shawn began to review the stack of notes describing what the women had determined the most pressing. Rachael excused herself, saying she needed to go to an appointment and her mother was taking her there. She and Joan waved as they left.

Shawn paused in his review and asked Harriett to prepare a list of those people and entities William did business with for whom e-mail addresses were available. Harriett said she would do that, but he should not expect a long list.

What seemed to be the most serious issue was the relocation of a property boundary on a hay farm in Montana. Knowing that problem would require someone going there, he set aside the note describing the issue. Attached to one of Harriett’s notes was a letter signed by five men who demanded that the general manager of a large property on the central California coast be replaced before serious problems were created with the Coastal Commission. That brought up another problem that Shawn had not considered. Some of William’s holdings were not wholly owned. He had apparently raised money from friends, or others, to purchase them.

Trespassers from Mexico crossing a cotton farm in Arizona could not be stopped, but some compensation might be obtained for damage done by Border Patrol vehicles chasing them. The note describing that circumstance was place in a to-do pile.

Mary returned with a list of e-mail addresses prepared by Harriet. Shawn asked that she check them against names on Harriett’s notes, compose a form e-mail to those that matched, explaining the issue they had made the family aware of, was being handled, and they could expect a further reply as soon as possible. He told her that she should show the e-mail to Joan when she returned for it should go out through her e-mail address.

Mary left the room, and Harriett joined Shawn. He spent the remainder of the morning and the afternoon dictating to Harriett letters with similar promises, except during a lunch-break for the three of them to eat Chinese food ordered and delivered. He explained the signature block to be used that he had suggested to Joan.

When Joan returned in late afternoon, she was alone. She approved the wording on the e-mail and signed several letters. Mary sent the e-mails and Harriett prepared the letters for mailing.

This has been the busiest day ever in this office, Harriett remarked as she prepared to leave with the letters to be put in the box in front of the office.

I would like to buy you all a drink if there is a proper establishment nearby, Shawn offered.

The bar down the street is well-managed and the clientele are mostly business- people, Harriett said. I have been tempted to stop there many afternoons lately to drink away my frustrations, but I have not been there since Mr. Whitney died.

Joan commented, I should go home, but I will go there with you for one drink. It is a place William liked, and he and I went there many times.

It’s settled then. Let’s go.

At a corner table in the bar, drinking cocktails, the three