“Yes, Julian mentioned that.” Stone patted his pocket. “I have the will and James’s financial statement, and I’ll give them to you later, but the thrust of it is that he left three hundred thousand pounds—”
“Good God! He left me three hundred thousand pounds?”
“No, he left that much to his schools and to charities. He left everything else to you.”
She stared at him blankly. “You mean his business?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes welled up a little. “I don’t know anything about running a business; I don’t want it. Tell Julian to take it back.”
“Take it easy, now, that’s not how it works. You don’t have to run the business.”
“I don’t?”
“Remember the offer that James was discussing with Julian?”
“Yes.”
“I asked Julian to investigate whether discussions might be reopened.”
“So you think Julian can sell it?”
“Yes.”
“What a relief!”
“Do you want to know how much it’s worth?”
“Yes, please.”
“The offer was for four hundred and ninety million pounds.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Surely you mean thousand.”
“No, million.”
“But that’s . . .”
“A lot of money.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Of course, there will be taxes to pay and other fees, but you should come out of this with a substantial amount of cash or stock.”
“I think I’d prefer cash,” she said absently, as if her mind were elsewhere.
“And there were other things—James’s house in London and a country house, investments. He was a very wealthy man.”
“I knew he was well off,” she said, “but I had no idea, really. He never talked about it much, the way a lot of businessmen do. I thought he was in it because he loved wine so much, and because his father before him was.”
“And his grandfather and great-grandfather, apparently.”
“He didn’t even mention that.”
“Do you know the two houses?”
“Of course. They’re both in wonderful locations, but they need a complete redoing.”