“I don’t see how it could be,” Liam admitted. “The TV was on CNN, airing a story about a corporate takeover by DuBois Enterprises. Those happen often enough. DuBois seems to gobble up some new company every week. Lincoln DuBois himself was on the screen. I can’t imagine why my dad would have barked at Jack that he wanted to watch it. It was definitely because of that story, though, because he wasn’t staring at the television before it aired, and he hardly glanced at it again after the clip was over. He left about five minutes after the end of the segment…once he’d finished his drink,” Liam finished grimly.
“Isn’t DuBois a media conglomerate?”
Liam nodded. “Yeah. A lot more than media is under the DuBois umbrella, though, everything from computer software production, to copper mining, to newspapers and magazines.”
Natalie shook her head in confusion and swallowed a final bite of her own salad before she set down her fork. “Did it say who DuBois Enterprises had acquired in the takeover?”
Liam shrugged. “Yeah, I could see the headlines at the bottom pretty damn well. Some French company called Alerveret that manufactured computer chips.”
“Why would your father be interested in that?” Natalie asked as the waiter returned to clear their salad plates. Liam didn’t speak until they were alone again.
“Hell if I know. Maybe he wasn’t interested in the news story at all. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, and taking it out on Jack.”
Natalie considered this possibility as their entrees were served. Liam seemed thoughtful, too. In the distance, she heard the tinkling sounds of a piano.
“I’ll go over to the library tomorrow and see if I can’t dig up any information on the DuBois takeover of Alerveret. I couldn’t find much online,” he said.
“Do you think your father could have had investments in Alerveret? Maybe he lost a chunk of money, and that’s what upset him.”
Liam shook his head dismissively. “He was upset before he saw the news clip, remember? Although he seemed damn interested in that story, and even more agitated after he watched it. As far as the bad investment, I think my mom would have told us about that. I never heard her mention losing a huge chunk of money—not before the lawsuits, anyway.”
Natalie’s cheeks heated and she lowered her gaze. The Kavanaughs’ socioeconomic status had drastically changed after the lawsuits against Derry Kavanaugh’s estate. All that money had gone to Mari and Ryan Itani and Natalie and her brother. The bulk of the money awarded to the Reyes family had paid for Natalie’s medical care following the accident. Eric and Natalie had used the remainder to get good educations, something their mother would have wished for them more than anything if she’d lived.
She could tell by his thoughtful manner Liam hadn’t meant his comment as a jab. He was just stating a simple fact.
“I’ll be sure to check about the direction of Alerveret’s stock after DuBois acquired them, though, just to make sure,” Liam said.
“Liam?”
He glanced up in the process of cutting his chicken.
“Both Roger Dayson and Jack Andreason seemed to be intimidated by your father on that night. But I’m getting the impression from you that your father wasn’t an angry person by nature. Is that correct?”
“I can only remember him getting mad once in my entire childhood. It was the year before he died. I played football in high school, and I had this overzealous coach my freshman year who got aggressive at times. You know the type—dude put his entire identity into leading a bunch of skinny fourteen-year-olds into battle. Anyway, he got a little rough one afternoon practice with one of my friends on the team. My father had shown up unexpectedly to watch me practice, and he saw the whole thing. When Coach ended practice and told us to go shower, my dad barked at him to stay behind. Said he wanted a word. I’d never seen my dad look like that before. He looked like he was going to chew up Coach Bragg and spit him out.”
“What happened?” Natalie wondered.
“I wanted to know that myself, so I took an awful slow walk to the locker room. My dad reamed Bragg out. Nothing physical happened, but it seemed to come close to blows a few times.” Liam shook his head as if to clear it. “I never saw my coach the same way after that. I used to be intimidated by him, but the memory of how scared he looked while my dad let him have it changed that forever. He never got rough with any of us kids again. I can only imagine what my father threatened him with, if he did. Legal action, probably.”
“You remember it so well. It must have made a big impact on you.”
“I’m thinking Coach Bragg remembers it a hell of a lot better than me,” Liam said wryly before he ate a slice of roasted potato.
“I can imagine. Your father seems bigger than life.”
“He made friends wherever he went. My mom used to say he could have charmed the devil into doing good deeds.”
Natalie smiled as she buttered a steaming roll. “Sounds like a true Irishman.”
Liam’s angular jaw slowed in its chewing motion. Natalie paused when she saw the way his stare speared her.
“Why don’t you just go ahead and ask it, Natalie?”
“Ask what?”
“Why don’t you just ask whether or not my father was a true Irishman in another stereotypical sense? You want to know about his drinking habits.”
Natalie carefully set down her ice water, acutely aware of penetrating dangerous territory without intent. Well, she was here now. Might as well deal with it.