Murder at the Bellamy Mansion (6 page)

6

Out in the salon, the party was in full swing with servers offering trays of hors d’oeuvres and flutes of champagne. Melanie allowed herself to be dragged off by Candi. I could see the wheels spinning in Melanie’s brain as she narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits while scheming about how she was going to get her hands on Candi’s money.

I found Jon and Cam in a smoking lounge off the main salon, cigars in hand, and deep in discussion with Brian Hudson and Han Cheng about something that had captured their total interest. Jackie Hudson was now out on the dance floor, fox-trotting with one of those heavy-set men who turn out to be incredibly light on their feet when dancing. She was giving him an earful, and I recognized him as an environmental attorney who was associated with the future international container terminal. How many elephants had been slaughtered to outfit this yacht, I wondered. And would Jackie’s dance partner be as outraged as she?

I slipped in between Jon and Cam. Jon touched me lightly on the back, then turned to refocus on what Brian was saying. I was still stewing over the poached ivory and barely listened until I realized Brian was again discussing the bail-out and how it might impact on his intention to collect outstanding debts.

“
As you know, the government is funding this huge bail-out of our financial institutions,” Brian was saying. “Citigroup is receiving three hundred billion. One of the stipulations is that they clean up their books. By that I mean they must collect on notes they’ve been carrying on the books for decades. Simply forgotten. Overlooked.”

“
How is your firm involved?” Cam asked. Cameron Jordan is a television and motion picture industry leader, and there is little about the current economic situation that he is not aware of. “I’ve got to admit, I’m not too sure I approve of these bailouts.”

“
But your government has got to do something,” Han interjected. “Your financial institutions with their sale of credit default swaps, which smacks more of Las Vegas than Wall Street, and their fraudulent accounting practices have brought down the entire global economy. My country continues to pour our revenues into yours. Our exports have fallen. The losses I have personally suffered . . . Now there may be a substantial delay in the building of the new port. And where is my container fleet to deliver our goods?”

Brian explained, “Citigroup has been downsizing. Laying off employees right and left in an effort to improve their bottom line and avoid bankruptcy. So they have contracted out a lot of the work involved with this bailout. And they’ve selected our firm to handle the New Hanover County area. They’ve turned over the documents to us and we get paid when we collect. Once they prove they are cleaning up old loans, they get a bigger piece of the taxpayers’ pie.”

“
And you’re going to collect the old outstanding debts from our area?” I asked.

“
Correct, Ashley. And as we discussed on New Year’s Eve, it is surprising who some of the debtors turn out to be. As I told you, the Bellamy Mansion is one of the debtors on Citigroup’s books. Some old notes that got transferred over during bank mergers, and well, just got overlooked and were basically ignored.”

“
Until now?” Jon said as disbelieving as I that this could be happening.

Brian nodded his head up and down. “Surprised the hell out of me too. Come on, y’all, let’s sit down and I’ll explain exactly how this operation is going to work.”

We moved over to the banquettes along the wall and Brian began his lengthy tale.

“
I expect y’all know the history of the mansion. Except for you, Han,” Brian said.

Han grinned. “I’ve been getting an earful from Candi about that mansion. She has her heart set on owning it.” He chuckled lightly.

Jon and I made eye contact and shared a silent vow: Over our dead bodies.

“
Of course we know the history of the mansion,” I said.

“
OK, I’ll try not to be redundant then,” Brian continued. “When the mansion was under construction, Dr. Bellamy practiced competitive shopping for the materials needed. So, even though there was an ongoing political conflict with the Northern states over the issue of slavery prior to the war, Dr. Bellamy purchased much of the materials and fixtures for the house from New York and Philadelphia where he could get the best products at the best prices.

“
He and the architects used a purchasing agent out of New York, name of Thaddeus Greensleeves. Greensleeves would receive the drawings and specifications from the architect, Rufus Bunnell, and then he would shop the manufacturers in New York City, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia until he found just what the architects had in mind. Greensleeves then would arrange for the transport of the materials by train or ship, and handle the paperwork. All for a fee, of course.”

“
I never heard about anyone named Greensleeves involved in the construction of the Bellamy Mansion,” I said, “and I have researched the building of the mansion.”

“
I don’t want to get into a dispute about this matter with local historians,” Brian said dismissively. “All I know is I’ve got the documentation to prove my case.”

“
You’ve got the original documents?” I asked.

“
Of course. Citigroup turned them over to my firm,” Brian replied.

He paused to relight his cigar which had burnt out.

“
Because I’d like to take a look at them,” I said.

“
Well, I don’t know, Ashley. You are not a party to this case. Look, let me explain. When the Civil War started, the Confederacy put into effect a policy called ‘condemnation.’ All debts owed to Northern merchants had to be paid to the Confederate government. Thus, Dr. Bellamy paid the Confederacy for outstanding debts on items like a dozen elaborate gasoliers, shutters for all the windows, all of the hardware, brass cornices, art objects, carpets, antiques, marble, mahogany, burled walnut. The list goes on and on. As the war waged on longer than expected and Northern tradesmen like Jenkins and Porter grew anxious and gave up hope of ever being paid, Greensleeves arranged for a bank called the East River Bank & Trust to buy the outstanding notes at a discount. Later, East River was bought out by Bowery Savings, then Bowery Savings was bought by a Los Angeles bank.

“
Long story short, through a series of acquisitions, Citigroup ended up owning the assets and liabilities from the original East River Bank. And among those assets are notes owed by Dr. Bellamy.”

“
How much money are we talking about here?” Cam asked with a frown.

Brian arched curly eyebrows. “With one hundred and fifty years of compounded interest on the original debt, plus penalties and legal fees, we’re talking almost seventy-five thousand dollars.”

“
Whoa!” I cried. “Have you thought this through, Brian? The mansion is a stewardship property of Preservation NC. They’d never be able to come up with seventy-five thousand dollars to settle an old debt!”

“
They would not,” Jon echoed. “Why, it’s taken them years to raise the money for renovations. There’s no extra cash lying around. And now, with times hard on everyone, donations are down.”

“
And,” Cam added, “state revenues have fallen as well so we can’t go running to the state legislature for an appropriation.”

Han had been studying Brian intently. Now, with his hand cupping his chin, he said thoughtfully, “Do I understand you correctly, Brian? If the original note is not paid, Citigroup would have the option to foreclose on the property? To force its sale?”

Brian replied evenly, “It is conceivable that is what could happen. Of course, we would negotiate, do everything we could to prevent such a thing from happening, that is foreclosure. But, yes, the teeth in the bite of collection is foreclosure. We could force the sale.”

“
Well,” Han said slowly, as if thinking out loud, “what if an interested party made an offer to Preservation NC that they could not refuse? This interested party would pay the old debt and its interest and penalties, and in addition, offer a most attractive, above-market price for the mansion. Would they not be willing to sell under those circumstances?”

All eyes turned to Brian.

“
By interested party, I assume you are referring to yourself and Candi,” Brian replied. “What sort of figure did you have in mind?”

“
Naturally, I must consult with my financial advisers,” Han, ever cautious, said, “but Candi has her heart set on that mansion. And she has found a local, established realtor to handle the sale.”

He turned to me. “Melanie Wilkes. Your sister.”

“
And my wife,” Cam said, and seemed not at all pleased to have Melanie dragged into this discussion.

Then Han went on, “So the way I see it, we will have the mansion appraised by an independent appraiser. Then we’ll add a hefty amount on top of the appraisal, settle the old debt, and proceed to closing.”

“
Oh, I don’t . . .” I started to say.

“
They’d never . . .” Jon started to say.

Brian interrupted, “But Jon, Ashley, isn’t that precisely the mission of Preservation NC? They sell historic properties to individuals who will restore and maintain them. They should have no problem with this transaction. And as I see it, doubtless they’d have no choice. If, as you say, they cannot come up with seventy-five thousand dollars to pay the old debt, they’d have no choice but to sell. This would be a way out for them.”

“
No choice,” Han said as if the matter was settled. “I can’t wait to tell Candi.”

7

“
If that wasn’t the party from hell, I don’t know what was,” I told Jon as we got into the Escalade. Then we followed Melanie and Cam across the bridge and made a quick left onto Airlie Road. After a quarter mile, we whipped into their tree-lined driveway that snaked out to the Intracoastal Waterway and the lodge. Jon and I had completed restoration of the lodge in late December, in time for us to hold our wedding reception there.

We left our coats in the reception hall and moved into the library that had been modeled after the library at the Biltmore House. Last year, Melanie and I had made several trips to America’s Castle in Asheville to get ideas and inspiration from George Vanderbilt’s mansion. The solid, built-in bookcases were made of oak, stained to resemble mahogany. And there were rows of books, many on the theatre and the movie industry from Cam’s collection that he had brought to their marriage. The older volumes had been his director father’s.

Spunky, Melanie’s black cat, was curled up in a tight ball on a chenille-covered sofa, acknowledging us with a languid blink as we entered.

“
And how did the wedding-crasher cat enjoy the honeymoon cruise?” I asked as I went over to stroke his head with my fingertip. Spunky had followed us down the aisle at our wedding. He purred loudly at my touch. He is a cat I had rescued as a kitten a few years ago. But ungrateful beast, he had taken one long hard look into Melanie’s eyes, which are so much like his own, recognized a kindred spirit and howled until I let her take him home. Where he has been treated like the prince of the feline world ever since.

“
Spunky loves the yacht,” Cam said, moving to the bar and selecting a decanter. “He sits up in the helm and watches the water, tail twitching. I can’t imagine what he thinks he sees.”

“
But he did not like the plane trip back home,” Melanie said. “I had to tranquilize him to get him to keep quiet, otherwise they would not have let me take him on board with me.”

“
Cam, what do you make of Brian’s story about Citigroup and the Bellamy debt?” I asked as he passed out nightcaps.

“
I’ve never heard anything about a purchasing agent working for Dr. Bellamy and the architects,” Jon said. “This is a load of crap if you ask me.”

“
With purchases made so many years ago,” Cam said reasonably, “anything is possible. Perhaps there was a purchasing agent. How complete are the records?”

“
Not complete,” I said. “Pieces missing. I do know that Dr. Bellamy paid the debt for the fourteen twenty-five foot columns to the Confederate Government, and then when the war ended, the Northern supplier sued for the cost of the columns. Dr. Bellamy paid that bill twice. I guess it is conceivable that some merchants, rather than carrying debts, sold their notes to a bank.”

“
That is not an uncommon business practice,” Cam said.

Cam turned from the bar. He is tall and lanky, with unruly hair. He has a kind face. Everyone’s favorite big brother.

“
But who would ever imagine that Citigroup would somehow acquire the notes, or that they’d act to collect on them after a century and a half?” I said.

“
Stranger things have happened,” Cam said.

“
Well, I know one thing,” Melanie said. “If Brian tries to force the sale of the mansion with Candi and Han as the buyers, and me listed as the broker, people in this town will detest me so much I will never get another listing or make a sale. Folks here kind of believe that mansion belongs to the town, to the public. A place school children visit to learn about how life was lived a hundred and fifty years ago. It must remain a museum!”

“
But what can you do?” Jon asked. “This is not your doing. You didn’t know anything about the Bellamy Mansion’s outstanding debts, did you?”