A few months later.

Tony Tolomei’s death caused quite a storm. That very same day, practically before news of Faithful Tony’s death had even spread, rumours of misconduct within the Company began to circulate. CEO Nick Key was questioned more than once, and investigators from the Securities Commission went through the Company’s affairs with a very fine-toothed comb. There were even rumours that Faithful Tony had been murdered.

The Company’s share price tumbled rapidly. By the following Monday, an hour before the market closed, it was lower than it had been in years, and the next day it halved again when Donald Ellis’s highly emotional and deeply suspicious obituary of Tony Tolomei was published.

The share price stabilised towards the end of trading on Tuesday, when Harmon, Lionard & Roscowill announced that it was buying shares on behalf of a client at one per cent below the price at the time of the announcement.

Between Friday and Tuesday, two-thirds of the Company’s value had vanished, and by Wednesday, when the share price had stabilised and recovered slightly, the shock had begun to bruise some of its largest institutional shareholders as well.

Then came the circus lawyers, demanding a total of sixty million in damages from the Company. A few days later, lawyers representing members of the circus audience followed with claims totalling three hundred million, and the share price dipped again. Harmon, Lionard & Roscowill once more announced the price it was prepared to pay, and once again the collapse stopped.

Powell, Dietz & Marcus administered Tony Tolomei’s estate and carried out all arrangements according to the instructions he had left behind. Those expecting a grand funeral in front of the white marble house were left waiting. Tony Tolomei was buried on his farm, in the same row as his dogs, and his grave was marked with a plaque just like theirs: first name, year of birth, year of death.

Before his death, Tony Tolomei had drawn up a detailed will, together with instructions that it was not to be opened until three months after the funeral. If Tony Tolomei’s death had shaken the Company, his will shook it all over again.

Tony Tolomei had been the Company’s largest individual shareholder, with a twelve-per-cent stake. He left those shares to Rosa Tolomei Buonacore, the granddaughter of his uncle who had moved back to Bragalone.

Mrs da Silva received the farm, and Joanne, the housekeeper, received his old family home. All his remaining property he left to three former colleagues: 40 per cent to Mrs Alma Weiss, 30 per cent to Mrs Maria da Silva, 20 per cent to Mr Johnsson-Little, and the remaining 10 per cent to a trust whose beneficiaries were the employees of the Company’s luxury-goods division.

The inheritance consisted of shares in Long-Tolomei American Italian Luxury—and that was when the real uproar began.

Long-Tolomei turned out to be a major shareholder in the Company. It had previously been public knowledge that Long-Tolomei owned just under two per cent of the Company’s shares. It had been established as a holding company when AIIT-Royal merged with the Company. Now it owned 19 per cent, and together with the shares Tony Tolomei had personally owned, the holdings amounted to almost a third of the Company.

Now Nick Key raised hell.

Had Tony Tolomei violated securities law?

It emerged that, at the time of the merger, Faithful Tony’s father, Frank Tolomei, had already filed notice with the Securities Commission of a standing purchase order and had instructed the brokers and lawyers handling the Company’s affairs that if the share price ever fell below the price at which the Company had been formed through the merger, Long-Tolomei was to buy shares at that price.

Those instructions had been given long before Tony Tolomei became the sole owner of Long-Tolomei American Italian Luxury, and Tony had never interfered with them. He had merely put more money into the company every year.

The offer had always been there, but the share price had not fallen low enough in thirty-three years. Because his cousin’s daughter had inherited the 12 per cent directly, while the remaining shares had only been acquired by Long-Tolomei American Italian Luxury after Tony’s death, the 20-per-cent mandatory takeover threshold had never been crossed.

At the Company’s next board meeting, there were only seven members. Among them were Mr Marcus of Powell, Dietz & Marcus, representing Rosa Tolomei Buonacore; Mrs Weiss; Mrs da Silva; and the Deputy CEO, Mr Lund