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off her sexual engine. It was just about this time that she discovered eagles. Birds, not the group. Since birds don’t seem to thrive at rock concerts and you don’t see many zonked bird-watchers, it seemed like a healthy outlet to me. It worked in a way. She traded one obsession for another. She swapped the music for bodybuilding and eagles. The sex stayed.’
    â€˜Do I detect a little bitterness here?’ Lyon asked.
    â€˜Hell, yes! We both resent our pompous half-brother making decisions concerning our lifestyles. He decides what is permissible and punishes us financially if we defy him. Our granddaddy who set the terms of the trust should be dug up and a stake pounded through his heart. We’d both sell our souls to be out from under Morgan.’
    â€˜And Rina feels the same?’
    â€˜Jesus, yes! Don’t get her started on the subject. The only reason she’s here tonight is to help me force Morgan to set the exact date for the financial distribution.’
    â€˜Rina’s not a Dead Head anymore, she’s creating a successful business, and her work with an endangered species is certainly a positive step. What reasons does Morgan give for not making the distribution?’
    Clay stared intently out the window as if answers floated in the reflections mirrored there. ‘I tried to resolve that last month. He told me that I still wore brown shoes and Rina had gone to the birds. Brown shoes and eagles were the obstacles to our getting the money.’
    â€˜I don’t understand that non sequitur,’ Lyon said.
    â€˜Morgan insists that there are certain kinds of anal retentive people who wear brown shoes after five at night. Since I fall into that category, I am pegged as retentive. It is his responsibility to me and the trust to change my personality so that I stop hoarding feces, bank accounts and IRS receipts.’
    â€˜In other words,’ Lyon said. ‘The problem in Morgan’s eyes is that your sister wants to give her money to an endangered species, and you don’t want to spend any of yours?’
    â€˜You got it. When I hear contradictions like that, my accountant’s mind rings an alarm,’ Clay said.
    â€˜Have you tried discussing this with him?’
    â€˜Come on, Lyon. You know what a pompous ass he is. You don’t discuss with big brother. He allows you an opinion as long as it doesn’t disagree with his authoritative decree. His democracy gives Rina and me one vote to his six.’
    Lyon laughed. ‘That’s just about how he runs the English department at the university.’
    â€˜He’s gone too far this time,’ the accountant said. ‘The situation has reached such serious dimensions that I’m afraid something violent could happen.’
    Lyon tried to manufacture a reassuring smile, but was afraid that it probably appeared more of a grimace. ‘Garth and Ernest may exhibit a lot of bluster and spout words, but they’ve fought each other and Morgan for years. They are upset right now over a new man coming into the department, but I don’t think that they would do anything violent to your brother.’
    Clay laughed. ‘If they don’t get him, there’s another candidate in my sister and that muscle-bound hunk she shares her cave with. Skee will do anything Rina tells him, and I’m worried about what she might be whispering in his ear recently.’
    â€˜New England families have argued over trust funds for generations,’ Lyon said. ‘If even a small percentage of those fights ended in mayhem, our cemeteries would be overflowing.’
    â€˜The money in the trust was nurtured for two centuries. Sea captains chased whale or sailed two-year trips on the China Run. When the manufacturing age began, they invested in the mills. Now, our half-brother is involved in the worst possible New England sin.’ His voice lowered to a hoarse tone that signified his desperation.