“I knew about the takeover attempt. I know that obsessions do strange things to people.” Daniel reached over to take her hand. “How can I help you, Lauren?”
Lauren looked into his eyes and realized that he wasn’t holding any grudges against her for her disgraceful behavior of the past several years. “You’re a very decent man, Daniel McKnight. I’m really sorry for the way I treated you. Adam wanted to invite you to our wedding. I was the one who said no. Can you ever forgive me?
“There’s nothing to forgive, Lauren. Please let me help you, if I can.”
“I’m not sure that you can do anything. I think I just needed to ventilate. I won’t bother you any more with this.”
She rose to leave, but he gestured for her to sit back down.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I can do more for you than just listen. You can get a minister or an analyst to do that. I‘m offering you my friendship. You look like you can use a friend about now. I know people who can find out what happened to your jewelry. They are top-notch investigators. They are very thorough and very discrete. Do you have pictures and descriptions of each piece?”
She reached into her handbag and removed an envelope. “This is the information we put together for our insurance company, a few years back. The pictures are very good, as are the descriptions of the pieces.”
“Give me a few days. I’ll ask the investigators to look around. I’ll get back to you if they need to have any additional information.”
“How can I thank you?”
Daniel slid next to her on the bench and gently placed his arm around her. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Lauren. We’ll get to the bottom of this. I’ll call you by the end of the week. I should have something by then.”
They walked together to the parking lot. As she got into her Mercedes, she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Daniel contacted a friend, Walter Madding, at Palentine Investigations, a P.I. firm he often used to do background checks. He sent the jewelry information to them by courier and requested a thorough check of Adam Hampton III’s personal and professional life. After all, what did he really know about the man that Adam had become? It was many years since they had beers together.
It only took three days for Walter to trace the jewelry to a private collector who paid three hundred thousand dollars for the collection. There was a direct link to Adam. The background check on Adam uncovered an application for a seven hundred thousand dollar mortgage on their summer house, an application bearing the signature of Adam Hampton III and Lauren S. Hampton. He faxed Daniel a copy.
Daniel and Lauren met again at the park bench. She calmly read the report and looked at the mortgage application. “This isn’t my signature,” she told him.
Daniel put the envelope down on the bench. He took her hands in his. “Lauren, my investigator says that the jewelry was bought in good faith by a collector. The man refuses to give them up under any conditions. Walter thinks that the man may have some legal standing. As for the summer house, since you and Adam still own it, the only issue is the commission of fraud and what you want to do about that. Adam is on very shaky ground there. As I look at all of this, my advice to you is to retain a good lawyer. I can recommend several if you’re interested.”
“Do they handle divorces too?”
He was both surprised and pleased by her question. “Are you sure you want to go that route?”
“How can you ask me that? You can see what kind of a man he became. Do you expect me to stay married to that lying, thieving snake in the grass?”
“No, I suppose not. To answer your question, yes I do know an excellent divorce lawyer. His name is Bert Wiegans. He’s one of the best in the area. I can probably get you in to see him as early as tomorrow if you’re ready to move forward right away.
“I am!”
Adam offered no resistance to Lauren’s divorce motion. He agreed to her settlement demands including re-mortgaging the summer house solely in his name.
Shortly after her divorce. Daniel started dating Lauren. The relationship was described as “just good friends”, although a month ago, on his fiftieth birthday they traveled together to Las Vegas.. Two suites were reserved; only one was used.
Chapter 11
Adam ushered Marcia into his office. He made no overt gestures of affection, knowing that she would understand that anything personal between them was not to be reflected in their professional relationship. His wardrobe selection of the day included a Brooks Brothers black wool suit, lavender button down shirt and a Raffaello checkered tie. These were complemented by two-tone Fratelli loafers. He took note of her approval as she scanned him from head to toe. Adam, at thirty three, had retained much of his youthful appearance.
“How are you today?”
“Just fine, Adam. I’m anxious to hear about my new assignment. I could never in my wildest dreams have imagined having the great Kane Masterson reporting to me.”
Adam looked a little annoyed at her definition of Kane as ‘great.’ “He puts his pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us do. Anyway, if he was as great as everyone thinks, he wouldn’t be in the fix he’s in, now would he?”
Marcia backed off, “I certainly can’t argue with that.” She sat down in a plush side chair next to Adam’s desk. She clicked her pen, and flipped open the note pad. “Do you have any special instructions for me regarding Mister Kane Masterson?
“You bet I do. You know how much I hate that man. I’m convinced that he contributed to my father’s collapse. Dad would never have ignored the business if it hadn’t been for the failure to take over Preston. The playboy lifestyle he adopted was only a facade to cover up how much the loss was tearing him apart. Eventually it just got to be too much for him. I blame it all on Kane Masterson, the man that kept him from his dream. Since I took over the reins here at Hampton Industries, a day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t taken at least one step toward getting revenge on him. To that end, I have a list of instructions for you.
“The most important thing is that he is not to have an ID. I want him to check in at the front desk every day. He is to be escorted by an armed guard to either your office or his cubicle. He is to have no access to the copy room. If he needs any copies he’ll have to get them through you. I’ve arranged for his computer to have limited access to operational data. You will decide what his daily assignments will be. Any visitors he might have must be cleared by you in advance.”
He stopped for a minute as Marcia caught up with her notes. “Elegant Sportswear is the ‘plum’ in this deal. I have to admit that they run circles around Hampton Sportswear, but together, they will be the industry leader. That’s why I want you to work with Masterson to bring it all together. His input is essential.”
“I really appreciate this opportunity. I know how important this is to you. Don’t worry, I’ll make good use of Kane Masterson. It sounds like you expect me to monitor his activities down to and including his potty breaks.”
With a straight face he said, “Speaking of potty breaks, do you think it would be out of order if I hired someone to act as a homosexual and accost him in the men’s room?”
Marcia’s eyes darted from the notebook to Adam.
He looked serious for about ten seconds, then burst into a raucous laugh.