“It’s the damn waiting that is getting to me. I want to leave this town, but I can’t until this matter is cleared up. Don’t you have any clue about which way they’ll go?”
“None whatsoever. I just got back to the office, but Tom kept me current while I was recuperating. Once an official inquiry begins, even the most reliable contacts clam up. They all have their careers to worry about. Thanks to some recent bad press, the SEC is taking leaks very seriously.”
“I hear you, but I don’t like it one bit. Call me as soon as you hear anything. I guess I can be patient for one more day. By the way, shouldn’t you be taking things easy for awhile? It’s only been six days.”
“Thanks for your concern. It seems they do things differently these days. They want you on your feet as quickly as possible. They figured out you heal better with some activity than without. Don’t worry, I’m following my doctor’s orders to the letter. As long as I limit my physical activity, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you the moment I hear anything. Thanks for being so patient, Kane. I’m betting they’ll drop the investigation soon and you’ll be free to get on with your life. Say hello to Marcia and your mother for me, and thank them for the get-well cards and flowers. They were really appreciated.”
“You bet!”
Kane was finally alone with his thoughts, This SEC nonsense will be over soon. I just have to play along for a little while longer and continue to look like the abused party. I can do that. One thing , is for sure, I’m going to leave Old Brooking with Marcia, but I’ll be back and when I am, I’ll be in the driver’s seat.
Kane called his mother and Marcia to update them. Neither were surprised by the lack of definitive news. They both knew that Adam Hampton was behind the bogus investigation and that he would continue to do all he could to muddy the waters in an attempt to destroy Kane’s reputation.
Evelyn was especially unsettled by the news. Her mind became a fertile ground for retribution as she contemplated taking justice into her own hands. That man can’t help himself. He just doesn’t know when to stop. He thinks he can terrorize people and they won’t fight back. Well, Kane may be too much of a gentleman to fight dirty, but being a good mother, I will stop at nothing to protect my son, which the Hamptons are about to find out.
Marcia was not surprised that the attacks by Adam continued. During her several years at Hampton Industries, she observed that Adam’s II and III could be ruthless in their dealings with people. It didn’t matter whether it was a customer, friend, employee or business associate that was involved. If they felt that someone crossed the line, they struck back with a vengeance totally disproportionate to the alleged transgression. Once she asked Adam why he was being so harsh with a female employee who had only misplaced a file. His reply was, “I don’t ever want her to forget the lesson that I’m teaching her. There is no place in this business for slipshod work.”
Well, two can play that game, Marcia thought, as she mentally pondered what had transpired since the problems with Adam began just a few days ago. I’m the target of some pretty vicious rumors. I’ve had harassing phone calls, money I have coming to me has been frozen indefinitely, Kane is accused of stock fraud and someone has been following us again. Maybe what I have in store for the Hamptons is disproportionate to all that, but according to their rules, it’s the only way to assure that they learn their lesson.
Chapter 31
Adam had a busy morning on the phone with customers and suppliers of Elegant Sportswear. He was using the den as his office, hoping to take advantage of the time usually spent commuting, to tackle the growing list of concerns. The merger between Hampton Industries and Preston Industries was going well with over half of the companies fully integrated, but Elegant Sportswear’s consolidation into Hampton Sportswear was not one of them. When he fired Marcia, Adam attempted to tackle the remaining work himself but discovered very quickly that he had been away from day-to-day operations too long. He was having difficulty grasping the work-flow differences between the two companies, especially since Elegant was years ahead, technologically. To make matters worse, the vice-president of Elegant had left the company two weeks after the takeover announcement was made and Adam’s decision to push for the unionization of the surviving Elegant workers resulted in work slowdowns on several of the garment lines. Worst of all, the production at the Neo-Weaves plant was involved.
Adam spent ten minutes on the phone with Porter Stinson, CEO of Hampton Sportswear, reviewing where things stood. When the call was finished, he dialed Bill Somerset, their vice-president of sales.
“What can I do for you Mister Hampton?”
“Well, for one thing, you can start by calling me Adam. I was speaking to Porter about re-assigning your work on the sportswear merger to someone else. I need you to be the new CEO of Bretton Trading. What do think of that?”
“I don’t know what to say, Adam.”
“A simple ‘yes’ will suffice.”
“Well then, yes, of course. I appreciate your faith in me. Bretton is a real opportunity. When I heard that Marcia Bloom resigned I knew that a hugh vacuum had been created. I never thought I’d be considered to move over there.”
“Porter is assigning Walter Turner to cover your current responsibilities. Get on over to Porter’s office right away. Make sure that Turner has all the files he’ll need to finish the sportswear merger. See me first thing in the morning and we’ll get started on Bretton. Call me at home if you have any further questions.”
Adam felt confident about the promotion. Having a proven executive to pick up at Bretton Trading would reduce many of the demands for his time. He visited the bar in the corner of his den and mixed a Rusty Nail. After several sips, it was back to business. I better get to this list while I still have my wits about me.
The first call was to Gil Parsons to advise him that the unionization at the Elegant Sportswear plants was now back on track. He listened to Gil’s protests about the loss of representation at the Old Brooking sports stadiums. He assured him that he would make it up to him with a generous check made out to the union’s rainy day fund. Lately, calls to Gil ended up with a donation to something or someone.
Call two was to his contact at the SEC. Unfortunately the investigation of Kane Masterson was winding down. The decision to close their inquiry had already been made. All that was remaining was the official statement that would be released the next day. What else can I do to that sneaky bastard? Once he’s cleared of any wrongdoing, he and that whore will leave town. I’m not quite finished with them, yet. I’m convinced that he propped up the price of Preston’s stock by not divulging the pending loss of key customers. He had to know about it. I just need to sow some seeds with the SEC to get them to reopen their investigation. For all I know, Marcia may have been covering for him all along. I relied on her to check on his integrity and all the time she was going to bed with him. Why didn’t I realize that sooner. She was spending all that time with him while making excuses as to why she couldn’t see me. What a blind fool I was. Well, I’m going to get back to the SEC. They need to investigate that European Consortium. Washington is interested whenever the U.S, suffers a loss of business to overseas companies. The SEC will get to the truth and when they do, those two will get what they deserve. He made the call and received assurances that the there would be a full scale investigation into the new charges.