Hampton Manor (14 page)

There was silence on the other end. Then finally, “You want me to investigate your own father?”

“That’s right. Does that present a problem for you?”

“No, of course not, it just caught me by surprise. Is there something specific you want us to look for?”

“Yes! I want you to look into every relationship he had with women, especially with married women. I want to know their names and everything you can find out about them and their families. This will be a monumental job, but my father kept meticulous records. You’ll have file copies of memos, personal papers, his bank statements and appointment calendars. to go through. He was away from home for long periods at a time when I was young, From what I’ve heard, he was hell raiser back then, but what I am looking for should be in evidence somewhere in those papers.”

“It sounds like I’ll need to assign a lot of people to this. It’s gonna be costly.”

“I don’t care about the expense. Get me those names, and make sure that this is kept on the q.t. I’ll make his private records for that year available for pick-up at our long-term storage facility. You’ll need to check them very carefully.”

“We’ll do the best we can, but this kind of an investigation will requires a certain amount of candor.”

“Don’t tell anyone any more than you need to and do it as quickly as possible.”

“You can count on me Mister Hampton.”

Chapter 20

Adam was the first to reach his office. Marcia and Kane showed up with three bankers boxes full of files slightly before 10 o‘clock.

“Good Morning, Adam”

“Good Morning, Marcia.”

The men nodded perfunctorily. Coffee service was wheeled in and all three filled their cups, picked up a donut and chose a seat at the round meeting table. Marcia presented the sales and revenue projections. She was interrupted several times by Adam as he rechecked the data on a hand held calculator. Her analysis was flawless and brought them to the same conclusions that she had given Adam earlier that morning.

Adam sat quietly for a few minutes ruminating over what the next step would be. He glared at Kane and finally said, “Masterson, do you expect me to believe that you didn’t know that this was going to happen. Any executive worth his salt would have foreseen a defection of this magnitude. It doesn’t make any sense that you missed it.”

Marcia, looked at Adam with disbelief.
Why did he say that? I told him that Kane couldn’t have known anything in advance. All the companies verified that. Sometimes Adam has a real stubborn streak in him. I don’t like him when he’s like this. I hope that he doesn’t do anything stupid to assuage his bruised ego.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mister Hampton. I wish I had known. We might have been able to save them. I am as shocked as you are about this. They were all good customers. They paid their invoices on time. That consortium made them a damned good offer to get them to turn. One good thing is that only one of them was a Neo-Weaves customer. Any more and it would have been a disaster. This change must have been in the works well before Hampton announced that they had enough stock to take over Preston. So don’t blame yourself for them leaving. It is obvious that there wasn’t any way either of us could have prevented it from happening.”

Adam heard him out, but the flushing of his face presaged what was coming. “Spare me the speeches, Masterson. I’m not buying it. Why should I blaming myself for anything, but I know in my gut that you hand in this, somehow. I’ve decided that your continued involvement in the merger is counterproductive. So, I’m releasing you from your commitment to us. I want you off our property immediately. Get out, now!”

Marcia stood up and glared at Adam. “What are you doing,? Kane has worked harder than anyone during the past month to make this merger work. I told you that I was assured that he couldn’t have known about this in advance. I need his help to maximize the potential of the expanded Hampton Sportswear line.”

“I’ll give you all the additional analysts you need them, but I want that man out of here, now.”

Kane gathered up his personal laptop and headed for the door. He turned to Marcia. “I thank you for being the civil one at this company. Keep on in the direction you’re headed and it will all work out. This company will do just fine in the long run because of people like you and in spite of its unstable upper management.”

He smiled at Adam, turned and left the office.

Marcia wanted to go after Kane, but thought better of it. Instead she turned to Adam. “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you realize how much more difficult it is going to be without his input Without the VP and now Kane, I’m going to have one hell of a time making this merger work. Sometimes I don’t understand what motivates you.” She left the office and asked Adam’s secretary to have the file boxes moved to her office.

Adam called the security desk to check that Kane. He followed up with strict instructions that Kane was banned from ever entering the building.

Kane returned to the Belmonte and switched his room billing to his personal account. The front desk had already prepared the new signature card when Adam called to cancel any future charges to the Hampton account.
 

Adam’s impulsiveness had taken Kane by surprise. He hadn’t expect to be cut loose, especially by the man who had warned him that he planned to extract every last drop of his blood. He wanted to see Marcia before he made any concrete plans, but decided against talking to her at her office in the fear that Adam would find a way to penalize her as well. Instead, he called his mother to give her an update on his experience with Adam Hampton.

Evelyn Littleton didn’t take the news graciously. “I warned you to be careful with that son-of-a-bitch. I don’t know how you kept from punching his lights out.”

“There was nothing to be gained by doing that, although I must admit that I was tempted to wipe that smug look off his face. There’s more satisfaction in knowing that he’s going to have his hands full when more customers jump ship. The word will get around fast. They’ll find out, over time, that Hampton isn’t as nice to do business with as I was. Well, that’s behind me now. I’ve got to move forward.”

“So, what are your plans, now?”

“Well first, you’ll be glad to know that I have a love interest in my life. Her name is Marcia Bloom. She’s the lady I’ve been working with on the merger.”

“How could you be interested in her when she’s working for that man?”

“What? Did that just come from the woman who’s been bugging me for years to date more. Aren’t you the one wants more grandchildren running around? Look, I’m no longer obligated to Hampton and she can go out with anyone she wants to. She turned out to be a very special lady, she’s nothing like him. Besides, I’m thinking of moving away from Connecticut. I can start a new business anywhere in the country. I think that this could be the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. We haven’t talked about anything like that, but I felt a closeness growing as we worked together over the last month. I’m hoping that she’ll want to go with me. I intend to find out tonight.”

Evelyn was quiet for a while. Finally she asked, “When did you decide all this?”

“I’ve been thinking about it since I lost the company. I’ve got to do something with my life. I don’t see any opportunities in New England that interest me. Anyway, it’s probably best for me to make a fresh new start away from Connecticut. Having Marcia with me will make it that much sweeter.”

Her voice had an air of sadness as she said, “I guess I’ve always known that one day you’d be leaving Connecticut, but I’ve dreaded the day it would happen.” She got quiet for a minute and then finally spoke, “Of course, you’re right. You go get that girl and make a life for yourself. Goodness knows you deserve it.”

Evelyn was careful to mask her real feelings as she thought,
I’m
sure
going
to
miss
him
,
but
he
needs
to
spread
h
is
wings. He’ll do all right whatever he decides to do.

“Thanks, Mom. You know I’ll come back as often as I can and you will always be welcome to come and visit. It would do you well to get out of this town more often.”

“Have you thought about what you will do if your young lady doesn’t share your plan for the future?”

“If that should happen, I’d be heartbroken, but I know that either way, I have to get out of this town.”

“Well, let’s not borrow trouble. She’d have be out of her mind not to want to run off with you.”

“I hope your right. Let’s get together for lunch tomorrow. We can talk more.”

“I’d like that. Why don’t you come over here. We can order in like we used to.”

“Sounds great, Mom. I’ll see you tomorrow, then, around noon.”

Kane took a shower and watched a talk show on TV until 5 p.m.. By 6 he was parked in front of the Sedgwick Arms. He buzzed Marcia’s suite but there was no answer. He was prepared to wait as long as he had to. At six thirty Marcia drove up next to his car. Her face lit up when she recognized him. She waved and motioned for him to follow her in. He parked next to her in the carport.

The gray sedan parked a block away in its customary out-of-the-line-of-vision location.

“I was going to call you, but I thought it was best not to make waves for you at your office. I thought it would be better if I met you out here.”

“I was going to call you at your hotel, but I was afraid that they might tell me you checked out and left town. I don’t know what I would have done, then. I hoped you would come here.”

“I could never leave without talking with you first. It might sound a little corny, but I thought we were kinda hitting it off. If it wasn’t for the constant scrutiny by Adam, I would have asked you out for dinner weeks ago.”

“Well, you’re a free man now. There’s nothing stopping you from asking me.”

Kane’s heart skipped a beat. He blurted out, “Would you go to dinner with me?”

Marcia smiled as she answered, “Your car or mine.”

“Mine, get in.” He reached over and opened the door.
 

The gray sedan followed at a safe distance. On the way to the restaurant she updated Kane on what happened after he left.

“I told him something to the effect that he was a jerk. Then I stormed out of his office. I don’t know how I got through the day. It wasn’t the same without you. I couldn’t wait until the day was over. Fortunately, Adam was smart enough to stay away from my office for the rest of the day.”

They agreed that when they got to the restaurant, business talk would be off limits. They had dinner at a supper club near the harbor. It took two bottles of wine to fully clear their minds of all of the day’s unpleasantness. They walked barefoot along the sandy beach and marveled at the crescent moon and sky full of twinkling stars. The figure in the shadows went unnoticed and the sound of the camera shutter went unheard. The chill of the night finally brought the stroll to an end and they returned to his car. As the car warmed up he turned to her and asked, “Have you ever given any thought to moving away from Connecticut?”

“I’ve lived here all my life, except for the time I was away at college. No, I’ve never really given it a thought. Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking. Now that I no longer own Preston Industries, I’ve got nothing to hold me here. I’ve spent most of my life in Connecticut, too, but there’s a great big world out there, full of opportunities. It’s time for me to explore them. Time to make a fresh new start.” Kane hesitated a moment and continued. “I thought that maybe you might want to share your future with me.”

She answered, hesitatingly, “Are you asking me what I think you‘re asking?”

“If you’re thinking that I’m asking you to make a life changing commitment, the answer is yes. During the last month I got to see the real Marcia Bloom. You were a bitch at first, I’ll give you that, but I know now where that originated. The day when you collapsed I started to see past the tough facade to the soft and gentle person that you really are. I knew then that we could hit it off together if given half a chance.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” she said, as she leaned forward.

It was a long passionate kiss. He reached forward and pulled her close. When they separated she looked out the window and noticed that a couple was watching the car.
 

“You better take me home before we get arrested.”

Kane put the car in gear and drove to her place.

The driver of the grey sedan put down his camera and followed. He was parked in the usual spot when he was relieved at four a.m. by an operative driving a blue coupe.

Inside the suite, Marcia’s head was nestled on Kane’s chest, both sound asleep after hours of unbridled passion. Their hunger for each other was satisfied, but future issues still remained unresolved.

Marcia left for work at 8 a.m. Kane followed a few minutes later. He noticed the blue sedan fall in behind Marcia’s car. He decided to join the procession to see if she was being followed. After a few minutes he knew that that was indeed the case. He called Marcia’s cell phone.”

“Yes, Kane.”

“Don’t do it right away, but in a few seconds, check your rear view. There’s a blue coupe that’s been on your tail since you left your suite. He’s made every turn you have since we got on the highway.