On the Edge

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On the Edge Page 53

by Parker Hudson


  “They certainly plan to. They claim that the purpose of the show is to honor our emergency response personnel, which is an admirable goal. But the finished product appears to honor violence and death.”

  Tom Morgan spoke. “You mentioned on the phone to Dr. Morris that you had some ideas concerning this show. Is now the time to hear them?”

  “Absolutely,” Richard answered. And they spent the next two hours, including lunch, discussing “911 Live” and Richard's thoughts on the show. By the end of their time together, they had formulated a plan, using some of Richard's ideas and some from his three hosts, which would involve a trip to New York for the two attorneys.

  “Hello.”

  “Mrs. Tomlinson?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hi. This is Amy Bryant. How are you?”

  “I'm fine Amy. How are you this morning?”

  “Oh, I'm fine, thank you. Listen, I'm calling from Kathy Thomas’ office. She's going to call your husband in a few minutes, but I asked and she said it was OK for me to call you. I wanted you to know that I've been thinking and praying about this decision for several days…and I've finally decided that I want you and your husband to raise my baby.”

  Kate Tomlinson's heart leapt with joy. “Oh Amy, really? Oh, praise God! I've been praying too; and I felt so good about our meeting, like He wanted us to meet. That's so wonderful, dear. I promise you—and Him—that we'll love that baby and do everything we can for him or her. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how happy you've made us.”

  “I feel really good about it too. Knowing that you believe in God means a lot to me. There has to be a reason why I'm going through this, and I think I can get through it better if I know the baby is going to be in your home.”

  “Thank you, Amy. You can be sure that we know your baby is a gift straight from God, and we'll treat him or her that way.”

  “I'm going to visit my cousin in a few days. After that, do you think it would be OK for me to visit you, if I pay for my ticket? Just for a day or two? I want to see where he'll be, just so I can visualize the home he'll be in and the yard he'll play in. Do you think that would be OK?”

  “As far as I'm concerned, it's perfect. Let's let Patrick and Kathy talk, and then I'll call you back later at home. We might even be able to find an airline ticket for you! Should I tell Patrick to call Kathy at the office?”

  “Yes, she's here and waiting to talk to him.”

  “I'll call and give him the good news. Then he'll call you. And Amy, thank you again. And God bless you.”

  Monday evening Kristen sat working at her breakfast room table, the summer sunset still gathering strength outside her balcony window. She had finished delivering the accepted contract on the McEver home back to the Hawkinses, so that sale appeared to be going well. And now she was going through her prospects file for a home she expected to list for sale in the same neighborhood. But she was not alone. Torgo, the demon for her neighborhood, was playing his part in Alhandra's plan for Richard.

  I really enjoyed Morningside Church yesterday morning, she found herself thinking. I can see why I've heard so much about it. But those folks really believe. Like the people at those revivals when I was a girl. And like my parents, praying for me every day! It must be nice to have that kind of simple, unsophisticated faith. I doubt I could ever really be like that. Life's too complicated to believe that sort of simple stuff. Still, though, there is an attraction.

  And Richard. He looked good yesterday. But what does he see in that Janet? I mean she's OK, but nothing great. They're so ‘homey’ together—I never thought of him that way. Smiling, with a mental image of Richard pouncing on her in the bed in Atlanta, she heard a voice say, I guess I can see why not! She thought for a moment about Peter in San Francisco; they had enjoyed another three day “fling” together when he was in town following up on the securities story. But he lived so far away.

  Maybe I ought to go to Morningside Church more often. Worst case, I'll meet some other halfway decent people, maybe even an eligible bachelor! Maybe even get some business—it's not exactly the poorest church in the city. Best case, Richard will get used to seeing me, and somehow we'll wind up back together, permanently…Yes, I think some more Sundays at Morningside won't hurt!

  When Richard had called Mary, his secretary, from the airport in Minneapolis the day before, she told him about Amy's choice of the Tomlinsons to adopt her baby.

  “That's wonderful, Mary. Please thank Kathy Thomas, and when I get home I'll drop by the Bryants’.”

  “And one more thing,” she added. “Bruce McKinney has called twice today. He says he and Mr. Smith need to talk to you just as soon as possible.”

  Richard then tried to catch Bruce at his office, but they did not speak until the evening. Bruce sounded terrible on the telephone. They set a meeting for 9:00 the next morning in Richard's office.

  TUESDAY, JULY 25 – When Bruce and David entered his office, Richard knew something was very wrong. David was slow, almost lethargic, and collapsed in the chair in front of Richard's desk. Bruce was wound up, like a prize fighter with no one to fight, looking as if he had not slept for several days. Despite Richard's invitation to sit, Bruce elected to stand behind a chair, as Richard took his seat, and Bruce began to speak.

  “Richard, this is it. We're finished. I don't know how we'll pay you, but we've got to shut down our company.” Bruce spoke quickly, as if he had rehearsed these lines and was almost out of breath.

  Richard frowned from behind his desk. “Wait a minute, guys. It can't be that bad. You've got a legitimate cash crisis. Maybe we have to file a reorganization for short-term relief from your creditors. If Patrick will work with us, and you can get over the negative PR, a bankruptcy judge will surely grant our request on the strength of your contract. The cavalry is on the way in; we just don't know exactly when. But that's no reason to shut down completely—Unless you think you can't survive the bad press, which admittedly could be significant.”

  Bruce began pacing behind the two chairs; David looked down at his hands. Richard could not remember seeing anyone look more defeated.

  “That PR we could probably survive,” Bruce said, turning and standing behind David's chair, looking at Richard. “But not when they find out that we've been borrowing money for years, using clients’ stock as collateral.”

  “What?” Richard exclaimed, sitting up straight in his chair.

  “It's what we asked you about on Thursday,” Bruce continued. “The ‘un-cricket’ part. For several years we've been using escrowed stocks and bonds, which we're supposed to keep untouched for our clients in our safe, to pledge as collateral for loans at the bank. Right now we owe $150,000, due this week, and we can't cover it. We might be able to pay the interest and roll the note over for sixty days, but there's another little problem.”

  “Wait a minute,” Richard interrupted. “Surely what you're talking about is not just a business problem. I'm not a securities expert, but what you've done must be illegal.”

  “Bingo, Richard! I knew all those degrees on your wall must be good for something. Your old clients McKinney and Smith are crooks! Or so everyone will say.”

  David Smith slumped even further in his chair and looked almost dead. Richard knew he had to stop and think, but Bruce did not give him the chance.

  “And the only reason we're telling you this and having to destroy twenty years of hard work, other than the fact that Tomlinson is a Boy Scout and you're a Christian, is that tomorrow the National Securities Examination Association is going to pull an unscheduled audit on us—it's the first time we've ever been selected for what they call a ‘high level check of the staff auditors’—and we only found out about it last week.

  “Unfortunately, the firm with which we usually swap securities to handle these audits is having its regular quarterly audit this week as well. So it can't loan us the stocks we need to cover. And tomorrow or Thursday the auditors will go to Mother McKinney's cupboard, and a whole bunch
of the bones will be missing. And they won't like that at all. Not at all…”

  As Bruce finished, he looked over and past Richard, to the view outside, as if he were in a daze.

  “You mean there's another firm involved with you? A conspiracy to defraud?” Richard asked.

  Bruce was silent for a moment, just staring. “What. Oh, yeah. Another firm. Far West Securities. A conspiracy. That's good. Hear that, David? We've been in a conspiracy all this time!”

  “That's just legal jargon, as you know,” Richard said, standing up himself. “Bruce, David, I'm sorry for both of you, and your firm. But this is not just a business matter any more. I've got to get help from guys who handle this sort of problem on a more regular basis. I'm going to call in Court Shullo and Tim Granger. OK?”

  “Whatever. By the way, Far West is going to be in for a little surprise by Friday. We haven't told them about our unscheduled audit problem yet. We figured that we could offer to ‘cooperate’ or whatever you call it. Maybe the law will be a little easier on us. What do you think?” Bruce asked, still staring out the window.

  “I don't know. I don't know,” Richard said, walking back into his office after asking Mary to summon his two associates.

  He walked over beside his desk but remained standing, so that he could look Bruce in the eye.

  “Let me ask you something. Were you going to go ahead and take Patrick Tomlinson's cash, or let me guarantee your loan, knowing that you've been doing this illegal ‘swapping’ for years?”

  Defiantly, Bruce turned toward Richard. “Of course. If either one of you had done the right thing—the sensible thing—we wouldn't be in this mess. We would have paid off all of our debt, not just the part collateralized by these securities, and that would have been the end of it. We would never have had to do it again, and no one ever would have known. But you and Tomlinson were too squeamish—too good and principled—to make a sensible investment. So now David and I are finished, not to mention our families and employees!”

  “Wait a minute, Bruce,” Richard countered. “Anyone at Far West could have turned you in, even years from now, just as you're about to do to them, and then Patrick's money or my guarantee would be down the tubes. Did you ever…”

  Richard was interrupted by a knock, as Court and Tim came into the office. They sensed the tension and closed the door behind them. Richard stopped talking, turned around to look out the window, and then addressed his associates, turning back as he began.

  “Court, Tim, meet Bruce McKinney and David Smith. They've been clients here since we started the firm. Bruce is also my neighbor. Unfortunately they've run into a couple of big problems beyond my recent experience to handle, and we need your help. Let's all move over to my conference table.”

  The five men sat at the small table in Richard's office. David looked as if he should almost be carried across the room. Richard described to Court and Tim what he had just learned from his clients. If they were shocked, they didn't show it, but instead began taking copious notes on their legal pads.

  An hour later, after many questions and exchanges of details, with David only occasionally speaking and even Bruce starting to run out of energy, Court suggested that they take a break for an hour, to give the three attorneys a chance to discuss their options.

  “Why don't you both come back at noon, and we'll have some sandwiches brought in?” Richard said. “And then we can discuss what to do. We may have some steps for you to take right after lunch, since the regulators are due to arrive in the morning.”

  Nancy Bryant had set aside that day to drive Amy to her cousin Catherine's home. Her niece was due to deliver her baby any day, and all the Bryants believed that it would be a good change for Amy to live for a couple of weeks with Catherine and her husband.

  “She can be a great help to Catherine when the baby comes,” Tom said when he and Nancy discussed it again the previous night. “And living the reality of two little children may cement Amy's resolve to let the Tomlinsons take her baby, when the time comes, in case she has any doubts.”

  Nancy was very proud of all that Amy and her friends had accomplished in the past month and told her so as they drove down the interstate. Amy was signed up to take birthing classes in six weeks, and Susan was going to be her primary coach, with Bobbie and Tom as substitutes. Nancy felt good about the Tomlinsons as well, and she believed they would give Amy's baby—she couldn't bring herself to say ‘my grandchild’—a good and loving home.

  “And thanks for encouraging us to go to Morningside Church on Sunday, Amy,” Nancy said. “I remembered feelings I haven't felt since I was a teenager myself. That sermon was really powerful, and the singing was wonderful. I plan to go back, even while you are at Catherine's.’’

  Amy smiled and thought again about the amazing differences since Susan helped her decide not to have the abortion.

  When Bruce McKinney and David Smith returned to Richard's office a little after noon, they found sandwiches and sodas on the credenza, and the three attorneys at work around the table. The energy levels of the two men seemed to have evened out during their absence. Bruce was more subdued, and David looked as if he would survive the afternoon.

  As they picked up their sandwiches and took their seats, Court began, “We've made a preliminary checklist of things we have to do and bases we have to cover between now and tomorrow afternoon, if possible. There's a lot to do, and it won't be pretty. We're into damage control here, trying to win for you the best possible position before the federal attorneys. With your approval, Tim and I will go see a friend we know in the securities office at the Federal Courthouse, and we'll work to plea bargain the lightest punishment we can in exchange for your voluntarily coming forward and cooperating with them.

  “If you agree to that approach, then you need to tell us in great detail all that you've been doing, so we can communicate the situation clearly and they don't later try to nail you with something new. If that all appears to be going OK for you, then we'll call you here, and you can set in motion the other items on the list for today; and one or both of us will greet the auditors with you at your office in the morning.”

  “Please be sure to emphasize to the federal attorneys how voluntary it all is,” Bruce said bitterly.

  After spending another hour with the four men, Richard temporarily excused himself to work on other matters while Court and Tim made their final preparations to head to the federal attorney's office. He stopped by Kathy Thomas’ office and found her finishing a draft agreement for the Bryant-Tomlinson adoption.

  “You've helped to make several people very happy, Kathy, and I really appreciate your work.”

  “Well, we're not finished yet, but I do feel really good about this one. After I finish this draft, I'm going to fax it to Mr. Bryant for his review and then to Mr. Tsongas to go over with Mr. Tomlinson. I don't foresee any problems,” Kathy replied.

  “After what I've been through this morning, Kathy, I may quit corporate work and come help you make people happy!” Richard smiled, as he left her to work.

  Walking down the hall toward the law library, Richard realized how close he had come to guaranteeing a $500,000 loan for McKinney and Smith. “If it hadn't been for the advice of Court and Janet, I would have done it,” he thought to himself. “And now I'd probably be in almost the same boat they're in. And if it wasn't me, then it was almost the Tomlinsons. What if that deal had closed? Good Lord, I wonder what I would have done if all of this had then come out!?!”

  When those thoughts sank in, Richard found a quiet corner in the law library and said a lengthy prayer of thanks for protection and for believers like Court, Janet, and Kate. And he asked for God's help for Bruce, David, and their families.

  Janet was surprised to see Richard pull into their garage a little after six that evening. She had only just arrived from the station herself, and she had not had time to add the vegetables to the roast beef Susan had started an hour earlier.

  “I like your new summer
hours,” Janet greeted him as he came through the door. “Are we going to play tennis before dinner?”

  “I wish,” Richard said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “In a minute we need to go next door to the McKinneys. I promised Bruce we would go over while he breaks some news to Diane that isn't particularly good.”

  “Does it involve you?”

  “Only as his attorney, thanks to some earlier advice from you and Court. But it's pretty serious, and I told him we'd be there by 6:15.”

  “Susan,” Janet said, walking to the door of the den, “can you please cut these vegetables and add them to the roast while your father and I go over to the McKinneys?”

  “Sure. Hi, Dad. Listen, I had a great time with Eric Hawkins last night. He's cool. He should do real well at Northpark.”

  “I'm glad to hear it. And I'm glad you've found someone to keep Drew honest. Nothing like a little competition…we should be back by about seven. Where's Tommy?”

  “He's still at the pool with Brent and the younger Hawkins boys. Patti called me at work and dropped them off about three,” Janet answered.

  As Richard and Janet walked down their own driveway on the way to the McKinneys’ home, Janet asked Richard what had happened.

  “I'd rather you hear it directly from Bruce, but it's not good. I'm afraid there are criminal violations involved.”

  “Oh, no. You mean prison?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Then we'd better pray for them.” As they stood outside the McKinneys’ front door, before knocking, they quietly said a prayer for the McKinney family and for the Smith family as well.

  Diane came to the front door. “Hi. Come on in,” she smiled as she opened the door. “Bruce called a little while ago and said he was held up at the club but that you had some things to tell me. Is everything OK?”

 

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