Hampton Manor

by K. J. Janssen

  Kane ignored Adam’s tone. He glanced again at the organization charts, hesitated a second and eventually replied, “Yes, it’s perfectly clear.”

  “Splendid! Then I want you to remove your personal things from this office by the end of the day. The building will be off-limits to you.”

  Hampton was enjoying the shock value of his pronouncements. He noticed Kane’s face beginning to flush. It was time for the coup de grace. “There is one more thing. This will be the last time we will meet face to face. You will deal only with Marcia Bloom, the vice-president I’ve selected to oversee the sportswear mergers. You are to report to her office at Bretton Trading at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I’ve given her full authority to direct your activities for the next six months.”

  Adam Hampton III had just had his “finest hour”. He picked up his briefcase and left the office, leaving a somewhat bewildered Kane Masterson in his wake.

  Kane sat there for several minutes. Then he went back to his desk and buzzed for his secretary. There was no answer. Damn that Adam Hampton, he couldn’t give me another hour of respectability. He went over to the wet-bar and mixed his own gin and tonic. He sat down on the sofa and enjoyed his drink. He smiled as he thought about the stellar performance he had just given. His college drama classes weren’t wasted after all. The pompous asshole actually thinks that he is hurting me with all this vindictiveness. We’ll see who has the last laugh. I just can’t wait until his empire comes crashing down around him. It will be well worth the price of admission. He called for some bankers boxes and spent the next hour filling them with his personal things. Kane spent a few minutes checking that he had everything, knowing that there would be no coming back later. He was in no hurry, but within a few minutes he surrendered his security pass and left the building with his personal possessions. As he exited the Preston Industries parking lot in his Lincoln Continental a feeling of calm came over him. He suppressed a smile as he thought, Anybody watching is getting a real eyeful. I’m sure Adam will be expecting a full report of my departure. No doubt he’ll also be viewing the surveillance tapes. I wish I could be there to see it. His resentment of me is so misplaced right now , but I’m certainly going to do everything in my power to justify it in the future.

  Phase one of Kane’s plan was now complete; on to Marcia Bloom and phase two.

  Chapter 9

  Marcia went directly home after leaving the office for the day. She busied herself with housework while she waited for the call from Adam. At 6:30 her phone rang and she saw his name and number on the screen. Excitedly, she pressed the on button.

  “Adam, how did it go?”

  “Better than I expected. Most of the division executives are on board. I think this is going be the smoothest takeover yet.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that. Are you back in town?”

  “Yes I just got home.”

  “Will you be coming over for a victory celebration?”

  “I don’t think I can make it tonight, as much as I really would like to. I’m going to have to go to the office to review some documents with Legal. We’ll be working all night. I’ll take a rain check, though. How about dinner tomorrow at Champs Elysees?”

  “That sounds great. After dinner we can come back here,” she said in a tone that held great promise.

  “There’s something I need to talk to you about, right now. I’ve decided to disconnect myself from further personal contact with Kane Masterson. I’ve asked each of our companies do deal directly with the respective Preston division heads to integrate their operations according to the organization charts I gave them. Since Preston doesn’t have a trading company, per se, I want you to handle the consolidation of Elegant Sportswear into Hampton Sportswear. Kane Masterson will report to you for the next six months. He will be solely in an advisory capacity. I took away his office at Preston and stripped him of any authority over their operations. I’m only tolerating him at all to assure a smooth transition and maybe to rub a little dirt in his face.”

  Marcia thought for a minute, So, sleeping with the boss has it’s perks.

  She asked, “How did he take it?”

  “He wasn’t too pleased. Apparently he had some preconceived idea of what his role would be, but he realizes that he doesn’t have any choice. He’s bound to us contractually for the next six months, I don’t know how he’ll react to taking orders from a woman, but we’ll soon find out. I’m sure it will be a first for him. I told him to report to you at your office at 10 tomorrow morning. See if you can set him up in a small cubicle somewhere, one suitable to his current status. If I had my druthers I’d dump his sorry ass right now, but I can’t risk anything falling through the cracks. I’ve waited too long for this to happen to let anything go wrong now. There will be too many eyes watching, especially our major stockholders.”

  “Don‘t sweat it. I have the perfect four by four cubicle for him right next to the elevators. It’s so noisy no one ever wants to use it. That should be perfect for our Kane Masterson. Does that sound good to you?”

  “That’s the spirit. Stop by my office on your way in tomorrow. I’ll fill you in on the specifics. I think you will enjoy this assignment. It will look good on your performance record, if you know what I mean.”

  “I understand, perfectly. Are you sure you don’t want to come over tonight?”

  “I would love to, but I have to go to the office. I’ll make up for it tomorrow night. Good night, Marcia.”

  “Good night, Adam.

  Marcia was disappointed that Adam wasn’t coming over to her apartment, but the disappointment was soon replaced by the excitement of her new assignment. For the next six months, she was going to control one of the industry’s top leaders, the winner of countless awards and a host of achievements. Isn’t that a kicker? I wonder what he’s like. Her curiosity led her to her laptop. She spent the next two hours googling information on the personal and professional life of Kane Masterson.

  Kane Dwight Masterson was born on October 6, 1974. His mother is the socialite Evelyn Littleton, his father Peter Masterson, of whom little is known. Kane B.S.’d in International Finance at Northwestern and Mastered in Business Development at the Wharton School of Business. He was recruited by Preston Industries as a Senior Financial Manager and had a rapid ascent to CEO of the company. He managed Preston’s successful defense against a hostile takeover attempt by Hampton Industries. I bet he’ll regret that during the next six months, she thought. He probably already has. Kane lives in Wooster Square, Connecticut. He is single and the internet was replete with articles and pictures covering an active social life. Having his company wrested away from him, by Adam Hampton, of all people, had to be very humiliating for him. Under normal circumstances, her heart would have gone out to Kane, but this was business. There weren’t any scandalous rumors connected with his name, he was good looking, personable and rich and appeared on the surface to be one of the “good guys.”

  Marcia was determined, however, not to be swayed by his super-clean image. Her job was to make the next six months hell-on-earth for Kane Masterson and that is just what she planned to do. It was not in her nature to be mean or vindictive, but she could be an ill-tempered shrew if the situation called for it and this one definitely did. She smiled as she thought, Get a good night’s sleep Mister nice guy, ‘cause you’re about to be run over by a “bitch on wheels.”

  Chapter 10

  Daniel McKnight owned several semi-pro sports franchises, one each in football, baseball and hockey. The Old Brooking Wildcats, Old Brooking Indians and Old Brooking Blizzards, respectively. The Wildcats and Blizzards were consistently large revenue producers, but the Indians lost money for the past three seasons finishing in last place for two of them. He harbored thoughts of selling the team, but never acted on them.

  Daniel, was powerfully built at five foot six, but his persona dwarfs even the biggest of his players. He played all three sports at Old Brooking High, excelling in each, but not enough to interest college or p
rofessional scouts. Daniel’s father died when he was thirteen, leaving four children. He was the only boy and the oldest child which placed the responsibility for supporting the family squarely on his shoulders. During his four years in high school he worked several jobs, balancing work with sports. When Daniel graduated he took a job as a coach at the high school and played semi-pro football on weekends each fall. Although he had several offers to coach for larger school systems in nearby towns, he was content working for the local high school. He filled several positions in the Old Brooking High, Physical Education Department over the next twenty years and only left his job when an uncle died suddenly leaving Daniel his entire two million dollar estate. Unexpectedly, he was set for life. His dreams were finally coming true.

  Demonstrating a high degree of maturity and business acumen, Daniel waited until he could acquire the three sport franchises at distressed prices. This happened eight years ago. His penchant for the bottom line keeps him from meddling with the day-to-day field operations of his teams. Considered ruggedly handsome by most women’s standards and a “man’s man” by most men, Daniel was popular wherever he went.

  Adam Hampton III enjoyed watching sports. He never played any, but he loved being a spectator. For over six years, he was an enthusiastic supporter of Daniel’s teams. Daniel met Adam at one of the Saturday night football games. While he had seventeen years on Adam, they hit it off right away; the heir apparent to the Hampton fortune becoming a regular in the owner’s box. It was there that Daniel first met Lauren Pendleton who would later succumb to Adam’s whirlwind courtship and marry him. Daniel took an instant dislike to Lauren, who he viewed as interfering with the good times he was having with Adam. Their attendance at the games lessened as Lauren introduced Adam to the “finer” things in life, such as symphony orchestras, museums and the theater. Not being invited to their wedding was the final straw especially when he found out that his three team managers were invited to Adam’s bachelor party, wedding and reception. It was Old Brookings’s biggest social event of the year and he was not invited. Daniel blamed Lauren for the snub until he ran into Adam two weeks later and saw culpability in the man’s eyes. From that moment on he no longer pursued the friendship. Personal contact was reduced to occasional social events in town. Lauren, on the other hand, brazenly acted as if nothing had happened and she did this so openly that Daniel, on one occasion, gave serious thought to violating the rule about a man never hitting a woman.

  The strained relationship continued for over a year, until Lauren had an accident in a “jumping” exhibition at the Club’s annual riding show. Against Adam’s advice, she entered the “triple combination” jump. Her horse balked after the first obstacle, throwing Lauren into a hedge at the right side of the fence. The hedge absorbed most of the impact, and although she wasn’t physically hurt the fall resulted in the miscarriage of her four month old fetus. Adam was unforgiving about the loss of his unborn son. Daniel, moved by Lauren’s misfortune, sent flowers and a comforting letter to her. When she did not respond, he chalked it up to her lack of social grace. Still, it seemed to him to be a deliberate snub.

  Four years passed before he heard from her again. It was under very unusual circumstances, brought on by Adam’s involvement in his father’s attempted hostile take-over of Preston Industries. She called Daniel to set up a meeting at a park in an nearby town. Out of curiosity, more than anything else, he agreed to meet with her. In his mind there was some kind of poetic justice at work.

  “How have you been, Daniel?” She asked the question as if she was talking to an old friend.

  This one has balls, he couldn’t help but think. “I’m just fine, Lauren. How have things been with you?

  “About the same.” She seemed to be bent on engaging in small talk.

  Daniel took control of the situation. “Let’s cut to the chase, Lauren. Why did you ask to see me? What insidious plan are you hatching, that you need me to involve me. I haven’t forgotten, the way you’ve treated me the past few years.”

  She looked hurt by his remarks. Tears welled up in her eyes and began the voyage down her well tanned cheeks. She moved her hazel eyes in several directions, trying to avoid eye contact, but finally she met his. “You have every right to feel that way, Daniel. I certainly don’t deserve any help from you after the way I’ve behaved all these years, but you‘re the only person I feel safe talking to, about this.” Lauren reached into her coat pocket for a tissue. She dabbed at the tears as they began flowing freely.

  Daniel started to speak, but she held up a hand to stop him.

  “Let me finish, please, or I’ll lose what little nerve I’ve mustered in coming here. The bottom line is that I’m in big trouble in my marriage, or what would better be described as the sham of my marriage. Adam is not cheating on me, at least as far as I know, but I believe that he has stolen some valuable antique jewelry that my family has passed down for generations. I always kept them in a vault at the Centurion Bank. Three days ago I went to the vault to get some papers and the jewels weren’t there. The signature card showed that Adam visited the box two months ago.”

  “Maybe he’s having them cleaned or perhaps he’s having them reset as a surprise for you.”

  Lauren looked annoyed at his rejoinder. “I keep them polished and they’re sealed in air-tight containers.” As if to refute his simplistic explanation, she added, “These are valuable antique pieces. You don’t have them reset,” she added, a bit sarcastically.

  He ignored the rebuke. “You’re saying that Adam stole your jewelry? Why would he do such a thing? After all they belong to you.”

  Anger replaced the crying as she spouted, “He did it for money and power; he does everything for those two reasons. He’s drained all our bank accounts to buy Preston Industries stock. His father is obsessed with taking over Preston and Adam is a willing co-conspirator. It’s all they think about. After all their shenanigans they fell short of the required votes anyway. It was all for naught.”

  “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 bac
kground 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.