Hampton Manor

by K. J. Janssen

  “Yes, but it’s nothing I can talk about.” There’s no way I can tell him what I‘m planning. I can‘t believe that I’ve stooped so low as to play by Adam Hampton’s rules, but I don’t feel that I have any alternative. She answered, “You know how sometimes you have to do something even though it goes against everything in your nature. It’s like that.”

  Daniel thought for a moment about what she said. Man, if she knew what I did, she’d be very disappointed in me. This is one secret that I best take to the grave. I led her to believe that I was taking everything in stride, but I couldn’t sit idly by while that man undermines my livelihood. “I think I understand what you’re talking about. I’ve had to do some things in my life that I’m not very proud of, but, as you said, sometimes there is no way out. The decision is often taken out of our hands.”

  “I’m glad you understand. I don’t ever want to have this discussion with you again. I just want us to get on with our lives.”

  He raised his glass in a solemn toast, “Here’s to secrets, best left untold.”

  Chapter 30

  Bert Wilson was slow in responding to Kane’s question. “I don’t know how to advise you. I know it’s been a week since we got word about the SEC investigation, but the wheels of government move slowly. They either have a case and are being careful to dot all the ‘i’s’ and cross all the ‘t’s’ or they can’t find anything and are trying to find a way to justify having spent tens of thousands of dollars of the taxpayer’s money on a wild goose chase. Either way, my contacts tell me that a statement is due out tomorrow morning. We’ll just have to wait until then.”

  “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 t
hat 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.

  The third call was to Chuck Meredith to get an update on the search for the “mystery heir”. By now they should have located Sarah Gershwin and Alice Wentworth and must have found out something about “E”.

  “Chuck, I haven’t heard from you. What’s taking so blasted long?”

  “We’re going as quickly as we can, Mister Hampton. It was so long ago. People have moved away, some have died and others can’t remember even when some green is offered to jog their memory.”

  “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I’m paying you for results. This is taking much too long and is costing too much. It’s been a week now since you told me about those two women. What’s the story on them?”

  “We found something, but I was waiting until my guys finished the trace. What we know so far, is that Sarah Gershwin was married to Mark Gershwin at the time she was meeting with your father. They divorced in July of that year. She died in childbirth that September. The baby was stillborn. It was a boy.”

  Could she be the one? Maybe dad didn’t know the baby died. This could all be a wild goose chase. Maybe I’ve been getting myself worked up for no reason.

  “What happened to the husband?”

  “He remarried in March of the following year. Both he and his new bride were killed in a boating accident while they were on their honeymoon. We’re still looking.”

  “Okay, look, don’t waste any more time on that one. If the baby died there is no reason to continue the search. What about Alice Wentworth?”

  “That search is proving even more difficult. Their time together was so short. The hotel they frequented a few times burned to the ground five years after their stay there. It wasn’t part of a chain or anything and it was never rebuilt. Any records of their stay were lost in the fire and there is no of record of employees. All businesses adjacent to where the hotel used to stand are less than twenty years old. Believe it or not, a name search comes up with twenty-seven Alice Wentworths within a two hundred mile radius of New Haven. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack and we’re not even certain that we have the right haystack. We start our check by phone. Half of the time we have to leave a message or there just isn’t any answer. Some numbers we’ve called a dozen times and still no answer. We’ve sent a few men out to check at the addresses, but that didn’t help either. The next thing will try on those few is an official looking letter . We’ll see how that works.”

  “Put the people from the Gershwin trace on this one too.”

  “It’s not just a manpower issue, Mister Hampton. We really don’t know what to look for next.”

  “That’s all the more reason for you to complete your search for Alice Wentworth. Why not place some discreet ads in the personal section of the daily papers. Maybe that will flush somebody out, or check Google for lost schoolmates. There’s got to be someone out there that knows what happened to this Alice Wentworth.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll get some people right on that right away.”

  Adam shook his head. He should have thought of that. Am I the only one with an imagination? What the hell am I paying him for, anyway?

  “What about the specific search for “E”? Are there any leads there at all?

  “None yet, but we still have a lot of phone records to go through. You know it occurred to me that the “E” initial may have been some sort of a code rather than the first initial of a first or last name.

  “That’s a good point, but that’s all the more reason to follow up on all leads.

  Put more people on this if you have to. I want answers, not more excuses.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Adam slammed the phone down and mixed another drink. He sat down in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace. He ran over his mental list of things to do. I haven’t heard from John about what my father remembers about “E”. He should have something by now.

  John answered on the first ring. “Good afternoon, Mister Hampton. What can I do for you?”

  “I’m just checking up on my father. Milton’s said nothing about it at breakfast.”

  “There’s been a slight improvement. The doctor’s optimistic that the effects of his seizure will be gone in another day, but we’re on a high state of alert, watching for any sign of a relapse.

  “I’m glad to hear that. I miss my time with him. By the way, John, did you ever get a chance to ask him about ‘E’?”

  “Yes, I did, and he reacted in a strange way. I saw recognition in his eyes, but he shrugged off the question and changed the subject. I decided not to push it then, but if you want me to, I’ll broach the subject again.”

  “Yes, John, I’d appreciate that.” Lying about his motivation, he added, “I think it may be important to his overall recovery. It may be an important link to his past.”

  “Okay, I’ll try it again tomorrow morning. I’ll let you know immediately how it works out. It sure is comforting to see the progress he’s made so far.”

  “Yes, it is. I appreciate everything you’re doing for him. I’ll wait to hear from you.” Adam sighed. More waiting. Lately it seems that all I do is sit around and wait. I used to be the mover and shaker. He looked up at the portrait of his grandfather. When this is all over, there is going to be a metamorphosis. Adam Hampton III will once again be a force to contend with.

  Chapter 32

  The Assassin paced the floor as he waited for the phone to be picked up.

  Finally, Neil Gilbert answered, “Neil, here.”

  “Neil, why did you page me?”

  “Well, there may be a problem. My hours have been cut while they’re training a new nurse.”

  “Has that ever happened before?”

  “It’s happened to me twice in the last three years. It usually lasts only a week.”

  “What are your new hours?

  “Monday, Wednesday and Friday from eight at night to six the next morning.”

  “Before he had the seizure, did his son visit much with him at night?”

  “I checked the logs, like you asked me to. About half the visits were at night, around eight o’clock. Right after his son finished his supper.”

  “How does the old man look to you?”

  “He’s much better than he was a week ago. I saw the report on the Doctor’s visit this afternoon. They think he’s almost recovered from the seizure. If that’s true, he should be able to have visitors again any day now.”

  “Look, Neil, I need you to be vigilant. I don’t want to miss any opportunity to catch them together. Keep an eye on the appointment logs.”

  “I know that it’s none of my business, but why is it so important for them to be together? Is it like you need to serve them both with a subpoena or something?”

  “Something like that, but as you said, it is none of your business.”

  “They have sleeping facilities right above the West Wing. I can stay here during my time off. That way I’ll know if there is any change in the visiting hours. I’ll call you the minute I know an
ything for sure.”

  “See that you do. I’m paying you for results.”

  The Assassin looked around the dingy room where he was holed up. It was this part of his work that he usually dreaded. Weeks, often months of preparations all hinged on last minute details that could ruin all his work; someone getting cold feet, bombs being discovered accidentally or the target never showing up. All of these had happened at one time or another over the thirty years he has been in the “business”. Only one had a bad ending and it cost him three hundred thousand dollars in out-of -pocket expenses and a black mark on his record that took five years to erase.

  Chapter 33

  Adam Hampton II sat alone in the library of the West Wing. He was experiencing a period of cerebral clarity. Scrambled circuits and a mix of medications made clear thinking difficult for the several years. It was now or never for the execution of his plan. Ever aware of the multiple monitors that observed and recorded his every activity, Adam II sat staring blankly at the rows of books on the far wall. They can watch and listen all they want, but they can’t know what I’m thinking. They can’t know how much resentment I harbor over what has happened to me. I’ve been stripped of everything including my dignity by a son set on controlling Hampton Industries, at any price. I know I was sick for a while, but that happens to a lot of people. They take medicine for a while and then they get to feeling better, as I do now. I wasn’t even given that chance. Now I’m trapped in this prison with no way out. If I try to prove that I’m lucid, I know that my son will have them give me some pills that will permanently scramble my brain cells. Adam says he’s doing everything out of love, but I know that he really fears me. He’s so afraid of losing control of the Hampton estate. Look at how he’s reacting to the threat of a co-heir. He’s going bonkers with worry. If he only knew my little secret, if he only knew that I not only remember who “E” is but I know who his half-brother is as well. He’s fearful that someone will challenge his position as heir to the Hampton fortune and I’m fearful that another heir might muddy-up any chance that I have to reclaim what is rightfully mine. Somehow this will all play out. The better man will win and I intend to be that man.