by Joe Corso
“Don’t worry, Dutch Henry. I’ll put the governor on top of my list. I have a few people I intend to take care of too - but I promise you - the Governor will be on top of my list.”
Dutch Henry slapped John W on his shoulder. “Good, that’s settled then. Now let’s get to diggin’.”
CHAPTER TEN
William Hayes stood by the Delta gate holding a sign with “Sweeney” spelled out on it. Hayes watched the passengers pass through the gate, trying to spot Sweeney. Just when he thought he might have missed him, a tall, well-built, dark-haired, good-looking young man walked over to him and smiled.
“You must be William Hayes.”
“Yep. That’s me all right. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Sweeney.”
“Same here. Come on,” He said pointing to a Dunkin Donuts store. “Let’s get a cup of coffee and a bun or something. I sure can go for a good cup of coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, to me, is the best.”
“I feel the same way. Come on, let’s get some of that fine coffee and find somewhere we can be alone and talk privately without anyone listening to us talk. I’m anxious to hear what you discovered.”
Sweeney ordered coffee with cream and sugar and a buttered corn muffin. Hayes ordered his coffee black and a French cruller. Hayes was very anxious to hear what Sweeney discovered. Sweeney kept looking around. Hayes could see he was uncomfortable sitting in the open like this. Finally, Sweeney said, “Come on, grab your coffee, and let’s go to the Delta lounge where we can talk privately. I feel as if everyone in the place can hear what I have to tell you.”
The Delta lounge had comfortable seats sectioned in clusters of two, three, and four seats. Sweeney picked a secluded spot by a window away from other club members. He opened his attaché case and pulled out a thick folder. “I wanted to tell you what I discovered in person. I don’t trust the mail or the people involved in this matter. I believe people looking to either put you out of business or take over your business completely have penetrated your organization. Do you have any new employees? Wait. Let me rephrase that. Did you hire anyone just prior to John being arrested?”
“Why, yes. I hired a Mr. Tom Jenkins to run my Flagstaff office.”
Sweeney reached into his attaché and rifled through a few files until he found the one for which he was searching. “Ah! Here it is. Thomas Jenkins. Arrested at age 17 for shoplifting. Age 22, arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to three years in San Quentin. Age 25, arrested for swindling a widow out of her husband’s insurance. We don’t hear from him again until age 35, when he was arrested for running an Internet scam but he was released for lack of evidence. It goes on, Mr. Hayes, but you get the idea. This man was put upon you to get at Hardin, and to take over your business.”
Mr. Hayes nodded in agreement. “That’s why he said he wouldn’t take a salary. He agreed to work on commission only.”
“Sure,” Sweeney said. “It’s all right here in the file. He’s being paid a hefty salary from McCormack Industries besides what he’s being paid by you. He’ll run your business into the ground, and then, when you are gone, he’ll pick up the pieces and make the business profitable again. Now, as for Mr. McCormack. He used to be a union organizer and strike buster when he was young. He strong-armed a company president and blackmailed him into giving him his company. He did to that man what he’s attempting to do with your company. The difference is he doesn’t want or need your company. He’s accomplished his mission. He managed to swindle the Hardins’ property from them without anyone realizing he did it. In fact, he managed to make himself look like a benevolent benefactor. After all, didn’t he give Mrs. Hardin a home, and didn’t he give her enough money to live on in exchange for a worthless mine? As for the property, he wanted it when mining engineers working ‘The Lucky Ben Mine’ on the other side of the mountain discovered that the mother lode was still waiting to be found in Hardin’s played-out mine. After swindling Abigail Hardin of her property, the mother lode was discovered thirty-five feet further into the old mine. It sat unfound in a branch to the right where the miners stopped at the end of the tunnel. If the original miners angled to their right as they dug, they would have found the mother lode. You’ve read the papers and you’ve heard of the major gold find that McCormack Industries struck. That’s why McCormack had to get rid of John Hardin. He needed to break them financially so he could come in and rescue them by taking their worthless property off of their hands. He did just that, and made it appear as if he were doing Abigail Hardin a favor.”
Mr. Hayes nodded his head in understanding. It was clear to him now. Now he understood why poor John Hardin was sentenced to a fifty years of hard labor in an unknown prison. Now he knew why McCormack needed Hardin’s property. Now he knew why Jenkins agreed to work for nothing. The trouble was, Hayes was so deep in debt, he didn’t think he would ever see daylight. Oh, he had a small stash hidden from the tax people. It was enough to pay for Sweeney’s services, but there was little left above that. The first thing he needed to do was to fire Jenkins. “When do you have to go back Mr. Sweeney?”
“I was going to leave on the three o’clock flight, but if you need my services, I could stay an extra day.”
Hayes finally smiled. “Yes I’d like that, Mr. Sweeney. I’d like you to come with me to my Flagstaff office this afternoon. I intend to fire Tom Jenkins, and after hearing what you told me about him, I think I’d feel safer having you with me when I fire him.”
“It would be my pleasure to go with you, Mr. Hayes. I don’t like these people and I especially don’t like Tom Jenkins, and I know I don’t like Jack McCormack.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
William Hayes and Jason Sweeney walked into the Flagstaff office at ten a.m. The employees were surprised to see the owner walk in unexpectedly with a stranger. Hayes kept a somber face on and acknowledged no one as he walked straight back to Jenkins’s office with Sweeney at his side. He opened the door without knocking, surprising Jenkins, who was having an animated conversation with someone on the other end of the phone. Hayes could tell it was not a client, but rather someone with whom he was very familiar with.
“Hang up the phone, Mr. Jenkins. Do it now.”
Jenkins cupped the phone. “Hang on a moment. What do you want, Hayes? I’m kind of busy right now.”
“It’s Mr. Hayes to you, Jenkins.”
Jenkins smiled, until Sweeney pressed the receiver on the phone, cutting off the conversation.
“Who do you think you are? Who is this guy?” he asked Hayes.
“He’s my friend, and you are fired. Get your things and get out of this office.”
Jenkins’s face turned crimson. “You can’t fire me.”
“And why can’t I? Am I not still your boss? And do I not still own this establishment? Get your things and get out. Now!”
Jenkins was beat red. He was livid with rage. “You’ll be sorry for this. I’ll be back and you’ll be the one that will be fired.”
“Maybe so. But right now I’m still the owner and I want you out of here in the next two minutes.”
“I have powerful friends in high places. They want me here. I’ll be back. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
Hayes calmly replied, “You mean like Jack McCormack who stole poor John Hardin’s land or Holland Wilson, our esteemed Governor? Are those the people you’re referring to?”
“Yes, that exactly who I’m referring to. I’ll be back and make no mistake about that.”
Sweeney had been quietly observing the interaction between the two men and unknown to Jenkins he recorded everything that was said. If Jenkins had gotten out of line and tried some rough stuff then he would have intervened but Hayes handled the situation with intelligent, subdued anger. Anger because he now realized he had been so wrong in hiring Jenkins and John W had been so right that it had landed him in jail.
As soon as Jenkins left the office, Hayes walked up front to the sales area. “Everyone in my office . . . Now!”
&nbs
p; When the six employees were seated around Jenkins’s desk, Hayes looked them over carefully. This was the first time he had met most of them. There was one woman who transferred out of the original office in Mohave County to this office. “What’s your name dear?” he said, pointing to the one familiar face he recognized.
“Margaret Nolan, sir.”
“Margaret, you are now the office manager. You will be assuming Mr. Jenkins’s position. I no longer employ Mr. Jenkins. I’ve just fired him. Sales in this office are so low that it has almost bankrupted me.” Hayes proceeded to question each sales person on the amount of sales he or she brought in month by month. Hayes knew what the average sales per person should be, within a certain range. All of the people he interviewed were far below average. “Were your weekly salaries supplemented by outside income?” Everyone’s head looked down or away, with none of them making eye contact with him. They were nervous; he could see that. “What about you Margaret? How were your sales?”
“They were very good at first, but Mr. Jenkins kept turning down my deals. He said it wasn’t good enough. Not enough money coming in.”
“I see. And what about you?” he asked, pointing to a young man.
“It’s the same with me, sir. Except that Mr. Jenkins said not to worry about the sales. He would make it up by giving us an advance on sales. Whatever deals we brought to him were mostly turned down by him. He let some go through but not enough for us to make a living on. The advance he gave us allowed us to pay our bills.”
“I see. And how about the rest of you? Was it like that for all of you?” Everyone nodded their heads.
One older man in the back spoke up. “I was about to quit. I thought something was shady with this place. I didn’t like working my butt off bringing in a deal only to have it turned down by Jenkins.”
“Okay. I’ve heard enough. I had intended to fire all of you after I got rid of Jenkins but after hearing what you just told me, I’m going to give you another chance. I want to see sales pick up again. If you produce for me, I’ll see to it that you are compensated for your efforts. I’ll give you a bonus above your salary if you exceed the quota Mrs. Nolan and I give you. I expect to receive a daily report from this office, Margaret. Heads will roll if I do not get that report. Now get to work and get me sales.”
When everyone left the office, Hayes motioned for Sweeney to come closer. He didn’t want the employees to hear them talking. “What’s your opinion on what you observed this morning, Jason?”
“I liked the way you handled Jenkins. You surprised him by mentioning the two aces he was hiding from you. I almost laughed when I saw the look on his face when you mentioned them. As for the employees, I thought you would fire everyone, but I’m glad you didn’t. It seemed to me that they were bringing in sales, but Jenkins kept rejecting them and supplementing their salaries to make up for the sales he turned down. All in all I think you handled it very well, Mr. Hayes.”
“Jason. You don’t mind me calling you ‘Jason,’ do you?”
“Not at all, Mr. Hayes.”
“I want to keep you on a retainer. See if you can find out where they’re keeping John W.”
“I’ll do that, Mr. Hayes, but if you’ll excuse me for a little while, I have something rather urgent I need to attend to.”
Sweeney left the office and rushed out onto the street, looking to see where Jenkins was heading. He spotted him crossing the street and entering a bar. It was too early for a drink. Sweeney smiled. I bet he went in for a drink and he used his cell phone to make a call to his pal, Rutgar. It didn’t matter. He had him now. He’d just follow him and see what he was up to.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jenkins tried to seduce Virginia a number of times while he was the manager of the Flagstaff office, but she saw through him and remained true to her imprisoned sweetheart. Jenkins was persistent, though. He kept calling her even after her father fired him, until one day her father surprised him by picking up the phone instead of her. He told Jenkins to stop calling this number immediately, and if he continued stalking his daughter, he’d have him arrested. The phone calls stopped, but Jenkins followed Virginia, hoping to get a moment alone with her to try to convince her to go out with him.
McCormack got what he wanted, which was the Hardin’s property, but the Governor was frustrated and disappointed over not getting Dutch Henry’s gold. Governor Wilson was sure the old man found the lost Four Peaks Gold Mine and he wanted it for himself. Every month, he had his pilot fly him to the Gila Bend Prison to see if the old man was ready to talk to him, but the answer was always ‘no.’ When Wilson realized Dutch Henry would never tell him where the mine was, he cut his visits to one every few months. Then, finally, he came to a decision. He would let the old man rot in that hell hole of a prison for the rest of his life and if he wanted out, he would just have to call him. Wilson couldn’t understand why Dutch Henry was so unreasonable. Didn’t he offer him his freedom? All he had to do was to share his gold with him. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, he admitted to himself. He really wanted all of the old man’s gold. Could he be the unreasonable one? No. How could he be when he offered the old man his freedom?
At dinner one evening, Virginia asked her father if he was making any progress in finding the prison in which John was being kept. Her father replied by saying, “We’re trying, honey. But don’t give up hope, because we’re working hard on it. I have Sweeney looking into it and that boy gets results. He was the one who discovered that Jenkins was purposely ruining the Flagstaff office. He discovered how McCormack swindled Abigail out of her land and made millions with the gold he took out of the old mine on their property. So don’t go giving up on John W, not yet.” Hayes could see she was fighting back tears.
“It’s so unfair, Dad. John’s the most decent man in the world. He wouldn’t harm anyone. How could they put him in jail with those trumped-up charges? I’m surprised anyone believed them.”
Mr. Hayes looked at his daughter as if for the first time. She was no longer his little girl, and six years had passed since John was sent to prison. Hayes admired his daughter. Somehow, when he wasn’t looking, she had morphed into a beautiful woman. She was pining for the man she was afraid she’d never see again. Hayes had no way of knowing if John would ever get out of prison, so he advised Virginia to find herself another decent young man, but she refused. She said that she still loved John. She was twenty-four years old now and she had grown into a full-figured woman with a dazzling smile and long, strawberry blond hair.
“You asked me how people could believe the trumped-up charges brought against John. Remember this: people will believe anything if it’s presented logically. It all goes back to Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, who said, ‘tell a lie often enough and people will believe it.’ Maybe it would be better if you went and stayed with your Aunt Harriet in upstate New York for a little while. The cool air would be good for you and, who knows, it might clear your mind. It’s painful for me to see you hurting like this. I’ll call her and tell her you’re going to stay with her for a while.”
“You’re right, Dad. Maybe a change of scenery will do me some good. Call Aunt Harriet and if it’s all right with her. Then I’ll stay with her for a while. Maybe a change of scenery will make me feel better.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll arrange it with Aunt Harriet. You better go and pack now because I’ll feel better knowing you’re on tomorrow’s flight to New York.”
Tom Jenkins removed the earphones and put them beside him on the passenger seat. He’d heard enough. Hayes booked a flight for tomorrow morning on Delta to New York for his daughter. The phone tap that the Governor had authorized on the Hayes residence telephone had paid off. It was good having friends in high places, he thought to himself. He decided to take the same flight and when he got the chance, he would try to convince her to see him, maybe even go out with him. If that didn’t work, he would simply kidnap her. He wouldn’t hurt her; he just wanted to reason w
ith her. He looked at himself in the mirror. He knew he was a striking man. Most women threw themselves at him. Why was she different? Why couldn’t she see that he had feelings for her, and he hated not being near her? She was frustrating him because she was still pining for that loser boyfriend of hers, who she would never see again. Well, Jenkins was glad that he was locked up in that rat hole of a dungeon. That was too bad for old Johnny-boy, but what was bad for John Hardin could be very good for him. He knew that since John W was locked in jail, this might be the only opportunity he’d have to convince Virginia to go out with him.
Sweeney was good at his job. He had unfailing instincts, which he always followed. He didn’t trust Jenkins. The man was no good and Sweeney knew it. Jenkins’s record proved it. He was a swindler who was used to getting his own way. So, when he left Hayes’s office, Sweeney followed him. He wasn’t surprised to find that he parked in the street in front of the Hayes home and was wearing headphones. Sweeney watched as Jenkins pulled away from the curb and drove away. When Jenkins turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Sweeney got out of his car and rang the door bell.
Hayes was surprised to see Sweeney standing there, but he welcomed him in. “What are you doing here, Jason?”
Jason didn’t mince words. “You made a phone call a few minutes ago. I need to know who you called. It’s important.” The seriousness on Jason’s face said it all.
“I called the airlines and booked a flight for my daughter. I’m sending her to New York to stay with her aunt. Why?” Hayes asked.
Jason walked over to the phone and unscrewed the earpiece. He found nothing. Then he turned the phone upside down, took a small tool from his pocket, and unscrewed the bottom. When he removed the bottom plate, there it was. A small transmitter attached to wires inside the base of the phone. “Did anyone from the telephone company work on your phone lines recently?”