James Ross - A Character-Based Collection (Prairie Winds Golf Course)

by James Ross

  “That’s a real profound statement coming from a guy that doesn’t know a driver from a sand wedge,” Fred chided.

  “Or a Maxfli from a Callaway,” BT added.

  Lew turned to Julie and said, “Come on Julie. I don’t have time for this crap.”

  They both headed into the office. “Here’s my bill for all the work that I did out there,” Lew said as Julie grabbed a seat behind her desk.

  “What did you do?” she asked.

  “We hauled some rock in to cut down on the erosion. Then I leveled off part of the tee box, put in two sprinklers, and laid down the sod,” Lew answered.

  In reality, Lew did next to nothing. The greens superintendent and a couple of hourly workers did the work. The only thing that Lew did was tap the rocks down into the bank of the creek with the shovel of the backhoe. The others hauled the dirt, spread it evenly, and put the sod in place.

  Julie grabbed the checkbook out of the desk drawer and asked, “How much do you want?”

  Lew gave her the bill. Julie looked at it and with a gasp blurted, “Sixty-five thousand dollars!”

  “That should cover my time and expense. I want you to code it to a new machinery lease expense account that we’re going to set up,” Lew stated.

  “That won’t fly with the accountant.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that.”

  “We’ve only got seventy-five thousand dollars in our checking account. We need some money to stay afloat,” Julie replied.

  “We’ll be fine. The cash flow is strong. Now hurry up and write me the check,” Lew demanded.

  “You have to be out of your mind,” Julie responded firmly.

  “Just do as you’re told. This is my business and I’ll do whatever I want.”

  With that, Julie shook her head helplessly and wrote out a check for sixty-five thousand dollars to Lew. Lew took the check and smiled at her. “Now, Sweet Cakes, that wasn’t so hard to do, was it?”

  Julie looked at him with a half-hearted look of disgust. Lew turned and walked out of the office.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The following Saturday morning eight of the boys were playing golf. They divided their group into two foursomes. Curt, Paul, Paco, and Elia were in the first foursome. Fred, Rollie, BT, and Easy Earl were following them.

  Saturday mornings were especially busy at Prairie Winds. That’s not unlike most golf courses around the country. It is imperative to stay on time. Normally it took a few holes for the crowd that surrounded the first tee box to thin out and a reasonable pace of play to ensue. This particular Saturday was no different than most.

  Once the crowd thinned out, Julie spoke to J Dub about Lew’s billing of the company. “J Dub, I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, and maybe it’s none of my business . . .” J Dub could see that she was visibly upset.

  “Go on, Julie. It’s okay,” he coaxed.

  “Lew has been billing for all the work he has been doing around the course and he is charging unbelievable amounts of money for it,” she blurted out.

  “What’s an unbelievable amount?” J Dub casually asked as he swallowed the last bit of his soda.

  “Sixty-Five thousand dollars.”

  J Dub spit out his soda in disbelief. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought too,” Julie dryly added.

  Later in the round . . .

  As they walked off the second green and headed for the third tee box, Curt casually spoke facetiously to the other guys in his foursome. “Now we get to witness the sixty-five thousand dollar improvement that was made on this hole. J Dub told me all about it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Elia asked.

  “Lew said that he fixed this tee box. He wanted all of us to have a better golfing experience,” Curt continued with his tongue in cheek.

  Paco examined the tee and exclaimed, “He hasn’t done much of anything!”

  It was fairly obvious to the naked eye that next to nothing had been done. True, some small improvements had taken place, but a sixty-five thousand dollar enhancement was out of the question.

  “What a rip-off,” Elia blurted. “I could have gotten a shovel and done this with my own two hands for that kind of money.”

  “He’ll be here in a minute. You can bet that he wants to get our approval. That poor guy needs to have his ego stroked. He’s watching us from somewhere,” Paul stated.

  It was a known fact that Lew would be somewhere on the course during the weekend mornings. He couldn’t stand the boys, but felt as if they were the most likely people to tell him how great he was. True to form, Lew was watching the foursome. He and Lois were on his motorcycle and were peering at the foursome from a distance. Lew was very proud of the work that he had done on the third tee box. He felt the need to hear the accolades from the regular crew. He needed to know that his accomplishments met with their acceptance.

  Like a lawnmower cutting the grass at sunrise, the roar of the motorcycle muffler broke through the peace and tranquility of the golf course. “Here he comes,” said Elia.

  Paco’s eyes searched for the sound. “Looks like he has his trophy babe with him,” replied Paco.

  Lew steered the motorcycle through and around several groups of golfers. He skidded to a halt at the third tee box. “What do you fellas think?” he asked.

  Elia was unimpressed and acted nonchalantly. “About what?” he asked.

  “All that creek work I did. Look at all of that rock that I laid in there,” Lew responded. Lois was eager to make her man feel as if he had accomplished something. She had her hands wrapped around Lew and gave him a hearty squeeze.

  To the boys, it appeared that only a few rocks had been laid on the creek bank. Whatever work had been done was nothing to get too excited about. Paco broke the silence and said sarcastically, “You do real good work, Lew. Did you place them in there one by one?”

  Lew had to thump on his chest a little. “Yeah, putting those rocks in there will cut down on the erosion. When we’d get a good rain the water would come roaring down through here.”

  Paul felt the need to challenge Lew a little and said, “I’ve been over here after a good rain and the water in that creek wouldn’t be two feet deep.”

  Lew stood up to Paul and said, “But if it was left uncontrolled, it would eventually wash away this tee box.”

  Elia wasn’t about to let his friend and golfing partner take the heat. He looked around at the weeds, sparse grass, and unevenness of the tee box. It was apparent to the golfing group that if the tee box got washed away then maybe the course would be in better shape. “Maybe if it got washed away that would be a good thing,” Elia added.

  “Yeah, this tee box ain’t flat either,” Paco added. As a Mexican immigrant Paco knew a little about landscaping.

  The comment had just gotten out of Pace’s mouth when a huge chunk of earth broke off and fell into the creek. Several rocks cascaded down the bank and splashed into the water. “Watch it Paco!” yelled Elia. “Don’t get swept away into the river!”

  All of the boys started laughing at Lew’s expense. Lew couldn’t stand that the quality of his work was being disputed. He revved up his cycle and peeled off. In the process gravel from the cart path was sent flying.

  The boys had nothing to say, so they chuckled to themselves. Lew really thought that he had made a major improvement to the golf course. In reality it was all going to be washed away.

  The boys hit their drives and continued with their round of golf.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Lew was as devious and conniving as J Dub was honest and trustworthy. The two struggled to co-exist with their obvious differences. Lew didn’t trust anyone. Some saw this as an indicator of his own lack of trustworthiness. Regardless, he was intent on protecting his interests in the golf course and land. Lew knew there was one man involved in the mix that was familiar with the day-to-day operations and was onsite from sunup to sundown. That man was J Dub. To Lew, there was an obvious need t
o mistrust him.

  Later that fall Lew spent a morning with Lois perched on the hilltop counting golfers that walked past. Lew had a pad and a pen and marked down each and every player that went by. Most of the players went off the first tee by one o’clock in the afternoon, so Lew’s day was pretty much over right after lunch.

  When things started to slow down Lew raced back to the pro shop. After he parked in his favorite spot in front of the door, he busted into the pro shop with Lois following closely behind. He made a fast track to the sign-in sheet and starting counting the number of players that had teed off. J Dub watched as Lew counted the number of names on the sign-in sheet. The sheet was Lew’s idea in the first place and was his way of having a checks-and-balances system in place for his business.

  After comparing the number of names on the sign-in sheet to the number of players that had been marked down on the pad, Lew said with a highly suspicious tone in his voice, “Nobody played for free, did they?”

  “What are you talking about?” an innocent J Dub offered.

  The moment of truth had arrived. Lew eyed J Dub warily. His suspicions told him that J Dub wasn’t registering all of the players. Worse yet, his fears indicated that J Dub was pocketing money from his partner. Before making an accusation that would strain their relationship, Lew paused to think. “Nothing,” he replied.

  The seed had been planted and the damage had been done. The implication was that J Dub had been stealing money out of the register. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Lew had the most honest partner that a guy could hope for, yet he felt the need to test the water in an area that wasn’t harmful.

  The next day . . .

  Julie was at her desk preparing the bank bag deposit for J Dub when a repairman walked in. He resembled Lew in that his name “Chuck” was embroidered on his work shirt.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Yeah. Got a work order to install a camera,” Chuck replied as he handed a copy of the order to Julie for verification.

  “But, we didn’t order a camera to be installed. Maybe it’s for another golf course?” Julie offered.

  “No, lady. Got the call this morning. The guy that ordered it is Lew Zerrmann. You know’em?” Chuck was growing impatient.

  Julie sighed, rolled her eyes, and okayed the work to be done. After Chuck installed the camera over the register, he tested it and made sure that the till and the person handling the money could be seen at all times.

  “Thanks, lady. Tell yer boss the work is done, will ya?” Chuck grunted as he lumbered out of the shop.

  Sarcastically, Julie waved goodbye, “Ta-ta, Chuck. Will do.”

  When J Dub walked into the shop, Julie was at the register with a total look of disgust.

  “What’s the matter? What did he do now?” J Dub asked.

  “Oh, I suggest that when you ring in the golfers’ fees, you had best smile real purty.” Julie offered.

  “What?” J Dub was confused.

  Julie nodded her head to the camera in the corner ceiling and advised, “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.”

  “I don’t freaking believe this,” J Dub replied as he stared at the camera with hands on his hips.

  “If that isn’t a statement of disrespect, then I don’t know what is,” Julie added.

  “He doesn’t trust us,” J Dub said. He was flabbergasted and felt betrayed.

  The insinuation from the previous day had blatantly become an accusation. The fact that Lew felt the need to check the actions of his partner smacked J Dub hard in the face. If Lew couldn’t trust his partner, then J Dub wondered if the partnership was doomed from that day forward.

  And now, to be accused of stealing in a very indirect way, J Dub felt violated. His honor and reliability were being disputed. It was a feeling that J Dub knew would forever stick in his mind as a contributing factor toward any rift that might occur between the two partners in the coming years. The suggestion by Lew that his partner was stealing so angered J Dub that he set a plan in motion to cause the action to backfire.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  After Ellie Hackett’s decision not to prosecute Lew and his cronies on the fraudulent deed claim, Brian Moore felt the need to call the Morton heirs into his office.

  It’s tough enough to get the feds to even investigate something. They are like every other understaffed business out there. A local prosecuting attorney’s office may get upwards to two to three hundred tips a week that need to be investigated.

  Because of a shorthanded work force and a lack of man hours to investigate, a prosecuting attorney’s office has to “cherry pick” the cases that it can go after. No matter what they say publicly, the prosecutors go after the high-profile cases that make a big splash in the news and remind the public that “Big Brother” is alive and working well in America.

  If a tip comes into the feds on an obsolete and vague criminal charge, then the prosecuting attorney’s office practically wants the evidence gift-wrapped to them. That way they can finish the job at hand, get a quick and easy victory, put another notch in the “win” column, and move on to the next crime.

  What appeared on the surface as an open-and-shut case when it first surfaced turned into an albatross around the neck of Ellie Hackett. A series of legal challenges attacking Statute of Limitation concerns as well as insufficient forensic detail regarding fraudulent deed claims pretty much backed Brian Moore and Ellie Hackett into a corner.

  The evidence that they had gotten did not give the government a clear-cut chance for a victory. The investigation had cost the government several hundred thousand dollars. After compiling all of the evidence and running it by the internal legal minds, the government felt as if the chance for conviction was no greater than fifty-fifty.

  To a federal prosecutor those odds are a death wish. Rather than pursue an uphill battle and an uncertain outcome, it is usually recommended that a tenuous case not be prosecuted. After reviewing the evidence, pouring through the deposition testimony, and failing to get a grand jury indictment, Brian Moore and Ellie Hackett had no choice but to let the crime committed against the Morton heirs fall through the cracks of the justice system.

  The time had come to call the Morton heirs and explain to them what had happened. Brian and Ellie were business-like and matter-of-fact in their approach to the meeting. Brian started the meeting off the best that he could after Lucille Morton and her son, Matt, arrived in his office.

  “We’ve got the proverbial good news, bad news scenario,” Brian started.

  “Start with the bad news,” Matt offered.

  “We’ve decided not to prosecute,” Brian continued.

  “What?” Lucille deadpanned. Tears started to form in her eyes.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Matt said. “That’s not right! What happened?”

  “We conducted a very detailed investigation,” Ellie explained. “We think that improprieties existed, but whatever happened will be next to impossible to prove in a criminal court of law. All of the evidence is purely circumstantial. We don’t have any hard core, solid proof that we can hang our hat on.”

  “We lost several thousand acres of land,” Matt persisted, “along with other property.”

  “As far as we can tell through the investigation, everything was performed in accordance with the law,” Ellie retaliated.

  “But we didn’t receive any money for the property,” Lucille blurted as she began to weep.

  “The tax returns bear that out,” Ellie agreed. “No capital gains had been recorded on your tax returns that the accountant filed. But we can’t prove that the transaction was illegal.”

  Brian and Ellie truly felt sad and disappointed for the heirs. The goal of every prosecutor is to see that justice is done. In this case, nothing more could be done.

  “As I stated when you first sat down, we do have some good news,” Brian offered.

  “No news can be good after what we just heard,” Lucille said.

  �
��One of Zerrmann’s associates will be facing criminal charges,” Ellie stated. “The investigation led us to some unlawful behavior.”

  “What did he do?” Matt asked.

  “We can’t talk about the case due to the sensitive nature of it,” Ellie continued.

  “How can that be good for us?” Lucille questioned.

  “We’ll have to see where it leads. Right now no one is talking,” Ellie explained.

  “And in the meantime, we’ve been cleaned out,” Matt said frustrated.

  “Look, our goal is to see that the bad guys are brought to justice. We have a service and a duty to perform for the American public,” Brian retaliated.

  “It’s just that we can’t catch all of them,” Ellie added.

  “Some of them fall through the cracks for various reasons,” Brian said as he and Ellie tried to explain the difficulties in bringing people to justice.

  “What can we do now?” Lucille asked.

  “Something was going on, but we won’t be able to get a conviction in a criminal court of law due to the nature of the crime,” Ellie answered.

  “Your best recourse may be a civil suit,” Brian stated.

  “The burden of proof is not as great in that court as it is with us,” Ellie continued.

  “And all the while, someone can steal property, control it, occupy it, and the burden of proof is on us to get it back?” Matt persisted.

  “That doesn’t seem right . . . or fair,” Lucille said as her tears turned to anger.

  “Sometimes that is the way it is,” Ellie stated.

  “We don’t like to see criminals get off the hook any more than you do.” It was the only solace that Brian could extend to the heirs.

  “This is a very confusing and complex situation,” Ellie added, “especially if no one talks.”

  “So the expense of an investigation needs to be funded by us now,” Matt stated.

  “With no guarantees that we’ll get our property back,” Lucille stammered.

  Brian and Ellie reluctantly nodded their heads. “At least the burden of proof will be lighter,” Ellie said in the most consoling tone that she could offer.