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

by James Ross

  J Dub focused on his children and forced a weak smile. He recognized Curt and gave him a wink.

  “What you’re doing isn’t worth it,” Marcia implored.

  J Dub squeezed her hand. He looked squarely into her eyes and shook his head. “No. Each and every one of you is why I’m doing it,” he replied. “Somebody has to stand strong and battle the guy. I finally stood up to him and I’m going to stay with it.”

  Each child came forward and hugged their dad. They realized that he was a fighter and that he was battling for them. Curt reached over and squeezed his brother’s calf. Curt led the children out of the room. Marcia was alone with her husband. “This nonsense has gone far enough!”

  “I’m not throwing away fifteen years,” J Dub said sternly.

  Marcia grabbed an ice bag and applied it to his head. J Dub grimaced as the cold ice hit a tender area of his head. “Then don’t throw away the next fifteen. We’ve got kids!” Marcia shrieked.

  “Is that what you want? Do you want to start all over?”

  “Maybe we should,” Marcia rationalized. “Sometimes I don’t think that all of this is worth it!”

  “Come hell or high water, I’m going to make this situation right,” J Dub declared. “He may think that he has won, but . . .”

  “Don’t leave all of your family stranded!” Marcia pleaded.

  She clutched his hand. Her frustration with the entire state of affairs of buying the business had reached a peak. Marcia turned and stormed out of the room.

  As she was leaving, she bumped into Booker. He had heard about the beating and had come over to talk to J Dub. In Marcia’s mind, Booker was part of the reason that all of this happened to J Dub. She glared at him.

  Aside from the investigation, Booker liked J Dub as a person. When he heard of the attack his first impression was that Lew probably had something to do with it. He rushed to the hospital as quickly as he could. “Are you sure that you’re not ready for that protection we can provide for you?” Booker inquired.

  “Do you think that Lew was behind all of this, too?” J Dub asked in return.

  Booker raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. “It’s hard to tell, but if they didn’t take anything then I think that someone was trying to send you a message.”

  “I didn’t think that it would come to this,” J Dub responded.

  “Desperate people do desperate things,” Booker explained.

  “How is the investigation coming along?” J Dub inquired. If this was what he was going to have to go through to help catch someone with their hand in the cookie jar, then he at least wanted to hear that his efforts were not for naught.

  “I can’t talk about the specifics of that,” Booker stated, “but you know as well as me that we needed to get someone to talk or it would just be a circumstantial case.”

  “You’ve got mountains of evidence,” J Dub replied. “Surely there is enough there to get him.”

  Booker nodded in agreement. “Dan and I sure think so. So did the U. S. Attorney. She was pursuing him aggressively.”

  “She’s still on his tail, isn’t she?”

  “There are problems with that, too.”

  “What now?” J Dub asked. Booker threw the morning newspaper onto J Dub’s lap. “What’s it say? I can’t bend my head that far.”

  The headline read: HACKETT RESIGNS AMID INVESTIGATION

  “The U.S. Attorney resigned,” Booker blurted.

  “What?” J Dub asked incredulously.

  “Someone tipped off the higher-ups in Washington,” Booker started. “She had turned the home that she owned in this district into a rental and moved across the river so that she could put her kids in a better school district.”

  “How stupid was that?”

  “If she had to do over again I’m sure that she would have made different choices,” Booker confessed.

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah, but that wasn’t really what sealed her fate,” Booker continued.

  “What else could there be?”

  “According to the article, she was having an affair with Peter Dooley.”

  “What? He’s married with a litter of kids!”

  “That’s debatable. His wife has filed for a divorce,” Booker offered.

  J Dub couldn’t get the questions out fast enough. “How long has that been going on?”

  “It was news to me,” Booker explained. “Evidently they went on a seminar or some sort of trip together and shared the same room. They were sleeping together on government money.”

  “That doesn’t mean that they were having an affair.” Booker raised his eyebrows. “Well, you know what I mean . . . it’s only circumstantial,” J Dub clarified.

  Booker gave further details. “There was more to it than that. Someone started checking expense accounts, and phone logs, and then a set of pictures turned up.”

  “ . . . For crying out loud.”

  “I know how you feel. We’ve been on this case for nearly three years.”

  “What’s the status?”

  “She was the one that was really pushing it,” Booker spelled out.

  “ . . . But now she’s gone?”

  Booker shook his head and broke the disheartening news. “There is no way that we can prove intent without her. She’s the whiz kid when it comes to that stuff.”

  J Dub thought the news that Booker had just delivered was incredible. “They’re going to walk away from this thing after looking at it for three years?”

  Booker shrugged his shoulders. “I hope not, but I don’t know how we’re going to keep the case.”

  J Dub’s ire hit the ceiling. He nearly came out of the bed. “That really puts the screws to me!” he fired back.

  “I can’t talk about the case and the decisions that might be made,” Booker maintained.

  “I need you!” The pounding intensified in J Dub’s head as the words left his mouth. He paused to gather his thoughts. “It’s kind of like playing in a scramble tournament on the golf course. After you see a few putts, you can see the line. I was hoping that the evidence that you turned up would help me in court at some point in time.”

  Booker worked for the government and couldn’t let personal relationships interfere with privileged information. “You’ll have to force me to talk.”

  J Dub stared at Booker with an incredulous look. The events of the last few minutes had been beyond what he could ever imagine. In fact, the events of the entire morning had been off of the chart.

  Booker broke the silence in the room. “Right now it looks like you’re on your own.”

  J Dub studied Booker to see if there was a hidden message. He searched to read something between the lines. Booker turned and left. J Dub tried to clench his jaw only to grimace in more pain.

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  J Dub spent one night in the hospital. It was mainly for observation. His nose would be sore, but it would heal okay. The ribs would be tender and he would feel uncomfortable for a while. The doctor prescribed a healthy dose of painkillers to ease the soreness. There wasn’t much that medicine could do to take care of a bruised and battered ego.

  Aside from the helpless feeling that he had from the ambush, his chief concern was what Lew was going to do next. It didn’t take very long to find out. A few days after he returned from the hospital, Hank Lowery called. He had received a fax from Grady Patterson outlining the terms of the sale of stock from J Dub back to Lew. Since J Dub was in no mood to travel too far from his house, it was agreed that Hank would come over to J Dub’s house and meet with J Dub, Marcia, and Curt.

  “How bad is his offer?” J Dub started. It hurt for him to speak, let alone move ever so slightly.

  “It’s what we expected,” Hank offered.

  “But I don’t want to sell,” J Dub complained. “I’m a buyer of the business, not a seller.”

  “He doesn’t have to sell to you,” Hank explained. “ . . . And it doesn’t appear as if he is. Lew doesn’t c
are. He has you backed into a corner. He is basically telling you to go ahead and sue him,” Hank conceded.

  “I can’t do that!” J Dub shouted. He quickly grabbed his side as a twinge of pain rattled through his ribs.

  “He knows that,” Hank stated. “It’s a pure power play on his part. He’s going to force your hand.”

  Not only did J Dub’s entire body ache from the beating, but now he was feeling sick to his stomach. He buried his forehead in his hand.

  “Just take what you can and get away from the guy,” Marcia urged.

  “I’m not going to give away fifteen years of my life on a lousy business deal,” J Dub anguished.

  Hank stopped and thought before he spoke. It was the typical pause from a lawyer as minutes on the bill ticked away. “Well, you can choose to sign it . . .”

  “ . . . and it becomes a bad business deal for me,” J Dub interrupted.

  “Or you can choose not to sign it . . .”

  “ . . . and we’ll get nothing,” Marcia butted in.

  “Or you can choose to counter his offer,” Hank clarified. “But he will probably reject it.”

  “He’s got the deck stacked against me,” J Dub granted.

  “I’m afraid so,” Hank agreed. “All things considered, it’s better to get it resolved now.”

  “And take a lousy deal,” J Dub whined.

  “Welcome to the world of minority shareholders,” Hank said in an understatement. “You don’t really have anything. The market for your shares is closed. He can pull a fast one on you if he wants.”

  “Oh, this is wonderful,” J Dub moaned as he put his hand to his brow. “We’ve got some major family decisions to make.”

  “They would like an answer tomorrow,” Hank added.

  “That’s a typical move from Lew. He’ll back you into a corner and pounce on you,” J Dub revealed.

  “He holds the trump card,” Hank admitted.

  Not only did J Dub’s entire body throb, but his heart and soul was aching. He felt hurt and betrayed. “It sounds like he has me over a barrel. Let us alone to talk about things.”

  Hank got up to leave. “That’s fine. It’s a big decision.”

  “Is there anything else we need to know?” J Dub asked.

  “As I said, he is offering you thirty cents on the dollar to what your interest is valued at,” Hank repeated.

  “That’s not any good . . . ,” J Dub grumbled.

  “ . . . And there also is what we refer to as a ‘hold harmless’ clause in the offer,” Hank added.

  “What is that?” J Dub queried.

  “He wants you to hold him harmless for anything that occurred between the two of you the entire time that you were partners,” Hank continued.

  “What!” J Dub shouted as he went into a mild state of shock. “I’m not about to agree to that!”

  “Then he’ll probably not give you anything and force you to sue him,” Hank deadpanned.

  “That really puts my backside up against the wall,” J Dub whimpered. J Dub placed his hands on his face and rubbed his eyes. He was seething.

  “I’ll let you folks talk,” Hank said on his way out the door.

  “Any more surprises?” J Dub asked a final time.

  “That probably gives you enough to think about. Call me tomorrow,” Hank stated as he headed out the door.

  ~ ~ ~

  The Next Day . . .

  Time had run out for J Dub. He got squeezed by a ruthless, dishonest partner who prided himself on being a good businessman. It appeared that the playing field was going to be altered from green grass made plush by a sprinkler system to the stale mahogany walls of a courtroom. Any chance for survival would have to come from legal challenges that would have to prove that Lew had breached his fiduciary duty and had committed fraud against him.

  J Dub had a wife and family and had to think of them first. After fifteen years at Prairie Winds he would go against his heart and take the most attractive offer that was placed on the table. After a sleepless night and an open discussion with Marcia, he decided to cut his losses. Early in the morning J Dub called Hank Lowery informing him that he would accept thirty cents on the dollar and sign the “hold harmless” clause. He had no choice.

  Hank got in touch with Grady Patterson. The deal was signed and faxed with overnight delivery of the original documents.

  Lew didn’t say thank-you or even shake J Dub’s hand. The buyout was done through lawyers. He stayed true to form and exhibited his narcissistic, sociopath behavioral patterns. It was all about him.

  J Dub didn’t get to go into the pro shop to say goodbye to the boys or Julie. Lew literally forced a minority partner squeeze out on J Dub and made arrangements to sell the property to another buyer. He told J Dub to get off of the property and stay off of the property and let it be known that he was no longer welcome at Prairie Winds. The clock had struck twelve. It was over.

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  February 1998 . . .

  As one door in J Dub’s life closed, another one opened. The fear, trepidation and uncertainty that came with the loss of a job as well as income smacked him right between the eyes. J Dub entered an arena that was unfamiliar to him. His new playing field consisted of law offices, coats and ties, conference rooms, and boxes of documents. Instead of going into a mild case of shock, J Dub relented and let Curt do the preliminary leg work of finding an interested law firm to handle his affairs.

  J Dub was in the kitchen chopping vegetables for Marcia while she was shopping for specialty items for her next catering job. Out the window he saw Curt pull up in his car and motioned for him to let himself in.

  Curt lumbered in looking dejected and drained.

  “I can’t believe how tough it is to get somebody to represent you,” Curt complained. J Dub, Marcia, and Curt had devised a short list of law firms to contact. Curt sat down in a heap at the kitchen table while J Dub opened a soda from the refrigerator and set it in front of his brother.

  “Have they seen the financials and the appraisal and tax returns?” J Dub asked.

  “They’ve looked at the whole file,” Curt replied between swallows of Coke.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “Robby Gregg at MARSILIO, MOLINA & MASSONE had a conflict of interest,” Curt responded.

  “ . . . With who? The mob?”

  “Somebody over there did some legal stuff for Walter Hancock once,” Curt stated. “They couldn’t even look at the case because of that.”

  “What about Aaron Boyd?” J Dub inquired. “Hank referred us to him.”

  “BERRY & BOYD doesn’t think there is enough meat on the case. They say that it only has a fifty-fifty chance of winning,” Curt continued.

  “That’s better than nothing,” J Dub countered.

  “From what I’ve been able to find out, law firms want to have a huge chance of winning or they’re not willing to take the case on a contingency basis,” Curt explained.

  “Who else have you talked to?”

  “Jack at BASDEN, HOWARD, CREIGHTON & MILLER won’t tackle the ‘hold harmless’ clause,” Curt made clear. “He said that it’s next to impossible to get the courts to even listen to a case where one partner has absolved the other of any wrongdoing.”

  “Even if possible fraud was involved?” J Dub grumbled.

  “He said that there were stronger cases out there. He didn’t want to mess with it.”

  “You’d think that with all we have to gain that there would be some interest somewhere,” J Dub pleaded.

  “That’s what I thought too,” Curt agreed. “Thom Binger operates a one-man firm and said that his plate was way too full to even look at anything new. I think that he was more concerned about getting the hair transplant to take on his bald head.”

  “Don’t these firms want to try to make a few bucks?” J Dub wondered out loud. “I mean the business supposedly had a value of five million dollars and on top of that was the new course and possibly som
e ground to be developed for home sites. There might be as much as twenty to thirty million dollars of developed property over there.”

  “I know,” Curt agreed.

  “Somebody taking this thing might be able to make themselves several million dollars,” J Dub reasoned.

  “That’s the same way that I am thinking. Jim McCormick at HARRIS, MONTANARO, McCORMICK & OLSON said that his firm was only looking at class action lawsuits where they could obtain a multi-million dollar judgment. They were going after large corporations,” Curt muttered.

  “For crying out loud,” J Dub moaned. “We have a case that might render a judgment of several million dollars.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not against some big corporation,” Curt rationalized.

  “What do these guys want?”

  “They want a case handed to them on a silver platter,” Curt shouted. “They’re all nothing but a bunch of whores.”

  “Are there any other options?” J Dub queried.

  “K. T. Gill at VASQUEZ, GILL, TEESON & SUTHOFF said that their firm wasn’t into the white-collar crime area. Their expertise wasn’t in accounting documents and fraudulent papers,” Curt cried.

  “At least they were honest about that and didn’t waste too much of your time,” J Dub conceded.

  “Mal at LYNCH & STROUD said that his firm lacked the expert litigator needed to win the case,” Curt continued. “Basically that was his way of telling me that they weren’t interested. It sounded to me like it might have caused a conflict with happy hour.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. These are the responses that we’re hearing?” J Dub complained.

  “But it gets even more amazing,” Curt declared. “Jim Reed at REED, MORGENSON, CORDES & FRANKLIN has a conflict of interest with the Pierce brothers. They have represented Norman in the past.”

  J Dub was exasperated. “What’s new? It’s starting to sound like I’m calling out foursomes to start off the first tee.”

  “Regina Blair at PERRY, MILBOURN & SIMPSON won’t touch it because they are booked up with divorce litigation,” Curt continued. J Dub stopped for a moment looking puzzled at the mention of the law firm.