Brash Endeavor, page 17
I must have passed out at that point because when I woke up I was in the hospital emergency room. I tried to sit up but the pain was too intense. I fell back unto the hospital bed. A nurse seeing me wake up came over to see how I was.
"Hey Cowboy, how you feeling?" she asked.
"Not very good actually. Where am I?
"Colorado Springs County Hospital."
"How long have I been here?"
"Just about twelve hours. The doctor gave you a sedative since you were in so much pain."
"If you would like to sit up I'll be happy to help you," she said.
"Thank you."
She leaned over and pushed a button and the head of the bed began to rise. She smiled and said, "You must have got someone real pissed off at you to knock you around they way they did."
"Apparently. How did I get here anyway?"
"Your neighbor at the motel heard the commotion in your room and called the police. They found you unconscious on the floor and called an ambulance. There's an officer outside who wants to interview you," the nurse said.
"Oh really, I don't feel like talking right now," I said.
"Well, he's been waiting about an hour, so I expect you best talk to him."
"All right, tell him to come in."
The young officer entered the room, walked over to me and smiled. He took out a note pad and started asking me questions.
"Mr. Turner, I'm Officer Gray from the Colorado Springs Police Department. We're very sorry you were attacked and want to assure you we will do everything possible to apprehend the persons responsible for this crime."
"Well, thank you. I appreciate your concern."
"I know you're probably not feeling too well right now, but I need to ask you some questions about what happened to you."
"Sure."
"Could you tell how many persons there were who assaulted you?" he asked.
"Two, a man and a woman."
"Can you describe them?"
"The man was tall, about six foot two and the woman was medium height, thin, maybe five foot four. They both were wearing blue jeans, the man had black boots and I didn't see what shoes the woman had on."
"Did you get a good look at their faces?"
"No, they both wore ski masks."
"Do you have any idea who they might have been?"
"Not really, they totally surprised me. It all happened so fast, I'm afraid I didn't see much of anything."
"Did they steal anything?"
"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to look through my things, but I wasn't carrying anything valuable."
"What were you doing here in Colorado Springs anyway?"
"Just doing a little research for a client in Dallas."
"Maybe your client has some enemies he didn't tell you about?"
"Possibly, I really don't know."
"Okay, that's not much to go on but we'll do our best to find your attackers."
"Thank you," I said.
In the morning I was released from the hospital so I picked up my baggage from the Holiday Inn and left for Amarillo. Before I left, however, I did call Sheriff Barnett and report the incident to him hoping that would spur on his investigation. On the ride back to Amarillo I planned my activities for the following week. First I'd confront Kurt and then terminate any attorney-client relationship with him. I would then call each of the investors and explain the situation and strongly suggest they get independent counsel. Then I needed to go check on Gena Lombardi who hopefully had managed to get out of jail by now. Finally, I had to get with General Burton and fill him in on the latest developments in the Melba Thorn case.
The plane ride back to DFW was short compared to the long drive from Colorado Springs to Amarillo. When the plane landed I wondered how Rebekah was going to react when she saw my physical condition. I hadn't told her about getting beat up because I didn't want her to worry. As I walked up the ramp from the plane I saw her and the kids in the distance. When Reggie spotted me he broke away from Rebekah and ran toward me yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!"
He stopped when he was close enough to get a good look at me and said, "Daddy, what happened to you?"
"Oh, nothing, I'm okay. I'll tell you about it in a few minutes," I said as Rebekah and the rest of the family reached us.
"Oh my God! What happened to you?" Rebekah exclaimed.
"I was attacked in my motel room last night," I said.
"Your eyes look terrible and you've got a horrible gash on your face."
"I'll be all right, don't worry," I said.
Rebekah began to cry. "Who did this to you? Oh, I am so afraid that gash on your face will scar. I know a plastic surgeon you need to go see. Oh . . . God! I can't believe they did this to your beautiful face. Does it hurt? Are you in pain?"
"No, the doctor gave me pain medication," I replied.
"You're never traveling again. It's too dangerous with all those maniacs out there. I can't believe this happened to you. What are we going to do?"
"Hey, relax. . . . I'm okay. I'll heal, don't worry."
"Daddy who beat you up?" Peter said.
"Somebody trying to rob me, I guess,"
I didn't dare tell Rebekah about the connection between my assailants and Melba Thorn or she wouldn't let me keep working on the case. It seemed best for now just to leave that part out of my story. We got my luggage from the baggage claim area and then found Rebekah's car. On the ride back to Dallas I dumped the rest of the bad news about my trip on Rebekah.
"So now what are you going to do?" Rebekah said.
"I'm not sure, I've got to talk to General Burton and get his advice," I said.
"So did you find out anything of value on this trip or did you get beat up for nothing?"
"Well, I'm afraid I haven't told you the worst yet."
"You're kidding? . . . There's more bad news."
"I'm afraid so. Kurt's been lying to everybody about the Panhandle Building. It's not nearly as far along in the renovation as he told everybody. There's no way he's going to have enough money to complete the project."
"Oh shit! You mean Tom's going to lose his $100,000?"
"I don't know. He might."
"But he's such a nice man."
"I know. All of the investors are nice guys, but they got into a risky deal."
"They're going to blame it on you, Stan."
"I know, but what can I do?"
"You better call Kurt right now and get this straightened out," Rebekah said.
"I'm going to see him first thing Monday morning but I don't expect I'm going to like what he has to say. I'm sure he figures he can get the money to cover the deficit on the building from some other source, but that's no excuse for outright fabrication of rent rolls and build-out reports."
"That bastard, how could he possibly think he could get away with something like this?" Rebekah said.
"It beats the shit out of me," I replied."
Rebekah shook her head. "Damn him."
I took Rebekah's hand and smiled trying to reassure her that everything would be okay. "So, did anything happen at home this week?"
"No, not really. Peter got two goals Tuesday night in his soccer game. You'd of been very proud of him."
"Two goals! Wow. Way to go, Peter."
Peter leaned over the back to the front seat, smiled and giggled at me basking in the recollection of his athletic accomplishment.
"Oh, your friend Blackbird called," Rebekah said.
"He called the house?"
"Yes, he said he couldn't get you at the office so he thought he try you at home."
"What did he want?"
"He says that Parker #3 is going to be completed next weekend and he wanted to be sure we could be there."
"Oh good? What did you tell him?"
"I said I couldn't go, I've got to work and we don't have anyone to take care of the kids. I told him you couldn't go either because I didn't want you within a hundred yards of his wife."
"You didn't tell him that, . . . give me a break," I said.
"Well, I almost did," Rebekah said. "You don't really want to go, do you?"
"Yes, I know the well is going to come in. I saw it in my dream and you and boys were there."
"Well, I'll have to see if Mom can babysit Marcia."
"I'm sure she'll be happy to do it," I said.
"And I'll have to get someone to cover for me at the hospital for the weekend."
Rebekah shook her head and glared at me. "This is going to be a lot of damn trouble Stanley Turner. That well better come in!"
"It will. I've already seen the oil raining from the sky. It's a sure thing."
"Right. Oh, you got another call too, from Gena Lombardi. She said she's still in jail and her court appointed attorney sucks."
"Oh God, what does she want me to do?"
"Get her out of jail," Rebekah said.
"Well if her criminal attorney couldn't get her out of jail what makes her think I could," I replied.
"I don't know but she thinks you're some kind of God or something. After all you saved her precious Corvette."
Finally we arrived home and parked the car in the garage. The kids opened their doors and rushed inside the house. I got my bags from the trunk and brought them in.
"Let's just go to bed and sleep right through next week, okay," I said.
"Sounds like a good plan to me."
17
SECOND THOUGHTS
Getting up on Monday morning was not an easy task. I wasn't anxious to confront Kurt nor to face the investors and tell them what I had discovered. To make matters worse, I was at a dead end with Melba Thorn and now Gena Lombardi was going to be pressuring me to represent her in her criminal case. I wondered why I ever wanted to be an attorney. The pressure had suddenly become overwhelming. Finally I rolled out of bed and hit the showers. I hoped the hot water would relax the tightness that had developed in my neck and shoulders and ease my intense headache. Unfortunately it didn't help; so I opted for three aspirin. Before I got dressed I looked outside to see what the weather was like. It wasn't raining, but it was damp and foggy and there was a strong north wind. A cold front must have come through during the night, I conjectured.
Rebekah tried to cheer me up but nothing she could say could lessen the fear and guilt that I felt over the Panhandle Building. Could I have done something to prevent what had happened? I suppose I could have confronted Kurt and got his assurances that everything was in order, but he still could have lied to me. If Kurt had any sinister plans he certainly didn't relay them to me. Kurt's instructions were simply to do the paperwork for the deal. I took that to mean to be fair to all parties, which I tried to do.
I decided to go straight to Kurt's house rather than to the office. I wanted to get the confrontation over with immediately since it was weighing heavy on my mind. As I drove up to the front gate I noticed it was locked. I pushed the bell but no one answered. I pushed the bell several more time but still there was no response. I got out of the car to take a good look at the grounds to see if I could spot anyone. As I grabbed hold of the rod iron gate one of Kurt's dogs suddenly appeared and attacked me. Luckily I jerked my leg away from the fence fast enough to narrowly miss having my leg ripped apart by the Doberman's sharp teeth.
"Pepper! It's me." I yelled. "Come on boy calm down. I'm just looking for your master."
Pepper quit barking and began to wag her tail once she recognized me. I stuck my hand through the fence to pet her. Ginger came charging across the yard and joined us. I got up and took one last look at the grounds but didn’t see anyone.
Slightly shaken and extremely frustrated, I got back into my car and went to the office. When I arrived General Burton was at his desk filling out a contract. When he saw me enter he smiled, squinted and then jumped out of his seat and approached me.
"Stan, what happened to you? You look terrible."
"As you can see someone doesn't want me to find Melba Thorn."
"What do you mean?" the general asked.
I told him the story.
"I guess that proves Melba is alive," General Burton said.
"I don't know about that, but it does prove that someone doesn't want us to find out the truth."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I was going to ask you for some suggestions."
"Boy, I don't know. Maybe you should contact the authorities."
"And tell them what, that a ghost has been calling me. I don't have a shred of evidence to back up my suspicions. Anyway, I did manage to get the sheriff up in Florissant, Colorado to reopen the investigation of Melba's death. He apparently had been suspicious all along but didn't have anything to go on. Now he's convinced, especially since I got beat up, that something's not right."
"Well that's one positive accomplishment anyway," the general noted.
"In the meantime, I've got some other problems that have developed while I was gone to deal with, so I better get to work."
"Well, don't let me stop you. I'm so sorry you got beat up, Stan. I hope it's not too painful?"
"No, it looks worse than it feels," I said.
After talking to General Burton I decided to try to call Kurt. I dialed the number but it rang and rang with no answer. I decided to try to get a hold of Cynthia Carson, hoping she would know where Kurt went. I didn't have her home number so I called information. She wasn't listed in her full name but there were a few C. Carsons, so I tried them. After three tries I got lucky.
"Oh hi Stan, where have you been? Kurt was looking for you."
"He was?"
"Yes, he had to go to Brazil to meet some investors and he wanted you to take care of something while he was gone."
"How long's he going to be away?"
"I don't know, maybe a couple of weeks."
"Oh shit! I can't believe this."
"What's wrong?"
"I was in Amarillo and I visited the Panhandle Building."
"Oh, you did. How did you like it?"
"Well the lobby and the floors that are completed look great. Unfortunately, I discovered . . . well . . . the information Kurt's been giving us about the finish out is not accurate."
"How is that?" Cynthia said.
"There are only two floors complete instead of seven and the rent rolls he gave us are pure fabrication."
"What? I can't believe that. The manager mailed me those rent rolls himself. Why would he fake them?"
"I have no idea, but we need to get a hold of Kurt and get this straightened out immediately," I said. "Do you have a telephone number where we can reach him?"
"No, he's staying with some investors. He didn't give me a number."
"What I can't believe is how the people from Worldwide Savings could have inspected the building and still closed the deal."
"This doesn't make sense, there must be some mistake, Kurt wouldn't do something like this," Cynthia assured me.
"I hope there is some explanation, but I took a look at every floor in that building and there are only two floors that are finished," I replied.
"I don't know what to say, Stan. It just doesn't seem possible."
"I know, but it's happening and you and I are in hot water if we can't get it straightened out."
"Why would we be in hot water?"
"Because the bank's going to think you and I were in on it."
"But it's not true."
"You and I know that, but to the Worldwide and the FBI it's not so clear."
"What can we do?"
"I don't know yet. Just sit tight and if you hear from Kurt don't say anything to him. Just tell him I need to talk to him immediately."
"Okay, I will," Cynthia said.
That's all I needed, Kurt disappearing on me all of sudden just when I had to get some answers. The question now was could I afford to wait a couple of weeks for Kurt to resurface? After considerable soul searching I decided the situation wouldn't get any worse in two weeks since the damage had already been done. I guess I owed it my client to let him explain what was going on.
18
MAKING BAIL
