Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

quick breakfast before we went to the office. When we arrived, Maria advised me that I'd gotten an urgent call from Ben Stover. I showed Tehra to her work station, asked Maria to help her set up her computer, and then went directly to my office to talk to Ben. He answered on the second ring.

  "Stan. Thanks for returning my call."

  "No problem. What's up?"

  "Well, you're not going to believe this but we closed on the Austin property."

  "Oh. That's great."

  "Well, not really. We had to drop the price to salvage the deal after the rumors of filing chapter 11 started spreading."

  "How much?"

  "A hundred grand. I actually had to put in a few bucks to make the deal work."

  "Well, at least you got rid of a lot of debt."

  "Yeah, but I'd like to choke Ralph. I needed that hundred grand. I swear to God if I ever see that bastard again I'll kill him!"

  "Well with any luck he'll be going away for a long time, so you won't have to worry about him. His cell mates will make his life miserable."

  "I'm not so sure. Even if he is convicted he may thrive in prison. He's a real manipulator, you know."

  "Is he?"

  "Oh, yes. He knows how to get what he wants. I tried to get him to run for the city council here in Waco, but he said they didn't pay enough to make it worth his while."

  "He's probably right on that score. If it's like Dallas they don't pay city councilmen squat."

  "Anyway, I guess we're gonna need that chapter 11."

  "Really? Business hasn't picked up?"

  "It's our slow season. We've shipped all our Christmas orders already. Without the hundred grand from the Austin sale we'll have to shut down."

  "Right. Well, we can't have that."

  "Didn't you say we'd have at least four months to get a plan put together."

  "That's right and you won't have to pay your vendors for at least six months."

  "Good. That will gives us time to collect some receivables."

  I cringed at the thought of having to handle a chapter 11 case at the same time as we had two murder trials going on. A chapter 11 reorganization was a major undertaking and would drain hundreds of hours of precious time over the next six months. Unfortunately, I had no choice. Ben and Alice Stover wouldn't let anyone else handle it. They'd just throw in the towel if I refused to file it for them.

  We agreed I'd meet them in Waco on Saturday to get all the information I needed for the filing. Then I'd come back to Dallas and put the petition and schedules together. On Tuesday or Wednesday I'd drive to Waco, they'd sign everything, and then I'd go straight over to the federal courthouse and file the case. After filing the paperwork I'd stay overnight so I could appear the next day for first day motions. A debtor-in-possession, as a business in chapter 11 was called, had to get permission to pay its employees and use cash collateral. In this case Ben had a good relationship with his banker so we weren't expecting any trouble.

  After hanging up the phone I went to see how Tahra was doing getting her computer set up. Maria was hovering over her and she didn't look happy.

  "How are you two doing?" I asked.

  Maria looked up. "Not good," Maria said in a frustrated tone of voice. "How can you graduate from college and not know how to use a computer?"

  Tehra looked at me and shrugged. "It won't do what I tell it," she explained.

  I frowned not comprehending the problem. Then it suddenly occurred to me, she was probably used to much more advanced computers. These little HP desktops probably seemed pretty strange to her. "Ah . . . well, I think she's used to a Mac. It might take her a little while to learn DOS."

  Maria shook her head. "Okay, I'll do the best I can, but I'm not a computer instructor."

  I laughed. "That's all right. I'm sure you'll teach her whatever she needs to know quickly and efficiently."

  Maria rolled her eyes. "Right."

  After Maria was through with Tehra's computer lesson, I asked Tehra how our computers stacked up to what they had on Tarizon. She laughed. "I haven't ever seen anything like this since I was a child. My father took me to a museum once and I remember seeing something similar. Our computers on Tarizon are voice or thought controlled—no keyboard or mouse."

  "You mean you just think about what you want the computer to do and it does it?"

  "Something like that."

  "Wow! That's amazing."

  "They are a hundred times faster too," Tehra said. "Whatever you want done is completed almost instantaneously. I'm not sure I have enough patience to use one of your PCs."

  "It's still a lot faster than doing it by hand," I noted.

  "I know. I'm not complaining. I'll get used to it."

  That afternoon I briefed Tehra on the Charlotte Wenzel case and gave her the file to look over. Besides being someone I could talk candidly with, I was learning a lot about Tarizon which would help me do a better job for the CIA. It also made me feel better about Peter being on Tarizon. I was starting to think of it as just another part of the world. If I could have only picked up the phone and talked to him, that would have almost made the situation tolerable.

 

  18

  Indispensable

  Paula Waters

  When I told Bart about Stan's new intern he seemed almost relieved. He said the firm was understaffed with only one paralegal for three attorneys and he was thinking about getting a pretty intern himself. I told him to forget about it. I assured him that between the two of us we could get all the work done. After thinking about it for a while though, I understood Bart's relief. With Tehra hanging around Stan all the time he'd have little time for me.

  It was a few days before I heard back from Paul Thayer about Almatech's CEO, T. Robert Stout and his interest in Chester Brown. "Apparently Chester Brown went to Harvard too, but never graduated," Paul noted. "While he was there, however, he met Stout and they became friends. I'm told that Stout not only held Brown in high regard but seemed to be fascinated my him. After Stout joined the Air Force they lost contact with each other. In fact, I can't find any trace of Chester Brown for about a seventeen year period starting shortly after he left Harvard to his employment by TI three years ago."

  "How can there be such a huge gap in a person's history, particularly someone like Brown?" I asked. " He must have been somewhere."

  "Speculation was that he went to work for a foreign government or maybe even a terrorist organization. He was somewhat of a renegade at Harvard and was disliked by his professors. Apparently he was brilliant and wouldn't hesitate to humiliate one of them if their theories were flawed. Some say he left Harvard without graduating because he'd learned all that he could there."

  "Interesting, but if he'd gone to work for terrorists, TI would have never hired him."

  "Yes, I wouldn't think so," Paul agreed.

  "So, did you find out anything about the project they were working on?"

  "Nothing official. But one of their recently laid-off staff members suggested it had to had to do with stealth technology. More than that he wouldn't say."

  "Stealth technology? You mean like airplanes that can't be picked up by radar?"

  "Exactly. Apparently TI is at the forefront of this research and Brown was in the thick of it."

  "So, others may have wanted Brown dead too. Was he that critical to the project?"

  "Apparently he was the project," Paul replied. "The project has languished since his death and TI is scrambling to find someone to replace him. If they fall too far behind schedule they could lose the contract and Almatech, being the runner-up in the bidding, would likely be asked to step up to the plate."

  "What about Stout's Air Force background? What did he do the twenty years he spent there?"

  "Lots of things. He started out as a pilot in the Vietnam War in 1969. When the war was over he went into military intelligence and worked in the field in covert operations for about ten years. His last four years were spent as a liaison officer between the FAA and the
Pentagon."

  "So, he had the necessary training and experience to set the fire trap in Brown's house."

  "Without a doubt."

  "Well, I guess I should go visit Detective Rhodes and fill him in on what we've found. Maybe this information will get him off our client as the primary suspect."

  "It should, but I'm afraid Detective Rhodes may not relish the idea of taking on the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation. Our client is an easy target with limited resources, but going after T. Robert Stout will be difficult and costly. I'm afraid unless we serve the necessary evidence for a conviction on a silver platter, the prosecution won't go in that direction."

  "You may be right, but it's worth a try. I can't see that it will hurt our client in any way."

  Paul agreed and said he'd keep digging into Brown and Stout's backgrounds. After he'd hung up I called Richard Francis, the assistant district attorney we'd met the night Walter Stanley was brought in for questioning. I told him I had some information I wanted to share with him. He agreed to meet me for lunch the following day at the Collin County Hospital cafeteria. It had become a favorite hangout for county officials after a world renowned chef, Ricardo Regori, had been sentenced to one year confinement in the Collin County Jail. Regori didn't want his skills as a chef to diminish while he was incarcerated, so he volunteered to be chief cook at the county hospital—an offer the county commissions could hardly refuse.

  After setting up the meeting with Francis, I decided to call our client and fill him in on where we were at in the investigation. He was pleased when I explained what good progress we'd made.

  "So,