Chapter 11
THE MERGER
At noon the door swung open and Jane Thorn Brown made her appearance. She was a slim brunette, about 5'4" and appeared to be in her early 30's. General Burton took her into his office for a few minutes, for what purpose I wasn't sure, but shortly thereafter they appeared at my door.
"Jane, I want you to meet Stan Turner."
"Oh, I am delighted to meet you Mr. Turner. General Burton was just telling me about you."
"The pleasure is definitely mine."
"I hope you will go to lunch with us," Jane said.
"I'd love to."
"Well let's be off then," General Burton said. "We can take my car."
"Nonsense, my driver is out front with the limousine," Jane said.
"Okay, fine."
Jane introduced us to her driver, Ralph Hopkins. He was young, athletic and apparently very serious as I never once saw him give even a hint of a smile.
"Ralph is a great driver. He's been with me now for over five years. I don't know what I would do without him," Jane said.
We rode in Jane's limousine to the Italian Alps, a five star Italian restaurant well known for its exquisite Northern Italian cuisine. When the waiter spotted the General, he immediately took us to a corner table away from the usual bustle of the lunch time crowd. After we were settled in and had given the waiter our orders, General Burton began to reminisce with Jane.
"I can remember you when you were in high school. Didn't you attend Immaculate Heart?" General Burton said.
"Yes, that was a long time ago," Jane replied.
"Your mother was so proud of you. She wanted you to be a teacher as I recall."
"Actually she wanted me to be a college professor. She was really into education. She believed that education was the key to solving most of the world's ills."
"Well, I would tend to agree with her," General Burton said. "If there is any one force that can change the world for the better it would certainly be our teachers."
"She was so disappointed when I refused to go to college. It was like I had betrayed her. She wouldn't talk to me for months."
"Why didn't you want to go to college?" I asked.
"I am just not the intellectual type," Jane replied. "I was tired of school, I wanted to travel, to meet people and maybe work in my father's business or start a business of my own."
"I can identify with that, I never liked school much," I said. "I always felt like I would never use what they were teaching me. For instance, I took six years of French and I haven't spoken a word of French to anyone in the past five years."
"Exactly, I was tired of learning. I wanted to experience, to taste life," Jane said.
"So, how did it work out?" I asked.
"Not so well. My Dad wouldn't let me work in the business, he said a woman's place is at home. Of course, Mom was mad at me for not going to college so she made sure none of my travel plans got funded."
"She got over it though, didn't she?" General Burton said.
"Oh, of course, particularly after Dad died. We had to pull together to bear the tragedy."
"Yes, your father was a fine man and a great businessman. I don't know of anyone who could analyze the merits of a business deal so quickly and accurately as your father."
"You're very kind, General."
"I was doubly shocked to hear just the other day of your mother's sudden death," General Burton said. "And such a horrid way to die."
"I still can't believe it. Mom had been bugging Robert and I to bring our families to Colorado and vacation with her. She was so excited that we were finally all together and then all of sudden she's dead."
"Do you have any idea why she was driving alone in the mountains? That seemed uncharacteristic of your Mother." General Burton asked.
"There had been a fight between Mom and Robert. She was upset and wanted to go for a drive. Her driver was out having the limo fixed so she got in one of the rented Cadillacs and just took off. I figured she would calm down and return after a few hours but when we all got back from horseback riding she was still gone. After four or five hours had passed I became very worried and called the police. It was then that they told me of the accident."
"I wonder what your mother and Robert could have been arguing about that would make her so upset that she would take off like that. Your Mom is so mild mannered it just seems so strange," General Burton said.
"Robert was upset that Mom wouldn't let him run the business. He wanted more power, he didn't like the way Mom was giving away so much money to all her charities. He was frustrated because Mom would torpedo all his ideas for expansion and reorganization of the business. If I recall, at the time they were arguing something about a merger between Taylor's company and Thorn Realty. Taylor keeps me in the dark about his business, so I'm not sure exactly what the argument was about, but it was very intense."
"General Burton mentioned your mother's death to me earlier, I'm very sorry," I said. "Did the police find out why your Mom's car went out of control?"
"He thinks she hit a deer. They found one dead on the side of the road near where her car went off. Apparently as she came around a sharp turn she was suddenly confronted by the deer. She veered to the right to avoid hitting it, however it was too late. When she hit it, she lost control of the car . . ." Jane said as she began to weep, "and . . . and it spun off the cliff."
"I am so sorry, Jane," General Burton said. "We shouldn't be talking about this. I'm sorry I brought it up."
"It's all right. I should be able to talk about it now. It's been over a year."
The waiter brought our food and the conversation waned as we enjoyed the exquisite meal. Jane seemed like a nice woman who was deeply hurt by the loss of her mother and father. I could understand her grief as I had lost my father recently as well, but I didn't quite understand all the inner-workings in the Thorn family, so I pressed for more details.
"So, is your brother running the business now?" I asked.
"Yes. . . . well he and Taylor are actually. They merged their two businesses about a year ago," Jane said.
"So what are you doing now, Jane?" General Burton said. "Do you have any children yet?"
"No, no children. I've been doing some of the traveling that I've always wanted to do."
"Does Taylor travel with you?" General Burton asked.
"Are you kidding? He's too wrapped up in the business for that. I usually take one of my friends and, of course, Ralph comes along to watch out for us. But, enough about me, what have you been doing General?"
"Playing lots of golf," I noted.
General Burton gave me a wounded look. "Don't mind Stan, he's just jealous because he's just starting out in his career and has lots of hard work ahead of him. As you know I'm coasting on the fruits of forty years of labor."
"Well, no one deserves it more than you General," Jane replied.
"I concur. I was just giving the General a bad time today about all the golf he played. He so eloquently pointed out to me, however, that the important thing in the business world was not how hard, but how smart you worked."
"Well, General Burton is a wise man, so I recommend you listen carefully to everything he tells you," Jane advised.
After lunch Ralph drove us back to the office. We had learned a lot, but the puzzle was far from complete. I didn't dare tell Jane that her mother, or someone claiming to be her mother, had been calling me. That would have to wait until I had confirmed that Melba was indeed alive. For now, I had to plan my next move. Where did I go from here to get closer to the truth?
It seemed I had three options, go to Amarillo to scour all the nursing homes for evidence that Melba was being held in one of them, go to Colorado to find out more about the accident or I could confront Robert Thorn once again now that I had more information. Somehow I didn't feel ready for Robert Thorn so I opted to go to Colorado via Amarillo. My only problems were time and money, I didn't have
either.
Friday was a busy day, in the morning I had the big Panhandle Building closing and in the afternoon Gena Lombardi's creditor's meeting. But even if I had the time the money I had collected from Kurt Harrison for last month's billing was gone and there was no way I could afford a week's travel.
My only hope was if General Burton would fund the trip since he was as interested in solving the mystery of Melba Thorn as I was. When I told him of my dilemma he not only agreed to pay all my expenses but insisted his travel agent make all the arrangements. I told him it would have to wait until Monday, however, due to the Friday closing and Rebekah's weekend job at North Central Receiving Hospital.
During the afternoon I began final preparations for the Panhandle closing. While I was engrossed in my work the phone rang. It was Bird.
"Hey listen, Sheila and I have to come up Friday to meet with Tomlinson. We thought we'd stay the weekend, so I wanted to take you up on your dinner invitation."
"Oh, Saturday. Well, Rebekah works on the weekends so we'll have to work around her schedule."
"That's okay just check with her and give me a call Friday over at Inca so we can coordinate our plans."
"Fine. What are you going to be doing with Tomlinson?"
"We're making final preparations on Parker #3. We want to start drilling in a couple of weeks."
"So you're telling me I've got to decide pretty quick whether to cash in my chips or put them down on Parker #3."
"It looks that way; we've almost sold the well out so Tomlinson is closing it to further investors on Friday. As a matter of fact, when you call me Friday let me know your decision. If you want to get paid I'll have Tomlinson cut you a check otherwise we'll need you to come by and sign an investor letter."
"I guess I've got some hard thinking to do," I said.
"It's only money, Stan. If you take the money you’re just going to spend it anyway. Take a little risk. If the well comes in and you're sitting on the outside looking in, you'll never forgive yourself."
"I don't know. I've got to talk to Rebekah about it. Money's kind of tight right now."
"Well, let us know. I'll talk to you on Friday," Bird said.
"Okay, say hello to Sheila."
Bird's call upset me. It was a bad weekend for he and Sheila to come to Dallas. Friday was already going to be a bitch of a day and now I had to make a decision on Parker #3 to boot. Then on Saturday Rebekah was going to meet Sheila. I had worried about that ever since I came back from Corpus. Rebekah was no dummy, she would sense the tension between Sheila and I immediately and then when I got home I would get barraged with questions about my trip to Corpus Christi. What's going on between you and Sheila, she would want to know. If she found out about the little excursion on Blackbird One, I was a dead man.
As I was finishing up the Panhandle paperwork I thought I would call Kurt and Ron to see if everything was set for Friday. It was already Wednesday and if anything else had to be done I needed to find out about it soon. I called Kurt first. Gwen answered.
"Is Kurt around?"
"No, the president and loan officer from Worldwide Savings and Loan flew up in their corporate jet and picked up Kurt on their way to Amarillo to check out the Panhandle Building before the closing on Friday."
"So everything looks good for Friday?"
"I guess. I overheard Kurt making luncheon reservations for everybody at Pierre's Place at the Plaza of the Americas. I think he intends it to be a closing party."
"A closing party. I never heard of that."
"Kurt likes to celebrate after important closings."
"Sounds good to me. Okay, well tell Kurt if he needs me to give me a call."
After I hung up I called Ron Johnson to see if everything was ready for the closing. He advised me it was, so I packed up my briefcase to go home. I was about to leave when I remembered I needed to call Gena Lombardi to remind her of her creditor's meeting Friday. She was not at home so I left her a message on her answering machine to meet me at the federal courthouse fifteen minutes before the two o'clock hearing on Friday.
When I got home I had to go immediately to soccer practice with Reggie. When we returned dinner was ready, so the family sat down together to eat. I thought it was a good time to discuss coordination of our schedules for the next few days.
"Friday is going to be a busy day," I said.
"You've got your big closing don't you?" Rebekah said.
"Yes, but I also have a two o'clock creditors meeting. There's no way I can get home by two-thirty. Can your Mother come over until five?" I said.
"Probably, but I'll have to call her to be sure."
"I got a call from Bird Logan today. He wants us to have dinner with he and his wife Saturday."
"But I've got to work," Rebekah said.
"That's what I told him but he wanted me to check with you anyway."
"Well, maybe I can get someone to trade shifts with me. I'll have to call the hospital and find out who’s working Saturday."
"Don't knock yourself out. It's not critical that we have dinner with them. We can do it another time."
"I know it's important for you to socialize with your clients, so you can get to know them better. Let me call around and see if someone will switch shifts me."
"Okay, if you can but it's no big deal."
Rebekah got up and went into the other room to make a phone call.
"Is Grandma going to babysit Friday?" Mark asked.
"That's right," I replied.
"Oh goody!"
Rebekah walked back into the room and sat down. She smiled and said, "I got my shift changed to seven to three."
I forced a smile. "Good then, we're all set."