Chapter 16
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 times 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 to my client to let him explain what was going on.