Chapter 10

 

Daniel McKnight owned several semi-pro sports franchises, one each in football, baseball and hockey. The Old Brooking Wildcats, Old Brooking Indians and Old Brooking Blizzards, respectively. The Wildcats and Blizzards were consistently large revenue producers, but the Indians lost money for the past three seasons finishing in last place for two of them. He harbored thoughts of selling the team, but never acted on them.

Daniel was powerfully built at five foot six, but his persona dwarfed even the biggest of his players. He played all three sports at Old Brooking High, excelling in each, although not enough to interest college or professional scouts. Daniel’s father died when he was thirteen, leaving four children. He was the only boy and the oldest child which placed the responsibility for supporting the family squarely on his shoulders. During his four years in high school he worked several jobs, balancing work with sports. When Daniel graduated he took a job as a coach at the high school and played semi-pro football on weekends each fall. Although he had several offers to coach for larger school systems in nearby towns, he was content working for the local high school. He filled several positions in the Old Brooking High, Physical Education Department over the next twenty years and only left his job when an uncle died suddenly leaving Daniel his entire two million dollar estate. Unexpectedly, he was set for life. His dreams were finally coming true.

Demonstrating a high degree of maturity and business acumen, Daniel waited until he could acquire the three sport franchises at distressed prices. This happened eight years ago. His penchant for the bottom line kept him from meddling with the day-to-day field operations of his teams. Considered ruggedly handsome by most women’s standards and a “man’s man” by most men, Daniel was popular wherever he went.

Adam Hampton III enjoyed watching sports. He never played any, but he loved being a spectator. For over six years, he was an enthusiastic supporter of Daniel’s teams. Daniel met Adam at one of the Saturday night football games. While he had seventeen years on Adam, they hit it off right away; the heir apparent to the Hampton fortune becoming a regular in the owner’s box. It was there that Daniel first met Lauren Pendleton who would later succumb to Adam’s whirlwind courtship and marry him. Daniel took an instant dislike to Lauren, who he viewed as interfering with the good times he was having with Adam. Their attendance at the games lessened as Lauren introduced Adam to the “finer” things in life, such as symphony orchestras, museums and the theater. Not being invited to their wedding was the final straw, especially when he found out that his three team managers were invited to Adam’s bachelor party, wedding and reception. It was Old Brookings’s biggest social event of the year and he was not invited. Daniel blamed Lauren for the snub until he ran into Adam two weeks later and saw culpability in the man’s eyes. From that moment on he no longer pursued the friendship. Personal contact was reduced to occasional social events in town; occasions when Lauren brazenly acted as if nothing had happened. She did this so openly that Daniel, on one occasion, gave serious thought to violating the rule about never striking a woman. 

The strained relationship continued for over a year, until Lauren had an accident in a “jumping” exhibition at the Club’s annual riding show. Against Adam’s advice, she had entered the “triple combination” jump. Her horse balked after the first obstacle, throwing Lauren into a hedge at the right side of the fence. The hedge absorbed most of the impact, and although she wasn’t physically hurt, the fall resulted in the miscarriage of her four month old fetus. Adam was unforgiving about the loss of his unborn son. Daniel, moved by Lauren’s misfortune, sent flowers and a comforting letter to her. When she did not respond, he chalked it up to her lack of social grace. 

Four years passed before he heard from her again. It was under very unusual circumstances, brought on by Adam’s involvement in his father’s failed attempt at the hostile take-over of Preston Industries. She called Daniel to set up a meeting at a park in a nearby town. Out of curiosity, more than anything else, he agreed to meet with her. In his mind there was some kind of poetic justice at work although he wasn’t clear on what it could be.

“How have you been, Daniel?” She asked the question as if she was talking to an old friend.

This one has balls, he couldn’t help but think. “I’m just fine, Lauren. How have things been with you?

“About the same.” She seemed to be bent on engaging in small talk.

Daniel took control of the situation. “Let’s cut to the chase, Lauren. Why did you ask to see me? What insidious plan are you hatching, that you need to involve me? I haven’t forgotten, the way you‘ve treated me the past several years.”

She looked hurt by his remarks. Tears welled up in her eyes and began the voyage down her well tanned cheeks. She moved her hazel eyes in several directions, trying to avoid eye contact, but finally she met his. “You have every right to feel that way, Daniel. I certainly don’t deserve any help from you after the way I’ve behaved all these years, but you‘re the only person I feel safe talking to, about this; the only person I can trust.” Lauren reached into her coat pocket for a tissue. She dabbed the tears as they began flowing freely.

Daniel started to speak, but she held up a hand to stop him.

“Let me finish, please, or I’ll lose what little nerve I’ve mustered in coming here. The bottom line is that I’m in big trouble in my marriage, or what would better be described as the sham of a marriage. Adam is not cheating on me, at least as far as I know, but I believe that he has stolen some valuable antique jewelry from me that my family has passed down for generations. I always kept them in a vault at the Centurion Bank. Three days ago I went to the vault to get some papers and the jewels weren’t there. The signature card showed that Adam visited the box two months ago.”

“Maybe he’s having them cleaned or perhaps he’s having them reset as a surprise for you.”

Lauren looked annoyed at his rejoinder. “I keep them polished and they’re sealed in air-tight containers.” and as if to refute his simplistic explanation, she added, “These are valuable antique pieces. You don’t have them reset,” she added, a bit sarcastically.

He ignored the rebuke. “You’re saying that Adam stole your jewelry? Why would he do such a thing?”

Anger replaced the crying as she spouted, “He did it for money and power; he does everything for those two reasons. He’s drained all our bank accounts to buy Preston Industries stock. His father is obsessed with taking over Preston. Then after all their shenanigans they fell short of the required votes anyway. It was all for naught.”

“I heard about the takeover attempt. I know that obsessions do strange things to people.” Daniel reached over to take her hand. “How can I help you, Lauren?”

Lauren looked into his eyes and realized that he wasn’t holding any grudges against her for her disgraceful behavior of the past several years. “You’re a very decent man, Daniel McKnight. I’m really sorry for the way I treated you. Adam wanted to invite you to our wedding. I was the one who said no. Can you ever forgive me?

“There’s nothing to forgive, Lauren. Please let me help you, if I can.”

“I’m not sure that you can do anything. I think I just needed to ventilate. I won’t bother you any more with this.”

She rose to leave, but he gestured for her to sit back down.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I can do more for you than just listen. You can get a minister or an analyst to do that. I‘m offering you my friendship. You look like you can use a friend about now. I know people who can find out what happened to your jewelry. They are top-notch investigators. They are very thorough and very discrete. Do you have pictures and descriptions of each piece?”

She reached into her handbag and removed an envelope. “This is the information we put together for our insurance company, a few years back. The pictures are very good, as are the descriptions of the pieces.”

“Give me a few days. I’ll ask the investigators to look around. I’ll get back to you if they need to have any additional information.”

“How can I thank you?”

Daniel slid next to her on the bench and gently placed his arm around her. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Lauren. We’ll get to the bottom of this. I’ll call you by the end of the week. I should have something by then.”

They walked together to the parking lot. As she got into her Mercedes, she leaned back and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Daniel contacted a friend, Walter Madding, at Palentine Investigations, a P.I. firm he often used to do background checks. He sent the jewelry information to them by courier and requested a thorough check of Adam Hampton III’s personal and professional life. After all, what did he really know about the man that Adam had become? It was many years since they had beers together and talked about their conquests.

It only took three days for Walter to trace the jewelry to a private collector who paid over four hundred thousand dollars for the collection. There was a direct link to Adam. The background check on Adam uncovered an application for a seven hundred thousand dollar mortgage on their summer house, an application bearing the signature of Adam Hampton III and Lauren S. Hampton. He faxed Daniel a copy.

Daniel and Lauren met again at the park bench. She calmly read the report and looked at the mortgage application. “That isn’t my signature,” she told him.

Daniel put the envelope down on the bench. He took her hands in his. “Lauren, my investigator says that the jewelry was bought in good faith by a collector. The man refuses to give them up under any conditions. Walter thinks that the man may have some legal standing. As for the summer house, since you and Adam still own it, the only issue is the commission of fraud and what you want to do about that. Adam is on very shaky ground there. As I look at all of this, my advice to you is to retain a good lawyer. I can recommend several if you’re interested.”

“Do they handle divorces too?”

He was both surprised and pleased by her question. “Are you sure you want to go that route?”

“How can you ask me that? You can see what kind of a man he became. Do you expect me to stay married to that lying, thieving snake in the grass?”

“No, I suppose not. To answer your question, yes I do know an excellent divorce lawyer. His name is Bert Wiegans. He’s one of the best in the area. I can probably get you in to see him as early as tomorrow if you’re ready to move forward right away.

“I am! If he can make it today, even better.”

 

Adam offered no resistance to Lauren’s divorce motion. He agreed to her settlement demands including re-mortgaging the summer house solely in his name.

Shortly after her divorce. Daniel started dating Lauren. The relationship they described as “just good friends”, although a month ago, on his fiftieth birthday they traveled together to Las Vegas. Two suites were reserved; only one was used.