Justin Thyme Ch. 16

Again I pulled out my phone and texted Michael, "We need to talk! When will you be home?" I had no idea if he was busy or not, but I knew he would get back to me as soon as he could.

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Pete Fleming tried mightily not to let his frustrations show to Dave and Michael, but he was not succeeding. As soon as the trio returned to the car he tried calling David Abernathy on his cell phone, only to receive a voice mail message saying he was involved in meetings throughout the day and was unable to answer his phone. "The only meeting he has on his schedule is with the electronics guy from Electromotive. That is all we sent him out here for. Dave, I want you to touch base with somebody in IT and see if there is something else happening out here that I don't know about. It is possible something came up yesterday."

Dave quickly pulled out his laptop, connected an aircard, and shot off a couple of emails while Pete drove toward Elk Grove Village. It took only a couple of minutes before he received two replies, one from Abernathy's secretary back in Omaha and the other from Abernathy's assistant in Omaha. Neither professed to know of anything pressing other than the Electromotive meeting.

"Dave," Pete said, "Please give a call back to the office in Northbrook, office 113, and see what that secretary was working on that had her so frazzled. I'm beginning to smell something that doesn't smell just right. I'd rather not call while driving in this Chicagoland traffic."

Dave was on the phone only for a couple of minutes before hanging up and saying, "Abernathy has her typing up the requirement for those engines we have on order. I don't know what's going on. He was supposed to have them done before coming out here, and it is his job, not hers. She is afraid she won't be able to complete them in time, and he has already written her up for poor performance yesterday."

Pete just nodded and continued his drive in silence. Michael thought it wise to stay out of the situation totally, and said nothing. Pete's mood was not enhanced by the backed up traffic on the Tri-State Expressway, which as so frequently happens around Chicago was totally backed up from construction.

Finally after an hour of crawling up the expressway instead of the normal thirty minute drive Pete pulled the car into the Elk Grove Village offices of the UP. There was no sign of a Lincoln Continental in the parking lot. Pete glanced at the clock on the car radio and grunted. "It's ten thirty already. Bear with me. I'm going to make a quick run and check something, and then we'll come back." He pulled back onto Pratt Ave. and drove east just a couple of blocks to the end of the street and turned left on Elmhurst Road, paralleling the end of O'Hare Airport and drove less than a mile to Heavenly Bodies, a well-known strip joint, and turned in. "They aren't open yet for another twenty minutes or so, and I hope I'm wrong, but... dammit, I'm not. There's his car, hiding out of sight from the road. He won't be expecting to see us, but don't look over there, Dave. Michael, he doesn't know you, so see if you see him in the car."

"There is someone in the driver's seat, slumped down so as to be inconspicuous. He's not looking at us, though."

Pete drove on through the parking lot and pulled back out onto Touhy Drive east to the corner and turned back south on Elmhurst Rd for half a mile or so, and then turned right onto Pratt Ave. again and drove slowly to the offices. "This is not going to be pretty. Dave, you have the meeting this afternoon with the Electromotive people. Michael, I'm sorry, but you won't be going home this evening. You and I will be going to Omaha and talking with the IT department there. I probably should have just had you go there next week, but I wanted to nip things in the bud with Abernathy. On the other hand, had we not come out here we wouldn't have found out what is going on. I really didn't understand what was so important about this meeting that he needed to take half the week for it, but now I can see why he wanted the extra time. I'm afraid there won't be a lot for you to do this afternoon, although I want you with me when I confront Abernathy. What he is doing at this moment is secondary to his insubordination, and it will be the insubordination we will be dealing with, and this will be just an add-on."

"Pete, when you are through with Michael, do you think I could have him in the meeting with me? IT isn't my strong suit, and he could provide me with some backup if I need it."

"Michael, would you mind? It isn't what I brought you out here for, but it falls within the consulting category we are paying you for."

"No, Sir. I don't mind at all. Actually, I think it might be good for me as well. I have absolutely no experience in business at all, and Mr. Abernathy was right about that. I'd like to see how things work in that regard."

"OK, thanks. By the way, if you can call me Pete and call Dave, Dave, I see no reason you should call Abernathy 'Mister'. Just because he is a horse's ass doesn't mean you have to treat him better than anyone else. Our CEO goes by Ben, so I don't see where the head of the IT department needs to be afforded any greater respect. We don't tend to be all that punctilious about things. When we meet with him I don't want you calling him Mister. Let's burst that balloon first. His name is David, so use it. If he gets huffy I'll take care of him. Got it?"

Michael grinned and said, "Yes, Sir, Mr. Fleming, Sir! Right away, Sir!"

"Impertinent whelp, aren't you?" but he laughed as he glanced back in the mirror. "I've got to get back to calling you Mike before I forget and blow our little charade, right, Mike?" Michael just wrinkled his nose and Dave and Pete both laughed.

"Excuse me, please, Pete. I've got to respond to this text since we aren't going to be meeting just yet. Give me a minute, please?"

"Sure. Then let's get you signed in and see what we can do about getting ready for both meetings."

He wrote,"I don't know when yet for certain. It will be tomorrow night sometime."

"K. Let me know, and I'll pick you up at the airport. We need to meet with you by yourself. Sorry, but it is quite important."

"K U can tell Susie. I don't have the guts. ;-) J/K I'll call tonight. Must run."

"Thank you, sir. That was Justin, and something important has come up that I needed to know about, but we will handle it tomorrow night. I'm all yours."

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Rosemary was busy showing Mom all we had accomplished so far, to her pleasure. If I say so myself, I think we have done a good job for a couple of kids. Sure, Dad taught us pretty well, but this was a lot bigger project than painting our rooms at home and painting the bathroom.

Rosemary's phone buzzed with a text from Steph.

"I'm bored and Susie is too. Would we be in the way if we came up? Overnight? You and Justin can ride back with me tomorrow afternoon."

Rosemary showed the phone to Mom, who thought about it for a minute or two. I guess it would be OK with me, but you'd better check with your Dad. We are going to have to have a family meeting, though, and I don't think they belong in that. What we have found today doesn't need to be discussed with anyone else, even them. I want it held among the six, well seven of us, understand?"

"What do you understand?" asked Dad as we came up the ladder and into the library closet.

"I understand that I'm not to say anything about what we found to anyone, including Steph and Susie."

"Absolutely! What brought that up anyway?"

"They wanted to know if they could come up and stay overnight. Justin and I could ride back with them tomorrow."

"I don't know. We six have to sit down and discuss some things. I really don't want them in on any of that."

"That wouldn't be a problem. I'll just tell them to bring their bathing suits and some towels, and they can stop by the house and get mine. They won't mind staying away from our meeting."

Dad looked over at Mom. "What do you think?"

"I don't really see a problem with it. The school won't be open all week, so why not? You kids will behave yourselves, won't you?"

"We always do."

Mom nodded. "Yes, I guess you do. Don't be giving Justin any grief like you usually do."

"We won't." Rosemary quickly texted Steph telling her to come on up, but to stop by the house first. She also reminded them Mom and Dad would be here, so bring the right bathing suits, and to bring an extra sleeping bag for Susie.

Grandpa kind of harrumphed, and said, "Let's get back to business. We need to check out those documents in the desk and then discuss what steps we need to take with this bordello."

"Benjamin!"

"Well, with what you are doing with it, it's starting to look like one, although I must say Justin wouldn't make a very good Madam."

Grandma gave Grandpa a hard swat across the seat of his britches and made him jump. "I'll be wanting to know how you know what a bordello looks like, and how this looks like one?"

"Just from the movies, my dear. Just from the movies," and the twinkle in his eye and the grin on Grandma's face told the tale. I certainly hope Stephanie and I can have that kind of open and fun of a relationship when we've been married that long. See, I was already thinking of Stephanie as my wife. It is amazing what the last few weeks have accomplished!

"Justin, suppose you open that compartment in the desk and show us what you and the railroad men found?" Grandpa was trying to get us back on track. I walked over and looked where I knew the compartment to be and played around with it. At first I couldn't find the release Pete had pressed, but I found it after a few minutes of feeling around in the compartment I had seen him touching, and I was able to slide out the drawer.

When the drawer was closed it looked like nothing more than an upright ornamentation around a central compartment door, but with the button pressed the whole column slid out revealing a vertical drawer about the size of a file folder, and inside it was a number of legal documents and certificates. I pulled out the entire drawer and handed the drawer over to Grandpa, and then I looked at the column on the other side to see if it was the same. It was. It, too, was full of certificates.

After pulling out the second drawer and giving it to Dad I watched Grandpa rifling through the documents glancing at them and moving along quickly before looking up and saying, "Let's move this to the kitchen. I need a bit more space than this desk for a few minutes. Justin, grab those paint buckets, and if you've got a couple more you might want to grab them, too. We need to sit down and talk about this."

We all made our way to the kitchen and watched quietly as Grandpa sorted the papers across the counter-top. Finally he took a deep breath and looked at me. "Justin, this is going to include Michael, too, but you are a very wealthy young man. You have some serious decisions to make in the very near future, and I'm not qualified to advise you. In fact, you are going to need a team of advisers, and quickly. This must not, I repeat must not get out to the public. I'm going to have to do some real research on this, but if I'm anywhere close to correct, what you found in the basement is only a pittance of what is here on this counter. What we have here are stock certificates, some of which are for defunct railway lines, and some are for lines that have been taken over by the Southern Pacific, and then by the UP. I have no way of evaluating them without researching the sales and mergers to see what the exchange was. From just a cursory glance I would say you have enough stock to guarantee you a seat on the UP board, or at least enough to decide who sits there."

"The other portion, in this stack, is bearer bonds, which are redeemable by the bearer. If word got out about these you would be setting yourself up as a mighty big target for anyone who might steal them. Again, I have to do some research to determine which ones still have value, and which ones are for defunct lines and have no value. Some of them I know are still good, and if only those are good you are still a very wealthy young man."

Grandpa sat down heavily on a paint bucket and looked me in the eyes. "Let me take off my Corporate Counsel hat for a moment and put on my Grandfather hat. I know you have been raised right, and you are a bright young man, but other bright young men who have been raised right have ended up ruining their lives because they were given too much too soon. Lottery winners fall into this category, with the majority of them going bankrupt very soon after winning their windfalls, but to be fair, most of them are from people in a lower economic class than you have been raised in, who have no understanding of money."

"If I could, I would withhold a majority of your findings at least until you complete college, but I cannot do so. You are an adult now, legally if not in fact, and it is not mine to withhold. I beg of you, please don't let this go to your head and squander it. I'm not saying don't enjoy it, but use moderation."

"I don't have any idea what to do," I said. "You are far better as an advisor to me than any stranger who doesn't necessarily have my best interests at heart. I'm going to have to lean on you for counsel, you, too, Dad and Mom. I don't know what to do with a bunch of money. I wasn't looking for anything like this!"

"Let's all think on this. We have to sit down with Michael, at least Justin and I do, just as soon as we can get him tomorrow night. He has to be in on all of this from the beginning. I don't want to give him the impression we are trying to work around him, or cut him out of anything, even though he has said he doesn't want it. Legally, even if he was to sign papers saying he didn't want his share, I don't believe we could cut him out, and I want everything up front and above board. Pete and Charlotte, Rosemary, you too, it is up to you whether you sit in on the meeting or not."

"They are in on it. This is not just my house. It's theirs as well, and I think they need to be represented. Mom, Dad, please?"

Dad nodded. I didn't have to ask Rosemary. She would be there if I had to drag her by the hair. She is my twin, after all.

Grandpa drew in a ragged breath and said, "In all my years in law I've represented a lot of wealthy business people and companies, but I've never tried to tackle anything of this magnitude. I think I need to retire again! What do you say we put these papers back where you found them and go find something to eat. It's long past lunchtime."

I already knew the first thing I was going to do with the money, but I needed to wait until Grandpa could research things and give me an idea of the scope of what I was doing.

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Pete led the way into the UP offices, and again Michael signed in as Mike Thibodeaux. Pete spoke with the security guard and asked to have a guard or preferably two available in case they were needed. "Don't send them in unless I call for them, but please have them right around here on standby for me. Also, I need a separate office other than the conference room. Tell me, have you heard anything from David Abernathy?"

"Yes, Sir. Mr. Abernathy called to say he was tied up in some negotiations, and if the Electromotive people get here before him to please have them taken to the conference room, that he would be here shortly. He was very specific in his orders, Sir."

"I see. Well, when Abernathy shows up, kindly send him to, where are you putting us?"

"204 is a small conference room with full communications and internet access and a projector. Will that do for you?"

"Admirably. Don't tell Abernathy why he is being sent up there. Just tell him his meeting has been moved, and ignore any complaints or threats. Would it be possible to have someone make a food run for the three of us? We really don't have time to go out if we are going to be ready for our meetings."

"Certainly, Sir. There is a Portillo's about three blocks up on Busse. Will that do?"

"Finally things are looking better! I'll have their Polish Sausage/Italian Beef combo, with hot peppers. Make it the meal, with Coke." Dave and Michael also placed their orders and Pete handed over a company credit card. "Have whoever makes the run get something for himself, but he is not to eat any of it until he gets it back here." He grinned and said, "I'm sure to have it still hot when it gets here that way!"

The security guard grinned back. "I'll go myself, just to be sure it gets back hot."

"Your altruism speaks marvelously for you! Thanks." Pete led the way up stairs while the guard called another guard to relieve him at the desk.

"I know it's not my job, Smitty, but when the President of the railroad tells me to make a food run, what can I do?" Pete could hear him and grinned really big.

"OK, guys. Here is what we are going to do. When the guard gets back with the food I'll tell him to call up here the minute our guests get here, and Dave I want you to go meet them at the desk and escort them to the conference room where you will go ahead and begin the meeting. Tell them you had to fill in unexpectedly for Abernathy and see what you can do. Hopefully, that poor secretary up in Northbrook was able to get things finalized. If she does, we have to remember to do something special for her. I believe in recognizing people for doing extra, and she certainly is doing so. While you are eating see what you can get from Omaha about the meeting so you have an idea what you are running into. I will get Mike back down to you as soon as I can. By then hopefully he will be Michael again. Stay here where you won't attract any attention from anyone that might tip Abernathy off before he sees us."

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Stephanie and Susie were making good time up the highway with the radio cranked up loud and singing along with the music. It was a bright sunny day, but not as hot as sometimes, and they were totally enjoying their freedom from school. The song ended and the news came on, so Steph clicked off the radio. "It's too nice a day to have anyone spoil it with bad news! Can you believe Prom is day after tomorrow, and then only two more weeks of school and we graduate? I can't wait!"

"Yeah! The only thing that could make this day better is if Mikey was here with us!"

"I know. I was just wishing I had Justin with me, too. I really missed him last night."

"At least he wasn't all the way up in Chicago. He was just down the street a little ways from you."

"He might as well have been on Mars for all that it did. You know, I really don't know how Mom does it. It's been ten years since Daddy was killed, and she hasn't had anybody. I know she still misses him a lot."

"What about that doctor guy you were telling me about? Any chance with him?"

"I don't know. I really like him, and I think Mom does, too. He seems to be interested in her. He even asked her to assist him when they had that big bus wreck the other day. Those kids really shook them both up." Stephanie paused a moment. "Mom was pretty wrung out when she came home, so I fixed soup and sandwiches instead of going out with Tom. When he came over I could see he was shook up too. It all reminded him of Iraq and Daddy, plus a bunch of other guys that got killed, and he started crying. I've never seen anyone cry like that before. All I can say is, war must be terrible to make a man like Tom cry that way."

"Mom and I were crying too when he told us about Daddy. You know, I really hope things work out for the two of them. They both need somebody, and they seem to be good for each other. I'm not sure about the PTSD stuff, though. I mean, he's not violent or anything, but you can see he's really hurting inside. I just don't know how to help him when he's hurting. It isn't like a cut or something you can see, but it's like a cut on his heart or something. I mean, he really hurts."