lesson. A suit for punitive damages is usually filed to fuel action on another issue entirely. It usually works, too. Pay her the money you owe her and let’s see what transpires.”
“Well if you think so.”
“I do. You relax and let me handle everything. Release those funds right away, and let me do what you pay me to do.”
“Okay, Matt, I’ll call the office as soon as we hang up. She’ll have her money by noon tomorrow. Personally the sooner I have her out of my hair, the better.”
“Well, Let’s hope that’s soon enough. I’ll keep you informed. Before you go, Adam, I got an odd call from one of the partners at Lawton, Jennings & Barth. He said he was doing some preliminary fact finding into your father’s estate. He wanted to know who handled your father’s defense at the competency hearing. I told him it was Nelson Platt.”
“Why did you tell him anything?”
“It’s called professional courtesy. Anyway, It isn’t confidential, it is a matter of public record, after all.”
“Still, the less information you give out, the better. Let them do the searching.”
“I’m sorry Adam. I should have checked with you first.”
“That’s okay. I guess I’m just extra sensitive on the subject. My father asked to see Platt the other day on another matter. I didn’t see any harm in it, so I let him visit for about fifteen minutes. I had his visit recorded. As far as I could see, there was nothing going on there but a trip down memory lane. Still it is odd that his name comes up again. I wonder if he read something into my father’s behavior. I showed him a file on my father’s last visit with his doctor. It showed remarkable progress from the level of dementia that Platt saw at the time of the competency hearings. Could he have seen that as an opportunity to re-open that can of worms again?”
“That’s always possible. I thought that Platt was retired. Still, it is strange that someone would inquire after all this time. You know you shouldn’t have recorded their meeting without informing at least one of them that you were doing so.”
“Tough shit. I’ll testify that I told my father. Who’s going to prove otherwise. Anyway, Platt wasn’t there for anything official. It was a personal visit.”
“That doesn’t matter. Well, it’s water under the bridge. Just be more careful, please. You’re taking too many chances. Sometimes you’re your own worst enemy. Be sure to clear legal matters with me. Stop being such a loose cannon. You’re going to get yourself into a mess where I’ll be unable to help you.”
Adam could sense the displeasure in the attorney’s voice. “I will, I promise.”
“I’ll make some discrete inquiries about Platt and get back to you.”
“I appreciate that. I’m going to leave here in about an hour. I plan to visit with my father tonight, so anything you find out will be appreciated. Use my cell phone number for the next three hours if you need to.”
“I’ll do that, Adam.”
An hour later Matt called Adam.
“Matt, did you find out anything?”
“I did, but you’re not going to like it. It seems that today is get Adam Hampton day.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well I did a sweep of any open inquiries regarding Hampton Industries or you personally. It seems that your ex-wife has taken out a complaint claiming you willfully sold her personal antique jewelry collection without her permission. I seem to recall that that issue came up during your divorce negotiations.”
“It did, but she made a bigger issue out of the mortgage deed forgery. Once we made our offer, the issue of the jewelry was dropped; or so I thought. Isn’t there a statute of limitations on that kind of thing? It’s been years since that happened.”
“Not where a felony is concerned. This could be very serious.”
“What’s going to happen now?”
“I expect that they’ll issue an Interrogatory. That’s a written list of questions that must be answered and returned by a specified date.”
It got very quiet on Adam’s end, so Matt continued, “Let’s wait until we get the papers. Then I’ll ask that the claim be dismissed on the basis of a verbal agreement between you two. We’ll tie her up legally for as long as we can. If there’s something else behind this move, on her part, there will be time for it to shake out.”
Matt took a deep breath and continued, “There is one more thing. Right now, all I know about this, is a heads-up that I got from a close friend at Terwilliger & Benson.”
“Spit it out! It can’t be any worse than the rest of this shit you’ve been telling me. What is it?”
“Local 33 of SEWU has been in negotiations McKnight Sports, Inc. You apparently made two rather large payments to SEWU while the negations were ongoing. There is a possible violation of the National Labor Relations Act.. That could mean imprisonment and some hefty fines if they get a conviction. Either way there could be some nasty press when it becomes public, It’s hard to contain these things once they start filing legal papers.
“What are you talking about? That’s ridiculous. I made two contributions to Local 33. That was for the best interests of the community. My record of cooperation with labor unions is an open book. Who’s behind these allegations?”
“I don’t know for certain. It’s possible that Daniel McKnight is behind it, but from what I’ve heard he turned ownership of the stadiums over to the city. That would seem to make this a non-issue, but you can never tell with the Feds. That’s as much as my friend was willing to tell me. The whole matter may be dropped before it gets anywhere, so, once again, I suggest we just wait and see.”
“What about Platt? I hope you don’t have more bad news for me.”
“I couldn’t find out anything except he’s setting up an office at his old firm. That’s all I know. I’ll keep my ears open and let you if I hear anything,”
“Damn, what a day. I’m sure glad I have you running interference for me. It’s like I’m swimming around in a pool of sharks. I’m glad I have you watching my back.
“Remember that the next time we sit down to negotiate my retainer.”
Adam chuckled.
The pressure was building,
Chapter 41
The Assassin checked out of his motel. He drove to a nearby park where he removed the disguise he used since he checked into the motel. He replaced the Pennsylvania license plates with a pair of Maryland plates and headed off to Old Brooking.
A clipboard with a timetable rested on the passenger seat next to three remote handsets, marked “A” , “B” and “C” and his pager.
He looked at his watch. It was 7 p.m., time to get in position at the Water System. He parked at the top of the hill with his car heading in opposite direction. The excitement began to rise as he reached for the first remote. At precisely 7:15 his thumb flipped the safety switch to the right, returned and pressed the button. At first he could only see sparks flying into the air from one of the transformers.
