Southern Justice, Part Six

I’m Fixin’ To present part six of Southern Justice:

Rick Haselton, Senior, was a very wealthy man, a self-made man, who had no one to share his good fortune with. He knew his son, Rick Junior, didn’t need his money because he was a rich man also. The wealth, however, couldn’t seem to erase the empty feeling that constantly hung over him since the death of his wife.

Then one morning he woke up and decided to do something about the doldrums of his life. The first thing he did was go on a buying spree. He parked his pickup truck and bought himself a brand new black Corvette, a new wardrobe and a new condo. The condo was in Buckhead, because he heard that was where the action was and he was finally in a mood to see some action.

Beginning with the day he made this momentous life-changing decision, his life was one big party night after night as he got to know every bar, restaurant and gentlemen’s club in the city. In his mad rush to prove he could still cut it, he spent money wildly to attract young and beautiful women, yet, after some time, he realized that there was still no satisfaction or fulfillment in his life, because the money was all the women were attracted to. Yes, he figured that out pretty quickly.

Rick Senior was almost back in the doldrums, and in a vulnerable condition the Friday night he pulled his Corvette into the valet parking at Jimmy’s Hideaway. The valet attempted to cheer him up, and he did manage a smiling greeting, but he could still feel a great loneliness down to his very being.

As he entered the bar he couldn’t help but notice a beautiful woman sitting near the front. But he continued on to his favorite seat at the second bar where the bartender immediately served up his regular drink.

An instant before the frosty glass touched his lips a shadow fell across him. When he turned his head toward it his hand froze in midair, and he found himself melting into the most beautiful dark eyes he had ever beheld, and was immediately trapped in their web.

Rick Senior decided that this time it was going to be different. He wasn’t going to throw his money around to buy a woman’s company anymore, not knowing that this wouldn’t matter, because this woman had a long range goal.

They parted just before dawn after agreeing to meet at the same time and place that night. The next afternoon, on Sunday, they drove to the mountains and then enjoyed dinner at a fine restaurant that night. There had been no intimacy between them, but that was fine with Rick Senior, because it seemed he got satisfaction just being with this woman named Jackie Payne.

On the following Monday morning when Jackie met B. Wendell and asked him what he knew about a company named Pic-Ric Products, it was because she wanted to discover her new friend’s net worth in the world. And even though she hadn’t admitted it to herself yet, she actually had enjoyed the time she had spent with the man who bragged that he owned this big business.

B. Wendell Hormel meditated on Jackie’a question for a moment before he replied, “Let’s see, I think they are a local company. I’ve seen some advertising by them before, but I can’t recall the details. Why are you asking?”

Jackie glanced up from her lunch plate, took a long drink of iced tea, dabbed at her mouth with her napkin before she said, “Because I met a gentlemen who says he owns the company and I would like to know a little about him.”

B. Wendell rolled his eyes and said, “A gentleman!”

“Yes, a gentleman,” Jackie snapped.

“I thought you weren’t interested in our old game,” B. Wendell observed.

“You heard me correctly. What I have in mind is finding the right man, a rich and older man, who’s interested in matrimony.”

B. Wendell gave her a puzzled and dejected look and said, “You mean like retire? I was hoping we could have a relationship like we used to.”

“We can,” Jackie assured him. “What I want you to do is find out everything there is to know about the gentleman and the company.”

B. Wendell’s eyes lit up as he dug a stubby pencil and a worn, little notebook from his inside jacket pocket. “What was the name of the company? Did you say ‘Sic’ or something or other?”

“Pic-Ric Products,” she spelled it out to him, “with a hyphen between the Pic and the Ric. The gentleman’s name is Rick Haselton, the president and owner of the company.”

(www.teddunagan.com) (tmdunagan@aol.com)