Southern Justice, Part Eight

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

By the following Wednesday B. Wendell Hormel had a copy of Rick Haselton, Senior’s medical records going back for 10 years. He saw that his cholesterol level was dangerously over 400, and that he had a heart murmur. On top of these two dangerous conditions, he was a heavy smoker and drinker and his blood pressure was elevated. His conclusion was that the man was a heart attack waiting to happen.

Next, he pulled out his computer keyboard and googled Pic-Ric Products. He found their web site, but nothing was shown about their net worth since the company was privately owned. He did find out that it was the largest company of its type in the world, and concluded it had to be worth an incredible amount.

The financial record of Haselton, Sr. was a little more difficult to obtain. B. Wendell had to lay out a cash payment to a computer hacker, whom he had used before, to obtain the information. He received the report late Friday afternoon and was astonished to see that Jackie’s gentleman friend had an annual salary of over a million dollars, with seven and one-half million in a 401K plan and five million in Home Depot stock, and was the sole owner of Pic-Ric Products, Inc.

Jackie done hit the jackpot! he thought.

At the same time Jackie Payne was peering through the window blinds of her apartment watching for Rick’s car to arrive when her phone rang. Once she clicked on the phone she wasn’t even able to say hello before B. Wendell, in his excitment said, “Bingo, baby!”

“Is that you, B.W.?” Jackie asked.

“It sure is, and do I have some great news for you!”

“Well, let’s hear it.”

“This is too good to do on the phone, Jackie,”

“Then what do you suggest?”

B. Wendell wanted some time with her to see how she received the information, find out exactly what her plans were and how they would benefit him so he answered, “I suggest you take a little ride with me down to Jackson Lake tomorrow.”

“Where the hell is that?”

“It’s a little over an hour southeast of the city. My real estate agent has found me a house down there on the water and I want to take a quick look at it before I plunk over any earnest money. The ride down there and back will give us an opportunity to talk, and believe me, you want to hear what I have to report.”

Still peering through the blinds Jackie saw Rick’s Corvette pulling up down below. See didn’t want to keep him waiting but she did want to hear B. Wendell’s report. “Okay,” she said into the phone, “what time?”

“I’ll pick you up at noon and have you back by three.”

On that same Saturday afternoon, Jones and Chris, two of the Three Modern-day Musketeers of Pick-Ric Product, were also headed to Jackson Lake. Jones had invited Chris to an afternoon of fishing and a quiet night at his water-front place on the lake.

Just as they turned off the main road Jones said, “There’s a house for sale about three lots before you get to mine. You should buy it. It’s a great get-away, plus it would be an excellent investment.”

“Why should I buy one when I can always use yours?” Chris replied.

At that moment they happened to be driving by the piece of property in question and as Jones was pointing it out he made an observation and said, “It may be too late anyway. Looks like someone else is interested in it.”

“Slow down!” Chris demanded as he observed a couple who had pulled into the driveway and were exiting a large SUV.

“Holy cow!” he continued, “can you believe that! Look at that babe with that slob, I just don’t get it.”