Southern Justice, Part 25

I’m Fixin’ To present part 25 of Southern Justice:

Ray McKinley, the short and overweight stooge of B. Wendell Hormel was struggling with a dilemma: Whether to sit down and shut up, or to get his face smashed in by the athletic appearing young man who was towering over him. His brain finally won out over his pride and fury, and with his face muscles still twitching, he decided to sit down. However, he couldn’t resist one last form of intimidation when he said, “You probably should know that I am armed.”

Chris Adams’ gaze remained steady as he replied, “You pull a gun and I can assure you I’ll introduce you to a new place to carry it!”

That did it for Ray. He slumped back down into his chair surrounded by an aura of defeat.

At this point Chris turned toward the other end of the table with the intention of speaking directly to B. Wendell. He opened his mouth, but no words came fourth. Seeing he and Jackie together jolted his memory back to the day he and Jones had been on the way to his lake house, when he had pointed out a particular house that was for sale. It was now that he remembered where and when he had seen B. Wendell and Jackie together.

In his mind’s eye he could see them just as clearly as he did today. It was about two months ago in the driveway of the house that was for sale, which he had pointed out to Jones. Suddenly he realized that everyone was staring at him and wondering what had come over him when he felt Vickie tugging on his coat sleeve.

Chris immediately regained his composure and said, “As for you, Mr. Hormel, your client, your file and this meeting, they don’t mean anything to us. In fact, it’s been a complete waste of our time, because you see, we, also have a will!”

This last statement by Chris shocked everyone on both sides of the conference table.

Chris continued, “Now, if you will please excuse us, we have a business to run.” He then looked toward Rick Junior and Jones before adding,,”Unless of course, there’s something more on your agendas.”

“Hell no!” It’s time to go,” Rick Junior said as he and Jones stood up.

Chris walked to the door of the conference room, opened and held it while Vickie, Rick Junior and Jones began to exit the room.

Everyone else in the room remained seated in a stunned silence. But before the door closed behind them B. Wendell leapt to his feet and shouted, “Either she takes over the company peacefully, or I’ll get a court order!”

At this point Patty Osborn slid out of her chair as she mumbled, “I’ll see them out.”

Everyone else had exited the outer door of the building and Chris was halfway through it when he heard a soft voice behind him say, “Mister Adams, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

When he turned around there stood Patty with her right hand extended. He reached to hake her hand and immediately felt the folded piece of paper she was secretly transferring to him. Taking it, he discreetly crumpled it in his fist and and said, “Uh–same here,” while he looked directly into her brown eyes and decided they weren’t nearly so plain as the rest of her face. Then he turned and was gone.

Once he was in his car Chris used his cell phone to reschedule the appointment. Then he drove directly back to the Pic-Ric building where he found everyone gathered in Rick Junior’s office. They were all silent when he entered, but as soon as he sat down Rick Junior said, “Chris, we appreciate that comment about us also having a will, even though we knew it was a bluff.”

“Yes, it was a bluff,” Chris replied, “but it was just time to get the hell out of there and I didn’t want to leave being on defense rather than on offense.”

“That will of theirs can be contested,” Jones told them.

“You’re both right,” Rick Junior said. “They will certainly have something to think about while we figure out how to handle this. The first thing we need to do is get some outside legal help, and get it real quick!”

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