Southern Justice, Part 43

I’m Fixin’ To present part 43 of Southern Justice:

After Chris’ confession of lying, his explanation of the circumstance which led up to his untruthfulness, and his promise to never lie to Patty again, it must have rang of genuine regretfulness and sorrow, because no sooner had the words flowed from his lips that Patty took his face in both hands, kissed him and softly whispered, “It’s okay, I forgive you.”

Then in a normal tone of voice she demanded, “Now, tell me when you actually committed the break-in!”

“It was early Sunday night,” Chris told her, and then went on to relate the details of the entire escape, including his close call with Ray McKinley.

When he had finished Patty moaned, “Oh my God, you must have been terrified! I wish McKinley had of gone into the bath room! No-no, I don’t, because you probably would have killed him!”

She took a deep breath, exhaled and said, “By the way, what is so important about this list that would make you go to all that trouble?”

“Before I saw it, I wasn’t sure,” Chris replied. “I remembered Hormel saying that he had a list of Rick Senior’s possession in his own handwriting, but he never presented it to us. All we were shown were the widow and the deceased’s wills, which he stuffed inside a green legal folder with a coffee stain on it. That’s what I was looking for–that folder, and I was prepared to break into filing cabinets to find it. Then, lo and behold, when I tiptoed into the conference room there it was just lying there on the table! The list was the first item inside the folder. Look at the last item on the list please, Patty! Everything on the list is in Rick Senior’s handwriting except that–where ‘Pic-Ric Products’ is written!”

Patty eyes scanned down the list to the last item. “What! Are you sure? How can you tell?”

“I’m absolutely sure! No doubt about it! I have a file full of his memos, which he always wrote in longhand. He signed my paycheck every week back in the beginning. Any amateur or expert could clearly see that that is not in Rick Senior’s handwriting!”

Patty digested Chris’ tirade before she excitedly concluded, “Do you know what this means, Chris? It means that he didn’t leave the company to Jackie Payne, and this list is the means to legally prove it! You guys really love that company, don’t you?”

“It’s like Pic-Ric Products is a part of me–of us,” Chris replied. “It’s the only thing Rick Junior, Jones and myself have ever done. None of us could find the kind of jobs we wanted after we got out of college, so we decided to do our own thing. You wouldn’t believe it, but we started out operating out of an old barn. It was a little mom-and-pop operation, Which Rick Senior had run for years. At first he thought we were just working there until we could find something else, but he slowly came around to the fact that we were serious and gave us a free hand.

“Within a couple of years we really had things cooking, running two shifts to barely keep up with the demand. Even when Rick Junior’s mom got killed in an automobile accident, Jones and I could only take a half-day off to attend the service. We slept at work taking turns, six hour on and six hours off. We finally left that old barn behind, built a real factory, and then had to upgrade again and again. We built it into the best company of its kind in the world, and then some wicked stranger comes along and thinks they’re going to take it away–hell no!”

Patty had been listening patiently. When Chris finished she said, “I understand how you feel and I promise you we won’t let anyone take it away.”

“Okay, okay, that’s good to hear,” Chris said after taking a deep breath.

“We have a strategy meeting scheduled for in the morning. Jones is supposed to report on our legal options, and they’ll expect something from me. Can I show them this list?”

Absolutely not!” Patty replied.

“But-but, why not? You said it was our proof!”

“Here’s why,” Patty explained, “if they knew about it and were asked questions under oath, they would have to acknowledge your shall we say ‘unauthorized’ possession of it; whereas as your attorney of record I don’t have to tell anyone anything.”

“Then what do we do?” Chris asked.

“Keep it under lock and key for the time being until I can figure some things out.”

“They always expect these extraordinary things from me,” Chris said with a pained look on his face. “If I can’t show them the list, what can I say?”

Patty replied, “You can tell them this—–”

(tmdunagan@aol.com)