Southern Justice, Part 26
I’m Fixin’ To present part 26 of Southern Justice:
The Three Modern Day Musketeers and Vickie Bain were still huddled in Rick Junior’s office at Pic-Ric Products while they continued to try and sort things out after the spirit crushing meeting they had attended earlier in the day when B. Wendell Hormel had read Rick Senior’s last will and testament to them.
Suddenly, Chris Adams remembered the note Vickie had passed to him during the ill fated meeting, which had read, “ Something isn’t right here.” He extracted it from his coat pocket, unfolded it and spread it out on the desk.
While Rick Junior and Jones examined it he turned to Vickie and said, “We all know something isn’t right, but I suspect you had something specific in mind when you wrote this note. How about it?”
Vickie proceeded to tell the story of when two months earlier, while she had been relieving the receptionist, B. Wendell Hormel had entered the company front door and approached the receptionist desk where he had introduced himself as someone else claiming to represent an insurance company. She concluded by saying, “I know it was him. I mean who could forget someone like that?”
“Exactly what did he say?” Chris asked.
“He said he had a package for Rick Senior and wanted to know what his title was. At this point the receptionist came back and distracted me for a moment, and when I turned back to him, he was gone! Also, I can’t swear to this, but I was sorting the mail when he first came in and I seem to remember there was piece for Rick Senior from his doctor’s office. If there was, it disappeared along with Mister Hormel!”
“Anything else?” Chris asked.
“No, except that when I saw him today I was shocked, and that’s when I passed you the note.”
Chris turned and looked directly at Jones and Rick Junior as he said, “At the moment I’m not sure what this means, except that we are apparently dealing with some dirty people. Do y’all remember when I suddenly went dumb after squelching Mister Rambo, the security guy?”
“Yeah, what the heck happened to you?” Rick Junior asked.
“I did some recognizing of my own,” Chris told them. “That time when we had lunch with Rick Junior and Jackie, I realized then that I had seen her before, but I couldn’t remember where. Then today when I looked at her and Hormel together, I suddenly remembered them both. Jones, do you remember a while back when you pointed out a lake house to me, which was close to yours? It was for sale and there was a couple in the driveway when we passed by it.”
“Yeah,” Jones replied, “I was driving, but I do remember you saying something about a fat slob and a babe.”
“It was them—Hormel and Jackie!” Jones exclaimed. “I don’t know if this means anything or nor, except that they seem to have a relationship besides lawyer and client. And, we know of one possible place to find them on weekends.”
“Maybe we should not do anything until we can get some legal advice,” Rick Junior advised. Turning to Vickie he asked, “Did you have time to write anything down during all the action?”
“Yes, I took notes. I’ll get them keyed in and print a copy for each of you. But I’m sure you all remember the two most important items Hormel mentioned were that he had a hand written list of your father’s possessions—in his handwriting. And earlier in the meeting he stated that Jackie had made a will leaving everything to you, Rick Junior, upon her death.”
When these last words were spoken by Vickie the room grew so quiet until you could have heard a butterfly break wind. In the silence Chris, Jones and Rick Junior, with widened eyes, kept throwing knowing glances back and forth between each other.
Vickie gasped when she realized what the three of them were contemplating. She choked back a laugh and firmly said, “Stop it, you three!”
Rick Junior broke the spell when he said, “Well, it would solve everything. However, here’s what we’re going to do. Jones, I want you to immediately contact our outside law firm. Tell them the situation and find out what our options are. Chris, maybe you could do some detective work. I don’t know how, but I do know you are very resourceful. We’ll meet back here on Tuesday morning.”
Everyone nodded and as they all stood up to leave Rick Junior added, “I sure would like to see what’s in that green legal folder Hormel was waving around at us.”
Chris Adams was already at the office door when he looked back with a wicked smile on his face and said, “I don’t have the key to his office, but I’ve got the next best thing right here in my pocket!”
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