Chapter 72
CHAPTER
NASH QUICKLY SENT BACK A REPLY. He was driving with his AirPods in when Morris called him.
Morris said, “I won’t ask where you are because I don’t want to know. But first of all I want to express how sorry I am about your daughter, Walter. I have kids. I can’t imagine what you must be going through. I just…”
Morris paused and Nash thought he could hear the FBI agent take a heavy breath that might have disguised a sob.
“Thank you, Reed. I appreciate that. Now I just have to hold those responsible accountable.”
“Wait a minute. You’re not thinking of going after Steers alone? That’s suicide.”
“I have no other choice. I don’t see any other way to get to them.”
“Losing you was a big setback. Everyone at the Bureau working on this was really impressed with what you had uncovered. And I won’t deny that we’ve lost some morale and momentum.”
“Then give me a chance to get it back.”
“You’re a wanted man. You can’t exactly fly off to take on Steers.”
“I will do what I need to do.”
Morris didn’t reply immediately. “Officially I’m not supposed to have any further contact with you.”
“And unofficially?”
“You lost your daughter because of us, so screw my career,” Morris retorted.
The two men remained silent for a bit until Morris said, “Give me some time to pull stuff together. I don’t want anything else to blow up.”
“I think certain things are going to blow up regardless of what we do or don’t do.”
“You’re probably right,” conceded Morris.
“Elaine Fixx has my old job at Sybaritic. I know her. She’s good, smart, ambitious. And married. But she’s having an affair with Rhett Temple.”
“How do you know that?”
“I still have some contacts,” he said vaguely. “Now, I told you that Barton Temple had me lined up to take the CEO slot when he died. Fixx was the backup because Barton did not trust Rhett to handle things after he was dead.”
“So how did Rhett get his old job back? We tried to find out, but they’re not a public company, and we couldn’t get a search warrant without showing our hand. You got any ideas?”
“The board appoints the CEO. The majority of the shareholders appoint the board. Barton held a majority position in the Sybaritic stock. Rhett had some of the ownership, too, but not nearly enough to pull off his return. If Barton left the stock in trust for his other children? He had to do so with Angie Temple, his oldest child, who has an intellectual disability. Rhett might have found some way to gain control of any such trusts and with that the shares. Then he would be able to control the board, and name himself the CEO.”
“But Barton was married. Wouldn’t the widow have been left some of the stock, or be named as a trustee or hold a power of attorney for the disabled daughter?”
“Mindy was Barton’s very young third wife, and she’s all about spending money, not taking responsibility for someone else’s children, who are all older than she is.
But if she did have any of those rights, Rhett might have found something to blackmail her with or done a deal with her.
Mindy then could’ve transferred any power of attorney or stock rights she had to him. ”
“Devious son of a bitch!”
“And on top of it I think he killed his father, but I already told you that.”
“So why did you bring up Elaine Fixx?”
“She might be a possible ally for you, if it can be worked right.”
“So, do you need anything? I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t trust me.”
“I’m good. You do what you need to do, and let’s regroup when you’re ready.”
“You know, Walter, you sound different. More… assured.”
“But I also know that right now I am the world’s biggest underdog.”
Nash clicked off and kept driving into the rim of darkness.