Finder's Fee (29 page)

“I hope so but I fear the worst. I wish I had tried to hide the car. I just didn't see things happening this way.”

“How did you see them happening?”

“I don't know. I just … I don't know. Never, not even in my most paranoid dreams, have I imagined being in this kind of trouble.”

Neither had Judith. No nightmare had been this terrifying. “There. I see the car.” Even before Luke pulled to a stop Judith knew something was wrong. Her fear had been that Pennington would see the parked car and investigate.

The tires of the large vehicle came to a stop in a cloud of dust as Luke pulled the vehicle from the pavement. He was out before Judith could unfasten her seat belt. A second later she stood next to him and they peered into the car. Ida lay unmoving on the backseat. The right rear door hung open.

Judith moved around the car to the open door and bent over the woman. “She's alive.” Ida's face showed red marks
turning blue and black, the skin of her face drawn tight with swelling. Judith's stomach turned and her legs weakened. Her blood threatened to pool in her feet. She was uncertain what to feel. Pure anger demanded attention, but shock and sorrow wanted the front of the line.

Sirens echoed down the road.

“Get in the car,” Luke ordered.

“What about Ida?”

“Get in the car.” He moved to the Humvee and Judith followed.

“We can't leave her.”

“We're not.” He started the Hummer and pulled back to the road.

“This sure looks like leaving to me.”

“There's nothing we can do for her now.” He paused. “We've lost Abel. Pennington must have seen the car and taken him.”

“Judging by the bruises on her face she put up quite a fight.”

“The woman has guts, there's no denying that.” Luke slowed at the sight of the ambulance, rolled down his window, and waved his arm, signaling the fire department vehicle to stop. The driver lowered his window. To Judith he looked barely out of high school.

“There's a car just a hundred yards down and on the right with an unconscious woman in it. I think she's been beaten.”

“We got a call that someone was injured at the camp.”

“I made the call. He's bleeding pretty bad. Both need your help.”

“We'll take care of it. Procedure is to send a truck company on injury calls. We're ahead of them by a couple of minutes. We'll make sure both get taken care of.”

“Thanks. You guys don't get paid enough.”

The young man snickered and drove off.

“I feel horrible leaving Ida behind,” Judith said.

“Me too, but what could we do? She might have head injuries that require hospitalization. We have to leave her to the care of experts.”

“And we have to find Abel.”

“We have to find Abel.”

M
arlin fought not to smile. Before him sat ten of the twelve non-family board members; each looked stunned.

“I know it's hard to believe, and trust me when I say I take no pleasure in revealing this. After all, she is my mother. Still I owe you an explanation and I am obligated both by ethics and law to protect our shareholders. In the light of recent actions on the part of my mother, the president and CEO, I must ask that those titles be transferred to someone else, at least until these distasteful matters are taken care of.”

“It takes a pretty big reason to justify such a change.” The speaker was a gray-haired man in a suit that would cost most people a month's salary.

“I agree, Mr. Boyd, but since the corporate head of this company is wanted for questioning in a bombing in Fresno, a murder in San Diego, and since she has disappeared —
presumably to avoid the police — we are compelled to act. Who can argue with that? Anyone?”

No one spoke.

“I needn't remind this group that other companies have encountered great legal trouble and even gone under for the misdeeds of their CEOs. I don't want to assume the worst, but I do want to protect this company. Not to act is to appear either ignorant or to be a participant in a coverup. We must do everything possible to show that we are aboveboard and taking care of business. Executives can go to jail too. Shall I recite names of execs in major companies that now receive their mail in a prison inbox?”

Several members of the board grumbled.

The door to the conference room swung open. Jim Gaines entered. Terri Penn was right behind him.

Marlin smiled at Jim but when his eyes fell on Terri the grin evaporated. “It's good to see you, Jim. I was getting worried. We need our company lawyer more now than ever.”

“I'm sorry to be late,” Jim said to those seated. Marlin noticed that he didn't make eye contact with him. “An urgent matter kept me chained to my desk a little longer than I expected.”

“Understood,” Marlin said. He then addressed Terri. “Ms. Penn, I'm sorry, this is a closed-door meeting for members of the board.”

Gaines walked to the front of the conference table and stood next to Marlin. He held a folder filled with neatly paper-clipped bundles of documents.

Marlin felt threatened. “Um, Jim, there's an empty seat at the other end of the table.”

“The CEO usually sits up here.”

Marlin gave a patronizing smile. “I'm afraid my mother is still missing in action.”

“I wasn't referring to her, Marlin. I'm speaking of Ms. Penn.”

“What kind of joke is this?”

“No joke.” He opened the thick folder and began to pass around the documents. “Under the direction of Ms. Find, I have drawn up papers appointing Ms. Terri Penn as acting CEO. Included in these papers are documents showing the transfer of all of Ms. Find's stock to Ms. Penn. That stock equals the amount of 53 percent of all stock available. Of course, that makes her majority stockholder.”

“Wait a minute,” Marlin said. “I happen to know my mother only owns 51 percent of the stock.”

“Still, that's enough. I've transferred my 2 percent to Ms. Penn also.” Gaines drew himself to his full height and cleared his throat in solemn fashion. “Ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to introduce the new CEO of Find, Inc.”

No one moved.

Terri stepped to the front of the long table and looked Marlin in the eye. Fury boiled in him; fury that grew in intensity when she said, “I believe you're in the wrong seat, Mr. Find. There are some empty chairs at the other end of the table.”

Thirty minutes had passed since Terri walked into the conference room. The time was spent discussing the problem of the missing Judith. Ideas were tossed on the table in rapid fashion. Only Marlin remained mute. When all had been said and done, the board agreed that a high-end private detective agency should be brought in to aid in the search if for no other reason than to show that the execs and board took a
proactive approach. They also agreed that a complete sweep for electronic devices should be made of the building.

Terri called on the head of communications to prepare several news releases covering different possibilities and have them ready to go ASAP.

As soon as Judith had been gone forty-eight hours, she could be officially declared a missing person. Terri would work with the police on that angle.

Removing Judith as CEO and president had become moot when she divested herself of position and investment. No one challenged the documents drawn by Gaines but Terri knew that Marlin would have several high-powered attorneys go over every word seeking a loophole. Judith could not sign the documents so they had relied on Gaines's power of attorney — a right she had transferred to him a year ago when Marlin began making noise about taking on the president's roll. It granted him the right to act on her behalf should she be disabled by disease, accident, or in case of her absence. Gaines had told Terri that at the time, he thought it was overkill; now he thought differently.

Terri had yet to move from the head of the table. The others left ten minutes before, but Terri couldn't muster the strength to stand. She had never seen herself in the aggressor's role, not even in business. The last few hours — those spent with Gaines in his office and those long minutes in the boardroom — had wrung the last of her strength from her.

“You done good, kid.” Gaines spoke softly. “Who knew you had that kind of talent.”

“An act. Nothing but an act.”

“You deserve an award. If I didn't know better, I'd think you had been doing this for years.”

“I feel sick.” She laid her head on the table and tried to quiet her stomach.

“Understandable. Can I get you anything?”

“A condo in Hawaii. I promise to return in a couple of years.”

Gaines laughed. “That would be nice.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for not asking.”

Terri raised her head. “About what?”

“Everwood.”

“Oh. Judith … I mean, Ms. Find — ”

“Until Marlin gets Judith's decision overturned, you're CEO. You can call Judith whatever you want.”

“She said to remind you of Everwood, but not to ask about it. I guess it's none of my business.”

“It's not, but I think you have a right to know. Everwood is a drug rehabilitation clinic in Colorado. It's part of a private hospital outside of Denver. I spent … some time there.”

That made Terri sit up. “I had no idea.”

“I can thank Judith for that. Cocaine. I started in law school. It cost me my family and what little fortune I had. It began to impact my work here. It reached a point where she was going to have to fire me. That would have pretty much put an end to everything for me.”

“But she didn't?”

“She came down to see me. Marched into my office and unloaded on me with both barrels. That woman could burn down a forest with her words. She knows how to put a mad on.”

Laughter rolled from Terri. “That's one way to put it. I always thought of it as the power to peel paint with words. I'm glad I've never been on the receiving end of that.”

“Anyway, when she finished ripping me apart she gave me an ultimatum: I would go to a rehab center and do everything I was told, or I could pack my desk in a cardboard box. When I told her I couldn't afford a decent clinic, she promised to pay for it. The next day, I took an extended vacation.” He scratched quotation marks in the air when he said vacation. “Those were the longest, darkest, most difficult days of my life. But here I am. I still have a great job, doing legal work which I love, and take one day at a time. I even got my family back.”

“She's a remarkable woman.”

“I tell you all this so you know about me, and so that you'll know that I will walk on hot coals for that woman.”

“Thank you for your honesty. I'm going to need all the support I can get. I'm not cut out for this kind of stuff.”

“Don't sell yourself short. You're smarter and stronger than you think. Besides, you have your faith.”

Terri looked at Gaines. She couldn't recall ever speaking of spiritual things with him.

He smiled. “Yes, I know all about that. Judith's mentioned it. She admires your commitment.”

“Really? I thought it might be a problem for her.”

“Your faith makes you what you are, Terri. I don't know much about Christianity — you know that old joke about there not being any lawyers in heaven — but I know it suits you well. When we get through all of this, I hope you'll tell me more about it.”

“Thank you,” Terri said. “I will.”

Karen Rose looked at the lined legal pad and skimmed the hieroglyphics of her handwriting that few could read. In a
week, she might have trouble deciphering her pen scratching. She brought her eyes back to the computer screen then back to her notes. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep, her stomach soured from vending machine food and bad coffee, and her spine felt like it was twisting into a corkscrew.

Still, she stayed at her desk as the afternoon sun charted a course for the western horizon.

“You should go home,” Dwayne said. “You look like — ”

“Don't finish that,” Karen said. “I know what I look like.”

“What time did you go home last night?”

“Ten, maybe ten-thirty.”

“Not too bad. At least you got some sleep.” He leaned against the divider that marked off her cubicle.

“I didn't say I rested. I just said I went home. I have a computer and Internet access there too.”

“Are you telling me you've been up all night and all of today?”

“Sleep is for the weak.” Karen powered down her computer.

“And for the sane.” Dwayne frowned. “You're no good to the station in this condition.”

“Grab your coat, boss. We're going on a trip.”

Dwayne cocked his head to the side. “Usually I'm the one to make assignments.”

“Trust me on this.” She picked up the phone and dialed.

“And just where am I going?”

Karen ignored the question. “See if you can find Cindy. Tell her to bring her gear.”

“I hate playing twenty questions. Who are you calling?”

She stilled him with an upraised hand and spoke into the phone. “This is Karen Rose of KTOT television calling for Detective Ben Wilson. Please tell him this is an emergency.”

Dwayne's expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement. He said nothing. Karen watched him jog toward his office.

A
lthough Terri had told Jim Gaines she didn't need an escort, he insisted. She stepped into the room that had been her office for the last several years and sat in her chair. She felt empty, cored out by mystery and fear.

“I wondered which chair you'd choose.”

It took Terri a moment to catch Gaines's drift. “That's still Judith's office. I'm just holding her place.” She swiveled her chair and looked through the open door between the two offices. The cleaning crew had done a fine job scrubbing up after the field forensics team, who had blighted the walls, jambs, and other surfaces with fingerprint powder. “This office suits me well, I plan on staying here — ”