BRIAN

While Justin looked into Julian’s father’s life, Ted, Cynthia, and I started making calls to set up meetings with the clients from George’s list. Lindsay, with nothing to do, started making calls to the list her father sent her. It took hours because the companies didn’t just set up the appointments but wanted to talk to us about our vision for Kinnetik. Lindsay did a remarkable job of explaining it, shrugging at me when I raised a brow at the way she was handling each person.

“I grew up being groomed on how to talk to potential clients my father wanted and I actually listened on the nights you rambled on about the things you would be doing differently if you were in charge. Although if the number of yeses you’ve gotten so far pans out staffing is going to be a must.” Lindsay said, smiling at the accounts willing to let us pitch to them.

“A lot of the art guys at Ryder are starting to look for new jobs. Murph told me that when you walked, Ryder held a meeting with the department heads, saying they needed to start deciding on ways to tighten the budget.” Cynthia tells me.

“What about Gardner?” Ted asks.

“He pulled out of the deal. Ryder knew the minute Brian walked he would be losing clients, since they wanted Brian, not Ryder or any of the partners who stopped trying to bring in revenue, because Brian did it for them. Ryder was stupid enough to think Brian wouldn’t walk away from job security, which he had since he brought in seventy percent of the clients.” Cynthia tells him.

“I want you to approach the employees that would be an asset to Kinnetik.” I tell Cynthia.

“Why not offer internships at the local colleges for art students? As it is right now there are more students than internships.” Lindsay suggests.

“Why not go to the colleges for me and offer it to all the of them in the area?” I ask her.

“Sure. I’ll also make sure the colleges know about what Kinnetik has to offer them.” Lindsay tells me.

I thought about it for a couple of minutes and didn’t see the reason not to offer Lindsay a job. I knew she wanted time to be a mother and I could make that possible, while letting her help out with the household. Lindsay loved being home with Gus, but hated the extra strain Mel was under to support them all. Mel didn’t complain when I helped out but I knew she didn’t like having to ask for help either. It would be helping me and the girls, and Lindsay knew the ins and outs with the clients Ron was flooding us with.

“Ted, get Lindsay on payroll.” I tell him.

“Brian, I was only bored and helping.” She tells me.

“I need someone to help Cynthia, since she’s not going to be just a PA, but working toward Ad exec. Which means I’ll need at least three PA’s to replace her. You can work part time, and trust me, if Gus needs you, it won’t be a problem.” I tell her.

“I need to discuss this with Mel, but thank you.” Lindsay said, getting up and going to find Mel.

“You’re replacing me.” Cynthia teases, while trying to hide her excitement.

“I wish I didn’t have to, but keeping you as a PA is a waste of resources. There isn’t a single campaign I’ve worked on since you started with me that wasn’t improved by your insight.” I tell her, getting up to check on Justin.

Justin was looking at multiple windows, with Hunter sitting next to him handing him food. Hunter seemed to enjoy just sitting there watching Justin work. When I walked over, Hunter got up and walked out of the room, mumbling that they needed more drinks anyway. Justin looked confused at what he was seeing.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Everything I find has Carter Yates in the background.” He tells me.

“It could be he didn’t really do anything the family wanted to show off.” I tell him.

“Which would make sense since he dropped out of every college he went to. He lived off the family, not doing anything. He owns forty-nine percent of Julian’s company but really doesn’t have an official capacity in the company. Which is weird because the company was passed down from father to son, but skipped him when the grandfather willed fifty-one percent of the company to Jillian, and named him as the successor over Carter Yates. The grandfather was reported to be extremely old school and he doted on Carter, yet he handed the reins over to Julian instead.” Justin tells me.

“A college dropout could have a negative impact on the company. Following someone who can’t finish what they start wouldn’t inspire the confidence that he could lead the company into the future.” I tell him.

“He was also suddenly engaged after the last time he quit school, but there were no reports of the relationship existing before then. Although entertainment news wasn’t really more than a small paragraph in the news. But still, there were blurbs about the family, just not about him.” He tells me.

 “When he dropped out was it because of failing?” I ask.

“From what I can tell he was actually a good student. They even wrote about him once or twice in the school papers, kind of the who’s who of the college.” Justin tells me.

Looking at the list of colleges he attended, each one was further and further away from the last one. None of them were Ivy League, but as he dropped out, the schools he attended became lesser known schools, which only said one thing to me.

“Look into reports of misconduct at the school or the area, see if there were cases that were opened then closed around the time he dropped out and moved away.” I tell him.

“To see if his father tried to get him away from something?” He asks, catching on.

“It’s something the families in our circles did and still do to keep scandals away from the family.” Lindsay tells him, coming in.

“He dropped out of four colleges. It’s going to take time to get into each system and hope they updated from paper files to computerized. If his father wanted to hide anything than he’d have made sure the paper files disappeared.” Justin tells us.

“Newspaper’s don’t. They’re scanned into the system.” Hunter tells him, bringing in drinks.

“Start looking those up for me.” Justin tells Hunter.

Justin didn’t see the smile Hunter gave him at being a part of what Justin was doing. Eventually we’d have to figure out what to do with Hunter, but him going back to his mother wasn’t going to happen. 

“Did the family live here?” I ask Lindsay.

“They originated from here and were a big part of the country club set in my grandfather’s time. I don’t remember Carter Yates, but he was before my time. Until Julian started coming to the club, the family was pretty much absent. I really wasn’t interested in the older generation. George might know more about them.” Lindsay tells us, getting up to go get George.

“Looking at all the articles, Carter Jr tended to vacation alone a lot. He was here when Julian was born, and showed up for months at time until Julian started high school. It’s been a bitch to figure out where he could have run into Sapperstein though since he didn’t go to school anywhere near Julian. There wasn’t any time they would have crossed paths while growing up.” Justin tells me.

“Lindsay said you had a question?” George asks, as him and Lindsay came back.

“Did you know Julian’s family?” I ask.

“I’ve meet Carter Sr, but we didn’t sit around with the family at the club, which in my day wasn’t unusual. The clubs were built so the children were off being taking care of while the adults played. There were occasions where the families got together, but we rarely paid attention to the children, since there were people who did that for us. Although there were several occasions where the family would be called to deal with their son’s behavior, which of course was whispered about, and I do recall Carter Sr and his wife being called a lot to deal with the son.” He tells us.

“Did anyone say what Carter Jr was doing?” Justin asks.

“Playing too rough with younger children was the standard answer. I do remember once where the answer was different, but only because the family was on the same social level as the Yates and were highly upset, demanding something be done. Carter Jr exposed himself to their younger children. Carter Sr tried to say it was a case of boys being boys but none of us were willing to listen to the excuse. After that incident Carter Jr was left at home, and the other set of parents let it go.” George tells us.

“Did they ever bring him back? Because Julian is around my age and I remember him coming to functions, but not his father.” Lindsay tells him.

“Not that I remember. Carter Sr would always excuse his absence as work related. I don’t think Carter Jr had many friends in our set either, since I don’t remember him running around with the group of boys. My son, who would have been his age, didn’t seem to like Carter Jr and never invited him to events we hosted for him. Which Lindsay could tell you, we invite everyone in order not to offend anyone. Only, my wife indulged my son and would cut someone upon his request, which wasn’t just Carter but some of the other kids she felt weren’t up to the standards she expected from people around our family.” George tells us.

“Did you ever ask him why?” I ask.

“I didn’t ask, but Virginia handled it. I could try but he sided with his mother when I left her, so he might not even take my call.” George tells us.

“I could try, since my sister is planning on an engagement party that will include everyone.” Lindsay tells us.

“Just be careful when you question him, the club gossips will be speculating why you’re talking to him.” George tells her.

Justin was typing away while we discussed everything. Then he stopped, reading something. I leaned in to see what he was looking at.

“I checked for cases that happened around the time Carter Jr dropped out. I only found one, but it’s like you said, the parents dropped it, saying they made a mistake. Only the name of the person they were planning to press charges on is blackened out.” Justin tells me, as I read the report, ready to throw up.

How do you mistake that someone molested your child in a park bathroom?

“What happened to the family after they dropped the charges?” George asked after reading the police report over Justin’s shoulder.

“They sold their home and moved to another state. I’m still looking to find them.” Justin tell him.

“When you do, you’ll likely find their situation in life improved too. It’s how we hid our scandals back then.” George tells him.

“But how did Sapp and Carter Sr cross paths?” Lindsay asks.

“Maybe the same way? Carter Jr was living here when Sapperstein was a kid. Sapperstein’s family was lower middle class, which would make them easy to shut up, but how would they have met?” Justin asks.

“Where did the father work?” I ask.

“He was in construction, and I checked, it wasn’t owned by Julian’s family…” Justin trailed off, tapping away before stopping again. “The company was hired to build houses in the same area as Julian lived, but not for Julian’s family. Sapperstein would have been around fourteen at the time” Justin tells me.

“I bet the dad sometimes took his son with him.” I tell Justin.

“While he worked?” Justin asked, looking confused. 

“My father would do it, making me do grunt work so he could get done sooner. Eventually he couldn’t because of safety regulations and child labor laws.” I tell him.

“There’s nothing in the system saying there was ever a report of a minor and anyone in that neighborhood.” Justin tells me.

“Sapp might have wanted what Carter was offering. He’s into some sick shit, even without what we think.” I tell him.

“He didn’t hit on you?” Justin asks.

“He knew he couldn’t lick my toe, much less suck my dick, so he wisely hated me from afar. My standards left him out of the running, but lately everyone is out of the running.” I tell him.

Justin kissed me before yawning, which made sense when he’d been going with only two hours of sleep. I pulled him out of the chair telling everyone we’d be back tomorrow. George invited everyone to stay, liking having his house full. We didn’t go to the loft but to Justin’s house, since in the morning I wanted him to get what he needed so he wouldn’t have to come back everyday. Justin stripped before laying on his stomach, I couldn’t resist kissing down his back and smiled when I heard the snoring, not letting it bother me that he fell asleep. But hoping when he woke up he’d wake me up.