CHAPTER 20 - THEY WILL HAVE HIS COMPANY
RAGE PR OFFICES - EARLY EVENING
KIP
I remain silent as he talks to Kinney’s mother and sister. I am still fuming about being hauled in on my day off!
“Well, Mrs Kinney, you have my sympathies, and…”
“Please call me Joan, you can call her Claire…” She turns to her. “…can't he?”
“Oh yes, I would much prefer that.” She smiles. “May we call you Michael?”
“I insist.” He simpers. They bask, her sons quietly gag. “What I will do is act as an intermediary between both parties to ensure that this is handled as discreetly as possible…”
“…so what would be your cut for all this help?” John sneers.
“John!” Claire blushes. “Be nice to him! Sorry, Michael, as you can understand after his father and uncle’s behaviour, he’s very wary of all men.”
“Tell me about their father.”
“Well…” She sighs. “…he…was abusive.”
“I am so sorry…” He takes her hand. “...how long was…”
“Throughout their relationship, until he left…” Joan sniffs. “…Brian didn't do anything to help.”
“What?” Michael gleams. “Are you saying you told him what was happening, and…”
“No, but he must have seen the bruises, sensed her distress and pain, they’re brother and sister. We tried to love him but he rejected us…”
“I see.” Again he sympathetically pats, which judging by her reaction is the first human contact in a while! “Can you get in touch with him?”
“Why would we do that?” Joan carps, whilst Claire and the boys look nervy. “I said he was abusive!”
“Yes, but my reasoning is so that we can use him as a fillip to aid our cause…”
“A what?” Peter frowns.
“A fillip is something used to boost an activity. So what I think Michael’s suggesting is that if Brian sees that your ex is returning to you, combined with everything that you’ve told us, which he was aware of. So with Michael’s superlative people and negotiating skills, we would act as an intermediary to avoid any reputational damage for both men.”
“Both?” Claire echoes.
“Oh yes, after we’ve got your ex onside…” I smile. “…he’ll think that we're going after Brian and he’s going to get a slice of the proverbial pie. I am assuming your injuries are documented somewhere?” More Claire tears, I ignore Michael’s scowl. “I’m sorry to bring up something so painful. What we intend is that his slice will be your damages for the pain he caused you and your boys…”
“But he never touched the boys.” She states.
“They were witnesses to it, were they not?” I ooze sympathy; all nod vigorously and Michael relaxes. “Then he abused them too, don’t you see that?”
“Of course he did…and yes I do.” Joan snivels.
“So what we’ll do…” I stand up, they follow, looking confused. “...is to put you all in a safe location until we find your ex and speak to Brian.”
EVEN HOTEL DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH, LATE EVENING
JOAN’S SUITE
JOAN
My head is pounding and I’m parched. I relish the sound of the vodka filling the glass, the clink of the ice and the bubbles that tickle my nose.
As my drink warms me, I open the folder that we were given before we left. It has all he knows about that disgrace. My grip tightens as I see what he has now, then I realise something is missing - there’s no reference to wastrel that he brought into the world. I call Kip.
“Joan, is everything alright at the hotel?” He sounds peevish, it’s not my fault that the first two hotels he wanted to put us in were subpar!
“Tiredness tends to make things acceptable. Oh, could you hold on a second…” I open the door to the bellboy. “...my refreshments have arrived, put it over there.” He bangs down the tray. “No tip for you. In fact, I will be complaining to management!” His departing disgusted look heightens my anger. “Some people, as you are aware, don’t know their station and place in life.”
I enjoy his outraged silence, then his sigh of resignation, at another victory for me, as he asks. “How can I help you?”
“Brian refused to tell us where his child was buried so we were unable to mourn him.” I smile at the bottles of Ciroc - four full size and six mini - I have always wanted to try it, but it was far too expensive for me. I felt a bit guilty at ordering them, but since Michael said to get accustomed to the life that we're set to live and he would be recouping all costs from Brian, that swiftly died. “We begged and pleaded after he told us… ”
“He did what?” He bridles.
“Called us when the child died, which hastened my dear Jack’s death. For someone who had lost their bairn, he was unbothered, I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with it.”
“Joan…” I scowl at his tone. “...that is a very serious allegation, can you substantiate that?”
“Substan…”
“Prove what you’ve just said.”
“He had a child that was sick and now there’s no child mentioned.”
“Which means nothing. Unless you have proof, you must never mention it again.” He clips out, oh Michael is going to hear about this! “Before you go, we weren’t given your ex son-in-law’s name, also can you reconfirm his telephone number?”
“Dubhan Mac Hoel; I shall spell it, D-U-B-H-A-N then M-A-C next word H-O-E-L. As for the number, speak to Claire, as she gave it to you…” I clip back. “...and she’s putting the boys to bed, so call her in the morning!” As I toss my phone onto the counter, I’m surprised to see my door is wide open and a woman looking at me strangely. She retreats at my approach. “Can I help you with something?!”
“Yes, close your robe!” She snaps as she hurries away.
My mortification increases my determination to make my spiteful son suffer!
KIP’S APARTMENT - EARLY DAWN, NEXT DAY
KIP
Flabbergasted and fucked off is the only way to describe me right now! He has the nerve to toss a salute at me as he gets into his car. It might as well be the middle finger! I look at the screen again, still nothing has come through.
He discovered a Wertschafer will codicil that he states that the company belongs to Michael and only him, so his 'suggestion’ for my shares was to sell them back to him. He was so smug and condescending about it - and a bit threatening, saying that he didn't want to go to court to honour it but he would.
Then it got even worse! He’s told me - an actual out and proud gay man - to be a ‘friend’ to Claire, and to keep her sweet in any way she wants. Whilst I try not to imagine what that would look like, the money arrives. I reach for the certificates, then call him. “Michael, you’ve made a mistake…”
MICHAEL’s HOUSE - AN HOUR LATER
MICHAEL
“Kip, I’m shattered as the traffic was a pain…oh for fuck, now someone is at the door, hold on!” I wrench it open. “Oh, hi! That’s fortuitous. I was going to call you. Come…” I frown at Eric Trench’s expression. “...Kip, my attorney is here, you will have to wait till the morning!”
I pocket my phone with a sigh. “Seriously, that guy is such…”
“Why were you having me followed?”
“What kind of a question is that, as if I would do such a thing?!” I hold his gaze. “Who told you such rot?”
“So it’s not true?” He leans against the door. “And can you provide proof to my satisfaction?”
“Of course I can. Believe me, Eric, that’s not true; whoever told you that needs to be sued!”
“Provide it within five working days. Now about your divorce…”
“...yes, how do we go about giving as little to her as possible?”
“What do you mean? In our call you said you wanted to give her as little as possible as she isn’t anywhere. She’s taking the house and a chunk of change...”
“...well yeah, but she still owns shares in RAGE PR, and…”
“...you said she didn’t.”
“It's just about 1%. I mean, she can’t do much with it, but I…”
“...want rid of the old crone.” He puts down his case. “And what about your other clients?”
“My other clients?” I frown. “What do they have to do with it?”
“A lot. Now let’s go to your office and discuss them.”
“Now?” I gasp.
“One of them reached out to me about their….” We jump at the doorbell. “...shall I get that?”
“Since you’re nearer.” I snipe.
“Yes, officer, can I help you?”
“Oh, I thought Mr Michael Nootny lived here, my apologies to have…”
“He does. Please come in.”
“Officer Sapperstein, what are you doing here?” I frown.
“Arresting you for falsified information. Now let me read you your rights.”
I want to object, but his warning stops me. “This is absurd! Eric, do you have your car?”
“No, I’ll take a cab. Which precinct?”
“That could take ages, just get in the squad car with me!” I order, grabbing my phone. “Go sit in the car, Eric, I just need to lock up! Can you wait ten minutes for me…”
“No on both counts!” Sapperstein snaps. “Lock up in the next 30 seconds, or you leave your home to the ‘elements’!”
DREW’S HOUSE - THREE DAYS LATER
LOUNGE
DREW
It’s me, Brian, Ems and Ben; Ted and Justin are working on the book. Just as Brian’s about to lose it, Mel arrives.
“Now, what is this about?!” He demands, checking his watch again. “I have to get back to read Pheebs a story.”
“A few days ago, Sienna called. She was at the Even Hotel, and overheard some drunk woman called Joan speaking to Kip about you and Gus.”
“What did she say?” Mel sighs, whilst Ben presses Brian into a chair and Ems hands him a drink. “How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad…” They listen aghast as I repeat what she heard. “...however, I found him, with the help of Izekial, a court clerk I uh, was friends with…” Ems rolls his eyes with a smile - thank goodness! “...and Leon. He confirmed that he and Claire were together for ten years and that he's the boys’ father, which was the second reason he left.”
“What was the first?” Ben asks.
“She and Joan were physically abusive; he first stayed to protect the boys. Turned out that he would need protection from them too.”
“Why were they beating him up and where is he?” Brian scrubs his face looking defeated.
“Ferndale, Detroit, which answers both those questions.” I smirk.
“What’s Ferndale?” Mel demands; she turns at Ben’s chuckling. “Why is this funny?!”
“Because Ferndale is the gayest part of the city!” He hoots. “So we’ve bagged him and he’s locked up?”
“Yep, locked up tighter than Michael.” I pause mid sip. “Who’s been released from county this morning; Blake got him arrested, then his attorney was out of state with an emergency. He had to wait for him to come back.”