Past Tense

Chapter 13


Brian sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled together. His elbows rested on the desk. He was lost in thought. After fucking Justin into the mattress last night, and then making love to him until the sweet hours after midnight, Brian had lain awake for several hours more.

His mind kept rolling over the information about John Kinney, Jack’s cousin. Some part of Brian wished he had never heard that information. He was growing to like the idea of having a brother. That would be much better than being stuck with the bitch of a sister that he did have.

Now that he and Chase seemed to be on better terms, Brian was actually looking forward to their meeting in a few minutes. The only question was whether to tell Chase about John Kinney. That could mean he would never see Chase again … except maybe for business. There would be no reason for Chase to hang around if they weren’t half brothers. And even business dealings could become impossible between them, if Chase thought Brian was trying to get rid of him. Or, Chase Hammond could decide that since they weren’t related he would pull the account and go to another agency in Philadelphia which would be much handier for him. Brian thought that Chase looking for family ties had been a large part of why he had come to Kinnetik in the first place. That reason could be gone, and so could the account.

Brian frowned and pulled a photo out of his desk drawer. It was the picture of John Kinney and Marge Adams that Joan had shown him from the old photo album. These could be Chase’s parents … and then again they might not be Chase’s parents at all … either one of them. No one was sure that this Marge Adams was the Marjorie Adams of Chase’s birth certificate. And was Chase’s father John or Jack Kinney? That too was unknown. Maybe neither of them was.

Staring at the faces in the photo, Brian tried to see something of Chase in their features. He really didn’t see it, but then he hadn’t noticed the similarity between himself and Chase that Cynthia had observed right from the outset. Brian had to wonder if the resemblance was there and his brain refused to see it. Or maybe it was all just wishful thinking. He probably didn’t have a brother. He was being a fool thinking like this. What would be, would be, and there was nothing he could do about it one way or another.

“Brian, Chase Hammond is here,” Ted’s voice said from the doorway. “Alone,” he mouthed as he ushered Chase in then discretely disappeared. There was no need for him to stay since Chase had not brought anyone with him.

Chase walked to Brian’s desk and held out his hand to shake. Brian stood and shook the offered hand. They looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, before they broke the handshake.

“I, um, have some things to show you,” Brian said deciding that business was the place to start. He gestured to the boards on easels at the back of his office. Chase turned and walked over to them.

“These are … good.”

Brian almost laughed out loud. Chase sounded so much like him that it was eerie. “I’m glad you like them.”

“I think I’ve placed my faith in the right man,” Chase said.

“I would have to agree,” Brian said with a little smirk.

“You are a man who knows his own worth,” Chase observed with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” was Brian’s simple answer.

“What did you have in mind for promoting these?” Chase asked.

That was Brian’s cue to explain the next ad campaign. They sat at the large conference table and Brian went over the plan he had come up with.

“I have to say that I’m impressed,” Chase stated. “I thought your first ideas were great, and they are. But these are even better.”

“We aim to please.”

“I’m very pleased,” Chase said with a smile, the first one that Brian had been able to elicit from the man since he arrived.

“Then if we’ve got this all settled, how about we go for a drink?”

“I could be talked into that.”



*****



Not long after, Brian and Chase sat at a table in a nearby restaurant. It was a little early for dinner, so they were enjoying a pre-dinner drink. They had been making small talk, skirting the issue of their possible common parentage.

Brian had been wondering, since his conversation with Ted, what advertising firm Chase had been with in Philadelphia. He thought maybe this was a safe topic as they sipped their drinks. The subject of John and Marge could wait till the second drink.

“Which company were you with for your advertising before you came to the best?” Brian asked with a little grin.

“It’s good to know I’m with the best now,” Chase chuckled. He liked Brian’s direct way of speaking about things. Even if it was unadulterated self-promotion, Chase found it amusing.

Brian nodded that he understood Chase was agreeing with him. “Kinnetik has been rising rapidly ever since its inception,” Brian added.

“I was with Barton and MacLean in Philadelphia,” Chase said.

“Really?” Brian asked. He knew the firm. They had been around for years. Alex MacLean was well known in advertising circles. Brian had met Alex at many award dinners over the years. They were hardly friends, but they certainly knew of each other, often being up for awards in the same categories. Brian had even lost an award to Alex early in his career. “Were you working with Alex MacLean? He’s got a fine reputation in our industry.”

“Alex used to do the advertising for Hammond Foods. He and my dad were very good friends. But a couple of years ago, Alex started cutting back. He called it being semi-retired. He suggested a new, young exec that had just arrived at the company. That’s who we went with. Kevin did great for us for the first year.”

“Only for the first year?” Brian asked as he wracked his brain trying to remember any ad exec named Kevin that he had heard of.

“Things started to go sour last year. There were a couple of campaigns that Kevin came up with that I thought were in questionable taste. My dad was still making all the decisions for Hammond Foods at that point. Kevin was able to convince dad that the ads were humorous, that the public would find them very funny, and that would be good for sales.”

“But they didn’t work out that way,” Brian said. He seemed to remember the series of ads that involved bratty kids mouthing off to their parents so that they would get the Hammond Foods frozen pizzas and fast foods they wanted. The ads had gone over like a lead balloon.

“No, the public hated the kids in the ads who came across as ignorant and spoiled rather than cute and precocious.”

“I remember those ads. I wondered why your company had approved them.”

“Kevin was pretty persuasive, and he convinced my dad that it was the way to go.”

“And Kevin didn’t know shit about what he was doing,” Brian proclaimed.

Chase laughed. “I guess you could say that. He had done a good job with the first round of ads, and I guess dad thought it was worth taking a chance on the following ones that Kevin came up with. We were in the process of giving Kevin, and Barton and MacLean, a second chance when my father died.”

“You were?”

“I had seen the preliminary designs for the ads Kevin came up with. They would replace the ones with the bratty kids. I have to say I didn’t like them at all.”

“But your dad did?”

“No, I don’t think he liked them either, but he wanted to be fair to Kevin. Kevin had made us a lot of money with his first series of ads.”

“But your father died before Kevin could finish them?”

“They were pretty well finished, and I still hated them. When dad died I decided it was time to go elsewhere. That’s when I came to you.”

“And I’m very glad you did. How did Barton and MacLean feel about you leaving?”

“They didn’t like it, and I think Kevin was on some sort of probation,” Chase explained. “It was my understanding that if he lost another account, he would be out on his ear.”

“Interesting.”

“I guess you could call it that. Look, I’m getting hungry and I want to head back to Philly before it’s too late. Can we order dinner?”

“Sure,” Brian said.

They ordered salad followed by steak with baked potatoes. Brian assured Chase that this restaurant had some of the best steaks in Pittsburgh. They had a bottle of red wine, but Chase didn’t drink much since he had a long drive ahead of him later in the evening.

As they ate Brian reached down and touched the side pocket of his suit. It contained the picture of John Kinney and Marge Adams. He had slipped it in his pocket when Chase arrived at his office door. He was still trying to decide if he should show it to Chase. No, that wasn’t true. He knew he should show it to Chase. The people in the picture could be his parents. The big question was how to broach the subject. Brian took a drink of wine. He’d had enough of his steak.

“Chase, I have something to show you,” he said. The direct approach was usually the best. Then he could sit back and suffer the consequences of his actions, whatever they might be.

“You do?” Chase asked, surprised at the statement. When Brian hesitated, Chase asked, “Is this about the ad campaign?”

“No, it’s personal.”

“Personal?”

“About your family.” Brian had wanted to say our family, but thought it was more prudent not to jump to that conclusion.

“About your father?”

“No, more about my mother,” Brian said taking the long way around. Sometimes the direct approach was harder than one could imagine.

“Your mother?” Chase asked with a frown. He was not at all sure where this was going.

“I went to see my mother to ask about Marjorie Adams,” Brian explained.

Chase nodded. “Did she know the name?”

“No, she said she couldn’t think of anyone by that name, and that she had no idea if Jack might know such a person.”

“If Jack and Marjorie were having an affair, Jack would hardly mention her to his wife … if he could avoid it.”

“True. Anyway, she didn’t remember the name, but a couple of days later she called to tell me that she had been thinking about it and remembered a woman named Marge Adams from a long time ago.”

“Marge could be short for Marjorie,” Chase speculated, just as Brian thought he would.

“And the last name is the same.”

“So, Marge knew your father?”

“At least in passing.”

“What does that mean?”

“According to my mother, Marge came to a birthday party for my father – his twenty-fifth.”

“Did your mother invite her?” Chase asked with a frown.

“Indirectly. Marge came with the man in this photo.” Brian pulled the old photo out of his pocket and handed it to Chase.

Chase studied the picture for a minute. “This could be my biological mother,” Chase whispered staring at the photo.

“Yes, that could be her,” Brian verified. “But we don’t know for sure. I suggest you get your investigator to check her out.”

“Is yours working on it?” Chase asked. Brian nodded. “Who’s the man in the picture? It’s not your father, is it?”

“No, not my father, my father’s cousin, one John Kinney.”

“Huh?”

“His name is John Kinney, and he went by the name John.”

“Two John Kinneys?”

“Maybe more,” Brian said with a smirk. “My mother says that John was a common name among the Kinneys.”

“So, we’re not really any closer to knowing the truth.”

Brian didn’t answer as their waiter arrived to clear the table. When the man was finished, Brian said, “I think we are closer. We know there is a connection between this woman, Marge Adams, and Jack and John Kinney. It seems likely that she and one of the Kinneys are your parents.”

Chase shook his head. “I thought this was going to be so simple. You never know what kind of mess you could be stepping into.”

Brian snorted slightly. “I tried to warn you about the Kinney family. It is a fucking dysfunctional mess.”

“Yeah, but they’d be my fucking dysfunctional mess.”

The waiter laid dessert menus in front of each man. He said he would return in a couple of minutes after they had had time to look it over.

“You still think you want to be associated with the Kinney’s?” Brian asked raising that eyebrow.

“If they’re my family, I want to know them,” Chase stated.

“What about the Hammonds?”

“What makes you think the Hammonds are so great?” Chase asked. There was plain curiosity in his voice.

“They’re rich and socially prominent, everything that people strive to be.”

“And none of that makes them happy or … functional,” Chase said sadly.

“I thought you and your father got along well, worked together.”

“We did. I guess you could say we were happy. My mother died a number of years ago, and we got … closer after that. My father always spent more time on his business than he did on his family.”

“And mine always spent more time on his booze and buddies and women than he did on his family.”

“Two of a kind?” Chase asked.

“No, I don’t think they’re all that similar. All marriages are fucked as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s very optimistic,” Chase observed with a tinge of sarcasm.

“I’m the eternal pessimist, didn’t you know?”

“I don’t find you pessimistic at all … about most things.”

“Hah, I must be succeeding at my optimism disguise,” Brian laughed.

“Looks pretty successful to me.”

“Really?”

“I … checked you out before I came to Kinnetik. I know you’ve become very successful, and I know you have a partner that lives with you. I read about the bashing.”

“Justin,” Brian said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Justin Taylor,” Chase clarified. “He’s quite a good artist. I’ve seen some of his work.”

“Yes, he is. Right now he’s working at a graphics company,” Brian added.

“Oh? He should be concentrating on his art.”

“That’s what I tell him.”

“I’d … love to meet him,” Chase said hopefully.”

“Maybe the next time you’re in Pittsburgh.”

The waiter returned and they both ordered coffee, no dessert. When their coffees arrived, they sat quietly savoring the rich liquid. Brian insisted on paying for their meals, and Chase let him after some discussion. He said next time dinner would be on him. Brian agreed, liking the idea that there would be a next time.

Finally they got up to leave. Brian told Chase to take the photo which had been lying on the table between them. It could turn out to be a picture of Chase’s parents, so Brian thought he should have it. Brian then walked with Chase back to Kinnetik where his car was. Chase turned back to Brian as he unlocked his car door.

“I enjoyed dinner and talking with you. I meant it about meeting your partner. I’d like to get to know both of you.”

Brian smiled. “I never asked you if you had a wife or partner.”

“No, not at the moment. I’ve had a few girlfriends but nobody I want to spend my life with.”

Brian thought about that as Chase got into his car. It seemed that Brian had found the person he wanted to spend his life with, at least the person he wanted there every day with him, the person he would go home to tonight.

“Drive carefully,” Brian said.

“I always do.” Chase closed the door of the car and did up his seatbelt. He started the car and put his window down to say goodbye.

“Before you go…” Brian began.

“Yes?”

“I know most of the ad execs who work in advertising. I’ve been trying to figure out who the Kevin is that you were working with at Barton and MacLean.”

“It’s not a secret.”

“Then tell me.”

Chase chuckled. “Kevin Thomas. Talk to you soon.” Chase pulled away, heading out onto Liberty Avenue.

Brian stood rooted to the spot where he stood, the name Chase had just spoken ringing in his ears.

“Kevin Thomas,” Brian said aloud. Could it be? “Kip Thomas.” The names were so close. Could they be the same person? Brian felt his stomach roll over, as that possibility struck home. He needed to pass this information on to Sam Spade right away.