K. Janssen - Hampton Manor

“Excuse me, sir. Did you say just the letter ‘E’, sir? You mean like in Elizabeth?”

“Yes, just ‘E’. Let me know anything he tells you about it.”

“Well, sure, but if it’s all right with you, I’d like to wait until after he takes his medicine.”

“I‘ll leave the timing up to you, John. Just let me know what he says as soon as you can.”

“I’ll do just that, Mister Hampton.”

His mental list being completed, Adam finally relaxed. A memory of his mother flashed into his mind. He didn’t think of her often. His father had gone out of his way to assure that she had little contact or influence over his upbringing. Mom was always nice to me. Even though dad treated her cruelly, she never spoke ill of him. Still, see where her softness got her. She was weak and dad squashed her. Pity, though, she was so soft and gentle. She never found fault with anything I said or did.

Adam finished his third drink and began to feel drowsy. The alcohol and the comforting heat from the fire had a relaxing effect. He needed to escape from all pressures that had found their way into his life. It took only a few more minutes for him to enter a deep sleep.

Chapter 26

“Who is this,” Marcia demanded. “Stop calling here! This isn’t funny any more.”

Once again there was no response, just silence until, in desperation, she finally hung up the phone. It was the seventh call within the past four hours. After the first two, Marcia let the calls go to the tape. She stayed close to the machine listening for the sound of a familiar voice, but there was none. The caller didn’t hang up until the machine beeped and made its request for a recorded message. The caller ID screen showed area codes from multiple locations, all within a twenty mile radius of Old Brooking. It was as though the caller was circling his prey. Marcia finally called Kane’s cell phone. He was in his room at the Belmonte watching TV. When she told him about the harassing calls, he told her to call 9-1-1.

“Look, I’m going to check out of this hotel and move in with you. I know you have tight security in your complex, but that wouldn’t stop a pro. This might just be some kids messing around. I did a lot of that when I was a kid. I can’t recall why I thought it was fun to annoy or even frighten other people, but, anyway I’ll feel a lot better if I’m there with you.”

“You may be right. It’s probably just somebody playing a joke.” As she thought more about it, her mind raced back to the day Adam gave her the Preston assignment. The day he joked about “punking” Kane.

“Why the sudden silence? What are you thinking?”

“I think I know who’s behind the calls. It wouldn’t surprise me if Adam is having someone do it. He’s got that sick kind of mind. Marcia told him about the plan Adam had to embarrass Kane by having an overtly homosexual man accost him in the men’s room at Hampton Industries.

“I see what you mean. It does sound like the kind of thing that his sick mind would dream up. Why can’t he get it in his head that it’s over? With all he has to do with the merger, how can he waste time on such petty nonsense? Now, I’m definitely coming over there. Go ahead and call 9-1-1 and I’ll be there in about thirty minutes. I’ll stop and pick up some wine on the way.”

“I’ll cook up some hors d’oeuvres to go with it. See you later.”

Marcia heard a “call waiting” click on the line while speaking to Kane. She ignored it, Maybe if the caller thinks I’m reporting the calls, he’ll stop. She started the pre-heat on the oven and removed a box of hors d’oeuvres from the freezer.

The screen showed “Unknown Caller”. Marcia grabbed the phone and pressed the “TALK” button. She screamed into the phone, “Listen, you sick son of a bitch, I’m calling the police, you’d better stop calling here.”

There was no response. She pressed “END” and let the handset slip back into its cradle. She sat quietly for a few minutes, regaining her composure. She took a deep breath, picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

Kane arrived at the gate exactly thirty minutes after their phone conversation.

“You’re amazing, Kane Masterson. A person could set their clocks by you,” she said as she buzzed him in. She met him at the door, took two bottles of wine from him, placed them on a table by the door and returned to give him a hug. The embrace was long and needful. When they separated, tears were streaming down her face. Kane cupped her face in his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. Then he drew her face close to his and kissed her gently on the lips as he kicked the door closed.

Marcia suddenly remembered that she was warming up the oven.

“Hold that thought,” she said as she broke away and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll go shut the oven off.”

“That would probably be a good idea.”

Half an hour later they returned to the kitchen. Her kitchen had a cozy nook with a small table and two chairs. Marcia set up the glasses while Kane returned to his car to fetch his three suitcases. He returned to open the bottle of Riesling.

With all their needs sated, they moved to her living room to review where things stood. Marcia began, “I didn’t think it would be this hard. People resign from companies every day. I’m sure that they don’t go through this much shit. I don’t know whether to be afraid or angry.”

“Probably a bit of both is in order. That’s why I’m here. Did Adam give you any warning that he was going to behave like this?”

“Not directly, but when I called accounting today to tell them where to send my last paycheck and the proceeds from my pension and stock accounts, the manager told me that all my funds are frozen pending review of my employment contract.”

“Can he do that?”

“I’m afraid he can. They can hold payments back for up to two weeks. If Adam tries to make it longer, I may have to take legal action. It’s obvious that he’s going to make it as hard as he can for me, even if firing me was his idea.”

“I’m glad I got my release in writing. It’s bad enough that one of us has to go through this. How did you make out with 9-1-1?”

“That turned out to be another hassle. They hooked me up with the Police Department. I explained in detail about the calls. They told me that it followed the pattern of juvenile prank. They said they get dozens of reports like mine every month. They can’t do anything to investigate the calls unless the caller makes a direct threat against a person or property. In other words, they don’t intend to do anything.”

“Gee, it’s comforting to know that Old Bookings’ finest are out there protecting their citizens. That’s an interesting policy towards crime prevention.”

“The good part, if you can call it that, is that the calls have stopped. The phone rang right before I called 9-1-1 and when I answered it I told them that they had better stop because I was calling 9-1-1. There was no reply, but since then the phone hasn’t rung.”

“I guess we should take that as a good sign. Just to be safe, though, why don’t you disconnect your land phone and we’ll only use our private cell phones. I wonder what that bastard is going to do next to harass you? I can’t believe that he has the time to spend on this when his whole world collapsing around him.”

“I can’t imagine anything else he can do to me.”

“You know, we don’t have any reason to hang around this town. There is no need for us to be sitting ducks for that sicko. Anything we need to do, we can do from anywhere. Why don’t we go to my place in Wooster Square?”

Marcia thought about his offer. She knew that they would run off somewhere, eventually. Why not now?