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Email feedback can be sent to trager2275@gmail.com. © 2015 by Eric Trager.
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**** Dear Readers. I hope each and every one of you has had a wonderful Holiday Season and I wish you all the best for 2019. Thank you all for sticking with me over this long adventure. God Bless! ****
NOTE: This is a revision to Chapter 62 as it was priginally uploaded to Nifty. I was unsatosfied with the amount of typos in the priginal version as well as a few things that were clumsy reading.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
OCTOBER 23, 2016
The day was a Friday. Although it was late October just in front of Hallowe'en, the weather was pleasant enough, the temperature already 60 degrees and sunny. Dressed in jeans and a Craig High School Athletic Department hoodie, Sean was up early as he'd seen Andy off to take his first set of mid-term exams at Milwaukee School of Engineering and would soon be on his way to Craig High in order to get some plans ready for the offensive backfield squad.
Although Sean had told his dad last year that he might enroll at MSOE along with Andy, he decided not to in the end. His work on the City Council proved to be more than he thought it would be, mostly because he took basically running the entire Council on his own shoulders. Additionally, it was time for construction work on the Monterey to get underway in earnest as the initial demolition was finished. The twins were taking up a lot of Sean's attention as well. There was only so much Mrs. Cheadle could do with two rambunctious little boys who were growing fast and proving interested in doing naughty little boy things.
On top of all that, Sean and Andy were awaiting the arrival of their next child. The adopted child who would be Andy's son. They had no names for the birth parents, but they did have some information. The mother was a Junior in High School from Greenfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. She was of Scandinavian and Polish descent. The father, all they knew, was the same age and was her boyfriend. He was of German descent and was from the City of Milwaukee, but nearby to Greenfield on the southwest side of the city. Both were students at Greenfield High School. Both were blonde and had blue eyes. Both were good students, but not prepared in any way to keep a newborn baby, and neither were their families. The mother's due date was about two weeks away.
That was literally all the information they had.
They didn't even know if the baby was to be a boy, or a girl.
Mrs. Cheadle reasuured everyone that a newborn wouldn't be any problem, but she insisted that one of the presently unused bedrooms be brought into service for the twins and the new arrival put in the nursery. Not to trouble Andy and Sean, Mrs. Cheadle said she'd make all the necessary preparations herself.
Sean poured himself a cup of coffee and went out to sit on the patio. He sat down and lit up a Camel straight. He had time to think.
On Saturday, Andy and Sean were meeting with a couple of guys coming in from out of town. They were from an internationally-known engineering firm they read about in a recent article in The Gazette and who they contacted to invite in for consulting on the structural parts of the Monterey renovation. Sean thought it a bit odd the way they'd found out about this company seemingly by accident in a newspaper article, but supposedly they had long experience in steel construction ranging from buildings to bridges and everything in between. Hopefully they might be of some help on the project.
Sean and Andy knew that they'd need that sort of expertise with an old building that had been left to deteriorate for so many years. They needed to have the steel structure of the building sound so that when all the rest of the construction was done everything would rest on solid foundations. They would also need to talk to the steel construction guys about the design for a parking ramp as well as the possibility of a swimming pool. Sean knew that to do all the construction at once was expensive and a risk as far as the profitability of the project went. He also knew that he wanted his units to be not only high-end, but the highest of the high end. Sean saw a trend where people who worked for the State of Wisconsin more and more were living in Janesville because their salaries went farther in buying housing. Per square foot, the same housing in Madison would be close to twice as expensive as anything comparable in Janesville. The Monterey units would be very attractive to people like that.
Although the meeting was tomorrow, Saturday, the steel construction guys were flying in on their company plane later in the afternoon. Andy would be back from Milwaukee by then so they decided to pick them up at the airport, treat them to dinner at the Country Club and then transport them to the old Trager house north of town on the river which they now owned as Tom Trager was only too glad to be done with Sean and boogie out of town once he figured out that he wasn't dealing with some smart-ass, punk kid. He didn't even quibble with the price Sean offered him for the house and the land which was at assessed valuation, but probably at least $150,000 under market value.
There had been no remodeling done to the river house as yet. Sean thought they'd use the house next Summer and see what they thought about it then. He figured as well that next Summer the twins would be two years old and not too young to learn how to get in the water. The property did, after all, have 200 feet of river frontage. Also included was a 24-foot Manitou pontoon boat equipped with a 115-horsepower main engine and a 15-horsepower maneuvering engine, both Wisconsin-built Mercury Marine Sea Pro outboards and more than adequate for river use. No price was charged for the boat, but Sean figured it's purchase price to have been at least $70,000. A water-skiing boat it was not, but Sean reckoned it would be a smooth, luxurious cruiser with a good range and useful for meetings when one did not want other people around. There was also a pier and a boathouse for storing the boat over the winter, and it was already put away for the season.
Andy returned later reporting that he knew he'd done well on his exams. "Ya know, taking exams is a lot like taking a dump..."
"What?!" Sean asked with a smirk. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Yeah. If ya sit down and it all comes out real quick and smooth, that's the way you want it and it was a good experience. That's how ya want it to go. But if you sit there and push and push and it comes out all slow and messy then you know you just fucked it up. I finished the exams in way under the time that was allowed and had plenty of time to check everything over. I know I aced them because I could see the answers in front of my face as soon as I read the questions."
"If you say so, my dear..."
"Fuck you! I meant it... I know I aced `em."
"Sorry, I was just teasing,' Sean said sticking out his lower lip in mock innocence.
"Yeah, well we'll see how sorry you are later. Shouldn't we get ready to pick those guys up at the airport?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Whadya think about this whole deal?"
"Dunno... I mean we don't know these guys, or whatever, and I guess we can see. I'm kinda dreading having dinner with a couple of corporate type guys. I mean, we're not even 20 years old and what if they're like sixty, or something? If I fall asleep kick me under the table..."
"Fine, let's get ready and go. I'll tell Mrs. Cheadle. I think she knows we'll be out tonight, but I'll tell her anyhow."
Andy and Sean dressed for the occasion in well-tailored chinos, Oxford shirts, ties and sport coats. They selected shoes that any person who knew anything about shoes would know cost around $500 a pair. With Joe's permission they took the XTS. Sean thought about hiring a car and chauffeur from the livery company, impressed as he'd been with the Fleetwood 75 limousines used at Tim and Brett's wedding, but elected to ask Joe for the use of his car as he wanted to show up in a big luxury car from one of the top-tier marques but didn't want to seem too eager on first impression.
Telephoning the airport to confirm, Sean was told that their guests' plane was about forty minutes out and was expected to land on time according to their flight plan. Sean made sure that he'd be granted access to the runway apron and supplied the airport with the XTS' license plate number. He told them they expected to arrive in about thirty minutes.
Once at the airport, Sean maneuvered out onto the apron and parked the car. "I'm gonna get out and have a quick smoke," he told Andy.
"Nervous?" Andy asked.
"I'm not sure if you really wanna know," Sean said.
"I know whatcha mean," Andy said. "I mean how is it we can have a meeting with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and go in and out like we did it every day, but here we are meeting for all we know just another couple of dudes who we might do business with or not and we're nervous..."
"Good question," Sean said.
Just then, Sean and Andy could see a plane making a wide sweeping turn, wings banked, landing lights on and landing gear down, ready for its final descent into the airport.
"Jesus!" Sean said. "Wouldja look at that!"
"What..." Andy said.
"It's a full-size plane! I thought there were only gonna be just the two of them... Fuck!"
Lower and lower the plane came until it finally touched down. And indeed, it was a full-size plane. A Boeing BBJ Max8, a business jet version of the tried-and-true Boeing 737. It was painted red, black and white, gleamed in the early evening light, and bore the livery of Saeth Construction International.
"Well, here goes nuthin'!" Andy said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Sean said taking one final drag on his cigarette and stomping it out on the concrete.
The big jet taxied off the runway and onto the apron, coming to a stop. The mobile stairs truck motored out. The airplane door swung open.
Sean and Andy gasped.
Two men emerged from the plane and no one else.
They were young-looking men.
Maybe just a few years older than Sean and Andy.
"Jesus!" Sean exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting this. I wonder if they sent some junior staff just to fuck with us."
"Well, if so, we'll wine and dine them and be nice. We'll take them through the Monterey tomorrow and just act normal."
Sean and Andy made their way to the bottom of the stairs to greet their guests. They could see the one in the lead was tall, maybe Sean's height or a little taller. He had sandy blonde hair that he wore closely cropped and appeared to have gray eyes. He had a muscular build not unlike David Dickson. The second one was even taller than the first, probably about 6'4". He had longer hair like Sean, as Sean had let his hair grow back once he'd won his City Council seat. He had jade green eyes and more of a swimmer's build. Both men were dressed pretty much as Andy and Sean were, and both men wore smiles.
They both locked eyes on Andy and Sean and when they got to the bottom of the stairway, both men extended their hands in greeting.
The first one shook Sean's hand. "I'm Cory Radke, CEO of Saeth Construction. This is Chris Caldwell, our Chief Financial Officer."
"Pleased to meet you, Cory and Chris. I'm Sean Wyman, and this is Andy Churchill. Welcome to Janesville and thank you for coming."
"Glad to be here!" Chris said. "Cory probably forgot, but our luggage will be coming off the place in a minute. What should we do with it?"
Wow!' Andy thought to himself. These guys handle their own bags?'
"Your bags can go in the Cadillac right over there," Andy said.
"You guys hungry?" Sean asked.
"I could stand a bite," Cory said.
"We've got reservations at the Country Club. I realize you guys are from Portland, but even though we're a small town they've got an excellent kitchen," Sean said.
"Oh, we're not stuffy," Chris said with another smile. "If you know a place that serves a good Reuben, I'd have that!"
"Well, Chris, we can get you one at the Club then!" Andy smiled.
Luggage in the car, the men set off. It was decided that since Sean was driving, Chris would ride shotgun since he was the tallest. Cory assured them that their flight crew had a rental car awaiting and rooms booked at a local bed and breakfast so they needn't wait for them.
"I guess I'm hungry, too! I could eat a horse!" Cory said.
"Well," Sean said, "When we get to the Club we can either eat in the main dining room, or if you'd rather I also reserved a private room where we can speak more freely."
"I think we'd like the private room," Chris said.
"He makes the decisions. I just came along for the ride." Cory laughed and shrugged. "Private room it is, then."
"They do a good job," Andy said. "We'll get the full menu, they'll bring us hors d' oeuvres and stuff and drinks to order."
"Cool!" Chris smiled. "So, tell us about this hotel condo conversion project you got going here..."
"OK, well, the building's sat empty for let's just call it thirty years," Sean began. "It's listed on the historical places. It's Art Deco and it'd be just a shame to demolish it. I need your advice on the steel construction, you know, what we're looking at as far as the shape of the existing plus I wanna add some stuff... But I hafta keep it looking pretty much original."
"Can we drive by it?" Cory asked.
"Sure," Sean said. "In fact, we have time so if you want, we can get out and take a quick walk around the outside. No sense in going in now as we have time for that tomorrow."
"I agree," Chris said. "I like Art Deco, so I'd like to see it anyway if that's OK..."
Chris's remark didn't go unnoticed by Sean thinking they might like to have breakfast the next day at the Alamo, and he would suggest that if it seemed that they were all getting along. Art Deco might be one thing, but Spanish Art Deco quite another. And it would give Sean a chance to show off his culinary skills which truth be told he hadn't used much lately.
Andy for his part was thinking the same thing. He knew Sean would throw on a memorable meal while he could show off the Alamo. That is, if they felt there might be business to be done with these out-of-towners.
"That's some plane you guys got there," Sean remarked trying to make conversation.
"It was more than I thought the company should spend," Cory said, "but the bean counter in the front seat there said it would be a good investment. We do business in different countries and even though the company hasn't owned it that long, it does save time. We might not have used it for this trip, but after we leave here we're on our way to London and this plane's got the range for that."
London,' Andy and Sean thought. Interesting.'
"Sounds nice. We were just over there not too long ago. It was our first time. Can't wait to go back..."
"Where'd you guys stay? We'll be at the Dorchester Hotel," Chris said.
"Oh, we stayed in a house," Sean said. "A friend of ours owns a townhouse in Chelsea. She's a good bit older than we are and she lives here in town, so we used it when we went over."
Unseen by Sean and Andy were raised eyebrows on the part of Chris and Cory.
Luckily, the conversational ice was broken and the four young men settled down into an easy give-and-take for the rest of the drive. Sean pulled into the rear of the Monterey Hotel, parking in what had been the delivery dock area of the old hotel.
Getting out and walking around, Sean pointed out to their guests as much of his vision as he could without going into the building.
"OK, so here's what we've got. The building's about 85 years old. As you can see, it's got a brick façade with terra cotta and marble trim. What concerns me at this point is the steel structure. I guess that's where you guys come in. Anyway, let's walk around this way. Now on this side here we're gonna need to build a parking garage. There's only gonna be 24 units, so we'll need 48 spaces for the units, so everyone gets two spots, then probably another 20 spots for guests and I'd like at least 50-60 spots for public parking but separate from unit owners' and guest parking. I also want a private area for six cars that no one else can get to but I'll explain that later."
"Is that allowable?" Cory asked.
"It is. Just as long as the existing storefront of the next-door building facing the street is preserved in its original appearance, they said I can put a parking ramp behind it. It can only be three stories high, though so I'm figuring one, or probably two stories is gonna hafta go underground because the lot is narrow. And it's gonna need to be alley access, too, not street access."
"If we go underground, we're gonna hafta shore up the foundations of the hotel and the building that abuts on the other side. No way around that," Cory said.
"OK, now here's the pièce de résistance," Sean said.
"Here we go!" Andy laughed, eliciting a chuckle and a wink from Chris.
"Anyway, before I was interrupted from the peanuts gallery," Sean continued, sticking his tongue out at Andy. "Like I said, I want elevators for owner and guest parking which is OK because the garage is gonna abut the back of the hotel, but I want a private elevator that runs from the private parking area I talked about and goes to a penthouse unit which isn't there now, but is going to be added on top of the existing hotel building but recessed so it's invisible from the street. I have the preliminary OK for that, too."
"Interesting..." Chris said.
Cory looked like he was warming up to the project, too. "Man, we thought this was gonna be something small. I mean, it's not gonna be huge, but this sounds like a decent-size project."
"Yes, the penthouse unit we can just white-box as Andy will finish it later. It will be for us. Now, in the basement of the hotel there will be a swimming pool," Sean said. "According to the building's blue-prints there's enough square-footage to put in a short-course Olympic-size pool, a small but decent-size gym and a sauna. I wanted the pool on top of the parking garage originally, but there isn't room because of the height restrictions. The top floor of the garage we'll do as a living roof for owners to use for parties and barbecues and stuff."
"Jesus!" Cory said.
"Make sense?" Sean smiled.
"Well, yeah," Cory answered, but this isn't the kind of thing you'd see in a town this size. This is something you'd see in Chicago, or San Francisco."
"I know, but we can sell the units. There's old money in this town and we know some of them that are already interested. Not only that, but there are people up in Madison who run the State government who, shall we say, want to be away from prying eyes and want a first-class, secure place. We've got a top-flight security outfit lined up. How the units are gonna go is there are five floors for units, two through six. The units on the second and third floors will be the smallest and the simplest. And the most reasonably priced. The fourth floor is gonna have three of the simpler units and two large units. The fifth and sixth floors are each gonna have two large, kick-ass units. We figure most of them will sell for cash since there's no other place like it. Any units need financing, we're already having our Attorney set up a mortgage company and we'll do the financing for the initial sales. We're gonna be fine. And in case you're wondering, we've got the money to see the project through. In cash."
Cory and Chris were speechless.
"This makes the pool you added to your house look like child's play," Chris said to Cory.
"Anyway, hungry, guys?" Andy said.
"Yeah," Chris said. "I feel like a steak now instead of a Reuben..."
"Me, too," Cory agreed.
At the Country Club, the four were ushered in by the doorman. "Wyman. We have the Holmes Room reserved," Sean told the doorman.
"Certainly, Councilor Wyman," the doorman said. "You're familiar with it, no doubt. Enjoy your evening, gentlemen!"
Sean tipped the doorman a crisp $50 bill and they moved on.
Making their way into the bar, their waiter for the evening showed them into the Holmes Room. It was a room a good bit larger than the intimate Miltimore Room where Joe Wyman and Herb Dowling had met during the Dowling's family difficulties. The room itself was about 20' by 30' with an angled corner containing a fireplace and a lounge area. Behind the lounge area was an antique octagonal table made of tiger oak with matching chairs. Unlike the Miltimore Room, the décor of the Holmes Room was American 1930's rather than English Country. Cory and Chris were impressed.
Just then, the waiter entered the room. "Would you care for anything from the bar, gentlemen?" he asked as he set period-perfect Depression-era cut glass tumblers of shaved ice and water, each garnished with a lime slice and a deep green mint sprig atop matching silver-plated coasters. All four men got a hand-bound menu.
"Mineral water for me," Cory said. Chris ordered the same. Sean ordered a pint of Guiness and Andy a Black Rose Ale from the local Gray Brewing Company.
"If you're wondering what to eat," Sean said, "the steaks are always good. The lobster bisque is excellent, and any of the salads are top-notch. I've had the shrimp scampi before, too, and I liked it a lot. It's got plenty of butter and garlic with just the right hint of red pepper. All of the pasta is house-made."
"We're both pretty hungry," Chris said.
"Good," Andy said, "so where do we start with the hotel project?"
"Well, we're going to have to take a quick look at the interior of the building. You said the interior demo is already done?"
"Yup," Sean answered.
"Good, that'll make looking at it a lot easier. We can prolly ballpark it in very rough terms for you after tomorrow, but here's how it would work. We'd have to send a couple engineers and an architect out to look at it. They would need to do a complete inspection of the building's structure. After that, they go back to Portland and do a work up. You have a set of the original construction blueprints, right?"
"Yup."
"OK, good. It'll take them say, two or three days to do their inspections, maybe another two days to come up with a detailed estimate and another couple of days for the additions you want to make. So, figure inside of ten days you'll have something in proper form to take to the city for approval. If they approve it, a lot of the stuff we do is in prefabricated sections which because of the distance we'd ship by rail. Other work like interior structural will have to be done as-needed and on-site. I'd say based on what I'm looking at if you get approvals right away and there's no problem with materials we could have our end of it done in probably three months, maybe two. Approximately. After that, your mechanical and finish trades come in and you should be all set."
"Any ballpark of cost?" Andy asked.
"For the additions, meaning the parking garage, penthouse structure, elevators and pool I'd say you're looking at probably three, three-and-a-half million more or less, but you can't quote me exactly on that as it's totally off-the cuff and not my area of expertise. Structural repairs to the original building would be on top of that."
"We'll just wait and see," Sean said.
The waiter returned, freshening up the drinks and taking the dinner orders.
After the waiter left the room, Cory spoke up. "There's something else we'd like to talk about, guys. If it's OK."
"Sure," Sean replied, not knowing what on Earth Cory was talking about.
"Well, it has to do with some things I learned a few years ago from my father who ran the business before me, and from our attorney who's been with the family for a long time," Cory said.
"Oh, no..." Andy laughed. "A guy with a lawyer..."
Cory and Chris looked a little taken aback.
"Sorry, guys, it was a joke," Andy said contritely. "It's just that we have an old lawyer ourselves. He's only been our lawyer for a couple of years, but it might as well be forever..."
"Alright, well the suspense is killing me here," Sean said.
"I guess it would be and I'm sorry," Cory said. "Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard of a gentleman by the name of Angus Dickson?"
"What..." Sean and Andy gasped simultaneously.
"I'll take that as a yes," Cory continued. "Is it a yes? It's OK just to nod."
"Um, yeah," Sean said, for once in his life shocked. "But I mean, like, how... I mean, well, how..."
"How would I know that name? Well the truth of the matter is I know it because my dad brought it up to me and he and our attorney went through some really old historical stuff. Don't worry, there's nothing bad here... And I'm sorry I startled you."
"Well, he's Sean-o's best friend's great-grandfather," Andy said.
"We know," Chris smiled.
"So, I take it you also know a certain Virginia Miller, then?" Cory asked with a smile.
"Yup," Sean said. "How does this all hang together?"
"How about I give you the short version..." Cory said.
"I think any version would be fine at this point," Andy laughed.
"OK, well back through several generations, my family tree runs to some Fitzpatricks. We were made aware of your project here in Janesville by a local construction firm owned by the Fitzpatrick family. It seems they were all related some generations ago. Saeth still does business with them from time to time, not often, but it's been a few times over the years. We knew you'd need steel construction experts, so we had an article run in your local paper hoping you'd notice. You did. At any rate, something seemed to get jogged in my dad's head about stuff he thought he'd heard a long time ago through the family grapevine, so he put our attorney on it who had our in-house security guys do a background check to see if there was any truth to any of it, I mean of any older business connections and what they might have been."
Just then, the waiter wheeled a large cart in with the meals, which were mouth-watering. The food looked to be expertly prepared, and the presentation flawless.
After the waiter left, Chris said, "Why don't we tuck into our dinners, guys? It all sure looks and smells good. It's be a shame if it got cold. Anyway, like Cory said there's nothing bad here. Promise. Besides, you guys have been great! We don't get to meet many people close to our age in business. So, this is nice. We're glad we came."
"That's right," Cory said with a mouthful of steak.
Sean and Andy shrugged their shoulders and chowed down.
At the end of the meal, Sean offered cigars and brandy. All took a cigar, and all except for Cory took a small snifter of brandy.
"I just don't drink. Years ago, I was in a car accident. A drunk driver hit the car we were in. T- boned us, and the person sitting next to me was killed. I was just a kid, but it's stayed with me all these years. Tell ya what, though, the cigar's really good!"
"Sorry to hear that, Cory," Sean said.
"Me, too," Andy nodded.
"That's OK, it was a long time ago. It'll always stay with me. Chris has helped me a lot with that, though."
It didn't go unnoticed by Andy or Sean that at that remark Chris looked at Cory with a tender look on his face.
"We all need someone to buck us up sometimes," Chris said. It didn't go unnoticed either that Cory returned the look.
"Anyway," Cory continued, "I said I'd try to explain about the names I dropped before. I guess this is as good a time as any..."
"It was pretty dorky of us to act surprised before," Sean said. "I mean, we WERE surprised, or at least I was, but both you guys said there wasn't anything to worry about here, so..."
"No, no there's not," Cory said. "I know since I surprised you guys you must think there's something evil coming up and that I might be some kind of a threat to you guys, but if that's what you think, I just want you to know that nothing be further from the truth."
"OK, well, let's have it then..." Sean said.
"I'll put it in a nutshell. Those historical corporate documents I mentioned? My dad and I were talking about those kind of just for fun. You know, reading what people did a long time ago and all that stuff. Anyway, I mentioned the Fitzpatricks, so I thought I'd try to figure out why my company did occasional business with a firm that has the same name as some of my ancestors. Well, simply put the connection seems to be that a long time ago the Fitzpatricks here in Janesville arranged, at a profit to themselves, a business connection between two guys named Miller and an Angus Dickson, and the Oregon Fitzpatricks. It was a deal to supply my family's company on the West Coast with booze during Prohibition. Or at least that's what it might have been... We're not a hundred percent sure. But as I said, they were relatives somehow. A lot of stuff people did back then just isn't traceable now.
"Anyway, my family, whose name is Arris, was in the logging business out there and was just starting to branch out into different kinds of construction once logging started to peter out. That took a lot of capital, more than what they had. So, for some reason they made a business connection with those people here in Janesville and in time became quite rich out of it all.
"I tried to find out more, but at the end of Old Man Miller, and his son, Al Miller, the trail went cold. It wasn't until I did some local research here that I found out that Al Miller had been married. But I could not find any useful business references to his widow, Virginia. It wasn't until I looked overseas thinking that since we had business interests in England and maybe they probably did, too, that I kept running across the name Alexandra Jackman. Actually, our security department did that part of the research."
"Um, OK..." Andy said. "So, why are you telling us all this?"
"Simple," Chris said. "Our footprint is international, but in the United States we're lacking a presence here in the Midwest. We do large-scale steel construction, roadbuilding, architecture and all the rest. If it has steel in it, we build it. We know that the infrastructure in the Midwest is ageing and in need of replacement. We want to be in on that. Big Time. We need places to put our money so we can make more. And not only would we like to have a base here, but lately there's been some upheaval here in Janesville with respect to an old roadbuilding firm, the Kennedy firm, as well as an architecture firm. We know also, and this is just between us, that the Fitzpatricks may be thinking about looking for a buyer for their company. We have a lot of capital, but we don't want to invest it all at once. We're here to see if there might be a basis for exploring a partnership going forward. It could mean a lot for this town. And for us. And for you."
"That's interesting," Sean said, "But you must know that we don't totally run the whole show yet."
"Then some of our research may have been a little faulty," Cory said.
"Let's do this," Sean replied. "You guys are here through tomorrow. After you go, I'll talk to the people I have to talk to and then after that how about we put our Attorneys in touch with each other and see if there's a basis for opening discussions. I think at this point that approachmakes sense. Here's our Attorney's card."
"I would agree that makes the best sense for now," Chris said. "What do you think, Cory?"
"I agree, too. I hope we can do business. I see upside for both parties." Cory paused for a second to look at George Dickson's business card. "Name's Dickson I see!" Cory smiled.
"George is a good man. Straightforward," Sean smiled back. "Angus Dickson was his grandfather."
The four exchanged a few more pleasantries over cigars and then adjourned. Sean drove them back to the Alamo for a quick walk-through to show the quality of the design that they had in mind for the Monterey. Chris and Cory were impressed by the quality and detail they saw in the finishes and décor Andy achieved in the old Spanish mansion. They complemented him on his attention to period details. They were amused by Mrs. Cheadle and the twins, and it didn't go unnoticed that they addressed both Andy and Sean in terms indicating father.
Sean decided not to offer drinks in the bar as it was getting late.
"You guys are gonna like where we're putting you up, I hope," Sean smiled, feeling at ease with the other two young men.
"As long as it's quiet, I don't care..." Chris said.
"It's a house we own north of town. It's dark now so you won't be able to see it until morning, but it's on the river and it's got river frontage. We haven't done anything to it yet as far as remodeling, or redecorating, but it's nice. It's got everything you'd want. There's internet available there, and a full security system that I'll text you the instructions for. We're going to bring you back here in the morning for breakfast. I'm cooking."
"That sounds great!" Cory said. "Shall we?"
Once installed in the guest home on the river, Cory and Chris sat down. "So, what did you think?" Cory asked.
"Want my honest opinion?"
"As if you'd have any other kind..." Cory laughed.
"First off, I think they're family," Chris began. "Second, my gut says these guys are the real deal. I'd bet they're a few years younger than us, maybe just out of High School, but Sean's obviously a leader. Andy? Sean defers to Andy sometimes. Both of them look like they've been hurt at some point in the past. They're new to all this, but they learn fast. They've got common sense. That's what I see..."
"That's what I thought, too. You really think they're gay?"
"Um, yeah. The way they look at each other gives it away. And those two little boys? They look like they're Sean's. Can't quite figure that one out. But they have that English Nanny and they're not a dime a dozen. I'm pretty sure it's Sean's dad who owns that house. He runs the GM plant here."
"OK, so who do you think Sean and Andy have to talk to about anything going forward?"
"My bet is it's Virginia Miller. She's still alive so it couldn't be anyone else. There's no one else that turned up when you were looking?"
"Nope. Not who's still alive anyway. Other than their lawyer, who as I'm sure you heard is Angus Dickson's grandson."
"Yeah, I caught that, too. Well, we'll just have to see how it goes... It'd be nice to do real business with people our own age I think, though..."
"Yeah..."
"Tired?"
"A little..." With that, Cory and Chris decided to retire for the evening. They'd been shown the two best bedrooms in the house but decided to use only one.
In the meantime, at the Alamo a similar conversation took place.
"So, Brown Eyes, what did you make of our guests?"
"Well, first of all, they're gay and they're a couple."
"I thought so, too..."
"Other than that, they seemed trustworthy to me."
"Me, too but we have to talk to Ginny. I bet she set this whole thing up." Sean laughed.
"I hadn't thought of that, but I bet you're right..." Andy said. "Let's go down the bar and have a beer and a bong hit."
Once in the bar, Sean said, "Yeah, we're gonna hafta go talk to Ginny tomorrow. I wanna ask her if she knows anything about these guys. I mean, you're done with your midterms, right?"
"Thank God!" Andy answered. "It's OK. I did good... But anyway, yeah, we need to talk to Ginny."
After enjoying a stellar breakfast at the Alamo and having been shown around the inside of the Monterey the next morning, Cory assured Sean that it didn't appear to be a massive job and they could expect to hear from Saeth's engineer and architect in the next day, or two to set up a time to come in and do the actual estimate and scope of work orders. Sean and Andy were assured that Saeth had handled similar projects many times in the past.
After that, the four had time for a quick light lunch at the Cozy Corner Chinese restaurant just a short walk down West Milwaukee Street.
"This is really a cute little town you guys got here," Chris said.
"Yeah," Cory echoed. "I hope we can make something work. I could see having our Midwest base here. It'd be good for everyone."
"I think we may have established a basis for further discussion, yes..." Sean replied. "You have our Attorney's contact information and I'll let him know he should expect a call."
"Sounds good to us!" Chris smiled. "I guess we better get down to the airport now. It's a long flight to London..."
With that, Sean and Andy saw their guests off, waiting on the airport apron until the Boeing jet had taken off and was wheels up.
"Welp," Andy said, "Should we go pay Ginny a visit?"
"It's as good a time as any..." Sean laughed.
Ringing the bell at Ginny's house, they heard the familiar voice answer on the speaker, "I knew you'd be over. Come on in..." And then the door buzzer indicated they should enter.
"In the office, guys!" Ginny called out. "Help yourselves to a cold one if you want!"
Once in the office, Ginny laughed her raspy laugh. "OK, don't shoot me guys. I know why you're here. I had nothing to do with those Saeth guys. Yeah, I know they were here, the Fitzpatricks sort of tipped me off. I can tell you this, though, I didn't know who Saeth was until something about the name clicked in my mind from years and years and years ago. I had go look it up. Anyway, I never knew any of those guys or had anything to do with them, but from what I gather Al's dad did and old Angus Dickson, too. They musta found you guys for some reason..."
"That's what we gather, too," Sean said.
"So howdja leave it with `em?" Ginny asked.
"They want to start a Midwest operations branch and locate it here," Andy said. "They said there'd been some talk about Kennedy's brother selling out and Tom Trager's firm. We think they used the Monterey as an excuse to come check out the lay of the land."
"Wouldn't doubt that," Ginny said. "Nothing wrong with that, though. They know you guys are the ones who are gonna call the shots, so, I mean, makes sense..."
"I had an idea, too," Sean said.
"What's that?" Ginny asked.
"What about the Kennedy's company, you think Kennedy's brother would sell it?"
"Of course he would. He never meant to own it forever. Why?"
"Well," Andy said, "Me and Sean-o were talking and if we want to move forward with these guys we need to have something extra to bring to the table."
"Find out how much he wants for that company," Sean said. "We'll buy it and then fold it in with Trager's company and the Fitzpatrick company."
"So, how do you guys intend to see what it is they really want?" Ginny asked.
"I gave them George's business card and told them to have their attorney contact George. That way we can see without even talking about it what it is they want. I'm gonna have Ditmar do background checks on them, too."
"OK, that sounds reasonable. Now, how did they seem to you guys?"
"We thought they were the real deal," Andy said.
"I would say so, too..." Sean agreed.
"Well, then, let's just see what George and Ditmar come up with. You talk to your dad about any of this?"
"No, other than he knew we were having some people in to look at the Monterey..." Sean said.
"Well, I think you should talk to him about it. Your dad's a businessman and he's been around the block a few times. A father's advice is always good to have. I sure could have used some of that when I was starting out..." Ginny said with an uncharacteristically wistful look on her face.
Sean and Andy did not reply but took what Ginny said to heart.
"Well, why don't you two go now and make sure to talk to your dad, OK?"
"Will do," Sean said. "And thanks."
And that night Sean, Andy and John sat down with Joe to discuss the new development. Even though John hadn't been in on it until now, he proved to be a quick learner as usual, asking several trenchant questions. He wanted to know what they'd be expected to give as their part of the deal and what they could expect to get out of it.
Andy and Sean replied that those were good questions, that they didn't have any hard answers yet and everything was all very preliminary. He said honestly that they had no idea if anything at all would continue beyond maybe the work on the Monterey. They added that it seemed like something worthwhile to check out.
John nodded his assent.
Joe wrapped it up. "Opportunities are to be looked into, guys, not passed up. Get your information and then make your decision. Let's talk again when you have more information. And I know I don't have to tell you guys this, but don't show all your cards..."
"We know, dad," Sean said rolling his eyes.
"What about Kathleen?" John asked.
"You tell her what we talked about tonight," Sean said. "And I'll take care of Dix and Brett. That's all we need to do for now until we hear back from George and Ditmar."
Sean went to the library and placed calls to George Dickson, Tim and Brett, and Charlie Ditmar. George said he'd simply wait for the call and see what he thought. Ditmar had a bit more to say.
"Yep, I know of this Saeth outfit," he told Sean and Andy on the speakerphone in the library. "Guys, high-level security, especially corporate security, is a small world. I know some of the guys that handle their security. They're a big company. The guys I know that work for them are top-shelf. A hundred percent. Ex-military like me. I can do some background on Saeth, but I gotta tell ya, I'm gonna hafta stop when it comes to accessing their systems. Those guys are good, and they'd be able to tell if I did that. Not only that, but they'll be able to pretty much pinpoint it geographically and they know I'm the only one in the Milwaukee area with those kinds of capabilities. Besides, guys, they're professional colleagues more or less. I'll do all that I can..."
"Let me ask you a question then..." Sean said. "So, if they could tell that you were looking at them, could you tell if they were looking at us?"
"Oh sure," Ditmar replied. "Any attempted breaches will show up logged onto our monitoring system. Even anything at any level that anyone could throw at ya. I'll look again, but I get a list of any system breaches, or attempts, every morning and there's nothing on yours. I'm looking at it right now. Not even any attempts. That's not to say that they might know some way to do stuff that I don't know, but I highly doubt it as we have the latest hardware and software, and there's not even any unusual activity on the system. There would be a flag somewhere. For sure..."
"OK, well, just get back to us," Andy said. "Thanks, Charlie!"
"You bet. Bye."
"Well, whadya think, Sean-o?"
"I think we wait to hear from George."
"Yup, that's what I think, too..."
TWO DAYS LATER
Sean got a text from George Dickson asking if he and Andy could come over after dinner that night. Sean replied that they'd be there.
Arriving at the Dickson home, Peggy showed them in. "Well look who we have here for Pete's sake! I'll getcha some beers. I know George is waitin' for ya now! And we gotta have everyone over to dinner soon. I'll call Timmy and Brett and it'll be just like old times! Anyways, you kow where George's office is!"
"Thanks, mom," Sean said giving Peggy a hug which was repeated by Andy.
They made their way down the hall and knocked on George's office door.
"Have a seat, guys," George said. "I see Peg gotcha a coupla beers there."
"What'd ya find out?" Andy asked.
"Should I just bottom line it for you first?" George asked.
"That's fine," Sean said. "If we need filler we'll ask..."
"Alright, well here it is. They're a legit outfit. Seems young Mr. Radke was fascinated with the history between dealings here in town and out in their neck of the woods. From what their attorney says he's the kind of guy who looks for stuff to do. In case you were wondering, the other guy who came, Chris is his partner. That's the word the Attorney used.
"Anyway, what they're looking to do is to expand the domestic base of their company and somehow, or other they identified Janesville as not only a good geographic location in terms of being centrally located in the Midwest, but also that there was a possibility of buying the Fitzpatricks out. I think you guys are aware of that. And somehow it seems that one of the big wheels at Saeth is acquainted with Bill Kennedy's brother and knows that he doessn't really want to own that company. So, their idea was to see if they couldn't combine both companies into one that has a larger presence and can do more."
"Why their interest in us?" Andy asked.
"It's not you guys in particular, but it's in the companies. It seems to me that they view it as a business opportunity."
"So, how'd you leave it with them?" Sean asked.
"I asked their Attorney to prepare and send over a business proposal. I asked him to keep it simple. That should be enough to go on for now. At the same time, you are going to buy out Kennedy. And at the end of the day if all this looks like something you might want to do then what I would suggest is that you get yourselves invited to Portland to discuss matters further."
"Go to Portland?" Andy asked.
"Yes. You will want to see for yourselves what they're all about. Have your meetings at their corporate HQ. See with your own eyes. I believe your dad calls it 'management by walking around.'"
"Yup," Sean said. "You can observe a lot just by watching."
"I see..." George said, chuckling and fondling his wattles. "Very well, so, again, what I will tell them is to send over a simple proposal. Once I get it we'll all have a meeting. You guys, Tim, Brett, John, Ginny and me. I think that's the best way to proceed."
"I agree," Sean said.
"Me, too," Andy agreed.
"Fine then, I'll be in contact with them tomorrow. And just so you know from now on all communication will be done in writing. Period. Via secure PDF."
"Sounds good," Sean said. "I had a good vibe, so I guess we see where it goes. And?"
"I think so, too."
Alright, we'll be seeing' ya then, George. I guess just let us know when they think we should take a trip out there..."
"Will, do, boys. Say hello to your dad for me, will ya?"
Sean and Andy nodded, shook George's hand and left.
Sean and Andy had reservations that evening for a date night dinner at the Country Club.
Once seated and having ordered, Andy looked at Sean. "Can you believe everywhere we've been the last two years and where we are now?
Sean paused for thought.
END CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO