Beyond the Mirror
Copyright© 2012/2014
Chapter 13
By six o’clock the next morning, Ron and Travis were rousting Tom out of bed, insisting that they were ready to head to the hangar to work on the copter. Tom wasn’t feeling quite as enthusiastic, but he did roll out of bed and agreed to meet them in the restaurant. So, by seven o’clock, the crew had all eaten a quick breakfast and had headed over to the airport.
Russ and Liz were already parked near the hangar when the White Out crew arrived, and the SUV had hardly come to a stop before the two of them came over to greet them. Needless to say, Tom, Jim, and Ron were all impressed. Even if Liz and Russ weren’t mechanics, their enthusiasm and willingness to work were certainly demonstrated by their actions. Not only were they both there and ready to work, but Russ had enlisted the help of a friend with connections to a local tool distributor. His friend was willing to lend his tools to ‘Tom’s crew,’ provided he could help with the repair. Of course, the tools he had were meant for automotive repair, not aircraft maintenance, but they would certainly be a major help in the initial tear-down of the copters. At that point, Tom felt that the only possible problem that might throw a monkey wrench into the works would be a major problem with the engines of his dad’s wreck. He decided that he wasn’t about to let anything less than the loss of both of those engines disrupt the deal in any way.
So while Jim, Ron, and Travis did a second survey of the two helicopters, with the help of Liz, Russ, and their buddy, Tom and Jack headed off to find scaffolding, man-lifts, and hoists. They rented some scaffolding from a local rental shop and borrowed a man-lift and a hoist from the airport, but Jack managed to annoy the airport mechanic while they were there. Actually, the silly twit tried to have the airport bar them from working on the site. Naturally, Jack threw his weight around, even mentioning the words ‘Dunn-Redding,’ so the airport manager told the mechanic to shut his loud mouth. Tom just shook his head at the whole episode, since it was so needless, but it was the sort of thing he can come to expect of his father. Of course, Tom’s opinion of the mechanic wasn’t all that high either - the jerk had tried to imply that the White Out crew didn’t know what they were doing and insisted that both helicopters were unsalvageable.
When both Jack and the mechanic had left the room, Tom asked the manager quietly, “I take it the mechanic has connections to whoever does your airport salvage, doesn’t he?”
“Umm, he might have, I did hear a rumour that his brother-in-law works at a salvage firm, but I doubt if that means anything,” the manager frowned.
“I see! I find that rather suspicious myself,” Tom snorted, then started to walk away, but paused. “I’d recommend that you run a check on that mechanic’s local connections because my crew say they’ll have one of those birds flying inside of a week. And, just so you know, I’ll be sending my salvage crew up here for whatever is left of the other machine too. I refuse to allow that mechanic to make one extra penny off of me, and I might as well mention that I’m considering the idea of further actions concerning this whole setup. Something about this operation just doesn’t smell right to me.”
“Is that right? Well, who the hell do you think you are, throwing accusations of that sort around?” the manager snapped.
“I haven’t made any accusations, just suppositions and suspicions, but for your information, I’m the majority shareholder in White Out Wilderness Services. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, try calling the RCMP detachment in Bear Creek and ask the officers there what Tom Dunn does to crooks who cross me,” Tom said, still speaking quietly. “Unlike my father, I don’t take offence at being doubted, but I do take offence to being ripped off or having my friends taken advantage of by a swindler or a crook.”
“Oh shit!” the manager muttered quietly as Tom walked away.
Out at the SUV, Tom grinned at his dad, who was checking the hitch on the trailer that was used to move the man-lift.
“Okay, what’s making you so damn happy?” Jack asked.
“Oh, nothing much, but I expect when we come back for their hoist, we’ll be treated better.”
“What the hell did you do, bribe that bastard?”
“Nope, I just suggested that the airport manager should check the mechanic’s local contacts. I figure he’s crooked and working with whoever owns the local scrap yard, so he gets a kickback on any salvage he steers their way.”
“Shit, that’s not good news. This mechanic is related to the guy in Calgary who does the work on my plane, and he might be just as bad.”
“Like I said before, if you don’t trust your mechanic, that’s not good. Do you want to have Travis or Ron give your plane a quick going-over to see if there are any problems?”
“No, I’ve only put about forty hours on the KingAir since it had a full inspection by the factory reps in Calgary, and they gave it a full thumbs up. What I’m worried about is that old Beaver that JJ is flying, because he uses the same mechanic as I do.”
“If you have a reason to be suspicious of the guy, you should give JJ a heads up,” Tom snapped. “Just pass on what I found out and mention your worries. Maybe the guy’s brother is honest, though, so all you can do is tell JJ what we suspect and let him handle it.”
Jack didn’t say anything, just nodded, but Tom could see from the set of his jaw that he didn’t really like that idea. Still, it was his dad’s choice what he did or what he said to JJ, only Tom decided he’d call his brother later.
By coffee time that morning, the crew had called back to Angela, having her arrange which toolboxes should be sent and what tools should be in them. After some discussion, they decided Jack and Liz were the best choice of pilots to fly down to White Out’s base to bring back the tools and other essentials. Then too, Jim had been worried about leaving White Out’s office and airfield so badly understaffed, so he decided to fly back with them. Jack and Liz easily made the flight down and back that day, not only bringing back everything Travis and Ron had asked for, but Donna came along as well. By ten o’clock on Tuesday night, the crew was well on the way toward removing both engines from the second wreck as well as having the mangled and damaged parts stripped off Russ and Liz’s Chinook.
Since they had worked so late, it was almost eleven before Tom was able to call JJ. Tom wanted his brother to know what he had seen and what he thought about the situation concerning the mechanic in Fort St. John, so he thought it was important enough to take the chance that he might wake JJ.
“Guess what?” JJ laughed. “Dad called me about that earlier, so I had one of my friends out at the airport do some checking. It turns out the guy we’ve been using for a mechanic here has a contact in the salvage business as well, so I talked to him this afternoon. He didn’t like having me check him out and quit, but within an hour, I had another mechanic start going over my Beaver. The new guy hasn’t completed his inspection, but so far, he hasn’t found any problems. Personally, I think the two brothers are like vultures; if there is an accident of some sort, they do their best to swoop in and scoop up the salvage.”
“Actually, that makes sense,” Tom commented. “That’s about what my impression of the guy here was. What did bother me was that he was trying to take advantage of people who wouldn’t have known any better, and I even put Dad in that category this time.”
“Really, how do you figure that?”
“Well, from what the two mechanics who came with us explained it to me, the mechanic couldn’t move the drive shafts easily, so he told everyone the engines were both seized solid. Whoever Dad had check the machine out must have taken his word for it and didn’t check things themselves. Only there’s a clutch between the engine and the drive, so today when the mechanics released that clutch, the engines turned freely, and on top of that, they seem to be in balance. That means the scrap value of the wreck is about double what it would have been otherwise,” Tom snorted. “Not only that, but the mechanic had the owners of a similar chopper convinced that their bird was hardly worth salvaging. However, it looks like my guys will be able to use bits and pieces from Dad’s wreck to completely repair the other machine and still have lots of fully usable spare parts left over.”
“Wow, what does Dad think of that? Is he pissed off at you for buying the wreck for less money than it was worth?”
“No, which surprises me, but then I think he’s still a little off balance from finding that I’m the principal owner of White Out,” Tom chuckled. “Besides that, I think Liz has him wrapped around her little finger. She’s one of the couple that owned the other chopper, and they were going broke until White Out came along and bought them out.”
“Well, I told you I’d talked to Dad earlier, and while I agree that he may be a little off balance, as you put it, I don’t think it’s over White Out. Instead, I think it has more to do with the fact that you have the ability to look at other people’s problems and turn them around, but at the same time, as helping others, you make a profit. Not only that, but you make friends out of the people that you helped out.”
“I don’t think Sheridan Lister would agree,” Tom snorted.
“Oh, but he didn’t have a problem; he was a problem,” JJ laughed.
Tom had to agree with that description, but it reminded him that he had to call Sandy so his talk to JJ didn’t last much longer. As soon as he got through to Sandy, though, she gave him a bit of surprising news.
“Sheridan’s lawyer and his real estate agent have really been putting pressure on Adam and Charlie about the final payment and signing for that building you bought. Heck, I even had a couple of calls about it today. Do you think you could be back here tomorrow afternoon to pay them off and accept the keys to the building? I think Sheridan must be having major problems in order to be pushing for such a rush deal, but once the deal is signed and the bill paid, you can put a stop to all the BS.”
“Actually, I think I can do that because we have the worst of this job under wraps. It won’t be until the afternoon, though.”
“That would be great, but I hope you’re in better shape when you get here than Ann was when she got here last night. She was totally wasted,” Sandy sighed slightly. “She looked like she’d driven through hell when she staggered into the house.”
“Ann? Do you mean my sister, Ann?”
“Yes, your sister, Ann. She woke up at six yesterday morning, packed up some clothes, and left Calgary at about eight. She drove straight through, only stopping for coffee and bathroom breaks, then arrived here just as I was talking to you last night. She was so tired that we said ‘Hi,’ fed her a bowl of soup, and tucked her into bed,” Sandy chuckled. “I like her already, and if she’s even half as good in the office as Kelly is, I’m going to want her to be involved in the business. Your mom is an absolute crackerjack at the tax business because she doesn’t sit there and mull things over or waste any time. If she understands what needs to be done, she just buckles down and tackles the job head-on, but if she doesn’t know for sure what to do, she asks intelligent questions. Best of all, she remembers what she’s told.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Mom,” Tom grinned.
Then he went on to tell Sandy some of his fond memories of life at home, mostly from the period before he and his dad had started arguing over everything. Eventually, both of them realized it was late and that they could talk to each other in person the next day, so they said goodbye and both headed for bed.
On Wednesday morning, Tom wasn’t awakened quite as early, but the crew was still on the job by eight. Almost as soon as they got there, Tom took Russ with him and went to pick up the engine hoist from the airport shops. The mechanic wasn’t around the shop, and Russ made sure to point out that the mechanic’s tool bench had been completely cleared of all his tools, but Tom didn’t say a word. He was fairly certain the man had been let go, but he wasn’t about to rub anyone’s nose in the fact. Instead, he just rolled his eyes at Russ and went on with the job of loading the hoist on the trailer, then arranged to have a rigger come down to the hangar. He wouldn’t even have asked for that much help, but they’d need a rigger to help get the hoist into position on the overhead ‘I’ beams that stretched across the hangar just under the roof trusses.
As it happened, the rigger that they ended up having come to help them didn’t seem to have cared much for the mechanic. As soon as he walked in the door, he walked over to Russ and held out his hand. “Glad to see someone caught on to what that crook was doing. Way to go, Russ.”
“It wasn’t me, it was these guys from White Out, but do you really think he was crooked?”
“Hell, yeah, he dropped and bent that grill off the engine on your whirlybird when he last did some service for you, then didn’t straighten it and put it back in place. I guess he was hoping it would cause a problem, and it did. Now if I’d have seen him do it, I’d have done something about it, but I didn’t hear about it until right after your engine blew up. I told the manager, but he said what I told him was just hearsay evidence, not proof. Only I think he took it seriously, because he did call in the gas monkey I’d heard about it from, and I know he was keeping an eye on the mechanic.”
Both Tom and Ron were standing nearby and heard what was said, and Tom noticed the scowl cross Ron’s face. As a result, when Ron excused himself as soon as the hoist was rigged, then headed toward the airport manager’s office, Tom joined him.
“You talk, I’m just here as backup,” Tom said quietly.
Ron just nodded and gave Tom a thumbs up, but once he was in the manager’s office, he never even glanced at Tom; instead, he glared at the man sitting behind the desk.
“I’m the assistant manager of White Out Wilderness Services, and occasionally we’ve flown out of this airport, so I know many of your regular customers. Now I just heard confirmation that one of the helicopters we are working on was sabotaged by an uncertified mechanic that you had doing aircraft maintenance here. I was also told that you had several complaints about the man’s ability and attitude and were aware that he was relatively unskilled. So, I expect to hear that you are contacting each and every flight service that uses this facility to warn them of what I heard. Then they can have an independent check done on every machine that man serviced. I imagine that, like me, they will each send you a bill for that work, so I would recommend that you hire a fully certified mechanic and offer to have him do those checks free of charge. Of course, if one of those aircraft happens to have an accident in the meantime, you may well be held culpable.
“Right at this moment, I have several people working on one of the repairs, which we can trace directly to the actions of that uncertified individual. Half of those people are fully qualified in aircraft maintenance, and the others are quite familiar with such work but are only working as assistants. I will start my billing to this facility with a charge for one half of the wages paid to those people for the work we are presently doing. I expect we will be paid promptly. Is that clear?”
“You can’t do that!” the manager protested.
“I can and I will, but if you prefer, we can proceed through court action. If that’s the route you wish to take, you will be contacted by our solicitors, Preston and Jamison of Bear Creek,” Ron snarled. “Of course, you realize the implications that will arise from any such court action, because all of the failings of this facility will be aired in public and before a representative of the Air Traffic Safety Board.”
Then Ron spun on his heel and gestured for Tom to precede him out of the office.
“That was short and sweet,” Tom commented when they were walking back to the hangar.
“No sense in drawing out something like that,” Ron shrugged. “That guy hired an unqualified man to do a job that requires years of training, so he’s responsible for any screw-ups that twit caused. Not only that, but he hired a crook and didn’t keep an eye on him, so I plan to see that things are straightened out.”
“Well, if you do end up sending the airport a bill, don’t charge anything for Dad or for me. I’m not even happy about having them pay anything to the rest of you. That should be my cost, because what you’re doing will be to my benefit.”
“Screw that boss, I even want to charge for Jack’s flight time and fuel costs.”
“Nope, you can’t do that. The way I’ve arranged things with Dad, that’s already paid for in the benefits I’ll receive from Dunn-Redding. I refuse to double-dip,” Tom said sharply, then grinned. “You wouldn’t want to annoy your new landlord, would you?”
“Only if I thought he was being an asshole,” Ron grinned back. “I don’t want to argue about this right now though, because we’ve got a job to do.”
Once the hoist was in position, they could lift the first engine out of Jack’s wreck and use it to replace the wrecked engine in Russ and Liz’s chopper. Or rather, that’s what they would do if the engines in Jack’s wreck were usable. By ten in the morning, they had removed the engine from Jack’s chopper and had found that it was turning freely and seemed balanced. Knowing that, they were able to assume that both engines could be salvaged and used, which was the whole point of the exercise. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the local inspector declared that engine usable.
Tom would have liked to stay and help, but knew he had an appointment that afternoon, so after coffee, Tom and Jack hopped in the plane to fly back to Bear Creek. Laura was there to meet them when they landed and took them directly to her office so Tom could sign the papers, make the final payment, and take possession of his new office building and warehouse.
“Hi Tom,” Charlie greeted him with a handshake. “Sorry about the rush, but I didn’t realize you were out of town until after I’d agreed to have this sale completed today.”
“The only question I have about that is why is Lister in such a rush all of a sudden, since his trial date isn’t for months, but I don’t suppose you would know that, would you?”
“Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the property, at least not as far as we can discover, and I’ve had the realtor double-check the title for any liens or encumbrances. As far as we can discover, the title is completely clear, so that mortgage Sandy heard about was nonexistent. If Lister owed anyone anything, it had to have been a personal loan,” Charlie paused and smiled slightly. “Now Lister’s house was a different matter, since it was mortgaged to the hilt, but as you well know, there were drugs found there. As a result, the house was confiscated, but I doubt if the people holding that mortgage would view that as a reason for Lister defaulting on his debt to them.”
“I see. Is that a hint that Lister wasn’t dealing with a regular mortgage company?”
“Well, the money trail is rather convoluted, and normally I wouldn’t say anything about it, but considering the situation, I think you should be aware of some of the facts we’ve discovered. The building you purchased was originally mortgaged quite heavily to a legal mortgage company. However, just prior to Lister purchasing the home he was living in at the time of his arrest, he completely cleared the mortgage on the office block, leaving it free and clear of any debt. Then he purchased his house, but at about the same time, we believe he fell into debt to a rather shady group of individuals. Details of that debt are rather sparse for reasons that we’ve been unable to discover, but legal authorities are digging for facts,” Charlie paused and frowned slightly then. “Dad called me this morning, and part of what he told me has to do with you and your purchase today. According to what he has already discovered, Lister received a large sum of money from those people you mentioned to him, and it appeared in his accounts just prior to his payout of the mortgage on the office building. Then another large sum appeared in a second of Lister’s accounts just prior to his buying the house. Unfortunately, Dad’s people have been unable to trace that second source of funds, other than that it was from an offshore account.”
“Couldn’t that money have come from BP in some way?”
“That would be rather doubtful, since it came from an Oriental source. Off the record, I think he had committed himself to some action which he wasn’t able to fulfill, but it really doesn’t have a lot to do with your actions in any manner. It most assuredly doesn’t have anything to do with your purchase of his building,” Charlie smiled slightly. “All those facts really do is give us a plausible explanation for Lister’s prior actions and a relatively clear-cut excuse for his present actions. What I’m saying is that knowing those facts, we can say without doubt that no one has any legal reason to place a claim against the title of the office and warehouse building.”
“In other words, you’re saying that I shouldn’t hesitate to pay for the building?”
“That’s correct. All I need to know is which company is going to hold title to the building, since there was some question about that earlier and I have yet to fill in the final ownership on these papers,” Charlie smiled. “I will also need a certified cheque for the agreed amount, but since the sum is rather large, it would be faster to do a direct transfer through the bank.”
“Okay, Charlie, I understand. Originally, I mentioned the White Out name when I put the down payment on the building, but that would complicate matters because of the number of shareholders involved. I’ve decided I don’t want that building to be under either the White Out or Sunrise Minerals banner, but instead, I want it completely separate. I think I’d like to have it under a limited company using my initials and make it a property management company. Can I do that?”
“You most assuredly can, but why not use the name you’ve used for your stock investments? Then we could add the term “Property Division” if you’d like? You won’t even need to have a different bank account since it will just be an internal division within your company.”
“Hmm, ‘TF Dunn Investments Ltd, Property Division.’ You know, I think that’s fine just like that - yeah, that’ll do perfectly,” Tom sighed and nodded his head. “I just want it separate from any partners or shareholders for now, that way I don’t need to consult anyone about any actions I take concerning at least one local business.”
“We can do that,” Charlie smiled. “TF Dunn Investments is already a limited company, so creating a property division under that banner is easy enough. I’ll need to modify these papers before having them registered, but there isn’t any problem there either. TFDI is where the funds will actually come from anyway. It will only take a few minutes, and you can wait here if you like?”
“Go for it. I’ll wait, since I could use a short break,” Tom smiled and leaned back with a sigh.
Within ten minutes, Charlie was back, and they filled out everything but the necessary signatures, then went down the street to meet with Adam Horowitz, the real estate agent. More details were added to the paperwork, then all it would take would be a trip to the bank to arrange the payment, followed by a stamp from a notary and registering the change of ownership at the land registry office. Then Tom would receive the keys to his new building.
“Tom, before we go much further, I have a question for you,” Adam said quickly. “Do you suppose that Bear Creek Realty could become one of the tenants in your building?”
“You want to move into the building? Whatever for? It seems to me this office is in a prime location?” Tom looked at him with a puzzled frown.
“Oh, it is in a prime location, so I’m paying a prime price to lease it, but we’re a little short of space since I’ve recently added two more agents to my staff. Not only that, but my lease will expire in only three months, and I’ve just been warned by the insurance agency next door that our lease will cost much more in the future, almost twice as much.”
“So the insurance company is forcing you out?”
“No, both of us are being forced out by Calvin Somerset, the owner of Cariboo Prime Realty. He’s managed to secure an intent to purchase on the property before we even heard the building was for sale, so we’re being forced to either pay an exorbitant rent or be put out on the street, more or less.”
“That’s kind of a shyster move by this Somerset guy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it was legal, just barely. I already talked to the local registrar of land titles about it, and he checked into the sale for me. Somerset swooped in the day after the old man who owned the place had a heart attack and made an offer to the old man’s widow. Now the paperwork and sale aren’t complete, but Somerset has arranged an intent to purchase with completion set to happen long before my lease will be renewed. I’ve met Mrs. Morgenstern previously and thought she was a very nice lady, but rumour has it that the greedy witch plans to grab the money from the sale and run. I’ve heard that she is moving to Arizona as soon as she has full payment for this property and her house.”
“I heard some of what you said, but I think we’re going to pretend we heard the words, ‘grieving widow,’ aren’t we, Charles?” Tom winked at Charlie.
“Oh, yes! I’m sure that’s what we heard, especially since I can claim you both as clients,” Charlie grinned and winked back. “Now I don’t know about Laura, but it seems to me that a lawyer’s office should be on the top floor of a building, just to have a bit more prestige. If we were to do that, there would be space available on the ground floor.”
“Well, don’t forget John West either, since he’s my insurance agent,” Tom said quickly. “If his lease costs are doubling, I’m sure he’d like to move out of this building as well. I think we all need to talk to Laura and Sandy before we say much more, though.”
“So you aren’t saying no, but you want to talk to your other prospective tenants before committing yourself in one way or the other?” Adam asked.
“You’ve got it,” Tom nodded. “You see, I’m not extremely pleased by people who pull shady deals and shyster moves. Come to think of it, I’ve never heard of this Somerset guy, so where is he from?”
“He had an office in Quesnel,” Adam smiled slightly. “It was only a small office, though, so the idea of him expanding into this area is rather surprising. In fact, the idea that he could expand anywhere is literally astonishing, since I’ve always thought he was running a shoestring operation at best. Actually, he was the guy who arranged the lease for Lister when he first came to town.”
“Hold on now! Suddenly, I’m getting suspicious that there’s a skunk in the woodpile,” Tom frowned. “In fact, I’m very suspicious of several things, especially this purchase that I’m making from Lister. Do you suppose that there is any way that he could be using the funds I’m paying him to reestablish his former influence in this town? When did you find out about Somerset purchasing this building, Adam?”
“Just this morning, but the old man died last Tuesday, that’s almost a week before you agreed to purchase the Lister building, so...”
“Wait, let’s not jump ahead. Now you said Somerset arranged for Lister’s lease here when the crook first came to town, but this time Somerset asked you to sell Lister’s building, didn’t he?”
“Well, yes, you’re right, he did, but he did that weeks ago, right after the police said that it was cleared of suspicion for drug-related activities. Of course, you know that selling that building became quite a problem, because no one wanted to bail out Lister. It’s no surprise that someone like Somerset is handling the sale, and since he has no local office, I thought it was reasonable for him to ask me to be the local agent.”
“Still, you approached Sandy about it, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but by then I knew her business was growing, and I anticipated that Laura and Charlie would soon be in need of more staff, so I thought both businesses would need more space. As well as that, I’d heard rumours about you being Serge Potemchin’s principal heir and that you were going to be involved with White Out Wilderness Services. I’d heard they were having problems with their lease, but I knew you were friends with Harry Guildford, and I knew that Dave Farmington and his wife wanted to sell out. I just added everything up and decided that you and Sandy would be prime candidates to purchase the Lister building.”