Beyond the Mirror
Copyright© 2012/2014
Chapter 14
As Tom walked into the door of the offices of Preston and Jamison, he was met by a smile from Laura Preston and a gesture toward the hallway.
“Everyone is waiting for you in our conference room, such as it is,” she said cheerfully and winked at his serious expression. “There’s a minor complication, but it won’t affect you to any great extent. In other words, they still haven’t caught you at anything illegal, so I won’t need to represent you in court.”
“I sure hope not, since I have a couple of lawyers who are supposed to be keeping me out of trouble,” he managed a small smile, but felt a wave of relief for the fact that his feeling of foreboding was wrong.
“Well, whatever you’re doing, go get it done so I can get some peace and quiet. Your father has been calling me every ten minutes, trying to find out what’s going on, and he doesn’t like the idea that I can’t tell him anything.”
“Make him happy and tell him that what we’re doing won’t affect Dunn-Redding in any way, but stonewall him on anything else,” Tom grinned at her. “Hopefully, everything should be cleared up in an hour or two, then we can satisfy some of his curiosity.”
“Is he always like this?” she asked as he turned away toward the back room.
“Nope, usually he’s worse!” he said over his shoulder, but he still heard Laura chuckle as he walked away.
He was met by three frowning faces, though, so he asked, “What’s wrong now?”
“Oh, we don’t have a problem,” Adam hurriedly reassured him, “at least not if you’ve got a certified cheque?”
“Yeah, I got it, but why all the sober faces?”
“Well, Mrs. Morgenstern asked me why you were so worried about Somerset, so I told her that he had filed some sort of agreement at the land registry office that he was buying her property. Only she said she hadn’t signed any such agreement, which leaves us with a situation that could be a bit touchy,” Sergeant MacDonald explained. “My guess is that there might be a case of forgery involved, but I think that would require collusion with one of the clerks at the land registry office. I was just checking with these gentlemen to see if they’d heard any hint of that possibility, and we were discussing the situation when you came in.”
“Well, is all our paperwork okay?” Tom asked Charlie and got a quick nod. “Then, I’d say we have no problem, but Somerset might have one. You see if we handle the purchase of the Lister property first, then register my guarantee of sale for the Morgenstern property. Anything Somerset has registered will show up on their records. Since Mr. ‘Officer of the Law’ here signed our form as a witness, he has a right to be there, but as an RCMP officer, he can also check Somerset’s form for any discrepancies, such as forged signatures. At the same time, he can check to see which clerk signed off on Somerset’s form, and if he thinks there is a forgery, he can request that Mrs. Morgenstern be consulted,” Tom paused and frowned, then smiled. “Adam, have you called Somerset?”
“Nope, I was waiting to be certain of the financing, but since you have a certified cheque, I’ll call him right now,” Adam smiled and started to dial the phone.
Somerset was almost ecstatic to be called, even though it was late in the day, and he readily agreed to meet Tom and his representatives at the land registry office. His face took on a concerned expression when he saw Sergeant MacDonald in the group, but he didn’t cause any fuss during the transfer of title for the Lister Block. However, once Charlie brought out the guarantee of sale for the Morgenstern properties, Somerset tried to slip away. Unfortunately for him, he tripped over one of Tom’s big feet and fell to the floor right in front of Sergeant MacDonald, who graciously helped Somerset to his feet. Of course, by that time, the clerk had discovered the record of Somerset’s prior claim and was already pulling the file.
A cursory examination and a quick comparison to Mrs. Morgenstern’s real signature were all that was required for Sergeant MacDonald to make a snap decision. Moments later, Calvin Somerset and a clerk named Willard Franklin had been charged with forgery, attempted grand theft (real estate), and collusion to defraud. As well as that, Willard Franklin had been charged with malfeasance of office, which automatically cost him his job. Calvin Somerset, the owner of Cariboo Prime Realty, was in even worse trouble. He had set up the quick sale and the plan to purchase the Morgenstern property without Lister’s full knowledge. Tom suspected that Somerset wasn’t only in trouble with the law but might also have problems with Lister, a man who skirted the fringes of the law.
It took over an hour before Tom was free to leave and go home. However, by that time he was in possession of the keys and the title to the Lister Block and was also registered as the guarantor on the sale of the two Morgenstern Properties. He’d had a long day and was very tired, so he wasn’t looking forward to telling the whole story to his family. As a result, when Charlie mentioned that his wife and kids were visiting her parents, Tom invited him over for supper. Then he called Sandy and suggested that he could pick up some pizza, some pasta, and some wine for their evening meal.
“Oh man, you’re reading my mind,” she raved. “Thank you! None of us were looking forward to making a meal tonight, since the office has been swamped ever since you left. On top of everything else, your dad has been driving us crazy, and he’s been badgering Laura, who ordered him out of her office a few minutes ago. Did you get everything straightened out?”
“Yeah, things went even better than we had hoped, but I’m not going to explain over the phone. I’ll talk to everyone about it at home. Oh, and I’m bringing Charlie along because his wife is out of town. Besides, he can help explain all the legal rigamarole that we went through.”
“So, do you have legal possession of Sheridan’s old building?”
“Yes, dear, and a lot more, but I already told you that I’m not explaining anything right now,” Tom sighed. “Just have patience, please? Charlie and I will explain everything to you when we get home, but right now I’m wasted, as well as starving.”
“Okay, Tom. I’ll see you at home,” Sandy laughed as she hung up the phone.
Charlie and Tom slipped out of the fray at the land registry office, then, with Charlie off to the beer and wine store and Tom headed off to a local pizzeria, both of them met at Sandy’s house. By the time they got there, Sandy, Laura, Ann, and Tom’s parents were waiting for them. Then, as all seven of them sat around Sandy’s kitchen table, Tom and Charlie briefly explained what had happened during their hectic afternoon. However, Charlie hadn’t been there all that long before he got a call on his cellphone from another customer and had to rush off, far too soon to satisfy the curiosity of those who hadn’t been involved.
“So you’re saying that this guy Somerset was ripping off the lawyer who used to be married to Sandy and possibly this woman, what was her name, Mrs. Morgenstern?” Tom’s dad asked in astonishment.
“I don’t know that for sure, Dad,” Tom laughed softly. “It does look like it, but it could be that he was just following orders and royally screwed things up. All I know for sure is that Charlie has his hands full with even more legal crap, and I’m trying to keep as far out of it as possible.”
“How can you say that when you’ve acted as a guarantor for the sale of Mrs. Morgenstern’s property?” Ann demanded.
“Well, Mrs. Morgenstern has a guaranteed sale for the commercial building already, because I’m sure either Adam Horowitz or John West will grab it,” Tom grinned. “Then all I’ll have to do is drop a bug in Adam’s bonnet that you and Laura are each looking for a house in Bear Creek and...”
“Oh no, you don’t!” Sandy snapped instantly, interrupting Tom. “I know that house, and I like it more than this one, so since you’re already involved, I’ve decided that I’m selling this place, and we’re moving in there.”
“What!” Tom spun his head to stare at her in astonishment.
“You heard me! I never did like this house, but when I divorced Sheridan, I took it over just to spite the bastard. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it was Sheridan’s house and his choice of a place to live, not mine. It’s too damn fancy for you and me; besides, we aren’t the sort of people who suit this neighbourhood. The Morgenstern property suits our needs much better, so since you’ve already agreed to buy Mrs. Morgenstern’s acreage, this one is going to go up for sale.”
“But...”
“Tom, in the present market, this house is worth more than that place, so we can even turn a profit, and we’ll be living closer to the airfield you’re buying tomorrow. The Morgenstern house is on an acreage just beyond the town limits, so you’ll be living halfway between your two commercial properties,” Sandy almost pled with him. “I don’t care if you buy it, I buy it, or we split the costs, but I want to live in that house, not this one.”
“Tom, I’ll gladly buy this house from Sandy,” Ann winked. “I’m sure Dad will help me arrange financing, won’t you, Dad?”
“If he won’t, I will,” Tom’s mom said instantly with a big grin.
“Face it, Tom, we just got bulldozed by the women in our lives,” Jack chuckled.
“Okay! Okay! I’m not arguing,” Tom broke into a laugh. “I really don’t mind one way or the other, because I plan to spend more time out on my lease than I will here in town. The only negative I can see about the whole thing is that we’ll have to move all our belongings.”
“Umm, will I still have a place to live, or do I need to find a house or an apartment for myself inside of the next month?” Laura asked quietly.
“Laura, I’ll honour whatever agreement you had with Sandy,” Ann grinned and winked at her. “Of course, you might have to put up with my crazy relatives visiting us, but then you know what to expect from most of us already.”
“That wouldn’t be fair, since you’ll have a mortgage and Sandy didn’t, so she was giving me a real break on rent,” Laura shrugged. “I guess we can work that out though.”
“Well, Laura, if you still want to live with us, you’ll certainly be welcome,” Sandy offered. “The Morgenstern’s main house has four bedrooms, so we’ll certainly have room for you. However, there is a second option because the property is actually an acreage up on Bear Paw Road, and there’s a two-bedroom cottage separate from the main house. You could move into that, which would mean you would have a house all to yourself. One way or the other, I want someone living on the property while I’m up on the lease with Tom, and if that’s you, I think you should have free rent to compensate for the responsibility.”
“I don’t think I can turn down that offer,” Laura smiled at her. “I mean, free rent in a separate house, just to keep an eye on the place? That sounds almost too good to be true.”
“Well, you will have to pay your own utilities,” Sandy grinned.
“Oh, whoopee, ding, ding,” Laura grinned back. “I’m fairly certain that I’ll be able to afford those.”
“So you’ve seen the Morgenstern place then, Sandy?” Tom asked.
“Oh yeah. I’d met Rachel, the Morgenstern’s only daughter, while we were both attending university, which was even before Sheridan and I first came to town. She was taking accounting too, but she was two years ahead of me, so we didn’t share classes or anything. We became quite good friends, though, close enough that I was invited to be part of Rachel’s wedding party when she remarried,” Sandy chuckled. “It was rather strange in a way because they wanted me to be involved, but I’m not Jewish, and on top of that, she was marrying for the second time. I felt uncomfortable with that and explained how I felt, so although we were invited to the wedding, I wasn’t in the wedding party.”
“Come to think of it though, my knowing Rachel and the Morgensterns might be the reason Sheridan decided he wanted to hang out his shingle in Bear Creek. I’m sure Sheridan thought he’d get a lot of work from Abe Morgenstern, because he really pushed me to be involved in the wedding, but I begged off and Rachel didn’t press me about it. In the long run, Sheridan’s ambitions came to nothing anyway because Old Abe already had a lawyer and he really didn’t like Sheridan. I doubt if Sheridan made a dollar off of him.
“Whatever the case, I was out at the Morgensterns quite often, just visiting Rachel and she showed me the whole property from one end to the other. The acreage was originally part of a farm and has a two-story house that was built in the early 1900s, but when Abe and Anna bought the place ten years ago, they had the interior gutted and redone. It had no insulation, the wiring was all bad, so was the plumbing, and the plaster was all cracking. So, the house was completely stripped and totally redone; insulation, drywall, heating, plumbing, and wiring, but they salvaged all the original woodwork and had most of it reinstalled. As a result, although the place looks old and lived in, everything important is almost new. The kitchen and the four bathrooms were the only rooms that were completely redone to look modern and were fitted with all new fixtures and appliances. I loved the house from the moment I saw it, both inside and out, so living there will be wonderful, even if it is five miles outside of town.”
“Well, what is the cottage you’ve offered to me like?” Laura asked.
“Oh, that was built when Rachel bought her first pair of racehorses. She hired a groom or a wrangler, or whatever you call the guy who cares for horses, but he needed a place to live, so Abe had the cottage built for the guy and his family. It isn’t fancy or anything, just a small two-bedroom place that was built well, but not dressed up in any way. It looks like a little starter house that you’d find in almost any new development.”
“Was there a barn for those horses?” Ann asked then.
“Yes, a fairly big one, but it was built about the same time as the main house, so other than paint, the exterior looks quite old-fashioned. Abe had the barn wired for lights and plumbed for water for the horses, but didn’t do much else to it. Besides the barn, there’s a workshop and a pump house for a well. Then there’s a corral for the horses, along with a fenced pasture for them. There are a couple of other small buildings there too. I know one building was rigged up for the guy to shoe the horses, but I think it had only three walls and an open front. I remember watching him using a forge to heat the horseshoes and bending them to fit, then nailing them onto the horses’ hooves.”
“Considering all that, are you sure this house is worth more than that place?” Tom asked.
“Oh, heck yes. The Morgenstern place is classed as a mini-farm and even with all the work that was done to the interior, the house and most of the buildings are old. Besides, it’s outside of town limits and only has service for electricity and telephone, while this house is right in the middle of the most expensive part of town, so this place is fully serviced. I recall Rachel telling me they had to drill a new well for drinking water and put in a septic system with a drainage field that runs under the pasture. There isn’t any natural gas service out that far either, so the main house is heated with propane, but I think the cottage is heated by baseboard heaters, so they must be electric.”
“I wonder if the fact that you knew Rachel had anything to do with the reason Mrs. Morgenstern was so cooperative today?” Tom mused.
“That could be one reason, I suppose, but I wouldn’t know,” Sandy shrugged. “I did send Rachel and her mom a condolence card last Tuesday when I heard about Abe’s passing, but I don’t expect any response. I know Jewish people have a period of mourning after a death in the family, and they withdraw from contact with most people, which might be the reason for Mrs. Morgenstern’s time limit on the sale of the place.”
“Sorry to interrupt your train of thought, but now I’m wondering about the cost of this house. Could you give me an idea of what I’ll be paying for this place?” Ann frowned slightly.
“Well, why don’t we use the same formula that Mrs. Morgenstern used, 5% over the most recent tax assessment?” Sandy smiled. “I can guarantee that there will be a greater discrepancy for this house than the 10% Mrs. Morgenstern quoted between real estate value and assessed value, though, so you’ll be getting a bargain.”
“Grab her hand and shake on the deal, Ann. She’s just offered you the best bargain I’ve heard of in years,” Jack broke in.
“Well, I have to treat her right. After all, she wants to be involved in my business,” Sandy winked at him. “And I really want her to do that because I do need another chartered accountant.”
“Umm, I was sort of thinking about that,” Ann frowned. “I’ve agreed to buy into Tom’s airfield, and I want to buy this house. Then, if I buy into your business, I’ll have an awful lot of my capital tied up in one small town, and I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.”
“Well, if you’re worried about income, I have that additional job that I mentioned before,” Tom grinned and winked at Ann. “I’m going to have to hire a manager for the new building and a purchasing agent for the times when I’m out on the lease but need some supplies purchased and shipped out to me. Even with two titles, it won’t be a full-time job, though, so you could probably fit it around Sandy’s job quite easily.”
“Besides, you don’t have to buy into my business if you don’t want to,” Sandy smiled. “To be honest, if you only want to work for me instead of being a minor partner, you could do that. I won’t be offended if you take both Tom’s job and mine, then work part-time at each of them.”
“Oh, that’s another option. Now I’m wondering how I can stretch my time to do both.”
“Easily,” Tom grinned at her. “I’d make you my Chief Purchasing Agent for the Bear Creek office of Sunrise Mineral Exploration and Development as well as Building Manager for my new building. I can give you a few stocks in Sunrise Mineral and signing authority for purchases, then turn you loose and pay you a wage for whatever work you do. There’ll have to be limits on what amounts you can spend without my authority, but that’s a normal precaution with almost any business. Sandy can do what she wants about hiring you for her company, because it’s totally separate from mine. Even the few times you become busy with my company, it won’t take that long to do my jobs. You can even hire a gopher to do what running around needs to be done.”
“What about the airfield?” Ann asked. “How involved will I be with that business?”
“Hardly at all, you and I will each own a quarter section of scrub land, which we’re going to lease to White Out Wilderness Services. I’m buying out Harry Guildford’s share of the property and you’ll be buying out Dave Farmington’s share.”
“So as it stands now, we won’t be involved in day-to-day operations out at the airfield?”
“Nope, that’s White Out’s business. We’ll own the permanent hangars, the main office building, a couple of storage buildings, one plane, the runways, and the surrounding property. White Out will own several temporary buildings as well as all the other aircraft and equipment that they’ll be moving here this spring. There’s one small hangar, an unfinished kit airplane, and a rebuilt helicopter that I’ll own separately, but I’m even leasing the copter to White Out, or I will be leasing it to them when it’s repaired. I’ll be able to use the chopper, but I’ll work my jobs around White Out’s flight schedule, then it can make deliveries to the lease without screwing up their plans and needs.”
“So the building in town is completely separate from the airfield and the flying service?”
“Yep. I bought it using White Out’s name as a cover, but it will actually be owned by T F Dunn Investments Ltd., Property Division, which is a separate section of a completely separate company. I imagine the warehouse will be used as a convenient delivery and drop-off point for shipments being handled by White Out as well as Sunrise Mineral though, so I imagine we’ll have to work out some arrangement for that. I haven’t thought out that part yet, but ... wait a minute! I’ll tell you what, why don’t I hire you to work for TF Dunn Investments instead of Sunrise Minerals. Then, since TF Dunn is the parent company, you’ll be able to handle purchases for any of the other businesses as well.”
“Well now, that’s more like it! If I’m not involved in the day-to-day operations of the airfield, I’ll take your job, but I’m going to want a separate office with my name on the door,” Ann grinned at him. “Sandy, I’ll buy into your company too, but I’m going to have to insist that we have at least two people like Sid working for us. That way we can keep the office open all year long, but each of us will be able to take a break once in a while.”
“Great!” “Wonderful,” Sandy and Tom said, almost at the same instant, then they looked at each other and grinned.
The problem was that Tom’s grin turned into a huge yawn, and he shook his head.
“Darn, I think I’m getting too tired to think straight,” he said quietly, then yawned again.
“Well, I don’t doubt that a bit,” Jack snorted. “You’ve been going steady since about six this morning, which was fourteen hours ago. In that time, you’ve worked for several hours, flown a plane about six hundred miles, including taking off and landing twice, then negotiated one sale and set up two others. After that, you’ve sat here and explained what you’ve done during the rest of your day for another two hours. Then, as a final effort, you’ve hired yourself a purchasing agent. It’s no wonder you’re tired.”
“Okay, Dad, you talked me into it. I’m off to bed,” Tom said quietly.
Sandy went with him as he headed for the bedroom, but after a hug and a goodnight kiss, she returned to the dining room and the quiet discussion the others were having. Thankfully, Jack was almost as tired as Tom had been, so their voices were never raised. Unfortunately, there were many questions asked, but no definite answers given since most of the questions involved Tom’s decisions, and even Sandy wasn’t certain of those. Eventually, though, they all headed for bed, even though it was early for many of the group.
At 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning, Tom’s whole family was in Laura and Charlie’s outer office when Tom and Ann went into the back office to sign the papers and buy the airstrip. Charlie had everything ready, and the process took only a few moments, even though the bank transfer, land registration, and other details were somewhat involved and wouldn’t be completed for hours. As soon as they had shaken hands all around, Tom grinned and headed for the door to the outer office.
“Now, since we’ve just straightened out the purchase of the airstrip and I have the keys to the gate, I need to get to work, so I’ll catch up with everyone later,” he winked at Ann and Sandy.
“Hey, wait a minute, you can’t run off yet,” Ann squawked. “You’ve been gone for days, and I need to find out more about my new job. Besides, we need to talk, just to catch up with each other.”
“Okay, let’s all go over to the new building. Then you can explain what you want in your new office while we’re catching up. If Sandy and Laura come along, they can decide where their new offices are going to be too,” Tom suggested. “Or if you aren’t all coming along, I’m going to go to one of the car dealerships to see about buying a used pickup truck with a canopy. Then I’ll have something to haul supplies from place to place.”
“Well, I need to talk to your father and the Farmingtons for a few minutes about Hawaii, so we won’t be coming with you,” Tom’s mom interjected quickly and took his dad’s arm to steer him away.
“Well, I have to stay here this morning,” Sandy stated firmly. “There were just too many customers in here yesterday, and we have to catch up on the details. But I could meet you at your new building at noon. Sid and I can handle the office work until then, though. So if you two want to go take care of essential business, I’m okay with it, Tom.”
Actually, by one that afternoon, the two of them had visited the new building and had drawn up a sketch of a new floor plan of the front section on the main level. Then, they called in a contractor that Sandy knew, and Tom’s first request was to ask the contractor to remove the ‘Lister’ sign. Next, the contractor was shown the sketch and gave them an estimate on the job that they agreed to. Then, Ann and the contractor set off to obtain proper drawings and permits to have the work done. Meanwhile, Tom went shopping for a used pickup truck. Tom bought a four-year-old Chevy 4X4 with an extended cab, complete with a canopy and a ‘snowplow’ front bumper. Before he left the lot, he had the pickup licensed and insured. That afternoon set the pace Tom followed for the next few days.
During that time, Tom had Ann arrange to have all the building’s services transferred to his company. After that, he negotiated a long-term lease of two forty-foot-long containers and had them delivered to the airstrip, to be set up near the building where his kit plane was kept. Following that, he sat at a spare phone in Sandy’s office and called around to arrange for bulk purchases at several local businesses. Next, he took his pickup truck in for a full check-over and service, but while it was in the shop, he had snow tires mounted on four new wheels and had them installed on the truck. When he picked up his truck later that day, he had a few bags of sand loaded in the box for extra weight, knowing that he could open a bag and use the sand for extra traction in icy conditions. Along with the mini-snowplow on the front bumper, he didn’t think he’d really have a lot of problems getting around town that winter.
That evening, he asked Ann down to his basement office and had a long conversation with her, discussing the responsibilities, wages, and benefits of the job he wanted her to do. She would be responsible for maintenance around his new building when he wasn’t there, and at the same time, she was going to have to keep an eye on the airstrip, helping out with details there. The job definitely wasn’t all that complicated, and he’d be within daily radio contact if she had any questions, but at the same time, she was going to have to use her judgement quite often.
“Damn, are you sure you’re any relation to Dad?” she asked him once.
“Pardon me?” Tom stared at her in surprise.
“Well, you’re trusting me to make decisions that could be costly. Dad would want me to check every detail with him before spending any large amount of money.”
“Well, I think you know that Dad’s opinions and mine seldom fall in the same city, let alone the same ballpark,” Tom laughed. “I think disagreements with Dad started out as teenage rebellion on my part, but as I’ve gained a few years of experience, I’ve found that I have valid reasons for my opinions and actions. Now I’m not pretending to be right every time, but I do my best to consider all points of view before making up my mind concerning any situation.
“In your case, considering what I’m asking you to do, I can’t hamstring you by being a despotic boss or by keeping the purse strings too tightly in hand. I’m depending on you to use common sense and make up your mind on each situation as it arises. You’re bound to make some decisions that I might find to be less than perfect, but I’m not despotic. I’m not about to take your head off over a minor difference of opinion, but I might ask you to explain your reasoning for some of your decisions. If you’ve thought out what you did and can explain why you did things, I probably won’t even comment, but I’m not about to turn you loose with unlimited access to my bank accounts either. Heck, I’m even limiting my own spending for a while because in the last few days I’ve had to look at my finances quite closely. Between yesterday and today, I shifted almost a tenth of my capital from the stock market into physical assets, but all of those stocks were in the exploration field and mostly for nonrenewable resources, like oil and coal.”
“Are you dumping all your stocks in the oil and gas sector?”
“No, not all of them, because I can see a possible spike coming in the near future, but I am being careful about what stocks I am keeping,” Tom frowned. “What I’m looking at is mostly political opinion, and that means I have to do a lot of research on people’s opinions, especially opinions of the general population of the US, China, India, and a few other countries. I’m not only looking at the opinions of politicians, but also at the findings and opinions of various researchers, as well as the opinions of the general public. I’m also considering what Dad would call ‘the lunatic fringe,’ in other words, the people talking about climate change and global warming. Now, don’t get me wrong, even I think some of those people to be a bit over the top, but there’s a lot of smoke there, and I’m wondering if there isn’t a fire that we just aren’t seeing clearly.
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