Chapter 111

Nine people were invited to the suite at Calder City’s nicest hotel. Phil and Hailey had stayed in a single room the night before but Beth had decided she wanted privacy and space for the luncheon.

She was determined to put the important portion of the day first. As soon as she walked in the door, she wrapped Hailey in a warm hug.

“I am absolutely thrilled that you and Philip are engaged,” she said as she released the young woman and lifted her hand to look at the ring. Her smile widened. “This looks lovely.”

“It really does,” Hailey agreed, looking at her hand again. No matter how many times she looked at it, the ring on her finger amazed her.

“I could have searched the earth and not found someone better,” Beth continued. “David and I already love you like the daughter we never had. We are so pleased that you will be part of our family forever.”

“Thank you,” Hailey answered, wiping tears from her eyes. “I love you both, too.”

It wasn’t long before Hailey’s father accompanied Tiffany, Molly, Katelyn and Bob into the suite. The next few minutes were spent inspecting the ring and offering congratulations all around.

Then they got down to business.

“Michael, why don’t you tell us about what transpired last night,” Beth began. Michael’s recitation was dry. He didn’t embellish; he simply told the gathering who was there and what each said with as much detail as possible.

“I want everyone to listen to something,” Beth said when he finished. She put her phone on the table and enabled the speaker.

“Ms. Barton-Warner, it’s Deirdre Coleman-Jennings,” a voice intoned. “I’m sorry to bother you at home but it’s important. I was invited to a dinner meeting this evening. When I got there, I found that the purpose of the gathering was to investigate ways to remove you from Barton Holdings. I am not sure who is behind the attempt but I will tell you that I believe that your assistant, Hailey, was represented by her father. I thought you should be aware of it. I will be available at all times this weekend if you need to discuss this further. I will investigate your legal standing if you choose to release Miss Warren from her duties and let you know Monday what I’ve found. Good night.”

“The bitch!” Hailey seethed.

“Yes,” Beth agreed. “She is probably lucky that I didn’t answer the call. But it is my understanding that you have some information to impart about this situation.”

Hailey glanced at her roommates and nodded.

“I am not certain when DeeDee decided to make a play,” Hailey informed the group. “Perhaps this idea has been percolating since it became apparent that Phil was your successor. I think their first goal was to remove him. When it became evident that he was unassailable, she switched her attention to me. She showed up at my office last Saturday morning, along with her niece. As most of you know, DeeDee’s brother is Cooper Coleman. This is his daughter, Alexa. Alexa attempted to worm her way into a friendship. We had met her at Molly’s concert and immediately recognized that she wasn’t interested in us for our sparking personalities.

“We took ... we took action to forestall the Colemans. At least we thought we had. Instead we only removed Alexa from the equation. Since we’re sharing voicemails, let me play this one for you.”

She hit a button on her phone.

“Hailey, this is Alexa ... Alexa Coleman, Deirdre Coleman-Jennings’ niece,” a voice said. “I just got off the phone with my aunt and I think she’s lost her mind. She joined, I guess the only word I can think of is a ‘cabal’ to make a play at Barton. My father and mother are involved and so is the mayor. She mentioned a few others but I didn’t recognize their names and she was talking too fast for me to write them down. She said she thinks your dad was there and she plans to use his presence to undermine you with Ms. Barton-Warner and her son. I didn’t want you to walk into something unprepared. I’m going to try to get some additional information from her this evening and I will call you back if I learn anything more.

“I didn’t want you to think I was involved in any way. I considered what you and your friends told me last weekend and I understand only too well what you can do to me. I don’t want that. I understand that my family has now become fair game but I hope you will leave me out of the fray. I will do everything in my power to keep you apprised of whatever plans my aunt has in mind. Take care.”

“Interesting,” Beth said. She glanced over at Tiffany, Molly, Katelyn and Bob. “May I assume you were the friends she referred to?”

“Not just us,” Tiffany answered. “Scott and Lisa came down. Stacy, Emma and Taylor came up from school. The ‘Children of the Cornbread’ showed up. Phil’s other friends from SouthPointe were there: Mitchell, Ann and Rachel. Joe and Annette Pepper helped us out. Dani and Madison came up. It was quite a gathering that met Alexa Coleman.”

“I see,” Beth replied. Her tone didn’t belie how proud she was that her son had surrounded himself with so many stalwart friends. “And what did you impart during your meeting?”

“Just the facts,” Molly replied. “We got some information from Joe and Annette about the Coleman family. We extrapolated a bit and gave her a friendly warning about what would happen if she chose to align herself against you and Phil.”

Beth’s gaze shifted to Katelyn.

“And can I assume that you were the one to impart this warning?” she asked. Katelyn was the most physically imposing female in the quartet.

“That was Lisa,” Hailey interrupted.

“Lisa?” Beth asked.

“She insisted,” Hailey answered. “I have to say that she did a wonderful job. Alexa didn’t stay after she finished the discussion. The poor girl was white as a sheet as she waited for the elevator.”

“What information did you gather about the Coleman family?” Beth asked.

Now Katelyn stepped up. She had made the call to Joe Pepper.

“We ascertained the reason why Cooper Coleman bowed out of his Congressional race,” she replied. “We intimated to his daughter that her parentage would come under question when we revealed the truth to the world. We also found out how her grandparents made their money and promised that Phil would prop up their family’s rivals until the Colemans were destroyed.”

“Interesting,” Beth said. She had sat in board meetings with men and women with advanced degrees and not gotten such a concise description of a plan of action. “Well, I’m afraid the Coleman family has drawn themselves firmly into the gun sights.”

She pulled a sheaf of papers from her briefcase and passed them around. The information that Joe and Annette had passed along verbally was confirmed in written form – complete with photographs of Rebecca and Cooper Coleman engaged in sexual activities with other people. There was a copy of the Coleman company ledger that clearly showed bribes for federal and state contracts. Handwritten in the margin ran the names of the families that had been pushed aside in order for the Colemans to prosper. Hailey shifted nervously when she reached the bottom of the pile.

There she found Alexa Coleman’s paternity test. It showed clearly that Cooper Coleman was not the girl’s father. It took her a moment to work up her courage but eventually she spoke.

“I’m not comfortable releasing the DNA test,” she said. She hated to defy Beth but Alexa Coleman had lived up to her word. It wasn’t fair for her to suffer the indignity alongside her father and mother. “The rest of it, sure, but releasing Alexa’s paternity would be wrong.”

Beth looked at her son’s fiancée for a long moment. Then she nodded and pulled the paper out of her pile, folded it and stuffed it back in her briefcase.

“Point taken,” she said. “Here is my plan. Tomorrow morning, the mayor is going to be disgraced. An exposé of her coverups and graft will appear in the Sunday Morning Observer.”

“It will take a lot longer than that for the paper to vet everything,” Michael put in. He wasn’t a libel lawyer but he knew enough to know that no newspaper would take on the mayor of a major city without ensuring everything it wrote was factual.

“The story has been written for more than two years,” Beth admitted. “David once did a favor for Rory Rolenson. We’ve worked with him for a few years. He agreed to hold the story until we gave the OK. I called him this morning and let him know the time had come.”

“Jesus,” Phil said, contributing for the first time. His mother only nodded and continued.

“Monday, the Coleman family will have their life history unveiled,” she said. “I will let him know that the DNA test is to be removed. He will agree, I’m sure.”

“What in the hell did you do for the guy, Dad?” Phil asked.

“Your father saved Mr. Rolenson’s son a few years ago,” Beth noted. “The young man had a severe allergic reaction to shellfish. Your father knew of an unapproved remedy and secured it for him. The boy recovered in only a few days and no one was the wiser. Mr. Rolenson was so grateful that he told your father he was at his disposal if he ever needed anything. I convinced David, against his protests, to call in the favor when Mrs. Hopkins showed her true colors. We knew that no one in the media nearby would do anything. So we went to an outside source. Mr. Rolenson has been champing at the bit to run the story for quite a while. It is only his honor that has kept him from destroying the mayor much earlier.”

“What does he have on her?” Michael wondered.

“Everything I have,” Beth replied. “He has the identity of the two British tourists who went missing a couple of years ago. He has affidavits from contractors she bribed as an attorney and from members of her inner circle detailing her continuing embezzlement of city funds. He has interviews with the police commanders she ordered to ignore unsolvable crimes in the Newtown area in order to lower crime rates. He has paperwork identifying several large contributors with long criminal records – men and women who have been given a free pass on other crimes they’ve committed in exchange for their cash.”

“That should be enough,” she continued, “but he also has the testimony of several young men who have been sexually harassed over the last 20 years – ranging from her first job as a public defender and extending to last year. She will not be a threat after the story runs, I can assure you that. She will be too busy covering her own ass to even think about Barton Holdings.”

The rest of the group sat stunned as Beth listed the mayor’s misdeeds.

“Michael, you said it is your opinion that Mickey Hagar will not provide any assistance to the other plan the mayor proposed,” Beth continued. “Is that correct?”

She couldn’t even bring herself to say the words. She couldn’t even think of what she would do if someone harmed her son.

“I don’t think he will but there are others,” Michael said. “I put in a call to a well-connected criminal attorney I know. So far there is no contract, in fact no mention, on any member of your family. He said he would contact me if he heard anything.”

“Do you think he will?” David asked.

“He will,” Michael said firmly. “He knows that he only continues to enjoy freedom because I turned a blind eye to some of his actions while he was an associate at my firm. If you recall, the lead partner of the criminal division was ousted last year. This man is why.”

“Good,” Beth said. “I have spoken to my father and brother this morning. I hadn’t realized that Dani and Madison had been in town but I’m glad they are aware of the situation. My family is going to make it a point to let the men and women who attended last night’s meeting know who really runs this city. We have rarely exerted our influence around the other business owners of Calder City but they agree with me that today is the time. My father will make contact with each of them this weekend and explain reality. Any further participation will earn them some life-long enemies. Does anyone have anything to add?”

When no one spoke, Beth nodded.

“Philip, until I have assurances that you are safe, you will have a security detail with you at all times,” she continued. “Hailey, that goes for you, too, as well as your father. I think Molly, Tiffany, Katelyn and Bob are safe but because of their proximity to you – not to mention the fondness I have for each of them – I have assigned someone to them as well. If you think I need to increase the roster to the rest of the people who stepped into the breach while I was out of town, I will agree without argument. This is not up for discussion.”

She added the last part when she saw Bob looking uncomfortable.

“If something should befall any of you I would be inconsolable,” she said in a gentler voice. “I would also unleash the full hounds of hell on anyone I even suspected was involved. I just want everyone safe and this is the only way I know to do it short of shipping all of you out of the country until this concludes. Make no mistake, Melissa Hopkins will not go quietly. She will go, make no mistake about that either, but she will do everything in her power to fight this to the bitter end. If she thinks taking out one of us will help her stay in power, I think she will do it. For now, I hope you will agree and do your best to follow the security precautions put in place.”