Chapter 3

Several days later he called his client and told her that he wanted to go over what he had found. She knew that, by the tone of his voice, he had found enough on her husband to confirm her suspicions. She made an appointment to meet with him in is office.

Beverly Swift sat opposite him waiting for him to speak. He arranged the papers in the order that he wanted to present them to her and put the package containing the pictures next to his hand.

"Mrs. Swift, we can forget this right now. Some of this stuff is very hurtful and if you decide that you don't want to hear it you can walk out of here and you won't owe me a thing. If you do walk out of here I'll destroy everything that I have here and no one except me with ever know it once existed."

"No, let's go on," she said tersely.

"As you suspect, your husband is having an affair with a much younger woman. He has bought her gifts of property, stocks, jewelry and vacations. We have pictures to confirm his trysts and recordings of his visits to his mistress. I'm afraid that your husband has been taken for a fool. The young woman has no feelings for him, she is just taking him for everything that she can get out of him. I'm certain that you can get back a lot, if not all, of what he has given the young woman."

Don shoved a pack of pictures to her, "These pictures will show the meetings that your husband has had with the woman. Some of the pictures are graphic, I must warn you."

Beverly Swift looked through the pictures with tears in her eyes. She looked at each picture several times. She put her hands in her lap and stared at her hands.

When she was able to speak she asked, "What about the money? Was he hiding any money?"

"So far we have found about fifteen million dollars in assets that he has hidden. There is a property in France that we have not identified yet. We estimate that he has given the young woman a little over three million dollars in property, jewelry and stocks. Most of the property that he's hidden is owned by companies that he alone owns."

Beverly swift looked at the pictures again and then looked at him, "What kind of jewelry has he been buying for her?"

Don shoved the pictures that he had taken of the jewelry box over to Mrs. Swift. He heard her gasp and then start crying. He let her cry for several minutes.

She slapped the pictures on the desk, "Three of those pieces belonged to my mother. They are supposed to be in a safe deposit box."

"Mrs. Swift, I'm sure that you're going to talk to a lawyer. Naturally I will cooperate with your lawyer completely. I would suggest that you meet with your lawyer today and freeze the assets of the young woman until she can prove how she came to own them on a receptionist's salary. I have a recording of the young woman telling me that she has no feelings for your husband and that when he stops buying her things she will be done with him."

"There's no fool like an old fool," Beverly Swift snapped.

"There are a few things that bother me greatly, Mrs. Swift. You told me that your husband took over your father's company and is now running it. How much of the company do you now own?"

Mrs. Swift looked at Don for a minute as if trying to fathom his motives for asking that question, "I own almost all of the stock. My husband was given eighteen percent of the stock as bonuses, but I own most of the stock."

"Mrs. Swift, do you have any bank accounts in your name only or do your own a joint account with your husband?"

"We have always had a joint account. My husband really takes care of the money. I've never wanted for money. I have my own checkbook and write checks whenever I need to. I let my husband know how much the checks are for and he has never questioned my spending."

Have you ever worked for the company or have you ever held a job with another company?"

Mrs. Swift leaned forward in her chair, "I've never had to work. Money has never been a problem with our family. I devote much of my time to our charities. By no means do I just sit at home and bark orders to my servants. What is the purpose of these questions?"

"In my investigation I've found that you do not own any stock. Over the years a small percentage of the outstanding stock has been transferred to your husband each year as bonuses. As of this date you own no stock in the company."

"That can't be," she gasped, "I own most of the stock."

"Mrs. Swift, you told me that you have never worked for the company. Would you be surprised to learn that you have been drawing a large salary from the company every week for the past thirty years and that this year your salary is thirty-five hundred dollars a week?"

"I've never seen a paycheck from the company. My husband has always taken care of the finances in the house."

"Haven't you ever questioned your husband on how he is running the company?"

Tears welled in her eyes, "I've never had to. Until recently Aaron was a caring husband and looked after the company as if it was his own. As I said, I've always had everything that I ever needed or wanted. I feel that your questions are leading somewhere that I don't want to go."