Appalachian Intrigue

by Archie Meyers

  Bell stood and walked over to stare out the window. Dex was sure that he had just blown a job opportunity, but when Bell turned around he was smiling. “Dex, when we get to know each other better, I’ll tell you about some of the dumb-ass things I did in college.” The rest of the interview went well, and Bell told his assistant to schedule an appointment for him to take the employment physical.

  Dex passed the physical exam on Thursday and was told to report to work the following Monday. He would be reporting directly to Jim Mitchell in sales, but Dex’s work would also be coordinated with the corporate marketing department. Mitchell would be responsible for his sales training, and the marketing department would work with him to build a campaign using his name recognition as an athlete.

  Dex didn’t want to become the poster boy because it would again reinforce his image as the quintessential jock. He talked to the marketing personnel, and they said they understood his concern and promised that the campaign would be handled stylishly. They also invited him to participate by sharing his thoughts throughout the process.

  Dex spent several weeks working with marketing, and by the time the campaign began to take focus, he was comfortable with the professional way it was being presented. The plan was for Dex to make some television and radio spots while the graphic arts department designed some attractive magazine ads featuring him in his uniform. He had asked, and they had agreed, that in the advertisements he would be identified as a full-time employee of the company and not just another jock being paid to read a script.

  While he was meeting with marketing, Dex was also working several hours each day with Mitchell for sales training. Mitchell was planning a joint sales trip through the targeted states to introduce Dex to physicians and pharmacies, deliver samples, and discuss the new product. The trip was planned to coincide with the initial release of the marketing campaign on radio and television.

  The night before he was supposed to leave on the trip, Dex was at home watching TV with Gigi. They were waiting on Hoagie, who was coming over to play cards with them. Suddenly Dex heard Hoagie yelling in the front yard and then pounding on the front door. When he opened the door, a very agitated Hoagie grabbed him by the arm and said, “You gotta come see this.”

  “Slow down, Hoagie, come see what? What’re you talking about?”

  “Dex, just get out here and look at what’s hanging on that maple tree.” Gigi followed them out on the porch, and as soon as she saw what Hoagie was pointing at, she ran back in the house and called the police. Within a few minutes, two police cars with flashing blue lights pulled up in front of the house, and a group of neighbors, attracted by the yelling, gathered in the yard.

  There was a dead opossum with an ice pick stuck through its head, pinning it to the maple tree in the front yard. Its obscene, hairless tail was hanging straight down the tree trunk, pointing to a note that was nailed to the tree.

  The note, on a sheet of plain paper, contained only three typed words that had obviously been cut from a magazine or some type of printed material. Dex read the poignant note aloud, “You be next.”

  The same officer who had investigated his slashed tires looked at the note, scratched his head, and said, “What does that mean?”

  “I guess it means he wants to stick an ice pick in me. How do I know?”

  “You got any enemies?”

  “Officer, you already asked me that one time. Most people have enemies, and I must have picked one up somewhere, but I don’t know who it is or what his beef is with me.”

  After the cop photographed the dead animal and collected the note, he asked, “What are you going to do with that thing?” It was obvious that he didn’t want to touch anything close to it.

  Dex shook his head in disgust, held the opossum by his tail, and jerked the ice pick out of the tree. He saw the squeamish cop’s reaction, so when he walked by him he purposely let it slip out his hand and fall near the cop’s foot. The cop jumped about three feet.

  “I’m sorry; it slipped out of my hand.” Dex picked it up again, walked to the backyard, and put it in the trash can.

  After the police left and the crowd dispersed, Hoagie said, “Dex, you’ve got to have some idea who’s doing this. What have you done to make someone this mad?”

  “Hoagie, I haven’t got a clue what this is about, but as far as I am concerned it has gone way beyond a practical joke. Somebody has now threatened to slash me with a knife and stab me with an ice pick. I can take care of myself, but I am worried about Gigi since both of these incidents have happened here at the house.”

  The next morning Dex and Mitchell left on the long-planned sales trip. They started by driving to Nashville and then they doubled back to Knoxville, where they spent the first night. The second day they made calls in Asheville before finishing the day in Charlotte. Mitchell had carefully planned the trip to introduce Dex to physicians that were already recommending Argon products and might be more inclined to suggest a new product to their patients.

  Mitchell had always thought the worst part of the job was sitting in a physician’s office waiting for him to finish with his patients. He had warned Dex about being impatient, but on this trip, he noticed that when he and Dex were jointly announced, they were quickly worked in between patients. He soon realized this was because Dex’s name was being recognized. He knew this would bode well for the planned marketing blitz, so he started having Dex approach the office manager and use his business card to announce their arrival.

  After a two-day swing through Columbia, Charleston, and Savannah, Dex and Mitchell spent Friday morning making calls in Atlanta. Mitchell invited Dex to call Marie and see if she could meet them for lunch. Although he talked to her by phone every night, phone calls didn’t do much to nourish their budding romance. Lunch with a third party present wasn’t much better, but at least he got to see her.

  When Mitchell left the table to set up another appointment, Dex said, “Marie, this pace isn’t going to go on forever. I hope you understand that it’s very important for me to spend a lot of time on the job while I’m trying to establish myself.”

  She held his hand and said, “Hey, I started a business from scratch. I know what it’s like. We’ve got a lifetime to be together.” Dex wasn’t sure how to respond since it was the first time either of them had suggested anything resembling spending a lifetime together. He was relieved when he saw Mitchell returning.

  Chapter 14

  Marie was concerned. The message on her answering machine asked her to contact Proudland Trust at her earliest opportunity to set up an appointment. She had no idea why they wanted to see her. Curiosity was quickly replaced by terror. Could they call the promissory note prematurely? She wasn’t behind on the payments; she made them each month several days before they were due. Her business was doing well, but she wasn’t in a position to pay off the loan. The note didn’t mature for another year. She hesitantly called the bank to inquire about the nature of the meeting.

  “Good afternoon. This is Marie Murphy, and you left a message for me to call this number to set up an appointment.”

  “Yes, Mr. Sloan asked me set up a meeting with you and the head of our trust department. Mr. Sloan will also be joining you. Would tomorrow morning at ten be convenient for your?”

  “Yes, I can make it then, but can you tell me the reason for the meeting?”

  “I’m sorry, but Mr. Sloan just asked me to set up the meeting, and he is not in the office now.”

  Marie was still puzzled. Her contract didn’t have anything to do with the trust department. She didn’t even fully understand the function of a bank’s trust department.

  When Marie arrived the next morning, she was ushered into the conference room where two men were waiting for her.

  Sloan said, “Good morning, Marie. I’d like you to meet Harvey Blake, the vice president of our trust department.” />
  Blake said, “Marie, I’m glad to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you and your business recently. Please have a seat.”

  She sat across the long walnut conference table from them and declined the offer of coffee because she didn’t trust her shaking hands to hold a hot cup. While the two men were getting their coffee, Marie had an opportunity to look around the spacious conference room. The formal décor of the paneled room did nothing to dispel her anxiety. The walls were lined with black-and-white photographs of dour-faced old men, whom she assumed were members of the board. There was a projection screen protruding from a slot in the ceiling at one end of the room, and speakers and telephones were set up, apparently for conference calls, on either end of the long conference table.

  Blake, who was obviously senior to Sloan, smiled at her and started the conversation. “Ms. Murphy, I asked for this meeting because I wanted to get to know you. I’m somewhat familiar with the nursing business you started and your start-up loan from Proudland.”

  Marie nodded but didn’t say anything. She was worried that this was where he was going to drop the bomb that would destroy everything she had worked so hard to build.

  Blake continued. “Congratulations on your success. I understand your business is doing very well and performing well ahead of your original projections. We may be in a position to help you grow even faster.”

  Marie was relieved but still confused. How was the trust department going to help her business grow? She smiled but kept her perspiring hands folded in her lap below the table. She was determined not to let them see that she was intimidated. Then she realized they were waiting for a response from her.

  “That sounds interesting, and I’m always interested in expanding my business, but what does nursing have to do with the trust department?”

  “That gets right to the heart of this meeting. We have contractual agreements to manage the trust accounts for a lot of our wealthiest customers.”

  Marie nodded as if she was familiar with that phase of banking, although she had never really thought about it.

  “Frequently the department is also responsible for providing long-term care if the customer’s physical or mental health deteriorates to a point where they are no longer able to function independently. Unfortunately we are handicapped in providing this service because we have no expertise in caring for the aged or infirmed.”

  Although she still didn’t know where he was headed, Marie was beginning to understand why she was in the meeting. Maybe he wanted her opinion on health care for the elderly. This was certainly within her range of experience.

  Blake paused until Marie nodded to indicate she was following him.

  “Frankly, we don’t have the expertise to determine when full-time nursing care is required, and we don’t fully understand the alternatives. We know there are intermediate steps between independent living and nursing home care, but we need help in identifying those steps.”

  Now Marie understood how RN4U could help the trust department, but she let Blake continue uninterrupted.

  “We would be providing a far greater service to our clients if we could offer professional assistance in making those decisions. These are the areas where we think your company might be able to assist us. What are your thoughts about this so far?”

  Marie was glad to finally have an opportunity to contribute to the conversation.

  “I understand the problem, and our company regularly assists our clients and their families with these decisions, but the process doesn’t simply involve relocation.”

  Blake said, “That’s exactly right, we want to make sure we have considered all the alternatives before recommending full-time care. But even if they are placed in a full-service nursing home, our responsibility doesn’t end with just relocating them. We also want to continue monitoring the care of our clients even after they are in a full-care facility.” Blake sat back and waited for Marie to respond.

  “Mr. Blake, let me say first that this is definitely something we would be interested in doing and something for which my staff is well qualified. But you’ve caught me completely off guard, so help me understand what you’re proposing. I assume we would be working directly for the bank, and that the bank would pay our service bills. I also assume we would enter into some type of contract with you. Is that correct?”

  Blake simply nodded, and Marie continued. “Your idea on how it should be done perfectly coincides with our business model. It not only demonstrates a humanitarian approach to a problem that is only getting worse as our population ages, but I suspect that it is also an excellent competitive move by Proudland. I’m not aware of any other institution whose thinking has progressed this far. I’m impressed by your plan.”

  Blake said, “Thank you, Ms. Murphy; we do care very much about providing for the people who entrust us with their money and their lives. Your comment about competition is also insightful. We would indeed be the first trust department to offer a comprehensive program like this. I’m beginning to understand why Sloan was so impressed with your business acumen and why RN4U is prospering.”

  Blake continued, “We also have an ongoing situation we need to discuss, but we must insist that you keep this aspect confidential. We are in final negotiations to buy Heritage Bank & Trust Co. of River City, Tennessee, and we will want to extend this same service to the people who are being served by that bank’s trust department. Have you considered expanding outside of Atlanta?”

  “To tell you the truth, I’ve been so busy getting the legs under this business that I haven’t had much time to think about geographical expansion. But yes, when I wrote the first business plan I included a section on expansion but took it out before I submitted it to the bank. I was afraid Mr. Slone would think it was too much pie in the sky from someone who had never even been in business. Actually River City would be a natural expansion for me, because it’s my hometown and I still have a number of connections there.” Talking about connections in River City was a stretch, but she thought it sounded good.

  “Marie we will have our legal department prepare the contract, and you can have your attorney approve it. Expansion will increase your expenses, and I will be happy to approve an increase in your loan and an extension on the term of the loan.”

  “Thank you. I will need to increase the loan, but it’s difficult to determine the how much until I know the number of patients, exactly what services we would provide, and what reports the bank will require.”

  “You’re the health-care professional, and we would be interested in what you think would be an appropriate level of service under various medical scenarios. Could you prepare a plan on what you would recommend?”

  “If you will furnish me the information on patients, I can have a plan ready for you within a few days.”

  After she left the meeting, Marie was euphoric. She couldn’t believe her good fortune and couldn’t wait to tell Dex that she was going to be opening an office in River City. For the rest of the day, her head was in a cloud. She thought of a thousand questions she should have asked. She would have to find and hire additional nurses for each location, but everything would hinge on the number of patients they would have to evaluate.

  Chapter 15

  Marie’s phone was ringing as she unlocked the door to her apartment, and she hurried to answer it.

  Dex said, “Hey, babe, I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon.”

  “Hi, sweetheart, I was just getting ready to call you. I’ve got some great news.”

  He listened as she excitedly told him about her meeting at the bank and the plans to open an office in River City. She expected him to be thrilled, but her news elicited nothing but dead silence.

  After a protracted delay, Dex finally said, “Marie, I’m happy for you, but there are some things happening here that we need to discuss, and we can’t do it over the
phone. I’ll drive down tomorrow, and we can have dinner. Don’t worry, this is something we can deal with, but we need to talk it through.”

  Telling her not to worry was ridiculous. She was already worried because she could hear the concern in his voice. She wanted to push him for more information, but he obviously didn’t want to talk about it now.

  “Dex, why don’t you just stay over here tomorrow night? It will give us some time together before things begin to get crazy with your new job and my expansion.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you after work tomorrow night.”

  Dex didn’t want to spoil the moment for her, but he had to forewarn her about the danger. He hadn’t told her about the slashed tires or dead opossum because he didn’t want her to worry, but if she was going to be spending time in River City, he had to tell her that someone was threatening him. His fear was that whoever was threatening him might transfer their aggressiveness to her.

  Marie met Dex at the door of her apartment the next evening with the familiar worried expression on her face. They embraced, and she led him into the kitchen where she had some snacks.

  “Marie, I hope you don’t mind if we just order in some Chinese tonight. I need to explain what I was talking about last night, and I want to hear all the details about your new venture.”

  While they were eating the Chinese take-out, Marie excitedly told Dex about her meeting and the plans she was beginning to put together. Dex let her finish her story before he said anything about his concern.