Avarice or Innocence (JOHN LOGAN FILES Book 1)

by Marshall Huffman

  “What? Have you lost your mind? You have been spending too much time watching those ridicules daytime soap operas,” he said.

  “Terry, I want to know what’s really going on with you. Why are you always gone anymore?” she insisted.

  “Because I have to work for a living. One of us had to provide an income,” he said, trying to get to her.

  “Yes, and that’s the way you want it. I have offered to go to work time and time again but it’s you who has always been against it,” she had shot back.

  “When did I ever say that? It’s just like you to turn my words around,” he replied.

  “When I wanted to work at the church you thought it would take up too much of my time. We would never be able to go off for the weekends, you said,” Carla replied.

  “I didn’t stop you. Besides that was volunteer work. The church isn’t exactly what I call a high paying job,” he countered.

  They had argued on into the night and Terry had actually left the house. He was gone for hours as she waited up for him to return.

  When he came back they were able to talk a little more constructively. He had assured her that he was doing nothing except trying to keep DigitCom running. The new processor had major problems and Jim was so blind that he couldn’t talk any real sense into him.

  “Jim has always thought that he was onto something big,” Carla said.

  “I know, it’s just his personality. He always sees a mountain where a molehill exists. I really like Jim but sometimes he drives me crazy. I will say this for him; he could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo if given the chance. He is good at selling the dream,” Terry added.

  They talked until early in the morning. It was the first real conversation they had had in almost a year. Things seemed to get better for a while after that but it wasn’t long before they were right back where they had started.

  Carla had even gone to see a lawyer at one point but couldn’t go through with it. She believed if she could just weather the storm until DigitCom was financially secure, then everything would be all right.

  Stephanie, on the other hand, was little like Carla. She had one goal in life and that was to live it to the fullest. To do that she needed money and she intended to have it.

  Jim had come along with charm and a bag full of big dreams. He was going to set the world on fire. He was smooth and easy to like. She was constantly amazed at the number of people that were taken in by him. He never did anything dishonest but his ability to get people to go along with his ideas was astonishing to her.

  While he did not have a lot of money he had a great deal of potential and that looked good to her. Her parents had not been nearly as taken in by Jim as most. They had tried to talk some sense into her but like most twenty year olds’; she thought that she knew what was best.

  They were married right after they graduated and he started DigitCom with Terry. They found initial success and it wasn’t long before it looked like everything Jim had said would come true.

  They suddenly had money and their lifestyle took a dramatic change for the better. Jim had bought her a slightly used Mustang GT convertible for their second anniversary and within a year they bought a new home. Life was going as planned for Stephanie.

  DigitCom continued to grow and prosper and they continued to move up in class. The Mustang gave way to a BMW and they had an even larger house built. They would slip away to vacations whenever Jim could find the time. Life was progressing right on schedule and she enjoyed flaunting their success.

  She often held elaborate parties and became involved in all the right volunteer organizations. Her social status was on the rise and she loved it. Then things started to change slightly. DigitCom had grown too fast in an ever changing field. Research and Development costs were skyrocketing and the fixed overhead had grown to a huge proportion of their annual income.

  A faulty run of chips had cost them a great deal in both income and reputation and they had to cut back on expenses to keep a positive cash flow.

  Terry and Jim had each taken substantial pay cuts and they were forced to lay off some of the staff. The papers picked up on the troubles and that hurt them further with the loss of confidence by their customers.

  Stephanie’s parents were killed in an accident and she received a substantial inheritance but it was quickly gone to help keep DigitCom from going under. Now things were not so rosy and she began to hate DigitCom. It had become an evil manifestation of Jim’s distorted dreams and it was sucking them down.

  There was one thing she knew for sure, she was never going to be poor. Something was going to have to be done or else they were going to lose it all. Starting over was simply unacceptable, not after having come this far.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Detective Logan, while only attached to the investigation by his early involvement, remained interested in the proceedings. He always found it difficult to accept handing over his work to another agency. The FBI was the worst of the lot. They maintained such a superior attitude that it made it all the more galling.

  He had worked with Pete Nelson on two other occasions and found him to be the most tolerable of all the people he had worked with from the local FBI branch.

  Special Agent Rick Petty was another matter entirely. He had a look about him that just bugged Logan. He was a pretty boy. A dandy. Cute mod tie and suspenders and expensive sport coats. Almost everything he said managed to grate on Logan’s nerves. It wasn’t so much what he said as the way he said it, as if everyone else were an idiot. He was just far too condescending for Logan’s taste.

  He had watched Nelson working with this brash hotshot and thought he must have felt about the same way Logan did but it wasn’t his place to bring it up.

  He didn’t know what to make of James Ashton yet. He didn’t seem like a bad guy but he had noticed some strange things in his background check. It was like he didn’t think things through before acting.

  Larkins on the other hand seemed more calculating and controlling. It was just the way he did things that made Logan feel uneasy around him. That is one reason he had Winston cover him initially. He didn’t want to cloud his judgment based on personality traits.

  “You have anything new?” Winston asked Logan as they sat on the park bench eating a hot dog from a street vendor.

  “Nah. Nothing that amounts to much. Nelson said they had recovered a wedding ring that they believe belongs to Carla Larkins in the trunk of Ashton’s Audi. They haven’t approached him yet. They are waiting until they are sure it belongs to her,” Logan said.

  “Boy. That sure sounds like another nail in that boy’s coffin. He is racking up quite a score,” Winston said.

  “That’s what is starting to bother me,” Logan said.

  “What? The fact that he is dumb?” Winston asked.

  “No. He is a long way from being dumb. In fact I think he is a pretty bright guy. It just seems that too many things are pointing directly to him. Now a guy who is as sharp as he is isn’t going to leave such an obvious trail. Something else is going on here,” he said.

  “You always think that. Looking for some angle. John, if it moooos often enough, it just might really be a cow,” Winston said.

  “Think what you want, but I want to dig around some more. I still haven’t figured out why Carla Larkins is hardly figuring into this at all. Why imply that they have them both rather than making a clear ransom demand? Another thing that bothers me is the sum demanded. Doesn’t it seem odd to you that it happened at almost the exact same time Aikimoto Limited offered to buy them out and for the amount they offered? I mean that is one heck of a coincidence,” Logan said.

  “If they were really kidnapped, I doubt that they got to choose the timing. I mean they had no way of knowing what the offer from Aikimoto was going to be. Ashton said it was more than they were worth so you gotta figure he had no idea it would be that much. Assuming Ashton didn’t engineer this whole thing, I think they took one look at the DigitCom offices and the
two houses and decided they could pay through the nose,” Winston said.

  “You could be right but I hate coincidences. I think we should dig into both their backgrounds going back the past four years. You never know what we will turn up,” Logan said.

  “Why don’t I look into Ashton and you take Larkins that way we won’t let the personalities influence us as much. I don’t have any feelings for Ashton one way or the other and I know you could care less about Larkins,” Winston suggested.

  “That seems right as rain,” Logan agreed.

  They decided to compare notes on a daily basis and not pass along anything to Nelson and Petty without them both agreeing it should be done. Neither had a love for the FBI and their superior attitude.

  “Larkins mentioned that he had a marital problem to Nelson at the last meeting I was at. I think I’ll start poking around there and see where that leads,” Logan said.

  “People as flamboyant as the Ashtons should have left a skeleton or two hanging around. I’m going to look into both of them. Stephanie Ashton just has a look about her. I went through that photo album you brought back and she has this ‘gosh I’m cute’ smile plastered on her face in every one of them. Not one ‘surprise’ shot in the entire bunch,”

  Winston said.

  “Do you always hate good looking people? I’ve noticed that about you. I think it’s because your Momma dressed you funny. Look at your jacket. It’s seersucker for cryin’ out loud,” Logan kidded him.

  “Hey, I’ll have you know seersucker fabric is all the fashion rage now. It’s the retro look,” Winston said, modeling his jacket for Logan.

  “Oh yeah, you’re a real clothes horse all right,” Logan said, rolling his eyes.

  “At least I don’t still wear plaid pants,” Winston shot back.

  “What’s wrong with my pants? I’ll have you know I just got them back from the cleaners yesterday,” Logan retorted, looking surprised at the comment.

  “I’ll bet you have on argyle socks too,” Winston snickered.

  Logan wasn’t about to take his legs out from under the desk. Besides, he liked argyle socks.

  ****

  Logan started by having a credit check pulled on Larkins and then getting a printout of all charges made for the past four years. He was amazed at the reams of paper that he got. They must live their entire life on credit he concluded, picking up one huge stack of printouts from just one company.

  Larkins carried sixteen different credit cards. The amount of interest he paid each year was almost as much as Logan cleared in pay. He concluded that money was really wasted on rich people. Give some of that money to a poor person and they could make it go ten times further. Such was the injustice of life.

  It turned out to be less difficult than he had first envisioned. Terry and Carla had definite spending card preferences and it became clear, fairly quickly, which belonged to which user. Some were mixed in together but that was to be expected.

  What Logan was looking for were unusual items that had no apparent reason to be a part of their normal routines. It was readily apparent that Terry was the more extravagant of the two. His expenditures had sharply increased over the last eighteen months and that was strange considering the financial condition of DigitCom and the pay reductions that he and Ashton had taken. It was definitely time to get detailed descriptions of several of the purchases showing up on the itemized statements.

  One other thing that Logan noticed was that two of the cards that Terry used most were being billed to the corporate address. That in itself was not so unusual if they were used for company business. It was just something more he was going to have to check out. He would need to get a look at the reimbursement records of DigitCom as well without tipping off Larkins or Ashton. That might be the tricky part.

  If all else failed, he could call for a complete audit of both of their tax returns but that would take a lot of pull and the Internal Revenue Service was not the entity to work with under any circumstances. He had to laugh at the recent television commercials portraying them as caring and understanding. In a pig's eye.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Terry scheduled an appointment for a conference with Mr. Aikimoto for early the next morning. Aikimoto had been reluctant to talk to him over the phone so the conversation was extremely brisk and to the point.

  “You will be here at 9:00 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning,” he had been told.

  “I can do that,” Larkins had said.

  “Do not be late. I have much business to attend to and cannot waste precious time. I assume this is of urgent importance,” Aikimoto had said.

  “Yes it is. I want to discuss...”

  “Wait,” Aikimoto had interrupted, “We will talk then. I do not trust your telephone system. It is too easy for the walls to have ears in this country. Just make sure you are on time. Good day,” he said without waiting for a reply.

  Terry did not like the briskness of Aikimoto's demeanor but he knew that he had the upper hand and was dealing from a position of strength. Aikimoto knew the value of the golden rule. He with the most gold rules.

  While it appeared to Larkins that Aikimoto was in charge, that was just for appearance. In reality, he answered to far more powerful men, so he immediately called to receive further instructions. He had been around far too long to take anything for granted and he was going to make sure that none of the rules had changed since the previous meeting. He was given authorization to proceed as long as there was no suspicion directed at Aikimoto Limited by either the local police or the FBI.

  The last thing they wanted was to have the American authorities trying to investigate their business. Americans were so obsessed with knowing what was going on when in fact they were so easily manipulated by the press that they seldom knew the truth. They are like little children with few values and little concern for tradition. Instant gratification was more important than earning respect.

  The conglomerate that controlled Aikimoto Limited had been searching for just the right opportunity to purchase a struggling computer development company. It had been their good fortune to have DigitCom fall into their lap.

  When Larkins had first contacted them it seemed too good to be true. A well-established but cash poor company with a motivated buyer.

  It wasn’t until they had invested a great deal of time and money in the background investigation that they learned that only one of the owners was willing to sell. It had been a financial setback and Mr. Aikimoto had lost face as well.

  Now Larkins wanted a meeting. That could only mean that the unfortunate situation with their wives’ apparent abduction had forced a change. One person’s bad luck is often another’s good fortune.

  No matter the reason for the change, Mr. Aikimoto was only too happy to call for further instructions from his superiors, if for nothing more than to send a signal that he was still in control of the situation at Aikimoto Limited. He would still save face with a little help.

  He was sure the FBI had listened in on the phone conversation with Larkins. It was their standard method of operation and he decided that he would have the attorneys handle Agent Petty and the FBI from this point on, should they show up again. The further he removed himself from the situation the better for him and Aikimoto Limited.

  ****

  Terry arrived a few minutes early at Aikimoto Limited and was shown to a huge conference room. He waited in total silence until exactly 9:00 a.m. when Mr. Aikimoto stepped into the room from a doorway that he had not noticed earlier.

  “Good morning, Mr. Aikimoto,” he said bowing as he approached the table,

  Mr. Aikimoto bowed quickly and replied, “I have little time. Please, get to the point of this meeting.”

  “Well Mr. Aikimoto, I have had further discussions with my partner and I have been able to convince him that your offer is very good for both of us. He has agreed to sell if you are still interested,” Terry explained.

  “I see. I am sorry Mr. Larkins but we have decided to
pursue a different venture. In fact we will tender an offer within the week. A competitor of yours I believe,” he told him.

  “No. You made us an offer. We are accepting it,” Terry stammered.

  “You did not accept our terms so that makes our offer void. You should have convinced your partner sooner,” he admonished.

  “I tried. Honestly I did. I was sure he would go for the deal once he saw it for himself. Now he is willing. Mr. Aikimoto you know what DigitCom has to offer. I have given you the information on the Millennium3. It will be worth ten times what you are offering. No other company can offer you that. No one,” he said firmly.

  “That may be, but it is like rolling the dice. The Millennium3, as you call it, is having some difficulties in the field I understand,” he revealed.

  “How do you know that? That is only known within a very small circle at DigitCom,” Terry protested.

  “Let us say that nothing is ever a secret once more than one person knows about it. The point is, that we do know of the problems,” Aikimoto said smugly.

  “Let me show you something,” Terry said, pulling a small laptop computer out of his briefcase. It was approximately twelve inches wide and nine inches long and very thin. Terry handed it to Mr. Aikimoto.

  “Very light. Amazing,” Aikimoto said feeling its unusual case texture.

  “Open it,” Terry said and Aikimoto quickly did so. No keyboard was visible and there were two screens. One in the usual place but where the keyboard would normally be was a second screen.

  “I do not understand,” Aikimoto said looking it over carefully.

  Terry flipped the power switch on and the top screen illuminated. “Win 9’ Terry said and the top screen started to boot up.

  Aikimoto looked at him in surprise. Almost instantly the familiar ‘Windows’ logo appeared and the program manager with a host of icons appeared.

  “Word 12.1” Terry said, and immediately the word processing program appeared on the screen.