“I know that.” She blinked, like she was doing all she could not to cry on his shoulder.
Mason glanced back at Ethan. “I’m proud of all of you. This could have been swept under the rug. You didn’t do that.”
“Because, despite the sociopaths who raised us, we developed a conscience.” Ethan laughed but it was strained.
Shannon figured her little brother might be fighting tears too. This mess might have been hardest on him. He’d trailed their daddy around as a kid, desperate for his approval. Conrad hadn’t given it. He’d wanted his only son to get his head out of his computers and “get his hands dirty.” When he’d tried and failed at things Conrad considered important, Ethan had started doing stupid stunts to get their father’s attention. She wanted to get up and give Ethan a hug but was afraid that would make him lose his cool.
Ethan hit a button. “About Rowdy. His family is one that’s owed millions. Can you imagine how those oil royalties would have changed his life?”
“You have no idea.” Cass was pale but quickly pulled herself together. “So bottom line for all of the claims?”
Ethan nodded. “We’re looking at ninety to a hundred million for our total liability. That’s still an estimate.”
Dylan had walked over to look over his shoulder. “In actual damages.”
Ethan stared at Cass. “Can we get that kind of money together?”
“Sell off the pipeline division and we have that covered. I’ve got a buyer in mind.” She stepped away from Mason and looked encouraged.
“If that was all we were looking at, I’d say you’re in good shape.” Billy scanned the room. “Dylan and I have been talking. I brought him on board, Shannon, because the MacKenzie firm specializes in oil and gas. He can talk their language when we meet with Rand Pierce.”
“That’s fine, Billy. I knew our problem was outside your comfort zone.” She smiled at him. She could tell he was disappointed that he couldn’t ride to her rescue all by himself. “But what do you mean, if that was all we were looking at?”
“Punitive damages, Shannon.” Dylan sat on the couch with them. “Of course these people are owed something for the deception. We’ll have to wait and see what Rand uses as his arguments, but I fully expect him to ask for a hell of a lot of money in punitive, even for those with dry wells. A judge will be happy to award it. Big companies like Calhoun are favorite targets, crowd pleasers, when it comes to making us pay.”
Billy nodded. “He’s right. We really don’t want to get this in front of a jury. That ad they’re running is already poisoning a potential jury pool. The best thing would be to settle this well before it gets to court. Dylan and I will jump on this. Ethan, you and Cassidy need to come up with a figure you can live with. One that leaves this family with something to keep the company going after all is said and done. There are a lot of people who work here who hope for the same thing, not to mention the stockholders.”
“Punitive damages. Of course. When I think of how just Rowdy’s life was affected… Not that money can make things right.” Cass ran a hand over her eyes.
“Of course you feel bad for Rowdy, but you can’t get hung up on each individual case.” Mason kept his arm around her. “The best way to help these people, Cass, is to do what you do best—deal with the numbers. Squeeze out as much as you can for them.”
Mason must have said what she needed to hear because Cass straightened her shoulders then walked over to look out the window. “Okay, so we’ve got that new field in West Texas. It’s going to bring in plenty once we get it going. The price of oil is up. Of course, the expense of getting that field started is going to be horrendous. Even with Texas Star partnering on it.” Cass sighed and faced the room again. “Give me some time. I can sell equipment but that’s small change when we’re talking millions.”
“No bank is going to loan you money to work that West Texas field either, Cass. Not with this lawsuit hanging over your head.” Mason stayed close. “I have to answer to my own stockholders. If you can’t hold up your end, I’ll have to pull Texas Star out of our partnership on West Texas.”
Cass took his hand. “I understand.”
Shannon glanced down at her computer and the cursor mocking her.
“Hey, Caroline Wilson said our stock is tanking. So I guess we don’t dare raise money by selling some of our own.” Shannon got five shocked stares. “Oh, knock off the death rays. I know better. That would really make the price go down. So help me figure out something reassuring to tell the press. Can we call Pierce a liar?”
“I’ve been telling people who’ve called that the letters were part of an internal audit. That we fully intend to make things right. Calhoun Petroleum has always stood for, um,” Cass looked around the room. “Come on, people, you know I’m late to this party. What in the heck does Calhoun stand for?”
“Right now? Making money no matter what it takes.” The voice from the doorway had them all turning toward it. The door had been closed. None of them had heard it open, they’d been so focused on figuring out what to do.
“Megan! And Rowdy!” Cass jumped to her feet. “I knew you were coming but didn’t think you’d get here today.”
“We finished out west and landed in Houston last night. No reason to waste time. Janie told us about the TV ad running this weekend. We figured we’d better come see if we could help.” Megan looked tanned and content despite the serious situation in the office. The way she clung to Rowdy’s hand, it was clear that more than inspecting oil rigs had gone on in West Texas.
Shannon ran to hug her. “Welcome back, sis! I’m glad you survived the field. Hey, Rowdy. We were just talking about you.”
“Not surprised. My mother got one of those letters from Calhoun.” He never let go of Megan’s hand. “I hope like hell the plan is to compensate every one of the people cheated by Conrad Calhoun.”
“Rowdy, please. That’s my daddy you’re talking about.” Megan looked distressed. “I’m sure that’s exactly what they plan to do.”
“Yes, of course. You must be Rowdy Baker. Please sit down. I’m Dylan MacKenzie, one of the lawyers handling this mess.” Dylan held out his hand and offered a chair. “I think you know everyone else here. Billy Pagan and I are going to see to it that the settlements will be fair.” He glanced at Billy. When Rowdy did reluctantly shake Dylan’s hand, Dylan visibly relaxed.
“Rowdy, I know you’re pissed. Can’t blame you. I have no idea how this affected your family personally, but there’s no doubt that what happened back then was wrong. We’re not hiding it or denying it.” Billy was on his feet, taking his turn to shake Rowdy’s hand and give Megan a hug like the friend of the family that he was.
“That’s good.” Rowdy took the chair Dylan indicated, making sure Megan had one right next to him.
Billy paced in front of Rowdy like he was addressing a jury in the courtroom. “You seem to have gotten to know Megan pretty well. The family is trying like hell to make things right. What we’re asking now is that you and all those taken advantage of by Conrad Calhoun have a little patience. Let us run the numbers and see what we can do for you. You work in the oil industry so I’m sure you can imagine that figuring out the damages is complicated.”
“Complicated, but not impossible.” Rowdy scanned the room as if looking for someone to blame. He saw Ethan at his computer. “I’m sure there are records you can access. Even from thirty years ago.”
“Yes. It’s all computerized now, Rowdy. I’ve been working on it.” Ethan didn’t get up. “You and my sister look tight. Do I need to whip your ass?”
“You could try. But I wouldn’t advise it.” Rowdy smiled for the first time since he’d come into the room.
“Stop it. You don’t need to protect me, Ethan. Rowdy’s naturally worried about what’s been going on here at headquarters. Not for himself, but for his mother.” Megan pulled her chair closer to Row
dy and wouldn’t let go of his hand.
“I read the papers. Another oil services company declared bankruptcy just this morning to get out from under their debt.” Rowdy leaned forward and looked at Billy who still stood in front of him.
Megan spoke up. “We swore we would never declare bankruptcy.”
“Bankruptcy is not on the table.” Billy glanced at Cass. “I’ve not heard that word in this room yet and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
“All right then. That’s what I wanted to hear.” Rowdy relaxed and focused on Cass. “Congratulations, I hear you and Mason set a date.”
“Christmas Eve.” She walked over to him. “Maybe we should put it off. With this mess going on at the company, it seems wrong to celebrate anything right now.”
Mason put a proprietary hand on her shoulder. “We’re not putting it off, Cass. Court cases can drag on for years. Billy and Dylan can tell you that. The church is booked. We’re doing this.”
Rowdy set Megan’s hand in his lap, staking his own claim. “He’s right, Cass. When you find the one person you know is it for you, don’t waste time. I know now what it feels like with the right woman. So I wish you and Mason luck.” He turned to Megan and kissed her.
Shannon sighed. It was good to see Megan with a man so ready to stake his claim like that. Rowdy was kissing her like he couldn’t get enough. Wow.
He finally let Megan go and smiled with satisfaction. “We’ll be at your wedding. Right, sweetheart?”
Megan flushed but didn’t deny it. “Gee, put it right out there, Rowdy.”
“No reason not to.” He nodded at Mason then made eye contact with Cassidy. “You’re the numbers expert, Cass. So where do we stand with this company? Is there going to be anything left once you pay all the claims that will be coming in?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Cass headed back to her desk. If Rowdy’s declaration about his relationship with Megan had bothered her, she didn’t show it. She gestured and Ethan cleared his things off her desk and settled into a chair next to Megan.
“Hey, sis. Looks like the field agreed with you. Or was it the field engineer?” Ethan grinned then winced when Megan popped him on the arm.
“You have no idea what we went through out there. I had more than one near-death experience.” She glanced at Rowdy. “But there were some good times too.”
“We can’t afford to keep you two in the field. Our insurance company is threatening to cancel us after the way you two went through RVs.” Cass shook her head.
Shannon saw Megan and Rowdy exchange smiles. Whatever they’d been through must have been very interesting.
Cass tapped her desk with the engraved brass oil derrick Daddy had been given when he’d been declared Oilman of the Year at the Petroleum Club in 1998. “Shannon, you get on that press release. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to say. Billy and Dylan will handle the claims. I’m going to be working up the bottom line number with Ethan. Rowdy, I’m hearing from people inside the company that you’ve proved you know how to run our rigs efficiently. I need you to look over expenses in the field and see where we can trim. Also, I’m thinking we may need to sell some of our fields. Oklahoma? You’ve worked there. What do you think?”
Shannon got busy. She wanted to show the group what she had before they broke up the meeting. The two lawyers had their heads together. To her surprise, Megan was just as interested in discussing costs in the engineering department as Rowdy and Cassidy were. Mason took a call from his own company.
Family. She was surrounded by it and it felt amazing. Could they save Calhoun? Only time would tell.
* * * *
“I’ve got that housekeeper coming in an hour. She was reluctant but I told her you had a copy of Evelyn’s will and that she was named in it. She wants to know what she’ll get, but I explained we couldn’t discuss it over the phone.” Mai handed Billy the photos she’d printed from Friday night. “You and Shannon look good. I wish I could get Albert to take me to something fancy like that ball.”
“Say the word, doll. You got some place in mind?” Albert loomed in the doorway. “I can dig up a tux.”
“To fit you?” Mai laughed. “No, I like you in your suit just fine. Next Saturday night. We’ll go to a nice restaurant downtown. I hear they have a piano bar. Good dance music.”
“How’s your dancing, Albert?” Billy tried to imagine the big man with Mai in his arms on the dance floor. It would be like a polar bear waltzing a porcelain doll.
“I can hold my own. Don’t suppose it’s country music.” He looked hopeful.
“Not a chance.” Mai grinned. “Brush up on your foxtrot, big boy.” She hummed as she left the room and closed the door.
“I’m doomed.” Albert settled into a chair and pulled out his tablet.
“Hey, you can fake it. Just hold her close and keep off her toes. She won’t care what other moves you make.”
Billy had spent so much time on the Calhoun issues the past few weeks, he’d almost forgotten about his plan to work on Gran’s neighborhood. But he knew Albert. Give him a problem and he rushed to find a solution.
“That apartment complex. Interesting getting into it. A developer paid cash for it about three years ago. Cleared out the families then let it sit. A shame really. There’s not much affordable housing in that neighborhood. Some of the kids were squatting there until a week or so ago. I interviewed a couple of them. The dudes who ran them off were pretty rough—showed off guns, made some threats. Kids figured they might be setting up to deal drugs out of there. Now a group of men and women have moved in and started working on the place.” Albert frowned. “They also bought the adjacent warehouse. Could be a meth lab. There’s suspicious activity night and day.”
“Well, shit. I was hoping to clean up that neighborhood. Seems like this is going to make it harder.” Billy picked up a pen. “Got a name for me?”
“It’s a company name, though it’s not registered anywhere that I can find. Alamo. Of course, in Texas you can find a hundred Alamos, everything from rental cars to taco stands. But this company is into rehabbing apartments. I looked hard but couldn’t find a paper trail.”
“Paper trail.” Billy shook his head. “Those crazies who wanted to kill Shannon and me were obsessed with avoiding a paper trail. Funny coincidence. But the last place they’d come would be near downtown Houston.”
“Right.” Albert checked his phone. “Speaking of trails, I’ve been trying to find a path from Evelyn Billingsley to a hitman. I know she hired pretty boys for her fun times with Rupert. I wonder if one of them might have been interested in making some bigger bucks to do the deed.”
“That’s a possibility. Do you know where she found them? Her sex toys?” Billy still couldn’t imagine that kind of threesome. But then he didn’t like to share. He sure as hell wouldn’t invite another man into his bed with Shannon.
“There’s a website. I’m contacting Rupert. Evelyn must have had her own computer. Where the hell is it?” Albert got up. “One more thing. Simon’s been after me to ask if you’ll sell Gertrude back to him. He won big at the casino. He has the money now.”
“I like that bike.” Billy thought about it. “Tell you what. If he’ll give up gambling, hold onto his winnings and invest them and bring me proof he did that? Sure, I’ll sell him Gertrude. Same price. Then you can find me another bike. I did enjoy the rides.”
“I like it. We’ll see how motivated he is to get that bike back.” Albert laughed. “Now I’ve got to see about dance lessons. Say what you will, I don’t want to disappoint my lady. Foxtrot? What the fuck is that?” He left the office, the door closing behind him.
Billy hit his own paperwork until Mai buzzed him. The housekeeper was here. He knew she was going to balk once she recognized him as Rupert’s attorney and he was right.
“What is this? You were in court with th
at murderer.” She shook her head and refused to sit down. She was a short woman in her fifties, maybe sixty. She had dark hair and a comfortable figure dressed in a knit pantsuit. Her sensible shoes were a brand Billy recognized. His grandmother had several pairs in bright colors. Maria’s were navy to match her pants.
“Now, Maria. Calm down. I’m sure you still want to know what Evelyn Billingsley left you in her will. I have a copy right here.” Billy walked around his desk, the will in his hand. Of course, he didn’t bother to tell her that Evelyn’s attorney would be contacting the housekeeper as soon as Rupert’s trial was over. If Evelyn’s husband was found guilty, he would forfeit his own part of the estate. If innocent, Rupert would stand to inherit millions. It was only natural that the reading of the will was being put on hold.
“I’m really in her will? Mrs. Greene’s will?” She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “I would never call her Billingsley. She knew that.”
“I’m sure you were a valuable and loyal employee. So she put up with your attitude.” Billy held out a chair. “Please, sit. We need to talk.”
“Just tell me what I want to know. That’s all I came here for.” But she dropped into the chair and set her large designer handbag in her lap. “See this? Very expensive. Mrs. Greene gave it to me. A Christmas present. She was good to me. Then that silly man came into her life. Things changed. Not for the better.”
“Did you know she was sick again?” Billy sat behind his desk and opened a file.
“Her cancer. How could I not know? She was a brave lady. I was so sad to see her suffering.” Maria reached for a tissue from the box on the corner of the desk. “She fought that cancer. We thought it was gone. I think she married that boy because he could take care of her. It was a mistake.”
“But he did care for her.” Billy shut the folder. “I’ve talked to Rupert. He’s convinced me that he really loved Evelyn. He was a nurse, able to give her pain medicine to help her deal with her illness.”
Texas Pride Page 25
