Cece, not thinking far enough ahead answered, “Maybe because the last time we saw her, social services came and picked her up?” The tone of her voice was sarcastic and it enraged Randy.
“You shut up!” he told her angrily. “What the fuck do you know about it? It’s not like I could afford to take on a teenager at that point.” He’d convinced himself of it at the time, even though he had his own teenager and could have. It had been revenge against his parents’ favorite, pure and simple. “I didn’t see you taking her in?” he turned it on her.
She didn’t answer, knowing that would infuriate him more. She also knew, in his mind, he had won this argument.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Ms. Joy Parker to see Lenora Abner?” Joy had just walked into the attorney’s office without prior notice or warning, and was hoping they would be surprised enough that she would learn something. She saw that Lenora was now a named partner. She wondered if that was because of her account coming through this firm.
The receptionist didn’t know her. She smiled apologetically, courteously answering, “I’m sorry, Ms. Abner is in a meeting. Do you have an appointment?” She noticed the fine clothes and treated the woman accordingly.
“No, I do not have an appointment,” she admitted. “Perhaps Mr. Duncan would consent to see me?” she tried, even though she detested him and his attempts to take over her account over the years.
“You don’t have an appointment with him either?” She was wondering if this woman knew protocol.
Joy smiled politely and shook her head. “No, I do not. However, if you let him or Lenora know I am here, I am sure they would want to see me.” She grinned inside knowing they would damn well fall over themselves to oblige her if they knew she was here. Money talked and hers shouted. As she looked around at the busy offices, she wondered how much of it was because of her bringing her business here. She had not given them a lot of it, but the initial will and work had to have given them prestige that could be talked about in circles that would give them more business. Their handling of the trust she had set up had certainly given them monies they had not earned.
“One moment please,” she answered politely. “I’ll ring through.” She indicated Joy could sit, but the blonde preferred to stand as she paced slightly, something she knew would annoy or intimidate. “Hello, I have Joy Parker to see Ms. Abner?” she began. Someone must have said something on the other end of the line. “No, she doesn’t have an appointment, but she asked to see Mr. Duncan if Ms. Abner was too busy?” Another silence and then, “Uh huh, sure, I’ll tell her,” and hung up the phone. She looked up at the blonde who had shamelessly listened and said, “May I get you a coffee or something else?” she offered when Joy shook her head.
“No, thank you,” she answered politely. It was always difficult in social situations. She did not like the taste of coffee or tea, she preferred juices or just plain water. At the moment, she did not want anything.
“Someone will be with you shortly,” she said in answer to Joy’s refusal, wondering who this woman was. Judging her by her clothes, she had money. That was obvious by the expensive label she recognized.
Just then someone rushed in the front lobby and said, “Joy? Joy Parker?” Lenora Abner was shocked. She hadn’t seen ‘the kid’ as they had referred to her behind her back in all these years. She wouldn’t have recognized her now if she didn’t know who they said she was.
Joy turned with a smile to her attorney. She too was amazed at the change in her attorney. She was definitely older, mature, and had a confidence that radiated from her. It had not been like that before. It had begun, but it was not so obvious as it was now. “Hello, Ms. Abner,” she said politely in well-modulated tones, holding out her right hand to shake.
Lenora shook it gratefully, pleased to see her. “Let’s go back to my office. Can I get you anything?” She threw an angry glance at the receptionist as she urged the blonde down the hall. The receptionist shrugged, but she saw how the partner had nearly tripped over herself to accommodate the woman and filed that away. Obviously, Joy Parker was someone.
“No, thank you,” she smiled, seeing the look. She looked around interestedly as she was led to the partner’s office. She noted it was not a corner office like Duncan’s, but still it was nice, very nice.
“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?” Lenora asked, sounding delighted to see her, but underneath she was worried. Was something wrong?
“I’m here to ask a few questions about the trusts we set up with my money. The ones we used as write-offs so I did not have to pay as much in taxes?” She had wondered if she should trust Lenora. She knew she was involved with Annette Whitley, whose investments had paid a modest return, but who also was involved with the trusts. If she went after any of them for fraud, and she had been ripped off, this might be a sticky situation.
“Of course, of course,” she said heartily, relieved that there was not a legal action to follow up on. Many clients contacted their lawyers almost too late sometimes. Joy Parker’s estate had been straightforward with the will and trusts. “What can I do for you?” she asked as she sat behind her large mahogany desk.
Joy sat down across from her, the plush leather chair matching everything in the dark office. It spoke of elegance…rich elegance. She liked it. However, she wondered how much of her money had gone to pay for this? “I want to know why the trust that was set up to pay for the homeless shelters in Milwaukee and build new shelters have never used any of the money I’ve been paying out for the last seven years?”
Lenora blinked. She had been very careful when she and her teams had set up those tax shelters so that Joy wouldn’t pay outrageous taxes on her winnings. It had been a complete write-off, nothing that the government wouldn’t let them do. “How do you know they never received the money?” she hedged, to buy time and to think.
Joy smiled, but it was not the pleasant, mind-boggling one, she had been taught. This one she had learned later as she dealt with those who would try to figure out her net worth, her assets, and who she was. “I was just there. None of the funds have changed any lives in Milwaukee that I can see. I want an accounting of the funds and I want it now,” she said firmly in a no-nonsense voice.
Lenora was startled. The kid had grown up. Not only had she grown physically, but it was obvious she had grown mentally and more. She was not dealing with someone with a large amount of money who didn’t know what they were doing anymore. She was dealing with a woman who could, and she could see, would, destroy her with those same funds. She swallowed slightly, her day suddenly ruined. “Of course you do. I can get a firm…” she began, but Joy interrupted her by holding up a well-manicured hand.
“Your girlfriend,” she began and watched Lenora flinch slightly. “Oh yes, I figured out the two of you were involved long ago. I may have been a naïve kid, but I was not stupid. Annette Whitley was involved in investing those funds. I want an audit. I want it immediately on not only both the trust funds your company created for me, but the investments that Ms. Whitley made with those funds. I further want an outside source, not one of the companies you normally deal with. In short,” she finished firmly, again the voice of steel, “I want pit bulls on this.”
Lenora was nodding. Anything she wanted, anything. This could really ruin the firm’s reputation. She knew it could for Annette’s firm as well. Both firms had grown substantially as it was ‘leaked’ that they had dealt with Joy Parker, the three hundred-million-dollar lottery winner. Gawd, she hoped no discrepancies showed up in the audit. “We can do that, of course. You know a CPA is going to cost upwards of three hundred dollars an hour?” she cautioned.
Joy nodded in agreement. “I do not want just one man or woman with a calculator going over this. I want a team of individuals going over everything with a fine-tooth comb,” she warned ominously, her voice, while still well-modulated, really promised dire retribution and Lenora responded.
“Of course, we’ll get on this immediately.
Do you have anyone in mind?” she asked, wondering how this was going to look to the other partners. She just hoped they found nothing and none of this got out.
Joy was a step ahead of her. She had made quite a few phone calls that morning before getting in a cab and coming here. “I have a firm coming here and to Whitley Financial this afternoon. I would appreciate if you did not warn Ms. Whitley or her firm ahead of time.”
Lenora nodded, understanding the discretion and knowing she couldn’t discuss it with Annette anyway because of attorney-client privileges. “We broke up,” she offered in a conciliatory voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said politely, sounding sincere. She had already guessed that as there was no picture of the couple on Lenora’s shelves.
“It was amicable, so I’m sure we can work with them once your audit goes…”
Again, Joy lifted her hand to cut off the attorney. “I do not care about that at the moment. Something stinks here and I want it ferreted out and then cut out,” she sounded ominous again.
Lenora was stunned at how rapidly Joy could change from the nice, polite woman to the murder and mayhem-sounding woman she became. She understood though. Millions were missing and that didn’t bode well for anyone.
“You will, of course cooperate?” Joy asked out of politeness, but her tone indicated a demand, not a question.
“Of course,” she promised. Anything, anything at all to appease this important client.
“I will be in touch then,” Joy concluded, getting to her feet and bringing the short meeting to a close.
“Do we have your number?” Lenora asked as she too got to her feet, remembering when a cell phone, even an email, had been too much for the kid.
“I will leave it with your secretary,” she promised and without a friendly goodbye, headed for the door. She paused before leaving and turned, looking directly at Lenora, “I do hope this works out well.”
The tone of what Joy said bothered Lenora. It hadn’t been a threat…and yet, she felt threatened. It hadn’t been friendly, as in ‘let’s be friends’ either. She was puzzled about it, hiding in her office and canceling appointments, until her secretary announced that the auditors were there. She had their clerks pull everything on the Joy Parker trusts for them and gave the auditors access to it all. Right away, they found that a copy of the original will, the mock-up they hadn’t even used, was missing. This didn’t bode well for the audit.
“What the hell is going on?” Duncan asked, seeing the crew of people and the paperwork strewn over their conference room table.
“An audit,” Lenora answered shortly as she gazed through the windows. Almost like a zoo exhibit, she had thought after finding out about the missing copy of the will.
“For us?” he worried, wondering if he should be taking steps to hide some things in his office.
“Partly. Joy Parker walked in here today and there are monies missing from one of her trusts,” she informed him, watching his reaction out the corner of her eye. There was no point in hiding it, he’d find out the truth anyway.
“Shit,” he swore, knowing that name. He’d always wanted her business, but she had been adamant that Lenora had to handle her affairs. He had thought it was because she was a lesbian too, but no confirmation of that could be found. Then he thought perhaps it was a ‘girls only club’ fixation. It never occurred to him that she simply felt more comfortable dealing with Lenora since she knew he hadn’t wanted to deal with her in the first place until he found out about her vast fortune, or that she simply didn’t like him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The scene was similar over at Whitley Investments. Annette had been stunned to find Joy Parker on her doorstep. The team of accountants who had descended on her firm within half an hour of Joy’s visit hadn’t been welcome. They’d initially been turned away until a phone call from Joy had assured them that she would pull every investment in a matter of an hour, file charges of obstruction to her assets, and about half a dozen other charges as well as any bogus ones she could find. She also promised to inform the press of what she was doing and why. Annette’s partners had let the accountants in without another word.
“It’s not that we don’t want to accommodate you,” Annette had protested, “but we could have done with a little warning, so we could be ready for you.”
“Why? Give you time to hide things?” Joy answered back. She found people were braver on the phone when they did not have to see their opponent. She had gone in, told Annette basically the same things she had told Lenora, and left. She got a phone call from the lead investigative accountant half an hour later when she had been denied entry into the firm. She had asked her to hand the phone to Annette.
“If you have nothing to hide then they won’t find anything,” Joy pointed out. “I’m paying for this audit and it’s my money, so, I suggest you give them access to all my paperwork and we’ll call this a misunderstanding,” she warned and they ended the call soon afterwards.
Joy knew it was going to take days for the audits that were going on simultaneously. She had found this firm in Austin, recommended by someone in Dallas, via another friend in Europe. She had flown down their entire office for this, her money making a difference. As she left them to do their magic, she walked herself back down the Riverwalk, reminiscing over the time she had spent there so many years ago. It was still beautiful. This time, instead of the cold winter and the dead trees, spring had sprung and there were so many green-leafed, beautiful trees, she felt it was all for her benefit. She smiled into the sun and radiated goodwill. She was not angry about what had occurred that day, so far, but she would get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, she was going to enjoy her time in San Antonio.
As she stopped in at the mall, she remembered the year she had ‘donated’ so many gift cards to people via Santa. She had wanted to set up a trust to do that every year and felt bad that she had not. The papers had reported it and the store manager had mentioned an anonymous donor well after Christmas. They had not wanted the press about the gift cards before Christmas or many people would have shown up because of that. A free Santa had been enough to swell their usual sales totals that year and people had long memories about how well they had been treated that one year. Still, it was a good memory and as she drank a hot chocolate on this beautiful spring day, looking down into the mall, she smiled at her thoughts.
“Are you smiling at me?” a pretty gal asked from where she was eating her pizza.
Joy started, she had not realized she was smiling. “I guess so,” she said instead.
“Why?” the girl asked with a puzzled frown.
“Oh, maybe because it’s a beautiful day and I’m just happy to be here.”
The girl nodded, then frowned. “Okaaay. I thought perhaps you were trying to pick me up.” She was not sure if she would have liked it or not. The woman was very attractive, but she was not sure if she was bi .
Joy smiled again at the girl’s statement. She had been hit on by men and women for years. She had learned the art of flirtation. She had also learned time and time again, how to turn people down. She had never felt very comfortable in those situations. She had remembered the sloppy passes of the drunks in the bars for years and the offers by the pimps to help her out. She did not know what she wanted, a man or a woman, and as she heard what sounded like hope in the girl’s voice, she was not quite sure how to respond. She had not been trying to pick her up. She knew that, but the girl had hoped she was. She shook her head. “No, I was not. It’s nice of you to say though.” She hoped the girl was not disappointed.
The girl made an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. “I guess,” she answered and then concentrated on her pizza again, a bit embarrassed at confronting the unintended smile of the well-dressed older woman.
Joy made sure to turn away slightly. She had seen the telltale reddening of the girl’s cheeks. She thought about it some more. Was she interested in men? Was she interested in women? She had felt no att
raction for either and thought perhaps she was some sort of sexless being. She had tried to kiss both sexes, enjoyed them, but once it went to a certain point, she just did not seem interested. She had thought perhaps she needed a shrink, but she just couldn’t justify seeing one for a problem that seemed sexual. She thought it sounded too weird to see a sex therapist. Did she really have a problem? Or did she just not meet anyone that interested her enough to lose her virginity? She did not know, and had not cared too much as she worked on self-discovery over the years. It had frustrated a few people and she simply couldn’t worry about it.
Now she started thinking. She did not have a best friend to confide in. She had always heard that a best friend made the best lover. Most of her friendships were artificial. She did not confide her deepest, darkest thoughts with anyone. She had not had a best friend since she was fourteen years old when she lost her parents. It was too hard to stay in contact with her old friends once she was in the foster system and when she was on the streets, she couldn’t afford to trust anyone. She even hid stuff from her roommate, which was why the pocket in the floorboards had been necessary. She had no family, no friends, no one to share her life with. Even if she did, how could she trust anyone with the knowledge that she was worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Would it be her they wanted in their life or her money? It was a heavy burden and she had not put anyone to the test over it. Her friends in Europe all speculated, but no one knew how much she was really worth. She sported a secret smile, making sure she aimed it over the railing of the food court where she was sitting so no one would misinterpret it. She had taken her winnings, and in the seven years since had spent relatively little and more than doubled them. No one knew that and she had spread it between several banks so she would never have her little pot all in one place. How could she ever share that with anyone?
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