Hampton Manor (17 page)

“I appreciate that and under different circumstances, I would be grateful, but my mind is made up. I’m going to pack my bags and leave Old Brooking forever.”

“Are you running off with him?”

Marcia was getting annoyed by his line of questioning. “As a matter of fact I am, not that it’s any of your business.”

Adam fidgeted in his chair. He already suspected that Kane knew in advance about the customer defection and now this.
How can that loser be getting the best of me?
“You’re making a big mistake, you know. I can offer you so much more than Kane Masterson ever can.”

“Everything isn’t about money, Adam. Please don’t make this anymore difficult than it already is. My resignation stands. I’m sure that if you think about it you’ll realize that. it’s for the best.”

Adam’s cool quickly turned to anger. “You ungrateful bitch. You’re no better than he is. You both can rot in hell. You’re fired! Get your things together and be off the premises in one hour.” Adam’s face turned red as he gestured toward the door. “Get out!”

Marcia had a shocked look on her face, but inside she was thinking,
Oh, my god. He did it. I’m free!
She stormed out of Adam’s office and slammed the door for effect.

Marcia was out of the building in fifteen minutes. Within another twenty-five she joined Kane in the front seat of his car which was still parked in front of Evelyn Littleton’s house. They were anxious to tell each other their news. He let her go first.

“It went just as we were hoping it would. He actually fired me, but not before he admitted that he had someone following you. He said that you’ve been watched since you first arrived in Old Brooking and that I just got caught in the crosshairs.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute. I think I would have spotted a tail right away if they were following just me. Well, that doesn’t really matter, now. Does that mean you’re ready to shake this town?”

“The sooner, the better. Now tell me, how was lunch with your mother?”

“Well, that’s a whole other story. Unfortunately it took a totally unexpected turn. It wasn’t entirely her fault, though. It was mostly of my doing.”

“What happened?”

“Well, do you remember that I told you that my father ran off before I was born? Well it seems that Peter Masterson ran off, alright, but he was not my real father. My mother says that she had an affair with a married man and that I’m the bastard son of a mystery man. Worse than that, she flat out refuses to tell me his name.”

“She must have a good reason, Kane, although, after all these years, I can’t imagine what it might be, except, perhaps it might be someone you know.”

“She’s obviously covering up for someone and she’s very adamant about disclosing his name. I haven’t a clue as to who it might be. What should I do?”

“I think you have to respect her wishes. I’m sure it was hard for her to admit as much as she did. You need to cut her some slack. When the time is right, she’ll tell you.”

“I‘m not so sure. I could see that it was tearing her apart just talking about him.”

“That’s all the more reason for easing off. What are you going to do, now?”

“I’m going to try to locate Peter Masterson. Maybe he can shed some light on this.”

“I’m not surprised. May I suggest that you don’t tell your mother what you’re planning to do. She’s upset enough as it is.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to make some discreet inquiry into his whereabouts. That way I can keep my options open.”

He leaned over and kissed her. “She wants to meet you, you know.”

“I’m anxious to meet her too. She sounds like a remarkable woman.”

“She is,” he said, “But she’s also stubborn and very proud.”

Kane’s mother answered the door with a big smile on her face. Her eyes still showed a slight puffiness from the tears that flowed so freely an hour earlier. Evelyn reached out and drew Marcia into a close hug, catching her off-guard, but since she came from a family of huggers, it felt comfortable.

After several moments, Evelyn released Marcia and held her at arm’s length.

“Look at you, you’re more beautiful than Kane said you were.”

“That’s kind of you to say. I’ve so looked forward to meeting you.”

Evelyn opened the door wider as she said, “Well, don’t just stand there, you two, come on in and bring me up-to-date on everything that happened with Adam Hampton.”

The rest of the afternoon went well and by six, Kane and Marcia were back in his room at the Belmonte. Kane phoned his attorney, Bert Wilson at Wilson & Schirmahorn.

“I need the name of an investigator who can trace someone down.”

“Give Ted Andreason a call. I use him for skip-tracing. He’s good and he’s discreet.”

Kane wrote down the number. “Thanks, Bert.”

Ted Andreason returned his call within an hour. Kane gave him the few facts that he had.
 

Three hours later the investigator called again with a report on Peter Masterson.

“Here’s what I’ve got on Peter Randolph Masterson. When he left Old Brooking in 1974 he headed for Los Angeles. He married Joan Farley in 1976 and divorced her two years later. Then he disappeared for twenty years and reemerged in Las Vegas in 1998 as the owner of a small restaurant. I have his business and home phone numbers. I can dig more into the “lost” years if you can give me more time. He’s an open book, one of the easiest traces I’ve ever had.”

“No, Ted,” Kane replied, “That won’t be necessary. You did great. Thank you.”

The phone rang several times before he answered, “Peter Masterson. Who is this?”

“Kane Masterson, Evelyn Littleton’s son.”

At first it was quiet at the other end then, “Well, I’ll be damned. Why are you calling me? Has something happened to Evelyn?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m calling because my mother recently told me that you were not my real father and that I got your name by accident. I’m trying to locate my real father and I thought maybe you could help. My mother refuses to tell me who it is, but I believe that I have a right to know.”

“Your mother is a very stubborn woman. I think I know why she won’t tell you and I’m not sure I should either.”

“Then, you’re admitting that you know who it is.”

“Of course, I know. That’s why I left town. I wasn’t going to be made a fool of. She was not only having an affair, but she got pregnant on top of it. Tell me something about yourself. What have you done with your life?”

Masterson was obviously stalling for time, but Kane decided to go along with it for now.“Well, I was CEO of my own textile business until recently. I’m planning to get married soon and move away from Connecticut, but before I do that I want to clear up any loose ends in my life. This thing about my real father is one of them.”

“That makes sense. Sounds like your mother did a good job raising you. You seem to have both feet solidly on the ground. Tell me, how is your mother doing these days? I always admired the woman, but I just couldn’t forgive her infidelity. So I left and never looked back.”

“Mother is definitely her own person. She married two more times after you, searching for some idyllic person to make her happy.” Kane was getting anxious. He sensed that Peter Masterson wanted to level with him, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to divulge the name. Finally in desperation he said, “Look, Peter, this is my life we‘re talking about. Please, man to man, help me out here.”

The reluctance in Peter’s voice was evident.”Okay, but you have got to forget where you heard it. Your father is Adam Hampton II. Somehow he cast a spell over your mother and you’re the outcome. It’s a credit to her that she was strong enough to walk away completely from that family. That mix up with my name at the hospital made everything easy all the way around. I never protested, because, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t have kids. Knowing you were carrying my name somehow made me feel more manly. Now that I’ve spoken with you, I’m glad I kept quiet about it.”

It was fortunate for Kane that Masterson rambled on, because he was at a loss for words.
Oh my god!
Adam Hampton II is my biological father? I would never have thought that was possible. That means that Adam Hampton III is my half-brother.

“Are you certain of that? Could there be a mistake?”

“Very certain. I never saw them together, but people that I trust, did. Not just once but many times. I found this out afterwards. I also found out he picked up her hospital bills. When I confronted her she made it very clear that it was Adam Hampton II that got her pregnant.” She made me promise to keep everything a secret. I agreed. At that point I didn’t really care. I knew I had to get away from her as quickly as I could.”

“You must have been devastated.”

“I was, Kane and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, but under the circumstances I wouldn’t have been much of a father.” He ended the conversation by switching the subject. “Look, if you’re ever traveling out this way I would like to meet you. You seem to be a very remarkable man. I’m proud that you bear my name.”

“I appreciate your saying that, Peter. After hearing what you just told me I’m equally proud to carry your name. I understand now, why my mother wouldn’t tell me his name. Thanks for leveling with me.”

“Glad to help. Good Luck!”

Kane sat back in utter dismay. Thoughts began to fire off in his head.
How ironic it is that my arch-enemies turn out to be my father and my half-brother? This adds a very personal note to my plans. I have nothing but contempt for them both. They think they stole my business from me. Well we’ll just see about that. I’m going to get it all back and then some or my name isn’t Kane Masterson.

Chapter 24

Daniel dialed the offices of Local 33. The call went to the machine. “Gil, this is Daniel. When you get this, call me. It’s been two weeks now. I’ve tried to get a sit-down with you, but your secretary keeps making excuses. You’re not acting in good faith.” He stopped speaking for a few seconds, then continued. “If you won’t sit down with me I’ll have to go to SEWU. I don’t want to do that, but you’re leaving me little choice. Am I making myself clear?”

At the other end of the call, Gil was laughing as he listened to the message. He was tempted to pick up the phone and tell Daniel that he already had the full support of SEWU, but decided to let him stew for awhile. He looked at the check on his desk. It was for twenty-five thousand dollars made out to the Local 33 Welfare Fund, signed by Adam Hampton III. All that was asked for in return was an additional two to three weeks of the strike. Gil’s union members didn’t mind as long as they received weekly support payments from the union and the promised retroactive increases from the new contract. A few of them even went on a two week cruise and were in no hurry to return to work. Gil had no concerns about his parent union. As long as Local 33 didn’t request strike funds from them, SEWU didn’t care how long it took to settle the strike. The overture that Adam made regarding the smooth transition of Preston workers into Hampton’s UNITE unions was already showing promise. It would provide UNITE with financial capital and SEWU with future political capital. To a union local the size of Gils, a “marker” of this type has immense value.
 

It was a win-win for all parties with the exception of Daniel McKnight.

Lauren found Daniel at his desk with a stack of files strewn in front of him. She couldn’t tell from the expression on his face whether or not it was a good time to approach him. During the past week she often found him to be ill-tempered, especially regarding the subject of the strike.

Daniel owned two stadiums and three teams. The Old Brooking Indians and Old Brooking Wildcats played their home games in McKnight Stadium, an outdoor stadium. The Old Brooking Blizzards played on the ice at McKnight Arena, an indoor arena. When Daniel purchased the franchises for the three teams, he was contractually obligated to assume the union contracts for the two stadiums. His twelve person office staff remained non-union.

Cautiously, she asked, “So what’s happening?”

He snapped out of his funk, “Actually something good has come out of this mess with Local 33. I spoke with the Owner’s Associations at the Football and Hockey Leagues about the lack of cooperation I’m getting from SEWU. They were both very sympathetic. They asked if I would consider a schedule change for the Wildcats and the Blizzards to play their next two games at the opponent’s stadiums. I thought that that was a great idea. They just called back to tell me that it was all set up with the other teams, including sharing concession revenues. That last part really threw me for a loop. Do you realize that that means that we do not have any games scheduled at our stadiums for the next four weeks. How do you think Gil Parsons will like that? It sure weakens his position.”

“That’s really good news. Speaking of Gil Parsons, do you know any more about why he’s refusing to bargain with you? It’s such a turnabout from his usual behavior.”

“Not a thing. He keeps trying to put the onus on me because I left town for a few days when we got married. I still have an uneasy feeling about his stubbornness. There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye. My gut tells me that Adam Hampton is mixed up in this somehow. I wish I knew for sure what was behind his reluctance to bargain in full faith.”