patted her on the shoulder and walked away, leaving her alone in her grief.
“He certainly was a fine man,” a voice announced.
She spun around to see a tall, good-looking man grinning at her. His hair was combed perfectly in place. He wore an expensive suit, double-breasted; his shoes were shiny black. His hand rested comfortably in the pocket of his suit jacket and his whole demeanor exuded confidence, almost to the point of arrogance. As her eyes traveled up to his face again, she noted a cruel twist to his smile, or could it be that he was nervous? No matter, her first impression was not a positive one. Plus, he interrupted her final moments with her Dad.
“Hello, Mrs. Sands.” He extended his hand, “I’m Jake Turner, your father’s attorney.”
She took his hand and shook it without much enthusiasm, continuing to stare at him, wondering why she was reacting so negatively.
He noted her irritation and tried to be as pleasant as possible. “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”
Karen stood perfectly still and waited.
Jake cleared his throat and said, “He was a fine man” one more time, with an awkwardness that emphasized the silence.
“Yes, he was a fine man,” she solemnly repeated. Glancing at the coffin one more time, she brushed a tear from her cheek and turned to walk back to the car. Her pace quickened as she felt him trying to keep up with her.
“I didn’t realize he had died until I read the obituary two days ago,” he stammered.
Karen stopped and stared at him until his eyes broke contact with hers and he shifted uncomfortably.
“I know you probably don’t want to discuss it right now but we need to go over the will.”
She glared for the longest time, only adding to his discomfort. “You’re right, Mr. Turner. Now is not a good time. Call me in a week.”
He nodded and walked away.
She watched his quick retreat and her intuition told her he was very nervous. She slowly walked toward the car still wondering about Jake Turner.
Harry stood there, impatiently waiting for her, his arms crossed. “What did he want?”
Sighing, “He wanted to know when we could get together to discuss the will. I can’t believe he didn’t just call; instead he shows up at the cemetery and wants to talk business. What a jerk!” She shook her head in disbelief, with a dawning realization that she didn’t care for Jake Turner. “I get the impression you don’t like him either.”
Harry shrugged his shoulders, “Let’s just say I don’t trust him. He hesitated, “No, you’re right. There is something I don’t like about him. Also, I wanted to talk to you about things I’ve been hearing. Rumors are going around that the firm is not pleased with his work right now. Maybe you should wait a while before you schedule a meeting. Check into your father’s finances on your own before he calls. What do you think?”
“I might just do that,” Karen said quietly as she watched Jake drive away.
A smirk on his face, he looked in the rearview mirror and noticed her watching; his ego took hold, causing him to conclude that she must be interested.
But just as curtly, his thoughts turned to the money he had taken from Travis Morton’s bank account, a glimmer of worry crept in, disrupted his thinking, then instantly evaporated, leaving him with a false sense of security.
I’ve got plenty of time to move money around and replace it. She’ll never know! He grinned as he thought about how adept he had become at using his clients’ money.
Since he had access to several bank accounts, he could take some when he needed it and they never knew the difference. His drug habit had become quite expensive over the last few months, making it imperative to find funds to cover his debts. He had come up with the perfect scam. He withdrew money from a client’s account to cover medical and household bills and allowed a little extra for himself. And, although he knew it was not his money to play with, the drugs robbed him of any values or ethics. Of course it was always his intention to pay it back, but the procrastination had led to borrowing from one account to cover another, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Not a bad deal, he thought, rubbing his hand across the bottom of his nose, a gesture that was becoming more and more frequent. Unaware of damage done by his cocaine abuse being noticed by others, he didn’t realize that a simple repetitive gesture of rubbing his nose was enough to set off alarm bells in some of his acquaintances.
Jake thought about the next hit, hardly able to contain his excitement at the prospect, while congratulating himself on how he handled Karen Sands.
Tomorrow he would maneuver the funds and everything would be back to normal.
As he drove through the cemetery gates, Jake marveled at his ingenuity. He had been right to come out today and approach her, and he presented such a caring attitude. She had to be impressed! He tried unsuccessfully to stifle a chuckle as he drove away, oblivious to the fact that Travis was watching.
He was there for the whole ceremony, and that included the ‘ceremony’ put on by Jake Turner. He watched until the car faded in the distance then he faded away too.
* * * * *
Upon entering her father’s house, Karen noticed a red blinking light in the distance, and, as she approached the living room, realized it was the voice mail on the phone. She pushed the button, smiling as she heard Jonathon’s voice.
“Hi, honey. It’s me,” he said rather seriously. “Please call me as soon as you can. Love you,” whispering as he hung up the phone.
Punching in the familiar number to their office, she waited for it to ring, knowing that he would be there to answer it.
“Hello,” she heard her husband say.
“Hi yourself. How are you?”
“Alright, I guess, but how about you. Did everything go okay? I’m just sorry I couldn’t be there with you.”
“I know, I know. Remember we talked about this and we agreed that you would stay and take care of the business.”
“Yeah, I know,” he sighed, “but I’m having guilt pangs.”
“Well, don’t. I just returned from the cemetery. A lot of Dad’s friends and employees were there. Several people gave some nice tributes to him.”
“That’s great, but I’m still sorry I wasn’t with you.”
“I know, but as I told you the other night, Dad and I talked and he was truly sorry for the way he treated you. He was hoping to make it up to us…” her voice trailed off.
“Your father loved you, Karen. I’m just glad that the two of you had a chance to reconcile your differences. That’s all that matters.”
“Thanks, honey. But, what’s going on there? You called and it sounded urgent.”
“You know that Lofton deal that we
