The Queen of Towne
- Crime in the City - Chapter Three
All characters in this story were 18 years of age or older when the events depicted took place. It was written as the third installment of a serial in a 1000 word short story contest.
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The son of a tavern owner, Artie Hardeman rose to prominence parlaying an eighth-grade education into a bar, restaurant, real-estate, gambling and strip-club empire federal prosecutors would value at forty-eight million dollars. The secret to his success was supplying video-poker and slot machines modified to accept paper money and print "souvenir receipts" to area taverns, and more importantly creating an under the table system to pay out winnings on those machines.
He assembled a network of family members, influential business associates - including the mayor of Towne and Country, and prominent local attorney Jack Reid. A man whom prosecutors would claim "owned" fifteen of the seventeen judges in the county. In time, his circle of associates included a twelve term U.S. Congressman.
He had given wives number one and two generous "parting gifts," and cashed in some of his chips to purchase a horse farm for his third wife, Jennie. Located just south of Towne, Blue Eagle Farm was outfitted in high style, with a white, wooden, split-rail fence ringing its green pastures. With Jack Reid, he also purchased an interest in the Towne Cab Co. And just after Ron's debacle in Hawai'i he rounded out his topless-club trifecta with the acquisition of Le Fontainebleau on the State Highway near the military base.