Note: As promised this is Part 2 of 2. This story is only fiction. That means I made it up. Characters are over 18 years old and are also fictional (yep, made them up too). No words were hurt in the writing of this story. I would like to thank my literary fact checker for an excellent editing job and his good sound advice. I will only read constructive feedback so name callers need not apply. Enjoy the story and practice safe sex.
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Karen's trip to Canada went great. She was unsure on the flight all the way there but her reception was overwhelming. A limo driver with her name on a sign picked her up at the Toronto Airport and brought her to the hotel to check in. The driver said they were expected in about an hour at the corporate suites downtown. The building was huge as the limo pulled up to the curb. He got out and opened the door.
"Please go to the twentieth floor Ms. Jones. Ask for Tanya, she is Mr. Holliday's assistant." the driver informed me.
"Thank you very much. Do I call a cab when I am done?" I asked the surprised looking driver.
"No Ms. Jones! You do not take a taxi or spend a dime while you are here. My tip has even been taken care of already. The only thing I was to do was make sure you were happy in Toronto and make sure you are at the meeting on time. Those were Mr. Holliday's personal instructions to me. All your hotel food, bar tab and your room are also taken care of." he also informed me.
"Well I want to thank you Robert. I might want a site seeing tour later if you are up to it." I could tell by his eyes what he really wanted to do later but he just smiled and said that would be great fun. He was tall and handsome. He had no wedding ring on his finger and he had a muscular body. His eyes said much more than I think he wanted to reveal. I think mine did too.
He helped me with a big box of paperwork I brought from New York with me. After bringing me to the 20th floor he said his goodbyes and told Tonya to call and he would be ready when they were all done with their meeting. I was then escorted into a very nice office that was very personable. There were pictures of family, sports stars and movie stars all over the walls. Mr. Holliday must have known many of them closely. Everyone was signed to Harvey with love or affection or just plain admiration.
I was only there for a few minutes when a heavy set man I recognized from the pictures on the wall came into the room. He had added a few pounds since some of the pictures were taken but he looked just as young in the face. He had a wide warm smile and you had to like this guy from the start. If he was a confidence man I thought to myself, he would have already had my money gone and spent. He just had an air about him. He seemed to give out a good vibe in general.
"Karen Jones it is a pleasure to meet you. I want to first thank you for your confidence in me concerning this whole matter. I know you could have gone right to the police and the IRS but you chose to go through the proper channels and I admire that. At first I thought you wanted some kind of hush money or something but the more you talked about this woman... Mary Wilson, it made me want to cry. I have several daughters her age and I wouldn't want anything to happen to them like what happened to your friend." Harvey told me honestly.
"Howard Industries is now owned by me and my family's holding company. We bought the parent company of Howard Industries last year but we haven't even had a chance to shake the tree at the parent company much less any of the smaller companies like Howard Industries. I will be doing that sooner than they realize though." he hinted to me. I knew this guy was for real and not a bullshit artist.
"Karen could you show me all your paperwork you brought with you? I want a full update and what you think is needed. Then I would like to get down to the real business at hand. How do we make this right for Mary and you while taking care of the foxes in the hen house so to speak? I don't like being associated with any of this kind of nonsense. Besides my wife would kill me if she found out I didn't do anything to stop this. She is the one I am really afraid of Karen." he said this as he made a mock horror face which just made me crack up. "Don't tell my wife I said that though." he added at the end with a wry smile.
I proceeded to show him the letter Mary left me my first day at work. When he was done reading it he actually started to cry. I gave him a minute to compose himself and I kept right on like nothing happened. I think he liked the fact that I just went on and didn't make a big deal of it. I could tell he was genuinely moved by the letter Mary penned.
I showed him all the financial papers and the report my Dad had prepared for me. I felt like it would be used in the future and I was proud of that.
"This Thomas Jones who did the report, is he related to you Karen?" he asked me wisely.
"Yes, he is my Father. He is an excellent forensic accountant in the mid-west of the USA. I asked him as a personal favor to do the report for me and make it so I could use it in court. He does this type of stuff all the time." I finished telling Mr. Holliday.
"I am very impressed with his work. The report is very factual and well written. You must think highly of him, please thank him for me for doing such a good job. A report like this could cost thousands to have done." he informed me.
I never really thought about my Father's business but I was very proud now. I guess I never realized the value of his work as a whole either. I realized it then and I was even prouder then I was earlier. Mr. Holiday made me come back to earth and to the problem at hand.
"Karen you said you had some video to show me? I would like to see it now and decide what to do with it myself. I don't want Mary to be exposed or ridiculed in the public eye. She does not deserve that, no one does." he finished as I pulled out the disc of Mr. Carter's private DVD he made of Mary at the 'Bonus Party' at his house.
He watched as I put in the disc and he grabbed the remote off his desk and sat beside me looking at a plasma TV in-set in a nice furniture cabinet. The picture roared to life and I stared to watch the footage with Mr. Holliday. He listened to all the comments Mr. Carter was making on the camera microphone. I started to watch him more than the screen and I could see he was uncomfortable with what was going on and what was going to happen next. As soon as Mary was tied to the tree he hit stop and looked at me. "It gets worse doesn't it?" he asked me in a totally quiet room. All I could do was nod my head yes sadly. He then stood up and he went back behind his desk.