In a separate wing of the hospital, Nick Lowry lay in bed with his head cocked back, easing the sinus pressure of his healing nose. His lips and mouth were dry from breathing through his mouth.
A nurse came to the door, accompanied by a young man in a tan suit.
“Mr. Lowry, you have a visitor,” the nurse said.
The man introduced himself as a corporate attorney, Tim Vance, from the home office in Dallas. “Ben Jenkins sent me out here. We don’t want you to press charges, Lowry. We don’t want this in court. We want it to go away.”
“Why in the world shouldn’t it go to court?” Lowry said. “I want that Valentine woman locked up.”
“Remember, Lowry, this woman was a Caruso’s employee. She lost her pension in the takeover.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, we don’t need the details of that getting out in court and in the press. The press could start digging around into why this woman lost her pension. That is not the kind of visibility we need right now. There are hundreds of Caruso’s retirees who got the same letter as Valentine. God help us if they all start coming out of the woodwork. We can pick them off one by one, but if they band together and get the media on their side…”
“Damn it!” Lowry muttered. “This is a big mistake. If the company wants me to back off, then I’ll back off. But you deliver this message to Jenkins: I got a bad feeling about this. We’re appeasing this woman. She’s not going to slink off quietly. She’s going to cause more trouble. Don’t say I didn’t warn y’all.”
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The Fugitive Grandma
Mystery / ThrillerJohnny Valentine is a lonely boy who dreams of becoming a hero, just like the masked avengers in his comic books. His feisty grandmother Stella is a retired supermarket clerk and cancer survivor. Running out of time, money and options, the old lady...
