Page 38 of Beautiful Life
“Right here.”
I pull in a breath and mumble into the phone, “I miss you.”
“Miss you, too, gem. I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport.”
“I really hope I don’t forget all this tomorrow,” I admit.
“No way will I let you forget any of this.”
“I know you won’t,” I mutter. It’s the last thing I remember.
Chapter 10 – The Way You Look at Her
Tony
Shit.
I hope this isn’t what I think it is. I don’t know what else it could be. I’ve been practicing law just under four years. It’s not like I have decades of experience to draw from but I’ve never seen anything like this.
McCurdy Transfers is a private trucking and transporting company of all sorts of goods. They’re headquartered here in Omaha and are the largest trucking company in the Midwest—one of the largest in the country. It’s always been a family business. Leo McCurdy started it in the sixties and grew the company, when in its prime ten years ago, was worth hundreds of millions. Old man McCurdy was known to be a wise business man who ran a tight ship with a finger in every facet of the company.
Until he died ten years ago.
And from the evidence lying before me, being a wise business man does not make you a good father.
McCurdy left the business in the hands of his son, who has proven not to be a wise business man. To the extent that it looks like Jason McCurdy is proving to be an imbecile of great magnitude. The books are a mess, audits haven’t been performed on a regular basis and profits have fallen in a huge way, especially over the last six years.
But none of this makes any sense because sales have remained steady. Sure, their costs have gone up with the price of oil, but they’ve passed that cost on to their clients. I can’t find one thing that should point to the dip in profits of thirty million over the last ten years, which is why they’re looking to sell. Jason McCurdy will still make a mint, just not the mint he would have made ten years ago. He’s still providing for his widowed mother and two sisters who are silent partners because of their inheritance. This makes his mint fractionally smaller and he realizes this, which is spurring his rash decision to sell. And not to a high bidder. An investment company from the east coast has made an offer for a quick, cash sale that will barely cover the assets of the fleet, let alone any worth of future earnings.
Because of my suspicions, I requested detailed sales reports and a meeting with the head of Sales and Marketing and, still, none of it adds up. I pick up my file, grab my laptop, and head into Gino’s office.
My dad and uncles, Gino and Luka, started this firm almost twenty-five years ago. Luka was Gabby’s dad who we lost four years back, now the firm is just the three of us. My dad and Gino are partners and they took me on as an associate after law school. It should be a few more years before they bring me on as a partner, but that’s what I expected. My job won’t change much when I become a partner, just my investment in the firm.
“Hey.” I rap on his open door. “You have a minute? I need to run something past you and dad.”
“Yeah,” Gino says, getting up from his desk while looking at his watch. “I have twenty minutes before I have to leave for a dinner meeting across town. I think your dad’s still in.”
We move to my dad’s office and I lay it out. “Something isn’t right with the McCurdy acquisition. I’ve requested additional sales documents from the last ten years—documents that aren’t associated with finance and accounting. They still have the same Sales and Marketing Manager who was in place when Leo McCurdy was alive. The documents she supplied me were detailed and included projected sales for her department. She’s top-notch and could be an accountant the way she manages her job and department. I usually don’t request documents like these, but things weren’t adding up and I felt like I had to dig deeper. What I found is nothing adds up. Their books are not coinciding with her sales reports.”
After I give them the rest of the details, my dad looks up from the files I’ve laid out in front of all of us.
Gino looks up from the papers. “It’s disappearing.”
“Looks like it,” I agree.
“Shit,” my dad mutters as he sighs and leans into his chair. “I knew Leo a long time. Good man, philanthropic and generous, even sat on the board with me at church for a while. But he put all his time and energies into that company. Who knows, that son of his might have turned out to be the idiot he is anyway, but he sure could have given his son some lessons in business before he died.”
“Bring him in,” Gino states. “As soon as possible. We’ll make time early next week and the three of us will sit down with him. In the meantime, reach out to their five largest vendors and let’s see if they’ll cooperate. They shouldn’t have a reason to have anything to hide. Maybe they’ll willingly provide copies of payments and invoices for the past few years without us having to request warrants. It doesn’t sound like those records will jive, but let’s see if there’s proof before we bring Jason McCurdy in for a meeting.”
“I’ve also requested accounts payable records from the last ten years,” I say. “Basically, do an audit, make sure we know where the money’s going.”
Gino adds, “How about we reach out to Jude, maybe he can put us in touch with someone in White Collar Crimes at the FBI while you contact Jason McCurdy. Let’s get our shit together first and hopefully we can get this done by early next week.”
I nod. “It’s late. I’ll make a quick call to McCurdy and talk to Jude tonight, reach out to the clients first thing in the morning.”
“I’ve got to go.” Gino gets up to leave. Looking back at me, he adds, “Good work, Tone. Keep us up to speed.”
Gino leaves as I look back to my dad. “I’ve got to go, too. I’m meeting Leigh to help her look for an apartment.” I try to tamp it down, but even I can hear the frustration in my voice.
