Chapter 10
The Golden Dragon Partnership
As I was contemplating Don's situation, I couldn't help but worry about the possibility of another murder trial. My stomach began to tighten. I took a deep breath and tried to relax. Rebekah would have a stroke if I even contemplated defending Don Blaylock. But I was jumping the gun. Don couldn't possibly have murdered anyone. He was the most clean-cut, honest man I knew. It couldn't have been him, even if he was awfully pissed at Luther Bell. And Pam--no way could she have killed anyone. As I drove up to the Blaylock's house, a constable's car was just leaving. Don was standing on the front porch reading a citation. I figured he had been sued over the car wreck. I was right.
"How bad is it?" I asked when I reached him.
"$2.7 million!"
"Oh God! I was afraid we might be looking at some hefty damages when I saw Jennifer had killed a doctor."
We went inside. I said hello to Pam and took a seat in an overstuffed chair. Don brought in a bottle of Jack Daniels. He asked me if I wanted a drink, but I declined. Liquor invariably made me sleepy and dulled my cognitive powers. I knew I needed to be wide awake and alert for this interview. Pam brought me a cup of coffee.
"How can they sue me? I wasn't even in the car," Don moaned.
"They can sue anybody, but that doesn't mean they can win. It will be difficult for them to prove you were at fault. You may own the car, but for you to be liable they would have to show you were negligent in letting Jennifer drive. Since you didn't even know she was driving, I can't see a jury holding you responsible for what happened."
"What should I do?"
"Call your insurance agent and tell him you've been sued. The insurance company should defend the suit. They'll hire an attorney for both you and Jennifer."
"But Stan, we only have a $300,000 policy," Pam said. "That's not nearly enough."
"I know, but a lot of times plaintiffs will settle for less. Nobody wants to go through a big trial and wait years to get paid--particularly when liability is questionable."
"I'm so worried," Pam said. "Rob may go to jail, Jennifer's pregnant, and now Don's been sued for millions of dollars. What else can go wrong?"
"I could be arrested for murder," Don replied.
"You were with me. They can't pin that on you," Pam said.
"Nobody will believe you. They will just think you are trying to protect me. Besides, we could have done it together."
"Wait a minute," I interjected. "If you want me to help you, I need you to back up and fill me in on what this is all about. I heard about the murder and I know you are both suspects, but I don't know the whole story about your investment with Luther Bell."
"His investment," Pam noted pointing a finger at Don.
Don frowned, then turned to me and said in a dejected tone, "Okay, I'm sorry. It's complicated, but I'll try to explain it to you as best I can."
"Good," I replied.
"Should we wait for Jim?" Pam asked.
"No, he called and said he couldn't make it," Don replied.
"Jim is one of the partners, right?" I asked.
"Right. He is a group manager for a local electronics firm, PCS."
"Is he married?"
"Yes. His wife's name is Wanda. She's a housewife and volunteer at the children's unit at Doctors' Hospital."
"Children?"
"They have just one child, Paul. You've met him. He's our catcher on the Red Sox."
"Oh, yeah. I remember him. I haven't met his father though."
"Anyway," Don said. "Like I mentioned to you before, Pam and I invested in a restaurant recently."
"Right, a restaurant. . . . Hmm," I replied. I had put a number of restaurants into bankruptcy, so I had an appreciation for what an incredibly difficult business Pam and Don had gotten themselves into. I settled back into my chair expecting the worst.
"Well, as you know, Luther Bell was our managing partner. He's the one who got us in the restaurant in the first place."
"Yes, I met Luther at a Chamber meeting once and he's called me a couple of times trying to sell me insurance."
"Right, that's where I met him too. Anyway, Pam and I had accumulated a little money and were looking for an aggressive investment."
"Aggressive?" I asked. "Why?"
"It suddenly occurred to us that we only had a few years before Rob started college. We hadn't saved anything, so our strategy was to set aside as much money as we could and invest it aggressively so we might come close to having enough for Rob's college expenses."
"Oh, I see. I've got the same problem. Rebekah and I haven't put a dime in our children's college fund. We just figured Rebekah would go back to work when Reggie started school and she'd just sign her checks over to the University of Texas each payday."
Pam smiled. "I'm not a nurse, so I couldn't make near enough."
"I'm just kidding. I'm afraid my kids will have to do what I did--work and get well acquainted with the school's financial aid officer. . . . Anyway, I'm sorry for interrupting. Go on."
Don nodded and continued, "So, when Luther called and said he was a financial consultant, I just naturally mentioned that we were looking for an aggressive investment. At first he suggested a universal life product with an 11% return but I told him we were looking for something that would return 18% or better.
"That stumped him for a minute. But then he told us he was looking at a Golden Dragon franchise out of California. I was familiar with this restaurant chain and knew it was quite successful on the west coast. A franchise deal was attractive to me because I had seen several of my friends make great returns on franchise investments. One of them had bought a couple Whataburgers and another one a Swensens. They both were bragging all the time about the money they were making. I figured with a little luck my $10,000 could grow to maybe $50,000 which would pay a big chunk of Rob's education. Luther promised to call me later when he had more information about it. I told him I would mention the deal to Jim and some other potential investors to make it worth his while.
"A few days later, Luther called and said that he had a prospectus and some financial projections for us. He sent them over by courier for us to look at. I called Jim Cochran, and he and Wanda came over to check them out.
"We spent the afternoon looking them over and all agreed they looked spectacular. We were very excited about the venture."
"You were excited about it," Pam corrected. "Wanda and I thought the numbers looked too good to be true."
"Yes, but you went along with the deal."
"Only because you said you were sure they were accurate."
"How was I supposed to know that Luther had tampered with them?"
"Okay," I interjected. "So you told Luther you wanted in on the deal?"
"Yes, Jim and a couple of guys at his office wanted to invest too. So I told Luther to go ahead and get the paperwork filled out."
As we were talking, their daughter, Donna, came in with a big golden retriever close behind. The big dog immediately came over to me and started sniffing my shoes.
"Hi, Donna," I said. "Is this your dog?"
"Yes, this is Rip. . . . Where's Marcia?"
"Oh, she's at home. I came straight from the office so I couldn't bring her along."
She exaggerated a frown. "Next time bring her."
"Okay, I will."
"How's my little monkey," Don said. "Come here. I haven't seen you all day."
Donna turned to her father and said indignantly. "I'm not a monkey."
"Don raised his eyebrows and then asked, "You're not? How come Mom said she had to pull you down from a tree today?"
"I was trying to get Cindy's cat down. Rip chased her up a tree."
"I didn't see any cat," Pam said.
"When I got up there, she ran away."
"Well, you're lucky you didn't fall off the tree and break a leg," Don said.
"Kids are fun, aren't they?" I said.
"They're a pain in the ass if you ask me," Don said as he grabbed Donna, threw her over his lap and began to spank her gently.
"Daddy, don't spank me!"
"Why not?"
Donna wiggled off his lap and glared at him.
"That hurt," she complained as she forced a frown and rubbed her bottom.
"Oh, I barely touched you. I was just kidding around. It didn't really hurt, did it?"
Donna smiled and said, "No."
"Then come over here and give Daddy a big hug."
Donna's face stiffened as she inched her way toward her father. When she got within an arms length he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She giggled as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug.
Don groaned like she was crushing him. She laughed in delight. Don said, "What about Stan, doesn't he get a hug?" She ran over to me, put her arms around me and hugged me as hard as she could. I laughed.
"Oh, thank you, Donna. I think you are stronger than Marcia. That was a great hug."
Pam smiled. "Okay, Donna, go play until bedtime. We're discussing important business with Stan. Take Rip with you."
Donna patted Rip on his back and started running toward the door. "Come on, Rip," she said.
"Bye," Mr. Turner, "Donna said as she and Rip ran off down the hall.
"Isn't it great to have a daughter?" I said. "It only took you guys three tries. It took us four. Rebekah wanted to give up. She was sure we'd have another boy, but I knew it would be a girl. I even bought pink bubble gum cigars to give out and wouldn't let her bring anything blue to the hospital."
Pam laughed. "It's a good thing Donna came when she did, because I wouldn't have tried a fourth time."
"It is great, though, having a pretty little thing like her prancing around the house," Don mused.
"It is. I wouldn't trade Marcia for anything," I said.
I was glad Donna had made an appearance as the mood at the Blaylock house had gone up a few notches. I hated to have to plunge back into the grit and grime of reality but that was why I was there. I said, "Okay, so where were we?"
Don continued, "Well. Several weeks later, Luther had the deal put together, and we were summoned to the bank where the venture was to be financed. We met with the bank officer handling the loan, Herb Winters, and gave him our financial statements. He explained the loan to us and said he'd have an answer from the bank in a couple of days. After the meeting, Luther gave us copies of the partnership agreement. He said it was a standard agreement. Jim wanted to take it home and read it carefully but Luther insisted we read it and sign it then. We glanced over it but obviously didn't have time to read it verbatim. Jim asked if the agreement required additional capital contributions. Luther said in emergencies it did, but he didn't expect that to ever happen.
"The next day, Luther showed us the restaurant sites. We agreed on a location that previously had housed another restaurant, as Luther said it would be less expensive to finish out. A couple weeks later, the deal closed, and Luther invited us to a closing party at Anthony's in Northpark to celebrate."
I cringed when Don told me there had been a closing party. It reminded me of Kurt Harrison and the Panhandle Building fiasco that nearly cost me my law license when I first started practice. Harrison had been a high roller who was more concerned with appearances than reality. Luther apparently shared many of these same traits, which was a bad omen.
We got up and stretched our legs. I called Rebekah and told her I'd be home by 10:00 p.m. She asked how bad it was. I told her it was too early to tell but that I'd fill her in when I got home. Pam put Donna to bed. Greg managed to tear himself away from his Dungeons and Dragons game to say hello. I chatted with Rob a minute when he stopped by to change clothes and then Don continued the saga.
"The closing party was pretty eloquent. We were served a five course dinner consisting of lobster bisque, garden salad, shrimp scampi, and roast beef, along with plenty of fine wine. They served raspberry cheesecake for dessert. When the meal was completed, Luther got up and thanked us for investing in the Golden Dragon and promised we would all make a lot of money."
"Eight weeks later the Golden Dragon Restaurant officially opened. The mayor of Greenville presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony which drew a pretty big crowd of local businessmen, civic leaders, the press, friends, and family. The restaurant officially opened for business at eleven-thirty the morning of November 13, 1983. We were all relieved that the restaurant was now opened for business and optimistic that it would be a big money maker.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't long before relief and optimism turned to pessimism and despair. That's when the cash calls started. The first one was twenty-five thousand dollars--half again our initial investment. Pam and I were crushed and felt horrible that we had gotten Jim and the others into the venture. But despite this first cash call we were still cautiously optimistic that things would work out okay in the end."