Chapter 6
There was a stockholders' meeting on Thursday of that week. Jed was usually thoroughly bored by them. He considered them a waste of time. He and Russell Thorpe made the decisions and did the work. The other stockholders merely gave a rubber-stamp approval.
But the formalities had to be observed. So on Thursday morning at five minutes before ten, Jed strolled to the board room and took his usual place at the head of the table. Bess Cridland seated herself at the secretary's desk near Jed to take the notes of the meeting.
Mavis Thorpe arrived promptly at ten o'clock. Jed stood up to greet her. Since her divorce from Russell, she usually stayed away from the company, except for these stockholders' meetings. Jed knew she dreaded them, but she came faithfully to each one.
"Hello, Jed, darling," she said, advancing toward the head of the table. She smiled, but glanced around nervously. "Don't tell me I'm the first one here." Her hand was cold, as he clasped it briefly. She was too thin, the high cheekbones sharply marked, the chin bony. There were streaks of gray in her blonde hair that he had not observed before. She was about forty, and the divorce had been haid on her.
"Yes. You're as prompt as usual. Thanks for coming, Mavis." He wondered himself that Fred and Bert and Lola had not arrived. They were usually early in arriving, and impatient to leave before the meeting was over.
Mavis sat down at his right, smiled a polite greeting to Bess, then laid her pocketbook on the table before her. She laid her smart leather gloves on the pocketbook, then picked them up to fiddle with them, her head jerking nervously toward the door of the board room every few seconds.
Jed remembered when Mavis had been a poised self-confident woman, sure of herself and her desirability as the wife of Russell Thorpe. Russell had been destructively cruel in the manner in which he had shed his wife of fifteen years. Jed wondered what he had said, what he had done to Mavis, to wreck her control like this. It sent a wave of cold, helpless fury through him, that such a fine woman could have been so devastated.
Jed frankly liked women. He enjoyed a woman's company, loved a woman's physical response to him, liked even to talk to a woman and watch her emotional reactions. He felt protective toward women like Mavis.
She was an open-hearted, sensitive, loving, giving woman, who hadn't known what hit her when Russell let her know that she was finished as his wife.
He talked to Mavis as they waited, chatted about the weather. And she had seen a movie that she had liked.
"You must see it, Jed. You'd love it! Wonderful humor, and of course some hot love scenes."
"Just my type, huh?" he grinned.
Her head turned sharply as the door opened. Russell held the door for the woman who entered ahead of him.
Kittie Thorpe. Jed stood up slowly, appraising her even as he flinched for Mavis. What bad taste Russell had now, to have chosen this female for his wife, and to have dragged her to a board meeting.
Kittie entered like a chorus girl about to be interviewed by a producer. Her long blonde hair glittered in the lights of the room, aided by a blonde rinse and some sparkly spray. She tottered on three-inch heels to a chair which Russell drew back for her. Before seating herself, she flounced back the edges of the silver-blue mink coat to give everyone a good look at her figure in the sleek silver sheath dress.
It was worth gawking at, Jed admitted to himself. Kittie's waist was twenty-five inches, her hips a smooth thirty-five inches. But her bust was full-blown, enticing, at about forty-two inches.
Mavis and Bess stared in hostile silence. Jed said a few polite words of welcome.
"Happy to have you attend the meeting, Mrs. Thorpe," he said. "You may find it all rather boring."
"Oh, I think business is just fascinating," trilled Kattie, in a sickeningly coy manner, her blonde head tilted so she could see Jed from under her long fake lashes. "Making money is just too too exciting!"
Bess muttered something rude under her breath. Jed grinned, then noted that Mavis was clutching her gloves again, pulling them nervously. Poor Mavis. This would be worse than usual for her today.
"It's ten past. Shall we start?" said Russell, sitting down at the end of the long table, beside Kittie. There were half a dozen chairs lined up, empty, between the two ends of the table.
"I can't understand why no one else is here," said Jed, glancing at his watch, then at the wall clock. "Lola always comes. Isn't Fred back from Florida yet?"
Russell smiled, a self-satisfied smirk that put Jed on guard. "They won't be here. Why don't you start the meeting, and then I'll explain for the record."
Jed turned around and looked at Bess. She half-lifted her shoulders, as puzzled as he was.
"All right," he said tautly. He opened the meeting, directed Bess to read the minutes of the last meeting.
Then he had the roll-call, usually a mere formality.
"Mrs. Lola Adams," read Bess.
"I-ah-have her proxy," said Russell, placing a paper on the table before him.
"Mr. Frederick Barton," read Bess, after a pause.
"I-ah-have bought all his stock in the Crown Company," Russell smirked.
"You-what?" Jed snarled in surprise.
"I bought all Fred's stock," said Russell. "I have also bought the stock belonging to Bert, Hank Senior and Hank Junior. The secretary might as well cross them off the stockholders list."
Kittie was smiling up at Russell, her pretty red bow of a mouth half-open, admiringly. She was less than half Russell's age. It wasn't difficult to see why he had married her. Her charms were obvious.
But Jed had more important things to think about.
"When did you buy this stock?" he barked. "No one said anything when my secretary phoned them about the meeting."
"I bought it all yesterday," said Russell. "It might interest you to know that I now own 26 per cent of the stock in this company, and I have proxies for 14 per cent more. This brings my voting control for this meeting to 40 per cent."
Jed was so shocked he reeled. So this was what Russell was working toward-control of the Crown Company.
"Check the proxies, Bess," he said, as calmly as possible. Bess got up and went to check over the papers Russell displayed so proudly. It gave Jed a minute to think.
He owned 30 per cent. He wrote a scribbled note on the pad before him, and pushed it before Mavis.
"What per cent do you own now?" the note asked.
She wrote, "Twelve per cent."
If Mavis voted with him, that would be 42 per cent against Russell's 40 per cent.
Bess brought the results of her checking to Jed. He looked it over quickly. Three stockholders, holding 18 per cent, were not present or accounted for. He knew that two of them were in Florida.
Jed called for old business. Bess read out two resolutions, long ones to be considered. While she read, Jed thought furiously. He must contact today, at once, all the stockholders who had not sold out to Thorpe, to persuade them to sell to him if they sold at all. Damn the man, anyway. He had done it so fast, Jed had not heard a single rumor.
Jed called for a vote on the first resolution.
"I vote no," said Jed.
"I vote yes," said Russell, glaring at him. "That's 40 per cent, Bess! Put that down!"
"Yes, sir," said Bess in her soft voice.
Mavis cleared her throat. "I vote-no," she said.
"42 per cent no. 40 per cent yes," announced Bess, tonelessly.
Russell sneered at Mavis. "Going over to Jed's side, darling?" he asked.
She did not answer, her hands fumbling with the gloves, pulling at the leather fingers, smoothing the fabric.
Jed called for a vote on the second resolution. The result was the same, as Mavis voted with Jed.
"That settles the matter," said Jed, coldly. "Now, I'll call for new business."
Russell jumped up furiously. "Damned if I'll present any new business! I'll wait till I have full control, then you'll dance to my tune! Come on Kittie."
"We have the matter of the Great Van Company to decide," Jed protested. "We must vote on that."
Russell wanted the Great Van contract as much as Jed did, so he sat down sulkily. Jed went through the formalities hastily. The vote was 82 per cent for, none against.
Russell seemed to have gained back his self-control, and Jed conducted the rest of the business to the end, with no interference.
As they stood up to leave, Russell said, "I have another proposition to present. But I'll wait till I have control." He looked directly at his former wife. "Mavis votes with whoever she's sleeping with, and I have other interests now. I'll get my control some other way."
The delicate flush on Mavis' face burned to deep red. She seemed to shrink down within her thin frame.
Kittie laughed, a shrill, high giggle. Bess and Jed watched her silently as she got up from the table, slung her fur wrap around her, fluffed out her blonde hair and preceded Russell to the door.
When they had left, Mavis said, "Jed, I'm sorry. He has a nasty mind."
"You're sorry?" he said fiercely. "I apologize for not knocking him down and tramping on him."
Mavis smiled wearily, drew her coat on over her thin shoulders, and left.
"Oh, damn, damn, damn," said Jed, with feeling. "Bess, see if you can get me in touch with all the stockholders who haven't sold out to Russell. No-wait-let's phone from my office. It stinks in here."
"Kittie's perfume," said Bess. "I'll air out the room."
Jed went back to his office to brood angrily over the latest developments. So this was what Russell had been concealing in his sleeve. Damn him. Trying to take over control of the company. The hog. He wanted it all.
Jed swiveled around to face the windows. He stared out at the bright May sunshine. Stupid Kittie. Wearing a mink on a day like this. Probably a new coat and she just had to parade herself all over town in it.
Larry Westfall. The name jumped into Jed's mind. Had Larry known what Russell was planning? How could he know? What proposition was Russell going to spring on Jed as soon as he was "in control?"
And where did the inventory shortages fit in? Why was Russell prowling around the warehouse at night?
"Yoo hoo! May I step into your office?" The coy voice broke sharply into his thoughts.
He whirled around in the chair, staring blankly, as Kittie Thorpe posed in the doorway. She held her coat open with one hand, her other hand on the frame of the door, standing slightly sideways to give him the full benefit of her profile from her bust to her knees.
He got the picture. He stared at her expressionlessly. Russell Thorpe had thrown over a grand woman, a sensitive, intelligent woman, and hurt her pride and self-respect-for this witch. He wished there were some marvelous revenge he could get on Russell for this. His eyes narrowed.
"Come in, Kittie. Or-I beg your pardon-Mrs. Thorpe." He stood up as she pranced forward on her high heels, banging the door after her.
"Ooooh, don't be formal with Little Me. Call me Kittie," she smiled, holding her coat back so he could look at her more closely.
She thrived on admiration. Jed wondered 'tow strong her sex impulses were. He decided to test them.
"Let me take your coat." He came over to stand behind her. "Is Russell-busy?"
She shrugged out of the coat. He laid it carefully on the couch. In the early days, Mavis had done without expensive clothes, without household help, to struggle and save money for the company and Russell. She had never received a coat like this expensive fur-only a divorce for her trouble.
"Oh, he's arguing with some man about some ad. He told me to run along and keep busy for an hour till he's ready for lunch."
"How lucky for me," said Jed throatily. He put his hands on her shoulders, slid them slowly down her bare arms to her wrists. A shiver went along down her spine. He smiled. "I bet you get lonesome. Russell is a busy man."
"Yeah. Awful busy." She sat down. He lit a cigarette for her, noted carefully the discontented droop of her mouth. She was sorry for herself. "You know, I bet I saw him more often before we were married than I have in the three months since."
"That's too bad. A pretty girl like you. He shouldn't neglect you like that. I bet he hardly ever takes you out dancing."
"Oh-dancing, sure. And swell places, where all we do is sit and talk to people. But afterward, he's so tired-" She bit her tongue uneasily. "Gee, you have a nice office."
"It is nice. Good view of the city from here. Of course, Russell is getting up in years. You can't expect him to act like a young fellow."
Her bold eyes met his, the lashes slightly drooped. She smiled, slowly.
"Not much gets past you, huh, Jed?" She leaned forward for an ashtray. Her full bust pressed against the edge of the desk. She settled back, crossed her legs. "Yep. You guessed it. He's more interested in showing his friends the young wife he got than in chasing me around the bedroom."
She was vulgar and cheap, and full of unused energy. This should be easy, Jed decided.
"He was married to that dame a long time, wasn't he?" she asked.
"Mavis? Yes. Fifteen year," he said stiffly.
She whistled through her teeth. "Hell. No wonder he wanted me. She looks as cold as last week's turkey."
He was close to slapping her brazen face. But he had other uses for her. Russell was a proud and jealous man. He had been showing off his new bride to his friends. As long as she kept her mouth shut, he could be proud of her.
"It's fine for him," said Jed carefully. "But it's probably hard for you, so young and energetic," he suggested, looking at her bare knees where the dress had ridden up. "Being alone-all day."
The bold eyes met his, narrowed in speculation. "Yeah. Gets lonesome."
"Maybe I could help out-sometime."
"You've got the name for being fond of the ladies," she said.
"Very fond," said Jed. "And at the risk of being immodest, may I add that usually the ladies are fond of me-especially after...." he hesitated delicately.
He had not misjudged her. The tip of her tongue ran over her lips Her eyes were greedily surveying him from head to toot.
"You're a virile kind of guy, I bet."
"I wish I could prove it to you."
"Why not?" Her eyes gleamed. "Why don't you come over?"
"Shall we say-tomorrow afternoon?"
She hesitated, plunged. "Okay. Tomorrow afternoon."
"Russell has a meeting that should last all afternoon," said Jed. "How about 1:30-at my place?"
"Too risky. I might be seen." she said. "Besides I like to sleep afterward. Say 1:30-at my house. And Russell never comes home early!"
"Fine," he said softly. "Fine." He got up, went over to her. He lifted her chin in his hands, caressing her cheeks with his fingers. "How about a sample for now?"
He put his mouth on her lips. The hot mouth opened under his. Her tongue shot into his mouth. They kissed, deeply. After a couple of minutes, she broke away, gasping open-mouthed.
"Hey, save it for tomorrow!"
"There's plenty more," he said. He laid his hand on the full heaving breast and closed his fingers deliberately over the quivering silk. He squeezed, pushed at the breast, manipulated it. She closed her eyes, and her tongue licked feverishly at her lips.
"Hey-hey-you'll get me all stirred up. Save it," she said, brokenly. But she did not pull away. She was starved for caresses and the tough, hard love-making that she was probably accustomed to. Russell had simply not succeeded in satisfying her.
He went around behind her chair, drew her back with a hand on each breast. Roughly he handled her huge breasts, roughly squeezed and teased and titillated the quivering flesh. He watched her cross her legs tightly, squirm in the chair, in an agony of desire. Her full bust was sensitive, and she was becoming deeply aroused. She would not change her mind about tomorrow.
He finally let her go, and she leaned forward, gasping, and reached for another cigarette. He lit it for her. Her hand was shaking.
"You louse," she said, affectionately. "You'd better show tomorrow."
"I'll be there. You be ready for me. We'll only have three hours, and I want to make every minute count." He was already looking forward to the session, for several reasons.
"I'll be ready. Come to the side door. My maid will let you in. Come right up to the bedroom."
"You be in bed-and ready," he ordered, smiling. "I don't want to waste any time fooling around. You look like a girl who could give a man everything he wants." He ran his hand over her shoulder and arm, and touched her breast again.
"I can. I sure can. I'd better go now, so Russell won't guess." She left, winking at him with a heavily painted eyelash.
Bess came in a few minutes later, and opened every window to the top. He ignored her disapproving scowl as she sniffed significantly at the heavy, cloying fragrance in the room.
He spent the rest of the day contacting the present and former stockholders of the company. The picture he finally formed was not pleasant to him. Russell had showed them the inventory statements, convinced several of them that the company was losing business, and persuaded them to sell before the value of their stock dropped to rock bottom.
Jed would enjoy the session with Kittie tomorrow. He wanted a lot of revenge.