Treacherous Secrets novel Chapter 7

Emily looked at Sonja, who shrugged. "I'll go make some more," Sonja said, getting up, picking up the mostly empty pitcher, and heading to the house."Yeah, tell her to come on over."

"Emily said its okay. Where are you?" Carol listened for a minute, nodded, and then said, "Okay, see you in a minute." She ended the call. "She's almost to your road. She'll be here in a minute."

"Cool," Emily said. "She cornered Kenton last week at the party. I wonder if he was able to answer her questions."

"What was she asking him about?" Carol said and sipped her drink.

"She invested a bunch of money in a real estate buyout that Kenton was overseeing. The deal was that they were going to buy the land for dirt cheap, put a strip mall on it, and then sell it for triple what they paid for it," Emily explained. "I have no idea how the deal is going. Kenton doesn't talk to me about business, but Barbara was really pressing him about it. I'm curious to see what she learned. The deal really should have been done a while back. I wonder what the holdup is."

"I'm sure she'll know. She is very much about the details. If she invested in something, she would have had to have all the details up front. If it's not going well, that can't be a good sign. I'm sure she's pretty pissed if she hasn't seen some progress by now," Carol said.

"I agree. I know enough about investing in property to know that if it's been close to a year and your investment still hasn't turned, there must be something wrong with the deal."

Sonja came back with Barbara in tow. Barbara was carrying her already half-full margarita glass. "It is gorgeous out here, Emily." She looked toward the end of the yard where Mario was rototilling. "Oh my, no wonder you all are sitting out here. The view is fabulous."

Sonja laughed, "Mario would be so embarrassed if he knew you three were ogling him."

"The handsome young man down there is Sonja's nephew," Emily explained to Barbara.

Barbara took off her oversized sunglasses and looked at Sonja. "Is he single?" she asked with her thick southern accent. Emily suspected the accent was part of the persona Barbara portrayed rather than a real accent from the Deep South.

"Yes, but he's not interested in getting involved with anyone," Sonja answered.

"He's not interested in anyone or not interested in anyone my age?"

Carol laughed, "Barb, you don't look a day over forty-five. He would have no idea how old you are if you don't tell him."

Barbara smiled. She knew she looked younger than her sixty-two years. "Thank you, dear. That's so sweet of you. So what brings the three of you together out here?"

"Thirty-six," Carol answered.

"He's really too young to be going through a mid-life crisis. How long has this been going on?"

Carol thought about it for a few minutes, "Well, he never has been that into sex but he would usually want it at least once a week until about two years ago after he got the job with Barker, Bennett and Hardin and we moved up here. Ever since he got that contract with Morgan Chase to be their lawyer, he seemed to be working all the time. The busier he became, the less sex we had, and the more often he was gone. After about a year of it, I started really thinking he was having an affair, and that was really why he didn't want to have sex and was gone all the time. Of course, he said it was just work. That's why I decided to bug the phones."

"That's interesting," Emily said. "Kenton became busier when Walter bought out Morgan Investments. I knew that Damon was doing legal work for them, but I didn't realize he had become their official lawyer."

"Oh yes," Carol said. "He's hired at least three lawyers to work for his firm to help with the case loads since Morgan Chase keeps him so busy. It makes me really wonder about the company. And then, of course, he brought this Ashley person on because of her expertise in dealing with eastern Tennessee land issues."

"Hmm..." Barbara said. "The money I invested in that strip mall deal with Kenton is part of a land deal that Morgan Chase is involved with."

"You're friends with that Ashley woman," Carol said. "Maybe you can ask her about the company and find out what the hell is going on."