Also by Arika Lee from
EroticExcursions.net Publications
Camille’s Captive * A Taste of Tears
Ballerina in Bondage * Cream of the Crop
LoveBites * The Bridge Club
© 2009 by Arika Lee.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. This material is presented as adult entertainment and is not intended for any person under the age of eighteen years. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, the author assumes no responsibilities for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. All characters and descriptions contained herein are purely fictitious.
A lot of the Cape Cod money lived in Hyannis. They could socialize, play golf and race their sailboats in a lush little bubble where such pursuits were taken seriously.
Miles Handy was well into his seventies and knew most of them. He had more money than many of them too. But he preferred the old family place further out the Cape in Wellfleet. A lot of his business interests were intertwined with that fancy money but Handy had no desire to live amongst them.
In the first years of its settlement, making it through a Cape Cod winter had required a lot of firewood and the narrow land had been quickly stripped. The exposed soil had then proved too poor for farming and a lack of water power had made it useless to early industry. Handy’s great-grandfather had scratched out a living raising Merino sheep on his sparse acres. For many years, aside from such meager homesteads as his, there were only fishing and whaling anchorages along the Cape.
Life was thin and hard for Handy the sheep herder. He lost two wives, the first to pneumonia and the second during the birth of an only son that he named Nathan.
It was during the young Nathan Handy’s time that Bostonians and other well off east coast urban dwellers discovered that the Cape was a perfect summer escape from the hot, dirty cities. It was too isolated to ever become a Coney Island for the masses but for those with the means to reach it…those who could afford a summer home, it was perfect.
Many of the poor but proud Capers, the inhabitants who’d spent lives scraping by there, resented the well-heeled summer people. Not Nate Handy. Selling a little of what had been useless beach for a nice sum had set him to thinking ‘Why shear sheep when he could shear city fellahs’. Nate used the money from that first sale to get hold of a neighbor’s acreage and went looking for another buyer. In short order he became a wealthy man. None of the family that followed ever touched a pair of sheep clippers.
Financially the Handys had prospered but the family tree never flourished. The wives had been short lived and not overly fruitful. Miles was the last of the line. He himself had never married. He’d had a lot of women in his time but never had any urge to marry. Bedding women had been like making money to Miles, just another game…another way to keep score. Unfortunately, the pencil he’d once used to mark up that score had quit working awhile back.
Other than that scrap of beach first sold, the family home had remained secluded by its original acreage. Miles liked it that way. He would make money off every square foot of Cape land he could pry loose but home was not something you sold. He’d never had any use for pointless socializing and didn’t want any neighbors. In old age his only interest in the rest of the Cape was the money a Handy had always made developing it.
The original house had been added to over the years. Miles had contributed a wide screened in veranda with a fine sea view. His favorite spot.
At the moment he had two visitors sharing that view. William ‘Chubs’ Philbrick and young Jimmy West, looking all grown up in a pinstriped lawyer suit.
Miles had a pretty little maid named Mindy. She was setting out a bottle of Scotch and glasses with ice. As she turned to leave Miles reached to give her pert ass a squeeze but she dodged the move with practiced ease. Chubs Philbrick chuckled. Jim West pretended not to notice. A chance to get in with the kind of business Miles Handy controlled was not something the young lawyer wanted to foul up. Acting too familiar too soon might be a stupid mis-step.
Once the maid was out of the room Miles spoke.
“You must be here about the Shell Point business.” Handy’s eyes had a little hint of mean amusement, “Been keepin’ track on that, Chubs. Heard the work got stalled and maybe the deal’s in trouble. Remind me just how it is you got yer fat finger got in that pie?”
Philbrick looked uncomfortable. West was watching both men and suspected that old man Handy already knew the back story.
“On account of Molly being Ivan Stewart’s daughter,” Philbrick answered, “and her remembering how ol’ Ivan and me done a few deals together. I also done business with her first husband afore he died. Anyway, her new man, this Rick Kendal from away, done pretty good on some small construction so after they got married she decided to let him take that land and put in some fancy shore lots with her money. She sent him to me for help getting sub-division approval and such like. I put in for a little share too. Mostly for old times’ sake, Miles.”
“You ‘spect me to believe that yer worried about that little share?”
“Her man’s been going about it wrong,” Philbrick said, “but he’s got control and does things his way. No point in arguing with him so I been just waiting.”
Miles gazed out over the sea below with a faint wolf’s grin.
“I know about that Shell Point tract…maybe as well as anyone. Lots of water frontage. Ol’ Jack Henson ran his traps from a jetty in the little bay. He passed on and his girl Maude got it. She married Stenson Stewart. He were too lazy to pull traps and they sold the lobster boats. Stenny damn near lost it to taxes one rough spell. I remember ‘cause my Pa was hoping to get hold of it back then. Then it went to Ivan and then to Molly. So I don’t need any family history or bull about you bein’ in it fer old times’ sake, Chubs.”
“Well you asked.” Philbrick sounded put out.
“I made me some rough numbers ‘fore you got here. Taken that the land was thrown in, then with the clearin’, gradin’, sea walls and all, half a mil, maybe more. Then say another million on the entrance, road, sewer and so on. But I figure you get fifty prime lots that average out 300K each. Should be big on the end…fifteen million big on land sales alone.”
“The mistake he made,” Philbrick said, “was trying to do the whole thing at once. He should have taken the first lots and finished them and worked on out toward the end of the point, but he had to go and do it big. Money’s been going out with none coming in. Then the real estate bubble bust all over the damn place. The demand for Cape land is usually immune but when the big banks got jammed up all the credit froze period.”
“That's the trouble with the small fry,” Handy said. “try to get big too fast. You take this fellah, a small time house builder, only down here a short time, not big enough for anybody to pay any serious attention to. Then the Stewart girl up and marries him and she’s got just enough money to give him big ideas. Now he may just lose it for her. How much is in it, cash money, his and hers.”
“Little over a million a half of hers and four hundred thou of mine.”
“They got else to put in?”
“Maybe by selling stuff. Her jewelry, a boat, mortgage their house, maybe they could find some more that way. But the way I see it, Kendal’s nerve is gone. He’s been drinking and I don’t think he’s even told Molly how bad things are. Probably afraid to.”
“How much to fix it?”
“Well, since the land was never borrowed on maybe a couple hundred thousand would put legs under it again, maybe more but no less.”
“I ‘spect he’s already asked you for it.”
“The market is in the pit, Miles. My cash position’s not the greatest.”
Handy’s wolf grin got wider.
“I can tell just what you had in mind to do, Chubs. You was gonna let things go to hell, where it would look like Kendal was going to lose the whole damn thing. The money that’s gone in out there it should have been plenty to have it ready to go…unless you been makin’ some of the bad luck he’s had. The plan was for you to offer to save it at the last minute…fer old time’s sake and a majority interest, and poor Kendal… he was going to be so grateful after being scared to death. You had that in mind right from the start, but you didn’t know the market was gonna tank. Now Kendal is desperate and ripe to pick but you suddenly can’t get the cash you figured on and so here you are hat in hand.”
There was a silent stare between the two older men and then they both laughed. West stayed silent, still afraid to overstep his junior status.
“I ought take the whole thing away from you, Chubs, on account of you not invitin’ me in right off…Now here’s what might happen…” He looked at West for the first time, “Boy, you set us up a dummy corporation. Set it up out of Delaware. Call it somethin’ plain like ABC Inc or whatever is available. Keep it simple…one percent to you in lieu of legal fees, fifty one percent to me and the rest to Mr Philbrick here.”
The numbers made Philbrick’s face turn red.
“What’s up there, Chubs, you look like you just got fed a lemon. Got anything to say about the split?”
There was a pause, “I guess not, Miles.”
“Good. Now listen…when you figure Kendal is at the very end of his rope you tell him you gonna unload to this ABC Inc. at a small profit. Tell him you hear that he can sell too. That’ll get ‘em out with no pain and some gain. Wouldn't want to hurt Ivan Stewart’s girl. We’ll get a few lots ready and sell them. I know Boston people who ain’t hurtin’ even with this recession. We only sell enough lots to show Shell Point has proven potential. Then when real estate values recover we can sail on the rising tide.”
Philbrick grunted and said, “Should work out good…unless Kendal gets hold of more money.”
“From?”
“I brought young West here into this instead of the firm I usually use...”
“Truth is I been wonderin’ about that. No offence, Boy.” Miles said.
“Tell him why, Jimmy boy.”
West hid his irritation at the diminutive and cleared his throat. “Well…Since Molly’s daughter, Suze, came back on Cape I’ve been seeing her. She’s single again. Anyway…when Mr Philbrick offered me a retainer he also asked if I thought Suze would invest in her step-dad’s project. I don't know exactly how much her inheritance was. It’s not a thing one asks directly… but from what I was able learn elsewhere…she got enough. But she doesn't have to touch it now because she gets big alimony.”
“Will she help Kendal?” Handy sounded impatient.
“I found a chance to ask her that and she laughed at the idea. She said he tried to get her interested, talking about how big it would be. She said her inheritance had come to her in T bills and with the economy being shaky she had no intention of risking it on any land deal. She actually told me she thought her mother was being a damn fool where her stepfather is concerned.”
“They unfriendly? The girl and him?”
“Not exactly. Some kind of tension between them but I’m not sure why.” West said.
“So no problem right, Boy?”
“Maybe a small chance of another problem. They have a house guest. Her name is Rochelle. Aude Rochelle. Apparently once upon a time Kendal was a cop out in California. Suze told me this woman worked with him back then.”
“Were they involved?” Handy quizzed, “You know what I mean.”
West laughed, “Not like that. Suze says the woman is a lesbian. It seems her lover died a little while ago and she was invited here by Kendal as a sort of escape. She’s got some money though.”
“Has she got enough?"
“I think maybe she probably has. I don’t know if he has asked her to invest in his deal or not.”
There was a long and thoughtful silence from Handy.
“That’s a risk I guess we got to take,” he finally said.
“I’ve just about dried up every other place he could go for cash.” Philbrick said, “Hell, right now I’d have a hard time getting any.”
Handy filled young West’s glass with Scotch again.
“Boy, you keep on seeing young Suze, but also see if you can friendly up to that woman with the Frenchy name.”
“Friendly…? Like I said…I mean…she’s not into men.”
“Not like that, Boy! Just make nice enough to find out if she is gonna open her damn purse for Kendal. You gonna have to do more than shuffle a few legal papers to earn that one percent!” Handy’s tone was hard.
“Yes sir,” West said quickly, “I understand.
Handy lapsed into thought, rocking in his chair, then he slapped his thigh and started laughing out loud. The other two looked on wondering what the joke was. His laugher gave way to a look of amusement.
“Too damn much! Us sitting here worrying about some Frenchy lesbian from California.” Then the blue eyes were serious again, “Anything else?”
“Just that the way Kendal’s been acting and with the heavy drinking I’ve noticed,” West said, “we’d best be ready sooner than later on this. I don’t think him and Molly are getting on real well lately either.”
“He’s worried alright.” Philbrick agreed, “Pre-development sales are zero and I’ve put word around the development may never get finished.”
“Guess that does it then.” Handy waved the air as if his visitors were bothersome flies, “You two go do what needs doin’. It’s time for my nap.”
Behind the wheel, slightly numbed by the Scotch, Jim West drove carefully toward his office. The mid day booze had made the day bright fuzzy and phony sharp. Driving with a load on was a hassle. Sometime soon maybe he’d have a new Mercedes and a driver. Such thoughts and ambitions were busy in his mind.
He hoped he’d made a good impression on old man Handy. He knew he was being used but so what. The Shell Point deal was big time and he was in on it…only one percent but it could mean bigger things down the road. To handle things right with no mistakes was the main thing. His tiny cut would still be serious money. If it all went smooth the sky might be the limit.
And then there was Suze. He for sure had a case of the hots for her again. She had come back looking even sexier than he’d remembered. Along with his re-sparked lust was an awareness that she also had money. He was not above marrying for money but it would be better not to have too. Better to be known as a smart lawyer and sharp operator who’d made his own way than to be pointed out as a poor Caper kid who’d snuck in by marrying amongst his betters.
‘See over there…that’s Jimmy West. His ol’ man was a drunk and his mother didn’t have the best reputation, you know. Summers he used to wait tables but look at him now, all hoity toity and married up to money.’
Jim West knew exactly what they would think and say. On the Cape an opinion once formed seldom changed. He thought about Suze’s stepfather. That was why not a soul that counted was going to help Rick Kendal. In their opinion he was just an outsider nobody who had married his way into their midst. Just another pigeon from away with big dreams. Rick Kendal had done well enough as a small builder but he didn’t have a chance trying to sit in on a table stakes game with the local power boys. They’d carve up his dreams and share them out.
Then the smugness faded. Jim West had been thinking of himself as having been accepted into a pride of lions but he knew better, he was merely going to be a hyena cleaning up behind the kill. Old man Handy was the lion. Was getting in with them what he really wanted?
He braked, his progress stalled until someone finally made a hole and let him cross the long North bound traffic on Rt 6. Fucking tourists.
The hell with second guessing! He needed to get his. It was all legal. That’s what he’d gone to law school for. Like a high priced whore the last thing a lawyer needed was a conscience. His job was to help the big eaters find out just where the free buffet ended. And the closer to that line he could take them the more valuable he’d be to the lions. Forget all the idealistic crap. Whatever happened to Rick Kendal was his own fault. Think jungle. Kendal was like a small predator that had gotten lucky and jumped some fat game. Instead of just taking a bite he’d tried to keep it all. Now the big beasts were closing in, waiting for the right moment to spring. And Handy was going to be generous. They weren't going to leave him with nothing like they easily could. Unlike what Philbrick had planned, Handy was going to be somewhat decent. Suze’s mom and stepfather were going lose the main prize but be allowed to keep their hides and then some.
The Kendal guest cottage was separated from the main house by a flag stoned pool area. On one side the rooms opened directly out to the beach and on the other to the pool. Aude Rochelle decided this morning that rather than use the beach a few steps away she would explore a bit.
She left her wing of the cottage and made her way around the swimming pool, past tables still cluttered with the remains of last night’s party. Glasses half full of forgotten booze. She looked up at the big house. No sign of activity but then it was early and last night’s party had still been going strong when Aude had called it quits.