walked over to join the two men along the rail of the training track. On his way, he passed a young boy playing with a dump truck in the dirt. The boy made a groaning sound, imitating the roar of a truck as he moved his toy across the ground.
On the track, horses went by, some in a slow gallop, others breezing for the clocker. Chester stood at the rail next to the eighth pole, a distance marker with black and white horizontal stripes, topped off by a cast iron horse head. Chet’s ample belly hung over the top of the metal railing and his large, red hands gripped it tightly.
Duncker said, “Anthony, Chester has expressed interest in buying into Chiefly Endeavor, and of course I am obligated to present the offer to each of the partners. He has offered $750,000 for any of the partners who agree to sell their one-quarter ownership interest. Bushmill will of course remain as the managing partner per the original contract. I will offer no opinion as to what a partner should do, though I am always happy to see a share price appreciate ten times in less than a year. I would have called you tomorrow, but since we are all here, I thought I would present the offer and I can follow up tomorrow. So you’ll have a little time to mull it over.”
“I won’t need any time. My share is not for sale.”
“I somehow expected you might say that,” Duncker said. “They tell me you’ve become quite attached to that colt.”
Chester lumbered off across the lawn without a word.
STU DUNCKER SUBSEQUENTLY presented the same offer to Brad Hill and the other two partners. Hill refused but each of the other two accepted Chester’s offer. The two partners who accepted the offer were provided a handsome return on their original $75,000 investment. It also provided Chester with fifty-percent ownership in Chiefly Endeavor, and it meant that Gianni would have to spend more time around Chester Pawlek.
Chapter 8
“Dr. Gianni, you have a call from the ER on line two, Dr. Moravic.” He thought he had finished with patients for the day and sitting at his desk, was about to begin reviewing his mail.
“Hello Stan, what surprise do you have in store for me this evening?”
“We’ve got a pretty nasty injury. Forty-two year old male found himself on the wrong end of a machete. Probably some sort of mob war deal. Anyway, he is conscious, alert, and there don’t appear to be any other injuries. But his face is literally filleted open from an area just below and well lateral to the eye, extending down below the border of the mandible. The laceration is at least 12 centimeters, probably longer. The most amazing thing is that the blade went cleanly through and also split the jaw bone apart in a saggital plane. You see it on the PA view of the skull. The whole cut looks like it was done with almost surgical precision.”
“Is the bleeding controlled?’
“We packed the wound with gauze. There’s no active bleeding now.”
“How about the facial nerve?”
“Grossly intact. I think the cut was far enough distal so that most of the branches were spared. I might have noted just a slight weakness when he closed his eyes tightly. I’m sure you’ll be a better judge of that. All in all, I’d say he’s one lucky bastard. I don’t know what the attacker was aiming for, but he managed to miss all the vital structures.”
“Have the police been there?”
“Yeah, but the guy’s not talking. Naturally he was just minding his own business, didn’t know the attacker, and blah blah. But the police know the guy and he clearly has some mob ties. He’s actually a rather likable sort, well-mannered in a tough guy way.”
“I assume the plastics resident has evaluated him?”
“That’s another issue, Anthony. We were paging him for at least a half hour before we called you.”
“Jesus Christ, who’s on?”
“The senior resident on call is Matt Kantor. The first year guy has been totally swamped doing minor stuff in the ER at the
On the track, horses went by, some in a slow gallop, others breezing for the clocker. Chester stood at the rail next to the eighth pole, a distance marker with black and white horizontal stripes, topped off by a cast iron horse head. Chet’s ample belly hung over the top of the metal railing and his large, red hands gripped it tightly.
Duncker said, “Anthony, Chester has expressed interest in buying into Chiefly Endeavor, and of course I am obligated to present the offer to each of the partners. He has offered $750,000 for any of the partners who agree to sell their one-quarter ownership interest. Bushmill will of course remain as the managing partner per the original contract. I will offer no opinion as to what a partner should do, though I am always happy to see a share price appreciate ten times in less than a year. I would have called you tomorrow, but since we are all here, I thought I would present the offer and I can follow up tomorrow. So you’ll have a little time to mull it over.”
“I won’t need any time. My share is not for sale.”
“I somehow expected you might say that,” Duncker said. “They tell me you’ve become quite attached to that colt.”
Chester lumbered off across the lawn without a word.
STU DUNCKER SUBSEQUENTLY presented the same offer to Brad Hill and the other two partners. Hill refused but each of the other two accepted Chester’s offer. The two partners who accepted the offer were provided a handsome return on their original $75,000 investment. It also provided Chester with fifty-percent ownership in Chiefly Endeavor, and it meant that Gianni would have to spend more time around Chester Pawlek.
Chapter 8
“Dr. Gianni, you have a call from the ER on line two, Dr. Moravic.” He thought he had finished with patients for the day and sitting at his desk, was about to begin reviewing his mail.
“Hello Stan, what surprise do you have in store for me this evening?”
“We’ve got a pretty nasty injury. Forty-two year old male found himself on the wrong end of a machete. Probably some sort of mob war deal. Anyway, he is conscious, alert, and there don’t appear to be any other injuries. But his face is literally filleted open from an area just below and well lateral to the eye, extending down below the border of the mandible. The laceration is at least 12 centimeters, probably longer. The most amazing thing is that the blade went cleanly through and also split the jaw bone apart in a saggital plane. You see it on the PA view of the skull. The whole cut looks like it was done with almost surgical precision.”
“Is the bleeding controlled?’
“We packed the wound with gauze. There’s no active bleeding now.”
“How about the facial nerve?”
“Grossly intact. I think the cut was far enough distal so that most of the branches were spared. I might have noted just a slight weakness when he closed his eyes tightly. I’m sure you’ll be a better judge of that. All in all, I’d say he’s one lucky bastard. I don’t know what the attacker was aiming for, but he managed to miss all the vital structures.”
“Have the police been there?”
“Yeah, but the guy’s not talking. Naturally he was just minding his own business, didn’t know the attacker, and blah blah. But the police know the guy and he clearly has some mob ties. He’s actually a rather likable sort, well-mannered in a tough guy way.”
“I assume the plastics resident has evaluated him?”
“That’s another issue, Anthony. We were paging him for at least a half hour before we called you.”
“Jesus Christ, who’s on?”
“The senior resident on call is Matt Kantor. The first year guy has been totally swamped doing minor stuff in the ER at the
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