Ted's Millions

 

~ 1 ~

His name was Ted Phillips, and he was nobody special. Just another office drone in one of the Manhattan mid-town towers. An accountant by trade and a damn good one. But he was also a quiet, almost humble soul with an aversion to attention. So he just slaved away in his small office in one of New York’s largest accounting firms, faithfully doing the bidding of his masters.

Until one day, he finally, after many months of trying not to, convinced himself he’d had enough.

As fate would have it, it was also the day that his life would change dramatically.

It was a Tuesday in November, and Ted was walking from the subway to his apartment in Brooklyn when it seized him. It boiled up like an overheated kettle in his brain. It caused him to stop and hold onto the wall of a building he was passing.  He thought he might be having a stroke, although he didn’t really know the symptoms to look for and he was only thirty-five, which he reckoned was way too young for a stroke. 

The feeling passed almost as quickly as it arrived and he walked on. But something had changed. Something in the way he felt inside. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But he thought deeply, almost incessantly, about what on earth it could be.

Ted’s firm handled some of the country’s larger corporations and a lot of smaller regional businesses as well. He sat in endless Zoom meetings with corporate minions and business owners whose job it was to reduce their company’s taxes to the smallest number possible and make sure the government wasn’t coming after them for anything.

Ted did his job diligently for about twelve years and gradually came to see it as a form of corporate dirty work. Bit by bit, day by day, he started to hate the job and the businesses he was working for. This hate slowly festered and grew, and though Ted did not realize it right away because it happened so gradually, he was starting to become quite depressed.

Ted lived alone in a nice apartment in a nice part of Brooklyn. He dated from time to time, but preferred his own company. He had all the makings of a true sociopath, but unlike most of those afflicted in that way, he had a very logical mind. On the day he finally realized that he might be depressed, he thought a lot about how long he could go on living like that. But he was in New York, and he needed the money just to be able to afford a half-decent life for himself.

On a warm Saturday in August, two days after his weird stroke-like episode, Ted stopped at a bodega around the corner from his apartment in Brooklyn and bought some coffee cream and a small bottle of Tylenol for the mild headaches he had been experiencing for the past couple of days. And for some reason that he could not fathom, he also bought a Powerball lottery ticket. All the time, he was thinking about how he could make a break from the life he was living, spending his work days figuring out creative ways to lower the tax burden of his already wealthy clients and feeling very much like an evil enabler in that way.

Ted had never purchased a lottery ticket before. Never even really thought about it all that much. His mind was too logical and he knew the odds of winning were astronomical, to say the least. The accountant in him told him that it was an exercise in futility. But buying that ticket was, in all of his adult life, probably the most spontaneous thing he had ever done. So he decided to roll with it, just to see what would happen.

The next Saturday night, Ted sat in his apartment watching some nature show about how bats navigate in the dark. When that was over, the five-minute Powerball show came on. Ted got out his ticket and put it on the table beside his chair. He took a sip of his soda. He didn’t refer to the ticket, because he already had the numbers etched on his brain.

When the last ball fell, Ted sat in astonishment. He leaned forward and looked at the numbers on the TV screen that matched perfectly the numbers in his head. He picked up the ticket and confirmed it. The jackpot was seven hundred and ninety-two million dollars and Ted, who had never even thought about buying a lottery ticket before, had just won it. 

Ted took another sip of his soda because his mouth was suddenly dry. His accountant's brain calculated the after-tax sum, which was in the area of five hundred million, if he was smart about it, and Ted knew how to be smart about money. Quite a leap from the eighty-two thousand he made at the accounting firm. 

~ 2 ~

Over the years, Ted had grown to despise the millionaires he worked for and now he was one of them. He thought hard about what he would do with that kind of money, and for the life of him, he simply couldn’t imagine what that would be. He had read stories about other Powerball winners and how all that money had severely fucked up their lives. Ted was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen to him. But then again, who could tell?

Ted shut off the TV and sat there in his comfortable chair in his okay apartment and thought about it until his brain was too tired to think anymore. He then put the ticket back into his wallet and went to bed.

The next day was Sunday. Ted went to his office with a small nylon shopping bag. He gathered up anything he felt belonged to him, which wasn’t much. Finally, he opened his computer and inserted a large-capacity memory key. Over the next half-hour, he downloaded the profile information and recent tax summaries of every client he had ever worked on over the past few years. There were exactly 105.

Finally, Ted wrote out a letter of resignation and emailed it to his boss, Everett Barton. He wouldn’t bother going into the office to resign in person because he knew that he would be automatically escorted out of the building once he announced it. It was the nature of the business. Then he pulled the corporate-issued cell phone from his pocket, set it down on his desk and left his office for the last time.

~ 3 ~

The next day, Ted ignored a call from Mr. Barton from his former office, had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, then took the subway down to the Powerball offices on 43rd Street to claim his prize. 

The person he talked to was a woman named Helen McQueen. She was about Ted’s age and dressed in a conservative-looking woman’s business suit. Ted had done some reading online about the lottery and knew that he had the right to refuse to be photographed or participate in any of their promotion. So he insisted on anonymity. 

Helen’s job was to talk him out of it. But Ted stood firm, explaining that he had read quite a few stories about other winners and how they were hounded by investment seekers, scammers, hustlers, friends, long-lost relatives, even strangers with sad stories. Ted wanted no part of that. After half an hour of very skillful, almost seductive pleading, Helen relented. She left the room and five minutes later came back with a cheque payable to him.

Ted then walked up to his Citibank branch in the same building as his office and asked to see one of the managers.

The person he met with was a middle-aged man named Franklin Davies. He put the cheque down in front of him and told Davies to do whatever he had to do to verify it, then deposit it in his daily interest savings account, which was currently sitting at a mere one hundred and three thousand four hundred and fifteen dollars.

Surprisingly, Davies did not freak out over the amount. He just smiled at Ted, picked up the phone and called the number that Helen McQueen had given Ted. He had a very brief conversation with her and then put the phone down. 

“I very much doubt that you will want to keep all this money in a savings account.” Davies said.

Ted smiled. “I’m an accountant, Mr Davies, and I know I could live quite comfortably off savings account interest alone. But no, I will be moving out of New York and once I am relocated, I will start thinking about what to do with it. Forty percent of it at least will be going for taxes, so I will do my research and find some tax shelters. I’m actually quite adept at that. It was my job for twelve years.”

“Well, I will have this cheque deposited before the end of the day, and congratulations, Mr Phillips.”

“Thank you,” Ted said, “The only thing I would ask is that you increase the limit on my MasterCard to $100,000.”

“Consider it done, Mr Phillips.” Davies then handed him a card. “Once you’re ready to start doing something with your money, have whoever you deal with from wherever you end up call me. I’ll take care of everything.”

Ted thanked Franklin Davies and walked out of the bank. He walked down Second Avenue to an Apple store and purchased a new iPhone, which one of the kids in the store was happy to program for him. He also bought a 15-inch iPad and a 15-inch MacBook Air, but told them he would set them up himself. No more PC shit for him.

He headed back to Brooklyn on the subway. After he got to his neighbourhood, he went into the Italian grocery store and bought a cooked breaded veal cutlet, a crispy roll and a green salad. He then went to the wine store next door and bought a very expensive bottle of red wine. 

Sitting in his comfortable chair in his nice apartment, Ted was pretty sure that the shock of winning all that money hadn’t hit him. He thought about what would happen to him when it did. So he had another glass of wine and a third, figuring that when it hit he would probably realize he was too drunk to do anything about it, and just go to sleep. And when he woke up, he would still be rich, but he wouldn’t be fucked up about it. Because that was his biggest fear. 

While he drank, he set up all his Apple devices from the manuals that were provided. But he omitted any address, phone or email information. He also never set up the Internet on his phone. He was working to make himself as invisible as possible online. It took a couple hours and about three glasses of wine. He also uploaded all the client information he had taken from his office to his PC laptop.

When he was finished doing that, he sat down in his easy chair, reclined it back and took a nap.

When he woke up a couple of hours later, he made the sandwich and poured another glass of the rich red wine and then spent the rest of the day and most of the evening online looking at coastal properties farther south than New York City.  

As he was cruising through the listings, one house in particular caught his eye. It was a beautiful frame house on North Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As he kept searching, he found several other houses that would be worth looking at. So South Carolina became his new destination.

~ 4 ~

Ted was not a bad looking guy. He never thought of himself as super handsome, but he had kind eyes and good hair. He figured he could hire a fashion consultant and do a makeover when he got to Myrtle Beach. The more he thought about that and all the other things he could do now that he couldn’t have done a couple days earlier, the happier he became. 

He also realized that there was not going to be any moment of shock over his good fortune and that he should just get on with it. He wrote it off to being a numbers guy and not intimidated by large ones, even if they were his own.

The next day, he woke up with a bit of a hangover. So three cups of coffee and a couple of bran muffins later, he got on the phone to his landlord and cancelled his lease. He told the landlord that he had been transferred to Miami and was happy to let him rent the apartment completely furnished as the house he was moving into was a company house that was already furnished. The landlord was happy with this arrangement because it was more profitable for him, and so Ted sent him an e-money order for his last month’s rent from his PC. 

He then packed up everything he wanted to take with him, left it by the door of his apartment and walked several blocks down his street to a Toyota dealership. There he purchased two-year-old Toyota Rav4. He drove it home and parked it on the street behind his building. He then called an auto insurance company that was actually one of his clients. Within an hour, his car was fully insured. He gave the agent his new email address, a nondescript G-mail account he had opened on his new Mac, once he figured he needed one.  He could send the insurance form there and Ted would print it out when he got settled and send the insurance company his new address. He bundled up all the clothing he no longer wanted in green garbage bags.

He then took his two large suitcases and the garbage bags down to the Toyota, along with his computers in his shoulder bag, and his old PC computer, which he had cleaned out. He dropped the garbage bags of old clothes at a Goodwill,  stopped at a local computer store that sold used computers and gave it to the guy there.  Ted then left Brooklyn heading south. 

Ted was in no hurry, so he stuck to the coastal roads for most of the trip down. Seven hours into his journey, he stopped in Virginia Beach, noticed a nice-looking restaurant and checked into a Four Seasons hotel that was right next to it.

The next morning, he was off again. Eight hours later he was checking in at one of the hotels along the Myrtle Beach strip. The long day’s drive wore him out, but he was here now and he was acutely aware of how much warmer it was compared to New York.

He slept until about eleven the next day, then had some breakfast in the dining room downstairs and looked through the local paper at the houses for rent. He found several that he’d seen online and used his iPad to scope them out. He then started calling to make appointments to see three of the houses. Luckily for him, it was the same rental agent.

The third house he looked at was a beautiful white frame house with a large back deck that looked out on the ocean, and a winding wooden path down to the beach. The interior of the house was beautifully maintained, but at the same time had a ‘lived-in’ feel to it. The agent was a good-looking woman named Grace White. She was about Ted’s age and she  sat patiently in the dining room while Ted wandered around taking in the place. Good agents didn’t have to do a lot of talking, especially when they knew they had a nice property to sell or rent. 

After he had walked through, Ted sat down at the table with Grace. “So what’s the story with this house?”

“They were empty nesters. The husband had a heart attack and passed on. But while he was healthy, he did a lot of work on the house himself. His insurance was enough for her to buy a condo in town. The rental fee for this house and her investment dividends are her basic income sources.” Grace said.

“Well, I like it. Is there a lease involved or do we just do a monthly thing?”

“Your choice, Mr. Phillips.”

Ted thought about it for a bit then said. “So suppose I pay you for the first three months and we see how it goes from there.”

Grace smiled. “It’s twenty-five hundred a month.” Then she handed Ted a sheet of paper, with some company names and numbers. 

“Here are the utilities. The cable company, which can also handle your Internet and phone if necessary, the gas company, and the power company. I assume you have your own cell number. You can call them, tell them the address and they will set up accounts for you.”

“Fair enough.” Ted replied. He got out his chequebook and wrote a cheque to Grace White for $7500 from his almost 800 million dollar savings account.

Grace handed him a card. “ If you stop by my office tomorrow, anytime in the morning, I’ll give you a receipt and the keys. You can move in any time after your cheque clears.”

With that Grace got to her feet. “I think you’ll really like it here. It gets a little crazy around spring break time, but the rest of the year it’s just very peaceful. A far cry from New York City.”

“Yes it is. I wanted a change of scenery. And it doesn’t get much better than this.”

As they walked out, Grace asked. “What did you do in New York, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I was a corporate accountant in a fairly large firm. It wasn’t a hard job to leave behind.”

“Are you planning to work while you’re here?”

“I’m not sure. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head.” Ted replied.

Grace just smiled. “Well, you’ll have a very fine place to figure them out.”

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

They shook hands out at the road in front of the house and Grace got into her car. Ted stayed behind after Grace had left. H

e walked back to the rear of the house and sat down on the steps. He stared out at the ocean for quite a while. After an hour or so, he looked at his watch and realized that he actually didn’t really need one anymore.

The next day at around 11:30 in the morning, Ted walked into Grace White’s office on one of the main streets downtown. She greeted him cordially and told him that his cheque had cleared. He signed the rental agreement and she gave him the keys to the house. Ted then spent the rest of the day shopping for food, a laser printer and a couple of reams of paper. Then he went to a men’s wear store and bought some lightweight clothing. 

The whole process took the better part of two days which included getting himself signed up for his utilities, cable and Internet.

On the third day, he woke up at about nine am, made a coffee, walked out to his deck and watched the morning sun reflect off the ocean.

Ted was thirty-five years old, worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of half a billion dollars net, living in a beautiful beach house in a part of the country that was warm almost all year round. All he had to do now was decide what hell he should do with the rest of his life.

But first and foremost, there was the project to figure out.

~ 5 ~

There was no hurry about anything anymore in Ted’s life. But the money matters needed to be dealt with, and from Ted’s point of view, the sooner the better. The first thing he would need was an investment manager. Since he only knew one person in all of Myrtle Beach, he figured he’d better start expanding his knowledge. 

His first stop was his bank, where he met with a young banker named Kelly Appleton. Kelly looked to be in her late twenties and was quite attractive with long brown hair, a warm smile and a slim body. 

Ted introduced himself and then handed her Franklin Davies’ card. She called Davies and arranged the transfer of funds. While that was happening, she said. “You know this is quite a substantial amount of money Mr. Phillips. You might want to talk to one of our investment people.”

“I might do that. But my preference would be to find someone not affiliated with a bank. I am an accountant, or at least I was until I came into all this money, so I’m looking for someone a little more aggressive than your people.”

“I completely understand. There are several people in this area, as you can well imagine. We don’t really refer people to them, but they should be fairly easy to locate.”

“That’s fine.” Ted replied. They made some small talk until Kelly got a call confirming that the money had been transferred into a high-interest savings account in her branch.”

She then entered Ted’s MasterCard number into her computer. As she handed it back to him, she slid over a notepad. “Just write name your address and phone number down for our files and and we will print up some cheques for you. They should be ready in two days.”

Ted wrote down the info, took his card and got to his feet. Kelly got up as well. They shook hands and Ted walked out of the bank, with one more job out of the way and wondering if Kelly was attached to anyone.

The next day, Kelly Appleton called Ted to confirm that his money had all been transferred. So he was now able to begin his search for a financial advisor. His preliminary online search unearthed three possibilities. The most promising was a guy named Noble Farnsworth. So he called and arranged to have lunch with him at a place called the Arizona Roadhouse on Route 17, not very far from his house.

At about 10:45, he walked back into his BankAmerica branch and sat down again with Kelly Appleton. He handed her a slip of paper with his father’s name, a Tampa bank branch and phone number on it.

“My parents are both retired and live in Tampa. This is all their bank info. I’d appreciate it if you could get in touch with their bank and deposit three million into their savings account. I talked to them last night so it won’t come as any surprise to them.”

“We can certainly do that, Mr. Phillips.”

“Just Ted. Mr. Phillips is my dad.”

He thanked her and got up. “I’m off to meet with an investment person. I’ll let you know if I decide to work with him.”

Kelly smiled and told him to have a nice day.

Ted was going to suggest going for a drink one evening. But as she was looking at the note he handed her, he noticed a fairly substantial diamond engagement ring. So much for that, he thought.

~ 6 ~

 At 12:30 the next day, he walked into a restaurant called the Carolina Roadhouse on the North King’s Highway. He recognized Noble from the picture on his website. He was already seated at a table by the window. He got up and shook hands with Ted. They sat down and a waiter came over. Ted just asked for a glass of red wine. Noble was drinking scotch. He was a good-looking guy who appeared to be about the same age as Ted. He was dressed casually but tastefully.

“So what brought you to Myrtle Beach, Ted?” Noble asked.

“Well, the truth is I won the Powerball lottery.” 

“How much?” 

“Almost eight hundred million.” 

Noble whistled. “Wow.” He said. 

“So, as you can imagine, I’m looking to hold onto as much as I can like a good little capitalist. But I’m more than willing to pay whatever taxes I have to. I worked for years with people who would try every trick in the book, and a lot that weren’t, to lower their taxes. It was almost like it was some kind of game. I figure mine will be about 35 to 40% of what I have, which still leaves me with a tidy sum.”

Noble chuckled. “A tidy sum indeed. And there are a good number of tax shelters at your disposal.”

“Something to think about. So tell me about yourself, Noble.” Ted said.

“Well, I share this business with my dad, Ellis, who handles a lot of the older clients. Nothing in the hundreds of millions. But I do have a couple clients who are in the tens of. One is a retired rocker who made it big for a number of years, but burned out from too much time on the road. The other is a touring golf pro who makes a couple million a year. Still in all, they’re fairly conservative. Mostly blue chip stocks and muni bonds. Nothing you would call ‘progressive.’ I do my best to keep them informed about some of the edgier stuff, but they’re a hard sell most of the time. A lot of the younger people around here with money to invest, bar and club owners mostly, throw a lot of it into crypto. Fuckin’ idiots if you ask me.” Noble said. “Pardon my French.”

Ted was starting to like this guy. “So say I cut loose a hundred million. What would you do with it?”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-five, almost thirty-six.”

“And you’re a CA?” 

“And a CPA”.

“So you’re young enough to have a higher risk tolerance and you’re savvy enough about money to understand what you’re gettin’ into. That’s a good combination. So I would start asking you about the country’s new romance with electric vehicles.”

“Yeah, well that’s a double-edged sword. Because next year’s an election year and you could have yourself a whole new ball game.”

“Well, that’s why it’s called ‘playin’ the market’. I personally think non-gasoline vehicles, of one kind or another, have nowhere to go but up. And a lot of the innovation that’s going on, like combining solar and battery power, and working with hydrogen as a fuel source, stuff like that, is what’s gonna grow it like a weed. There are some guys up north who have just completed a test on a solar and battery hybrid car and took it twice as far on a single charge as any e-vehicle you can name. Plus there’s less battery, so less weight, better mileage and lower replacement costs. At the end of the day, the consumer is always looking for ways to save money, and right now, they spend a lot of it on gas and vehicle maintenance. This kind of tech is the antidote to that. Trouble is, most of the people with money to invest are older and don’t understand the technology, nor do they really want to.”

“You make a good case for it.” Ted said.

“That’s because it is a good case. There are also a lot of tech stocks supporting manufacturing, medical processes and power generation through waves on the ocean, tides and running water inland. There’s a whole new world coming at us at a mile a minute, Ted. And a lot of it will be hanging around and growing. But if you’re an old fart or some well-off widow who’s been a housewife all her life, all this stuff sounds like so much science fiction.”

They stopped talking for a few minutes and perused the menu. After they ordered, Noble asked. “So what brings you down this far south from New York?”

“A couple of things. One is the weather. I‘ve always hated winter. And growing up in Brooklyn, you get it in spades every year. Second thing is that I…well I was getting really depressed in my job. I had about a dozen smaller blue chip clients and, to a one, they were the greediest bastards you can imagine. The pressure to find tax loopholes or cut them out of whole cloth was enormous. Their companies were all profitable, but they paid their people shit wages and worked hard at screwing over their suppliers. This disparity, when you have to look at it every day, man, it gets to you. If I hadn’t gotten lucky and won that Powerball, I really don’t know how much longer it would have been before I freaked and did something that would have been a career ender.”

Noble just looked at him. “Well, you now have enough ‘fuck you’ money to choke a horse.”

“Yes, I do. But I kept a lot of the information I had. And for the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how I can use it to get these people to wise up.”

“That sounds pretty much like something that could land you in jail, Ted.”

Ted chuckled. “Yeah, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like I could actually pull it off. I’m not exactly sure how I would do it. I just have a feeling like it could be done.” Ted paused, realizing what he was saying…”Sorry, Noble, just a little revenge fantasy of mine. I’m sure it’ll wear off soon.”

Noble just smiled, but seriously wondered if that was true.

Their lunch came a few minutes later and they just talked like a couple of guys who’d known each other for a long time. Ted found it very unusual to just meet someone and feel that way. But Noble was smart and funny and knew a hell of a lot about what was going on in America that could make people money. 

Over the course of that lunch, Ted realized that he had a comrade. He didn’t commit to anything but told Noble he wanted some time to think about it. Noble just said, “You’re drivin’ the car Ted. Whatever you decide is what happens next.”

After lunch, they got into Noble’s car, a hybrid Toyota, and drove around the town. Noble pointed out some other good restaurants, a good haircutting place and some of the other local sites, especially along the beach. They drove past a couple of the malls and several golf courses.

“Myrtle Beach has often been described as a dozen golf courses surrounded by houses and stores. Almost everybody I know plays the game. I was on the golf team at Michigan State , so I play with a lot of the different ‘A’ players, many of whom are dad’s clients. What about you Ted? You ever play?”

“You know when I was a little younger I used to go to a driving range with my dad’s clubs. I really quite enjoyed it. But never played on a golf course.”

“Well OK. You can hit a ball. That’s better than 90% of all the hackers out there. Tell you what, you get some clubs and some shoes and a good golf glove, and I’ll take you to my course, we can hit some balls and then play a round. We’ll go during the week when it’s not so crazy.”

“Okay, that sounds like a great idea.”

~ 7 ~

A week later, Ted was fully outfitted with a set of MacGregor Tourney clubs, a beautiful golf bag and pull cart, some decent golf attire and good shoes. Noble had introduced him to the pro at his club, who gave him all the membership information. Ted was impressed with Noble’s initiative, and so later that day they sat down on Ted’s deck, with a nice bottle of red wine and had a serious conversation about investments. Ted got the feeling that there was more to Noble than just hustling Ted’s business. During the conversation, some things Noble said, just in passing, confirmed that he didn’t have too many male friends around his age. 

That came out after the financial discussion was over and Noble promised to put together a solid financial plan for one hundred million of Ted’s bucks.

Eventually, they got around to talking about the social scene in Myrtle Beach.

“The bar scene around here is filled with idiots of one kind or another, Noble said, “And women who are fair to good-looking, but unappealing for various reasons. It’s good to have someone to hang out with who I have a few things in common with. Like we’re both money guys, and now we’re both golf guys too.”

“I really appreciate you showing me the ropes here.”

“Hey, it’s all part of the service.” Noble said. “Oh yeah. I also remembered what you told me about the clients you worked for and how greedy they were. You see a lot of that in my business as well. It’s one of the few things that pisses me off about business in America in general…that corporate greed factor. The companies that don’t behave that way are few and far between. 

“You don’t know this, Ted, but when I went to college at Michigan State, there was a guy there I knew who majored in computer science, which was one of my electives. Big brain guy. He stayed on to get his Phd and teaches there now. But in his early years, he was a pretty innovative hacker. He also designed some killer apps. He and I and a couple of other geeks hung out there. Ollie Mitchum, that’s his name, was really well-connected in the hacker world. 

“So I called him after I met you and talked to him about what you told me. No specifics. But he really liked the idea of forcing companies into doing the right thing.”

Noble took a piece of paper from his breast pocket “Here’s his name and number. If you’re still up for doing this, give him a call. He said he’d be happy to give you some apps and tell you how to use them. But he also said you should call him on a burner phone, not your personal phone. 

“Okay. I’ll give him a call. And thanks for doing this. And, if it’s all the same to you, I won’t mention it again. Last thing I’d want is for you to get into any hot water over my shit.”

“Fair enough.” Noble said. “By the way, we have a two o'clock tee time on Tuesday. So you should get your ass out to the driving range and get used to swinging those sticks again.”

“Tuesday it is.”

“I should also have your plan ready later on next week.” 

They shot the shit for a while longer. Ted felt really good about this burgeoning friendship with Noble. It made him feel a lot more comfortable, both about how his money could be put to work for him and the decision to just pull up stakes in New York and move to someplace where he was the stranger in town.

~ 8 ~

After Noble left, Ted took a cab down to the Market Common where he purchased a City Commuter e-bike, charging apparatus, helmet and a good lock at a place called Pedego. The bike was fully charged, and he also had them mount a carrier on the rear rack that was big enough for his shoulder bag. Half an hour later, he was out cruising the streets. 

Growing up in a Brooklyn apartment, there was no place to really keep a bike. You went everywhere either on foot or the subway or a bus. The freedom of pedalling his bike was nothing short of Nirvana. He got the feel for it quite quickly and spent pretty much the rest of the day cruising around the town that was now his home. 

As he was riding, he was thinking about the fact that it still hadn’t hit him that he was incredibly rich and that very few people knew about it. He pretty much decided that it probably never would hit him and that he was just slowly but surely getting used to it. 

He picked up a burner phone and a two-hour card at a bodega downtown, then a veal sandwich and a salad at an Italian restaurant on the way home and sat out on his deck in the early evening with a bottle of beer and ate his dinner. He couldn’t help but wonder how this all came to be. Maybe there really was a thing called good luck in the world. Soon after that, a thought popped into his head, he started to think a little about how he could share it.

But there was still one more thing to do.

The next day, late in the afternoon, he called the number that Noble had given him for his friend Ollie. 

“Ollie here, who’s this?”

“Ted Phillips in South Carolina.”

“Noble’s friend?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s a good guy, Noble is.”

“I know. He’s going to be handling my investments.”

“So Noble didn’t tell me much. Suppose you tell me your story.”

Ted told Ollie almost everything. Instead of telling him about the lottery, he just told him that he had inherited enough to get out of the accounting business and New York City. But he was pretty explicit about the companies he wanted to send a message to.”

Ollie was quiet for a few seconds. Then he said. “I have some experience with this kind of sabotage. I have two small apps I can send you. One is a disabler. It will just fuck up the data and make life a real pain in the ass for quite some time. The other is a killer. It will destroy everything like it was never there. So the idea is that you send the Disabler with a note…whatever demands you want to make with a bit of a threat that you can do much worse. If they don’t play ball with you, you hit’em with the Destroyer. No need to make a threat when you do that. They’ll get the fuckin’ point.

“All you have to do with these apps is attach them to an email or, even better, a text, you think would get opened by someone in the company. Once they open it, the virus is in their system. I have programmed in a two-hour delay, which gives you time to send a demand letter. How you configure the message and the demand letter is obviously up to you.

“Now the only thing you have to worry about is tracing. I did this thing a couple years back and the guy I was working with bought a used computer that was totally clean. Then he created a fake identity and gmail address for his communication, and did all the sending from different Starbucks in neighbouring states. That way when the FBI started looking at the source, it would be one that hundreds of people use every day. Drives them fuckin’ crazy.

“So that’s about it, my friend. I’ll text you these apps and you can put them in your dummy computer. Whatever you do, don’t open them. Just attach them to your message. By the time someone figures out what the hell’s going on, it’s already too late. There’s no way to stop these little buggers once they’re in a system, and when they’re done rattling around they just self-destruct. So have you got all that?”

“Yeah. It seems pretty straightforward. I really appreciate this. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Sure, you can call me and let me know if it actually achieved what you wanted it to.”

“OK. Will do, and thanks again.”

“No sweat, Ted. Kick some ass. I’ve got your number here. I’ll upload the viruses and text them to you. There’s a little on/off switch on each icon. After you attach them to whoever you’re sending to, just flip the switch to activate it.”

“OK, thanks again, Ollie.”

A few minutes later, there was a message on his burner phone. There were two little icons, one said ‘Disruptor’ the other said ‘Destroyer’. He closed the phone and opened his computer. He looked around the map and decided to head to Charlotte, North Carolina to buy his used computer.

~ 9 ~

The drive to Charlotte took almost four hours. He had found a computer store online that sold used computers, so he drove straight to it and found a small, clean MacBook Pro that was only a couple of years old. It was pristine with as updated a system as it would handle. He paid $1200 cash for it. He wasn’t taking any chances on the computer being traced back to this shop because he had used his credit card. The last time he was at his bank, he asked the lovely Kelly Appleton to get him $25,000 in cash, which, of course, she was only too happy to do. Ted had had a fair bit of time to think about what he was doing and figured that for anything he needed, he would use cash. He kind of felt like a criminal with all of this skullduggery. But he was working off more than a decade of sheer frustration with these companies. 

Ted drove around Charlotte for a while. Just another medium-sized city, he thought. On the way out, he stopped at Best Buy in a plaza at the edge of the city. He brought in his burner phone and, with a little help from a kid working there, he found a cable that would connect the phone to his little MacBook via a USB port. He then grabbed some junk food he could eat in the car, and headed back to Myrtle Beach, arriving while there was still some daylight left.

He was whacked out from all that driving so he had a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers out on the back deck and watched the ocean until he started to get tired.

The next day was Sunday. Not much happening. The skies were pretty cloudy, but there was no rain. So he loaded his golf clubs into the Toyota and headed off to the driving range. 

There was no doubt about it. He still had a half-decent swing, and he made some pretty good contact with the balls. But he was creaky. After his first bucket, he felt like every joint in his body had come loose. He was amazed he could still stand up.  But after a Coke break and a sit-down, he pressed on. As he did, he felt his body start to loosen up. He didn’t focus on power, but strictly on making good contact with the ball as consistently as he could. 

He had read somewhere that golf was the most difficult game to master. And his body was feeling the effects of that fact. After hitting his second bucket, and not all that badly for the most part, he sat back down again. But he didn’t feel anywhere near as sore as he thought he would. 

When he got home, he turned on the grill on his stove, washed a baking potato and made himself a small Caesar salad while his T-bone was grilling. He sat at the dining room table and watched some news on his computer. He used to care about the mess the world was in. But now he could afford to have a bit more of a ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude. 

So he switched over and watched the last quarter of the late afternoon football game. Bills and Patriots. He had never really been much of a sports fan until he hit the age of thirty or so. And then, for some reason he could not explain, he started paying attention to all the New York teams. He always thought it was strange that none of them ever did all that well, except for the Yankees. So he started paying more attention to the Patriots in the fall and winter and the Red Sox in the summer. He had no use for hockey. He had always thought that hockey players were a bunch of hooligans and their fans weren’t that much better.

The Patriots had lost their longtime quarterback, Tom Brady, a couple of years back and so now they were in a kind of rebuilding mode. So Buffalo basically walked all over them. He remembered having to go to Buffalo on business for the firm he worked for. It was the dead of winter and the snow was piled up so high on the sides of the streets that it totally freaked him out. Evidently, that had been a pretty mild winter, according to his client.

He ate his steak and watched the hapless Patriots get stomped and thought to himself that he would never go back north again if he could possibly avoid it.

After dinner, he cleaned up his dishes and the grill, and headed up to bed. The effects of hitting all those balls had finally gotten to him. He flopped into bed and read maybe three pages of his Grisham novel and he just conked out.

The next morning, he woke slowly and, when his brain started working, a terrifying thought occurred to him. 

The targets for his attacks were all companies that could be directly linked to him through his former job. If he started systematically attacking them, even a rookie law enforcement person could put that together and come right after him.

He sat up in bed and thought it through. In his mind, for the longest time, it seemed like a pretty straightforward thing. But nothing in this life was all that cut and dry. There was no doubt about it, he would have to find at least another dozen companies to attack so that any investigation would not point directly at him. This was turning into a much bigger thing than he had ever imagined. 

But all that notwithstanding, he was determined to execute this plan, if for no other reason than to satisfy the obsessive-compulsive urge that got him thinking that way in the first place.

~ 10 ~

It was Monday, and Ted found it strange that he had to look at his computer to figure out what day it was. He felt good about that because it meant he was getting into the spirit of things in his new life.

He took his computer out onto the deck along with his coffee and some toast and jam and began researching companies. Within three hours, he had come up with twenty-two possibles. He would intersperse them with his original target companies, so that if he was investigated he would have a good deal of plausible deniability. He worked for another couple of hours and found eight more companies. 

He was appalled at how many of them there actually were as he read through the stories of the various unions and worker’s associations around the country. He figured that if he had about 30 different companies, not including his original 12, he would be relatively safe. He would also send out packs of three emails containing none of his target companies. This would also mean a fair bit of travelling, and that was OK with him too because he hadn’t really seen all that much of the country. 

At about five in the afternoon, his cell phone beeped. It was Noble reminding him about their tee time the next day. He told Noble it was on his calendar, although he had pretty much forgotten all about it.

They agreed to meet at the club for lunch and then tee off at around two.

After Ted’s call from Noble,  he realized that he was hungry. So he hopped on his bike and rode over to 4th Avenue to a place called Bangkok House, which Noble told him was one of the best Thai places in town. He was never a big fan of eating in restaurants alone, so he ordered some takeout, then rode back home and ate with a large glass of red wine. 

As he stared out at the darkening sky, he started to wonder whether all the work he had to do to wake these people up was going to be worth it. He had to admit that his disgust with them was diminishing by the day. He wondered if it would really make any difference, and thought a lot about the time it would take to do all of this. 

Just then, he heard his burner phone ringing. He jumped up and headed into the house. He pulled it out of his bag that was hanging by the door.

“Ollie.”

“Hey, guy. How’s it going?”

“Good. I’ve got the clean computer, and have researched out a bunch of other companies to attack so that it wouldn’t draw attention to me.”

“Well, that was one of the things I was gonna tell you. So good move on your part. The other thing was to remind you that if you really want to draw some attention to the hacks, make sure you send a note to the local media outlets, TV, radio and newspaper. They’ll start pestering these people and make their lives even more miserable by shining a light on them.”

“Whoa. I never thought of that. What a great idea.”

“Yeah, I’ve had some time to think about what we’ve done in the past that worked.”

“I’ll do that for sure, and thanks for all your input. It’s really appreciated because I’ve never done anything even remotely like this before.”

“If you do all the stuff we’ve talked about, you should be golden. But if the FBI does come a knockin’, make sure you sound a little insulted by it all. A bit of righteous indignation goes a long way. I know that from personal experience.”

“Okay. And thanks again.”

“Keep me posted. You’re doing a good thing. Don’t forget that.”

“Will do.”

Ted put the phone down. He was energized. So he cleaned up his dinner dishes and got on the computer. He picked one of the companies on his original list and two others that he had researched. He gave each one a separate page in his Word program. He then searched out the various media in the cities where they were located. Two hours later, he was completely bushed, but he had the first three targets profiled.

In the morning before his golf date with Noble, he would draft out the lure message, the threat message to the head of the companies and the message he would send to the various media from his fabricated Gmail account. Then he would drive south with the aim of ending up in Tampa to visit his parents. On the way, he would launch his attack from three different locations. 

Ted took a hot shower and flopped down on his bed. He was too wired to sleep so he just read for a couple hours until he was finally unable to stay awake. 

His plan was ready, all he had to do was write a few notes and he would be good to go.

~ 11 ~

Golfing the next day was basically a clinic, and his pal Noble was more than happy to give Ted some valuable pointers. By the end of the round, Ted felt like he had not embarrassed himself completely. Noble just laughed.

“When I was in high school, I caddied here in the summers. I’ve seen some real shit golfers. And honestly, Ted, with a little practice, you’ll be okay and you’ll enjoy it a hell of a lot more. But no gambling, my friend. They’ll take you to the cleaners.”

“Gambling? Hell, Noble, I’d just be happy with a bogey.”

 After the round was over, Noble and Ted met with the club pro, Corey Stapleton, and got all his membership paperwork together. 

Ted drove home without his clubs, because they were being stored at the club, and with an invoice for $44,650 which was a one-year membership fee.

~ 12 ~

Ted was so pumped about getting his first attack out into the world that he told Noble his dad was in the hospital and that he was going to drive down to Florida to hang with his mom. Noble understood. Ted told him that he would be gone for just a few days, and then they would sit down and look at the plan. 

This was fine with Noble, because it would give him a little more time to refine things. Ted was learning, slowly but surely, that he really was in the driver’s seat, and was getting used to it. So he didn’t feel bad at all putting Noble off. He just hoped that this wouldn’t turn into some sort of arrogance on his part.

He sent the first series of messages from in and around the Savannah, Georgia area, where he decided to stop for the night. They were straight and to the point. And then a couple of hours later, in Brunswick, he sent out the messages to the various media in the cities where his targets were located. The companies were: Jones Fabrication, a metal fabricating plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Diamond Foods, a food packing plant in Cincinnati; and Discount Donnie’s, a ten-store discount retail chain headquartered in Albany, New York. Discount Donnie’s was one of Ted's former clients. He dealt directly with the owner, a creep named Donnie Sherman, who was probably one of the worst humans he had ever met.

Just outside of Brunswick, Ted had some dinner at a truck stop restaurant, then checked into a nice-looking motel right on the south edge of the city. The next morning he was up bright and early. He grabbed an Egg McMuffin and a large coffee at a McDonald's on the highway and kept heading south. Five hours later he pulled up to his parents’ bungalow just off of 9th Avenue in St Petersburg. His folks were sitting together on the front porch. His dad was reading the news on his iPad, his mom was texting someone on her phone. 

He climbed out of the Toyota and hugged them both warmly. His mom went and got him a glass of lemonade, and they sat on the porch in the Florida heat and he told them everything that had happened since he won the Powerball. He explained that he didn’t want to move too far south because they had told him about the summers in Florida and that wasn’t his cup of tea at all. They laughed because there were days when going outside was anything but pleasant.

His dad was a retired accountant, like Ted, and his mom had taught high school math, so they were pretty smart when it came to numbers. They had a nice, comfortable retirement happening and didn’t really need the money he had given them. But Ted was adamant, declaring that you could never tell when it would come in handy. In the meantime, it would be making them over a hundred grand a year in interest alone. After that was settled, Ted offered to take them both out to dinner, anywhere they wanted to go. 

They chose Paul’s Landing, a seafood place right on the North Yacht Basin. It was one of their favourite places and with the extra money they now had, Ted pointed out, they could go there more often.

Ted had to resist the opportunity to tell his folks about the sabotage he was undertaking. They had a nice life here and the last thing he wanted to do was cause them any real worry.

After dinner, they offered Ted their spare bedroom, But Ted told them he had a very important investment meeting and wanted to get himself into Georgia before midnight. So he wished them well, kissed and hugged them and headed back north. 

He made it to Brunswick, Georgia by about 11:00 and got himself a motel room. He flipped around the network news stations and saw separate stories about each of the cyber attacks. He watched for about half an hour then took a shower and fell into bed. 

The next day he was up very early, got himself another egg McMuffin and coffee and continued north. At nine-thirty that night he pulled into his driveway. He slept like a log and didn’t get up until noon the next day. He watched some more news but it was all repeats. He shook his head and shut off the TV, then called Noble to tell him that he was back in town and that they could meet at any time that was good for him.

~ 13 ~

In Washington DC, FBI Cybercrimes Special Investigator Robin Pierce was sitting in her office, watching the news about the simultaneous hacks on the three companies. The attacks were similar to a few other cyber attacks that had been launched over the past couple of years. One person of interest was a young man named Parker Nash, but he was no longer residing in the US, having moved to Italy the year before.

While she was watching, she picked up the phone and called the University of Michigan and was connected to Ollie Mitchum.

“Hi Ollie, It’s Robin in DC.”

“Hello, Inspector. I assume you’re calling to pick my brain on the recent cyber attacks.”

“You’re very perceptive, Ollie.”

“Well, I’m not sure what I can tell you. I’m teaching full time. And I have to admit I’ve let my network go pretty much to seed. It’s just much more fun shaping these post-high school minds.”

“So you have nothing insightful to offer.”

“Well, all the attacks we’ve been seeing, at least the significant ones, like these, feel kinda personal to me. So maybe you should be looking for someone who has an axe to grind with these companies. I looked them up after I heard about the attacks. They all have greedy management. They pay their people shit wages and spend lots of money trying to keep them from unionizing. So what you could have is a crusader of some sort, who has either created or somehow gotten hold of a killer app or two and is not afraid to use it.”

“That killer app or two wouldn’t be your work product, would it?” Robin asked.

Ollie chuckled. “You know, I can understand how you might think it was. But I’m on the straight and narrow these days, Robin. Anything happens to fuck up my tenure here and I’m stuck in the real world. Who knows how long I would survive that. Look for grudges, Robin. Best advice I can give you.”

Okay, Ollie. Thanks for the tip. You take care now and if you hear anything…”

“Yeah, I know the drill.” 

Robin disconnected from the call, leaned back in her chair and thought about motive. Then she started digging.

Robin made calls to all three companies and managed to connect with the highest person on the ladder. In each case, the people she had to listen to were outraged and caustic in the extreme. Robin couldn’t imagine what working for any of them would be like. None of them were aware of how the virus could have entered their systems. But they all agreed to let her know if the people they hired to fix things could figure it out. When she asked them about the demand note that they received prior to the crashes, that’s when the expletives really started to gush forth. Donnie Sherman, owner of Discount Donnie’s, was the worst by a long shot. 

“Not only did I get fucked over by this pissant asshole hacker,’ Donnie said. “My accounting firm also informed me that they had replaced the accountant who took care of my business. He was one of the few human beings that I could actually stomach. Told me he had left the company and moved right out of New York City. Fucker.”

“What is the name of your accounting firm, Mr. Sherman?”

“Doyle, Barton and Associates.”

“And the name of your former accountant?”

“Ted Phillips.” Sherman said. 

“Did you have a good working relationship?”

“Yeah. He was pretty quiet. But he never pissed me off once in the six years I dealt with him. That, in and of itself is a massive fucking achievement.”

“Okay, well, thanks for that. As you know, cyber crimes are difficult to solve.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. And the fuckin’ mess it made was beyond belief.” 

“How about the demand note? Are you planning to respond to that?”

Robin heard a deep sigh. “Agent Pierce, do you know what the fuckin’ margins are in an operation like this?”

“No sir, I have no idea.”

“Well they are pathetic. Retailers get squeezed all the way up the line. I’d love to pay my people more, the ones that are worth it, but I really don’t have the margins to do that.”

They talked for a few more minutes until Robin had had enough. 

But as she disconnected she had something she didn’t have before, which was a path to follow. Ted Phillips.

~ 14 ~

Ted’s meeting with Noble took place at Noble’s office where he had his big computer. There was also another person in the meeting, a female market analyst named Jane Dorsey. She looked to be about fifteen years older than Noble and Ted, and was very good-looking, even dressed in hardcore business attire.

“Janey works with both dad and me to make sure we don’t screw up or fall in love with something that might turn out to be a turkey.”

That made a lot of sense to Ted. And it bolstered his confidence in Noble.

“Congratulations on winning the Powerball, Mr. Phillips,” Janey said.

“Thanks. And please, it’s just Ted.”

Janey nodded and smiled. 

Noble had used the extra couple of days to put a PowerPoint presentation together. In it, he identified four specific markets where opportunity abounded. These were the markets he had touched on in earlier conversations with Ted. 

Ted sat back and took it all in. After the presentation was done, Janey began her part, which was allocations and projections on potential returns. Ted was impressed with both their teamwork and their combined knowledge of the investment market. The basic plan covered $90 million in a nicely varied portfolio and a $10 million slush fund for any new opportunities that might present themselves.

“I’ll be the first to admit that my understanding of the market is pretty rudimentary. But this all made a lot of sense to my accountant brain. And, hey. It’s only a hundred million, so what the hell.”

All three had a good laugh. Then, Noble handed Ted a contract. “This spells out everything in plain English. Take it home, read it over and if you have any questions, we’ll do our best to answer them.”

“Or I could sign this right here, and transfer the money.”

“Or you could do that, certainly.” Ted said.

Ted took a moment to read over the contract. He didn’t see anything particularly weird. So he reached for a pen on Noble’s desk and signed the document. Noble gave him a reference copy. Janey got to her feet and so did Ted. 

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Ted.” Janey said. “I admire your decisiveness. We will do our best to make your money grow.” Then she smiled at both men and left the office.

Ted sat back down again. “You guys did a hell of a job. Thank you.”

“It’s not often we come across someone willing to throw that kind of money at the market.” Noble replied.

Noble handed Ted another small sheet of paper with an account number at Anderson Brothers Bank. “This is your account with us. Once you get your bank to transfer the funds we’ll be away to the races.”

“I‘ll head over there today.” Ted said. “I do have one other issue, and that’s what I do with other six hundred plus million odd bucks in the bank.”

Noble did a little calculating. “If you just let it sit in a high interest savings account at CitiBank at around 5%, you’ll make close to thirty million a year in interest. My advice is to probably just leave it there unless you want to get into real estate or buying and selling companies or whatever.  You can do anything you want with that money, Ted. We can also look at some tax shelter opportunities as we roll along. You might want to buy a house or have one built for yourself, which will give you some deductions. If things start working out to your liking in the market, we can always add to your portfolio. But we have plenty of time for that. The nice thing is that if Janey and I sniff out a good deal, we can use part of the slush fund money to try it out. Providing you’re on board.”

Ted and Noble shook hands, and agreed on another round of golf, later in the week. Ted left the office and got on his bike and headed towards home, stopping off at his bank to meet with Kelly Appleton to arrange for the transfer of funds. He then headed home, and stopped along the way to pick up a steak and some Romaine lettuce. 

As he was riding along he thought to himself that he was easily the humblest multimillionaire in America.

~ 15 ~

A little later, Ted was sitting out on his deck eating his dinner. He started to think about what else he could be doing with his time. That got him thinking about his little sabotage project, so he flipped on the TV on his computer and scanned the news channels. There was nothing. He was yesterday’s news. He thought about taking a trip, maybe up to Virginia Beach and sending out the Destroyer. Almost as quickly as he got the idea, it just felt he would be doing more harm than good. Maybe this was what America was all about. People with entrepreneurial spirit establishing a business and doing whatever they had to do to make it work.

Thinking about his country in this way wasn’t something that made him happy. But there it was, in a front-row seat in his head. Maybe, Ted thought, maybe there’s a way to turn that around. He didn’t think much more about it than that.  But he knew that his heart was no longer in the crusade. He needed a different approach. And he figured if he thought about it long enough and hard enough, something would come to him. 

He had eaten dinner rather late as he had skipped lunch, so he went for a long walk on the beach in the cool dusk. He listened to the waves breaking and tasted the salty air in his tongue. He thought about a lot of things. But mostly of how unburdened he felt having let go of that idea. He knew he would have to call Ollie sooner or later to thank him again and let him know that he had decided to move on to something more positive. And that’s when it started to hit him.

~ 16 ~

Robin Pierce called Doyle, Barton and Associates and was connected to Everett Barton, the managing director.

“Mr Barton, this is FBI Agent Robin Pierce. I’d like to talk to you about one of your former employees, Ted Phillips.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, Agent Pierce. Ted worked for us for twelve years and then one day just didn’t show up. Sent me a rather formal letter of resignation. I tried calling him to see if there was anything we could do, but he’d left his phone on his desk. He was a damn fine accountant.”

“So he never left any forwarding address.”

“No ma’am. Didn’t even bother to pick up his final pay-check.”

“Is there anyone in your firm I could talk to about him.”

“I’d say that was a no. Ted was quiet. Didn’t socialize. Barely knew anyone else in the company except for me. He was an odd duck. I assume you’re calling about all that hacking that’s been in the news.”

“Yes sir. I’m with the cybercrime division.”

“Well, it’s true that one of Ted’s clients was a victim of that hack attack. But I’ll tell you, Ted was strictly a numbers guy. Got it from his folks, I imagine. Dad was an accountant here, oh about ten years ago, and his mom was a math teacher. Don’t know where they are now. I tried finding them in the city to see if I could figure out what the heck caused Ted to just up and quit, but I couldn’t locate them.”

“That’s pretty strange.” Robin said.

“It is indeed, Agent. But I’ve told you all I know.”

“Okay well, thanks for your time.”

“No problem.”

They disconnected. Robin sat back in her chair, and thought about it. ‘People like that don’t just disappear,’ she said to herself. 

Then she called Everett Barton right back. “Sorry to bother you again, sir, but could you tell me where Ted did his banking?”

Oh sure. There’s a CitiBank right on the first floor of our building. It’s the company’s bank and I’ve seen Ted in there a couple of times.”

“OK, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome Agent Pierce. By the way, if you do manage to locate him, please ask him to give me a call. He’s a good lad. I just hope something bad hasn't happened to him.”

“I’ll do that sir.”

Robin hung up the phone and immediately got online. She accessed the Citibank web site and got the number for the manager of the 44th Street branch. Thirty seconds later she was talking to a man named Carl Bannister.

“Mr Bannister, I’m trying to locate one of your customers, Ted Phillips.”

“Okay, hold on a sec.” 

She heard some clicking. “Yes.” Bannister said. “He had his account transferred about five weeks ago now.”

“To which branch?”

“Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.”

“Okay, thank you.” Robin said.

“There’s one thing you might want to know.”

“What’s that?”

“The account. His savings account. The balance that we transferred was just a little over seven hundred and ninety million dollars.”

“Did you say seven hundred and ninety million?”

“Yes ma’am. I’m pretty sure he won the Powerball lottery. The last winner’s name was never made public. But that’s the only thing that would explain it.”

Robin was absolutely floored. “Okay, well thank you for the information Mr. Bannister.”

“My pleasure, Agent Pierce.”

It was late in the afternoon so Robin headed home. Her life partner Jenny Rothwell was sitting in her home office. She was a freelance writer who mostly ghost-wrote memos and blog posts for busy executives. Robin came up behind her and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“How’s the corporate world these days?” Robin asked.

“Big and ugly, same as it ever was.” Jenny said “How’s the cops and robbers world?”

“I caught another hacking case and the only lead I have is a guy who just won the last Powerball lottery. Almost eight hundred million.”

“That’s what I call a win.” Jenny said.

“Anyway, I think he’s moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So I’m gonna go talk to him. You want to come along for the ride?”

“I’m a little swamped right now, hun.”

“That’s cool.”

“When are you leaving?” 

First thing in the morning I thought I’d drive.”  

“That sounds tempting. But I can’t do it.”

Very early the next morning Robin was on the road. With a large Starbucks latte in her cup holder, a cream cheese bagel on the passenger seat and some Duran Duran on the stereo. Robin believed that after about 1990 most of the great music just died.

Eleven hours later she pulled into Myrtle Beach. She checked into one of the hotels along the Atlantic shore, then walked next door to an interesting looking seafood place called Jack’s Fish Fry. After dinner she went for a short walk on the beach and turned in early, as she was beat from hitting the road way before the rush hour and the marathon drive down.

The next morning she located the CitiBank and drove down to it. She talked to the manager, who called in Kelly Appleton. Kelly brought along Ted’s file and gave Robin his address and cell phone number.

“Just out of interest,” Robin said. “What kind of vibe did you get from him?”

Kelly thought about it for a moment then said. “You know, he has a lot of money. I assumed he’d won a big lottery and was kind of looking for some solitude. He was pretty cool. I mean he didn’t seem to be freaked out by it all. I asked him about our investment services. He said he’s thinking about it, but wanted a private investment person to deal with for starters. In fact, he just came in a couple of days ago and authorized a transfer of a hundred million to a numbered account at Anderson Brothers bank. A lot of the investment people use Andersons.”

Robin thanked Kelly and her manager.

“He’s not in any trouble is he? ‘Cause he seemed to be a very nice guy.” Kelly asked.

“No, he’s what we call a person of interest in an investigation I’m running. It means he might have valuable information.”

Robin smiled and left the bank.

After she got back to her office Kelly picked up the phone and called Ted. He was sitting on the deck with a coffee just staring out at the ocean. He saw Kelly’s name on his display.

“Hi there, Kelly.”

“Hi Ted.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m just calling to let you know that we’ve had a visit from an FBI agent named Robin Pierce. She was asking for your home address, so I suspect she will be coming to see you.”

Ted was surprisingly calm. “Okay. Can’t imagine what that would be about, but thanks for the heads up.”

“You’re welcome. And there’s one other thing.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“I know you just moved here, so you can’t know too many people.”

“You’re right about that.” Ted said.

 “Well, umm. I have a sister. A little older than me. Her name is Violet, but everybody calls her Letty. She got married pretty young, and that didn’t work out so well. But she’s a lovely person, just married a jerk.”

“Kelly, are you trying to set me up with your sister?”

“Yeah, I guess I am. I told her about you. Not about all the money you have, but she seemed to be interested. She’s been alone for a few years now and she doesn’t date much at all. I know this is really presumptuous of me.”

Ted found himself smiling at the gesture. “So what does your sister do?”

“She’s a real estate agent, with Century 21, and she’s a darn good one. Wins awards every year. But she has no life outside of her job.”

“Kelly, that’s a very sweet gesture. And I would be happy to meet your sister, especially if she’s anything like you. Maybe I could take her out for dinner or something.”

Kelly said she would text her sister’s number and then thanked him and hoped she wasn’t being too presumptuous. Ted told her not at all. In fact, he was pretty excited about this, but did his best to play things cool. 

~ 17 ~

Ted didn’t move from the steps. A minute or so later his phone beeped and the number for Violet came through. He thought about how long he should wait before calling. It was still morning, so he decided to wait until the afternoon.

Normally, Ted would have been paralyzed with fear in a situation like this, but as he thought about it, he realized that he was changing. His natural shyness was falling away. The money may have had something to do with it. But mostly, he figured he was in a smaller place where everybody was a whole lot friendlier than New York. And there was much less tension in the air.

As he was thinking about this, he was suddenly aware of a person at the corner of the house. It was Robin Pierce. 

“Hello. Are you Ted Phillips? she asked.

“Yes.” Ted got to his feet. “And you must be Agent Pierce of the FBI.”

Robin moved closer. “I am indeed.”

“I was just about to get another coffee, can I make one for you?” Ted asked.

“Sure, that would be nice.”

Ted started climbing the stairs. “Please, come in.”

In the kitchen, Ted poured out two cups of coffee. “How do you take yours, Agent Pierce?”

“Just a little cream if you have it, or milk.” Robin said.

He went to the refrigerator and got out the cream. He put it on the counter and she poured a little into her coffee and stirred it with a spoon. Ted did the same.

 “How about we sit outside. It’s a lot nicer out there.” Ted said

 They took their coffees out to the deck. Ted grabbed a cushion from one of the deck chairs and set it down a few feet from his cushion at the top of the stairs and they both sat down.

“So I assume you are chasing down whoever launched the recent cyber attacks I heard about on the news and I became a person of interest, since one of the companies was a client of mine in New York.”

“That’s pretty accurate.” Robin said.

“Well, if you did your research you probably already know that I won the Powerball lottery and my first instinct was to get my ass out of that city.”

“Yeah. I knew that. What I don’t know is how you felt about your client Donnie Sherman.”

Ted chuckled. “Donnie Sherman is, quite simply put, the scum of the earth.”

“So did you bear him any ill will?”

“Hmmm. That’s an interesting question. The only thing I really cared about, not just with Donnie, but with all my clients, was doing the best job I could for them. Accounting is a service business. If you let things get personal, you know, get too attached or at loggerheads with your clients, you hear about it from management pretty quickly. Oddly enough, Mr. Sherman and I got along quite well.”

“Yes, that’s what he told me.”

“You know, I don’t know much about cyber crimes per se. In fact, I don’t know very much about computers at all. To me, they are mostly just calculators with big screens. So I really wouldn’t even know where to begin to sabotage a business in that way. If I had a criminal mind, I would probably do with numbers. You know, miscalculate taxes and have the government chasing them. But that’s about it.”

Robin studied Ted while he was talking. He didn’t strike her at all as the vengeful type. He was a number cruncher, and judging from her conversation with Everett Barton, he was a damn good one.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “This coffee is delicious.” 

“It’s a Kona blend. Very expensive. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that I have a lot of money, so really good coffee was right at the top of the list.”

“Speaking of that. How is it that the public never found out that you’d won the Powerball?”

“After I knew I’d won, I went to the website, you know, to look for the address to claim my prize. I saw a long list of stipulations there. So, of course, I read it and one of them had to do with anonymity. I had the option of remaining anonymous if I so desired. I had read a bit about other people who had won big lottery jackpots and how they were besieged with all kinds of investment opportunities, needy friends, long lost relatives, that sort of thing. These people obviously didn’t read the fine print. If they had, it would have saved them a lot of grief. There are probably less than ten people on the planet who know I won this prize. And do you want to know the really odd thing?”

“Sure.” Robin was a great active listener. It was often a better way to find out things about people than confronting them with questions.

“I had never, in my whole life, purchased a lottery ticket of any kind. Never.” Go figure.”

Robin smiled. She found herself really liking this guy. 

“OK, well maybe you can give me some insight into who might want to screw up Donnie Sherman’s business.”

Ted chuckled again. “Donnie was an equal opportunity abuser. His employees, from what I was told, hated him. His suppliers hated him. Even his neighbouring businesses. He was always feuding with someone. He was a miserable little ball of hate. But Everett, my boss, who you have probably already talked with, gave him to me, and for some strange reason, we got along.”

“Well that narrows my list of suspects to a few hundred.” Robin said.

“More or less.”

“What about the other companies that were attacked?”

Ted shook his head. “I’ve honestly never really heard of them.”

Robin set her coffee mug down beside her and rubbed her face a bit.

“I don’t envy you, Agent Pierce.” Ted said. “From what I’ve read and heard on the news, these sorts of crimes are very hard to solve.”

“You’re right about that. But the law is the law.”

“What exactly would someone be charged with for a crime like this?”

“Right now, were stuck at public mischief and invasion of privacy. But it’s not so much about the law as it is the lawsuits that the victimized companies would launch. They can run way up into the tens of millions.”

Ted whistled. “Pretty high risk level for a cause like… worker fairness.”

“Well, the world is full of strange people. And I get to hunt a lot of them.”

Robin got to her feet, as did Ted. Thanks you for the coffee, Mr Phillips. I wish you a lot of luck with your millions. And by the way, your ex-boss, Everett Barton would like you to call him, just to let him know you’re still in one piece.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be much help.”

Robin turned to go back the way she came. “Nice house, she said. “Do you own it?”

“No I’m renting it for three months. Thinking about building my own house or maybe putting in an offer on this one.”

“Well, thanks for the coffee and the conversation.”

“Anytime.”

Robin walked up the side of the house. She was starting to get a bit of a headache from the conflict of interest in her head. What she didn’t realize at the time was that by playing this hunch, she had effectively painted Ted into a corner, because if he wanted to go on with the hacks, it would shine a very bright light on him. And while Robin didn’t really know it at the time, Ted sure as hell did.

~ 18 ~

A few minutes later, Ted went into the house, looked out the window to make sure Robin had left. Then he got the burner phone out of his bag and called Ollie Mitchum.

“Hey Ted.” Ollie said.

“Hi Ollie.”

“What’s up?”

“You ever heard of an FBI agent named Robin Pierce?”

Ollie just laughed. “Shit, man, that didn’t take very long at all.”

“Yeah.” Ted said. “Trouble is I believe she’s pretty much derailed me. If I try another one of these hacks, she’ll be all over me. So discretion being the better part of valour, I have decided to pack it in. I just wanted to thank you again for all your help and advice.”

“No sweat, Ted. Wise decision on your part, ‘cause that lady is a bloodhound. She’ll be gettin’ around to me soon. Feel free to hold onto the apps though ‘cause you never know when you might come across someone whose life you might want to make totally miserable.”

Ted laughed. “Well yeah, that’s a definite possibility.”

Ted disconnected he then took the phone apart and dumped it in his garbage can.

Almost immediately his thoughts turned to Letty Appleton. He went inside and opened his Mac. He searched for real estate agencies in Myrtle Beach and found Letty’s Century21 site fairly quickly. There was a headshot of her on the agent’s page. Ted stared at it for quite a while. She was basically Kelly Appleton only several years older. Ted could not believe his luck.

 So he took his personal phone out to the deck and called her.

“Hi. This is Letty.”

“Hi Letty, this is Ted Phillips. Your sister Kelly may have mentioned me.”

“Oh yeah, sure. Hi.”

“Listen, I’d love to get together with you. Maybe dinner, you know. Any place you like.”

“That would be great, Ted. How about tomorrow?”

“Sure. Can I pick you up anywhere?”

“Ahhh, I spend most of my time on the road. Tell you what. I will pick a restaurant and a time, if that’s okay, and text it to you.”

“Sure. That will be fine.”

“Good. I look forward to meeting you. Any preference for food?”

 “Nope. I’ll eat anything that’s put in front of me.”

“Okay then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ted disconnected and sat on the steps for a while longer. He thought about the fact that most of what he was eating were meals built around steaks of one kind or another. So he went inside, turned on his computer and started to search for a recipe book could buy. If the idea of eating in restaurants alone wasn’t his cup of tea, then maybe he could teach himself how to cook. He laughed about that. He had enough money to hire a full-time Cordon Bleu chef, but what it really boiled down to was that he was having a hell of a time coming to terms with just how rich he actually was.

The next morning, he rode down to a hair stylist that Noble had recommended. He had made an appointment ahead of time and sat down in a chair with a fellow named Andre. 

“So you are a friend of Noble’s? He’s a sweet man.” Andre said. He talked with a French accent, but not French French. Maybe New Orleans.

“Yep, and he told me you were a genius. So I will put myself completely in your hands.

Andre walked around the chair and stared at Ted’s head for a while. Then he rotated and tilted the chair and hosed Ted’s hair down and shampooed it. Once he had done that, he started to work. They exchanged small talk while Andre was working. Andre was indeed from New Orleans. He migrated north because the older he grew the less of a fan he became of the heat and humidity down there. 

When he was through, Ted looked at what he had done and it took a few seconds for him to recognize himself. His hair was shorter and spikier, but it suited his face perfectly.

He stared at himself for quite some time. Andre waited patiently until he saw Ted break into a smile. “Noble said you were a genius. And he was right. I love it, Andre.”

“I knew you would.”

Ted got up, grabbed his bag and walked to the register. Andre put down a small container of gel. The charge came to $60. Ted pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and laid it on the counter. “Thank you Andre. You have made a new man out of me.”

“Thank you, Ted. I’ll see you again soon.”

Ted scooped up the gel and stuffed it in his bag. “You can count on it.”

“Just a little bit of gel after your shower. Then brush it straight back and rough it up a bit.”

“Gotcha and thanks again.”

Ted left the salon a much happier man than when he had entered.

~ 19 ~

Ted rode over to the country club and hit a couple buckets of balls, then had some dinner in the dining room. All the time his brain was working on expanding the notion that he’d had a few days earlier. He added a couple of more blocks to the building and then started to think about other things.

He decided that he was happy in Myrtle Beach. He had a guy friend, a good hair stylist, and maybe even a lady friend. He had a country club. He had a beautiful beach house to live in. He would eventually find a doctor and dentist. Ninety million of his money was working for him in the market. All he was lacking was his passion project. And he was miles past his revenge phase. Besides, with people like Robin Pierce, who now knew who he was, it wasn’t gonna be anything illegal that was for sure. Not that he would be any good at that anyway.

Ted had lucked into the American dream in spades. There was not a single thing in his life that he had to do. But he wasn’t uncomfortable with that because he was just starting to get comfortable with the idea he had been quietly thinking through.

  The next day, Ted slept in and then went for a long bike ride around the city. He grabbed some lunch at a nice little bistro downtown. 

When he got home, he checked out the news for a while, then he got a text from Letty which just said ‘7:00 PM, Tupelo Honey.’

Around six, he spent a few minutes trying to decide what to wear on his date with Letty. He had checked out the restaurant online and decided it was pretty casual. So he chose a pair of dark blue slacks and jacket, a nice striped shirt. He looked dressy enough to be respectable but casual enough to be comfortable. 

He drove over and arrived a few minutes early. He sat in the parking lot until he saw a dark Jaguar pull in a few spaces down. When Letty got out, she was wearing a burgundy skirt and a white top. Her hair was long and not quite blonde. She appeared to be about five  eight and she was just a few notches above thin. She didn’t seem to be wearing a lot of makeup. He watched her walk by the Toyota. He liked the way she moved. There was a real confidence to it. 

After she got to the sidewalk and close to the entrance, he got out and followed. He met her standing beside the doorway. She was doing something with her phone. She immediately stopped and smiled at him. She held out her hand and he took it.

“Hello, Letty.”

“Nice to meet you Ted.” She raised a finger and then turned back to her phone. “This is so rude, I know, but I have a closing.”

“Not a problem.”

She tapped out a brief text and sent it off. “Real estate is a 24/7 thing.” she said, after she had sent off the text.

Ted just smiled. He opened the door and they entered the restaurant.

“This is one of my favourite places.” Letty said.” The food here is all fantastic. I was the agent for the people who bought the building. They’re from New Orleans, so they really know their southern cooking.”

They waited for a moment. Then a waiter came and showed them to their table. The place was not crowded but there were a good number of people just the same.

“It’s a slow night,” Letty said. “If you come on the weekends, it’s packed.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Ted said as they got seated.

There was a wine list and two menus on their table. Ted took the wine list. “Do you drink wine?”

“Yes I do. Most of the dishes here are seafood, so we could have some white wine.” Letty said.

“Do you have a preference?” Ted asked.

“No, all the whites here are great.”

Ted ordered a bottle of Chateau de Sancerre. Then he spent a few minutes studying the menu. 

“I notice you aren’t looking at the menu.”  Ted said.

“Oh, I know it off by heart.”

“So this is where you hang out.” 

“I bring a lot of clients here. It’s got a nice atmosphere and the food is all incredible.”

“Okay, what would you suggest for me, madame?” 

Letty took the menu. “You look like a shrimp guy. Maybe not so spicy.” And she pointed to one of the shrimp dishes.

“Works for me.” Ted said.

“Good.”

 The waiter appeared with the bottle of white which he opened and poured a tiny bit into Ted’s glass. He took a sip and nodded. The waiter poured some of the wine into each of their glasses, then vanished.

Ted raised his glass. “Cheers,” he said.

Letty clinked her glass against his and they both took a sip.  About 30 seconds later, the waiter came back and took their orders.

“So. Ted Phillips from New York City. Used to be an accountant. That’s all I know about you.” she said.

“I retired early. To tell you the truth I was sick of the grind of it all. And I wasn’t thrilled with the constant desire that my clients had to find loopholes to avoid paying taxes.”

“But isn’t that what an accountant is supposed to do?”

“Of course. But the businesses I was working for lost a lot of revenue during the two years of Covid. So they started looking for extra tax savings and then they got to like things being that way because when the business started coming back it was all the more profitable. After a while, the constant research just wore me out. I spent more time studying the tax code than I did anything else. One day, I realized I’d had enough.”

“So how do you live if you’re not working?”

“Hell.” Ted said. “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t ask, at least not right away.”

“Well that’s pretty mysterious.” Letty said.

“I won the Powerball Lottery.”

Letty almost choked on her wine. “I read about that. Somebody won some obscene amount and didn’t want to have their name revealed. So that was you?”

Ted just nodded.

“How much was it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Seven hundred and ninety million.”

“Wow. No wonder you got out of New York. If that ever got out, your life would have been a living hell.”

“Exactly. So here I am. I already have a hundred million invested with a guy named Noble Farnsworth.”

Letty laughed. “Small world. I went to high school with Noble. He’s a good guy. Hell of a golfer, I hear.”

“All that and a bag of chips.” Ted said.

“Well, your secret is safe with me.” Letty said.

“You know I’m still not used to it. Maybe you never really get used to it. I’m little bit leery even talking about it. It’s all kind of weird, you know. So let’s talk about you.”

“Okay. Well, I sell houses and some buildings in town and all around the area. Been doing that for about thirteen years, and I have a nice life. I got married very young, and that didn't work out, cause he was lazy and as it turned out, pretty stupid. He was dealing weed, which I didn’t know about at the time, being young and stupid myself. I only found out after he got busted and wanted me to bail him out. I just shook my head and walked away. Got a good lawyer and got divorced. He got three years and then just disappeared, thank God. So I have a condo in town and my life is mostly spent in my car, on my phone or both.”

Ted smiled. “Well, you seem to have come out of it all relatively unscathed.”

“There’s still a bit of pain, you know. But it gets a little smaller every year. I don’t do a lot of dating, because it’s just hard to be a killer real estate agent and have a social life too.”

“Well you’re on a date now, and you’re doing just fine, in my opinion.”

“You’re a nice guy, Ted. How is it that you don’t have a significant other?”

“Three words. New York City. Nobody dates. Everybody works ninety hours a week just to be able to afford to live there. It’s a total rat race, and the rats are winning.”

They talked a little more and then the food came, so they ate and talked and drank some more wine. Ted’s millions never came up again, and he got the impression that it really didn’t matter to Letty. They were just two thirty-somethings enjoying a great meal and getting to know each other.

As they were drinking their coffee, Ted said. “OK, so I don’t want you to think that this is a plot to get you to come home with me, but I really like this house that I’m renting and would like to make the owners an offer. I’d appreciate it if you could come over sometime and have a look at it and do the deal for me.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll text you the address. I’m usually there except when I’m playing golf with Noble. Or riding around looking at the town.”

“Riding around?”

“Yeah. I bought a nice e-bike. It was a treat to myself for winning the lottery.”

Letty chuckled. “That’s the oddest thing I’ve ever heard. Most men with that kind of money would buy a Rolls Royce.”

“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure it hasn’t hit me yet. Not totally. When it does, I’ll become a complete pain in the ass.”

“Or maybe you just wanted an e-bike.”

Ted smiled. He really liked this lady. She was great looking, smart and had a sense of humour. “So do you think you could put this offer together for me?” he asked.

“Not a problem. It’s, in fact, what I do.”

“I’d also like to be able to see you again.”

“Me too. Just as long as you understand that my job comes first. I learned the hard way that I have to be adamant about that.”

“That will never be a problem for me Letty. I’m planning to develop a rich full life myself.” 

They left the restaurant and kissed goodnight. Ted watched her drive away. She waved as she went by.

~ 20 ~

Three days later. Letty was walking around in Ted’s house. She looked at everything inside, then walked around the entire perimeter of the house. Afterwards, they sat on the back deck, Letty had a diet soda because it was the middle of the day and she didn’t drink until the evening if she drank at all.

“This house is in excellent condition. The people who owned it took very good care of it, which means there’s nothing major that would need to be done. This is a prime location and if you’re paying twenty five hundred a month that puts the value of the house just a bit over six fifty, because of the great location. If we offered the owner say six-seventy, I bet she would pounce on it.”

“Okay.  So why don’t you put the deal together and offer it to her. I’ll text you agent’s contact info.”

“Okay.”

“And you’ll let me know when you’re free for dinner again. I have been noodling an idea for a while now, and I’d really like to get your opinion on it.”

Letty took out her phone and looked at her calendar. “How about Saturday?”

“Works for me.”

Ted walked her out to her car. “Thank you for doing this deal.”

They kissed again. This time it was a little longer and a little more passionate. As Letty drove away, Ted stood there in the driveway with his lips tingling and his heart beating a bit faster.

~ 21 ~

The day was warm and sunny as they teed off. Ted had been going to the range religiously for the past three days and while he didn’t really have a lot more power, he definitely had more control. 

As he and Noble walked down the fairway together, Ted said. “You know a lady named Letty Appleton?”

 “Letty Appleton.” Noble said with a bit of nostalgia in his voice. “Yeah, I remember her. Hottest girl in high school. But she never clicked with any of the guys though. You got the feeling that she was holding out for someone or something. She didn’t have many girlfriends either but she never seemed unhappy about it.”

“Her younger sister, Kelly, who works at Citibank, set me up with her. We had dinner the other night and I hired her to get my landlord to sell me the house. I think there might be something there, with Letty.”

“She had her life turned inside out a bit by her first husband. Nice guy but also a bit of an asshole. He was dealing weed on a fairly serious level and got popped.”

“So she told me.”

“Well, I wish you all the best. Letty’s a thoroughbred. She’ll be a handful, my friend.”

Ted said nothing and just kept walking. 

Ted broke ninety that day and so they hung around to celebrate a bit.

“Kinda like riding a bicycle, isn’t it?” Noble said

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Ted replied. “It also helps to be playing with someone who can analyze a swing.”

“Part of the service, Ted.”

Noble told him that he was planning a review meeting the following week, where he and Janey would take him through the investment portfolio they had created and explain how it was doing.

“And by the way,” Noble said. “A little bird told me that there was an FBI agent in town looking for you. What was that about?”

Ted hesitated a bit then said. “Well, you know that idea I had about hacking the clients that I thought were fucking their people over.”

“Oh yeah. That was pretty crazy.”

“Turns out that somebody beat me to the punch. One of my former clients was hacked, and very skillfully.” Ted was quite impressed with the way that lie just rolled off his tongue.

“No shit.”

“Yeah, go figure. So my name naturally popped up and she came by and we had some coffee and a nice chat.”

“So you weren’t arrested, obviously.”

“No, but what it did do was totally derail any plans I may have had to hack anybody. Because I’m now, you know, on their radar.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, I think she did you a favour, keeping you out of the criminal world.”

“Yeah, I concluded the same thing.”

They shot the shit for another half hour or so. Just another pleasant day in paradise.  

~ 22 ~

Ted and Letty had another date on the following Saturday. Letty told him that she had been to see the owner of the house and she would be delighted to unload it for the $670,000 Ted had offered. Three days later, Letty had finalized everything and Ted now owned the house he was living in. Ted insisted on paying her thirty thousand for the fine work she did. Letty had gone the extra mile and made the offer contingent on keeping the all furniture and appliances and was happy to accept the money.

As they were waiting for their food, Letty said, “You mentioned an idea you had that you wanted my opinion about. So shoot.”

OK. But first I want to ask you a question. “Your sister, Kelly. Is she happy working at the bank?”

“What an odd question.” Letty said. Then she looked Ted straight in the eye. “Do you know something you’re not telling me?”

“No it’s just a simple question.”

“Well, the banking business is rather sexist and male-dominated. She had to work her ass off every day to get where she is, and I don’t mind telling you, I’m pretty sure that’s about as much clout they’re gonna let her have. So are you going to tell me why you want to know that?”

“I want to offer Kelly a job.” And from there, Ted went on  to explain his idea to Letty. It took about five minutes. Letty just sat there and listened very carefully. 

When Ted was done explaining, he said, “And I think that Kelly would be the perfect person to run this whole thing.”

“You know, Ted,” Letty said. “I think you might just be right.”

~ 23 ~

There were four of them at the meeting. It was on a Sunday afternoon and they all sat out on the deck of Ted’s recently acquired house. Letty sat beside her sister. Noble and Ted sat on the other side.

“Noble and I have been talking about what I should do with my money, to maybe shelter part of it, which, after taxes and hopefully some good sheltering opportunities, is around five hundred million. Now, if things work out in the market, I will give Noble another hundred million to play with, so that leaves me with, at the very most, four hundred million to do something with.

“When I moved here I was really pissed off with several of the companies I was working for, and had this idea to hack their businesses and screw them up big time. I even went so far as to talk to a major league hacker that Noble knows. That’s what the FBI visit was all about. But I never got the chance to do it because somebody got the jump on me. But now that the FBI knows who I am, that opportunity is gone. 

“So I thought about it for a long time…lots of bike rides and walks on the beach, and I decided that I would like to start a small business investment company. Since the Covid recovery period began there has been a record number of small businesses starting up. I’d like to put some of my money to work as part of that. And I would like to offer you, Kelly, the opportunity to run this with me. I’m CPA by trade so I can keep precise track of the money. But I need someone who can talk to these people, assess their potential, determine how much financing they would need and how much of a dividend we could expect from the investment. I would also like to focus on the renewables market, as much as possible, because all the research Noble and I both have done so far is pointing in that direction.”

Ted stopped for a moment to let that sink in.

“I’m assuming, Kelly, that you make about sixty to seventy grand a year.” Ted said.

Kelly just nodded.

“So I’m prepared to offer you a hundred a year to work with me on this project. Not only will you be making more money, but you will be the key person and main decision maker in this whole operation. I will set up a small business health care system. And you will have your sister’s, mine and Noble’s brain to pick.”

Kelly sat there kind of stunned. “Wow. Is this for real?”

Ted simply nodded. “I believe that the banking business has a glass ceiling. And I think that you are rubbing up against it. This project has no ceiling. You and I will be the directors. You will also share in any profit we make and your sister and Noble will be our paid advisors.”

Kelly just stared at Ted. They all said nothing while Kelly let it sink in. Finally, Kelly started to smile and said. “Well, alright then. I will need to give a couple weeks' notice.”

That’s fine. While that’s happening, we will find and furnish some office space. He looked at Letty. “Nothing very big. Just a couple offices and a meeting room for now. We’ll get you all the office equipment you might need. We will also need a corporate identity.”

Kelly said. “I have the perfect person for this. He’s a great designer. He can build and manage websites and write content, and in about three months, I’m going to be married to him.”

Ted looked over at Letty. She just nodded. “Yeah, he’s very good, Ted. I’ve seen his work.”

“So what are you going to call this operation, Ted?” Noble asked.

Ted took a deep breath. “At the moment, I’m thinking about calling it, Green Acres Investments.”

“What’s Green Acres?” Kelly asked. 

“It’s an old TV show about a millionaire in New York City, with a very glamorous wife, who decided to buy a farm and go and live on it.” Ted said, “I guess I can kinda relate to it.”

Everybody laughed then Noble said. “You know that’s not such a bad name. It feels very positive. Not sure how many people will make the connection to an old TV show though.”

Letty just smiled and thought, there’s really something to this guy. And so it was that Green Acres Investments was born.

~ 24 ~

Ted, Noble and Janey met and reviewed Ted’s portfolio which, even just in few months, had grown percentage-wise in the low double digits. Ted was so pleased that he released another hundred million for them to invest for him.

There were no legal issues about naming the business Green Acres. Ted sat down with Kelly’s fiancé, a young guy named Raylon Hatcher and they talked for a few hours. Raylon took a lot of notes and two weeks later presented Ted and Kelly with a great logo and website design and architecture. Kelly and Raylon would write it together. Raylon also gave them a corporate identity package that included signage, letterhead, envelopes, business cards, a brochure, and a well-crafted press release that they could send out to newspapers and radio stations in the area when they were ready.

Letty found them a nice office on the ground floor of an older house downtown that had been converted to business suites. Ted and Kelly went shopping for everything she would need to furnish the place. Ted also opened up a business account and moved fifty million dollars into it. Three weeks later they were open for business.

Before they put the website online, they created a detailed questionnaire which would make it that much easier for Kelly to evaluate and prioritize applications.

Two days after they launched the website, they were inundated with requests for meetings. But Kelly would only meet with those companies which had correctly filled out the questionnaire and that she felt met all the criteria that she, Raylon and Ted had worked out. In a return email to those who had not, she made this quite clear. 

Kelly was extremely good at analyzing the applications and interviewing the applicants who looked promising. Her financial experience was now paying her huge dividends.

After the first year, Green Acres owned 5 to 10% stakes in more than thirty companies, based on a cash outlay of $22.5 million.

Returns were much smaller, but with the deductions that Green Acres was eligible for, they actually were able to break even after expenses, office rent and Kelly’s salary. And that margin would grow as time went by.

Before Kelly and Raylon got married, Ted threw a party for them at his house. There were a couple dozen people there. Everyone had a great time, and Ted made a few more friends.

Ted and Noble continued to play golf together and by the end of the year, Ted was a 16 handicap and shooting consistently in the mid-eighties.

Ted and Letty grew closer together and Letty eventually sublet her condo and moved into the beach house with Ted. She was hardly ever around, but when she was, they had a lot of fun.

Together Ted, Kelly, Letty and Noble formed a not-for-profit called Safe Space. With cooperation from the city, Ted invested close to $30 million in the renovation of an old 10-storey office building, just outside the downtown core, into one and two-bedroom apartments for the homeless. 

They built and furnished 44 apartments, and equipped them with WIFI and utilities. Each resident or family head was given $24,000 thousand, free rent for one year and taxi to slips to take them to and from their job interviews. If they had not found meaningful employment and a place of their own to live by the end of the year, they would be asked to leave. 

This initiative was applauded by the city and several job counsellors, volunteered to help get the job seekers equipped for their interviews and hopefully back into the work force. The success rate was an astonishing 85%.      

After three years, it became a model for this type of rehabilitation. Ted and Raylon created a presentation and then Ted periodically travelled around to various cities in the south to talk to city councils about how this could be done in their communities.

Ted’s rewards for all of this activity were a number of tax breaks that allowed him to hold onto more of his millions, and think about other ways to put his money to work for good reasons. 

~ 25 ~

One day, about six months after her first visit, and while Ted was sitting on his deck, reading some questionnaires, Agent Robin Pierce and her significant other, Jenny Rothwell, showed up quite unexpectedly. 

They were on a driving holiday down the East Coast and just stopped by to say hello. Ted got them some coffee and they sat on the deck together. 

Ted told them what he had been up to and Robin just kind of smiled. Then she said. “You know, after we talked the last time, a strange thing happened. The hacks suddenly stopped. Just like that. I suppose if it had been you, then my showing up here to talk to you about them would have been enough to do the trick.”

“Well, there’s a certain amount of supposition in all that Agent Pierce.”

“I suppose there is. Anyway between you and me, I think those folks got what they deserved.”

“Ted just smiled, then said.“Did I mention that I bought this house?”

“No, you did not. It’s a beautiful house.”

With the heavy part of the conversation behind them, Ted showed them around the house. Ted and the two women talked for another hour and then they left, heading down to visit some friends in Fort Lauderdale.

Letty pulled into the driveway just as the two ladies were driving away. When she got into the house, Ted was putting the coffee cups into the dishwasher.

“Who was that?” Letty asked, as she kissed him on the cheek.

“That, my dear, was the FBI.”

“What did they want?” 

“You know I’m not really sure.” Ted said. “Maybe they just came for the coffee.”

“Well, you do make a mean cup of coffee.” Letty said. “And I could use one right about now.”

FIN