BACKTRACKING (because I was at work all day and am just now getting back to these threads...)
Jack Crawford sat by the phone all day in his Seattle penthouse suite, anxiously awaiting word from the woman he loved and hoped would be his future wife, Kenya Adaeze.
However, each call was from one of his brokers, either the one there in Seattle or back on the east coast.
The news was promising as his planned takeover attempt of Knight Industries would begin in earnest with the first bell of the New York Stock Exchange Monday morning.
A score of proxy buyers were prepared to act on his behalf, obtaining every available share they could of every company Benton Knight owned. While there was no way Crawford could hope to obtain complete ownership of any one specific company that way, the objective was to gain control of enough shares of the overall corporate entity that was one Crawford and Knight so that Jack could secure a seat on the executive board of directors and eventually force Benton Knight out while gaining it all.
But as the day progressed and the progress reports trickled in, there were key pieces missing.
None of the components that were part of the entity known as Knight Media were available.
Jack recalled that Benton once bitched about their father giving that to his younger brother Lance, even to the point of once attempting a hostile takeover attempt against his own flesh and blood.
Obviously he took the company private to prevent Benton from trying that stunt again.
Jack had no personal problems with Lance. In fact, while the two of them had yet to formally meet, Jack actually liked the guy for by all accounts, Lance Knight was a good person to work for.
So Knight Media is unavailable. If necessary, I'll deal with it later, thought Jack, for taking back what was once his from Benton Knight was the main goal.
However, that presented another problem.
"What do you mean you can't locate any shares of Crawford Computers?" Jack had screamed into the phone when the broker called with the bad news. Of all the other subsidiaries and auxiliaries that composed Knight Industries currently unaccounted for, THAT was the one Jack wanted most of all.
"The company is solid and doing well financially, but there is no stock publicly available and there's no documentation on record of Benton Knight ever taking the company private, so any outstanding shares are still out there, somewhere, I just don't know where they are right now."
"But you ARE looking?" Jack demanded to know.
"Yes," replied the broker. "I'm still trying to discretely track down any possible private portfolio holders that might have shares they'd be willing to sell, but so far I'm coming up empty."
"Well find them and get them!" ordered Jack, before angrily hanging up the phone.
A lot of computer related companies were known for their wares.
Apple with its entire I-series of products, Microsoft programs, apps, and other stuff.
Pentium's claim to fame was its Intel Chips.
But no matter who made what, nor how successful they were, all had to deal with Crawford Computers, who specialized in making the more basic components from mother board foundations to cooling fan blades to a whole assortment of hardware pieces up to and including wiring and the little diode that let you know your computer was on even if the monitor was off.
Crawford Computers was my dad's first company. "Other's may specialize," he said, "but all will need supplies to manufacture their products. Corner that need in any market, and the world will beat a path to your door." I've got to get it back, for him if nothing else, but where are those outstanding shares? wondered Jack Crawford, as angry that they were unaccounted for as much as the fact Kenya still hadn't called him, still obsessed with that teenage werewolf back in Moon Lake.
But unbeknownst to Jack or anyone participating in his plan, those "missing" shares of Crawford Computers, as well as some other assets of Knight Industries that were unavailable on the stock market, were sitting inside a large envelope as part of the trust fund set aside for Frieda Knight.
An envelope that was currently within the possession of her uncle Lance, who secured his niece's future within the private safe of his office as Editor-In-Chief of The Moon Lake Gazette until he could transfer it to a safety deposit box in the Moon Lake Bank Monday morning.