A Woman Possessed

By Robert Dean Bray

JASON WALDRIP was the very successful "favorite son" President of the Commerce Union Bank in Harrisburg, Tennessee. Yet with all his success, he had a big passion.....he loved to gamble especially playing high stakes seven card stud poker. After losing $32,000.00 to professional gamblers, money he did not have, his secretary and high school sweetheart, ABIGAIL MOORE, saw an opportunity to win him away from his wife. She told Jason she would get the money for him. She devised a plan using her good looks, sex, deception and false promises to lure her friend CHARLIE MILLER, who was the trusted and very lonely Head Teller at the bank to steal the money for her. What followed when Abigail refused to marry Charlie was an attempt to murder Charlie and convincing her lover Jason Waldrip into believing that Charlie gave her the proceeds from an insurance policy he had on his mother when she brought the $32,000.00 in cash to Jason's office on his birthday.

With nearly $400,000.00 in her possession, Abigail, thinking she had performed the perfect murder, took the money and moved to South America.

Jason wanted her back after he found out his wife was having an affair with her high school lady friend. He hired a famous and very successful defense attorney to defend her if she would return to Harrisburg. She agreed to return thinking it was her only chance to finally have Jason as her own. When she returned new evidence turned against her.

The surprise ending of this suspenseful story is found in the last chapter of this exciting novel. A WOMAN POSSESSED delivers all the twists and turns, deception, greed and emotional drama and the pacing of "not being able to put the book down" that readers expect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450277808

Robert Dean Bray

The author of two previous novels, ROBERT DEAN BRAY graduated from a Georgia Military College where he won acclamation for being a Distinguished Military Student, Who's Who Among American Universities and Colleges. In 1967 he was recognized and selected as an Outstanding Young Man in America, the same year Senator Edward Kennedy was selected.

Book preview

A Woman

Possessed

ROBERT DEAN BRAY

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

A WOMAN POSSESSED

Copyright © 2010 by Robert Dean Bray

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4502-7779-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-7780-8 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 12/31/2010

Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 39

CHAPTER 40

CHAPTER 41

CHAPTER 42

CHAPTER 43

CHAPTER 44

CHAPTER 45

CHAPTER 1

If anyone had it made, it was Jason Waldrip. Jason looked like the successful big time city banker he was. But there was a dark side neither his wife nor friends knew about. He had an addiction which had followed him from his early high school days until the present.

The cool fall wind was whisking through the waving half naked dogwood trees that lined 14th street all the way to the Harrisburg City Hall. The morning air was chilly and crisp as the light wind rustled the trees. It was Saturday morning and the beginning of the long Labor Day weekend.

Jason Waldrip and his wife, Dolly, along with several of their friends, would soon be on their way to Harrah’s Casino and Hotel in Tunica, Mississippi for a weekend of fun and relaxation; however his wife and friends did not yet know the real reason Jason wanted to go to Tunica. Unknown to Jason, this weekend would not only prove to be very profitable, but it would set in motion events he wished never had happened.

Jason had been to Tunica many times and had made many friends with the hotel staff, as well as the casino manager, Willie Lone Wolf Freeman. He was also well known by several pit bosses. He enjoyed playing black jack, but seven card stud poker was his preference. He delighted in the special treatment he always received when he visited Tunica, and with his dynamic personality and deep pockets, he made friends quickly.

Being a little superstitious he always stayed in room 1016 when he visited the hotel and casino, and the hotel staff always made the room available whenever he came to Tunica, which was at least one time every month.

Finishing breakfast, and after saying goodbye to their good friend, David Ronesco, owner of the Ebbtide Bar and Grill, Jason and Dolly headed west toward Memphis. Jason turned on his Grundig radio and tuned in to the pre game show of The University of Tennessee/Vanderbilt football game. Entering I-40 West, he set the cruise control on his 550 Mercedes at 80 mph. It would take about two hours to reach Memphis and another hour traveling south on I-55 to the Coldwater exit. Tunica was west about thirty miles.

This trip to Tunica was the first time Jason and Dolly had gone together. Dolly was not aware Jason had been there many times, and she had no idea Jason loved to gamble. When Jason stopped the car at the entrance of the hotel, she thought it was unusual when the concierge rushed out to greet him.

Good afternoon, Mr. Waldrip. Nice to see you, the door man said, motioning for a bell boy.

Jason and Dolly were greeted by Rahibe Delco, the hotel manager. Your suite is ready for you, Mr. Waldrip. It is good to have you staying at Harrah’s, Mr. Rahibe said as he directed the bell boy to take the bags to Room 1016. Jason had been a guest so many times he did not have to sign the guest register. How do all these people know you? a puzzled Dolly asked, as the two of them entered the elevator.

Undaunted, Jason replied, Harrah’s Enterprises has a line of credit with our bank, and I met Mr. Delco and his accountant several times before the line of credit was approved.

Harrah’s Enterprises did not have a line of credit with Jason’s bank, but Jason’s answer seemed to satisfy Dolly.

Entering the beautifully decorated suite on the 10th floor, Dolly was surprised to see a large bouquet of freshly cut red roses on the table in front of the wide screen television. An unopened bottle of Johnny Walker Scotch, two crystal cocktail glasses and a decanter of ice were neatly arranged on a credenza behind the champagne colored leather sofa.

Pouring himself a drink, Jason began pacing back and forth.

You seem nervous. Is something wrong?

No, nothing is wrong. I’m just a little tired.

Changing the subject quickly, Jason continued, We are going to have a ball this weekend. Dolly cheerfully agreed.

Jason could not wait to go to the casino. After taking a quick shower and dressing in a black tuxedo, he told Dolly to take a nap that he would be back in an hour or so. Looking at his Rolex watch the time was 3:15 PM.

Jason’s demeanor was that of anticipation as he entered the casino. The bright lights of the brilliant crystal chandeliers, the plush red and black carpets, the slot machines humming as the players hastily fed the coins, and the beautiful beverage attendants in the gold lame’ attire, all renewed an image in his mind of the grandeur he truly loved. I love it, I truly love it, Jason thought as he slowly walked around the casino observing people from all over the world spending their money hoping to hit it big. He stopped briefly at a poker table. He was about to sit down to play when Willie Lone Wolf Freeman approached him with an outstretched hand, Hello Jason. It has been a while. It is nice to see you. I can see you are ready to play, Lone Wolf said, shaking Jason’s sweaty right hand.

You are right Lone Wolf, I AM ready to play.

CHAPTER 2

Jason Waldrip began his obsession with gambling when he was just a teenager. He had watched and learned from his father playing nickel seven card poker with neighborhood friends every Saturday night. His father’s passion for winning overwhelmed young Jason and motivated him to learn how to play to win.

When he was only fourteen years old and a freshman in high school, he devised a simple card game using a worn deck of playing cards. He wanted it to be simple so the players would never be confused as to how to play the game. Jason was always the dealer because he knew the odds of winning was always in the dealer’s favor.

As the dealer, he would pay three to one to the winner and he always made sure there was at least one winner in every game. If there was no winner, the dealer would win. Each player could bet what he or she wanted to bet which was usually ten to twenty-five cents or more.

The game was devised in such a way that Jason would always come out a winner. He would not play a game unless there were at least five players in the game.

Five cards were dealt one at a time to each player. Face cards counted as ten points, and the Joker was wild. When a player’s hand exceeded 21 points, that player was out of the game and his ante went to the dealer. The first player to reach 21 was the winner. If neither player reached 21 after five cards, the dealer won. Although Jason paid the winner fifteen cents for every nickel in the ante, he very rarely came away a loser. If the dealer reached 21 first, he would win all of the money in the pot.

Many of the young players would skip lunch and use their lunch money to play cards with Jason.

Jason had an I.Q. that exceeded 135, and with a photographic memory, he learned how to count and remember each card as they were played. Methodically, he could pick up the discards and shuffle them in such a way he could almost pick the winner before the cards were dealt.

At lunch time, five or six players would meet behind the high school maintenance shop and play Jason’s game for fifteen or twenty minutes. Jason usually would win from one to three dollars each day.

By the end of his senior year, he had saved almost $2000.00; all from winning at his high school card games.

Everyone at Central High School like Jason. Not only was he good looking, his charming personality endured him with his friends and the entire staff of teachers. He was captain and quarterback of the football team and was also captain of the basketball team. Not just an outstanding athlete, he was a scholastic genius with a photographic memory. And he was very good at remembering names and places. As valediction of his graduating class and with outstanding athletic skills, he was a favorite son of everybody in Harrisburg, Tennessee, a town of 60,000 people which was located halfway between Memphis and Nashville. It was a charming city nestled in a valley between the Cumberland River and Crown Mountain. The population was made up of mostly of middle class factory working people. It was a very friendly place where everybody seemed to know every body, from the Superior Court Judge to the janitor at the local high school. It was a high school football town which almost always had winning teams. Jason was constantly seen in and around Harrisburg with his long time high school sweetheart, Abigail Moore.

As he grew older his addiction to gambling gave him great pleasure. He could not resist the pleasurable excitement of a card game, the craps table or even betting on horse races, or other kinds of sporting events, and similar games of chance. Unlike many people who enjoyed an occasional game, Jason did not play just to win, he could not resist the constant repetition of periods of exciting tension that gambling provided whether he won or loss. It was the risk that gave him the most excitement. It was that same excitement he received while competing in his Mazda RX-8 as an amateur race car driver. Winning was a priority with him. Winning at everything he attempted kept him on the edge which he loved.

He was movie star handsome with dark black hair and blue eyes and had a body builder’s physique and stood 6ft 2inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds. If anyone had it made, it was Jason. Not only was he valedictorian of his high school class of 200 students, he was also a member of the school’s debate team. The team had won first place three years in a row in the yearly district competition. And as captain and quarterback of the football team, he led the team to the 5 AAAA State Championship three years running. With his successful attitude for winning, it created envy from many of his less talented friends.

Because of his athletic ability he was offered football scholarships from leading universities from all over the Southeast and Mid West. The University of Tennessee was the most persistent in trying to allure him to accept a football scholarship to the University. Representatives from the athletic department visited Jason and his family more than a dozen times during his last year in high school. They not only wanted him for his athletic abilities, but for his popularity with fans from all over the State of Tennessee. The local BMW automobile dealer in Harrisburg offered to provide him with a new BMW for four years, if he would attend the university and play football. Although deals such as this were not condoned or permitted by the SEC, college officials and alumni did not oppose gifts to players if it helped them secure the players they wanted. He was told by the BMW dealer, If you give us a SEC championship, I will give you a free and clear title on a new BMW convertible.

He declined all of the football offers and accepted a scholastic scholarship from Yale University. He had also received a scholastic invitation from Harvard University. He chose Yale over Harvard because he had several friends that were already attending Yale.

In his second year at Yale, he was selected to join the infamous and sometime dangerous Skull and Bones secret fraternity. He quickly became one of its most notorious leaders. With the approval of Superior Court Judge, Harry Andrews, the high leader of the fraternity, and after a vote from one hundred per cent of its members, he was allowed to show off his card playing skills. He used his charm to convince the club to have a regular poker game once a week. He quickly gained respect from his other college friends and associates, including many of the faculty professors. Every one who knew him was impressed with his skill at playing his favorite pastime…..seven card stud poker.

The University President and the Athletic Director were well aware of Jason’s athletic skills and because the football program at Yale was lacking for leadership and skill, the two of them secretly decided to approach Jason about joining the football program. The Athletic Director asked Jason to come by his office. Jason, I am sure you are well aware our football team stinks. We have some good players, but we do not have a quarterback with good enough skills and leadership qualities to build a winning team. Alumni are screaming because we have not beaten Harvard for the past three years. Would you consider playing for our team?

Coach, I really am not interested in playing football. It is just not in my plans.

The Athletic Director knew his next move would break the conference rules, but he continued trying to convince Jason to join the team.

Would $25,000.00 change your mind? the coach reluctantly asked.

It might, Jason responded, knowing he could use the money to enhance his image with many of his rich friends who continually taunted and resented him because of his many talents. He had developed a thick skin in dealing with them. Now he could really compete, so he had no problem with accepting the money for playing football.

Jason knew what the Director, who was also the football coach, was offering was illegal but he did not care. He needed the money, so he told the Coach he would join the team.

Jason was reared in a rented small three bedroom, one bath house on Cain Street with his family of only modest means. His father, a disabled Vietnam veteran was a disturbed alcoholic and worked as a part time automobile mechanic at the local Chevrolet dealership. He was physically abusive to his wife and daughter. Jason’s mother had retired on disability from working at the local office of the Social Security Administration for over twenty years. His only sister, Sarah suffered from Down’s syndrome and was deathly afraid of her father. Despite his humble upbringing and dire circumstances, Jason excelled in practically everything he attempted. He decided early on in his teenage years he would be the best at whatever he attempted, and so far he was doing just that.

In his junior year, Jason led the football team to second place in the conference and won the game between Yale and Harvard much to the satisfaction of the alumni and university leadership.

At the beginning of his senior year, he told his coach he would not play in his final year.

Is it money? Would another $25,000.00 change your mind?

Jason accepted the offer and led Yale to the conference championship and again led his team to victory over Harvard by a score of 24 to 7.

He was voted player of the year by the conference, and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

He was approached by several NFL scouts but he refused to talk with them because football, regardless of the money he could make, was not in his plans.

Jason graduated magna cum laude from Yale with a double major in Economics and International Finance with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Because of his outstanding record at Yale, he was offered positions with IBM, Bank of America, Home Depot, Commerce Union Bank and many other national and international companies. He declined all of the offers and would accept a position with the Commerce Union Bank in his hometown of Harrisburg, Tennessee, if the bank made him an offer. A position with his hometown bank was in his long thought out future plans. He wanted the prestige, power and influence that being a successful banker could provide.

The hometown hero was returning home much to the pleasure of his many friends who gave him a hero’s welcome at the Woodruff Hills Golf and Country Club.

Everything seemed to be perfect. Jason hoped this night would be the beginning of a future he longed to have.

Dolly Jamison was the daughter of Henry Jamison, Chairman and President and majority stockholder of the Commerce Union Bank. She had been prompted by her father to be especially nice to Jason.

Jason talked with several friends in the ballroom which glittered with crystal chandeliers and silver punch bowls. Mr. Jamison had invited Jason to be his guest at a lavish sit down dinner and would introduce him to several of his powerful friends which included both United States Senators from Tennessee, the Mayor of Harrisburg and several important notables that would probably qualify as guests on the Fox News Network. He was hoping Mr. Jamison would offer him a position with his bank. This is what I want; power and prestige, Jason thought, as he shook hands with Mr. Jamison’s powerful friends.

Jason, this is our daughter, Dolly. She just returned home after graduating from Hollins University. We are real glad to have her home. And this is my wife Dee Dee.

Dolly was very attractive. Her bright green eyes and long blonde hair blended perfectly with the Armani suit she was wearing. It was obvious she had been trained at a finishing school on how to conduct herself for any occasion. She was the pride and joy and only child of Henry and Dee Dee Jamison.

Both parents carefully kept their eyes on her as she visited with friends in the private dining room which included several of her high school boy friends. Mr. Jamison was quick to move her to another table if it appeared she was spending too much time with her male friends. Jason had known Dolly in high school but did not associate with her because he was going steady with Abigail Moore, the captain of the football team’s cheerleading squad.

Abigail Moore was a free spirit and a woman attracted to men with a demeanor that revealed her conniving and sometime overbearing personality. She was totally ingratiating and was always seeking ways to gain favor from anyone who could help her advance her position with the Commerce Union Bank.

When Jason went off to Yale, he and Abby drifted apart and lost track of each other. Abby did not go to college but she did take a secretarial course and was hired by the Commerce Union Bank. She had used her good looks and charming personality to convince the Human Resources Vice President to give her a platform secretarial position.