Changing Places with Yourself

Chapter 14

Bruce & Steve followed me in a car and by the time we got there everyone involved was in police custody.  They had arrested Evan and Amy together, literally, if you catch my drift, gross.  Claude and Samuel had everything ready for the video conference we set up in the conference room.  This made it easier to tell Grandpa, Jimmy, and Judy what happened all at the same time.  They are shown the video from this afternoon, copies of the emails and texts Evan sent me, the video of Evan and Amy’s arrest while they were surrounded by drugs, audio recordings of their phone calls planning the k********g, and printouts of everything that had gone on the past few weeks.  By the end of the presentation, everyone in the room knew that I was the target, who wasn’t supposed to come out of this attack alive.  Judy was crying and trying to apologize to me from the office in Kansas, Jimmy was fuming and wanted to get his hands on Evan, and Grandpa was upset that I was allowed to be put in such a dangerous situation by our security staff.  I stood up for them, saying, “It was my choice.  I knew if we didn’t catch them with this plan that they might try to hurt one or more of you.  They were desperate for money for some reason.  Claude has some top investigators searching for the reason behind this.”  “We know for sure that Amy is the driving force behind this.  She was furious at the fact she was thwarted stealing from Evan last time and we believe she has him addicted to a variety of drugs, which is why he went along with such a gruesome plan.”  Claude interjected.  After Claude and Samuel finished explained everything that happened to them, Grandpa spoke, “While I am not happy on iota about our security allowing Becky to be bait.  I understand she felt safe.  I would like to meet Tony Stovard and give him my personal thanks for his help as soon as it can be arranged.”  Bruce nodded his head to denote he would take care of that.  “I want to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.  It saddens me to no end that Evan would allow himself to be manipulated like this by someone he knows only wants his money.  Claude, I will come back with you to your offices. I need to make a few changes to my will.  Jimmy and Judy, I’m sure you are both heading to the airport as soon as possible.  Bruce will make sure the plane and pilot are ready to bring you both here.  I still believe it was unacceptable to put Becky in any kind of danger.  Wouldn’t a ‘decoy’ have worked just as well in her place?”  “Grandpa, please don’t blame them.  I volunteered and overrode all of Bruce and Steve’s objections.  They did want to use a body double, but I made them see that those men wouldn’t be looking at my body shape only at what my face looked like, comparing that to the pictures Evan gave them.  We needed to catch them in the act of grabbing me to help force their confessions and testimony against Amy.  I knew with all the guards they had around me, despite Evan’s email giving them the day off, that I would be safe from harm.  Evan is not himself; the drugs Amy has been feeding him even changed how his voice sounded when he called me.  I asked Claude to help the police obtain a warrant for his blood and hair.  That will help them determine which drugs she gave him and for how long she had him under her control.”  I state, “Grandpa, Mom, & Dad, it breaks my heart that someone so vile would get her talons into Evan so tightly.  I know he’s not the boy you raised, but drugs can change a person’s personality.  I hope that once he is clean and sober once more, he will be the son and grandson you all love and want to protect.”  After I finished speaking, Claude gave Samuel a few instructions while Bruce called to make sure the plane was ready to fly from Kansas to Ohio as soon as the Novells got to the airport.  I stood and walked over to Grandpa, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug, I let him cry against my stomach for as long as he needed.  He let loose gut-wrenching sobs of anguish over what had become of his beloved grandson.  The others left the room to handle getting the security detail in place for Jimmy and Judy’s arrival.  Claude contacted his office to alert his staff all the senior Novells would be coming over and to get their conference room set up with plenty of tissues.  He alerted their staff clergyman on hand to assist with grief counseling for the family because in a way they did lose Evan today.  I hope that one day he will return to them, but for now, it feels like they lost him forever.  Claude had been handling the legal affairs for the Novell family for years.  He asked, June, his PA, to grab a copy of the wills they have on file for all 3 senior members of the family.  Claude knows that I am staying behind at the Novell corporate offices to make sure that their business doesn’t suffer from anything that happened today.  He watched, sadly, as one of his oldest friends, Harold Novell, finally released all the sorry he’d been holding onto for so many years ever since Grandpa lost the love of his life, Cynthia, his wife.  Claude understood better than most that for Grandpa to lean on me shedding his tears meant that I was family and more than just a simple granddaughter-in-law.  He told his own wife, Claudia, on a few occasions that in many ways I reminded him of Grandpa’s wife of 50 years.  I had the same spunk, same quick wit, same drive/determination to succeed, and most importantly, I had the same fierce protectiveness for those that I loved.  I showed that by trying to do everything I could to protect them from knowing all of Evan’s crimes.  As Grandpa’s tears abated, I removed his hankie from his jacket pocket and began wiping his eyes and cheeks with it before handing it over to him.  Once he had himself firmly under control, he stood to go with Claude but gave me a tender hug before asking me to handle the meeting with Albert and Adam Stovard later that day.  “Becky, we will discuss this outfit you are wearing later.  It’s a crying shame for you to be hiding under all that fat again and everyone will agree blonde is not a hair color that works for you.”  Grandpa asserted at the doorway before leaving causing me to giggle.  He was completely right, the blonde wig washed out my normal color making me look sick and sallow.  It’s the perfect disguise against the charms of Adam Stovard, sort of, a natural repellant.  He was well known for likely his woman with dark hair and curves in all the right places.  After I lost all my weight over the last year, I had to get a couple of medical procedures done to remove extra skin.  They also had to give me a boob job because my cup size before losing all the weight had been 44G, which was now down to 32DD. 

I was headed to the CEO office area, when Steve let me know that my parents-in-law would be landing in an hour then would be driven straight to Claude’s offices.  Before he could step away, I gave him instructions on having a security member to find absolutely everything on Anthony “Tony” Stovard, his DOB, complete birth certificate, all his records from high school through college levels, etc…  “Steve, I want to know all that there is to know about him including relationship status, family upbringing, religious preferences, food allergies, everything.  I want to have a report on each of the brothers – Adam, Asher, and Allen by the end of the week.  As far as Tony, give me as much as you can by the end of the day.  Also, have one of the guards at the Lexar go to the penthouse and fire up the grill/smoker.  I want to have it ready to BBQ some meat.  I’ll text you a quick grocery list for Dylan to swing by and pick up, most of the meat we can get from Americana’s, along Gregory, my favorite sous chef, to do the grilling.  No one works a BBQ grill like that man can, he is a wizard of the flame.  I’ll make my sauce as soon as I get home so that he can apply it on the meat as he cooks it.”  I finish instructing him. “You could just give me the recipe and we can make it ahead of time,” Steve suggested, hopeful that I would comply.  “One day I may do that, but there is no time to write it down today.  Now get back to work, you slacker.”  I tease him pointing to the door as I nodded to Joyce, Grandpa’s PA, as I walked into his office.  She had been given a stripped-down version of what had happened and told that Grandpa would be out for the rest of the day.  After I was settled, Joyce came in to give me Grandpa’s schedule for the rest of the day.  She was a very smart cookie and would ask me later about my get-up.  It was 2 pm now and the Stovard meeting was at 3 pm.  I texted Steve the list of things I would need from the store: 2 packages of chicken skinless breasts, 1 (18-count) pack of hot dogs, 3 gallons of water, 2 cans of lemonade mix, 1 box of tea bags, miscellaneous chips of their choosing, various types of buns, some spices I needed for my sauce, and a couple bags of ice.  I told him to have Gregory grab all the fixings and side items from the restaurant right before Tony was supposed to be there so they would be hot/cold as needed.