Changing Places with Yourself

Chapter 17

Seconds later Albert comes waltzing back in the office without waiting for Joyce to announce his return. “Well, hello again, Mrs. Novell, so sorry for the delay, traffic was a nightmare out there.  Some accident or something on the highway had everything backed up for miles.” Albert prevaricated as he sent the contract down on the desk, “I grabbed one of our notaries from the office to witness the signing, and here you can use my pen.”  He tried to hand me a gold fountain pen.  “Would it be ok if I take a quick look first?” I request.  “Of course you can, but it’s the same as the one Harold and you went over already.  I’m sure he ran it past your legal team before agreeing to the merge.  Really, there is no need to worry that pretty little blonde head of yours with all these big legal terms.” Albert blathered on, completely missing my eye roll, but Adam didn’t because I saw him smirking.  Albert turned back to the get the “notary” from the outer office and from the way she was dressed I would have guessed that she was more a streetwalker then office worker.  He tried to force the pen back into my hand once more; pointing where I should sign as Joyce came rushing in looking frazzled.  “Mrs. Novell, I’m so sorry.  You were supposed to be at the Southside warehouse 10 minutes ago for the labor dispute meeting.  I was hoping that Mr. Novell would have been back by now to handle it, but he’s still dealing with that other matter.  Plus, your meeting with these gentlemen went longer than was expected.” she offered as an explanation. 

“It’s ok, Joyce, I got it.  Gentlemen, I’m truly sorry.  I have to go take care of this dispute in our warehouse if it goes on any longer it could disrupt our product shipments.”  I clarified as I took the contract and locked in a drawer before placing the key into my pocket, “Steve, please call and have my car pulled around to the front.  Mr. Stovard and Mr. Stovard, I would be more than happy to conclude our business in the morning, as I will not be in the office for the rest of the day.  I always am here by 7 am, if you would like to meet me here we can complete this merger then.”  “We can take the contract with us and bring it back in the morning.” Albert tried to get me to hand it back over.  “Nonsense, only Grandpa and I have keys to this drawer.  It’s fine sitting in there overnight since no one will be coming in here until I arrive in the morning.”  I said soothingly, “Once I’m done at the warehouse I’m heading home for a dinner engagement I have tonight, which I’m not sure how long into the night it will be going on.”  “Ah, what about the cleaning crews?” Albert searched for a way to get the contract back.  “They cleaned last night since they only clean odd number floors on the odd-numbered day and this is the 57th floor.  They are cleaning even-numbered floors tonight since it’s the 26th, which is why I can lock up the office completely because they won’t need to get in there tonight.”  I enlighten them as I grab my briefcase and usher them out the door, locking it behind me.  “Joyce, dear, why don’t you take the rest of the day off.” I started but got no response from her, “Joyce?”  “She said something about her hearing aid and the battery earlier,” Adam told me.  “Those things are always dying on her and she can’t hear anything without her hearing aids.” I advise as I walk over to her desk and stand very close, talking loudly once she finally “sees” me, “Joyce, please take the rest of the day off and get fresh batteries in those things.  I swear, I’m gonna have Grandpa starting keeping a supply of them in the stock room from now on.”  “Thank you, ma’am, I will get some on my way home.  See you at 7:30 am,” she states as she gathers her things and locks her desk.  “See you then,” I reply heading toward the elevators.  “I thought we were meeting you at 7 am?” Adam ponders.  “That’s right, I’m always the first one in the office, and I’m not going to make her take an earlier bus to get here 30 minutes earlier.  I believe each way is like an hour-long trip for her.  If you think she needs to be here, by all means, send a car to pick her up in the morning, but I do know how to make regular coffee.  Besides, we should be finished with our business by the time she arrives, but if you have a special type of blend you like feel free to pick some up on your way in.”  I spout.  “Why you are a firecracker, aren’t you?” Albert muses.  “Sorry, I’m just trying to get into the correct mindset otherwise those labor workers will walk all over me.  Pardon my attempt at an attitude.” I apologize.  Adam leans closer as we step into the elevator, “You’re forgiven for copping an attitude.” He whispers in my ear, “I’ll think about forgiving you for the other if you have dinner with me tomorrow night to celebrate the successful merger.”  I chuckled as we descended toward the lobby.  “Well?” he breathed against my neck.  “It really all depends,” I utter as the doors to the elevator opens and we head to the front entrance.  Adam catches my arm as I start to climb in the back seat of my car after Steve opened the door for me, “Depends on what?”  “How well my dinner engagement tonight goes.” I wink at him as I climb in the back before Steve closes the door while laughing at the look on Adam’s face when he jumped in the front passenger seat.  We know that they are following us to make sure I’m actually headed to where I said I was because we have a car tailing them.  Steve lets me out at the main door to the warehouse and I head inside.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Claude’s paralegal meets up with Joyce in the outer CEO office area.  She unlocks the door and goes to the desk to get Grandpa’s key to the special drawer.  What I never told them that Grandpa had his key on him, just that he had the only other key, which is the truth even if he keeps it in his paperclips section of his desk.  She unlocks it, reaches in to get the folder, and hands it over to the paralegal to take back to the law firm.  He promised her that our Notary would be here at 6:45 am, and leaves as Joyce returns to her desk to finish her day.  My giving her the rest of the day off was a ruse so that the Stovards would believe both the inner and outer office doors would be locked up all night.  Grandpa, Jimmy, and Judy were still at Claude’s office to look over the “amended” contract.  

Grandpa was incensed, “That low life dirty swine.  I should have him arrested for trying to pull this crap.”   

“Harold,” Claude soothed, “Becky's idea will work. Look here on page 2 where they have Novell industries will be controlled by stove guard international will simply change that too controlling. If we do this the right way and Becky plays her part correctly getting them to sign first and then have it notarized it'll all be good.”

Judy added, “She’ll get them to do it. From what Joyce showed us she has them eating out of the palm of her hand.”

Grandpa chuckled, “That girl has some skills that's for sure. Okay, Claude let's get this contract re-amended, so I can get it back to the office tonight.”

They spent the next 30 minutes finding all the differences from the original and the one that Albert brought today, and then they corrected it so that it would favor our company over Albert’s. Once that was completed, they had someone type it back up in using the same font making it look identical to the one given to Becky. Once they were sure, everything was worded correctly and had the same exact look Grandpa took it back to the office so Joyce could put it back in the drawer exactly as it had been earlier. Then I was sent a text saying it's done, which was my signal that it was all clear to leave the warehouse. Steve had seen the Stovards talking to another person in a car that had pulled up and stayed to watch the building. Sheesh, it’s as if they’re paranoid or something.

Dylan had grabbed most of the food that I would need and the sous chef, Gregory, had everything prepared.  As I passed by the restaurant we grabbed a few more items before heading upstairs and, yes, the car that Stovards contacted followed us all the way back to my complex, and parked across the street.  Steve came up with a diversion so we could get Tony inside without the driver seeing.  It wouldn't do for them to know that my dinner date is the youngest Stovard.  Given my suspicions and plans for the future, they didn't need to know at all.  By now, I had read the info that Bruce and his team had gotten me on Tony, so far.  It seems that he’s much better qualified to run their family business than Adam is.  I mentally file away that info to be used if those idiots sign our amended contract in the morning because I plan to make a few changes starting with their CEO and going down the ladder.  After I made my barbecue sauce, I took it up to the roof where the meat is on the smoker and let Gregory do his thing smothering the meat in the sauce, which he bugged me for the recipe to be able to use it in the restaurant. I headed back downstairs to get ready for my “date”.  I made it clear to my security detail that somehow, someway, they were to get a DNA sample from Tony.  We already had collected the coffee mug that Jimmy had used at the lawyer’s office earlier and sent it to the lab.  Bruce and Steve both agreed with me in the car earlier that I wasn’t imagining the resemblance between Tony and Evan.  We decided to check in case my suspicions were correct, but keep it on the down-low so as not to get anybody's hopes up.  Bruce knew Jimmy had been intimate several years with a married woman before he met Judy, which he told Judy all about shortly after their 2nd date.  Something tells me that the married woman hasn't been truthful with him about who is the father of at least one of her kids’ maybe more.  The doorman rings to let me know I have a visitor.  I buzzed Tony up and then met him at the elevator so we can go to the roof together.