ROLAND HAD JUST walked out the door. I’m sure he hadn’t even made it past the camera his crew had placed in the railing outside my apartment. That camera, or actually the images that it captured, had just sent my world into a bit of a spin. Again. I seem to do a lot of spinning lately.
Teagan hissed, “Adeline has a grandkid, and you didn’t even know about it. Now you find out that the grandkid has broken into your apartment and completely trashed it.”
“Looks that way.”
“Think about it, Cara. The only way you know is because Adeline’s security guy says so.”
“It would be kind of hard to fake that picture, Teagan.”
“I’m not saying the picture is faked, although I don’t think it would be all that difficult — especially if Roland has some mega-genius computer guy on his payroll. But putting all that aside for the moment, that isn’t what I meant anyway. How do we know Adeline even has a grandson, never mind that her grandson is the kid in the picture?”
“We don’t, technically, but what am I supposed to do?” I tried to change the subject because Teagan was making good points and at that moment I didn’t have anything to counter them with and I really wanted a few minutes to think about all this.
We are talking about my ability to support myself here. Because if it really is Adeline’s grandson who broke in and trashed my apartment, things could get really weird. I would be more loyal to family than an employee, no matter how wonderful that employee is.
I am. I am the employee in this scenario. I’m also talking to myself. That isn’t good.
You know what I mean.
“I wonder how the kid explained the cut to his parents. I mean, you can walk into an emergency room and tell them you were working in the kitchen and cut your hand, but your own parents would know that something was up.”
“Cara, if you have parents who pay attention to stuff like that, you don’t have kids who are breaking into grandma’s personal assistant’s house to search and destroy.”
“Good point. But you know as well as I do that there are lots of really good parents who have really messed up kids. Maybe the parents believed the kitchen story.”
“Why did there have to be a story?”
“Because Roland said that based on the amount of blood all over my desk whoever used the knife to try to unlock it was going to need stitches, and the bandage on that kid in the picture’s hand was wrapped by a professional. He didn’t do it himself, so he must have told someone that he cut himself somehow. If you came home needing stitches, wouldn’t Mom ask what happened to your hand? The doctor would know if you lied. They can tell all kinds of stuff by the injury. So all I’m saying is that he must have come up with a pretty good story for cutting his hand.”
So much for changing the subject.
“Either that or the parents know about it. Didn’t you tell me that Adeline and her kids don’t really get along?”
“I told you that?”
“Not in so many words. It was more an impression I got.”
“I was gonna say. I try really hard not to say anything about Adeline, and I sure don’t say anything about her relationships with her kids. I don’t say what kind of food she eats or what stuff she has in her house. I don’t talk about Adeline.”
“Yeah, you’re a little over the top about that.”
“She’s a really private person. She’s worse than Seamus. And I like my job, thank-you-very-much.”
“Whatever. What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think you should tell Adeline?”
“You heard Roland. He said not to.”
“I know, but Roland doesn’t sign your paycheck, does he?”
“No, but a paycheck is not as important as Adeline’s health, and not only was she sick not all that long ago — really sick, like almost-died sick — but Roland seems to think she could be in some kind of danger from her own grandson. Did you see his face when he was looking at the picture? There’s more to the story that we don’t know, and I’m thinking that story is not a pretty one. I think that Adeline is scared of her own grandson. How screwed up is that?”
“Or maybe Roland is in charge of security, and he screwed up, and now he’s covering his rear.”
“How is Roland telling me not to tell Adeline that her grandson broke into my apartment going to cover Roland’s rear?”
“I don’t know.”
“Teagan, you’re always throwing these really weird theories all over the place, and then they get stuck in my brain, and I can’t figure out which one I should give the most weight. It’s like you’ve been drinking conspiracy Kool-Aid. I’m not sure how to sort through all the stuff that you come up with and the stuff that Roland isn’t talking about and the stuff that I’ve seen or not seen at Adeline’s house. Adeline is important to me. On several levels. I want to get this right.”
“Do what Mom says.”
“Great. Which thing that Mom says?”
“She says always put yourself in the spot of the other person’s vantage point. Like if you can’t figure out if something is acceptable — if your daughter was going through the same thing, what would you tell her? If you were Adeline and had a grandkid break into your favorite employee’s apartment, would you want to know?”
“Of course.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Just because you want something doesn’t mean it’s in your best interest. I want to eat forty pounds of chocolate every day. That doesn’t mean that I should or that it would be good for me. Just because Adeline might want to know, doesn’t mean that she should know. What if she decides to confront the kid? What if he turns violent?”
“You can’t play the ‘what if’ game, Cara.”
“Why not? You were!”
“What?”
“Isn’t that what you were doing when you asked what I would want done? Or what would happen if Adeline found out I didn’t tell her? It’s always about ‘what if,’ and I don’t have the answer to any of the questions for this ‘what if.’”
“Wow. Stood right up for yourself there. Sounds like you’ve been going to counseling for years, not twice.”
“Three times.”
“Whatever.”
“God, Teagan, I wish Mom was home.”
“Me too. Seven weeks seems to take forever.”
“It would go by pretty darn quick if someone told you that in seven weeks you could never eat chocolate again.”
“Cara, do you need a piece of chocolate?”
“More than life itself.”
We’re back to the good-news, bad-news thing. The good news is that they didn’t get into my apartment this time and we now think we know who “they” are. The bad news is that who we think they are isn’t good and they tried to get into my apartment again.
I’d made a pot of tea, and we were sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out what was going on.
“So, why would Adeline’s grandson break into your apartment and trash it?”
“Gee, never thought to ask myself that question, Teagan. Don’t you think if I’d come up with a brilliant answer I would have shared it by now?”
“Sometimes it helps to say things out loud.”
“I know. Sorry. It’s just that all of a sudden I feel like it got a whole lot more complicated. If some random person broke into my apartment, that’s bad. Having the grandkid of your boss break in, that’s a whole lot worse.”
“I think I know the answer to this, but I’ll ask the question anyway. Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why is it worse that you now know who it was? Just call the cops, hand over a copy of the disc, get his scrawny butt thrown in juvenile detention, and be done with it. What more do you want than having it all caught on disc?”
“Roland said I couldn’t do that. I don’t have any proof that he was the one who broke in the first time, and they didn’t get in the door the second time, so technically all they did was set off the alarm. They could say they were delivering pizza flyers and stuffed it in the door and set the thing off, and I have no way to prove otherwise.”
“Other than the lack of pizza flyers, but I understand what you’re saying. Well, isn’t that convenient. I’m sorry, Cara, but that kid looks more than a little creepy.”
“Oh, it’s even creepier than that. The more I think about it, the creepier it gets. I didn’t even know Adeline has a grandkid. I’ve spent a lot of time with her. I’ve gone through her entire house. Think about it, Teagan. If you were to go to Mom and Daddy’s house and pack up everything they own — or at least supervise packing up everything they own like I did at Adeline’s house — do you think you would leave without knowing they are grandparents?”
“No. The evidence is everywhere. From the family pictures to the ornaments for the Christmas tree to names and birthdates on the family calendar and the little kid dishes in the cupboard. You can’t escape that they are grandparents and proud of it.”
“I didn’t see any of that. And I mean any.”
“I know O’Flynns are over the top about family, but still you’d think if you were a grandparent, there would be some evidence of it.”
“I’m thinking about all the grandparent houses I’ve ever been in. There was always at least a hint.”
“Exactly. Adeline has nothing. Teagan, I’m talking nothing!”
“So, what does that tell us?”
“I now know she has grandkids. Roland said grandkids. Plural. I know the older kids are mean to her. Swear you can keep your mouth shut.”
“I swear.”
“No, Teagan, I mean really swear. I shouldn’t be saying anything. I don’t want to lose my job, and — more important — this stuff is really hard on Adeline, and she doesn’t want the world to know.”
“I swear I’ll keep my mouth shut, Cara. Last week you were all mad at me because I didn’t tell you about Sinead or anything else; this week you are acting like I can’t keep a secret. Make up your mind.”
“Sorry, I forgot I’m mad at you for all that. Okay, remember when Adeline and the girls came racing back here because Barry kicked the crap out of me?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, there was more to it than that. You know what’s crazy? Adeline had her security company watching me to make sure Barry couldn’t get to me. They were in Mom and Daddy’s neighborhood, and no one even knew.”
“Okay, I take back every mean thing I’ve said about them being total incompetents. I can’t imagine anyone being on that block and no one put out the alarm.”
“Well, they were there.”
“Wait a minute. How do you know they were there? They didn’t catch Barry. A neighbor caught Barry. Thought he was a child molester walking around the street. If they’re so good, why didn’t they see Barry and pick him up?”
“They were aware that he was there. They would have intervened if he’d come to Mom and Daddy’s.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a great story, but I have my doubts. Nobody makes it past Mrs. Laddner.”
“Teagan, they showed me pictures.”
“What?”
“Roland and his group have all kinds of pictures and research and everything you could imagine that will become available to the courts should Barry decide he wants to make my life more difficult.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense. Nobody could figure out why he would just plead guilty and take his chances on getting the maximum. How often does anybody take responsibility for what they’ve done and just take their punishment? Especially when that punishment means years and years in prison. I hope I’m never in that situation, but I can promise you one thing for absolutely sure. I would fight with everything I had for as long as I could because I would not do one extra day in prison.”
“When you put it that way, it doesn’t make sense.”
“What? Cara, don’t even try to tell me that you would voluntarily spend one extra second locked up in a prison, because that’s a straight out lie.”
“Roland didn’t tell anybody about the evidence they’ve collected.”
“How do you know that?”
“When we talked about it, he made a point of telling me that. That it was a secret weapon. Those aren’t the words he used, but that’s the idea.”
“So then why would Barry take responsibility and go to prison? If they didn’t threaten him with all the information that they have, why would he confess? Actually, he confessed while he was still a little crazed, but I’m sure a good lawyer could get all that thrown out, and then he could do the whole I-have-issues-put-me-in-treatment-I’ll-be-good-forever thing. It’s not like he’s Mr. Wonderful.”
“Yeah, now you have me asking myself the same question.”
“Nothing you can do about that part of it right now. Barry is locked up, and the kid who was in that picture is still out there somewhere.”
“But he can’t get in the apartment. That’s a good thing.”
“But, dingleberry, you don’t live your whole life in the apartment. What if you’d been walking up to the door? You would have checked out the parking lot ‘cause you have got to be all paranoid after what they did to your house, but they were coming in from the other side. They were by the water retention pond. There’s no way you would have seen them from that direction.”
“You just keep making me feel better and better.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel better; I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“Well, crap. What do you want me to do?”
“It’s probably time to buy a gun.”
“You want me to shoot a kid? Adeline’s grandson? There’s a good plan, Teagan. That sounds like something I would do, shoot a kid.”
“Yes I want you to shoot him — them. I don’t want you to throw the stupid gun at them. Cara, you have got to start taking this stuff seriously. Barry didn’t kick the crap out of you; he tried to kill you. Don’t think of them as kids. These are people who broke into your apartment. They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you, to kill you, so why do you think that protecting yourself is out of the question?”
“Teagan…”
“Cara, it wasn’t some random thing that could be seen as harmless. They picked your apartment. They did it for a reason. They were focused on you. You have to deal with that.”
“I’ll talk to Roland.”
“Okay, Cara, call me stupid, but I think you are putting your trust in the wrong people.”
“Why?”
“Think about it. You said that Roland said that you couldn’t just call the cops because you don’t have any proof that the kid from hell was in your apartment.”
“Right, we only have pictures of him at the front door. It’s kind of strange that he’s at my apartment, but strange isn’t a good enough reason to arrest someone.”
“What about DNA?”
“What about it?”
“Okay, Cara, I know your brain isn’t working at full capacity, but come on now. If the kid cut his hand badly enough to require stitches and he bled all over your desk and Roland collected that DNA and cleaned up the mess to perfection — even you were impressed — and now he is telling you that he can’t prove the kid was in your apartment, what does that tell you?”
“Crap. I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Yeah, well, these people all have more money than a small country, and they don’t seem to be telling you the whole truth. Cara, I don’t want to be a jerk, but you need to protect yourself in all of this. For all you know, you are the one being set up.”
“Please don’t start with the conspiracy stuff again.”
“I’m not, but what is happening isn’t making any sense, and it scares me.”
“You are starting to scare me.”
“Good. A little fear makes you more aware. Just don’t let the fear get to the point that it makes you dysfunctional.”
“No worries. I’m dysfunctional all by myself. I don’t need the help of fear.”
“You need to talk to more people than Roland. First, did you even call A.J.?”
“Damn! He’s going to be so upset. He’s under so much pressure at work. I don’t want to add to it.”
“Nice story, but you didn’t even think to call him.”
“You were right here with me, Teagan. Roland was here. What could A.J. add to it?”
“I don’t know, but my relationship with Jessie is looking more and more normal. I may be physically distant from Jessie, but you have A.J. right here in town, and you don’t even call him. By the way, I wouldn’t mention that part to him. He’d be every kind of male-offended they have, and it wouldn’t turn out well at all.”
“Okay, you know what, Teagan? I don’t need this right now.”
“I know you’re gonna have a meltdown.”
“How do you know that?”
“You keep using my name. When O’Flynns are upset, we keep using each other’s names. I think it goes back to when we were kids and Mom wouldn’t be able to put her finger on which one of us was which, unless she was really upset; then she knew your name, your middle name, your saint’s name. Everything.”
“Good point. I’m not going to melt down. I’m upset, I admit that, but you would have to be brain-dead not to be upset with all the stuff that has been going on around here lately.”
“You have every reason to be upset — ”
My phone rang and scared the bejeezus out of me. Caller ID said it was Roland. I took a deep breath and connected the call.
“Hi, Roland.”
“Ms. O’Flynn, it’s me, Harry.”
“Sorry, Harry. What’s up?”
“Roland would like to talk to you.”
“Put him on.”
“No, he’d like to talk to you in person, and he’d like to do it here at the office. He said he can send a car for you at any time.”
“That isn’t necessary. I can drive. What time do you want me there?”
“Roland would feel a lot better if you didn’t drive. People don’t realize the strain that they’re under. It can be dangerous. A loss of attention for just a couple of seconds at freeway speed can end in tragedy. Please let one of us pick you up.”
“Harry, no offense, but having one of you guys pick me up would probably be a whole lot more stressful than driving myself. My sister is here with me. I’ll have her drop me off, and you guys can drive me home. Will that work?”
“Sure.”
“What time?”
“Sooner is better, Ms. O’Flynn.”
“I’ll leave here in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.”
“And, Harry?”
“Yes?”
“It’s Cara. Not Ms. O’Flynn.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“What’s that all about?”
“I just volunteered you to give me a ride to the security office. Roland wants to talk to me, and they got all freaked out about me driving myself.”
“So I’m just supposed to drop you off?”
“I’m sorry. Do you have some place you need to be?”
“No, dingleberry, I want to go in with you. You put me that close to the sanctum sanctorum, and I’m just supposed to drive away?”
“Sanctum sanctorum? Really? Teagan, your O’Flynn religious-geek side is showing. Jeez, when is the last time I heard that term?”
“Grandma used to say it all the time. That is how she referred to anything at Bernie’s house that wasn’t the living room. Remember? We weren’t allowed to go anywhere but in the front door, sit in the living room, back outside. I asked Mom what sanctum sanctorum meant; I didn’t know why we weren’t allowed anywhere, like even in the kitchen, and Mom said it meant Holy of Holies. A church thing. Still don’t know why they used the term to describe Bernie’s kitchen and bedrooms, but remember even back then she was all involved in the church, so I just figured it was a church thing, and I really didn’t want to hear about it. Got enough of that at school.”
“That’s weird. I don’t remember that at all. I can’t think about that right now. Did you want to give me a ride or not?”
“Are you going to let me come in with you?”
“You can come in with me, but I can’t guarantee that Roland is going to talk in front of you.”
“I’m willing to take that chance.”
The office hadn’t changed since the last time I was there. Although I remember Roland saying something about redoing the whole thing, it looks like he hasn’t started yet.
He said that he was going to use Adeline’s decorator, so maybe he has to stand in line. All the people who work with and for the super-rich know each other and use each other’s services when they can. It’s a nice blend of professional courtesy and fraternization, not incestuousness and nepotism, which is what I thought it was at first.
I know the decorator has been really busy trying to figure out what to do with Adeline’s rehab. They ended up taking out whole walls for rehab reasons. If you’ve got the drywall off for mold remediation, you might as well change the wiring and plumbing and update everything, and that leads to things no one anticipated. The end product is a house that has a completely different feel and needs a new look to go with it. Adeline and JoAnn have been meeting with the decorator, and I’ve found some really beautiful things online. It’s amazing how I can provide a magazine image as inspiration and the decorator can take that look and turn it into something appropriate for Adeline and the space.
The space.
I sound like a home improvement show, but that is the way these people talk.
Down the street from Adeline’s, a couple bought a house for seven point two million dollars and then went about gutting the whole place. They had a couple of charities show up and take everything they could use, but it still seemed wasteful to me.
Even after I win my hundred-million-dollar lottery, I’m not going to do things like that.
I already have my dream house picked out. It’s very ordinary looking on the outside. Looks like a house out of the fifties. Teagan would have to comment on that. But on the inside it is light and airy. There are folding doors all along one side of the great room, windows all long the other side. I’ll have to get special glass because if a hurricane decides to blow through, all those glass windows and doors are going to be a problem. The kitchen has a built-in banquet that seats six. The island will seat another six. The kitchen is open to the dining area that is open to the family room.
That’s what makes it a great room, I guess.
Anyway, I can seat another six or eight at the dining room table, and I can stick a table in the family room if I am having everybody over. I can also get a little wooden table and chairs from Ikea for the little kids.
“Dingleberry.”
“What?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Sorry, thinking about my house.”
“Understandable. Having your house trashed is a traumatic thing, but do you think you could stay with me here? The receptionist was talking to you.”
“Sorry.”
I guess Teagan had answered for me, because the receptionist, a big guy with a great smile, was on the phone talking to someone, and moments later Harry came out of the door to the right.
“Hey, Cara. Ms. O’Flynn.”
“Teagan. Good to see you again, Harry.”
“The pleasure is mine. Roland is waiting for you in the small conference room, Cara. Want to follow me?”
“Can Teagan come?”
“Of course.”
I was wrong about the redecorating. The conference room had been completely redone.
It was lovely in shades of gray.
The small conference room was much more casual than the big one. They hadn’t changed that part of it. Probably for psychological reasons. The smaller, more casual conference room was meant to make you comfortable, and the big conference room was meant to intimidate the hell out of you.
Everybody knows that kind of thing, but it still works.
It’s kind of like talking to the cops. Everybody knows that you aren’t supposed to say a word and that it doesn’t matter if the cops are in the room or not, someone is listening and watching, but people still talk.
Human beings are so easy to manipulate.
I sat on a gray leather chair. Actually it’s one of those chair-and-a-half things. More than a chair but less than a loveseat. Teagan sat in one too. Roland sat in one across from us. It’s the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him, and I couldn’t decide if he was relaxed because he now knew who had broken into my apartment or if he was faking it.
I’ve really got to learn to concentrate again.
Vicky, my counselor, explained to me that my spending so much time in my own head and living like a ninety-year-old nun was a common reaction to what I’ve been through, but it’s beginning to get on my own nerves. Can’t imagine how much I am annoying everybody else.
I’m not sure how A.J. has put up with me.
Teagan owes me some crazy-person loyalty. She’s been annoying for years at a time, and I’ve hung in there with her.
“Cara. Teagan. Welcome. Thank you for coming to the office. I have a few things I’d like to show you, and it’s easier to do it here.”
“No problem. I hope you don’t mind that I brought Teagan, Roland.”
“Not at all.”
It didn’t take a body language expert to figure out that his response was a bald-faced lie. He wanted Teagan involved in the discussion about as much as he wanted to walk through a thistle patch with no protective gear from the shins up.
Teagan caught it too, but she didn’t say anything. It didn’t slow her down at all. It isn’t that Teagan is pushy.
Well, not really.
It’s that when my mom told her once that it was better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, she took it to heart.
She ran with it.
She took it as the God’s honest truth and never looked back.
It’s annoying, but I also admire that part of her. She doesn’t let anything stop her or slow her down.
“So, here’s the thing. I’ve spoken to Adeline. I haven’t given her all the details, but I did tell her that your house had been molested and that it was my intent to investigate.”
When he said “molested,” I thought Teagan was going to say something, but she didn’t.
“Why not tell her everything, Roland? She’s my boss, and it makes me a little uncomfortable to be stuck in the middle of all of this. Keeping things from her. Going through you instead of her. That isn’t the relationship that Adeline and I have, and to be honest, I’m not willing to do it much longer unless you can give me a really good reason.”
“I have several good reasons, Cara. We will get to them in a few minutes. First, I need to share with you what it is I need you to do.”
“Again, Roland, I’m not sure how much more I can do without talking to Adeline.”
“Remember the arrangements you were making for Adeline and her friends, to go to a park and camp out in the wilderness? I need you to do that, and I need them to leave. Soon. Tomorrow would be good. Today is better.”
“What?”
“We can protect Adeline better there. A rural area is more conducive to our needs.”
I knew Teagan wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut long. She didn’t disappoint. “So let me get this straight. You want Cara to call up the girls, tell them that she has arrangements for them in a national park, where they are unfamiliar with everything and everybody, so that you can sit in a tree and wait for someone to come and do them bodily harm?”
“I wouldn’t phrase it that way.”
“Well, how else do you phrase it?”
“Ms. O’Flynn, I can assure you that I have this well in hand.”
“Oh, really? Then tell me why any of this happened at all. If you know everything about everybody that has anything to do with Adeline, then how did her own grandkid do this? Better question is why did her grandkid do this? This wasn’t a random act. It happened for a reason. We don’t understand that reason, which means that we can’t defend against it. And now you want Cara to put Adeline and her friends in the line of fire so that you can swoop in and be a hero? What happens if this goes wrong? If it all goes sideways, it isn’t you who will have put them in harm’s way; it will have been Cara. That doesn’t sound like a good plan to me.”
“Let me begin again. I think that once you have all the facts you will agree that our plan is a good one. We will move to the other conference room where I can show you some materials we’ve collected.”
Teagan didn’t say anything this time.
I just stood to follow him. I know it’s my job and my decision and really has nothing to do with Teagan and that in a normal world with normal circumstances Teagan wouldn’t have been included in all of this in the first place. I know that in a normal business situation her opinion wouldn’t be welcome.
But these aren’t normal situations, and if Roland wasn’t going to kick Teagan to the curb, I wasn’t going to say anything that would stop her from running interference for me. Truth is, when you are accustomed to working with the fabulously wealthy, you are more inclined to allow the client to have their own way, and at this point Roland was treating me like an extension of his client, Adeline.
Either that or they were setting up a firing squad out in the back, and I’m just too stupid to know that I’m the target.
The big conference room is completely remodeled.
Roland gave me a quick tour.
Not only because I’m nosey and asked, but also because many of the same contractors are being used for Adeline’s house and I have a lot to say about who is hired and who is not. Seeing their work is a big help.
My assistant, JoAnn, interacts with the contractors more than I do these days, but I’m still in charge and making final decisions — well, presenting my decisions to Adeline to make the final decision.
It isn’t that I’m stalling.
Not really.
I just need time for things to percolate in the back of my brain for a little while.
Especially since getting beat up, I’ve learned that very few things are so urgent that you can’t take a breath and think about them for a minute or three.
The big conference room is large. Not Jovana’s ballroom large, but definitely big enough to make you wonder if maybe Roland is overcompensating for something. There are a number of different lighting options. They can set it from dark — the setting used most often when the big screen at one end of the room is used so that the company can project images from a sophisticated system hidden behind dark wood at the opposite end of the room — to sunshine bright.
Roland hit a hidden button at the head of the table, and monitors flipped up from beautifully intricate inlaid wood patterns that hid the screens when they were down. There were no cords or any other indicator. Whoever had designed the table had done a spectacular job.
Roland invited us to sit at the table. With the monitors about a foot and a half in front of us, he explained that the monitors swiveled, the chairs were adjustable in every conceivable way, and the lighting could be adjusted to a subdued but brighter level. There were also wireless keyboards available in little drawers between the seating area, and other devices and office items as needed.
Roland brightened the room fully, explaining that the entire space was wired for sound so that each individual could be easily heard without requiring a microphone, even in the case of a videoconference or deposition.
Truth was probably that we were being recorded right that moment, but I didn’t bring that up.
I wasn’t sure if he was stalling, but it felt like stalling to me.
A support person came in and asked if we would like something to drink.
Again.
They were making me nervous.
“Okay, Cara, this is what we know, what we think we know, and what we think it means.”
“Roland, I’m not comfortable with any of this. I’m not sure I’m supposed to know this much about Adeline’s personal life. I’m not even sure she would want you to include me in anything this personal. Think about what happened when she found out Gaston was mucking around in her personal life. He almost lost — well, he could have lost — a lot more than his job. Why don’t we just tell Adeline what is going on and let her decide how she wants to handle it?”
“I am, or rather I will. Cara, you are my practice run.”
“I’m sorry?”
“When everything went south for the girls in Las Vegas, all three of them said, repeatedly, that you would have handled things so differently. That if we didn’t know what Adeline would want us to do, that we should talk to you.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well, at the time, you were indisposed. Remember, everything kind of fell apart in Las Vegas about the time that Barry tried to take everything apart here. The girls came rushing back. Then there was Carolyn’s granddaughter…”
“Suzi.”
“Thank you. Then Suzi needed their care. I was busy tracking Barry.”
Teagan couldn’t let it go. “Yeah, about that, why is it that your guys let Barry run around in the neighborhood, with Cara barely able to function?”
“I wasn’t that bad.”
“Yes, you were. Cara could barely walk. My dad was running around trying to keep everyone supplied with everything they needed, and my mom was trying to will Cara back to full strength. Why is it that your guys weren’t a little more — what’s the word I’m looking for? — why weren’t your guys a little more proactive?”
My heart all but skipped a beat when Teagan was looking for a word; her words can be painful. She pulled it back up into the world of the civil. That was good.
“Ms. O’Flynn.”
“Teagan, please.”
“Thank you. Teagan, we were very aware of Barry. Had the neighbor not called the police, a call would have been made. We were approaching him in a very specific way. We wanted to make sure that we had the evidence we needed to ensure there would be no long trial. That was Adeline’s main concern. After she was reassured by several of the specialists that had been in to see Cara, she decided that the next best thing to Barry ceasing to exist — which I cannot condone aloud, no matter how much I would like to — Adeline determined that Cara should not have to endure a trial. The trial process can drag on for months, years, and she did not want Cara to have to relive the ordeal each time there was another measured step in the process. Out of respect for her friend Carolyn, Suzi’s grandmother, she also wanted to save Suzi from that ordeal.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Adeline was very instrumental in the plan that ensures Barry will be in prison for an extended period of time and that he has no chance at manipulating the court system. Creating a plan and implementing it takes a bit of time, and when you are going for a completely covert operation, it takes a little more effort.”
“Well, I appreciate that, Roland. When I was at my parents’ house, I was very concerned for their well-being. I would have liked to know that there was someone out there watching their backs, but I appreciate all that was done for me.”
“We had very specific reasons for doing what we did. I can explain them if you would like.”
“That isn’t necessary. I’ve thought it was strange that Barry just pretty much gave up. One minute he’s ranting about injustice and how I need to be punished — at least that is what they told me — and the next minute he completely changes course and doesn’t even want a trial.”
“There are things in his background that he would prefer stay historical. If he were to go to court, there is a good chance some, if not all, of those things would come out.”
“Well, if he hurt someone else, then I think that person should decide if they want to keep it a secret.”
“All of that has been addressed and taken care of.”
“Okay. I’ll trust you on that.” I looked him straight in the eye. “At least for now. I don’t want to get sidetracked and forget why we’re here. All that was done to me and for me is history. I want to know what is in the future. So, what are we doing with Adeline?”
“As you are aware, when the girls were in Vegas, Gaston had them followed.”
“Right. Adeline was hot.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that, and we would have taken care of Gaston. You see it wasn’t Gaston who initiated that service, although he agreed it would be best if he took responsibility publicly. If Adeline were aware that the security team was responsible, not an overzealous lawyer, she might have been much more upset.”
Teagan is all about transparency. “I might be new to all of this, and I don’t know the people as well as the two of you, but I have to say that if I found out I was being lied to and manipulated and treated with this level of disrespect, you’d all be looking for new jobs. At the very least.”
“I agree with my sister. I don’t think this sounds right. You don’t hide what you are proud of.”
“Cara, Teagan, to be very blunt, I really don’t care if this costs me my job. I dropped the ball last time. When Adeline was so sick, I didn’t pay any attention at all, and because of that, we almost lost her. This time, I’m not only going to be proactive. I’m going to be rather assertive about it. If you choose not to be party to it, I fully understand, but first let me give you the facts so you can make an informed decision. One based on logic, not emotion.”
Teagan didn’t let him have it.
I was impressed.
The whole logic-versus-emotion-just-because-you-are-female is one of her buttons.
One of her big buttons.
Then Roland surprised both of us. “I will admit, I’ve been running on emotion for a large part of this. I like Adeline. She’s been good to me. My whole company has grown from a two-person operation to what you see now based on services provided for Adeline and her generous support through testimonials and connections. All she’s done for me, and I dropped the ball.” He ran his hand through his hair while shaking his head. He was visibly upset. I’ve never seen Roland like that before.
It’s a good thing that Teagan didn’t jump on the emotion-versus-logic thing since Roland was talking about himself, not females.
The next thirty-seven minutes were spent watching a multimedia presentation that was created for Adeline’s benefit.
I tried to put myself in her shoes.
Not easy since most of this is about her adult kids and I don’t have adult kids. I also don’t have the same kind of dysfunction. If an O’Flynn goes off the rails, it isn’t going to be in the same direction as Adeline’s family. It’s going to be someone in the family trying too hard to help someone else in the family and stepping on toes. It isn’t going to be someone in the family trying to take advantage of their parent.
Some people would say that is because my parents don’t have anything worth stealing.
Some people are idiots.
They just don’t get it.
Money doesn’t change who you are. If you’re a jerk, with big money you will be a big jerk. If you are a giving person, money will allow you to be more giving. If you are bad with a little bit of money, you will be bad with a lot of money. Your life skills don’t change with how many zeroes are following the basic numbers in your checking account.
Money changes the playing field — from a dirt field to a well-manicured lawn — but it doesn’t change the game.
When all was said and done, I told Roland that while I thought his plan had merit, I didn’t think I could or should get the girls to go on the trip covertly. I thought that Adeline had the right to have the information presented to her and to make her own decisions.
I told Teagan that it was time to go.
Then I flexed my backbone for the first time in a long time. That’s the way grandma would phrase it anyway. “Roland, if you haven’t explained all of this to Adeline in twenty-four hours, I will.”
He started to object, took one look at my face, and stopped.
The first step back to me being me, and I didn’t fall down.