Replaced

I hate to leave a story unfinished. I am fully aware that this story crosses categories. But like I said before, once I start a story in one category, the rest of the story stays there. Some readers missed that.

I write for myself. I love to tell a story. Like I say each time, a story is like a road trip. The journey is as important as the destination.

"I held supper for you." Karen said as I walked inside.

"I told you specifically to NOT do that!" I said, a little upset.

"Yeah, and I would have complied but you really aren't that late." Karen pointed out. "We are only about forty five minutes late for our usual supper time. We all agreed to wait for you for an hour. You know they are gonna want to know what happened.".

"Well?" Sharon asked, when we sat down to dinner. I told her there was no big reveal. Her mother told Lisa how it all came to be. "It made Lisa happy. Well I guess marginally. Her marriage is still on the rocks. She did enjoy getting into your mother's face to call her a slut and show her how much damage she had done. Lisa is far from happy, like me. But at least she did get to confront your mother and get an explanation. I'd like to meet with Jason face to face. But that would not end well. I'd either put a bullet in him when he smirked at me or I'd have to walk away and feel even worse."

As soon as I could get Karen away I told her what Sheila said about talking with Alyssa at least three times this week, once formally asking for supporting tax documents. "Maybe she is taking another look at how she handled the divorce. She might be reconsidering agreeing so quickly." "Can she do that?" I asked. "Oh yeah, the agreement is not final. You still have the assets to split so the agreement is open. She might even revise her counter proposal about the alimony."

I did not have to wait long to find out what Alyssa had in mind. "Your nine o'clock, Ms. Richard, is here Frank." our secretary Caroline announced. " I rose to step outside to greet her. It was Alyssa. I suppressed my surge of anger that she would come to my place of business.

"I thought I was meeting a potential new customer, Alyssa." I said as politely as I could.

"I am. Becky and I are looking for a better place to invest some of our savings." Alyssa explained, smiling. "Just because I am helping your wife does not mean we cannot do business if the two dealings don't overlap. It might even be worthwhile for both of us." I so wanted to send her on her way, but I also knew that was part of her trap. I did not want it known I sent customers away arbitrarily. That would be the narrative she would circulate, NOT she was my cheating wife's shyster lawyer. She knew this. I did the one thing I could.

I escorted her into my office and offered her something to drink. She declined. I excused myself. I hoped my partner was not busy with a client. He wasn't so I quickly explained the problem. He colored in anger and agreed. He followed me back to my office. "Alyssa this is my partner, Dave. We like to meet new customers together on their first visit. We like to get to know our customers. Dave and I both work the accounts. It is part of the service we provide." I almost laughed at Alyssa trying to suppress her annoyance she did not get to talk to me in private. Being a hot shot lawyer, she recovered well.

We discussed what kind of account she might be need, her investment goals, if she had any dependent children and all that. Alyssa said her and her wife's kids were now out of the house so this would be a simple investment account to maximize return on their money. "Women have enough trouble getting ahead in the business world as it is. It seems we have to work harder than our male counterparts to get to the same place." Dave smiled and nodded and said he understood. "Now as an attorney, I can define my niche a little easier than a woman in business. My wife had really had to work extremely hard to get to where she is. It seems she faces extra obstacles simply because of her sex. She was with the company much longer than the males at that level. It took the retirement of the man she replace before she became a vice president. And once she got to that position she's had to work extra hard to prove herself. I know Frank's wife has also been with the company well over a decade. You do know they work for the same company?" Dave nodded. "Yes as a matter of fact Sheila now has the position my wife vacated when she got promoted. I understand she also has to continually prove herself as well. Both of them would have an almost insurmountable obstacle to start over somewhere else if they ever lost their positions." I wondered if she just wanted to push that agenda again to remind me. If that was it, she was wasting her time. I knew and understood all that already. Her goal was to protect Rebecca and to do that she had to protect Sheila.

She finally got to the meat of the matter. "Frank, I'd understood from Sheila you were a salaried employee here. But when I got here I saw your name on the door. You own this, don't you?" There it was. She was fishing for assets. "It must be worth a lot." Dave caught on to her ploy instantly. My warning had him scrutinizing every word she said.

"Not as valuable as you might think." Dave offered with a laugh. "We are a service business. We make good money only as long as we work our asses off to keep our clients happy. The poachers are always watching trying to steal our clients. And our success is only because we work well together. If either one of us left the other would be in trouble. We'd lose a significant portion of our clientele."

"Oh?" Alyssa said. "I would have thought you could bring in another partner or if one of you decided to retire the other would have to pay a fair price."

"Not near as much as you would imagine." Dave said. "There is a little residual income to the company from established accounts. But if we were closing shop all somebody would have to do would be set up across the street and take the customers without paying us. But enough of that. How much do you have to invest? We could get the paperwork for your account together this morning and have your money earning this afternoon."

"Well, I am still researching my options." Alyssa said. "I would have to get my wife's agreement and signatures on the documents of course. But I certainly like the way you do business. If you are earning then your customers have to be also. Or like you say, they would leave." Alyssa got up, offered her hand to both of us and left.

"Fucking shyster!" Dave gritted as soon as the door closed behind her.

"Thanks, Dave." I said. "I did not want to deal with her on my own. The shark was showing me her teeth." He agreed.

I called my lawyer and told her what Alyssa did. He said Alyssa had contacted him yesterday about when we could begin to negotiate the split of assets. He said Alyssa even suggested half my share of the business might match my equity in the house. I laughed and told him it was not worth even a fraction. Now I was angry. The bitch was coming at me directly. He said he understood I felt I could not just refuse to see her since she presented herself as a client. Then he said Alyssa was showing how she got her reputation. He had been puzzled when she showed up with her counter proposal the previous Monday.

I called Karen and asked her to meet me for lunch. I told her what happened. She asked me how much my part of the partnership was really worth. Or rather the half that I would have to pay Sheila. I told her Sheila's share would barely scratch my share of equity in the house despite what Alyssa was insinuating.

"To be honest, this is what I expected from her when she agreed to take Sheila on as her client. My boss thinks she is a fool for doing it. He considers it an ethics violation. She should have refused to represent Sheila. I told him about it earlier in the week. You can make a complaint to the bar. He says the bar can be pretty harsh sometimes. It all depends how she presents her case to them. You still won't be able to sue but she might get penalized depending on what they decide." Karen said.

"Why pull this crap now?" I asked. "She was the opposite last weekend."

"I think that was merely an attempt to get you away from the idea of filing that sexual harassment suit. Alyssa was scared you might reconcile with Sheila and push it. She knows Sheila has to be the one to file complaint and I am sure they are working on her to not do it. And on her own Sheila won't. She loves her position too much. Alyssa figures by now you realize you cannot initiate the suit or get anything out of it. She wants it off the table. So now Alyssa is going full force to get what she can for her client." Karen explained. "Of course that is just my opinion. How much of all this have you confided in your attorney?"

"Bare bones. Not all the submissive play stuff." I admitted. "I did not want all that out if it would not change things in the settlement. I don't think I even told him Alyssa is the wife of one of the people Sheila was doing." Karen reminded me Alyssa was involved physically herself. 'Yeah, I know. I think I better bring him into the loop fully. But at three hundred bucks an hour for legal advice, you are much cheaper." I joked.

Karen said, " Well, Alyssa is going for the jugular. You need to sit down with your attorney and tell him every detail of what happened." She punched my arm when she saw my leer. "Not EVERY detail, you idiot. You know what I mean." she laughed.

"I'm betting Becky is not going to write that fall on her sword admission she agreed to last Sunday." I offered. Karen said she was sure she'd never see it.

As I dropped her off, she asked me if I was going back to work. I shook my head and told her I had some things to check out. I called Dave and told him what I wanted to do. He said he understood. My next stop was at a high end electronics store. I wanted to buy some nanny cams. They had a few but even the best did not record sound.

One of the sales staff asked me why I wanted sound. I told him. "I went through the same thing two years ago. I know a guy who sells that stuff. I bugged my bedroom. I needed motion or sound activated devices. He warned that what I record may not be legal and could get me in serious trouble with the law. It still gave me the information I needed." He opened his wallet for the store's card and gave me the address.

I hoped the store was still in business. It was. Apparently business was booming. The store looked well stocked. The inventory had exactly what I wanted. I bought a pair of tiny cameras with a remote microphone. He showed me how to install them. These were not motion activated but could be turned on with a tiny remote control that looked like a car key fob. He said I was giving up one capability for another. Video would be crystal clear and the microphone sensitive and provided clear sound.. They broadcasted to a small receiver that was easily concealed. He had one already set up in the store as a demonstration. I was very pleased with the quality of the video.

I would have to be present to begin the recording. "But that makes the recording legal." he said. "In this state at least one party in the conversation has to agree to being recorded. Otherwise you can face civil or even criminal penalties. You just gave yourself permission by being there. Too many bug their bedrooms to catch a cheating wife. They get their proof but it is not admissible." We tested the components I bought installing fresh batteries. I paired my cell with the receiver. Or download directly to a computer. All I had to do to start was push the button on the key fob, listen for a single beep and I was in business. Holding the button down and hearing two beeps turned it off. "I've had people turn a system on and then off without realizing it. You won't have that problem with this model."

I called Karen and told her I wanted her to get Sheila out of the house this evening and keep her out for an hour or so. She agreed. "Are you going to tell me why?" she asked. I told her I would later when we got home.

I actually would have liked to have been there to watch when Karen walked in on Sheila unannounced. Sheila had taken off her work clothes but not got fully dressed. She was wearing a tee shirt and panties. She immediately got nervous. "You said I didn't have to be naked in the house." she said. "I just had to be here." Karen said that was correct. She wanted to have a little talk with Sheila and maybe have a cup of coffee but did not want to do it there. She told Sheila to put on her pants and shoes, then took her to the local coffee shop.

I watched them leave from down the street and parked in the drive. I looked around the kitchen for possible places to hide the mini-cams. It took longer than I expected. I had to squat down to get a sight line for one camera. I wanted the other slightly elevated. A wall hanging worked well for concealment. I put the microphone under the kitchen table and the receiver in an upper cabinet. I felt like Secret Squirrel planting bugs..

I grabbed a beer and sat down at the table. I decided to play around and test the system. I talked in normal tones, raised my voice, moved around the room and even slapped the table. I'm glad I did my test. I found out the table was not the right place to put the microphone. The slap on the table reverberated like thunder. Each tap of the glass beer bottle on the table blared. I moved the microphone to the chair Alyssa had occupied the previous Saturday and repeated my test. I spoke from my chair on the opposite side. "Well, Alyssa, it this picks up my voice from over here, I know I will get yours. I wonder if I will record you farting. That will be too funny." The playback was great.

I turned the system off again and sat back to wait. Seeing my car in the drive, Karen followed Sheila inside. Our prearranged signal I needed more time was a text to ask her where she was. Otherwise she would give me at least forty five minutes. "Sheila, your lawyer paid me a visit at work today." I said when she walked in to find me sitting at the table, beer in hand. "Did you know about that?" She assured me she did not. "Well I am not too happy about it. You tell her my office is NOT the place to talk. She can either deal through my lawyer or if she wants to talk we can talk here with all of us present. Matter of fact, I have been thinking about it. You call her and tell her to come over here in the morning and we will meet. I think eleven is a good time. If she and Becky don't want to come, fine. In that case, at noon I am going to call the CEO of your company and have a little talk with him." Sheila gasped and told me to not do anything rash. I smiled. "That should be incentive for them to show up." I said before I stood up.

I finished the rest of the beer and got ready to leave. She did not pay any attention to the double tone from the key fob in my hand. She asked me to stay and talk. I shook my head leaving her with Karen. I was glad Karen had not parked behind me. Karen arrived at home about fifteen minutes later.

"Sheila called Alyssa. I could not hear the other end of the conversation but Sheila said you were pissed Alyssa went to your office. She agreed to meet." Karen reported. "I told Sheila to wear something other than what she had on for last week's meeting. She blushed."

I expected Alyssa and Becky would be early for the meeting. Alyssa would want to coach Sheila on what to say. Sure enough, I was fifteen minutes early and their car was already in the drive. I walked inside without knocking or ringing the bell. "Outta my chair." I ordered playing the 'man role'. "This is still my house and I sit at the head of the table. You can sit over there where you sat last week." I pointed. They had beers already. I noticed their bottles were full, obviously untouched. Once again Alyssa and Becky were trying to stage the narrative. I'd had my thumb on the remote and clicked it as I entered the kitchen. I felt and heard the slight tone. The system was activated.

Karen opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles handing me one. "First things first." I pulled out my cell phone and placed it in the middle of the table. Karen pulled out hers and turning it off, placed it next to mine. Becky and Alyssa followed suit. Sheila said hers was on the charger but she would get it to show it was off. "No need." I said. "Actually I don't care if one of you want to record what we say today. Just like you said last weekend when you met us at the door half naked, Sheila." She blushed.

Alyssa smirked. I could almost read her mind, 'Grandstand all you want asshole, I'll have your nuts in a vice soon enough and I'll enjoy watching you squeal."

"Okay, where to begin..." I said. Alyssa said I called this meeting so go for it.

"First of all, your showing up at my office under the guise of being a customer was pretty low." I said.

"Yet you still invited me in." Alyssa said simply. "Nothing wrong with my checking the place out. I know you were squirming. You know I would have told people how you kicked me out without even talking to me. Such a bad way to treat a new customer." I shrugged. "You had your partner do the talking, but I know your business is worth far more than I thought at first. You are going to have to give up some real money to Sheila. You make a damn good salary. That business has to be worth a lot and I will have it evaluated."

"Actually, what Dave said yesterday is totally accurate." I said. "It is not worth much more than the furnishings. We don't even own the building. I'll admit we thought of buying it a few times but we ran the figures and it was better to lease. We could put our money to better use in the market. Our business is worth what we put into it every day. If either of us left, within two or three months the company would lose at least a third of our revenue. We just have too much going on for one man to handle. The sale value you are anticipating is just not there. And that is what you want in a settlement. If your estimate is stupidly high I'll offer them to buy it right there."

"But you aren't going to sell. You are going to keep it going to make money. That gives it real value." Alyssa said smugly. "So you will have to pay Sheila her full share. Now we can talk about trades." I looked at Becky and Sheila for their reaction. Sheila was curious. Becky was almost smirking herself, happy Alyssa was about to bend me over, figuratively.

"What you don't realize is I am NOT going to keep it going. I am going to walk away." I said, quietly. Alyssa scoffed and said nobody would do that. "That is where you are wrong. Where you made your mistake. Well, ONE of your mistakes. You pissed me off." I grinned and took a swig of my beer. "Every Cajun knows not poke at a moccasin unless he wants to risk getting bit. Sometimes it is better to just walk around. Yet you did exactly that. You stuck your finger in my face."

"Oh please." Alyssa said. "You make good money. You aren't going to give that up."

"That is exactly what I am going to do." I said calmly. "I am going to walk away. Oh, yes Dave will have to pay me my half the value of the furnishings, plus an amount for the residual income the company gets. Sheila will get her half of that. But it will not be anywhere near what you think. A mere pittance."

"What I did was a negotiating tactic. Like you did with wanting Sheila to sue the company to avoid your paying alimony." Alyssa said. "But you are totally bullshitting. I've had clients' spouses claim they would just quit their jobs before. Yet they have to make a living. You can't just give it up. What will you do for an income?" Alyssa asked, her smirk returning.

"Sell snow cones on Seven Mile beach on Grand Cayman or beer to tourists in Belize." I answered. "I've run through both ideas. Sheila will tell you I have mentioned it several times. I got the idea when we visited those places on vacation.. Until now it has only been a pipe dream. Now I can bring that fantasy to life. I'll have some money to get me started. The little bit of money from our shared accounts, plus half the equity in this house. Actually that will set me up quite nicely. I already took care of my kids' needs as you so well know. They are set through years of college. If I can talk Karen into joining me, so much the better. If not, I'll see what happens when I come back stateside in a year or so."