He clocked his sister's approach from the moment the elevator chimed open. There was a determined shimmer in her eye, the kind that indicated an ace up her sleeve, and John Ross hastened to obstruct her confident stride across the platform toward their father's office. "Hey, sis. What'cha doin' here?"
Eleanor paid minimal attention and side-stepped her brother, "Is daddy in his office?" She had called ahead for Sly's assurance that her father's schedule wasn't too heavy for the day.
"Len, you know he's still sore at you," John Ross nervously reminded her.
"I'm about to fix that," she smiled sweetly and pushed beyond her brother. "Hi, daddy."
J.R. tore his attention from the paperwork on his desk, indifferent to her arrival. "Eleanor," he welcomed her all the same in a half-hearted manner. "I'm afraid I don't have time for whatever it is you want, I have a working lunch with -" J.R. stumbled mid-sentence and buzzed his personal assistant. Ever since he had banished Eleanor from the office, organisation had slipped somewhat; J.R. suddenly realised that it was Eleanor who left a perfectly edited print-out of his weekly schedule on his desk every Monday, not Sly. "Sly, send in my 1 o'clock, would you?"
"That would be me," Eleanor informed her father, as she reclined into one of the two leather chairs opposite him. She buzzed Sly a second time when her father processed the realisation, "Thank you, Sly." She recovered the three sandwiches she had picked up from the deli across the street en-route to the Ewing Energies office. "Roast beef on white, extra mustard," she chucked the first option at her brother and placed the second one in front of her father, "Turkey salad on rye, hold the mayonnaise." J.R. dramatically rolled his eyes. Sue Ellen had roped both of their children into the health kick which reduced his red meat intake and left very little flavour on his plate.
"Give me that," he pitched his sandwich at John Ross who reluctantly surrendered his in return. J.R. discarded the sandwich onto his desk and cleared his throat. "Alright, what is it that's so important?"
"Casey Denault."
"Len -" John Ross shook his head with caution.
"What about him?" J.R. cut in, his voice dominant above his son.
"I was the one who told him about the leases in the Gulf." J.R. and John Ross narrowed their eyes, almost in-sync with one another and equally baffled by Eleanor's gameplan. "We cut a deal. I traded your six month business plan for information on Kristin."
J.R.'s face fell into the shape of vexation. Kristin's name popped into conversation far too often for his taste lately and it left a sourness in everybody's mouth. His reconciliation with Sue Ellen was at a delicate point and frequent reminders of his past treachery did little to sway her back into his arms completely. "Your mother and I have always been open and honest with you about Kristin -"
" Mama has always been open and honest with me," Eleanor announced above her father. "You have actively avoided and deflected any mention of Kristin my entire life."
"You know why, darlin'? Because there is nothin' worth knowin' about that woman," J.R. replied, a little more spitefully than he truly intended. Sue Ellen had always been more charitable in her recollections of Kristin than she deserved. "She brought chaos into our lives, made your mother's life hell -"
"Let's not rewrite history. You played a part in that hell," she admonished her father. John Ross' eyes nervously switched between his father and sister; neither one of them had ever dared confront him for his behaviour before. "But I'm not here about Kristin," Eleanor drew an invisible line in the sand. "Thanks to Casey Denault, I now know you banished Kristin to California because she was the person who shot you -"
John Ross stood to attention, "What?"
" - which means Casey is under the impression he's created a divide between us and he'll happily swallow whatever information I feed him on your behalf," Eleanor skirted around her brother's interruption and developed an accomplished smile at the look of dismay on her father's face. " And he'll be all the more vulnerable when we hit back with a hostile takeover of his company."
"But Barnes Global is about to acquire Denault Inc.," John Ross reminded her.
"Not if we swoop in first."
"You mean to tell me you've been playin' Denault?" J.R.'s irritation visibly subsided.
Eleanor flashed her father a devious smile. "You were the one who taught me I can always flip the script in my favour." She raised a briefcase onto the desk, "Aside from Casey there are seven shareholders and, unfortunately for him, three of those are loyal only to their accounts in the Cayman Islands. The other four are here," Eleanor retrieved four envelopes and placed them in front of her father. She tapped the first one with a perfectly manicured nail. "Harold Ainsworth; a close personal friend of Judith Ryland. He periodically visits her establishment unbeknownst to his wife of thirty years. Matthew Everett," Eleanor swiftly moved onto the next envelope. "His wife wrapped her car around a utility pole whilst under the influence of prescription meds she purchased online and he paid off the D.A. to commute her sentence. Helen Chadwick submitted a hefty donation to ensure her son's admission into Princeton and Spencer Rowe recently paid off his side-piece to have her pregnancy terminated. A third party reached out to the shareholders on our behalf; they're all willing to vote in our favour."
"Would that third party be Carter McKay's grandson?" Eleanor nodded her head in confirmation. At personal cost, Hunter had sworn his alliance to her. "You think he can be trusted?"
"I do."
Well," J.R. reviewed the substantial research Eleanor had collected, impressed by her level of callousness. "You've certainly had your hands full. I suppose this means I owe Bum overtime." He could identify Bum's handiwork anywhere and he was one-hundred-and-one percent reliable. "Well done, sugar," J.R. rose to his feet and stretched out an open palm to Eleanor. "Welcome back to Ewing Energies."
After they hashed out the details of their scheme to turn the tables on Casey Denault in a celebratory fashion, John Ross stalked his sister from their father's office. "Len, are you insane?" He double-checked they were out of their fathers earshot, as well as any employees. "This'll never work."
"Thanks, Len. Genius idea. Thank you so much for savin' my ass," Eleanor mimicked the response she would have anticipated and favoured from her elder brother.
"Thanks, Len." John Ross huffed, uncharmed by her ridicule and unconvinced by her plan. "You're crazy if you think you're savin' my ass because the second we steal his company away from him, Casey tells daddy everythin' and probably has back-up photos to prove it."
"You and daddy really underestimate me," she rolled her eyes. "What you saw in there is just the plan to destroy Denault Inc., I have something else in mind for Casey. By the time I'm finished, he'll be done in Dallas."
John Ross eyed his sister apprehensively. She was the successor - the son - that J.R. desired. "You scare me." To those who didn't know their family well, Eleanor was the black sheep or a weak link who could be intimidated; it was what helped her to appear so harmless and afforded her the benefit of a surprise attack.
Eleanor wore the benign smile she had learnt from their mother. "Good. That's the way I like it."
