I had a good conversation with Noah, and by the end of the call I was feeling more comfortable with the idea of going back into the office. I thought Noah's idea of a staff meeting telling people what was going on was a good idea, and I thought that I'd mention it to Ranger at dinner. I also thought that I would tell Ranger and Hal about the betting that was happening, and how inspirational I found the idea.
I opened up my computer, set up a research inquiry, and started looking into Steve's life. He didn't have any rental or owned properties in his name, which surprised me. What surprised me more was that the ownership of their Californian house had been transferred to Val's name ten years before. So had the ownership of all the bank accounts and investments. Between everything, Val was worth over a million dollars. I hissed in anger.
I took a deep breath and searched further through his history and found that he had been in jail for the last ten years. I looked in surprise at the research result, traced it again to make sure that I had the right person, confirmed it with his mug shot, and sighed. According to both the data and the pictures that were in the police file, Steve had been in jail for cooking the books on numerous mob businesses in California. Val had lied to us. He hadn't had an affair with the babysitter. He had been put in jail for twenty-five years. He had been released early, however, when he fingered a mob boss and was instrumental in putting the mob boss in jail. He had just been released two months ago and, according to his cell phone bills, he had been talking to Val ever since. I wondered if he wanted to be accepted back in Trenton to try to get himself out of California. Somehow, I didn't expect one's life expectancy to be very long after fingering a mob boss and testifying at his trial. He had probably thought that it was a good thing to have to come to Scotland.
Because of that, I wondered why he wasn't in the WITSEC program. It seemed like the kind of thing that would be offered to a witness in a member of the mob's prosecution. I dug a little further. Steve had been offered the option of changing his identity but had refused the offer. It just proved to me, once again, that he was as dumb as a box of rocks.
So now he was released and had no job and no money or house - it was all in Val's name. I wondered how he would find a job. There weren't too many people who would be willing to go to an accountant who had cooked the books for the mob. He was only forty-five as well. Although one million was a lot of money, I didn't think it would be enough to let him retire. It would definitely not be enough to let him retire if he settled down with Val again. She spent money like it was going out of style.
That was assuming that he wanted to go clean. There were a few calls on his cell log to Vito, our local mob boss in Trenton, and I wondered if he was trying to set up another accounting business on the other side of the country, for another branch of the mob. It was a question that I really wanted to know the answer to. If he was coming to Trenton, I needed to prepare myself.
Socially, Steve was seen as everybody's friend in jail. He had incredible charm when he was going out with Val as well. He was one of those people that people liked. People didn't understand why I didn't like him and most people said it was sour grapes that Val had been able to snag someone as good as Steve. I thought my father might have gotten the willies from him as well, and my cousin Vinnie thought he was a jerk. But then I had inherited my sense of self-preservation from my father and Vinnie had a honed sense of identifying the assholes. Everyone else in the family loved him. My grandmother particularly thought the sun rose and set on him. Of course, she also thought the sun rose and set on Dickie, which just went to show that she didn't have a particularly strong ability to suss out the pricks.
So socially, he was doing well. Financially, as long as he got back together with Val he was doing well on paper but there were some questions regarding the sustainability of his money – as I said, both to support him over the next several years and to earn more considering the illegality of where he earned it in the first place.
Academically, he had done well in college and, when he was in the slammer, he had done his MBA. He had finished it two months before. Medically, he was also doing well. He was healthy and hadn't taken medication of any sort in years.
I sighed and sent an email with my preliminary results to Hal and Ranger with the note that we would have some things to talk about during our evening meeting, after the kids had gone to bed. I also sent it to Julie with the note that it looked like we were going to have to do an in-depth review on him. Just as I finished that, someone rang the dinner bell and I shut down my computer and left my office for the dining room. By the time I got there, everyone had already congregated and were dishing up their food. Tonight's dinner, for the omnivores, was shepherd's pie and a side salad. I didn't know what the vegetarians were eating. In all honesty, I didn't care. I had tasted Isla's shepherd's pie before and it was fantastic, and I was looking forward to having another helping. I joined the line behind Ranger and waited my turn to dish up.
Ranger and Hal were reviewing my report as they stood in line. "You have got to be fucking kidding me", said Ranger as he got to the 'Criminal History' section. "He's a member of the mob?"
"Looks like it. My father will be disgusted and my grandmother will be gleeful and my mother will be horrified. Again, I don't want him near the kids."
"When do you think that you can do an in-depth, babe?"
I smiled. "I was thinking that I'd ask Julie. I'm pretty tired, and I want to have the option of sleeping in tomorrow morning. I think, somehow, that I will need my sleep over the next few days to have the patience that I'll need. I also think we need that in-depth done as soon as possible."
"Okay. I doubt Julie will mind."
I snorted. "Julie never minds if I dump work on her desk. She is one of the most helpful people that I have ever met."
Ranger smiled. He was very proud of all his kids, Julie included. I remembered when Julie's visit to Trenton was a big thing, something that was done about once a year. After Ranger and I got together, Julie asked if she could come up more frequently. Ranger was shocked that she'd want to, but I was thrilled that she was including me in her family. Since then, Julie had been a valuable and well-loved member.
Julie's parents had been as well. Rachel and Ron were good people, and Ranger and I had a good time with them. Our little ones called them Aunt and Uncle, and they came to visit us a couple of times a year, and we went down to Miami to visit them a couple of times a year. I also emailed with Rachel regularly. At first I had kept in contact because Rachel and Ron were an important part of Julie's life. However, I was soon keeping in contact with Rachel and Ron because I liked them rather than for Julie's sake. Julie had told me once that she was grateful, as it allowed her to enjoy both sets of parents without worry about upsetting the other one.
When the babies had been born, Julie came up to Trenton to spend some time cuddling with them and getting to know them. Maybe partly because of that early bonding, the girls adored Julie and would follow her everywhere if they were allowed. They had frequently told me that they wanted to grow up just like Julie. I personally was thrilled. Julie was brilliant, intuitive, determined, and loving. I thought our little ones couldn't have picked a better role model.
Ranger dished up my meal for me and placed it on my lap. I wheeled beside him as we entered the dining room, and Ranger helped me position myself at the head of the table.
"How did your call with Noah go?" said Ranger. Hal was sitting on the other side of me and was listening in.
"It went well. He was a fabulous support, as I thought he would be. He told me that people have been betting on when I am going to walk again. So far, Noah said that pretty well everyone has bet and that all bets are between one and four months."
"Fuck. I'll shut it down, babe."
I smiled as I looked down the table and saw the little ones engaged in a conversation with my mother. I was glad that they hadn't heard Ranger swear - they were now getting to the age where they recognized that they were 'bad words' and that we shouldn't be using them. And they called us on it each time they caught us. "Please don't. I find it inspirational." Ranger still looked angry, and tears of gratitude came to my eyes. "They aren't betting if I'll walk, Ranger", I said quietly. "They're betting when." I smiled tearfully again. Ranger smiled slightly and rubbed my arm in support, and he looked at Hal gratefully.
I sniffled again. "So anyway, Noah and I worked out that, in another few days, I would do a video conference meeting with my department to present what had happened, what I expected would happen both on a personal level as well as a professional level, and to let people know how they could best support me. I told Noah about my concerns that people would treat me differently, and he said that I wanted them to. I never thought of it that way, but he said that I wanted them to slow down when they were walking so that I could keep up when I was wheeling myself around. I wanted them to hold doors open for me and reach up high to get things for me. He said that, no matter how much I want equality, there are differences with being in a wheelchair and I need people to be sensitive to those differences. It made sense. He also said that, at first, people would treat me with exaggerated sensitivity and that would piss me off. He said that I will have to 'teach' people how to treat me but that, in all cases, people would respond well to my 'lessons' on how to treat me because they want to help so darn much."
"That makes sense", said Ranger. "No matter how hard we have tried to make the buildings accessible, they were designed by those without disabilities and I'm sure that they could be more supportive to those with challenges."
I smiled. "I'll have to set up a committee of people with challenges to identify ways that the buildings could be made more user-friendly for all staff."
Ranger smiled. "I think that's a good idea."
"So, I was looking up jokes that I could use during my videoconference. There aren't a lot of jokes that are funny about disabilities. Most of them are just plain rude and insensitive and disgusting. However, I found a couple. Want to hear them?"
"I'm not sure", said Ranger.
"Spoilsport", I said. Hal laughed. I turned to Hal. "A man was wheeling himself frantically down the hall of the hospital in his wheelchair, just before his operation. A nurse stopped him and asked him what was wrong. He said, 'the nurse said that it was a very simple operation, not to worry, and that it would be over soon.' The nurse smiled comfortingly. 'She was just trying to reassure you, sir. Why are you panicking?' He sighed and said over his shoulder as he continued on his way, 'she was talking to the doctor.'"
Ranger groaned as Hal laughed.
"No? Okay, what about this one. 'I went to see a faith healer last night. He was so bad a man got up out of his wheelchair and walked out'."
Hal cracked up as Ranger smiled and shook his head. I grinned. "As I said, the pickings were slim."
