Chapter 7: Planning for a Party
Alex walks up to a door marked Office of Albany Chief Assistant District Attorney and knocks on his boss's door.
"COME IN!" Alex hears so he opens the door and enters.
A woman glances from her computer to the door then back to her computer as she keeps typing "What's up Reagan?"
Alex moves to take a seat across from the woman at her desk "What if I told you I had an invite to attend a party at the Meretti estate."
The woman immediately stops typing and looks at Alex. She then takes her glasses off and sets them aside on her desk before shifting her body to now give Alex her full attention "Go on." She prompts with peaked interest.
…..
Jamie is under one of Meretti's cars working away when Joe enters the garage and walks up to his Uncle "You need anything?"
Jamie rolls himself out from under the car to look questioningly at his nephew.
"Meretti sent me to check up on you." Joe explains.
"Under the guise of asking if I need anything?" Jamie tries to clarify.
Joe indifferently shrugs.
"Sure lunch and a cold beer please." Jamie requests.
Joe's facial expression turns to one of rejection "I am not your errand boy."
Now it's Jamie's turn to indifferently shrug before rolling himself back under the car "You asked."
Joe turns to walk out of the garage "I'll tell him you're fine."
"You do that." Jamie sarcastically mutters as he torques another bolt.
…..
"I love it!" Larissa gushes to Eddie "This is going to be the best birthday party ever right Tony?"
"Uh huh sure." Meretti absently agrees as he concentrates on something on his phone.
Larissa rolls her eyes at her husband then looks at Eddie with a 'watch this' look "And then instead of bringing in the bumper cars…" Larissa continues on to her husband "…we thought well you have an entire garage of vehicles – we'll just let the kids drive those!"
"Sounds great." Meretti just replies not even paying attention.
Larissa looks at Eddie with a 'told you' look and both women try not to laugh.
"Um I gotta take care of something." Meretti suddenly announces "The plans sound great. Just… um… keep going." He tells his wife before walking way and once he's gone Eddie turns to look at Larissa "Boy if Jamie ever did that to me I'd clock him upside the head!"
"Are you kidding me?" Larissa counters "How do you think I manage to get half the stuff I want? Like now when we really order the bumper cars he can't balk at it because I have video evidence he approved the kids using his real cars!" she laughs.
Eddie immediately picks up on Larissa's words "Video evidence?" she tries to nonchalantly inquire.
"Oh yeah." Larissa muses "Tony's got cameras everywhere!"
"Oh." Eddie notes with a frown as she starts to look around looking for a camera so Larissa walks up behind her, turns her slightly and then points up and over her shoulder at a discreetly hidden camera "Oh." Eddie notes again mentally noting what to now look for.
"But don't worry." Larissa dismisses "If you don't do anything bad, you have nothing to worry about!"
"Yeah but like everywhere?" Eddie presses as she turns to face Larissa trying to get more information "Like am I being recorded when I go to the bathroom?"
"Okay maybe they aren't everywhere." Larissa admits.
"Oh thank god!" Eddie sighs out in relief "For a second there I thought I was just going to have to hold it every time I was here!"
"No, no." Larissa reassures her "No cameras in the bathroom – so you know if you and Jamie ever want to get a little frisky while you are here – that's where you go – unless being caught on camera is your thing…"
Eddie looks at Larissa with wide eyes.
A playful look appears on Larissa's face "Hey, I'm just saying." Larissa adds "It can spice up a marriage."
Eddie shakes her head in a bit of awe "Noted!" She laughs out "But getting back to these bumper cars…"
"Ah yes!" Larissa agrees.
"So just so I'm clear here..." Eddie begins "…I have the go ahead to order up the bumper cars and when your husband balks at the bill you are going to produce video evidence that shows him what he actually agreed too?"
Larissa nods in confirmation "Yup!"
"Damn." Eddie muses impressed "And you've done this before?"
"Yup." Larissa confirms.
Eddie looks at Larissa "Don't take this the wrong way because I love the entire scenario but your husband does not strike me the type of guy that likes getting duped. How does he continue to let you do that instead of oh, I don't know – take away your access to the cameras?!"
Larissa heartily laughs "Because the 'reward' of me getting what I want, in the end, gets him want he wants – IF…" She suggestively insinuates "… you know what I mean."
"Ah." Eddie impressively notes "Understood. Well I'll start making calls about the cars while you head off and 'collect' that evidence of yours!" she prompts hoping to get a location on the surveillance room.
"Nah." Larissa rejects "I'll get it later, it's not going anywhere."
"Not going anywhere?" Eddie prompts as she switches tactics "So it's not going to record over itself in a few hours?"
"Nah." Larissa confirms "State of the art system."
"Ooo does it have it's own secret room?" Eddie playfully adds under the guise of joking but even though she succeeds that question suddenly has Larissa looking at Eddie a bit suspiciously…
"Why all the questions about the security system?"
Eddie thinks fast on her feet and flashes a big grin "Because maybe I should look into getting one of my own installed – use it to see what I can get Jamie to get me!" she giddily adds.
Larissa buys that answer and laughs "Oh you don't need that." She dismisses "That man will clearly do anything for you without you even asking." She points out "I mean the man created an entire ponzi scheme just for you!"
Playing along, Eddie smiles "Yeah." She happily sighs out "He did and he will." She adds before clearing her throat "Now these bumper cars!" She declares knowing it best to drop the subject of the security system for now…
…..
"So there is a state of the art security system." Eddie tells her husband once they are back in their apartment "The only place I know they don't have cameras is apparently the bathroom so if either one of us needs to tell the other something that can't wait until we leave, we need to drag the other in there under the guise of we are about to have sex."
Jamie immediately raises an eyebrow at his wife.
"Larissa basically gave us permission." Eddie admits "So I figure if we ever need too, it's the perfect cover." before adding "I still can't believe she just openly told me about it and all because Meretti was ignoring her as we were trying to tell him about the plans for Nathan's birthday party."
Jamie's face scrunches up "Ignoring her?"
"Yeah see he was preoccupied with his phone…" Eddie begins to explain "So Larissa said for the party we thought it would be fun if instead of getting bumper cars we just let the kids use the cars Meretti has in his garage and because Meretti wasn't listening he just mumbled out a sure, fine, whatever, sounds great so now when the bill for the actual bumper cars comes Larissa will use the video to point out to him what he ACTUALLY agreed to and he'll pay the bill without another word."
"Wow." Jamie notes "Seems Meretti isn't the only one in that family that likes to use leverage. I mean I suspected they must have some kind of set up after his giddy leverage comment the other day but this confirms it."
"I know." Eddie agrees "I tried to press the subject and get a location on where the system is kept but she started to get a little suspicious so I had to drop the subject."
"Damn." Jamie states in disappointment.
"I know." Eddie agrees "We need to find that room – I mean can you imagine all that video evidence in one place? That would be like handing us the case on a silver platter."
Listening to his wife's words, Jamie's face crinkles in thought "Wait. What if it's another test?"
Now Eddie thinks about Jamie's words then sighs in defeat and understanding "Dangle the bait and see if we bite."
Jamie nods.
"Wow." Eddie then notes impressed "Seems we aren't the only couple working together are we?"
Jamie shakes his head "Apparently not. I mean think about it. Joe set Meretti's mechanic up right? If they had the kind of video coverage Larissa was talking about wouldn't it have caught all that?"
"True." Eddie agrees.
"I'm not saying they don't have coverage." Jamie reiterates "I just think it's not as wide spread as Larissa claims – probably just a few specific areas."
"She showed me the camera in the living room." Eddie states "But that could also just be a decoy."
"I'm beginning to see why no one has caught these people yet." Jamie admits.
"Yeah." Eddie agrees before getting a thought "She was also very specific that the bathroom had no coverage." She now suspiciously notes with a challenging raise of her eyebrows.
Jamie looks at his wife and thinks about her words "Okay that's warped." he admits.
Eddie shrugs "But makes sense doesn't it – she tells us it has no coverage so then we think we are in the clear to talk in there and they get us."
"Still warped." Jamie notes "But I agree. We shouldn't take any chances by talking - or having sex in the bathroom."
Eddie can't help but huff out a laugh at his words "No?" she challenges in amusement.
"No." Jamie reiterates with a smile of his own.
Eddie playfully scrunches her nose up as she walks up to her husband and starts to play with his shirt "So not into voyeurism huh?"
"How long have you known me?" Jamie counters as he wraps his arms around his wife's waist.
"Good thing we are alone right now then huh?" Eddie suggestively notes.
Jamie smiles at his wife then dips his head to capture her lips with his.
….
Jamie and Eddie are just lying in bed together after sex in a comfortable silence when suddenly Jamie speaks up.
"So bumper cars huh?" He queries "Is that gonna be just for the kids…" he nonchalantly inquires "…or can anyone partake?"
A grin creeps up on Eddie's face as she shifts herself so she can look at her husband's face "I think it's only fair we adults test them out BEFORE the kids arrive."
"To make sure they are working and safe." Jamie helpfully tacks on in reason.
"Of course." Eddie easily agrees before suddenly reaching across her husband's body for her phone on the nightstand "Oh that reminds me I need to privately hire a doctor to be on scene for insurance purposes."
Jamie nods "Makes sense."
….
Heather stands at the nurse's station in the emergency room of the Albany Medical Center writing in a chart when a hospital administrator walks up "Hey Adams." The administrator greets.
Heather looks up.
"Your kid got invited to that big Meretti birthday party right?"
Heather nods in confirmation "Yes."
"So you're going anyway then." the administrator deduces.
"Well Alex said he'd take Quinn." Heather corrects.
A frown appears on the administrator face "Oh."
"Why?" Heather curiously inquires.
"They are looking to hire a private doctor for the event." the administer explains "Apparently they will have bumper cars and need it for the insurance and I figured since you would already be go..."
"I'll do it." Heather interrupts.
"Great." The administrator immediately accepts with a smile as she makes a big check mark beside an item on her to do list on the clip board in her hands "One more thing off my plate – you know where and when – just ask for Eddie Conners when you arrive!" she happily quips to Heather before just turning to walk away.
Heather chuckles as she goes back to working on her chart "So that's really why she asked me – just so she wouldn't have to spend an additional minute of her time giving me the details." before again looking up and smiling in amusement to herself "Alex is so going to hate that I'm going too."
...
A/N: Yeah in my version of this spin off series we are GOING THERE with Jamie and Eddie lol.