CH 93
Marilyn
Both her boys stared at her when they came downstairs. It wasn’t normal for her to be up and awake before they were. Those two, for some ungodly known reason, got up at the c***k of dawn every day like clockwork. It was almost as if they didn’t want to miss anything of any day they lived.
Vin she noticed was carrying that phone as they came downstairs. “Morning boys.” She smiled at them.
“You’re up early,” Cal commented.
“Mm. I couldn’t sleep, weird dreams.” She shrugged it off, “Checked on your father already, have you?” she asked, indicating to the phone.
“Yes.” They both stated with a smile.
“He’s at home still,” Vin told her.
“Not surprising, the sun is not up there yet. We’re an hour in front of Texas.” She told them and got up to
make them breakfast.
They sat at the table with her, and that phone was open and between them the entire time. “Wil is moving,” Cal stated pointing to the phone and smiling happily.
“He did say he runs in the morning. That it would be more fun to watch him than Calvin.” She stated, “That’s his lawyer.”
They’d watched his little marker move around as Wil went on a morning run. She shook her head he ran a 3–mile loop started and finished in the same place. His home, she presumed, as she sorted out packing their lunches and getting them ready for school.
She’d had to pluck that phone out of Vin’s hand as they were headed for the car. “That stays here at the house,” she reminded them. They’d looked unhappy about it, she noted.
“It’s likely he’ll be in the office all day and still be there when you get home. Most adults work nine to five boys. So that’s ten to six for us with the time difference.” She reminded them and waved them off.
“You won’t lose it mum?” Vin asked from the car before getting in.
“I won’t,” she stated as they got in the car.
“Don’t forget where you put it, mum.” Cal called out and she saw him chuckle.
“You might, you know, got that amnesia.” Vin laughed, and they got in the car both laughing.
She saw Ashley laugh and shake her head. She waved at them all. Little did those two jokesters know she could play that very game, and real good right this minute. Marilyn smiled to herself, ‘What phone are you talking about?‘ She could state when they got home, frown, shake her head at them and walk away as if she had no idea what they were talking about. They weren’t going to win the game today, she thought with
amusement.
She sat with Cameron when he arrived that morning, and he relayed that nothing unusual had happened with Mr Reeves at the hotel after she’d left. His man had reported that Calvin had simply sat with a coffee and waited for the two lawyers to sort that contract out. He appeared to be calm and unconcerned about her
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leaving the hotel.
He had sat and, from what his man could tell, was on his phone attending to business emails and or taking calls from the office. Then he’d read through the agreement and signed it without issue. Then he and his lawyer made their way to a private plane. Both had gotten on it and it had left.
Everything appeared to be as if he was accepting of the things she’d stated in that meeting herself. Cameron didn’t actually think there was going to be a need for a full–time live in security detail.
Something she was actually thankful to hear. She’d already gotten a text from Calvin this morning, just before the boys had gotten in the car, at 0830, and it had been his schedule for the following week. It showed him having two trips out of the state; one to Chicago, where he would leave on Sunday afternoon and return to Houston on Tuesday, and the other out to California, leaving on Thursday and coming back on Saturday
night.
She’d also seen that Wil was going to be going with him on both trips. It was actually noted on Calvin’s schedule, so he wasn’t likely to breach the contract this coming week. That was actually a nice feeling of relief for her this morning. He was probably a man that was busy all the time, and she didn’t need to, or maybe wouldn’t need to concern herself with thoughts of him at all for the part.
She shared Calvin’s schedule with Cameron, and he nodded but stated, “I wouldn’t start thinking that just because he’s gone away that he can’t arrange things or people to watch you or the boys. Unfortunately, that is actually seen to be the most likely time people like him move about in the shadows. Because they have a solid provable alibi.
“Which shows they weren’t near you, and they have many witnesses. Best to keep us here as planned, though I dare say if four weeks go by and there is nothing at all, no breaches to be seen. He will stick to the agreement.”
“Why four weeks?” she asked curiously.
“From what you told me and how obsessive he is. Stalkers like that need to get their fix; that for him will be seeing you. He can probably go a week or two without doing anything, and then it’ll start to get the better of
e you him. In the following two weeks he’ll itch to see you or be near you. That’s when he’ll send someone is my
guess… how long was it before the boys came home with that booklet attached to his company?”
“About 7 weeks.”
“It’s likely in that time he had people watching you, weeks before that happened. It would have taken him time to come up with that idea and set up that charity. I did look at his company. This would be the first charity he’s created. So, being that it’s new, there would have to have been a few weeks in the planning stage prior to the school being contacted.
“I’m not certain which. So, I’d say somewhere between two and four weeks prior to that was when he was tracking you down and getting photos of the children. So, by that deduction, between three and four weeks from yesterday is when he’ll need to get his stalker persona fix of seeing you or the boys.”
She sighed and nodded “Alright.” This was his area of specialty, not hers, and she would do as he suggested. It’s why she’d hired him and his team in the first place.
“My editor is coming this afternoon for the weekend. Ashley will pick her up at lunchtime today,” she told him. “Does anything need to happen with that?”
< CH 93
“Miss Stevens,” he nodded, acknowledging who she was, “and no, she checked out fine, staying until when though?”
“She’ll go home Monday morning; Ashley will drop her at the airport after dropping the boys at school on Monday morning.”
“Alright, we’ll be on detail with Ashley and the boys anyway,” he nodded. “Not a problem.”
“Oh, I’m also going to be going to look at a house in Montana in a few weeks.”
“I’ll have to organise a tag a long for that trip. How will you be getting there?” Cameron asked.
“I’ll hire a private plane. That’s how I get to New York when I have to go into the publishing house. It doesn’t happen very often. Once or twice a year, for the past three years. I use the same plane and pilot, fit in around his schedule each time. Because I need round trips.”
“Alright, I’ll need that company’s details and a weeks‘ notice to roster you a full–time security detail for the trip. You’ll need to let me know how many days you’ll be away as well. Where in Montana?”
“Bigfork, it’s on Flathead Lake. I bought a house there, through a closed private sale, in case s**t hits the fan with Calvin. So I can move away and live else where.”
“The size of the house?” he asked.
“Nine bedrooms all up. I accounted for needing to have live–in security and a live–in driver as well. And Lisa comes and stays over. It’s got three two–bedroom guest suites and a studio I can use that’s above the garage. “She told him and watched him write it all down. She took her phone out and showed him pictures of it.
“Alright.” Cameron nodded. “When do you think you’ll go?”
“Not sure yet, the offer was accepted yesterday. The contracts are in the works and expected to be signed on Tuesday and money transferred by Wednesday.”
“So you’ve still got closing to go.”
“Yes, two to six weeks for that.”
She watched him think about it for a moment and then nodded, “That could actually work to our benefit. See if you can make it for four weeks‘ time. Right on when he’s going to want that fix. Let’s just see if he notices you’ve left the house for a few days.” Cameron stated “He’ll go crazy if he suddenly can’t find you and that will tell us if he’s gotten past us as well. Now you did tell the boys about myself and my men.”
“Yes, they didn’t really understand why, but that’s because they know who he is to them, and now have that tracking app. They want to know him.” She huffed a little.
“Hmm, I’d say that’s typical of children their age. They’re young enough to still believe everyone is good at heart, they’re not jaded by society yet. They’re also old enough to want things like a dad. Especially if they’d never known who he was before and now do. It kind of can’t be helped, and I believe that’s why you hired me.”
“It is.” Marilyn nodded.
om where she left
The meeting ended, and she made her way to her writing studio and sat down to pick off this morning, had sat that phone on a shelf on the other side of the room. She didn’t need to look at it all the time like the boys did.
