I suspected that our little weasel Thomas Fox was desperate for cash and figured he would get me to pay Aaron off to make him go away. Thomas Fox had become more than a problem for me. He needed to learn that he shouldn’t expect me to play nice when he tried stuff like this. I planned to fix this problem once and for all.
I made a phone call.
◊◊◊
After that conversation, I made my next call to Scarlet.
“Ready to be my PA?” I asked.
“Megan tossed your recruiting phone into a drawer this afternoon. We’re hoping the battery runs down overnight.”
“That’s what I always suggested, but Caryn was a glutton for punishment and thought it unprofessional not to answer it,” I shared.
“Oh.”
I smiled because I could almost see the gears grinding in Scarlet’s head when she heard that Caryn felt it ‘unprofessional’ to ignore the deluge of calls. Personally, as long as they weren’t calling me, I was okay with it. I would make sure Scarlet or Megan found out who had called so I could call them back when I was ready.
“I need you to do something for me and not tell anyone else,” I said.
“No problem.”
This was much different from Caryn. I should have put Scarlet in charge a long time ago.
“Book a round-trip ticket for Pádraig O’Malley out of LAX and into Chicago. Text him the information when you get it booked. He’s on the way to the airport now and will return tomorrow night. Also, rent him a car at O’Hare and a hotel room locally.”
“Anything else?” Scarlet asked.
“I need you to get cash for Paddy when the bank opens,” I said and gave her the amount.
“That’s a lot of money. Are you sure you don’t want me to just write him a check?”
“No. That’s his requirement. I’m not sure why he wants it in cash. It’s not like people wouldn’t be able to figure out we’re paying for his travel if they looked hard enough,” I said.
“This isn’t anything illegal, is it?” Scarlet asked.
“It might be a gray area,” I admitted.
I was hiring Paddy to speak to Mr. Fox, and Aaron, if needed, to fix this before it became a thing. I’d hoped to never use Paddy’s services as a fixer. But Thomas Fox wasn’t going to stop his efforts to get his pound of flesh from me however he could.
◊◊◊
When I finally got home, Cassidy and Paul stayed for dinner. Everyone else had already eaten, but my mom and dad joined us.
Cassidy told them about the sheriff’s deputy and that he was trying to serve me papers.
“I’ll call Ms. Dixon in the morning,” Dad said.
“No need,” I said without thinking.
“I thought you’d finally figured out that it’s better to call your lawyers early rather than when it’s too late,” Dad said.
“I think one of you also told me not to spend money until I had to,” I said to deflect.
“But …” Dad started, and I held up my hand.
“Remember, I haven’t been served yet.”
I thought I was brilliant. I’d headed off my dad’s argument for starting to pay lawyers.
“You should call Fritz and warn him that your ‘fixer’ is showing up tomorrow,” Cassidy said.
“Fixer?” Mom asked.
Shoot me now.
That led to a whole discussion of how I knew a ‘fixer.’ I might have glossed over how I’d gotten Zander to agree to the settlement when I talked to my parents.
“David Allen Dawson!” Mom said, signaling I was in trouble.
“I know where the popcorn is,” Cassidy told Paul.
My dad saved me from a public dressing-down when he barked out a laugh at Cassidy’s comment that said, in essence, our show was about to start. She and Paul planned on sitting back and watching our family drama unfold.
“Office, now!” Mom said, pointing.
Cassidy started to get up to follow until my mom gave her a pointed look.
“Uh, I need to get home and do my homework,” was her witty response.
Even my mom didn’t buy that Cassidy ever actually brought homework home.
“I’ll give you a ride,” Paul said as they left.
We never made it to the office because Mom tore into me before I got out of my seat.
“What the hell do you need a fixer for? You aren’t paying to have Thomas Fox’s legs broken, are you?” Mom asked.
“I wish,” I said, and my dad reached over and smacked me on the back of the head.
“Hey, if someone did it, you wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, would you?” I asked.
“Maybe not, but you have to be careful about how you handle something like this,” Dad said.
“That’s why I hired a professional. I met him because Zander sent him after me to begin with,” I said in my defense.
“Just because someone else does something doesn’t mean you have to respond in kind,” Mom said.
I groaned. Next, I would get the whole ‘not jumping off a bridge if my friends did it’ line, or even better, ‘turn the other cheek.’
“David,” Dad warned.
I put my face in my palms and rubbed my cheeks before looking up to respond.
“Here’s the deal. Paddy is being paid to talk some sense into Thomas Fox. If you ever meet him, you’ll understand why a visit from him will make a believer out of you. Heck, Fritz had almost everyone that works for him attend a meeting I had with the guy. They were loaded for bear and still nervous they might not be able to handle him.
