The Last 24 Hours Ch. 07

I smiled as I recalled my memories of my grandmother. "A grand lady she was. She could put the most arrogant person on the planet in his place and not bat an eye. Or she could comfort a poor unwanted child and make him feel like the most special person in the world." I was smiling at the memory of her. I shook myself from my reverie, "Anyway Grams made sure I knew what love was. She never made any difference between the three of us and after things got bad at home she gave me a place to run to if it was too bad." I took in a deep shuddering breath. "I didn't realize how hard telling this out loud was going to be."

"When Grams died my world kinda collapsed. When she became ill," I saw Beth raise an eyebrow in question "lung cancer and she never smoked a single cigarette, I visited her every single day after school. I sat and held her hand through the pain on the bad days. I read to her on the days she was too tired to sit up. We played chess in the park on the days she was feeling good. She died quietly in her sleep one night as I held her hand."

Beth wiped a tear from my cheek I hadn't realized was falling. I went on. "She had an Irish wake if you can believe that, drinks, and food, and her lying right there in the middle of it all. I laughed at the affronted expression on my mothers face when she found out it wasn't to be a "dignified affair for the family". Grams had had it all set up in advance. Her friends came and paid their respects to the family and every one of them pulled me aside and thanked me for being there for her and said how much it meant to her that I had."

"I don't think the rest of the family came to see her more than eight or ten times that last year she was sick. Anyhow one of the men at the wake pulled me aside and gave me a note and told me to go to the bathroom and read it, that it was from Grams. I knew who he was, Mr. Meyer. He had been friends with Grams for years. So I did what he said and went to the restroom and read the note."

"It said that when we all went to the reading of the will at the offices of Hoffman, Phillips, Browning and Dunne I should ask for the restroom and there would be someone waiting to talk to me and I should do what they said."

"Long story short Grams left a video for me to watch that told me how much she loved me and that she was sorry she had to go. She also left me and my siblings a trust fund, the amount of which was not to be disclosed until I turned eighteen or certain conditions were met. Mom had her own trust and dad couldn't touch it so she was safe too. I was told not to tell anyone about the trusts or this tape. The lawyers at this firm were now my lawyers and would administer my trust and would hold on to the tape for me until I received my inheritance. If I had any problems I was to contact them immediately. I was given a card to carry in my wallet with their name and contact instructions on it."

"When my… When my brother and sister died we were not on good terms by any means. They had harassed me. They had their friends and sycophants harass me, all throughout our school days. They died less than a year after Grams did." The look on Beth's face warred with outrage, horror, sympathy and sorrow. But thankfully no pity; I don't think I could have handled that.

I didn't like the mood I was creating; this weekend was about joy after all, so I decided to cut this short and change my plans a bit. "Beth, will you come with me? I have something I need to get and then I need to show it to you." I half expected her to be fed up with me at this point.

She looked at me kinda funny and then said in a low voice "I'll follow you anywhere. I thought you knew that?" Looking into her eyes I could see the truth of that statement. I had never seen such complete trust in anyone's eyes before. I smiled and grabbed her into my arms and hugged her to me. Her arms came up and hugged me back just a fiercely.

I broke our hug and stood with her hand in mine. "Let's go."

******

The ride to Hoffman, Phillips, Browning and Dunne took about ten minutes and most of that was getting a parking space in downtown on an early Friday afternoon. At a little after one we walked in and saw Sheila Philips, the receptionist. She was a petit woman of about forty-five with auburn hair just starting to go to grey at the temples. She came around the desk and hugged me tight before stepping back and speaking in her very southern drawl. "Hello Alex! It's so good to see you." Sheila had been a fixture at Hoffman, Phillips, Browning and Dunne for as long as I could remember.

"Hi Sheila, how are you doing? How is Fred?" I asked. Her husband Fred had had a heart attack just before Lisa left and I had been distracted since. Fred was also the Phillips in Hoffman, Phillips, Browning and Dunne. His health is why I ended up with that shyster Fowler. Her face lit up.

She said "He doing just fine. The doctors are all pleased. He's only handling a few of the older clients now. No more trials for him. The doc says it could overstress his heart but he will be fine if he takes it easy. He is in his office if you'd like to see him." I hoped I counted as one of the few she spoke of. I really wasn't fond of lawyers at the moment with a few exceptions. Sheila gave me a pointed look so sharp it nearly eviscerated me.

"Excuse my rudeness Sheila I'm a bit scattered today." She nodded and I continued "Sheila Phillips let me introduce the light that warms my world, Bethsany Ann Taylor." Sheila looked at me like I had two heads and both of them wanted her for breakfast.

"A-Alex, aren't you married? To Lisa? Your wife?" The look on her face said I had a lot of explaining to do. Beth piped up and with a fire I have rarely seen in her eyes, let out with both barrels.

"No as a matter of fact he's not! SHE saw to that when SHE filed for divorce nine months ago and left him for her GIRLFRIEND!" I put a hand on Beth's arm to try to calm her down. Sheila might not be close but I did count her as a friend.

"Sheila can you come with us to Fred's office, I only want to have to relive this once". She glanced warily at an angry Beth and nodded. She pushed a button and one of the other secretaries came to man her desk.

We walked down a hall to the last office in the corner. Sheila knocked once and opened the door. Fred sat behind his desk reading a "legal brief" in a folder when he saw it was me he put the folder down showing himself to be a fraud as the "legal brief" was in fact a copy of Outdoor Fisherman magazine. He was a balding man in his early fifties and was looking better than the last time I had seen him just after his attack. His color was better and he looked slimmer too.

"Alex! Good to see you, what brings you by?" Turning to Beth he smiled and extended a hand. "Fred Phillips a fraud at law pleased to meet you!"

Beth laughed and took his hand said "Bethsany Ann Taylor, call me Beth please."

Sheila piped up "You forgot the "light that warms his world" part" a bit waspishly and pointed at me.

That set me off in a hurry "That's enough from both members of the peanut gallery!" I turned to Sheila "I won't have her spoken to in that manner by anyone not even my friend, Sheila! And Beth, please rein it in for a minute and let me straighten this out. It'll be Ok I promise." Beth looked at me and nodded but the anger was still a palpable thing radiating from her.

Neither Fred nor Sheila had ever heard me raise my voice in anger before and the shock of it showed on their faces. "Fred you've heard me mention my best friend Beth before and you know what she has meant to me, right?" He nodded but didn't look happy that I had spoken to his wife that way. However, given what he had witnessed, he was holding his tongue for now.

Apparently my former attorney hadn't been doing his job. Like that was any surprise. "Fred, Sheila, Lisa filed for divorce more than nine month ago. The divorce was final yesterday. The marriage is over and has been for more than a day." The looks on their faces were those of people in complete shock. Fred started to speak and I held up my hand to stop him. "Let me tell this and then you can ask your questions. You'll also know why I'm here today." I said this last with a glance at Beth. Fred's eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch and his eyes flicked toward Beth and back as he understood what I wanted. I gave a nod.

Fred said "Go on." As he spoke he got up and walked to a painting on the wall of his office. It swung aside on hinges and revealed a wall safe. He opened the safe and extracted a video cassette and manila document envelope. He sat back down after securing the safe once more and continued listening.

I began the whole sordid tale from the moment that Lisa had filed to the current date. I left nothing out. I gave them every gruesome detail. By the end reliving it like that had me nearly in dry heaves ready to make a mess on the expensive carpet. During my story I had sat down and Beth had moved behind me and massaged my neck. Concern for me was written on her face and in her body language for all to see.

As I spoke I saw Sheila's face pinch first in disbelief and then the magnitude of the horror of what my ex had done to me shown through and tears started to build in her eyes. "…and so we are here and I need to let you know what's going on. Sheila I'm sorry for speaking to you that way but Beth didn't deserve it and neither did I."

Sheila took the tissue that Fred held out to her and said "Oh God Alex, Beth, I'm so sorry for what I said and how I behaved. I didn't know and I'm so sorry. After all you've been through already and I go and..." Sheila dissolved into tears. Fred got up and took his wife into his arms.

After a moment he looked at Beth and said "Miss Taylor? The large envelope on my desk is for you. So is the video tape. There is a player and television in the armoire over there. Sheila and I will leave you to watch it and be back in thirty minutes or so." He led Sheila from the room and Beth looked at me, puzzled.

"How would he have anything for me? I've never met the man before today." She asked me.

I played innocent and shrugged my shoulders "Why don't you take a look and see what it is? I doubt your being sued or anything."

Beth walked over and picked up the tape. On one side it said in big letters "WATCH ME FIRST". She picked up the envelope and saw it had a legal seal showing that it had been sealed seventeen years ago, nearly eighteen now, and had remained unopened. The words "OPEN ONLY AFTER VIEWING THE TAPE" were hand printed in bold letters I recognized as my grandmothers handwriting.

She looked at me and I shrugged again. She walked over to the cabinet and opened it up. She turned on the TV and pushed the tape into the player after it had warmed up. The remote for the TV/VCR unit lay in front of it. I turned my chair to face the TV and Beth surprised me by ignoring the chair I had turned for her and sitting in my lap. I put my arms around her and held her tight. She gave me a quick kiss and then started the tape.

The screen came to life and there, in living color, was my Grams. It must have been just after she found out she was ill as the medications and treatments had not been kind to her. She wore her favorite blue sweater and an ivory top set that I had given her for her birthday in January the year she was diagnosed.

She spoke and her voice felt like home. She had always had a musical quality to her voice and I felt the tears fall from my cheeks.

"Hello Alan. I assume you are there with the woman who has stolen your heart. I wanted her to know some things about you and your family that only I could tell her and it looks like I'm not going to get the chance. If you're seeing this then I didn't make it passed the cancer so there is no reason to dawdle about."

She smiled on the screen. "Young lady… I hope it IS a young lady? You never know today, though. If I'm wrong please forgive me. Anyway, Alan is a special young man. He loves with his whole heart. If you've captured his heart then you are a special lady indeed. Alan did not have a happy childhood. I tried to mitigate the damage his mother and her tame baboon did to him but they never had any feelings for him and made sure he knew it. I love my grandson very much and have done the best for him that I could. I wanted to let you know that he is courageous and honest and if he loves you there is nothing he will not do for you."

"Alan tends to hide his hurts so you will need to make him talk to you about them. He also tends to believe that he has no intrinsic value, very low self esteem, thanks to my idiot daughter and her ape, so tell him often how special he is. He is very humble and unassuming for the most part but he also has a temper. Please take care of him for me."

"Alan you take care of this lovely young lady and love her back. I love you so much and I am so sorry that I won't be there for so many of the things we talked about."

She pulled a tissue from the box beside her and dabbed her eyes. "Always remember that I love you and will watch out for you the best I can my dear sweet boy. I am so very proud of you, Alan. Goodbye for now." The screen went blank and Beth used the remote to rewind the tape.

I sat and held Beth on my lap as I cried into her shoulder. She stroked my hair and whispered to me "It's alright. It'll be ok." I pulled myself together and whispered "I love you too Grams." A moment later Fred returned to the office without Sheila. She had gone back to her desk and left us to discuss business.

Beth was opening the envelope as he entered and said "What is this? A make out session after the movies?"

I looked up at him so I missed what the envelope held. She jumped up off my lap and began dancing around the office laughing. She looked at me and said "I really wish I had known your Grams. She got in a last lick even from the grave." As she spoke she held up the proverbial bare baby on a bear skin rug picture of me in 8 x 10 format. Also in the package was a packet of smaller prints of me as a child with a note in Grams handwriting on the back of each one. Grams had gotten out the baby pictures to show my girlfriend just as she had always threatened to do when I decided to marry.

I chased her for a minute trying to get the large photo but stopped when Fred spoke up. "Alex let her have it. If you take it from her I'm supposed to mail her a dozen copies made from the negative in my safe." He broke out laughing, the traitor.

When Beth and Fred had calmed down, Beth looked at me and asked "What did Lisa think of your Grams?"

I looked at her and said "I never introduced Lisa to my Grams. I didn't think they would have gotten along. Lisa was always to… rigid I suppose. You are the only person since that tape was made to see it. I saw it for the first time a few minutes ago." Beth looked at Fred and he nodded confirming what I had just told her. Astonishment etched her features.

Fred spoke up "I was Gloria's attorney the last ten years of her life and I was also her friend. When she passed away I was the one who handled all of the funeral arrangements and the estate. This was the final act on behalf of the estate of Gloria and Alex Palmer." Beth's head snapped up and looked at me.

"When his "gene donors"… I'm sorry Alex they were never parents to you and I won't name them such,"

Fred paused and looked at me "I told her about it in the broad strokes last night and earlier today." I said. Fred nodded and looked at Beth again.

"When his "gene donors" disowned him, Alex came to me and said he wanted to change his name. I made him wait until he was of legal age. He decided that he would honor his Grams and Gramps by taking his grandfathers name and becoming Alex Palmer the second. I rolled the defunct trusts of his brother and sister into a single trust for Alex as the will stipulated and the terms of the trust dictated and when Alex entered college it was with his new name and funds intact. His trust then was a little over twelve million dollars although; Alex didn't know that at the time."

"I can say this now and I hope you don't take it wrong Alex, but I never liked that bitch you married and if I had known you better I might have said so back then. I'm sorry now that I didn't. Are you sure the girls aren't yours?"

At my nod he asked "What are you going to do about them?"

I sighed, looked at him and said "It's Ok Fred. Nobody knew what a bitch she was. The actors' guild should hire her to teach. Hell the academy should give her an award! And yes we're sure. The blood types make it impossible for me to be their father. After I calm down I'll decide what to do about the girls. Anyway, I need Lisa removed from all the legal aspects of my life ASAP and I need to know how she managed to siphon money from my trust. The money is back where it belongs but I don't like that she managed to get her hands on it."

Fred missed the last part of my statement as he got a troubled look on his face. He looked like he wasn't happy with what he was about to tell me. "I already know how and who got into your accounts Alex. It also ties nicely into my "heart attack"." He grimaced. "My heart trouble was induced." We stared at him in stunned silence. The statement rocked me to my core. Beth and I stared at him in disbelief.

He continued "Once I had been incapacitated several large trust accounts were tampered with. Ben Johnson, the man I told you I was grooming to take some of the accounts and pressure off of me, was arrested this morning trying to flee the country. He had skimmed several millions of dollars each from various accounts including yours. We've gotten all of the money back for our other clients, or will have soon." He looked sad and apprehensive "The money from your account couldn't be retrieved, it's already been transferred out Alex, I'm sorry." He looked like he was waiting for the axe to fall so I put him out of his misery.

"By us!" I laughed as he looked up at me in astonishment "We transferred the money back into the trust and changed all of the pass codes the night before my hearing." I handed him a slip with the new pass codes on it. Fred's face lit up like a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

Fred dove for the phone and dialed an internal extension "Morris, stop the liquidation at once! NO… Yes… We've got the money back… Yes the client's wife, excuse me ex-wife is involved…. Yes call Granger in the D.A.'s office and let him know… Hell yes we intend to prosecute… I'll see you at the meeting at three and fill in the others so keep it under your hat for now... That's right, don't tell ANYONE!"

He hung up the phone and turned to his computer. After logging into a screen we could not see (sometimes I hate privacy filters) he breathed a sigh of relief and took out his wallet. He took out a fifty dollar bill, laid it in my hand and said "That is the difference between what is there and what should be there. I'm sorry that this happened, Alex. If you would like to change firms I'd be happy to recommend several good ones."

I goggled at him for a moment and then in my best Irish brogue I said "Sure now and what would I be ta doin' that fer. Ye've risked life and limb on my b'half an' ye think I'll be getting' rid o ye now? Are ye daft man?"

The look on his face was priceless. Beth collapsed against me in a fit of giggles.

"I'm not going to take my ball and go home Fred. You have handled thing just fine so far, so no more talk of getting rid of you, Ok?"

He nodded and said "Thanks Alex." I shook the hand he extended to me.

"As a side bar I understand you are taking a lighter load here at the office. The damage to your heart was significant?"

Fred sighed and bowed his head "They used a compound that was supposed to cause a massive coronary and leave little or no trace. I was, however, in very good shape and had been to my doctors over a long lunch the same day. Dr. Jonas knew immediately the attack could not have been natural so he looked for a reason outside the norm right off the bat. They found the compound in my system before it could be metabolized and I survived, so the culprits had to act more quickly than they had planned and go cheaper than they had wanted to as well." He ran a hand through his thinning brown hair.