Tom said, “I suppose I could see Ben. My wife Mary is not to come anywhere near me or communicate in any way. No notes, no messages, nothing. When you are done, I will call my lawyer to get a restraining order. Tell her I never want to see or hear from her again. Let the hospital people know. I mean it.”
“OK, I’ll tell her.”
A couple of minutes later, Ben came into the room. He said, “Mary was…”
“Shut up about that or leave! I mean it. I don’t want to hear what she said. I don’t want to hear her name. Nothing. Not ever. I need to call a lawyer to get a restraining order. Can you recommend one?” Then I told him what Mary had done.
Ben took out his phone and dialed. “Johnny, Ben here. I need you to wake up a Judge and get a temporary restraining order to have Mary Sullivan kept away from her husband Tom. No visits, no messages, no emails. Make it good and get it served tonight. Thanks.” Then he turned to me. “I am so sorry, Tom. I suppose divorce is pretty certain then.” I just nodded.
The detective was back. “Have him call me when it’s ready. I will serve it.”
Tom said, “Why are you here, Ben? I thought I made it pretty clear I quit. Thanks for the insurance stuff, though. I figured I didn’t have any insurance anymore.”
Ben smiled. “I did not accept your resignation. I don’t want to lose you over this. I just lost five members of my executive team. I need you. Cynthia quit when you did, but she will come back if you do. I will double the salary I was going to pay you as VP. The morons who did this are no longer with the company, and poor Cynthia was almost hysterical. Besides, it will be easier to negotiate the settlement if you are handy. The board is planning to offer two million, but they will go three. You did not hear that from me. The five assholes all made bail, but they are unemployed and two of them got booted by their wives. I assume you want to sue them, and so does the company. They are going to end up broke and probably in jail. Idiots.”
Ben’s lawyer called back, and Ben told the detective where to go pick it up. An hour later, he rang the bell. When Mary answered, he served her with the restraining order and explained that it covered physical distance of 1000′, and all forms of communication, even through third parties. Mary had tears running down her cheeks when she said, “At least tell him his dog isn’t dead. Please.”
“Mrs. Sullivan, you are already in violation of the restraining order. No communication, even via third parties. Do you want to go to jail?”
“No, sir.”
“OK, no communication of any kind.” He left and went home to bed. It had been a long day. He was certainly not going to help her violate the restraining order.
Tom had to stay three days in the hospital, until a psychologist cleared him for release. Ben picked him up and took him to the DMV to get a new driver’s license. Then they drove to the motel he had used so he could get his car. He went into the motel, located the housekeeper who had saved his life, apologized, and gave her $1000 (He borrowed it from Ben.). Once he had the car, he drove to their bank and applied for a new credit card in his name only. He also got his documents out of the safety deposit box and got a cashier’s check for half their savings, money market, and checking balances. That was about $1,145,000. Splitting the investments would take some effort. He also paid off the old credit cards and closed all of them.
His next stop was a different bank, where he opened a new account in his name, depositing the cashier’s check. He applied for another credit card there, again in his name only, and he withdrew $3000 cash to pay Ben and have walking around money. Then he stopped and bought a new wallet and a new money clip. He had thrown the old ones away. After running his errands he showed up at his company. Everyone seemed glad to see him, and Cynthia, his PA, showed him to his new office and introduced him to Macy, the private secretary his new position entitled him to have. The person who was secretary to the man he replaced had decided to retire when he did. Cynthia had moved his personal items from his old office and set up his new one. He noticed that the photo of Mary he always had on his desk was nowhere to be seen.
About 10 minutes after he arrived, his new secretary announced that Ben was there to see him. When he came in, Tom told him, “You know you are supposed to tell me to come see you in your office, right?”
Ben laughed and said, “Yes, that will usually be the case. I made an exception in this case. When do you want to meet with the board?”
“After the divorce, and you know why.”
Ben laughed again. “Got it. I expect that you will not be doing much today except getting organized. I just want you to make a list. We have several openings, and I will want your input as to whom we should move up. If you need any legal help, the company attorneys are at your service. They will handle whatever you need and bill the company. It is one of the perks of your new office. You will also need to pick out a company car. Your budget for that is $90k. I guess you will need to do some apartment hunting also. Somebody will be by later today with your company credit card. I sent Cynthia the list of what you can use it for. Pretty much everything for now, since we created your current situation.”