Chapter 1: Aftermath

Susan began calling Early's office before it opened on Monday morning. Joan, Early's secretary, fielded a dozen calls from Susan before she confronted Early. "I can't do this, Early. I'm mad enough at Susan to spit nails, but I can't continue to just hang up on her. You have always been more like family than my boss, and I'm on your side, but I also owe Susan. She never charged me for all the legal work on my divorce or all the child support collection problems with my deadbeat ex.

"I understand you not wanting to talk to her... I know how hurt you are. I remember the pain I went through when I found out he had cheated on me. If it weren't for the kids, I don't know what I would have done. I understand you not wanting to talk to her or ever see her again, but you're going to have to get her to stop trying to talk to me..." she paused, her face pleading, "Please, I can't listen to her pain without... I can't be rude to her, I just can't."

Early's jaw muscles pulsed as he gnashed his teeth. He took a deep breath to keep from exploding, paused then said, "Next time she calls tell her that I've told you I will fire you if you speak to her on company time. If you want to listen to her on your own time... well that's your business, but I will fire you, for real, if you ever mention her to me or speak to her here. I'll do my best not to put you in the middle of all this, but I will not speak to her except through my lawyer; her name is Cynthia. Maybe she can get the courts to issue a restraining order or something."

That effectively ended Susan's attempts to call Early at the office, but she was leaning on his Mercedes as he walked out of the building that evening. Turning on his heel, he contacted security and had her removed from the parking lot. Unable to locate Cynthia, he left a message asking her to prepare a restraining order and file it as soon as she could. He then called his PI, John Wells, and arranged for transportation to the Holiday Inn. Susan wasn't able to follow them.

Because he was a modest person, Early was surprised that concern for him reached to the very top of his company. Steve Majors, the head of security, contacted Paul Landon, general counsel, to confirm the legality of Early's action barring Susan from the property. Paul contacted the CEO about the same time Early was leaving with his private investigator.

Tuesday morning a process server showed up at Early's office. John Stickner was filing civil suit for the damage to his face. At the time Early was in the CEO's office explaining what had happened. The CEO picked up the phone and called the Paul up to his office. After a short discussion, he told Paul, "I want you to change our outside law firm immediately." Early's company, a large multinational, had been the biggest client of Susan's law firm, amounting to almost seventy percent of their billable hours. "Early, you will take the week off. Get out of town, go someplace nice and put it on your expense account."