Chapter 11: Aide de Camp

As it happened, nothing ever did top that day, because a landmark intervened. Carlton Weber walked in the door, looking for FD Consulting. This would become the first paying case and Elspeth knew, vaguely, who Carlton was. His mother, Fiona, was a Boston Endicott, with access to the same Beacon Hill gossip machine that Elspeth frequently tapped. She had been fired because her husband was convicted of selling drugs. There were extenuating circumstances—for example, the drugs were medical marijuana doses—but the conviction was legitimate. Fiona’s firing was not legitimate since she had nothing to do with the marijuana. She also knew that Elspeth was in town and mentioned it to her son.

Fiona would not ask for a family favor, but Carlton thought there might be grounds for a business transaction. He went to the storefront one day on his lunch hour. Elspeth, as usual, was literally tied to her desk, but she was able to handle the basic paperwork and make some preliminary inquiries while waiting for Dr. Richards to return from the deli. Carlton and Dr. Richards talked for half an hour, while Elspeth sat with her hands firmly on the desk. She had not been that turned on in years. Carlton Weber’s case came to a successful conclusion and turned out to be great word-of-mouth advertising. On another front, Beacon Light turned into a real business. Before long, Elspeth had to give up her favorite desk, because Dr. Richards had hired a temp-service girl to handle paperwork for the non-profit company.

It was not without its compensation. Friday before the temp worker arrived, Dr. Richards promised Elspeth a special treat. At the end of the day, she tied Elspeth across the desk as they had done many times before, though with a breathable gag. Dr. Richards left, but it was at least half an hour before Elspeth began to think something had gone wrong. After an hour, she was seriously struggling to escape, to no avail. The figure-eight ropes could be very effective when combined with other ties. It was getting dark when the door opened.

Elspeth could not tell who it was, but the shoes were not Dr. Richards habitual pumps. Worse, the architectural drawing was blocking most of her field of view. It took a minute before Elspeth was able to see a leg, which wore a black leather men’s shoe. Elspeth was beginning to panic when the man spoke, “Well, well, what have we here?” It was Ro Willingham.

Elspeth would have mixed emotions about the scene. Dr. Richards had well and truly gotten her. Until Ro opened his mouth, Elspeth had been terrified, humiliated, and so turned on that lubrication was dripping down her leg. On the other hand, Ro did not have Dr. Richards touch with a spanking nor her unerring sense of pace. Fortunately, even gagged Elspeth could make single syllable words understood. “Fuck me. Fuck me, hard.” got the point across. It was even a good orgasm.

They spent the weekend together, making love several times. Elspeth was disappointed when her period arrived on schedule. Dr. Richards had a few choice words to say about not warning Ro about the possibility of fatherhood. It turned out Ro also had mixed feeling in the matter. It is sufficient to say, the possibility never came up again. Instead, Elspeth and Dr. Richards jumped on the business merry-go-round. Free time was soon precious.

It took three weeks before the first real client had shown up and six more to conclude his case. By the end of that time, there were two more sentence advocacy cases and nibbles for five more. About a month in, Dr. Richards attended a meet-and-greet with the Governor. Much to Dr. Richard’s surprise, the Governor wanted some personal time, face to face. Afterward, Dr. Richards asked Elspeth about a name that came up twice during the evening—Adele. Elspeth almost fainted. Adele Cabott was the Queen of Beacon Hill, but that was hundreds of miles away.

Though she had not attended, Elspeth quickly felt the effects of the meeting. The names Beacon Light Foundation and FD Consulting no longer required explanation. State Representatives, Senators, and other professionals increasingly took calls directly. Soon, a law firm approached Dr. Richards with a lobbying project. It was a lunch meeting and Elspeth would never forget Dr. Richards’ outfit. The silk top and wool suit were classic, but Tiffany jewelry rocked the look. Dr. Richards won the job, soon followed by two more. FD Consulting was soon turning away lobbying inquiries.

On the non-profit side, money and work progressed from a trickle to a full stream. Central to any non-profit is fundraising. Most of this work fell to Elspeth. She liaised with local churches and directed the volunteer workers. One big time-block went to donations-in-kind from Amish communities. An Amish handmade quilt might sell for two or three hundred dollars, but someone needed to find a buyer. Setting up a table at local fundraisers was a weekly event. Elspeth—raised Atheist with sides of Episcopal and Dutch Reformed—spent more time in churches than her previous life total.

At nine months, Evaine Schaeffelker arrived to take active control of the Beacon Light side. She was one of the nine graduate students and the Amish expert from the merry-go-round wedding. Although Dr. Schaeffelker held the title of Director all along, she had spent the previous months in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio building Amish support. Her first official act was groundbreaking construction on a permanent facility, including a halfway house designed to ease young country people into the urban job market.