* * *
I read the email over three or four times, trying to convince myself that it was real. My heart felt as if it would burst. My mind filled with questions. Who had Dad spoken with in the Urban County Council?
Bre gave Aunt Rachel and me Dad’s schedule over the last six months. Yet that didn’t have definitive information on city infrastructure. I could call Aunt Rachel or…
This was going against my attorney’s advice. I used the office phone and made a call. She answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Bre, it’s Vee. Can I ask you a few questions about Dad’s bid for the Super Bowl?”
Chapter 26
Vee
* * *
Our Monday morning meeting began with Aunt Rachel sitting at one end of the conference table, and me at the other. I had just enough time this morning to give her a heads-up on the email from the NFL Super Bowl Planning Commission. That news would need to wait until we made it through our usual Monday subjects: ticket sales, stadium operations, yesterday’s game, player injuries and placement.
While the Coopers would play in Jacksonville next Sunday, Crystal Light Stadium was going to be busy. First, today through Thursday, our stadium was hosting a four-day FFA conference. As soon as that was cleared, a major event was coming to Lexington. WWE Prime Live Event was something I’d worked for two years to organize.
Overnight, my stadium operations crew transformed a football stadium into a conference and tradeshow venue. Thursday night, that would be taken down. By Saturday night, the same space would be transformed into a WWE production. The ring or squared circle, a twenty-by-twenty-foot raised mat platform surrounded by ropes, will be set where the fifty-yard line stands. An entranceway leading from backstage to the ring and the gorilla position will be set up and ready for cameras. Tickets on the floor were currently listed at over a thousand dollars apiece.
“I briefly spoke with our mayor, Janine Watson, last week about the WWE Prime Live Event. She said that Urban County Council members were ecstatic about the numbers. Hotel rooms are sold out in a fifty-mile radius,” I said. Lifting a brow, I smiled. “The family suite is available if anyone wants to see the mayhem firsthand.”
Grant raised the fingers of his right hand in a slight wave. “I’m going to be there.” He looked remarkably good compared to his appearance yesterday afternoon.
Okay. “Have a great time.” I thought about the timing. “You won’t be going to Jacksonville?”
He shook his head. “It’s a 4:30 game. I plan to fly commercial on Sunday morning. I’ll be with all of you on the ride home.”
“Speaking of Janine Watson,” Aunt Rachel said, “Vee and I have a meeting with her on Friday.” She looked at me with a smile. “Vee, why don’t you fill everyone in on the email you received this morning.”
All eyes were on me.
I had a printed copy of the email and read it aloud. Gasps and other sounds came from around the table. “I wish Dad could be here for this.”
“It’s not a guarantee,” Uncle Darin said. “Reid worked diligently on this possibility.”
“Aunt Rachel and I have Dad’s bid and information he’d accumulated and the people who he worked with.”
“Where did you find that?” Grant asked.
“It was on Dad’s computer.” I inhaled. “I contacted Bre Stanton after I received the email.”
“Why?” Uncle Darin asked.
“Because, Darin,” Aunt Rachel said, “Bre was, among other things, Reid’s assistant. There’s no sense reinventing the wheel. Reid put a lot of work into this project. We should build on what he did, not start from scratch. Bre informed us what files to access.”
“But Bre?” Uncle Darin said as crimson bloomed from his shirt collar. “How can we trust her?” He clenched his jaw. “I don’t think the Coopers should have anything to do with her. She’s been accused of Reid’s murder.”
There it was—the elephant in the room.
“Not convicted,” I said. “Back to the subject, Aunt Rachel and I will meet with Janine on Friday to learn how committed the council is to working with the Coopers on an infrastructure initiative. According to Bre, Dad was working to secure both private and public funding. He was in contact with multiple hotel CEOs, including Marriott International, Hilton, and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.”
Aunt Rachel spoke. “We need to reconnect with these people and find out what exactly Reid was trying to accomplish.”
“Seems obvious. He wanted them to build large hotels,” Uncle Darin deadpanned. “Currently, the largest hotel in Lexington has a little over four hundred guest rooms. To host the Super Bowl, Lexington needs to provide?—”
