Sam frowned at Oakfield. ‘What sentence?’
‘The one that goes – “This is the first day of the rest of your life”.’
Sam chewed on her bottom lip.
‘And I’m talking about your brand-new life,’ Oakfield continued. ‘Everything that was said in that courtroom from day one has been recorded and noted down by the court reporters and the stenographers. And I mean every… single… word, including Nelson’s outbursts. All you need to do is tell Kristin that after the events of today, you would like to file for a change of identity on the grounds of personal safety.’
Sam’s eyes narrowed at Oakfield, who gave her a new smile.
‘And this is part two of why it was such a huge mistake for Nelson to have threatened you the way he did.’ Oakfield sat back on his chair, with a triumphant air about him. ‘There is no judge in the country who won’t sign off on the papers for an identity change after reading today’s trial transcripts.’ He paused for a second to allow Sam to grasp what he was really saying. ‘You’ll be able to pick a new name for yourself, Sam… any name you like… and that name will come with a whole new batch of documents – driver’s license, passport, social security – the whole nine yards. You’ll be able move anywhere you want – some place where no one will know who you are.’ Oakfield sipped his Scotch and gave Sam a renewed smile. ‘You can move to Europe if you like – London, Paris, Berlin – the choice is yours.’
Sam held her breath for a moment.
‘How is that for starting again away from Nelson?’
Sam’s silence was thoughtful and heavy, a ghost of a smile haunting her lips.
‘Still thinking twice about bleeding that scumbag dry?’ Oakfield added.
Seven
Two weeks after Nelson’s guilty verdict, the court reconvened so that Judge Reeves could finally pass sentence on Nelson Stewart, and she wasn’t at all lenient.
That evening at The Longfellow, on Harvard Square, George Oakfield had predicted that Nelson wouldn’t get less that twelve years in prison for what he’d done, and the DA had perfectly hit the mark with his first prediction. Judge Reeves initially sentenced Nelson to twelve years of incarceration – five for the crime of criminal domestic violence and seven for the crime of false imprisonment and captivity – but Nelson’s threatening outburst at the end of court proceedings had really angered Judge Reeves, and for that she had added another full year to her ruling, giving Nelson a total of thirteen years behind bars.
To everyone’s surprise, as Judge Reeves read the final sentencing out loud, Nelson stood completely still and totally silent – no angry outbursts… no offensive gestures either. He didn’t even look up at the judge as she brought gavel to lectern to finally conclude proceedings. No, Nelson simply kept his eyes low… lost in thought… deep in anger.
The next prediction that Oakfield got right was with regards to Samantha and Nelson’s divorce process, which was completely expedited by the outcome of the trial, and nine days afterthe guilty verdict, Sam legally ceased to be Samantha Stewart, reverting back to her maiden name – Samantha Chambers.
With Sam and Nelson’s divorce process completely finalized, Samantha’s lawyer, Kristin Miller, had all the ammunition she needed to finally file a petition for the identity change process. Kristin cited ‘fear for personal safety and endangerment to life’ as the main grounds for the requisition, but she didn’t even need to. As luck would have it, the application for the identity change ended up on Judge Reeves’ desk, and she didn’t have to read the trial transcripts to approve the petition.
And just like that, a mere three and a half weeks after Nelson had been officially sentenced to thirteen years in a correctional institution, Samantha Stewart, aka Samantha Chambers, was ready to simply vanish from the face of the earth. With a simple signature from a court judge, she was free to reinvent herself and pick whatever new name she wanted to, and it didn’t take her long to decide on one – less than a day, actually. All she had to do was weigh her choices, and once again, George Oakfield had given her some very sound advice.
Eight
‘Once the identity change process is approved,’ Oakfield said, while they were still sitting at The Longfellow, ‘you’ll be able to pick any name you like, but please allow me to give you a few pointers here.’
‘Please do.’
‘First let me explain the difference between a “name” change and an “identity” change.’
Sam looked back at Oakfield a little sideways.
‘Anyone in the land can initiate a process for a name change. A lot of people do it once they get married, or divorced… artists and celebrities do it to make their artistic names official… some people do it because they don’t want anything to do with their families anymore.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s not an uncommon process. All someone needs to do is file a petition, pay the fee, and notify several federal and state agencies. That’s it. In all honesty, the process is really quite simple and very straightforward.’ Oakfield emphasized his next point with a head nod. ‘Now, to avoid con artists trying to run away from financial commitments by simply changing their names and moving somewhere else, name-changing processes are completely transparent to everyone. And what I mean by that is – if anybody wants to find out what Joe Blog’s new name is, all they need to do is ask the County Court. Name-changing records are publicfiles, andthatis the difference between a “name change” and an “identity” change.’
‘An identity change isn’t public?’ Sam asked.
‘No,’ Oakfield confirmed. ‘That’s why when you file a petition for an “identity” change, you also need to file a document called “Order to Show Cause”. Kristin will do all that for you, and it’s in the “Order to Show Cause” document that she’ll cite “fear for personal safety and endangerment to life”. Since the reason behind your name and identity change is to safeguard your wellbeing, those records will be flagged as confidential and access to them becomes extremely difficult.’
Right then, Sam’s eyes darted away, as if she was mulling over different options.
Oakfield gave her another second before clarifying. ‘They’ll become hard to get to, but not impossible. And what I mean here is – there are legal and illegal ways of obtaining the information on those records.’
The concerned look returned to Sam’s face.
‘And here are the two biggest pointers I can give you for your identity change. One – go for a common name. Two – when you move, don’t pick a tiny town.’
Sam squinted at Oakfield. ‘Go for a common name?’