Love, Money, and Lies

by Olivia Saxton

  Bruce’s SUV sped right past her. It didn’t appear that he even looked her way. As Margo stared at the taillights leaving the driveway, she thought, so, you finally did what you should have done months ago. Pumped and dumped me. You self-righteous, hypocritical bastard.

  Chapter 50

  Three months later . . .

  Two weeks after Margo’s plea deal, the feds tracked Earl Churchill in the Bahamas. From what Bruce heard, US Marshalls barged into his little bungalow as he was screwing a twenty-three-year old. He was arrested for accessory to a federal crime. His trial was scheduled for early fall.

  Bobbi Bennett had been caught a month ago. She used one of her aliases to request a cashier’s check for seven million dollars for a yacht. She had abandoned Aaron’s because she knew the authorities were looking for it. Her plan had been to live on the new yacht in the Caribbean for at least a year, then she was going overseas. She had told the US attorney that the last time she saw Anthony was in South America in exchange for the Justice Department lowering her sentence to fifteen years with a chance of parole in ten.

  Anthony Mandel was discovered in Belize when the authorities there busted a brothel a month after Bobbi had given them the lead. Trent Michaels was able to get a quick trial date for him. The US government wanted this matter settled.

  Bruce sat in the courtroom as he watched Margo testify. She was poised and showed little emotion. She didn’t break under cross examination. Her story didn’t change. Court had adjourned for the day. Tomorrow, Anthony’s lawyer would start presenting his defense.

  Jack and Troy were walking behind Margo as they were leaving the courtroom. She acted like she didn’t even know Bruce was there, but she did. When she had arrived, Margo and Bruce had made eye contact. Margo broke it and walked to the other side of the courtroom to sit. Jack and Troy gave him the “this is what you wanted look” and followed her.

  He had been so angry that he let his ego drive him into screwing her like she was nothing to him and leave without a word to make her feel as used and foolish as she had made him feel. He had thought it would make him feel better. But it made him feel like the biggest jerk on earth. The look on her face when he drove by her at the safe house was of confusion and shock. But his ego had made him keep going. Bruce had regretted his actions ever since. In an attempt to forget her and how degraded he made her feel, he started hitting up his girls in his contacts again.

  It didn’t work. He had wished that all of them were Margo. But, after what he did, he didn’t know how to approach her. One reason why he came to court today was to see if there was any hope left for them. The other reason was he wanted to make sure that Anthony or his people didn’t pose a threat to Margo as she entered the courthouse. In conclusion, Margo’s stony demeanor and actions told him that there was no hope. Bruce had killed it when he pumped her three months ago and left her like she was some whore he had found on the street. He may as well have left money on the nightstand.

  ****

  A week after Margo had testified, Anthony had been found guilty and was awaiting sentencing. Since Anthony was in custody with no hope of getting out, it was no longer necessary to keep Margo in protective custody.

  Margo was walking down the stairs in the safe house carrying her suitcase and carry-on. She was surprised to see William Blanchette in the living room. When she had gone upstairs to collect her things, Brenda and George were downstairs. Now, only Blanchette remained.

  “Hey,” he greeted.

  “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  “I came to make you an offer,” he said. “Unless you have other plans.”

  She snorted. She had spent the last two weeks wondering what she was going to do once she was no longer a resident of the federal government. What she had wanted to do was see Frank and then go on an overseas trip, but she didn’t have any money or means of transportation. “Nothing special for the time being.”

  “We have an opening for a specialist in our division. Someone who is good with computers and . . . knows how hackers think.”

  Margo couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re offering me a job at the FBI? I didn’t know the feds were into hiring crooks.”

  “There are more divisions of government filled with . . . people who have had a brush with the law than you think, Ms. St. John. And technically, you’re not a felon. Thanks to your plea deal, your record is clean.”

  “It may be clean, but my face has been plastered all over the internet and the news as FBI’s most wanted.”

  “That’s why this is such a good opportunity for you. People will forget your face and name, but that will take time, and I’m guessing you need money before that. This isn’t some sort of IT office drone position. You’ll be in my department. Your office will be on the same floor that my agents are on. Your expertise with hacking will be invaluable. Full-time with full benefits, and that includes a pension. I just need a salary request from you to submit to my supervisor and our finance department.”

  “Your department? Meaning I’ll be working with Special Agent Styles,” she stated with a hint of a sneer.

  Blanchette nodded. “On assignments and cases he and his partner will need your help on.”

  “It’s a very intriguing offer, but no thanks,” she said with a note of finality to it.

  “I’m sure you two can be professional enough to speak to each other in spurts,” he said with conviction. “If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have made the offer.”

  “Thank you for your confidence, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea.” Margo made her way down the rest of the stairs.

  “Why don’t you think about it for a while? I can give you a few days. You don’t have to say yes now.”

  She was about to refuse again, but Blanchette interrupted her.

  “Where are you heading?”

  Margo shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t have any money for a hotel room.”

  “I can fix that,” Blanchette said as he pulled out an envelope from his suit jacket. “You were applicable for our Witness Recovery Fund.” He handed her the white envelope.

  She took the envelope and opened the flap to see fifty and one-hundred-dollar bills.

  “It’s about thirty-five hundred dollars. Enough to put a deposit down on a place, but until then, where are you going to stay?”

  “Well, now that I have this, I can at least get a motel room for the night.”

  “I think I have something better. If you’re willing to go with me, I’ll take you to a mutual friend of ours.”

  “If it’s Bruce, forget it,” she said flatly. Bruce was the last person she wanted to see, and she never thought she would feel that way.

  “It isn’t him.”

  She wondered if she could trust Blanchette. “I’ll go with you, but any sign of him–”

  “You have nothing to worry about.”

  An hour later, Blanchette was carrying Margo’s suitcase down the hall in a condo building. The place was clean and in a safe neighborhood. Margo kept a hold of her carry-on. They stopped in front of condo number four-zero-five.

  “Is this place part of the Witness Recovery Fund?” she asked.

  Blanchette rang the doorbell. “No, but this is . . . might be of help to you.”

  Margo’s mouth dropped open when Lana Peterson opened the door.

  “Hey, girl,” Lana said with a small smile. “Come on in.” She looked to be in her last trimester of her pregnancy.

  Margo stepped into the condo. Keisha and Izabella, Keisha’s nanny, were sitting on the sofa.

  “Miss Margo!” Keisha exclaimed and hopped of the sofa. She ran to Margo and wrapped her arms around her legs. The little girl had become familiar with her when she and Lana had become friends. While Margo was dating Bruce, there were times that they were at the Peterson’s three times a week.

  “Hey, Keisha,” Margo greeted. “What are you doing here?”

  “Baby, let me tell Margo the surprise, okay?”
Lana said as she placed her hand on her belly.

  “Okay, Mommy,” she said and let Margo go.

  “Margo, I own this furnished two-bedroom condo,” Lana announced with a smirk. “I had bought it as an investment after–” She stopped short and put her hands over Keisha’s ears. “Damien left,” she whispered.

  “Mommy,” Keisha playfully chided as she pulled on Lana’s hands.

  Lana took her hands away. “Well, Mommy has to have fun sometimes,” she said playfully as she pinched Keisha’s cheek. Then she turned her attention back to Margo. “After the last tenant left, I started renting it out to corporate types who come to Tampa for business. They have to stay so long that it’s cheaper for them to get a short-term lease than stay in a hotel. Right now, the place is vacant. I figured you could stay here for about . . . I don’t know . . . three months, rent free.”

  Margo was flabbergasted. “I . . . I . . . why would you let me stay here for free?”

  “Because you and Mommy are friends,” Keisha chimed in as she twirled her fingers in one of her pigtails.

  “Well, what she said,” Lana stated. “We’re friends, and I remember you keeping a little secret for me and Alec last year. I haven’t forgotten. Plus, I’ve made mistakes too. After those mistakes, I needed help. I was fortunate enough to have someone that was there to help me. I think you should have the same fortune.”

  Margo covered her eyes with her hand, trying to cover the emotion that was starting to bubble to the surface. “I . . . I didn’t think I had any friends left. I thought . . . everyone had turned their backs on me. Either way, I don’t deserve your kindness,” she whimpered.

  “Oh Margo,” Lana sighed. “I don’t like what you did, but I’ve done stuff that I haven’t liked. Besides, you made every attempt to right your wrongs.”

  She burst into tears as her body trembled. The warm, tight embrace of Lana’s body muffled her sobs.

  Once they got her settled, Blanchette reiterated that the deal was still on the table, and he’d be back in a week to get her answer. If she had any questions or had made a decision before then, she was welcomed to call him. He gave her his card and left. Izabella had filled the refrigerator and cabinets with food.

  Izabella, Keisha, and Lana were about to leave.

  “Um, Lana,” Margo said.

  “Yeah, hon,” Lana answered as she turned around.

  “Does Alec know that you’re doing this for me?”

  Lana smiled and placed her hands over Keisha’s ears. “What he doesn’t know won’t irritate him.”

  “Mommy,” Keisha said as turned her head from side to side.

  She removed her hands from her daughter’s ears.

  “So, I take it that . . . you know who doesn’t know I’m here either.”

  “Nope, and I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”

  “I doubt he would ask, but if he does, let’s keep it between us.”

  “You got it.”

  Chapter 51

  One week later . . .

  Bruce was lounging on Alec’s sofa at his house. Bruce was sipping on a beer, and Alec was nursing a rum and Coke. Lana was upstairs lying down. She was further along in her pregnancy, so she got tired easily.

  They had learned last month that she was having a boy. Ever since then, Alec had been bragging about how he was going to teach the kid how to play football and basketball. Alec had already bought him a football, and the kid hadn’t even been born yet.

  “Bruce, I know you said you are fine, but you’re not,” Alec said flatly. “It’s like working and hanging out with a completely different person.”

  “Ah, shit. I don’t want to talk about this,” Bruce groaned and sipped his beer.

  “I know you felt like the lowest specimen on the food chain after you . . . saw Margo at the safe house that last time. You know she’s mad at you . . . probably thinks you’re the biggest asshole in the world. The only way to fix it is to talk to her.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why haven’t you done it?”

  “Well, for one thing, I don’t know how to say sorry for being a son of a bitch. Number two, since she has left the safe house, I don’t know where she is.”

  Keisha wandered into the den with Lucky trailing behind her. “Daddy, can I have some of your soda?”

  “No, honey, because it’s not soda. It’s a drink for adults,” he said.

  Her mouth twisted. “Why do adult drinks look like kids’ drinks?”

  They chuckled.

  “Well, not all of them look like that,” Alec said with a smile. “Come on, we’ll go into the kitchen and get you your own soda.”

  “That’s okay, Daddy. I’ll just have tea,” she replied and walked over to the small table with a children’s tea set on it.

  Bruce looked at Alec.

  He shrugged. “Kids. Anyway, did you think to ask Brenda and George where they took Margo after Anthony was convicted?”

  “Yeah, they said Blanchette pulled them off the day Margo was due to leave the safe house. He had told them that he would arrange for a pre-paid cab to take her where she wanted to go.”

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  “No. Why? There are dozens of cab companies in Tampa alone.”

  “Yes, but Blanchette would have records for the cab company that took Margo to wherever she went.”

  “Mr. Blanch-it brought Miss Margo to the fancy apartment,” Keisha said.

  Their heads snapped over to the little girl who was sitting at the table pretending to pour tea in two small pink cups.

  “What did you say, honey?” Bruce asked with slight bewilderment.

  “I said Mr. Blanch-it brought Miss Margo to the fancy apartment we were at,” she repeated as she picked up a cup and tried to feed it to the German Shepard.

  “Keisha, can you stop feeding Lucky tea for a minute and come over with us?” Alec asked.

  She placed the cup on the table and started walking over to them. “I don’t think Lucky like’s tea anyway.”

  Lucky followed and sat down facing Bruce as Alec lifted Keisha onto the sofa to sit between them.

  “Sweetheart, when did you meet Mr. Blanchette?” Alec asked.

  “Days ago,” she answered. “He said that he worked with you.”

  “Honey, what were you doing at a fancy apartment?” Alec asked with furrowed brows.

  “Mommy drove me and Izzy to a big building. It was like the building you used to live in before you moved here . . . but a lot nicer and bigger.”

  Bruce snorted with amusement.

  Alec’s eyebrow cocked up. “I see. And what did the three of you do there?”

  “Mommy and Izzy carried groceries there. I got to carry two bags, too,” she said with a smile.

  “Well, that sounds like fun,” Alec said.

  “It was. The apartment was huge, but that’s not what Mommy called it. She called it another name, but I can’t remember what.”

  “That’s okay, honey,” Bruce said as he rested his arm on the back of the sofa and turned to her. “Just tell us the part when Mr. Blanchette came along with Miss Margo.”

  “Well, Mommy opened the door, and Miss Margo came in and then Mr. Blanch-it. They both had suitcases. One big and one small. Mommy told Miss Margo she could stay there for months free because Mommy bought the apartment as an invention.”

  “Invention?” Bruce repeated with confusion.

  “Do you mean investment, honey?” Alec asked.

  “In . . . in . . . I don’t know. Maybe,” she said innocently. “Anyway, Miss Margo cried while Mommy held her. I didn’t understand why she was crying, but Mommy got her to stop crying. Mommy is good at making people feel better. After that, Izzy went into the kitchen, and Mommy and Miss Margo went into the bedroom to unpack the suitcases. Mr. Blanch-it and I played Patty Cake and then he told me stories.”

  “Has Mommy taken you to this place before, Keisha?” Alec asked.

  “No . . . I don’t rememb
er any other time,” Keisha said and started tapping her shoes together.

  “So when you guys left, Margo stayed there?” Bruce asked.

  “Yes. Mommy said she can live there for months,” she confirmed.

  “Where’s the condo, Alec?” Bruce asked as he looked up at him.

  He cleared his throat. He looked irritated. “Don’t know. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

  Lucky started sniffing Bruce’s leg.

  “But it’s time that we find out,” Alec said as he stood.

  Lucky looked at Alec.

  “Wait a minute, Alec, she’s resting – and she’s pregnant. This might not be the time to . . . disturb her. I’m sure we can get the details of the place in another way,” Bruce said calmly. He looked down at Keisha. “Do you remember anything special about the apartment? Other than it being big and nice? Like . . . did the building have a pool?”

  “Um, I think so.”

  “Was there a restaurant outside of the building?” Bruce asked.

  “There was a place where Mommy and Daddy stop to put stuff in the car. The places with the mini machines with handles outside.”

  “A gas station. Do you remember anything else about the building?”

  “No,” she said innocently.

  Damn.

  “May I commence?” Alec asked, and he nodded to the doorway.

  Bruce sighed. “Please do.”

  “Keisha you stay with Uncle Bruce for a few minutes. I’m going upstairs,” Alec said.

  “Okay,” Keisha replied.

  Chapter 52

  It was Saturday. William Blanchette and Neil Rolls were at Margo’s condo instead of spending time with their families. They really wanted her to work for the bureau. During the week, she had filled out several job applications. She wasn’t sure if anything would come of it or not.

  Margo had to admit that the job at the FBI sounded intriguing and challenging, but she really didn’t want to be put in a position to interact with Bruce on a regular basis. Plus, she wasn’t sure how she would be received by any co-workers she would have to interact with. After all, she was a former bank robber, and Bruce’s co-workers could see her as a manipulative skank. She expressed that to the gentlemen as they enjoyed sweet tea and pepperoni and cheese snacks.