Dirty Assets

by Rumer Raines

  Thomas: Be careful, Alex. You don’t know that girl.

  Me: I got this covered, Thomas. I must do this for Adele.

  Thomas doesn’t respond and I know that’s only for one reason. He is pissed off and doesn’t want the argument. I glance over at Maryann and she is now stretched out on my sofa. I take a deep calming breath and sit in the chair next to the sofa.

  “I was thinking you could stay in Adele’s room,” I tell her and her eyes narrow.

  “You and Adele were involved, but she had her own room?” she asks sarcastically.

  “We weren’t always involved. I was her boss when she first moved in. She had her own room,” I explain as I rub my hand through my beard and I notice that she watches my hands as I do it.

  “Okay. Take me to my room.” Maryann agrees and I lead her to Adele’s old room and I don’t hear from her for the rest of the night.

  I don’t get any sleep since I must listen for Maryann. I want her to believe that I trust her, but I leave my bedroom door open all night. If she tries to sneak out, I want to be able to stop her. Every two hours, I was peeking into that bedroom making sure that Maryann was still in bed. I have never been so relieved to hear snoring as I pull the door closed and go back to bed. When I finally fall asleep, I wake to the sound of my doorbell ringing. As a matter of fact, it’s not only ringing, but someone has their damn finger on the button so that it’s a constant ringing. I jump out of bed and throw on my shirt swearing to break the hand of whoever is at the door. When I walk past Adele’s room, Maryann is pulling open the door and stretching as she walks behind me.

  I yank open the door and it’s Angie. My eyes widen in anger as I look at Angie who is holding a box of donuts as she walks past me and comes into the house.

  “Angie, what the fuck are you doing here,” I ask as I slam the door shut. Angie tilts her head and walks up to Maryann looking her over. Maryann is wearing a t-shirt and sleep shorts so it’s obvious that she stayed the night and I can practically see the smoke coming from Angie’s ears as she turns back to look at me.

  “Really Alex? You don’t waste time, do you? You fucked me until Adele came along. Then you were all about Adele and threating to fire me if I messed with her and now before your bed gets cold, you have this bitch here?” Angie practically is yelling and I look up at my ceiling thinking it’s too early for this shit.

  “You need to go,” I tell Angie as I grab her arm pushing her towards the door.

  “I demand an explanation!” Angie yells and I tilt my head wondering if she forgot who the hell she is talking to.

  “You demand? You're fired!” I smile at her as she gasps.

  “What? You can’t fire me! I haven’ t done anything wrong!”

  “Angie. You came to my house and I think I am being stalked at this point. If you try to sue the club for anything, I’ll press charges and I’ll sue you. I have a witness,” I tell her as I turn back to look at Maryann, reminding Angie that I do have a witness. I know I am being a jerk, but Angie was getting out of line. Frank wanted to fire her a long time ago and she just gave me the perfect excuse to let her go. Any employer would do the same if they had some crazy ass employee showing up at their house.

  Angie shakes her head and smirks as she looks at me and Maryann. She obviously thinks that we are screwing around and I won’t clear it up for her.

  “I hope you know that he’ll never commit to you. I thought he was serious about Adele, but obviously, if he fucked you he isn’t.” Angie spits as she drops the box of donuts on the floor and walks out slamming the door.

  I walk over to pick up the donuts and Maryann bends down to help me. Once we have them all picked up, I throw the box into the garbage. Maryann walks over to me and puts her hand on my arm.

  “There is something I should tell you about Garth,” Maryann says and we walk over to the couch.

  Adele

  Garth and I go out to dinner and I am a nervous wreck. I never know what will set him off and the fact that he wanted us to go out has me nervous. I know this must be a test and my goal for the night is to pass it. He chooses a Chinese restaurant and I bite my lip realizing it is a major test. Garth knows I hate Chinese food. We're sat at a table and the waitress places menus in front of each of us along with a glass of water. Garth snatches away my menu and lifts his hand letting the waitress know that he is ready to order. He places an order pork chop suey and the poo-poo platter for both of us and I want to throw up from the sound of it. I shouldn’t be surprised that if Garth is going to take me out to dinner, he would use it as a torture measure. Garth plants his hands on his chin and watches me as the waitress goes to fetch our order.

  “I was thinking that maybe we could make me a doctor appointment,” I suggest to Garth as I grab my glass of water. I pray that I can keep him calm and not set him off tonight. Garth takes a deep hard sigh and continues to stare at me with his dead eyes.

  “Why do we need to make you a doctor appointment?” I can practically hear his teeth clenching after he asks me to explain why I should need a doctor.

  “I would like to get on birth control. We have been having sex and neither of us wants kids. I think we should be proactive.” I explain to him and he closes his eyes looking away from me.

  Garth never responds as he continues glaring at me and I start to wonder what’s going on in his head. Did I piss him off? Will he punish me when we get home? I can breathe easier knowing that I am safe until I get back home. Garth would never drop his act while in public. He has a reputation to uphold after all. Garth sits quietly for ten minutes and the waitress finally brings our food to the table. Now that Garth has his attention on the waitress, I look around the restaurant. It’s a smaller restaurant with beautiful Asian pictures on the wall. There are six booths but there is a wall separating this area from the other side of the restaurant. Garth and I are sitting in front of the window and his back is turned towards the door, while mine is facing the window.

  The waitress delivers our meals and I pick over my chop suey and try to keep it down as I take bite after bite. The waitress comes back to the table five minutes later asking if everything is fine and Garth starts to question her on what liquor they offer. As she slowly explains to Garth their beer selection, I see the door open. In walks a tall girl with short black hair. It’s cut into a stylish bob, but she has it curled. The girl is wearing a sleeveless black V-neck dress and she waits for another waitress to seat her. The waitress walks over to her and the girl shakes her head and points towards the door. She must be telling the waitress that she is waiting on someone. I look back at Garth, who now is looking over the drink menu with our waitress and glance back at the girl who just came in. She smiles as the door opens and Teddy comes in giving her a hug. I lose my breath the minute I see Teddy walk into the restaurant. I don’t want him to see me, or do I? What will Garth do if Teddy comes to the table to talk to me? I grab my glass of water and turn away from them while the waitress walks them over to their table. I only pray that they aren’t seated anywhere near us. I lift my eyes from my glass and see there are two open booths near Garth and me. I close my eyes as the waitress sits Teddy and the girl at the booth in front of ours. I close my eyes and try to move so I am directly in front of Garth hoping Teddy doesn’t see me. I have no idea how I will get out of here though. We’ll have to walk past their booth to leave.

  Garth finally selects a beer and we wait for the waitress to return. Garth throws his arm over the back of the booth and nearly hits the girl with Teddy. I close my eyes and take another drink of water as Garth pulls his arm down and leans over the table towards me.

  “I think you’re right, Adele. Make a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. The last thing I need is to have to beat another kid out of you.” Garth tells me and I flashback to when he did exactly that. I grab my stomach thinking of the pain that I felt, both physically and emotionally when he killed our baby. If she would have survived, I swear I would have escaped from Garth and I wouldn’t have b
een careless enough to get caught. I would have gone further away from him and he would have never come anywhere near our baby. I start to think about Alex and how he wanted to kill Garth. I told him that I didn’t want Garth to be killed. If I only had that option now. The waitress comes back to our table, delivering Garth’s beer. She places it the table, still in the bottle and walks away. Garth looks at the beer and turns around yelling, “Hey, can I have a glass?” as the waitress turns back to him and nods her head. I watch as the waitress nods and I feel a pair of eyes on me.

  I take a deep breath as Teddy looks past his date and looks at me and then the back of Garth’s head. As the waitress drops off the glass, Garth looks up at her and I casually nod my head letting Teddy know not to acknowledge me. He softly nods his head and his date turns back to look at me with a soft smile. A little while later, I watch as the girl goes to the ladies’ room. I place my hand on Garth’s arm and tell him that I need to use the ladies’ room. He nods his head and I casually walk past Teddy as he narrows his eyes at me.

  The ladies’ room is right past the cash register and as I walk past, I glance back at Garth. He is drinking his beer as he watches out the window. I quickly ask the cashier for a piece of paper and a pen. She hands it to me and nods as I rush to the bathroom. As I walk inside I hear a flush and Teddy’s date comes out and washes her hands.

  “I need your help,” I tell her as I write a quick note against the wall.

  “Excuse me? “She looks at me like I am a crazy woman who just followed her into the ladies’ room. She is half right. I did follow her, but I am not crazy just desperate.

  “Please help me. I used to work with Teddy. I need for you to tell him to pretend he doesn’t know me and to take this back to Alex.” I plead with her as I hold out the later for her to take. I close my eyes as she just stares at the note in my hand and I start to fear she isn’t going to help me.

  “Why don’t you give it to Teddy yourself? You’ll walk past our table,” she questions and I don’t have time for this shit. Garth probably has timed how long it takes me to pee and will start knocking at the door in few seconds.

  “I can’t. The man I am with is my husband. He is dangerous and things will go badly if he even suspects I know who Teddy is. I need to get this message to Alex Deluca. Please!” I plead with her and she takes the note and heads back to the table, as I follow. I sit down as I glance at her leaning over the booth towards Teddy. He meets my eyes and nods letting me know that my message will get to Alex.

  Alex

  “Can you repeat that?” I stare at Maryann as I sit on the edge of my chair. I can’t believe what she has just told me. I shake my head considering how this changes everything for me and Adele.

  “Garth is wanted for bank fraud. He embezzled half a million dollars and has been wanted for years,” Maryann tells me again and I just stare at her like she has two heads. Is she for real? She narrows her eyes and stands to pace in front of me. I can tell she is getting annoyed that I hesitate in believing her.

  “Garth worked for a bank. He had access to information he should never have had and he took advantage. When you work for a bank, they request you take a week vacation so they can uncover anything you have been doing. Garth was management, so no one ever enforced the one-week rule with him until a new bank president came aboard. He advised the rule was for everyone including Garth. When Garth went on vacation, he went on the run. He knew they would find out he had been stealing for years and they did.” Maryann tells me as she stands in front of me.

  “He has been on the run all this time and they never caught him? If this is bank fraud the Feds should be involved. He can’t be that good,” I say to her and she starts to chuckle.

  “That is the other thing I need to tell you, Alex. The feds are looking for Garrett Davenport, not Garth Day. His legal name was Garrett until he became Garth. I guess when you have enough money you can make yourself whoever you want to be. He put all the money in my name so it couldn’t be traced back to him, but when I died it went back to my husband, Garth Day,” Maryann continues as this story keeps getting better and better. I need a beer, so I walk around Maryann to head to the kitchen. I can hear her footsteps behind me and I don’t even know if I can listen to more of this. I turn around and notice Maryann’s questioning as I take a sip of my beer.

  “Did you marry Garrett or Garth?” I ask her because now I don’t know if I should trust her or not? Would she have married this guy knowing he was using a fake name and was wanted for bank fraud? I am not saying that I am an angel, but damn, I own up to my shit. I have never gone on the run for any of the shit I did. Is it better that people may have been eliminated for being witnesses? I won’t say that, but this guy went on the run and married two women that he abused. Is there any amount of decency in the man?

  “I married Garth. I found out about everything else after we got married. I started getting suspicious when we bought our first house. He didn’t want his name anywhere on the deed. He gave me cash and had me go to the bank to make the purchase. Of course, the fact that he could give me cash had me a little suspicious. I was stupid and in love at the time. Garth started becoming abusive with me and forbade me from leaving the house during the day, not that I wanted to go out since I was bruised most of the time. I started snooping through closets and I found newspaper articles from Detroit, Michigan, regarding a former bank manager being wanted for bank fraud. His picture was on the front page, but the name read Garrett Davenport. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. When Garth got home, I met him at the door holding the article. His response was a punch to my gut and several broken ribs later he told me what he had done. Once we were married, he opened a bank account with my name that held that money so he swore if he went down, I would go with him. The money I used to buy the house, it would only point back to me. He told me that he is only listed as a beneficiary on the account. If anything happened to me, the money would go to him. I started to wonder if me being dead was what he was aiming for,” Maryann advises and I start to think about Adele being with this guy.

  “How soon after this, did Adele get involved?” I ask her.

  “I worked with Adele for years. We were always good friends. When Garth and I got married, she was my maid of honor. She even helped us find our house. Once we got married, Garth suggested I cut off all my friends since they were mostly single. The only friend he said would be a good influence was Adele. It’s funny now that I think about it. The only time I wasn’t covered in bruises is when he knew she would be coming over. Adele and I normally would talk on the phone, but on the occasional weekend, she would visit. Adele still lived in Illinois and Garth and I had moved to Indiana. I swear, Alex, If I had known he was going to move on to her I would have warned her,” Maryann says as her eyes get teary.

  “Well, I guess this all makes more sense. We couldn’t find anything on Garth Day, but then again Garth Day most likely won’t leave a paper trail.” I start to question Maryann more, but before I can open my mouth there is a knock at the front door. We look at each other wondering who the hell it could be and I’m hoping it’s not Angie back for round two. I walk to the door, wondering if it could be Angie and her attorney as I shake my head. I pull open the door and it’s Teddy with a somber look on his face.

  Teddy is staring at me and Maryann with suspicion and I cross my arms looking back at him. He works for me and I don’t owe him shit. Who I have at my house is none of his business. The three of us are watching each other in a little standoff when I finally decide I have had enough of this shit.

  “Is there a reason you’re here Teddy? I’m sure you didn’t stop over just to look at me? As a matter of fact, why aren’t you at the club? It is still open for the night.” I say. He looks Maryann over once more before looking back at me.

  “Oliver is running the bar tonight,” Teddy advises and my eyebrows shoot up as I close my eyes.

  “Oliver is running the bar? Why the hell would he be behind the bar?” I pr
actically shout. I can’t take time away from the damn club without shit going wrong. Oliver has no business behind the bar. Everything is probably being given out free or half off.

  “It was Frank’s idea,” Teddy says and I shake my head with a sigh. “Fine! Why the hell are you here?” I ask and he takes a piece of paper out of his back pocket and hands it to me. I hesitate to take it and look at him as I hold the corner of the note afraid of touching it.

  “I had a date tonight and for some unknown reason, she wanted to go to Indiana. We ran into Adele and some guy. I got a bad feeling about him, but Adele didn’t want me to help. When my girl went to the ladies’ room, Adele followed and slipped her this note. She told her it was to get to you,” Teddy tells me and I think I stopped breathing for a few seconds. He saw my Adele.

  “How did she look?” I ask him and he shrugs his shoulders.

  “She looked ok. She didn’t look happy. She wasn’t like herself at all,” Teddy tells me unhappily and I look down at the note that I am holding and for some reason, I hold it up to my nose. Is it stupid to think that if this was from Adele her scent would linger on it? I close my eyes and inhale as I hold the note and when I open my eyes, both Teddy and Maryann are staring at me. They think I have lost it and I should wonder if I have. I open the note and see Adele’s handwriting.

  Evansville, Indiana

  Pls, come get me!

  I close my eyes as I reread the name of the town and her message that she wants me to find her. I open them and look back at Teddy and thank him for bringing me Adele’s message. He nods and hits me on my shoulder as he nods at Maryann and heads to the door. Once he is just outside the door he turns around to face me.

  “Alex, I hope your friend won’t get upset that I brought up Adele?” Teddy tells me and I roll my eyes.