Rick took a deep breath and stalled, as if debating whether or not to expose his informant. “It was Mrs. Mills, my father’s old assistant and, of course, my current one. She was the one who showed me every bit of information that implicated you.”
Diane’s mouth fell open. Mrs. Mills was the supervising assistant who had been there longer than Rick’s own father had been, the woman she had run into the day she’d interviewed Rick. It seemed implausible that a valuable, indispensable employee, one who had worked for many years, could be at fault. Yet couldn’t that puzzle piece fit? Mrs. Mills had been a personal friend of Rick’s father. That’s why she would have known about the close relationship between Rick and Diane. And if Rick, as Liz had mentioned, had begun discovering suspicious activities in the company and had begun investigating them, Mrs. Mills would have been given enough forewarning to try to cover her tracks. By setting up Diane...
Diane inwardly cringed, feeling almost nauseous. By setting up Diane, she had easily cleared her path by getting rid of Rick altogether. Mrs. Mills had basically been left alone, able to continue her fraudulent activities. She probably never would have anticipated the easy way in which she broke up the two lovers, leaving them to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives while she continued her fraud undeterred.
J. D. Keaton. How did he fit into all this? Diane could only guess. Either he had been a party to Mrs. Mills’ actions from the beginning or he had later discovered them and tried to join her. If Mrs. Mills had been the one who had turned on him recently, they must have had some sort of falling out. Mr. Keaton certainly knew his exposing Mrs. Mills would only hurt himself. He, therefore, had been effectively silenced.
Ideas and suppositions continued to swim through Diane’s head, making her almost dizzy. She could see Rick involved in his own contemplations, as well. They together, as if on silent cue, slowly began putting the files away. After they’d finished, Diane sank back down on the floor, leaning against one wall for support. “Where do we go from here?” she asked, raising her hands in a helpless gesture.
Rick slowly sat down opposite her, his handsome features still unreadable, partly masked. “I don’t know.”
“Let me ask you this,” Diane forged on. “Do you still believe, after all we’ve seen here and all we’ve found, that I’m guilty? Don’t you think it’s fair that I know what it is you’re thinking?”
Rick didn’t answer for quite some time. The silence in the room became almost palpable as they both continued to sit. Diane stubbornly met his gaze, as if trying to force a confession. “There are some things that still trouble me,” Rick finally admitted. “Why didn’t you try to talk to me before I left town a few years ago?”
Diane stared at him in amazement. “Try to talk to you? Don’t you think I attempted to? I tried to get in touch with you any way I knew how. If you recall, you were the one that made yourself unavailable.”
“Your unwillingness to speak to me then or seek me out afterward seemed evidence enough that what I had been told about the money was true.”
Diane’s heart began beating angrily. “I’m sure you realize the true reason I kept my distance. I saw you with that woman. Don’t you think that alone would have given me more than adequate reason to stay away?” She felt hot, angry color burn her cheeks and her lips trembled slightly in reaction. “We’d dated seriously for more than a year. I somehow believed we’d reached a level of trust that would have never allowed you to believe me capable of something like this, especially without confronting me about it first.”
“You loved your grandmother,” Rick observed, undeterred. “You were desperate when she became sick.”
“Yes, I was desperate,” Diane admitted. “But I would never, ever let my love for my grandmother make me go against what’s inside me.” She fisted a hand, placing it over her heart for emphasis. “One of the things that troubles me the most about all of this is that you knew me intimately. You knew me—but even now, after seeing all this evidence, you still have a hard time believing I didn’t do it. Have you ever once thought about what would have happened if you’d had the fortitude to confront me the second you found out about it? This could have been stopped years ago. Don’t you realize you share a large portion of the blame for what’s happened here?”
“I have thought about it,” Rick acknowledged slowly. “I know I share the blame. Still, I can hardly piece together what’s going on—and what did go on—myself. I’ve been convinced—actually persuaded—of your guilt so thoroughly and often that I have to reconstruct the very basis of my thinking. That leaves a lot of unanswered questions.” He paused for a moment. “And yes, it also gives me deep misgivings about my own actions. I know I’m partly to blame for this mess. I’m only trying to get to the bottom of it. I’m still trying to understand what happened.”
“So,” Diane repeated again, her tone forcibly controlled. “Do you still believe I’m guilty?”
“At this point,” Rick responded, his deep voice firm and steady, “I’d have to say ‘no.’”
Diane’s brows furrowed. Could she believe him? “But you’re obviously leaving yourself open to changing your mind in the future.”
Rick shook his head. “Unless I can find strong evidence to the contrary, I, like Liz, believe you were set up. Everything points to that.”
“Finally,” Diane whispered as she leaned her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes, letting the emotion of the last few hours ooze from her. She still felt unsettled but she also felt her first real hope after Rick’s confession.
Rick was the one who broke the heavy silence that followed. “We’d better get out of here. I don’t want anyone to find us together.”
Diane accepted Rick’s proffered hand before standing and following him back through the complex. When they reached the car outside, Diane slipped onto the front seat and stared out the window as Rick started the ignition. She turned toward him, wanting to test the waters once again. “How soon can I go see my grandfather?”
Rick shot her a sideways glance as he began driving out of the parking lot. “We need to wait. We need to hold off until we know what direction we should take.”
“You mean you need to wait to be absolutely sure I’m not guilty,” Diane responded stiffly. “If my guilt weren’t an issue for you, you wouldn’t care if I saw my grandfather.”
“Seeing your grandfather right now would only hurt you,” Rick countered. “He’s already agreed to cooperate with the authorities if you contact him. The evidence against you is strong. It’s going to take more than your word to prove your innocence and maybe even more than the papers we currently have on J. D. Keaton.”
“What more is there?” Diane asked, upset.
“We’ll have to find something,” Rick said. “We’ll need to investigate this further but I believe Liz will be willing to help me.” He suddenly turned toward her. “Why is it that you turned to Liz? Is she a close personal friend?”
“No. We work together at the paper.”
“But why her?”
“I couldn’t think of anyone else,” Diane admitted. “I knew I was taking a chance approaching her but she seemed like the best option. You’ve seen how she can be callous and impersonal. I felt those two traits could be used to my advantage—and they have been.”
“Do you think she has any ulterior reasons for wanting to be a part of this?” Rick asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I would imagine she has an underlying interest in the outcome.”
“Because she can do a story on it?”
Rick nodded.
“That’s part of the reason I approached her,” Diane admitted. “I knew she would be interested if it came to that. Why? Are you afraid of what a story might do to your company?”
“Of course I’m concerned but a story is inevitable, at this point,” Rick said. “My biggest concern is timing. We need to move slowly. We can’t reveal any more than we already have until we know how to move fo
rward.”
“You’re asking us to be discreet,” Diane said.
“Yes.”
“Liz understands that,” Diane said. “You don’t need to worry about her cooperation.”
When Rick drove up to Liz’s home, he faced Diane squarely before she opened the door. “I know you won’t like me asking you this but I need some time—a week, maybe more—to see what I can do with what we’ve found out. I need to ask you to lie low for awhile longer.”
“Lie low?” Diane echoed in discouragement.
“Stay in. Don’t go out and don’t let anyone see you. I’ll keep in touch with you as much as possible and keep you informed about what’s going on,” Rick said. “I feel like I need to do some more research on Mrs. Mills and her association with Mr. Keaton before I bring anything to light.”
“Are you contacting the police?” Diane asked.
Rick shook his head. “Not yet.”
“I will lie low,” Diane promised, “if you follow through on your agreement to let me know everything you find out.”
“I will.”
Diane gripped the handle of the door, almost reluctant to leave and face what she knew would be a long, uneventful week.
“Tell Liz I’ll call her later,” Rick told her. “I might need her help with a few things.”
“I’ll let her know.”
Diane got out of the car and walked to the side door, slipping quickly inside. She stood by the door for a few seconds, listening to the low hum of the car’s motor as Rick drove away.
Chapter Six
The following few days were filled with more restlessness than Diane had foreseen. Now that she felt more secure that Rick believed in her innocence, waiting to get the truth out only made her frustrated and tense. Since she no longer worked nights at the R & J, she had literally nothing to do. Boredom hounded her on every side. Even Liz had taken on a few more assignments at work and spent much of her time away. Diane began to appreciate even the few short words they exchanged each night before going to bed. Rick contacted her only briefly once to let her know her grandfather had been given permission to clean out her belongings from her apartment and take them to his home. The knowledge that she had nowhere to return once the whole ordeal was over only depressed her.
When Friday evening rolled around, Diane had been lazily surfing the internet when the doorbell rang. She stiffened at the sound. She and Liz had had no unannounced visitors before. She stepped silently to the door and glanced through the peephole. Rick stood outside in the darkened shadows of the porch, still dressed in his work clothes. Diane fumbled with the deadbolt for a few moments before unlocking it, brushing away a few stray strands of hair before she let him in. She felt embarrassed that her attire was a pair of faded blue jeans and a worn T-shirt and she tried to hide her bare toes from Rick’s scrutiny. “Are you alone?” Rick questioned after he entered and closed the door behind him.
“Liz is working late,” Diane said.
“We need to talk. I need to let you know what’s happening.”
Diane crinkled her brows at his tone. “You have bad news?”
Rick had been walking toward the couch when he suddenly stopped. “I imagine you probably haven’t been outside all week.”
“I haven’t been,” Diane admitted.
“Would you like to get out for awhile?” Rick asked.
Diane hesitated. She felt more anxious to glean the news Rick had for her but she quickly decided time away from the house would do her good. “That would be nice,” she said.
“Let’s drive to the resort. It’s secluded there,” Rick suggested.
Diane slipped on her sandals and followed Rick outside, relishing the touch of the warm breeze against her face. She walked to Rick’s car, glancing intermittently at the thousands of tiny stars spread brilliantly above her. She had never seen the sky look as beautiful before.
Rick remained quiet as they began their drive. Diane didn’t press him for any information until they were out of town and cruising along a quiet stretch of highway. Intermittent lights cast hazy shadows into the interior of the car, giving it an aura of mystery. Diane glanced at Rick’s profile, unable to discern the mood radiating from his features. “What it is that you have to tell me?” she finally asked.
“J. D. Keaton is in jail.”
Diane stared at him, floored. “What?”
“It’s a move I felt I needed to make in order to expose whoever else is working with him. I turned him in.”
Diane looked over at him in consternation. “Shouldn’t that be good news?”
Rick sighed heavily. “It would be if Mr. Keaton wasn’t still claiming that you stole the money.”
Diane closed her eyes in stunned reaction. “How could that be?”
“He insists that you were involved,” Rick explained.
“You can’t convince the police that I wasn’t?”
“Not without them picking you up and taking you in. If they knew you were here, you’d be behind bars before you could do anything.”
Diane pressed her fingers to her temples. “What can I do? How can I stop Mr. Keaton from lying about my involvement?”
“That’s what has me worried,” Rick said. “Mr. Keaton, I believe, is truly convinced you swindled money from the R & J. What he may be trying to do now is show that you were an accomplice in taking the money he stole later. You’re not around to defend yourself and that leaves whoever else involved with him at liberty to steal again. I’m sure he plans on getting his share of the profits while the heat is taken off him and slanted toward you. He won’t be in jail forever.”
“This is unbelievable,” Diane said helplessly.
“I had the chance to talk to Mrs. Mills this week. I questioned her about how she got the information implicating you and Mr. Keaton. Her reactions and assertions—the whole aura surrounding her—made me suspicious from the start. She said she discovered the fraud over a period of time but when I re-questioned her about the specifics, her story kept changing. She’s involved,” Rick said. “If I’m not mistaken, she’s behind everything that’s happened. I believe she might have masterminded the whole fraud. She’s been working long enough to be able to execute something as in-depth as this.”
“But you don’t have anything solid to hold against her?” Diane said.
“Not yet,” Rick countered, “except that I found two questionable files, like the others we found, which were set up following Mr. Keaton’s dismissal from the company. They have his signature on them but Mr. Keaton has not set a foot into the R & J since resigning. Someone else signed those files—or took them to him to sign.”
“Mrs. Mills?”
“Most likely.”
“How can we prove Mrs. Mills is the one who did it?” Diane asked. “Won’t it be something that has to be established in proving my own innocence?”
“I believe so.”
“How would we go about doing something like that?” Diane questioned, discouraged.
Rick didn’t answer immediately as they drove to the resort. He got out of the car and helped Diane out, grabbing her elbow to steer her clear of the huge overhead lights around them. They began walking toward the campground. “You need to realize something. If Mrs. Mills is involved, she has effectively covered every single one of her tracks. All evidence points toward Mr. Keaton—or you—doing the dirty work. That’s why I feel there’s only one option open to us.” Rick stopped and waited until she was facing him directly in the shadowy darkness. Even in the dim light, Diane could see the intensity of his dark gaze. “I think we need to set up Mrs. Mills. We need to get her to confess to more than what we have against her right now. Once she does, we could effectively clear your name.”
“Set her up?” Diane repeated in disbelief. “How?”
“I’ve been formulating a plan this last week which might work. Liz seems to think it might.”
“You spoke with Liz about it already?”
“We met for lunch today,
” Rick said. “I think she’s as anxious as you are to get this solved. Like you said, I believe she’s interested in her story.”
“What do you have in mind?” Diane pressed him.
“We’re going to need to approach Mrs. Mills and make her think you want to cash in on what she’s been doing—what she’s done in the past and what she’s been doing recently.”
“Cash in?” Diane repeated in astonishment. “But how can we…”
“Hear me out, Diane,” Rick said. “With everything that’s happened, you could make Mrs. Mills believe you’re after her for destroying your life. You can threaten her that you’ll expose her if you don’t get what you deserve—part of everything she’s taken from the company.”
“I have nothing to hold over her,” Diane said.
“We do have the two files she tampered with since Mr. Keaton left the company. We can also convince her that there’s someone in the company working with you, someone who will be watching her and monitoring her every move. We’ll insist that person will turn her in if you don’t get what you want—money.”
“So you want to…”
“Blackmail her. In essence, yes. We’ll make you seem angry and vengeful about the past and ask her to make up for it.”
“Force her to pay up, you mean, or face exposure?”
“Yes.”
Diane knit her brows, troubled. “Will that really prove my innocence?”
“We’ll have her agree to pay a portion of the money she took when she set you up in the past. That would effectively clear your name.”
“But if Mrs. Mills is not at fault,” Diane countered, “what then?”
“Then she’ll turn the matter over to me or contact the authorities.”
“And get me into more trouble,” Diane added.
“No more than you are now,” Rick countered. “And if my instincts are correct, Mrs. Mills is involved and we have everything to gain by doing this.”
Diane shook her head as they began walking together once more. “If Mrs. Mills is the guilty party, couldn’t this be hazardous? Desperate people can be dangerous.”
Where Lies End Page 9