The Me I Used to Be

by Jennifer Ryan

  Renee’s smile widened. “Great. I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with.”

  Evangeline wiped her damp hands over her thighs. “Yes, well, before we do that, um, the reason I asked Chris to come today is because I’m kind of working for him.”

  “How so?” Scott asked, the welcoming smile fading as he concentrated on her.

  “I was arrested four years ago for possession of stolen goods. Specifically, stolen cases of wine. Some very rare vintages. Worth a lot of money.” Her hands shook.

  Chris put his hand on her shoulder for support. “She served her time, but while she was in prison, I discovered evidence that proved she had nothing to do with the theft. She didn’t even know the trailer she thought was full of hay was actually concealing the stolen cases of wine.”

  Evangeline took up the story. “I took the blame for someone I love dearly, thinking he was the only person involved and he’d never do it again. But then I discovered that someone else was involved.”

  “Darren,” Scott guessed.

  “Yes.” Evangeline took a deep breath. “Yesterday, after Renee and I parted ways, I had a few minutes alone with Darren. He was very pleased that I planned to work with you on the website and possibly help make your database and inventory system more robust.”

  “What did he ask you to do?” Scott didn’t let anything get past him.

  “Essentially, to make it so your database shows a lower inventory than you actually have, while he takes the difference and sells it himself.”

  Scott swore, fisted his hands on his knees, and fell back into the sofa.

  Chris took over. “Because of Evangeline’s past relationship with Darren, I asked her to get close to him again to see if she could find out how he’s running his operation. I have suspicions and circumstantial evidence but nothing solid. He thinks he can manipulate and use her.”

  “He’s stupid.” Renee eyed Evangeline. “She’s smart. Savvy. What’s he got on you?”

  Evangeline glanced at Chris. He shrugged, leaving it to her if she wanted to divulge her secret. “My father was the one working with Darren four years ago.”

  Scott sat up straight again. “Is the reason you’re trying to take Darren down because you want to get your father out of trouble now?”

  “My father never meant for me to get into trouble. He never did anything wrong in his life until four years ago. He just wanted to help his family and he went about doing it the wrong way. He regretted it to his dying day.”

  Scott’s whole face softened.

  Chris said what she couldn’t. “Her father died right before she was released from prison.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Renee held Scott’s hand, both of their gazes filled with sympathy.

  “I want to work for you. I’m trying to build my own business and get my life back on track. If I get the evidence to arrest Darren, my record will be expunged. To do that, I need your help.”

  “You want us to let you set up the inventory system and let him steal from us.” Scott glanced from her to Chris. “That’s your plan, right?”

  “It’s her plan. And it’s a good one. He’s probably been stealing from you from day one working here. Not enough for you to notice, but a bottle here and there consistently adds up over time.”

  Renee glanced at Scott, then confessed, “We’ve noticed at the most recent events we’ve held that the customer will order, let’s say, a hundred bottles of wine. But the servers run out when the supply should have been more than adequate to serve the guests. So we started having the bartenders put the corks into a container so we could count them at the end of the night. At the last event we stocked ten cases. When the bottles ran out, the bartender counted up ninety-eight corks. We covered the short.”

  “Two cases went missing?” Chris asked.

  Scott nodded his confirmation. “We’ve only done the count the last four events and tried to figure out who took the bottles,” Scott explained. “We haven’t been able to determine how they do it or when.”

  “Probably during a particularly busy time at the bar.” Chris wrote down the information in his notebook.

  “Or while everyone is distracted, like during the cutting of the cake at a wedding.” Evangeline imagined there had to be a lot of distractions with a large group of people attending an event. “Either way, I’m sure it’s Darren and his brother, Tom. Whether they do it a case or a couple of bottles at a time, they’re getting away with your product and costing you money. Not to mention the fact that you’re covering so the customers don’t know they’re being shorted on their wine order.”

  Renee pressed her hand to her stomach. “This is awful. I hoped there was some other explanation.”

  Chris directed his next question to Scott. “Have you noticed anything missing from your inventory where you store the wine?”

  Scott sighed. “Again, it’s small. I dismissed it most of the time as a miscount or that we took a case here or there for an event or to give away for PR.”

  Evangeline sat up straighter. “Like Renee giving me a couple of bottles yesterday.”

  Renee smiled. “We keep track of stuff like that, but yes, sometimes we hand out a bottle or two and forget to update inventory. But when the numbers creep up and you talk to staff and ask if they are updating the system as they’re trained to do, you start thinking there’s a problem.”

  “How much do you think it’s cost you so far?” Chris held his pen at the ready to write the number in his notebook.

  Evangeline didn’t want to hear it, because these good people didn’t deserve to be rewarded for all their hard work and hospitality with the theft of a product they took great pride in producing.

  “It’s well over ten thousand now.”

  Evangeline covered her mouth with her fingertips. “Oh, my God.”

  Scott leaned forward again. “So if you can help us catch this asshole, we’re in.”

  Evangeline sighed and relaxed her tense shoulders “Okay. I’ll go over the updates I’m proposing for the website. When it comes to the inventory database, I’m going to make a duplicate system. One will be the correct version. Only you and your husband will be able to update it for the time being. It will be the real account of what the inventory is before Darren gets his hands on it. I’ll give access to the old system to Darren. Then we’ll see what happens. I’ll have alerts sent to you and Chris for all changes made to that system so we have proof.”

  Renee looked to Chris. “Once you have confirmation of the theft, you’ll arrest him.”

  Chris didn’t even glance at Evangeline. “That will be proof he’s manipulating your system. We’ll still need to catch him with the goods. If we can discover where he’s storing the wine and if and how he’s counterfeiting wine, then we’ll arrest him.”

  Scott held up a hand. “Wait. He’s counterfeiting wine?”

  “We believe so. How he does it and who he’s selling to remains under investigation.”

  Renee touched her fingers to her forehead. “We trained him. He had the charisma, charm, and palate for the job. I never thought he’d use the experience and opportunities we gave him to steal from us and harm the industry’s reputation by selling knockoff wine.”

  Chris sat taller. “Be assured, when we catch him, he’ll serve his time.”

  “How long do you think this will take?” Scott’s impatience came out with his unspoken, I want this done now.

  Chris turned to her. “We’re on your timetable, Evangeline. How long will it take to set up the inventory system and make contact with Darren again to get the ball rolling?”

  “Two, maybe three days. Once that’s done, I’ll see if he’ll pull me into the operation. I’ll get whatever information I can on the rest of what he’s doing.”

  Chris pinned the Crosses in his steady gaze. “You understand, you can’t let on in any way that you’re aware of what he’s doing. Any hint or change in the way you treat him, he’ll know something is up. If he’s supposed
to be a part of an event or doing some job in the winery, let him. If you can include Evangeline on the pretense of taking pictures for the website, even better. She can try to catch Darren doing something illegal.”

  Evangeline had to admit that was a good idea, even if it put her in a precarious position. She didn’t think Darren would actually try to harm her, but then again, she’d never thought he’d try to get her father arrested, either.

  “Okay. We’ll cooperate.” Scott held his hand out to Chris. The men stood and shook on it.

  Chris stared down at her. “Keep in touch. I’ll leave you to finish with the website business.” He nodded to the Crosses. “I’ll see myself out.”

  Evangeline took a deep breath and faced her new website clients. “I’m really sorry about this.”

  Renee pressed her lips together. “Thank you for being honest. Who knows how long this would have gone on with Darren before we discovered his deceit? I really had no hint that it was him.”

  “Me, either.” Scott sat back again, his face a mask of anger and concentration as he considered all she and Chris had laid at his feet today.

  “I want to assure you that I will try to resolve this for you as soon as possible, but I have to be careful. My relationship with Darren is complicated. He’s not the man I thought he was, but I’m also not the naïve pushover he used to know.”

  “Standing up for yourself, taking this risk, it’s commendable.” Renee slapped her hands down on her knees. “Now let’s put Darren aside and see what you’ve come up with for the events on the website.”

  Evangeline checked her watch. “If you don’t mind, let’s take this over to the wine room and your office. I want Darren to see me working with you and that everything is fine.”

  Renee nodded. “Good idea.”

  Scott leaned over and kissed his wife. “I’ll leave this part to you. I need to get over to the bottling room.” Scott shook Evangeline’s hand. “I’m not happy about this, but thank you for helping.” Scott walked out of the room.

  Evangeline understood how disconcerting and upsetting this was for them. They poured their heart and soul into this place, making wine that competed with stiff competition from other, bigger wineries. The last thing they wanted or needed was bad publicity or someone counterfeiting their wine or underselling it on the market.

  “He needs time to process all this.”

  Evangeline met Renee’s sympathetic gaze. “I really am sorry this is happening.”

  Renee waved that away. “You didn’t bring this to our door. We welcomed Darren in with open arms. Everyone who works here is like family.”

  “It sucks to discover the people who can hurt you the most are the ones closest to you.” Evangeline thought of her father, feeling anew the wave of grief and anger that still rushed through her when she thought about what happened. She hoped that one day it wouldn’t hurt so much. Right now, stuck in this situation because of him, she couldn’t find any peace or forgiveness.

  But she wanted to, because life was too short and things changed. Sometimes in a split second.

  Darren deserved his due.

  He’d get it.

  Because she wanted her life back and he deserved to pay for the four years he stole from her and for hurting good, decent people like the Crosses. He thought he could profit off their generosity and hard work.

  Not anymore.

  He wasn’t going to hurt innocent people anymore.

  She wouldn’t let him hurt her.

  Never again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Three days after her meeting with the Crosses, Evangeline stood on the wide lawn at the back of the wine room watching a couple get married under the white rose arch. Their friends and family filled the hundred-plus chairs lining the white satin aisle that led to the happy couple, who smiled at each other as they exchanged vows.

  It made her sad to remember she’d missed Charlie’s and Jill’s weddings. It made her dream that one day it would be her in the bridal gown. Everyone she loved and cared about would be there, wishing her a lifetime of happiness.

  “That could have been us,” Darren whispered into her ear.

  She didn’t remember them ever being as happy as the couple looked staring into each other’s eyes.

  She’d started pulling away from him before it ever got as far as a proposal. The idea of him asking her to get married had soured her stomach. By the time of her arrest, she’d already figured out he wasn’t the man of her dreams. Not even close.

  And because of him, she couldn’t even see Chris to find out if the promise she felt in their kiss might turn into something real and lasting.

  She held back a grimace and smiled softly at Darren, amazed that they shared the same experience of their relationship but had very different perspectives of what it actually was for them. “That was another time. Another girl.”

  “Not so long ago. And you look a hell of a lot like the girl I used to know, only better.” Darren’s eyes scanned down her pink floral dress to the sexy black heels with the straps that crisscrossed at her toes, with another band that came up the inside of her foot and wrapped around her ankle. She’d treated herself yesterday with the new dress and shoes to celebrate completing the bowling alley job and making a huge dent in the one for the winery.

  She’d been knocked down. Part of her plan to pick herself up included celebrating the small victories. The stress of taking down Darren weighed on her, so she did what she could to bolster her spirits and resolve.

  “I love the new hair.”

  She’d stopped in town on her way home last night for a cut, style, and pedicure. When she walked in the door last night, her mom whistled and told her how pretty she looked. It eased Evangeline’s heart even more to hear her mother compliment her and mean it, and to see the happiness in her eyes when Evangeline came home.

  Such a contrast to the welcome she’d received the day she got out of prison.

  As much as she appreciated the one-eighty her mother had done, she feared it would all go away again.

  They were both still feeling out their new relationship. She very much felt like both the girl before she was arrested and the woman who came home. Two very different people in the same body. Neither of them had reached their full potential. Not yet.

  But she was working on it.

  She was finding her footing.

  The new hair complemented how she felt on the inside. Confident. More sure of herself after working on the two web projects. The simple straight cut that skimmed her shoulders made her feel chic and pretty. For the wedding today, she’d curled it into fat, chunky waves.

  She wished she had a date with Chris tonight instead of attending a wedding she wasn’t even a guest at, but used as a means to get closer to a man she didn’t even like anymore.

  “You really do look amazing.”

  The flattery and appreciative look in his eyes did nothing for her. She felt nothing but contempt for Darren. Though for the job, for the future she wanted, she plastered on a pretty smile. “You clean up well.” She playfully tugged his gray tie, hoping he didn’t look too deeply at the way she kept a comfortable distance between them.

  “Did you think about me while you were away?”

  He made it sound like she took a job in another town or went on vacation. She’d been locked in a tiny room and subjected to ridicule, death threats, fights, and being at the mercy of the guards and the system. She lived on their schedule and by their rules and the calculations and impulses of the other inmates. Her life hadn’t been her own, though she’d tried to make the best of it. She had found friendship and camaraderie with a few of the other women. They watched each other’s back, but you could never count on anyone because loyalty came and went with the changing tide of power in the prison and within the groups and gangs that formed among the prisoners.

  But yeah, she’d thought of him. And the suspicions that plagued her fueled her need for retribution.

  “I did think ab
out you. I missed the good times.”

  “We didn’t ever really have a bad time.”

  Because they did everything Darren wanted to do. They skipped arguments, because he dismissed her complaints by saying, “Let’s just forget it and have fun.” Which made her feel like they didn’t connect. Not in a deep, meaningful way that made her feel special or needed or even wanted in a way that made her think she was more important than whatever Darren wanted at the time.

  Her wants and needs didn’t matter.

  Yet Chris knew she liked fried zucchini and peach pie and ordered her a drink he was reasonably sure she’d like. He saw her in a way Darren never did, because Darren never took the time to really get to know her.

  “You made sure we always had fun. We shared a lot of laughs.”

  “And nights out together.” He bumped his elbow against her arm. “Let’s do it tonight. I have a meeting later. Drinks with a client. Come with me.” He took her hand and stepped back, checking her out again. “When he gets a look at you, man, he’ll be so jealous.”

  She grabbed his tie and pulled him close, looking up at him, getting her flirt on a bit with a sexy smile and one eyebrow up. “Are you just flirting with me because you want the password to get into the new inventory system I’ve been working on?”

  “Who, me?” Darren acted all innocent, but the gleam in his eyes said he wanted the information and access more than he wanted her.

  “If you’re a good boy and treat me right tonight, you might get lucky.”

  His smile turned mischievous. His hands clamped onto her hips in a possessive move that pulled her closer to him. “You’re going to make me work for it, huh?”

  “You want something, but I’m not seeing what I get out of this deal.” He wanted to use her participation to blackmail her into doing more for him. Because Darren wouldn’t settle for using her once. But she could play this off as part of the banter and negotiation for what came next.

  Darren leaned in closer, his mouth hovering a mere two inches from hers. She held her ground, unwilling to give him an inch. Or let him see that she didn’t want him this close to her.