A Beautiful New Life

by Irene, Susan

  “Are you done with these?”

  “These ones yes.”Louise had pointed to the pile at the edge of her desk. “These ones I still need to enter data into the computer.” She pointed to the pile in front of her keyboard that she had just placed there from the scanner.

  “Okay well I’m going to take these and lock them in my drawer. Can you take the ones you’re finished with and put them in the burn box?”

  “The burn box?”

  “Yes, Carl is coming tonight to collect the stuff to burn.”

  “Okay, I thought they were being held on to for a while to ensure everything was scanned correctly.”

  “No not these. They’re classified and they don’t want to run the risk of them getting misplaced so we are just burning them. We have confidence that you’re doing a good job.”

  “Well thanks.” Louise smiled in an attempt to cover up her anxiety. She had hoped to look at the file in a day or two. The financial records where being handled differently. Once she scanned them and entered the data, they were set as classified and she could no longer access them. She had hoped to pull the hard copy but now she would have to view her file tomorrow or else it would be gone forever.

  She still needed to get copies of the files and needed to figure out a way to copy the financial files. She had not only wanted to escape but if she could, she would have liked to shut these people down. Jordan said he would try to get her a flash drive that she could save the files once copied. It would be small enough she could conceal it, if needed.

  She stopped by Jordan’s place on her way home from work. He gave her the flash drive as promised and coached Louise on relaxing when using it. He reminded her of her husband and sons that she was trying to get home to and that this was a vital part to that so she could not fail.

  Despite the snowy weather, Louise walked to work the next morning. The cold air helped her clear her head. She had to keep her wits about her if she was going to pull this off. The hardest part would be when to copy the files. They randomly monitored all computers. Since she started working on the financial files, they monitored her quite frequently. She got to work and was thankful that Mark decided not to show up today. She did not need him adding to her anxiety.

  She checked the computer first to make sure they were not actively monitoring her and slipped in the flash drive. She immediately copied the financial file she had scanned in yesterday and when that went well copied both Megan and Louise’s files along with Jordan and Michael’s. For good measure, she copied some of the files of the residents who have chosen to be here. That was the only explanation she could come up with for them not having two files.

  After the files all copied, she pulled out the flash drive and tucked it under her bra strap. As she was fixing her shirt, the little icon she was not to know about flashed on in the lower right hand corner of her computer screen. She continued entering the data to the files she had scanned on the previous day. As she put the security code of 1 into the appropriate field the file disappeared off her screen. Louise had anxiety all day. She wanted to leave and look at the file she was risking everything by taking but still had hours before her shift was over. Edith stopped by to check her progress.

  “Are you okay today, you seem distracted.”

  “No. Yes. I just didn’t eat breakfast and it’s still two hours till lunch.”

  “Well why didn’t you eat breakfast?”

  “I was running late, no real reason.” She lowered her eyes and her cheeks turned red, or so she hoped.

  “Oh…well enough said about that. Is it serious?”

  “No, not yet. But I wouldn’t mind if it was though.” She blushed again and hoped Edith was buying it. She did not think she could pull it off but Jordan told her to think of the most embarrassing moment in her life and when she needed to, she was to think of that. It must have worked because Edith wished her luck and went back to her desk. She returned a short time later with a cereal bar for Louise to eat.

  “Oh my, thank you so much. This will make the morning go by smoother. I owe you Edith. Thanks again.” She tore the wrapper on the bar and took a bite.

  “You’re welcome; you should come to lunch with me today.”

  “That’d be great. Just come and grab me when you are ready to go.”

  “Will do.” Edith returned to her desk.

  Louise continued to work but was getting that nervous feeling back. She had to convince herself it was just her conscience, but Edith was hovering over her like a vulture hovering over road kill. She continued to scan in financial records and when one came along that looked interesting she copied it onto her flash drive. As the file finished copying, the dreaded icon flashed on. Louise pulled the flash drive out of the computer and only hoped it was quick enough before they had noticed it. She decided it was too risky to copy any more files and was glad when Edith came to her desk to grab her for lunch.

  After lunch, Edith dropped Louise off at the office saying she had errands to run and would be back later. Louise went to her desk but was shocked by the site. Her desk drawers where open and what little personal items she had in her desk, where strewn all over the top of the desk.

  “What the heck is this about?” She turned to ask Edith and then remembered she had errands to run. “How convenient.” Her guilty conscious was getting the better of her. She needed to relax. She returned her items to their regular spot. With Edith gone, she was not able to scan any documents and she was becoming nervous. Louise’s imagination went into overtime. If they were testing her she had to make sure she passed. What should she do? She took a deep breath and went to find Edith’s supervisor. If they thought she was up to something, she had to act like she did not have a reason for them to be suspicious.

  “Hi Harold, I need to get some more files to scan and Edith isn’t back from lunch yet?” Edith’s supervisor was a small man and his bark appeared to be worse than his bite. Louise disliked talking to him. There were no secrets because everyone could hear what he said.

  “Oh, Megan, yes Edith told me you might be coming over here. Yes, yes I can get you some files. Oh looking here, here is Edith now. I guess you won’t need me after all.”

  “Hi Edith, I just need some more files.”

  “I’ll get those for you right away.” Edith headed to her desk with Louise following. “Was there something else?”

  “Well…when I got back…um…well someone had been in my desk.”

  “They do random searches from time to time. It was in the disclosure statement you signed when you where hired. Was there a problem?” She was trying to intimidate Louise. It was the first time Louise had seen this side of Edith and the only thing saving Louise was that she knew who Edith was.

  “No, I knew they could… I guess… I didn’t expect them to leave it such a mess; that is all.”

  “Well you better get it cleaned up then.”

  “I already did. I just thought I’d pick up the files on my way back to my desk.” She stood waiting.

  “I’ll bring you some more in a minute. Go back to your desk and wait.” Edith snapped at her. Unhappy perhaps that she did not pull a reaction from Louise. Louise walked back to her desk and tidied up a bit more while waiting for Edith. She felt like she was being watched, and the spot where she had tucked the flash drive in her bra was getting warmer with each minute she waited. She just wanted to get working to take her mind off of her suspicions or should she say her mind off of them being suspicious of her. She knew most of it was her over active imagination.

  Edith finally came with the files and Louise busied herself getting them done. She did not dare make any more copies as the threatening icon on her screen flashed off and on throughout the day. She smiled while busying herself and hummed her favorite tune as she had done the last month. It helped keep away the boredom that was a natural characteristic of her task. Soon the end of the day came and she collected her files and distributed them to their appropriate areas for lockup or disposal. She turne
d off her computer, pushed her chair in and grabbed her purse. She turned to exit the room but noticed a large crowd, or rather a line of people gathering at the exit.

  “What’s going on?” Louise asked another worker standing waiting in line.

  “Obviously someone must have done something they shouldn’t have and we’re now being searched.” She sounded impatient and as if this was the not first time she had been through a search.

  “What could anyone want from here? It’s just boring statistical information.”

  “Well some people like information I guess.” She was irritated by either the search or Louise’s questions.

  Louise on the other hand was finding it hard to contain her nervousness. She felt her lunch coming back up and swallowed hard to retain it. They surely would not search her bra would they? She tried to convince herself that they would not do such a thing when she saw her worst nightmare enter the room. She had not seen him in months and it was odd that he would now appear just days after her realizing he was one of them. Looking back now the whole day had led up to this one moment. Her moment of truth, did she wait it out and if she got caught make a run for it or did she run now. She was not ready to run now. She did not even know how to leave this place. She knows how to get around town but she does not know anything beyond these boundaries. Her hands started sweating and she wished she could talk to Jordan. She did not dare return to her desk and call him.

  The line was moving along too fast for Louise’s comfort. Everyone was being patted down and their personal items checked. They searched one of the girls from the real estate office that Megan talks to from time to time and then pulled her aside. She had on a bulky sweater and Louise could see that they pulled her into an office. Surely, they were not doing a strip search. Louise’s shirt was now sticking to her and she was afraid this tell-tell sign would surely give her away. The line continued to move along, there were now two people in front of her and Louise thought she was going to throw up. She started to fidget and was sure she was busted. As they started to pat down the person in front of her the office door opened.

  “We got her.” They dragged out the half-clothed girl from real estate. The man who searched her handed Vince a wad of money. “We found it tucked down the front of her pants.”

  Everyone stopped what they were doing. The staff handling the search, including Vince, left dragging the girl with them. Louise just stood there not sure if she should leave or stay. Edith came along then.

  “Well I’d hate to be that girl.”

  “So we can leave?”

  “Absolutely, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Edith walked out without another word.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Louise took some deep breathes and walked out the building. She was almost waiting for them to run out after her or stop her once she was out. She continued to take deep breaths as she started to walk to her apartment. She did not get far when Jordan pulled up in his car.

  “Hey do you need a ride.”

  Louise stopped and leaned into the opened passenger side window. “I don’t know, after today I really should walk off some of this energy.”

  “That bad, huh? Well I tell you what, how about you jump in and we go get some food and go to the park for a picnic.”

  “A picnic? It’s winter. I don’t know.” Louise did not want to mislead him, even though she would not allow anything to happen she did not want him to invest so much time in a relationship that was not going to go anywhere.

  “It’s spring, despite the snow this morning. Come on, before it’s too dark, as friends. I wouldn’t pressure you into anything more, you should know that by now.” His sad eyes told a different story, one of that he wished he could have more.

  “I know.” Her heart broke a little more as she said it. When he did not pull away, she added. “Okay already, you win. Besides after the day I had I don’t want to be alone and I really do need to talk to you about what happened.”

  Louise got in the car and they drove to Patsy’s Diner. Jordan went in and retuned a few moments later with a basket of goodies.

  “Mmm that smells good. What did you get?”

  “Well none other than Patsy’s famous fried chicken.” He pulled out of the diner parking lot and headed to the park on the east side of town.

  Jordan parked the car. He grabbed the basket and they walked together to a little knoll looking over a lake on the edge of the park.

  “This is a pretty spot, why haven’t you showed me this spot before?” She looked around and enjoyed the privacy the knoll offered.

  “Well actually.” Louise could see the hurt in his eyes as he spoke and wished she had not asked. “I had plans to bring you here. But you found out you were married and I guess… I just didn’t find it appropriate at that moment.”

  “Well it’s lovely, and I’m glad you’re sharing it with me now.” She touched him softly on the arm. She really hoped he understood she did not intentionally mean to hurt him. After they ate the basket of food Patsy made for them, they relaxed in the shadows of the setting sun.

  “So what happened today?” Jordan finally asked.

  Louise told him about the files she had copied. She also told him how she believed they had caught her. She told him how she was sure of it when they searched the employees as they left for the day.

  “Hmmm let me guess, they caught someone stealing money.”

  Louise sat up so she could see Jordan. “How’d you know?”

  “I stopped by your office today at lunch and found your desk a mess. I was afraid they were on to you. So I had to do something about it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He leaned in closer to her and in barely a whisper, “Let me just say, I’ve done my homework. There are many things I’m not supposed to know, but I keep my eyes and ears open. Since we have been working on this problem I make it my business to know who you work with and, if necessary, find ways to get you out of a predicament. I’m trying to stay one step ahead of them to prevent you from getting caught.”

  “So what did you do? Did you set that girl up?”

  “No, she has been stealing money for months now. I still don’t understand why because if you think about it you can’t really go into debt living here. Maybe that is just in her nature, to steal I mean.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I knew she would be searched before you. The one thing I can count on is they’re idiots. They didn’t know what they were going to find. I just knew I had to give them someone before they searched you.”

  “Thanks for looking out for me.” Louise realized that they were sitting too close. She lay back down enjoying the warm breeze blowing over her face and avoiding any mishap between the two of them. Her thoughts went back to how it was unfair to Jordan that he was spending so much time with her.

  She tried making other friends but was never able to click with anyone. Since she moved out of the dorm, she did not see much of Gwen. Since she also did not want to have to leave someone she cared about behind when she left, she did not seek out friendship. Now knowing what she knows, some of the women she could have been acquaintances with were one of them. She wondered if they purposely befriended her. Jordan said she should still meet with them occasionally rather than cutting them off completely.

  He now rolled over and sat up on an elbow. “What are you thinking about?”

  She could feel his breath on her face and wanted to be close to him again like she had been when she was Megan.

  “I was thinking about my husband and kids and how much I miss them.” It broke her heart to see the sadness in his eyes and to lie to him. She was human and she was lonely, but her morals were more important and, as hard as she had to fight it, she would not give in to this no matter how lonely she was.

  “Tell me about them, you talk about them but you never personalize them. Tell me something specific about each one of them.” He sat up on the edge of the blanket to give her space. He wanted to let her know h
e understood. Yes, he was sad but only because he would hope that one day he would find someone as committed to him as she was to Arlin.

  “Well…I don’t know. I guess I don’t like talking about them because then I would miss them even more and I have so much to lose if I slip up now.” She too sat up now and faced Jordan. She loved watching him. His soft features made her melt inside. She was glad when he spoke again.

  “But you need to talk about them so you don’t forget what you are doing here. Like with today’s surprise you would have kept it together more if you had them on your mind. I know you would have fought harder to control your emotions.”

  “If I end up dead what good would all this work have been for?”

  He laughed. “I know I shouldn’t laugh but have you not noticed that as smart as these people might seem, they are really just like me and you. They survive on assumptions but give them something that is real, they will turn the other way. Just like today, they were assuming something was going on in your building so I gave them something real and they went running.”

  “I guess I learned from my dad a long time ago, you never underestimate anyone.”

  “As I’m not going to underestimate you and allow you to change the subject so easily. At least tell me their names and the last thing you did with them before you left.” He has only seen her smile this big when she was thinking about them. He could tell she loved them very much.

  “You aren’t going to drop this are you?” She smiled, not just at the memory of her kids, but at him, too and how easy it was to talk to him.

  “Nope!”

  “Okay than, I have just the three boys, Charlie, Drake, and Kenny. They are eight and half, six, and four. I remember trying to find something to wear and Kenny came in and told me Fran was there to pick me up to go shopping. She was, well is, my best friend.”