by Nella Tyler
“Alright.”
Alicia didn’t seem happy with me, but she certainly didn’t seem as mad as she had been before. I hoped that bringing the thief to justice within her organization would be all it took for Alicia to at least consider forgiving me.
We all sat back and observed Rosalynn and Alicia as they discussed what Alicia would need to get Bill to confess to. They couldn’t come in and stop everything until that had all the evidence they needed. It would be Alicia’s job to insure she asked Bill the right questions so she could get the answers a court needed if they were going to convict someone of embezzlement.
As the two women talked, Alicia appeared to get more and more confident about the whole situation. It was nice to see because Alicia was a strong woman who had a lot going on for her. Even if she decided not to be with me, I only wanted the best for her.
We rounded everyone up and drove to Rosalynn’s office. She had worked to get approval for us to listen to the recording of Alicia and Bill so we could help figure out if there were any other people involved in the illegal activity. The truth was, I hadn’t had time to research anyone else that had come up in discussion. Bill’s expensive condo had made him such a visible target that I had forgotten to look at anyone else.
Mike, Natasha, and I sat in the back of the room as Rosalynn put the microphone onto Alicia.
“You’re going to be fine. Just talk normally and don’t worry about anything else. He will incriminate himself once you two get talking.”
“Okay, I should head over to my office now,” Alicia said.
Before she left the room, Alicia turned toward me and I felt that electricity between us. I hoped that after all was said and done Alicia would forgive me in the end.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Alicia was all set in her office and ready to talk to Bill. I felt like I was going to puke. Alicia was so brave to move forward with this investigation and to agree to wear a wire. It surprised me just how strong she was.
We waited patiently for Bill to arrive at Alicia’s office. In painful silence, we all looked around the room and tired to be patient.
“Hi, Bill,” Alicia said.
We could hear her over the recording device that Rosalynn had set up in the room.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you before. I’m just so tired of people thinking I had something to do with the fraud before. I love you like you’re my own daughter. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
I felt like puking as I heard Bill laying on the suck-up nice and thick for Alicia. I wasn’t sure what their conversations were normally like, but I suspected that didn’t sound anything like the one that was going on.
“Bill, I have evidence that you are living in a multi-million dollar condo here in New York. How can you afford something like that?”
Bill laughed and then saw that Alicia was serious because his voice calmed down right away and he answered her question seriously.
“It’s my parent’s condo.”
Alicia was silent. We all waited patiently to see what she would say next.
“That’s an awfully expensive condo for your parents.”
“My father didn’t believe in investing his money in the stock market. Instead, he wanted to have his money in real estate so when he died he could be guaranteed of the value of his estate.”
“Oh, yes,” Alicia said. “I remember you said your mother didn’t want to live there after you father passed away because it was too big.”
“Exactly,” Bill replied.
There was another long silence and Alicia seemed to be stuck. She didn’t know what to say and there was no way to communicate with her.
“Bill, someone’s stealing from me. Is it you?”
The direct approach was something I was very fond of. Even if someone lied to you it was typically possible to see their physical reaction to the question at the very least. I hated that we weren’t able to see how Bill had reacted when Alicia asked him if he was stealing from her.
“No, I wouldn’t do such a thing and I think you know it.”
Again Alicia was silent as she pondered what to ask Bill next. But she didn’t have to wait long.
“It’s Ryan and Isabella,” Bill said. “I’ve been following them. First it was because of the duplicate invoices that people were saying they had gotten. But then I wanted to see why we didn’t have enough merchandise, either.”
Alicia was quiet.
The silence filled the room uncomfortably and I kept looking over at Natasha to see what her reaction was to things.
“Where are they today?”
“I don’t know. I tried calling them and it went to voicemail.”
I looked at Mike and Natasha, I knew exactly where those two were going if they were the ones steeling from Alicia. They were going to the warehouse. They needed to get the money and documents to hide what they at been doing.
“Rosalynn, you have to get people out to the warehouse. That’s where they will be,” I said as I wrote down the address to the warehouse.
She nodded and passed the information on to the young man that sat next to her, so she could continue to listen to the conversation between Alicia and Bill.
I had to admit, Bill wasn’t sounding very guilty to me at the moment. As long as the ownership of that condo checked out, Alicia could have been totally right about him.
Rosalynn called Alicia and told her she could let Bill leave the office. They were going to try and track down Ryan and Isabella and see if they had any more information.
“We have a team that is about thirty minutes from the warehouse, we should know something soon,” a man in a black suit said as he opened the door to the room we were in.
There wasn’t much talking going on as we all sat quietly and waited for Alicia to return from her office. I desperately wanted them to find Ryan and Isabella and hoped it would be the end of Alicia’s nightmare.
Even if she decided never to talk to me again, at least I would have helped save her company. It was the least I could do for putting her through the hell I did with Rebecca.
I told Rosalynn about the armed security guard at the warehouse and the side opening I had snuck in through. Hopefully the officers that arrived would be able to safely get into the building. I suspected that the security guard would put up a good fight, even with the FBI; he had been so insistant when I visited before. He was probably instructed that people would pretend to be law enforcement to get in. Or maybe he would just let them in without an issue.
Rosalynn picked up her phone and I saw her face turn intense right away.
“Be safe,” she said and then hung up. “They are at the warehouse and about to approach.”
Just then, Alicia was escorted back into the room. She looked totally exhausted.
There was an empty place next to me on the couch and another chair over by Mike. I expected that Alicia would choose to sit by Mike because of how angry she was with me. But to my surprise she sat down next to me and let her head rest on my shoulder.
Again, tears started to flow and I looked at Natasha to see if she could help.
“It’s almost over,” Natasha said as she rubbed Alicia’s back.
We all sat there and silently watched Rosalynn as she waited for a call back from the officers who had arrived at the warehouse.
Over an hour went by before the phone finally rang.
“Hello,” Rosalynn said and then shook her head up and down at us all. “Wow, really? Is everyone safe? Great job. I’ll send a team out to back everything up. Bring those three in for questioning.”
Relief washed across Rosalynn’s face and instantly across mine as well.
“What happened?” Mike blurted out.
“The officer’s found the security guard, Ryan, and Isabella loading bags of cash into a vehicle. There was a gun fight and the security guard was shot in the leg. Everyone else was unhurt.”
I reached over and put my arm around Alicia and pulled her toward me in a h
ug. It was an instinctual reaction to the great news and I did it before I remembered she was mad at me. But again to my surprise, she didn’t pull away.
Alicia leaned into me and let me hug her for a good minute before she pulled away. She got up and went over to Rosalynn and gave her a hug. The two women talked for a little bit while Mike, Natasha and I chatted about the news. We had all worked hard to figure out what was going on, it felt really great to know it was over.
I was still in a bit of shock that Bill Yobi had not been involved. He seemed like a shady character to be for the longest time. But after hearing how he talked to Alicia with such respect, even when faced with her accusations; I had to change my opinion of the man. She obviously knew him much better than I did.
We all stayed at the FBI office for about an hour as we talked about everything that had happened and made sure Rosalynn had our contact information so we could give statements later.
“I can take you home if you would like,” I offered Alicia.
“I don’t want to go home. I can’t be alone tonight.”
“You can come to my place,” I offered.
I instantly saw the look of disgust on her face. It was probably a bad idea to bring her back to the place that a woman had pointed a gun at us just a few short hours before.
“Yes, I guess that will work,” Alicia replied.
She surprised me that she was willing to go back to my place at all. The shock must have been visible on my face because Alicia made a comment about it.
“I can’t avoid your place forever just because of the memories there.”
“Tomorrow is a new day. We can erase the memories and start fresh.”
***
We walked into my apartment and Alicia went straight up to the floor to ceiling window again. She looked out over the city for a moment and then turned on a bunch of lights in my living room.
“Fuck me right here,” she said to me as she started to take off all of her clothes in front of the window.
My mind went crazy as I looked at her. Who was this woman? Alicia didn’t seem like the kind of girl that would have sex in front of the window. Surely she understood that after turning all the lights on like that everyone would be able to see us.
“You know people can see us, right?” I said and pointed to the restaurant across the street.
“Oh, yes. I know. I once sat at those tables outside and watched at pretty elaborate scene.”
Alicia winked at me and my face went ghost white. I looked at her and was totally shocked.
“What do you mean?” I said as I followed her lead and started to take off my clothes as well.
“Oh, that blonde had nothing on me though. I can put on a much better show,” Alicia’s smile was the same as when I first met her.
She laughed, and I knew I was hers forever.
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YOU
THE COMPLETE SERIES
By Nella Tyler
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Nella Tyler
PART ONE
Chapter One
“Nicole, you’ve been reading the same chapters in the same book for the last three hours,” my roommate Ashley said, throwing herself down onto the couch next to me. “You’re not making any progress and it’s managing to even make me anxious.”
“So go somewhere else,” I said, grinning at her in spite of the dread I felt. She was right; I had been studying the same sections of the same class for hours and I felt like I was no closer to actually being able to understand what the point of it was.
“It’s not just me who needs to go somewhere else,” Ashley said. She reached out and tweaked a loose strand of hair hanging down from my ponytail. “If you don’t get out of this room and get some oxygen, your brain is going to suffocate.”
“Brains can’t suffocate,” I told her. “At least not like this.” I looked down at my Introduction to Psychology textbook and frowned. There had been a chapter about structures in the brain only a couple of weeks before; had I really forgotten what I’d learned already?
“You know what I mean, and I’m serious,” Ashley said. She put her hands over the textbook in my lap, keeping me from being able to read it. “Didn’t Dr. Fletcher get around to telling you that staring at a book for three hours isn’t going to actually make you learn anything?” Ashley had taken AP Psychology in her junior year of high school; she had started with almost a full year’s worth of credits at West Central College.
“We haven’t covered learning yet,” I said. I sighed. “Maybe they should cover that first so that all of us idiots in the class can keep up.” Ashley laughed.
“You’re not an idiot,” she told me firmly. “This is just not your wheelhouse.” She grabbed the book and closed it, throwing it onto the coffee table. “Now come on. Res Life is doing a game night at the Student Union and that is exactly the kind of thing you need to refresh your tired brains.”
“Right,” I said, laughing and shaking my head. “Because if I can’t wrap my mind around the stages of childhood development, not even looking at it at all is going to totally help me.”
“Actually,” Ashley said, sitting up and beginning to look excited, “it might. You’ve read over the material probably five or six times, right?” I nodded, frowning. “I’m going to give you some spoilers for the learning and memory chapter. The best thing to do sometimes is to read through something a few times and then put it down, distract yourself with something else, sleep on it and then get back on it.”
“How does that work?” I frowned more deeply. Ashley shrugged.
“Your brain never really stops working,” she explained. “So when you’re doing other stuff, it’s filing away the readings and the classroom discussion and the lecture, and when you dream, it creates the actual memories. So by going to Game Night with me, you will actually be making it easier for you to remember the stuff in the textbook.” I stared at her for a moment before shaking my head.
“That doesn’t sound right,” I said, taking a deep breath and sighing. I had been working hard ever since the semester started, but I seemed to barely be able to keep up with any of my classes, no matter how hard I tried to get ahead. I rubbed at my eyes; it felt like I had sandpaper on the insides of my eyelids after staring at the book for so long.
“It’s totally right, and anyway, how are you supposed to learn something if you don’t even understand it? Let’s go to game night, and then tomorrow morning, if you still aren’t getting the material, I’ll go over it with you between classes.”
“I guess that could work,” I said, pressing my lips together. Part of me felt guilty at even the idea of knocking off on my homework before I’d finished it. All of my classes cost so much money and the thought that I might not even do well in them—or that I might have to re-take them after all the money I’d spent and all the work I’d put in already—filled me with dread.
“You definitely need to get out of this room,” Ashley told me, nodding firmly. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you don’t give yourself at least a little time to relax and unwind every now and then.” I laughed, scrubbing at my face again and then standing.
“Okay, okay,” I said, stretching against the muscles that had started to go stiff in my neck and back. “I’ll go to the stupid game night with you. But if it’s super boring then you agree to come back whenever I feel like it, right? Or at least let me go.”
“If it’s super boring and lame, then we’ll both come back and find something better to do,” Ashley agreed. I went into my side of the dorm and looked at myself in the mirror; my hair was a mess, but I didn’t think that anyone would ca
re that much. I smoothed it a little bit, took the ponytail elastic out and then put it back in a little tighter. I decided I wasn’t even going to bother with putting any makeup on. I would just go the way I was. I should probably put a bra on, at least, I thought, glancing down at the sight of myself in my t-shirt; it was obvious I wasn’t wearing one. I slipped my t-shirt off and found a bra in my drawer, and then in a matter of a couple of minutes I was as fully dressed as I thought I needed to be.
“How are the rest of your classes going?”
I shrugged off Ashley’s question as I gathered up my keys and purse. I checked to make sure that I had my ID card, since I’d need it both to get into the Student Union and to get back into the dorms.
“I still don’t have a clue what I’m going to major in,” I told her. My ID was right where I had left it: in a pocket sewed into the lining. One of my friends from high school had made the purse for me from a bunch of old neckties she’d found at thrift stores, and I had never found a single bag that I liked better. I slung the purse over my shoulder and exhaled, looking up at Ashley.
“I still say you should go into International Affairs like me,” Ashley said, gathering up her own stuff and moving toward the door.
“Right—I can’t even manage to get through regular Freshman classes and I’m supposed to go into the major where you have to take all kinds of sociology and economics and statistics,” I said sarcastically, shaking my head. “No thank you.”
“I think you’d be really good at it,” Ashley said. “It’s really intuitive, once you start getting into it.”
“You said that about Math for Liberal Arts, too, and it took me halfway through the first class to realize that Professor Blue was talking about real numbers.” Ashley snorted.
“It’s more intuitive than that,” she insisted. “I mean it’s just understanding how people interact—how countries interact with each other. It’s really cool—and it has the best study abroad chances, after Anthropology.”
We stepped out of our room and started down the hall toward the elevators. I hated taking the elevators if I didn’t have to. We were on one end of the floor, and the stairs were in between the elevators and us, so it took longer to go that way. The elevators for the ancient dorm building creaked and groaned every time I’d ever been on them, and I’d heard horror stories about people getting stuck between floors when the elevator broke down, especially on weekends when the maintenance crew wasn’t on-campus and they had to wait for more than an hour for someone to come and get it running again. But Ashley had bad knees, so whenever we went somewhere together I ended up taking the elevator down with her.