by Debora Ryan
Mr. Dannaker. She closed her eyes in frustration. She did not want to discuss her personal life with her boss, even if he was also Will’s father.
“Are you sure you want to do that Mr. Dannaker? I still have a lot of backlog down here. It will probably take me another day to catch up. We might be better off meeting on Wednesday.”
Her efforts to stave him off failed.
Leah hung up and sighed. Why couldn’t he just talk to Will?
Not bothering to wait, she diligently attacked the remaining work. Mr. Dannaker came in without knocking. Three men in suits trailed him, including Jules Miller, the company’s head attorney and Mr. Dannaker’s right-hand man. The other two wore suits that indicated government workers of the law-enforcement variety. They were each medium height, medium build white men. Neither had much hair.
Leah arched a delicate brow at Mr. Dannaker. “Really, Mr. Dannaker, all of this just because I was dating your son?” She threw a folder into her ‘out’ basket and leaned back in her chair. “Don’t you think this is a little excessive?”
Mr. Dannaker sighed. “No, Leah, it isn’t.” He motioned for one of the men to close the door.
Leah looked from one grim face to another. She rose from her chair uncertainly. “What’s wrong?”
“Leah Keenan?” The balder of the two said.
She nodded. Trepidation pooled in her stomach. Suspicion followed. “Yes?”
“I have a warrant for your arrest.”
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t even thought about moving money. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to seriously consider it as an option. “You what?”
“Please step out from behind your desk.”
The world moved in slow motion. Leah had a vague sense of being read her Miranda rights and of being handcuffed. The agent put them on gently. He seemed to feel sorry for her. The other agent, for they had identified themselves as FBI sometime between the time they read the embezzlement charges and the time they handcuffed her, led the way. The other one propelled her from behind. Too stunned to speak, she didn’t ask to take her purse or anything else with her.
The last thing she remembered seeing before everything became a blur was the wide-eyed expression on Eliza’s face as she was taken from her office to the elevators. She almost looked guilty. A moment of suspicion flashed through Leah’s head. Eliza’s position meant she could easily access most of the same accounts as Leah. Before she could grasp and follow the thought, it faded.
As slow as it all seemed to be moving, it was also out of focus. The thought that kept playing itself over and over in her mind was that it had been a mistake to anger Will. He had not been grieving over her. This was his revenge, his message. In a way, she was vindicated because she knew now that it had been a game to him. All of her doubts were gone, and she was still in love with the man who ruined her life. How pathetic.
The pain began as a dull ache in the car ride to the county jail. The ache grew and spread as she was booked and fingerprinted. She didn’t give in to in until she was strangely alone in a holding cell. It must have been a slow day for arrests.
There was no way she could afford bail, no matter how small an amount it might be. She hadn’t thought to ask for an attorney. They would be questioning her soon. She would ask for an attorney then. She closed her eyes and lay down on the narrow bench. Her head pounded, the pulsating pain keeping time with her broken heart.
“You get one phone call.”
The harsh voice broke through the thin veil of semi-consciousness that blanketed Leah. She sat up with a start to see a rotund little man who looked like he hated the world. He was also devoid of hair on his head. “Who would I call?”
“I’d start with your lawyer.” He unlocked the door to the cell. “You got fifteen minutes.
“I don’t have a lawyer,” she said. “I can’t afford one.”
He looked her up and down with a deprecating sneer curling his thin upper lip. “Yeah, whatever. Have you asked for one?”
Leah shook her head. “I don’t know how it’s done.”
He rolled his eyes. “You want your phone call now or no?”
“Yes,” she said. “But I’d like an attorney as well. Would you be the person I ask?”
He shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you,” she said graciously. Her manners were on autopilot. “I didn’t catch your name.”
In response, he pointed to an ID dangling from his pocket.
“Officer Beauchamp,” she read. “Thank you for letting them know I need a lawyer. I appreciate it.”
“All right, all right,” he grumbled. “Let’s get going.”
Leah called Anne, who had already heard. “I’m trying to find out what is going on,” she said. “Mr. Dannaker won’t let me leave work until four, and that’s only if I skip lunch. He’s being a big jerk. I’m trying to reach Will, but he isn’t answering. I know you broke up, but I thought there might be some way he could help.”
“He won’t,” Leah said. “This is all his doing.”
“Because you broke up with him? I’m sorry, Leah. I don’t see it.” Anne paused for a minute. “Are you sure it was him? Doesn’t this seem a little extreme? I mean, what does he have to gain from all of this? And wouldn’t it take some time to set all of this up?”
Leah breathed deeply, searching for strength. “Positive. He won’t help.”
“Have you been arraigned?”
“I’m still waiting on a lawyer.”
“Time’s up,” Beauchamp growled. Leah wondered if that was the only way he knew how to speak.
“I have to go,” Leah said.
“I’ll come by as soon as I can,” Anne assured her. “I’ll call Cecelia and let her know we won’t be by tonight.”
“But don’t tell her why,” Leah said. “Tell her I had to work late or something. She has enough on her plate. I don’t want to worry her with this if I don’t have to.”
Things didn’t go as planned. Beauchamp was as grouchy as he seemed. He put in the request for an attorney at the last possible minute, meaning she wouldn’t be arraigned or questioned until the morning. She was stuck in jail for the night. Toward the evening, the cell began to fill up with women from various backgrounds, as evidenced by their varied odors.
Anne visited as soon as she was able. Leah explained her lawyer situation and, to her surprise, Anne burst into tears. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “This wouldn’t have happened if I had told Thomas Dannaker to shove it. I should have left work earlier.”
“You need your job,” Leah said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She reached over to comfort her friend.
“So what is this embezzlement crap?” Anne said between sobs. “As if you would ever do something like that.”
Leah was calm and quiet. “I can’t talk about that to you, Annie. Besides, I don’t know the full extent of what they’re charging or what kind of evidence they have.”
“They haven’t questioned you?”
“They can’t do that without a lawyer, and I won’t be assigned one until tomorrow morning.”
“I’m taking tomorrow off so I can be here with you,” Anne promised. “I won’t leave you alone. I’ll be here for you throughout this whole ordeal. Is there anything you need me to do?”
Leah sighed. “I think you should go to work, Annie. Don’t upset Mr. Dannaker. Also, I left everything in my office. Can you get my purse and my personal items? I can’t imagine I still have my job.”
Anne peered at Leah through her tears. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I’ll keep my cell on. Call me after the arraignment and let me know how it goes. It’ll be easier for me to get bail money together if I know how much I need.”
Later that evening, Leah fell asleep on a cot in a tiny room. They had taken her clothes and personal items, put them into an envelope and stored them somewhere dark.
She wore the same clothes she had worn to work to her arraignment the followi
ng morning. Her lawyer met her there, in a tiny room next to the courtroom. He didn’t appear old enough to have completed law school. High school looked like it was a very recent memory. He was nervous, and he didn’t ask her any questions. He introduced himself as Gordon Evans.
Leah eyed him dispassionately. “What do you plan to do?”
“Are you pleading guilty or not guilty?”
“Don’t you think you should tell me the charge?”
He paged through a file folder while he made hesitant sounds. “Embezzlement.”
“I know that. What are the particulars?”
Evans made a few more noises, then a squeak. “Six million dollars?”
Leah’s jaw dropped. “I did not embezzle six million dollars!”
“Of course you didn’t. I guess we’ll plead not guilty.”
Leah pressed her lips together. “Don’t patronize me. If I embezzled six million dollars, I would be able to afford more than a public defender.”
“Ms. Keenan, it seems we’ll be working together on this. You can be cooperative or not. I have enough information in this file to accurately represent your side.” He didn’t bother to look away from the file long enough to address her directly.
Leah sputtered. “You haven’t heard my side.”
“We don’t have time.” He nodded to an officer waiting there. “We’re ready.”
The officer ushered them into the busy courtroom without fanfare. The judge was in a particularly cranky mood and leveled a million dollar bail against Leah. Gordon Evans decided not to present a reason to reduce bail or try to suggest Leah be released on her own recognizance. She sank into the chair behind her at the pronouncement. Anne wouldn’t be able to come up with that much money.
She called Anne later that day to tell her to not worry about bail.
After meeting with Gordon Evans in the drab, nondescript room with a single table placed in the center, Leah realized her lawyer had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t want to hear her side of the story, insisting he had all the information he needed.
The door opened, admitting the bald and nearly-bald FBI agents. The bald agent spoke. “I’m Agent Spinnaker, and this is Agent Weston.”
Leah inclined her head in a slight greeting. Gordon Evans popped up and excitedly shook hands with both agents. “Gordon Evans. Nice to meet you.”
Leah groaned. The rest of the session did not go well, though the Agents did not learn any new information. Leah knew enough to keep her mouth closed. She wondered if Anne would spring for a lawyer with experience. Or common sense. At this point, she wasn’t picky.
Leah spent the next two days in her cell. It gave her time to replay the events of the last several months in her head. How could she have been so wrong about Will? She had thought his blackmail had been about sex, but it had actually been about control. This was his way of letting her know that he still held all the cards. He had taken her heart, her self-respect, and now her freedom. At least she wasn’t the only one crying in the middle of the night. That jail was full of tears.
Anne visited every evening, trying to keep up Leah’s spirits. “I’m looking for a lawyer,” she had said that evening when Leah related the disaster that had been her interrogation. “They’re all so expensive, or busy. The Dannaker name apparently inspires fear when you don’t have a ton of money with which to fight them.”
* * * *
When Will emerged from his drunken stupor late Wednesday evening, he tried calling Leah. It went right to her voicemail which was full. Vaguely, he remembered calling her a few other times and leaving long, drunken messages. Had she left her phone here? Had she thrown it out because she was angry with him? He laughed a little, even though it hurt his head. That would be so like her.
When she had thrown out the flowers he sent, he had been upset at first. It was the first time he realized that winning her would be an uphill battle. The prospect was not daunting. She was worth it. In the twenty years he had been dating, she was the only woman he had ever met who was worth the effort. He recognized the rarity of it and embraced the challenge. However, he knew better than to buy her gifts. She would not be won by them.
The phone had been a necessity. He had called her house the day before the accident to find out her phone was disconnected. The accident provided a convenient excuse for him to buy her a phone. He knew she wouldn’t have accepted it otherwise. She was strangely poor, given what she made, but stubbornly proud.
He showered, washing the smell of way too much alcohol from him, before going over to her apartment. The sight that greeted him rent his heart. Two men wearing work overalls tossed her sofa into the Dumpster.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?”
One man glanced over at Will. Tall and skinny, he looked Will up and down while he figured out what kind of answer to give. He must have figured Will for management. “Throwing out the trash, sir. We’re the eviction service.”
Will followed them to Leah’s apartment. Many of her things were already gone. Another man shoved papers into a trash bag. Leah was nowhere to be found.
His wallet yielded a few twenties. He peeled them off and handed them to the workers. “Why don’t you break for lunch? Say about two hours?”
By the time the workers returned, the moving company he hired had boxed up all of her things, and they were nearly finished loading the last few items into their truck. Her possessions didn’t take up much space. He had them delivered to Anne’s house, which was the only place he knew to which she wouldn’t object. He hadn’t liked her apartment anyway. It was shabby, and the neighborhood wasn’t safe. She could live with him and never worry about rent or anything else again.
The hour was late when the moving van arrived. He didn’t worry about waking them. What he had to say was more important than sleep. Anne opened the door. The ice in her eyes conquered the hot night.
“What the hell do you want?”
“Is Leah here?”
Anne’s glare frosted even more. “You know perfectly well where she is.”
Before Will could reply, she slammed the door in his face.
Will wondered how much Leah had told Anne. She was ashamed of their relationship, of that much he was certain, but it would be unlike her to share that with anyone. It was one of her faults, and his as well. They both left too many things unsaid. That would have to change.
He convinced the movers to leave the van in front of Anne’s house, and then he went home to sleep off his hangover. Christ, but his head killed.
The next morning, he went to the Dannaker building. He knew she would go to work. Only she wasn’t there, and someone else occupied her office. Instead of ‘Leah Keenan, Teams Manager’, the door now read, ‘Kevin Johnson, Vice-President of Marketing’. Knowing his father, Kevin Johnson’s job and Leah’s were the exact same.
“Sir, can I help you with something?”
The assistant sitting outside Kevin Johnson’s office wasn’t Eliza. As Will stared at the young man who replaced the older woman, he seethed.
“Where is Eliza?”
The young man smiled patiently. “I’m sorry, sir, but she left suddenly.”
Will drew his brows together. “Leah Keenan?”
Now the man straightened his tie and adjusted the sleeves of his jacket. “You are?”
“William Dannaker, the man who is about to make your life miserable if you don’t answer my questions.” Will drew his brows together in a severe expression that closely mirrored the one his father often wore. He hated the expression, hated that he looked more like his father when he made it, and he especially hated when anyone pointed out the similarities.
Color faded from the man’s tanned face. “Mr. Dannaker, sir, sorry. Ms. Keenan was arrested Monday morning, charged with embezzlement. Mr. Johnson is in the process of figuring out the mess she left of the accounts.”
Will knew damn well Leah hadn’t left messy accounts. Several suspicions formed in his mind. “What do you mean, she l
eft a mess?”
As the assistant, whose name turned out to be Sam, showed Will the exact nature of the problem, Will suppressed the urge to bang his head into the nearest wall. The missing pieces turned out to be on Eliza’s hard drive and in several file folders. All this time, he’d been investigating Leah when the answer was right under their noses.
And now Eliza had vanished with nearly six million dollars.
Cold fear coursed through his veins on his way to see his father. It was a short elevator ride, but it took forever. Thomas Dannaker had been upset that Leah was dating Will. He knew he had no power over Will, who had been left a hefty trust fund by his maternal grandparents, but he did have power over Leah. He could threaten her job.
Will suspected his father knew Leah had been taking money from the company. He didn’t know how Thomas had found the proof, but no other explanation made sense. There was no other reason for Leah to have been arrested. Dating the boss’s son was not a felony.
The metallic scraping of the elevator doors opening jolted Will from his thoughts. Linda had been his father’s secretary for as long as he could remember, well before it became chic to call them assistants. She greeted him in the same grandmotherly way she always had.
“William! This is unexpected. Your father said you were going back to New York.”
“Not until August,” Will said. “Is he in?”
Linda made a regretful face. “He’s in a meeting. Do you want me to let him know you’re here?”
“No, thanks.” Will smiled at her as turned the handle on the door of his father’s office. “It’s locked?”
Linda frowned. “He did say that he didn’t want to be disturbed. I really think you should wait, or come back later. He’s been so busy lately. He’s had to meet with every account that had money taken to assure them it wouldn’t happen again.”
Will’s eyes narrowed. “And he’s telling them all that Leah’s been fired?”
“Of course.” Linda moved closer and to whisper conspiratorially to Will. “I never would have believed it, but I saw the books with my own eyes. I liked her. I guess it goes to show that you never know about a person.”