Seven Years of Bad Luck

by J. L. Mac

  “Relax, guy! Mrs. Kemp gave this to me. She said she found it recently in some of her husband’s stuff. I’m no one. I work for a law firm, I am just looking into this for Mrs. Kemp,” I lied and pointed my finger at the hard drive in his sweaty palm while trying to remain confident.

  “Lady, something tells me you have no idea who you’re messing with here.” Nate’s eyes began darting nervously everywhere in the room except atrooimes New me. “These guys are the type you stay away from. You…you’re putting both of us in danger by even being here.”

  “So tell me what’s on the hard drive and what your involvement is, and I will leave.” I folded my arms across my chest to punctuate my demand. He swallowed hard.

  “I did some work for Mr. Kemp. That’s all. Work is over. He’s dead. I am so out of that shit.” I cocked my head to the side and scowled at the small framed, nervous, Nate.

  “No, you aren’t, Nate. You either tell me what I want to know, or I drag you further into this mess.” I lied. I would never do anything so malicious. He ran his shaking hands through his scruffy light brown hair and caved.

  “Fine. Come with me.”

  That was easy. Good job, Kat. Add bullying techies to your resume.

  My phone chirped as soon as Nate led us into a closet sized space through a narrow hallway at the back of his shop. I had a text message from my lonely lover.

  ‘Landed in Cali. Miss you already. -Ben’ I smiled as I read his short but sweet text. I shot him a quick text back.

  ‘Glad you made it. Miss you a little too. ;) -Kat’

  “Okay, you want to sign your own death certificate? Fine. Kemp asked me to work on some things for him. I helped him uncover some dirt on Murray. I wish I had known the shit storm I was getting myself into before I took that load of cash from Kemp to do this work.” Nate shook his head.

  “Go on,” I prompted.

  “Anyway, he brought me these encrypted files that he stole from Murray. Turns out, Murray has scammed millions, I mean, loads of dough from investors. Some of the files had information and photos of people he is involved with and the investors he has conned. A list of his known associates are on this drive.” He held up the small square black hard drive. “Most of which are the criminal type, which means, not only could Murray have the need to get rid of you, but anyone of these guys on this list could want you gone if they find out you have this info.” Nate shoved the hard drive into my chest as if it were searing his hands by simply holding it. He began pacing in the small space. “Somehow, Murray has managed to keep things under wraps by convincing investors to stay put, along with their money. Kemp knew he was into some bad stuff. He was going to out Murray. Murray found out about Kemp’s plans before he was able to go to the authorities and Murray offed Kemp. I would put money on it. Kemp gave me a letter just before his death and said if anything happened to him, to give it to the cops.”

  “Have you given it to the police?” A look of shame came over Nate and he froze in place.

  “No. I was scared. I still am scared.” I held out my hand expectantly.

  “Give it to me. I’ll take care of it.” He crouched to the floor and crawled under his desk. He ripped something from the underside of the desk and handed me the envelope.

  A letter from the grave. Interesting.

  “Anything else I should know?” I asked.

  “No. That’s all I got. Everything on this hard drive is all the dirt that Kemp collected on Murray. He worked on it for months. I hope you know what you are doing. You are messing with the wrong guy. He has these huge goons that handle people like you and me. I’m talkin’ like muscle you see in the movies or something.” I ignored his ranting.

  “Can you copy these files for me?” He nodded.

  “Yeah.” I handed him the hard drive again, and in no time, he had a duplicate for me, and I was on my way. I decided the best course of action would be to hide the duplicate hard drive somewhere safe. Just in case.

  In case what? Geez! What the hell am I doing? Ben is going to flip if he finds out what I’m up to.

  I put thoughts of Ben out of my head and plotted my next move. I drove to the postal annex near my apartment and signed myself up for one of those small mailboxes that they rent out. I made sure to sign for it under my maiden name. Kathleen Hensley. I wrote a quick letter to Mrs. Kemp explaining that I wanted her to have the second key to my new mail box and that if for some reason something happened to me, she would need to turn the contents of my box, over to the police and Benjamin Chase at Chase and Associates.

  Once I addressed the envelope to Mrs. Kemp, I addressed another large envelope to be sent to the box I had just rented. I stuffed the duplicate hard drive and the original letter from the grave into it and paid the cashier for the postage on both parcels. Just like that, ground work was laid. Curiosity and a need to know what Ben was dealing with started my mission, but I found m

  yself driven to help Mrs. Kemp find answers. I felt that Nate was right. Mr. Kemp met an untimely end at the hands of Murray because of what he uncovered. He didn’t accidentally overdose like the autopsy had declared.

  If I had to bet, I would go even further and say that Murray likely even threatened or paid off someone at the Medical Examiner’s office to ensure that the cause of death was declared accidental. Nate, and Mrs. Kemp were both right. It was obvious that Murray was not the type of man you crossed or threatened. I forced myself to be even more careful while gathering more information to give to Mrs. Kemp and the police. I couldn’t help but wonder why the police had not gotten very far in the investigation into the ‘suspicious’ albeit, declared accidental, death of Mr. Kemp.

  Murray have some dirty cops under his thumb too? Shit. That could be bad for me. No one to trust.

  Chapter 20

  No clue

  By the time I returned to work, most of my coworkers were filing out of the doors while I squeezed past them. I went to my office and immediately began taking down hand written notes. Earlier in the day I texted Cheyenne to let her know that I was still alive and would be staying at Ben’s house for the rest of the week. She said she would catch up with me over the coming weekend since she too wouldn’t be home until Sunday sometime. I had not spoken to Ben aside from our earlier ‘miss you’ texting. I was for sure missing him. I ignored the tightening sensation in my chest.

  So what, you miss him. No big deal. He is a great lover what’s not to miss?

  I tried to rationalize the pang of genuine sadness that was squeezing my heart as sexual frustration, but it was far from sexual frustration that had my insides in knots. I was lying to myself but lying to myself felt much better than admitting the reality. The reality was, I was involved with an amazing man who was unbelievable in bed, handsome, successful, smart, caring, generous and he missed me. I missed him too. A lot. I was missing the scent of him, his touch on my skin, his soft, full lips, the way his hand seemed to always find the small of my back, the way that, even in his sleep, he kept a tight grip on me. I missed the whole of him.

  Should just forget about it. No way that falling for Ben could be a good idea. He deserves more than a screwed up, emotionally damaged woman. He should find someone else to get involved with.

  I cringed at my private thoughts of Ben with someone else. I didn’t want him with someone else but I also didn’t want him with me. It was clear that Ben wanted things between us to go further but I simply wasn’t in a position to give anything to anyone. I was still trying to right my own world. I couldn’t fathom dragging anyone else into my screwed up life. I would only get my hopes up and, inevitably, disappointments would come crashing in to wipe out everything I had gained. With my private thoughts swirling out of control, I decided to take a break. I backed away from my desk and clicked my heels down the hall towards the ladies room. I stared at the woman in the mirror and tried hard to reason with myself about falling for Ben. I used the facilities, gathered my thoughts, and resigned myself to focusing on my meddling into John Mur
ray and all his business dealings. I would have to deal with my feelings about Ben, later. When I made the turn into the corridor that led to my office, I saw something odd. There was a shadow cast onto the slick floor outside my open office door. Whoever this shadow belonged to was in my office, standing beneath the buzzing fluorescent lighting that annoyed me on a daily basis. I charged forward towards my office making sure to click my heels against the floor loudly.

  ng that a

  “Excuse me! What the hell are you doing in my office?” The person standing at my desk startled and jerked her head upward, righting her gaze from the scattered papers on my desk.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Janis blurt out while scurrying from my work space.

  “I thought maybe you left your office open. I was just going to close it for you and shut off the lights. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.” I stood with my arms bent at the elbow and my hands perched haughtily on my hips. I was completely unmoved by her apology and excuse. I wasn’t buying it. She was snooping around me just as much as I was snooping around John Murray. I just knew it. I could feel it in my gut.

  “Yes, because the light switch to this office is on top of my desk.” I made a noise under my breath, laced with cantankerous undertones that I was sure would communicate my disbelief and abhorrence for her actions. “Well, do me a favor Janis. In the future, don’t do me any favors. Okay?” She said nothing in response to my snarky remarks and made hurried strides away from my office. I worked for an hour or so longer after my run in with the nosey Janis. My ringing cell phone pulled my attention from snooping. Ben was calling.

  “Hello?”

  “I miss you too much,” he said low into the receiver. I couldn’t help but smile as I leaned back in my chair. I closed my eyes and tried my best imagining that he was in the room with me not two time zones away on the west coast.

  “I miss you too,” I murmured into the phone. I heard him breathe deeply as if wanted me missing him.

  “It’s driving me crazy thinking of you sleeping in my bed without me. Makes me want to come home now.”

  “You’ll be back soon enough,” I reminded him.

  “Not soon enough for me.”

  “Ben, I have to go, someone is calling.”

  “Okay, Kathleen. I will talk to you tomorrow. I miss you. I mean it.”

  “I mean it, too. Bye.” I did mean it. I ignored the niggling tug in my chest again while I answered the incoming call on my cell phone. It was Cheyenne, and she was shouting and talking to what sounded like more than one person.

  “Chey! What the hell is going on?”

  “Kat, you better get your butt over to the apartment now! Someone broke in and trashed the place. The police are here.”

  “Oh my God! Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I am fine. I wasn’t here. Tuck just brought me back to the apartment to get some of my things to stay at his house and we walked into a trashed apartment!”

  “I’m on my way!” I hung up the phone before she could respond and began gathering my things. I quickly made copies of the photos and notes that I gathered about John Murray and sped to my apartment and my very shaken up best friend. When I walked into the apartment I could barely believe the sight before me was the apartment where Cheyenne and I lived. It looked like a tornado tore through the place, destroying everything in its path. I stepped over broken picture frames and around turned over furniture to get to Cheyenne. She was standing with Tucker. His big arm was draped over her petite frame, protectively. A police officer was speaking with them.

  “What in the hell happened?” Cheyenne whirled around to see me surveying the state of our place. I was sure the color had drained from my face. I was irate. I could barely believe that someone had broken into our apartment and vandalized the place.

  “Kat! See what they did?” Cheyenne screeched and flung out both arms.

  “Uh, yeah, I see what the hell happened. Can’t exactly miss it, Chey,” I shot back, disgruntled.

  “Hey! Don’t you dare snap at me, Kathleen Cooper! That’s not fair!” Cheyenne ordered with her hands planted on her hips and her cheeks slightly red as they always did when she was getting upset.

  “Sorry,” I muttered.

  “How did this happen? We always lock the doors and since the front door and lock are both still intact I’m assuming that the door was either unlocked or someone picked it,” I stated, looking towards the officer in front of Cheyenne.

  “No forced entry, ma’am. So the door could have been unlocked or picked. Difficult to say either way. We are dusting for prints now.” I nodded my head in understanding.

  “So what was stolen?”

  “Nothing, it seems.” The officer shrugged then looked around himself.

  “Nothing?” I asked him incredulously.

  “Not one thing.” The officer reaffirmed.

  Oh, shit. Definitely Murray.

  Realization and guilt crashed down on me like lead. I knew if someone broke in and didn’t take anything, their motives for breotiace="aking in could be far worse than theft. They didn’t take any of our jewelry, electronics, expensive silver that belonged to Cheyenne’s great-grandmother, or either one of the two small safes we kept in our rooms. This brought chills to my skin and caused me to visibly shiver.

  “Fuck. Not good,” I mumbled as I turned away from the group and surveyed the state of disarray that our apartment was in.

  The wheels in my head began turning. The fact that I had been warned about digging into John Murray’s business, more than once, earlier in the day did not escape me.

  If this has to do with John, then word must travel damn fast.

  I instantly felt guilty along with outraged and worried at the thought of this being the result of my snooping where I shouldn’t have.

  So if this is a warning, I will stop digging. That’s it. Just stop. What about Mrs. Kemp? What about finishing what you’ve started?

  I placed my fingers to temples and began rubbing in a circular motion to ease the firestorm going on in my head. “Any ideas on who may have done this ma’am?” The officer asked. I turned to face the group again.

  Yep, and it’s all my fault Murray had our apartment trashed. Brilliant, Kat. Really just fantastic.

  I glanced at Cheyenne who was once again in Tuck’s protective embrace. I swallowed down to urge to tell all.

  “No clue,” I said with a shrug. It was good thing that Cheyenne was turned into Tucker’s chest because she missed the lie I tossed out. One look at my face and she would call me on it. I couldn’t tell the police anything they didn’t already know about John Murray and quite simply, I wasn’t sure if the police were under his thumb. If John Murray had the police in his pocket it made anyone in uniform suspect and therefore, a useless resource to me. I decided to push forward, gather what I could as quickly as possible, then go to someone I trusted. Ben. I knew he would be furious with me for digging in to something he specifically told me to stay out of, but he would be the only person I could trust to take the information and make things happen. If John Murray did in fact have anything to do with the death of Mrs. Kemp’s husband, then I would gladly take my punishment from Ben if it meant bringing her some peace and some justice.

  Neither, Mr. or Mrs. Kemp deserved what they had gotten. Mr. Kemp was dead and Mrs. Kemp was left thinking no one cared enough to look into the circumstances under which the love of her life had died. Mr. Kemp knew that Murray

  was a criminal who was stealing obscene amounts of money from people. He was trying to do the right thing and it appeared that doing the right thing got him killed. I hoped that the same fate didn’t await me. I spoke with Cheyenne and Tucker a bit more after the police left and reassured them that I was fine staying at ne t himBen’s house alone. Tucker offered to call Ben and let him know about the break in but I promised to call him myself once I got back to his place.

  I lied, again. Tucker took my weary best friend home and I gathered up the broken bits of my home
and tossed them into the trash after taking plenty of photos for the insurance company. I secured the place again and set my car in the direction of Ben’s home. I didn’t call or text him again that night. I wouldn’t know what to say, and I was beginning to think that my lover was honing his ability to see through me even on the phone. I couldn’t afford for him to find out about my activities. He would be on the first flight back and my information gathering efforts would be halted.

  Chapter 21

  Have to try

  I stayed awake for much of the night thinking about everything I had discovered throughout the day. I also couldn’t quite shake the creepy feeling about Janis that shadowed my thoughts. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but that woman’s behavior was strange. Her glares and evil vibe went far past the normal, average catty female behavior. She stirred an uneasy feeling within me that I found impossible to ignore. I decided that I would dig into Janis Harper’s life next. I finally drifted to sleep.