by Nancy Adams
The same woman asked, “Mr. Simmons, are you saying that you have never been sexually involved with any woman at all? That you're a virgin?”
“Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. My parents raised me to believe in the virtue of chastity, and to never allow myself to let base desires rule me, and that lesson was only emphasized during my time in the Marine Corps.” I pointed to a man further back.
“Charles Fancher, New York Times. Mr. Simmons, can you give us a motive you believe explains Ms. Bennet's actions?”
I shrugged. “When we were notified of the lawsuit, the cover letter stated that Ms. Bennet was willing to discuss a settlement, one that would bind her to secrecy and keep this from ever going public. I can only speculate that her motive is for financial gain, though I would imagine a bit of revenge is in there, revenge for daring to confront her about her thefts and making her worry about the possible ramifications.”
“But why go to your girlfriend? Why not first let it slip out to the press, to put you on the defensive?”
“Again, I can only speculate, but it would seem to me that she'd want to eliminate my only true support in her home town. If she could convince Miss Burke, and cause a split between us, then I'd have no one in North Platte to cry foul on my behalf, no one to call as a character witness. I'm sure that was in there, as well.” I pointed to a woman about midway back.
“Janice Porter, People Magazine. Mr. Simmons, have you tried to contact Miss Burke and explain?”
“My attorneys have advised me not to initiate any contact with her at this point, so that I cannot be accused of trying to manipulate her as a witness. It's our understanding that she plans to testify against me, at this point, to say that there were times when she could not verify my whereabouts, which coincide with times Ms. Bennet claims I was with her.” Another woman caught my eye and I pointed to her.
“Sandra Ponder, CNN. Mr. Simmons, I've got a camera on you right now, and can broadcast worldwide. What would you say to Miss Burke right now, if she were here in this room.”
I swallowed, and then looked directly into the CNN camera.
“Katelynn, I understand why you are taking the stance that you are on this. I've seen those pictures, and they do look real. However, I swear this to you on everything we both hold holy: I did not do this, and I will prove it to you, and to the rest of the world. I love you, and want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I'm not going to let any money-grubbing, lying thief stop me from making you believe that!”
Jackson jumped up and covered the microphone, shouting, “Okay, that's it, no more questions.” I turned around and headed out the back of the room, but then one shouted question caught my attention.
“Mr. Simmons, what would you say to Ms. Bennet?”
I stopped and turned toward the reporter who asked that question, and the whole room went silent.
“There's a passage in the Bible that my mother used to read to me over and over. It's found in Isaiah 54:17, and it says that if I serve God, which I believe I do, then no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against me shall be condemned. I'm sure I'm not saying that quite right, but I believe it's pretty accurate. So what I'd say to her would be this: You've made the mistake of forming a weapon against me, and it's going to blow up in your face.”
I left the room.
Katelynn
Chapter Six
Dare To Hope
* * * * *
I was in the office about eleven AM, when the overhead speaker called me to the front of the store. I got up and went out into the store to see what was gong on, and was surprised to see two men there in security uniforms.
“Miss Burke?” asked one of them, and I nodded. “I'm Mark Wilson from Tiger Security, and this is Jim Tanner. Your company has hired us to provide security for this store for a few days. We'll be here, and we'll do our best to stay out of your way, but our job is to make sure no one bothers you or disrupts the business of the store. Where would you like us to stand?”
I shook my head. “Security? Why?”
“Ma'am, all I know is that we were called early this morning and hired to be here. The man who contacted us said that the company expects you to have some sort of issues today, and that we were to make sure that you, personally, were not bothered by anyone you didn't know or want to talk to, and that the store might be overrun by people, perhaps even picketed later today. One of us is supposed to stay close to you, and the other should be out in the store.”
I didn't know what to think. We'd never had any kind of security inside the store, before…
It suddenly hit me. Someone must have leaked the story of Donna's lawsuit and accusations, and the company was covering its butt! They probably didn't want me talking to anyone about it, and these guys were here to make sure I didn't!
“You can stand anywhere you want, as long as you stay out of my way. And as for me, I don't need any protection from anyone, so just leave me alone!” I turned and stomped my way back to my office. I heard Mr. Wilson sigh, and then he followed me, but didn’t try to come inside the office with me. Good thing, or he'd have seen just how vocal I can get!
I sat down behind my desk and fumed for a moment. How dare they try to shut me up? I thought about it for a couple of minutes, getting madder and madder, and then grabbed the phone on the desk and punched the button to call corporate.
The receptionist listened to me rant for a few seconds, and then transferred me to a man named Mike Davenport, who she said was head of store security.
“Davenport,” he said as he answered.
“Mr. Davenport, this is Katelynn Burke, manager of the north Platte, Nebraska store. I've just had a couple of security guys walk in here and tell me they're supposed to keep me locked up so no one can talk to me, and I want to know what on earth is going on! If there's one thing that you and your illustrious CEO need to figure out pretty darn quick, it's that I don't shut up for anyone! If I decide to talk to anyone about this whole issue, I'll talk, and you're not going to shut me up!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Miss Burke, please calm down! Those men are not there to keep you from talking to anyone you want to, they're there because Mr. Simmons has just issued a press statement denying Ms. Bennet's allegations, and it's very likely that your store is going to be flooded with reporters and people trying to stick their own noses into this. One of the things you can expect is other woman who will be trying to claim Mr. Simmons visited them, as well, to try to get part of any settlement or court awards. It should be obvious that they're lying, but this sort of thing happens whenever a news story like this breaks.”
I listened to what he had to say, but didn't quite get it. “Are you saying there are other women he's been with in North Platte?” My eyes were as wide in indignant rage as they could get.
“No, Miss Burke, there are not. What I'm saying is that people always think they can get in on some gravy train when this sort of lawsuit is going on, and they'll think the first place to go is to your store to make their own false accusations. That's just human nature, I'm afraid; if people think one person is going to benefit from something like this, they'll try to get their own hooks into it, too.”
I was a little calmer, and thought over all he said. “But how can he be denying what she said? I saw the pictures, Mr. Davenport! Pictures don't lie!”
He sighed into the phone. “Miss Burke, I can assure you that they do. The state of photo manipulation technology has gotten to the point that it doesn’t take a specialist to make very realistic fake photos. We're having these particular pictures analyzed by one of the best photo labs in the country right now, and we're very confident we'll know how they were made very soon.”
My head was spinning. Was it possible Donna had somehow managed to fake those pictures, that she was actually making this whole thing up? She'd been so convincing, even the way she'd gotten angry when I accused her of lying about it—and how could she, a plain and simple store clerk, every h
ave the skills and equipment to make them look so real?
I wasn't ready to believe that Nate was innocent, not just yet, but there was suddenly a fear that rose up in me. What if he was, and I'd lost the only man I'd ever love?
“Mr. Davenport, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I misunderstood the security man. This whole thing has got me so torn up I can't even think clearly.”
“I'm sure it has, Miss Burke. For what it's worth, I am quite certain that Mr. Simmons wishes he'd handled the whole theft thing differently.”
I caught that, and it didn't make sense. “Theft thing?” I asked him.
“Why, yes. It was me that discovered that Ms. Bennet was the one stealing the money and trying to blame it on you, and when I told him, he said he wanted to handle it quietly because she was a friend of yours. He didn't want you to find out and hold any ill feelings toward her.”
I had to lean forward over the desk and hold my head up with my free hand.
“Are you saying that she really was the one? The one stealing the money?”
“Oh, yes, there's no doubt about that at all. I spent two days in accounting, going over it with a forensic accountant to determine how she was diddling the computer to make it look like it was happening on your own shift and reports. We have enough evidence to prosecute her, but Mr. Simmons won't let us because he gave his word. That's just the way he is.”
I didn't know what to think. Donna was definitely the thief? She'd sworn to me that she wasn't, that she had no idea who it might have been, and I'd believed her! Was I just a fool? And what if Davenport was right about the pictures?
“Mr. Davenport,” I said, “can you tell me, right now, that you are certain that those pictures are fake?”
“Am I certain? Yes, I am, because I've known Nate Simmons for more than twenty years that I've been with the company. Can I prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt at this moment? No, because I've not yet gotten the lab report back, but I can tell you this: No matter what that report says, there is no way I'll ever believe that woman's story, because I know Nate, and I've known his parents for many years. I know how they raised him, and he would never do such a thing as this. And besides, Miss Burke, all we heard out of him while he was here taking over was that we had to hurry it up so he could get back to the woman he loved, and that was you. He'd never betray you like that.”
“I—thank you, Mr. Davenport,” I said, and hung up without another word.
I didn't know what was happening to me. My head was spinning, my mind was whirling with all the different possibilities in this scenario, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I truly believed and what I didn't. If Nate was innocent of these accusations, then I was the one who had betrayed him, not the other way around, because I never even gave him the chance to defend himself. I had judged him and found him guilty without ever once asking for his side of the story, and it suddenly hit me that that was exactly what Donna had wanted me to do.
What kind of fool was I?
I sat there for a long time, and then something Mr. Davenport said hit me, about Nate issuing a press statement. I wondered what that meant, and turned to the computer to Google it. From what I read, it could mean anything from putting out a press release to calling a full scale press conference, so I went to the company's website and checked their “Nate's In The News” page.
At the top of the page, it said, “Nate's CEO Nathanael Simmons Accused Of Sexual Harassment; Press Conference At Noon Today.” That meant the press conference had started more than an hour earlier, so I Googled “Nate's Stores Press Conference,” and got a link to CNN. I clicked it and saw a flashing sign that said, “Breaking News!” over a video box. The video took a few seconds to load, and then I saw a man standing at a podium.
He said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we thank you for coming this morning. What you’re about to hear is very unpleasant for us, but it's the kind of thing that many companies have to deal with from time to time, and we are no exception. We recently opened a new store in North Platte, Nebraska, and our new CEO, Nathanael Simmons, who was then a staff trainer, went there to train the new manager.
“Last week, an employee of that store filed a lawsuit against Mr. Simmons, alleging that he used threats and intimidation to coerce her into a secret sexual relationship. This employee, Donna Marie Bennet, had recently been found to be stealing small amounts of money from the store, and manipulating the computer records to make it appear that the thefts were being committed by the store's manager, Katelynn Burke. When this situation was brought to Mr. Simmons' attention, he investigated and found that the thefts had been committed because of a medical need of one of Ms. Bennet's children, and as a result, he did not terminate her, but instead agreed not to prosecute, and then gave her a substantial amount of cash from his own pocket to cover the balance of that need. Mr. Simmons and Miss Burke had by this time developed a personal relationship. It is our position that Ms. Bennet must have felt that Mr. Simmons would at some point tell Miss Burke, and has made these allegations with the intent of preempting any action against her by Miss Burke.
“We must also tell you, that Ms. Bennet had produced what we believe and maintain are manipulated photographs that seem to put Mr. Simmons with her in compromising positions. These photographs are being examined by experts even now, to determine how they can appear so authentic, when we know that they cannot be. I will now turn the floor over to Nathanael Simmons, who will make his own statement and then answer your questions.”
That man stepped aside, and Nate took a position behind the podium. I listened through his entire statement, and the more I heard, the more my heart ached for how I'd done him. He said basically the same things the other man had said, and then the reporters in the crowd began shouting questions at him. He answered several of them, and then a woman stood up.
“Sandra Ponder,” she said, “CNN. Mr. Simmons, I've got a camera on you right now, and can broadcast worldwide. What would you say to Miss Burke right now, if she were here in this room.”
My heart stopped as the camera cut back to Nate. He stood there for a just a moment, and then it was like he was looking right into my eyes. I heard a sob, and realized that it had come from me, as I stared into those eyes that I loved so much, those eyes I ached to gaze into again.
“Katelynn,” he said, and though I knew the whole country could see this, I also knew without any doubt that he was speaking directly to me. “I understand why you are taking the stance that you are on this. I've seen those pictures, and they do look real. However, I swear this to you on everything we both hold holy: I did not do this, and I will prove it to you, and to the rest of the world. I love you, and want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I'm not going to let any money-grubbing, lying thief stop me from making you believe that!”
He was hustled away after that, and I clicked to stop the video. The tears were flowing down my cheeks like rain running off a roof, and I actually didn't hear the knock on the office door, at first. I mean, I heard it, but it didn't register at first what it was, and when it did, the person was already knocking again.
“Katelynn,” Corie called through the door, “I think you might want to come out here. There are reporters in the store, asking everyone about what Donna said.”
I wiped my eyes the best I could and steeled myself, then got up and went out the door into the back hallway and started toward the front with Corie. Mr. Wilson, the security man, fell in behind us, but I ignored him. As I was walking, I thought about how I would tell them that I was wrong, that Nate would never have done this, and that I loved him and was praying he'd forgive me for doubting him, but it suddenly dawned on me that that would only create confusion. What I needed to do, I thought, was think of a way to use this new conviction I had that Nate was truly innocent against Donna.
I stopped in the hallway, and Corie stopped to look at me. “Go on,” I said, “Ill be there in a minute.” She raised her eyebrows, but did as I said, and I was alone.
I took out my cell phone and sent a text message, then put it away and went out front. There were reporters, all right, a half dozen of them, and they all started yelling when they saw me. I got them to stop by holding up a hand, and said, “Okay, one at a time.”
A man in front asked, “Miss Burke, do you think Nathanael Simmons did what he's been accused of?”
I smiled as sadly as I could manage. “Well, I hate to admit it, but after seeing those pictures, I'd have to say he's as guilty as sin!”
John
Chapter Seven
The Stalker
* * * * *
One of the perks of my job is that I get to be a stalker, without getting into trouble over it. At the moment that thought hit me, I was stalking the employees of Nate's Store in North Platte, trying to get a line on which of them was “the inside gal.”
I knew there'd be a flap at the store, once the press conference hit CNN and Bloomberg, and I was right. I was already there, browsing the aisles like a customer, when the security people showed up, and hung around to see what else was about to happen. Sure enough, I didn't have to wait long; six reporters from local news showed up, all demanding to see the manager immediately. They would have stormed the back office if the security guy out front hadn't shown them just how intimidating he could be.
One of the girls went to tell her what was happening, and she came out a few minutes later. When they asked her if she thought Simmons was guilty, she said there wasn't any doubt in her mind, and then the questions really began. Was she his girlfriend? Was she sleeping with him? Did she help Donna Bennet set him up? It didn't take long before she was completely frustrated, and the security detail cut the whole thing short and pushed the reporters out.
I continued to hang out for a few minutes, watching all of the staff I could see, and sure enough, one of them tried to slip off alone. I followed, and heard the woman call the man named Jerry and report that the press conference had the whole town in an uproar, but that Miss Burke was still firmly in Bennet's corner. I made a point, as I was checking out, to go to her register and read her name tag: Karen Lang.