by Jean Martino
“I’m not sure I want to hear this,” he said, standing up.
She stood up also and grabbed his arm. “Benny you’re the only one I can talk to about it.”
Reluctantly he agreed to hear her out.
“For the almost two years we have lived in that house I kept telling Michael I wanted us to get our stuff out of storage and use it. But he kept telling me to wait a while longer. I never felt comfortable in that house. It was so impersonal and had nothing of us in it. I was getting to the point where I was going to get the stuff out of storage myself and put it around whether he liked it or not. Then, it was two nights ago, when I found out something was really wrong.
“Michael came home from work looking like he had just run the Boston marathon, all out of breath and red faced. When I asked him what was wrong, he just said, ‘we may have to leave here.’ I was stunned and confused and asked him why and he said because things were getting out of hand at the office and he couldn’t take it any longer.” She stopped and Benny noticed she was clenching and unclenching her hands, but he remained silent waiting for her to continue.
“I had to pull it out of him,” she said, her voice becoming emotional, “but eventually he told me that the special clients Roger McLean had asked him to take control of were mostly men with underworld connections, trying to bring illegitimate money back into the country from offshore banks and get it legitimized through stock purchases. He said that they were bringing it in through some consortium owning hotels in Las Vegas and headed by Carl Denholm.” Her voice was starting to break, but Benny let her continue. “He said he hadn’t known about it at first, just thought it was money these guys had sent offshore to defer taxes. But when he found out what was happening he talked to Roger about it and told him it made him uncomfortable, and Roger told him not to worry, that everything was legal and to keep doing what he had been doing and not make waves with important clientele.”
The blood had drained from Benny’s face as she talked. Shit, he thought, no wonder Michael wouldn’t allow any of them to touch his accounts. He’d even changed his password every week to make sure no one hacked into them.
“So now,” Cindy continued, “it was all out in the open and he told me the house wasn’t ours even, that Roger owned it and had let us stay in it rent free as a bonus for Michael doing a great job with the special accounts. He told me that the money we had gotten from selling our Huntington Beach house he had invested in bonds for us, and was going to tell me one day but for now didn’t know how. Benny, they were blackmailing him! He was scared stiff to not go along with them. He said that’s why he had insisted we store all our personal stuff like furniture and other things instead of taking them to that house. He was preparing to leave there one day somehow but he didn’t know where to turn and how to get out of it.”
“Phew!” said Benny emitting a low whistle. “That’s heavy stuff.”
“I know,” she said, pacing back and forth along the path. “I’m worried about Michael now, and next week I’m leaving to fly to Australia for a month to visit mom and I don’t know how I can leave him like this.”
“Why doesn’t he go with you then?”
“I tried to talk him into it but he’s afraid to leave the office in case someone finds out what he was involved in. And he says those clients expect him to be on top of everything going on in the stock market in order to keep trading, and he can’t leave their accounts with anyone else.”
“I can understand why not,” said Benny, feeling deeply concerned for them both but not knowing how to advise her. “And you say he asked Roger to take him off the accounts and he refused?”
She nodded, her face showing the strain she’d been under. “He won’t let him,” she said. “He... he knows too much now about those people and where the money is coming from. The house, the bonuses, the money, all sucked him in and he got carried away with it, not thinking about the consequences. And now it’s too late for him to pull out, and he’s scared of going against them. He said these are crime lords who’d think nothing of having someone taken out if they felt they were a threat to them. Benny, we are trapped! We can’t get out.”
The sounds of children playing were coming from next door in Linda’s rented house and Cindy and Benny listened for a while in silence. Memories of when Cindy lived there were rushing through Benny’s mind. He was the youngest of three children, his older brother and sister teenagers when he was just starting school. He still remembered his first day at school, holding Cindy’s hand as they walked into the class room. Cindy was popular with everyone, she made friends easily. But she always looked for him during breaks and lunch times, forcing him to mix with her friends, clucking around him like a little mother hen. They couldn’t wait to get home and ride their bikes. Anything Cindy had wanted he had done. He became overly protective of her too, remembering after her father had died, how she was getting in with the wrong crowd and often finding her and dragging her home, lecturing her about how much concern she was causing her mother.
“Have you talked to your mom about this?” he asked.
“God no!” cried Cindy, pulling out of her reverie of memories too. “She would be on the first plane over here trying to straighten it out for us. Benny, I can’t get her involved. I don’t know how this is all going to end, but I can’t drag her into it.”
“But is that being fair to her?” he asked. “What are you going to tell her when you get there for your visit? That everything is honky dory here with you and Michael? You know she will see right through you if you lie to her.”
Cindy put her hands over her face. “I know,” she said, “I can’t lie to her. I don’t know what to tell her. I don’t know what to do. I can’t just leave Michael here alone knowing what he’s going through either.”
He stood up and put his arms around her as she burst into tears. He didn’t know how to advise her. The situation was beyond him. “Has Michael talked to his parents about it?”
Cindy shook her head. “He’s afraid to get them involved too. If they knew what he’d gotten himself into they’d probably have a heart attack. They’re not young people you know.”
“You could go to the police and tell them everything,” he said.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Benny,” she cried, pulling away from him and stepping backwards to stare at him, wiping away her tears with her hands, her eyes flashing with anger. “They’d find out about that house we live in and the connection to those people and Michael would be dragged into the gutter with all of them. And he knows we have to leave there, he knows we can’t live in that place anymore. I don’t know where we would go even. Our lives are in limbo and all because Michael got carried away with greed and ambition and didn’t stop to think what he was getting himself, and me, into.”
“Then just take off,” he said. “Both of you fly back to Australia and get away from all this.”
“If we did that then mom would get involved and that’s the last thing we want. Those people would find out where we were somehow and her life would be in danger too. And we’d have to return here eventually. We couldn’t stay in Australia forever.”
There didn’t seem to be an answer to their predicament. If Roger McLean refused to let Michael get out of handling those accounts and Michael was afraid of retaliation from the investors if he did, then they were between a rock and a hard place. If Mrs. Rossi, he thought, knew what was happening she would surely fly back here. She wasn’t going to sit at home without doing something. Michael had gotten them in one hell of a big mess.
“I’m sorry,” said Cindy, touching his arm gently. “I shouldn’t have told you all this. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“We’re friends, Cindy,” he said sadly. “I would expect you to come to me if you have a problem. This, however, is something I don’t know how to advise you on. You can’t let your mom or Michael’s parents know because you are afraid of them getting involved, which we both know they would if they knew. If you’re afraid to go
to the police and can’t live in that house any longer and Michael can’t get out of the situation at McLean’s without fear of reprisal from those investors, then the only solution seems to be to disappear, take off somewhere and don’t leave any trails so they could find you.”
She stared at him in surprise. “It would kill mom and Michael’s parents if we did that,” she said angrily.
“And it will kill you and Michael if you don’t,” he said, his face tight with fear for them both.
“But I can’t just not show up in Australia,” she said. “Mom would go out of her mind with worry, especially if she couldn’t get a hold of us. And there’s no way I could tell her. I can’t afford to get her involved.”
He nodded. “It’s a tough decision to make, Cindy. But I know your mom, and I know if you didn’t show up she would know too that something stopped you that you couldn’t prevent. Cindy, you have to get away from here with Michael. Not tell anyone, even me, where you are going. Those people he’s involved with would hunt everyone down and not let up until they found out where you went. You have to make a clean break. Tell no one, not even your mother or Michael’s parents. The less they know the better for them.”
“Oh shit,” she cried, hearing Rosie’s car pulling into the drive. “I have to go Benny.” She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I love you. Always remember that.”
* *
The waitress had returned to replace their beers and Benny went quiet. When she left, he said, “That was the last time I talked to Cindy. I hadn’t been much help but I think letting her talk it out like that she came to her own conclusion for what they had to do. I saw Michael at the office the following week but he looked strained and ready to crack and I couldn’t let him know I knew why. Then, the day before Cindy was supposed to fly to Australia, he came up to my cubicle and asked about a certain stock.
* *
“Hey buddy,” said Michael, placing the letter size papers he was carrying on Benny’s desk. “I need a second opinion on some stock I’m interested in. Call it up on the data base and see what you think.” He pointed to the top sheet on the papers he had brought with him that displayed the name of the company and Benny opened his computer and called it up.
As Michael stood behind Benny looking over his shoulder and they read the statistics on the company involved, Benny had a weird feeling that Michael already knew what they were reading and he wondered why Michael would ask him to check it out.
“Looks good to me,” said Benny. “Might steer my clients to it too.”
Michael had his hand on Benny’s shoulder, something he never did, and Benny got goose bumps wondering if Cindy had told Michael about their conversation a week ago.
“Ok, buddy,” said Michael. “Thanks for your help.”
Benny spun quickly around in his chair. “How’s Cindy?” he asked.
“Great,” said Michael, a smile spreading across his handsome tanned face, his brown eyes warm and friendly. “She’s excited about her trip tomorrow night to Australia. Can’t wait to see her mother.”
Michael lifted his hand and combed his fingers through his blond hair, pushing it away from his forehead, and it was that gesture that made Benny feel something was not right. It was an old habit of Michael’s that Cindy had told him he did when he was troubled about something. But he obviously didn’t want to talk and Benny didn’t know what to say anyway. One of the security cameras that made the staff at McLean’s feel like Big Brother was watching them was turned in their direction.
“That’s great,” said Benny. “I know Mrs. Rossi will be happy to see her again. Tell her to have a great trip and give my love to her mother.”
“I will,” said Michael, then casually placed his hand again on Benny’s shoulder just for a second before turning and walking off. “Catch you later,” he heard him call.
Benny sat down again and turned his attention back to his computer and out of the corner of his eye he saw Michael’s papers that were still on his desk. Thinking Michael had forgotten them he picked them up to take back to him when a small square flat CD box fell out from between the pages. It was a plain unlabelled box and there was a yellow sticky note on it that read, “BF, open in private... Luvya... MB” A cold feeling swept over him. He stood up to look for Michael, his cubicle was only two cubicles away from his, and then he saw him getting into the elevator. He started to lift his hand to wave to get Michael’s attention but then remembered the security camera and stopped. Michael looked back in his direction for only a second before the elevator doors closed. Benny sat down again abruptly. Although Michael had not acknowledged his looking at him, he knew he had seen him watching him.
* *
It was pretty much what Scott had suspected had happened. Michael and Cindy had no choice but to just leave and disappear in order to get out of a very sticky situation.
“I immediately knew he was leaving somehow and I would probably never see him again,” Benny continued. “I put the floppy discs into a small manila envelope and tucked them inside my jacket pocket. I felt all cold inside, and scared. After what Cindy had told me I didn’t know who to trust anymore. And I guess neither did Michael, but he trusted me and I knew whatever was on those discs he wanted me to help him.”
After dinner that night, while Rosie was putting the kids to bed, Benny went into his den and opened his computer. Removing the discs from their box he noticed the discs were only labeled “1” and “2” and “3”. Inserting the first disc he watched as it opened in WordPad. It began with a note from Michael, telling him that he knew Cindy had told him about the problem they were facing and he hoped he wasn’t pushing it but needed Benny’s help. As Benny read Michael’s words telling him he was the only true friend he had ever had and he trusted him more than anyone he had ever known, Benny’s eyes smarted with tears. “What I’m going to ask you to do, buddy,” he continued to read, “is simple and will not cause you any problems, I promise. Cindy and I love you and Rosie and the kids very much and I would never ask you to do anything that would hurt any of you. But you’re the only one I can trust.”
When Benny read Michael’s instructions he felt a wave of fear rush over him, causing perspiration to break out on his forehead. Grabbing a handful of tissues from the box on his desk, he wiped his face with them. My God! he thought, how could Michael expect him to do this? It was too much to ask even if they were best friends. If he did what Michael was asking him to, then he was putting his own neck in the noose along with Michael and he couldn’t do that to Rosie and his kids.
He turned the computer off quickly and took out the disc and put them all back in the box; hiding them in the bottom drawer of his desk without looking at the other two. He was angry and hurt that Michael would attempt to get him involved through their friendship and no matter how much he loved Michael and Cindy he still had a wife and kids to take care of.
“I have to go out for a minute,” he told Rosie who was watching television when he walked into the living room. “Left something at the office I need to work on.”
“Can’t it wait till tomorrow?” asked Rosie with a frown.
“No, honey,” he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “I have to take care of it before the New York Stock Exchange opens in the morning. I’ll only be twenty minutes. I promise.”
“OK,” she said, flicking off the television set. “I’m going to soak in the tub and then go to bed and read for a while. Nothing on television as usual.”
He wasn’t going back to the office. He just needed to think about what Michael had asked him to do in the note on WordPad. He drove around trying to sort it all out in his mind. Michael and Cindy were gone, or soon would be. He probably would never see them again. That thought caused a pain to develop in his chest. He wished now he hadn’t suggested it that day when he talked to Cindy. But Michael knew that’s what they’d have to do also, he was sure of it. He was only expressing something that Cindy knew too but was afraid to admit. Sudde
nly he realized he had driven over to the street where Cindy and Michael lived.
He turned off the ignition and lights and sat for a while staring at the darkened house. Were they still inside it? Had they left yet? Where would they go? Would he ever see them again? And what would Cindy’s mother go through if they had done what he thought they were planning to do and not even notified her Cindy wasn’t coming to visit her?
As he sat there, another car came driving slowly down the street. Whether nervousness or intuition caused it Benny didn’t know but he found himself sliding sideways so he wouldn’t be seen. The car was black with blacked out windows so he couldn’t see much anyway. But he saw the top half of it driving slowly by Cindy’s house, almost stopping for a minute but then continuing onwards. When he was sure it had gone, he sat up again and started the car up; he knew then he had to help them. Michael and Cindy needed him and he couldn’t let them down.
* *
He stopped talking and raised his eyes to glance sideways, beads of perspiration breaking out on his upper lip.