Sweet Little Lies

by Michele Grant

  “Damn, I thought I’d really grown. How did I misjudge people so close to me?”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. You kept Lance around for his financial genius, and that he is. You wanted Christina because she’s an amazing, beautiful woman, and that she is. Both of them just have a few issues to work through. But there’s nothing you can do about either. Some folks just got to find their own way,” Rob said.

  Jimmy shook his head. “Isn’t this fine table talk to attract the women? You two are killing my game.”

  “Then my job here is done. Can we please get the hell outta here?” I asked.

  Rob signaled for the bill.“We’ll back off for now, but you need to either get your girl back or get back out there.You’re a testy brother when you’re by yourself.”

  “Amen,” Jimmy agreed.

  “Get my girl back? Are you crazy? You want me to take back a girl who believes I stole money, hustled for a living, and lied to everyone I know? Really?”

  “She didn’t mean it,” Rob said.“She’s just confused.”

  That was an understatement.

  “C’mon, man, you know she loves you,” Jimmy said.

  “Wel, she has a hellified way of showing it. That’s all I know!” I raised my voice a little at the end.

  They exchanged glances again. Rob took some bills from his pocket and tossed them on the table. “Okay, brother, we can go.”

  I was more than ready to leave.

  39

  You Will Fix This

  Christina—Saturday, March 13, 6:28 p.m.

  Girls’ night in had taken on a different flavor. We were at Carey’s house again. Jax brought the baby, Lynne brought a new (humbler) attitude, Carey brought bridal magazines, and Celia joined us. The last six months had forced all of us to reprioritize.

  “So how was your first week back at work?” Celia asked me while she rocked baby Christopher back to sleep.

  “Difficult.”That was an understatement. Though the Chi-Wind story had moved to the back burner, the fallout from the story still reverberated around the station. Brandon was on a forced leave of absence. Primarily because you don’t deliberately, with malicious glee, setup your on-air personalities for humiliation.

  The Js forced an all-hands meeting on us, where they laid down the law. Things were going to change.There would be no more office vendettas played out on the air or on the Inter-net. Those who couldn’t play nice were invited to find alternate employment.

  The heightened profile of the network meant more pressure on us to continue to deliver the kind of insightful but personal news stories that the advertisers loved. I was starting a new series on the billion-dollar business of weddings. Ironic, but I had planned three, and could consider myself an expert on everything from Ecuadoran roses to seating charts. Let’s just say my heart wasn’t in it.

  I had turned a corner on my failed relationship with Steven. I was no longer angry, I was sad. Carey said I had my stages of grief all mashed up. I skipped past denial, bounced around angry, ignored bargaining, and settled into sad depres-sion. Apparently I was only one step away from acceptance and moving on. I was ready to get there already. I was tired of feeling like warmed-over crap every day.

  The newsroom itself was a reminder of the latest episode of Watch Christina’s Life Go Up in Flames. I couldn’t even sit in the same chair when I was on air. I shifted to take the right-hand chair on the anchor desk.

  And then there was the whole “Are you okay?” sympathy gauntlet to get through. You could almost fool yourself into thinking that you’re okay until someone asks you about it for the third time in an hour. Work was exhausting, but it was all I had left.

  With a sigh, I looked up to see four sets of eyes on me.

  “What?”

  “You’re gonna get mad,” Lynne said.

  “Tell me anyway. I can’t take y’all giving me the eye all night.”

  They looked at Carey. So I did, too. Clearly, she’d been chosen as spokesman. She put down her magazine and came over to sit across from me on the sofa. “There’s a very good, very real chance that Steven was set up.”

  “What are you talking about?” My heart started beating rapidly.

  “Clarke and Collin hired an independent investigator,” Celia said.

  “When? What did they find out?”

  “What does it matter?” Jackie said. “The point is—that man is innocent.”

  “How can you be sure? Who set him up? Are they sure?”

  Lynne piped up. “They’re sure. It looks to be a combination of the congressman, Lance, and Brandon.”

  “Lance and Brandon? Are you kidding?”

  “Now why would we lie about it?” Carey sucked her teeth.“Christina, this is big business.That 1.3 million dollars is just the tip of the iceberg of what can really be pocketed if this project gets off the ground.We’re talking millions and millions of dollars that will be lost forever if someone doesn’t do something to stop it. Steven hasn’t seen the report yet. You have an opportunity to clear his name and do the right thing.”

  “Someone like who? Me? Oh hell, no—I’m not touching this story again. No way.” I think I sacrificed enough, chasing this story.

  A woman’s voice came down the hallway. “You little chicken-shit bitch. You will, too!” Stefani appeared in Carey’s living room looking very, very ill.

  I looked around at the other ladies, who were suddenly looking everywhere but at me.“Um, hey, Stefani.”

  “Hey my ass. You broke my brother again.” She paused strategically.“But this time you will fix this. You hear me?”

  “Um.”What to say to that?

  “Christina, I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh, congrats—”

  “Bump that.” She cut me off. “I’m pregnant. My twin is miserable, so I am miserable, which means my baby is miserable. I spend a third of my life sleeping, a third of my life clasping the toilet, and the other third propping up my brother. My husband throws chocolate, ginger ale, and stale crackers at me and flees my presence. This sucks. Now you have the power to fix this, and by God, you will do it.”

  “Well, actually … um….” I had no intention of getting back into it. Any of it.

  “Stop saying um! Now I like you, Christina. It’s taken me a while to warm up to your heart-breaking ass, but now that I have…I feel comfortable in saying this. You are a wuss.”

  I looked around and noticed that no one, not a one of my friends, was jumping to my defense. “Did she just call me a wuss?”

  Jackie cackled.“Stop her when she’s lying!”

  “You all think I’m a wuss?” Again, no dissent from the crew.

  Amongst the nods, Carey added,“I like ‘chicken-shit bitch’ myself.”

  “You like ‘spoiled, entitled princess’ better?” Stefani suggested.

  I frowned in confusion.“Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?”

  Lynne yelled, “Girl, quit acting brand-new! You trusted him enough to know that he wasn’t the least bit interested in me, but you all of a sudden decided he was capable of jacking funds from his own foundation? C’mon, now.”

  Celia said,“What do the kids say—GTFOH?”

  “Translation?” I asked.

  “Get The Eff Outta Here with that,” Carey supplied.“You cut and run on that boy at the very first sign of trouble. Unsubstantiated trouble, at that. You need to be shamed.”

  Stefani stomped her foot. “Bitch, you wanted to bail, so you bailed.”

  Okay now, it was getting a little hostile for me. “Stef, I know you’re with child and all, but I’m not gonna be too many more bitches up here, okay?”

  “Hmph.You’re lucky that’s all I call you. I’m from South Side Chicago. Don’t let the new bouge fool you. You fix this or I am coming for that ass.”

  I couldn’t help it. I dissolved into laughter. Stefani was plenty siddity, so to hear “coming for that ass” flying out of her mouth amused the rest of us greatly.

  She rolled her eye
s.“Before this setup …”

  “Alleged setup,” I interjected.

  “Whatev. Before this, did you love my brother, or were you just using him?”

  I closed my eyes. I could see him, right before I walked on set that night.“Knock ’em dead, Ti-Ti. I’ll be right here when you’re done,” he’d said in my ear. When I opened my eyes, I smiled sadly.“I loved him. I mean, I love him. But—”

  “No buts,” Jackie said.

  “I really hurt him. He’ll never forgive me.”

  “Yes, you did and yes, he will.” Stefani said.

  “No, Stef, you don’t know—he’s really mad at me.”

  “Uh-huh.The picture he broke?”

  “You mean the one he smashed against the wall before telling me to drop the key and get the hell out? That one? Yes, I recall it.”

  “Get over yourself. He got another one. Bigger. It’s hanging in his office.”

  My breath caught in my throat.“Seriously?”

  Stefani rolled her eyes. “Yes, seriously. Me? Personally, I would’ve written you off after New York, but that brother of mine is all about some Christina Brinsley. He’s proud as hell. You’re gonna have to work to get him back, but he’s yours. You betta be worth it.”

  “Christina, really—who else is gonna put up with your difficult ass?” Jackie said.

  “Have you seen what he does to a pair of running shorts?” Lynne said.

  “Hey!” Stefani grimaced.

  “Watch it!” I scolded with a grin. He did do something magical to stretchy cotton.

  “He’s in the wedding. He’s one of Clarke’s attendants. Your foolishness is not about to ruin my ascension into Brinsley-hood,” Carey snapped.“You better get that boy back.”

  “Beg if you have to.”

  I winced. I might have to.“Okay, here’s what I need.All the evidence from the investigator Collin and Clarke hired, I need Rita on the next plane out here from New York, five minutes with Congressman Walker, a half hour of airtime, a prayer, and a hug.”

  They all stared at me as if I’d gone off the deep end.“Not necessarily in that order, people—huddle up! Group hug!”

  “She’s back.”

  “Crazier than ever.”

  “Her crazy ass better fix my brother.”

  I was going to do my damnedest.

  40

  Pride Goeth Before a Fall

  Steven—Friday, March 18, 8:30 a.m.

  What I wouldn’t give for a moment’s peace and quiet. Introspection, reflection, and review. What do they call it now? Some “me” time. That’s what I longed for. Just a little bit of Steven time. There’s thoughtful concern and then there was helicopter hovering. Friends and family had moved firmly into the helicopter side of the scale.

  Stefani was wearing me out. She hadn’t given a brother a moment to breathe. I had been reinstated at the university pending further review, but my class load was still light. That gave me lots of time that was supposed to be to myself. But I couldn’t kick my pregnant twin out on her ass without appearing rude.

  She was currently fiddling with the TV. Flipping channels, checking the time, and acting very fidgety and nervous. It was making me a little crazy.

  “What are you looking for?” Anything to stop the rapid-fire rifling through the channels again and again.

  “Here it is. Come sit down and watch with me.” She patted the sofa beside her.

  I shuffled over and saw the VNN logo come up on the screen. “You’re kidding me with this, right?” I tried to reach for the remote.

  “Shut up and sit down. For once in your life, just listen to me for a change. Please?” She sounded stressed. I did not want to stress out a woman carrying my niece or nephew.

  But this was the last thing I needed. There in 52-inch high-definition was Christina, smiling into the camera. I guess she was back at work. “We’re back. This morning, we’re going to take time away from our normal news recap to do a follow-up on a story I covered about a month ago concerning Project Mercury.”

  “Oh hell, no! Give me a break, Stef.” I jumped up and Ste-fani pulled me back down.

  “I asked nicely the first time. Don’t make me get nasty.”

  With a resolved sigh, I crossed my arms and sat back.

  “Here with me now is Lance Porter, chief operating officer of Chi-Wind foundation. Lance, how are things at the foundation?”

  I leaned forward to listen.

  “A little different.We’ve placed Dr.Williams on an indefinite, unpaid leave of absence, so I’m wearing quite a few hats right now.” He launched into a short soliloquy on how he was doing his best to hold down the fort in the midst of this storm because the work was so important. I rolled my eyes.

  Christina nodded, put her elbow on the desk, her chin in her hand, and blinked at him.

  “Oh shit, she’s got something!” I said, slowly standing up and moving closer to the screen.

  “How can you tell?” Stefani asked, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

  I pointed.“The chin, eye-blinky thing. It’s one of her tells. It means she’s about to break her foot off in somebody’s hind parts. Shhh, I want to listen.”

  I didn’t see Stefani’s smile get wide; I was too busy watching Christina’s face.

  “Mr. Porter, speaking of hats …I have some video here of you walking into a bank in Costa Rica. Roll tape, please.”

  A short video played showing a man in a large beach hat and sunglasses walking into a bank. He spoke to someone who directed him to a desk. He shook the banker’s hand and then took off the hat and sunglasses. It was Lance. He took a check out of his pocket, signed the back, and handed it over along with a passport.

  “Mr. Porter, while I admired your style of hats, why were you in a Costa Rican bank with a falsified passport, claiming that you were Steven Williams? And why did you forge his name on the back of this check?” She held up the check to the camera.“A check that was clearly from a Mr. Perry Marsh and made out to Chi-Wind Foundation in the amount of $78,192.64?”

  “Er, uh—” Lance’s eyes shifted to the left.

  “Isn’t this the money that you and others accused Dr. Williams of embezzling from the foundation?”

  “Well now…” Lance was starting to sweat a little bit.

  “And can we conclude by your inability to articulate any plausible response that you were involved in some sort of cover-up to frame Dr.Williams?” Her tone was silky and her eyes were wide.

  “Yes!” I said, lifting my arms over my head.

  Lance looked around.“I think I need to invoke my right to counsel.”

  “This isn’t a courtroom, sir. You have no such rights. Now, do you know the significance of this amount? This $78,192.64?”

  “No, no I do not.” No, he did not.

  “That’s right. Only three people in the world do, sir. Me, Perry Marsh, and Dr. Steven Williams. Can you tell us why you tried to frame Dr.Williams?”

  “I’m going to have to decline to answer any more questions at this time.”

  “Oh, that’s fine by me, but I believe there are some authorities waiting offstage to have a little chat with you.” She turned back to the camera.“When we return, the origin of these second set of books, and Congressman Walker’s response.You’re watching VNN, where truth matters to us because it matters to you.”

  I looked at Stefani.“What just happened?” Before I could finish asking, my cell phone started ringing and buzzing with new text message notifications. I glanced at the screen.

  It was Clarke calling. “That sister of mine has her uses, huh?”

  “You could say that again.”

  “I’ll call you back. I want to watch the rest. Congratulations, my friend. Looks like the monkey’s off your back.”

  “Thanks, Clarke.And thank your sister for me, too.”

  “Hmm, you may want to do that personally.”

  I didn’t know about that. “I am doubting the necessity of that, but we’ll see.
”

  “Pride goeth before a fall, Dr.Williams.”

  “So they say.” I wasn’t going to argue with the man about his sister.

  I hung up as Christina came back on the screen. Over the course of the next thirty minutes, she brought out Rita, who admitted that, with Brandon, she had made up a set of fake ledgers and fake bank statements because they wanted Christina to be humiliated. They didn’t seem to mind if I got trashed along the way. Christina called Brandon live on the air and he cracked under pressure and admitted that he had been approached and paid by Congressman Walker to set up the entire thing. She then cut away to an interview she’d done earlier in the week where Congressman Walker said he was just a concerned citizen trying to make sure the crooks of the world didn’t rob Americans blind.

  As icing on the cake, she brought back Betsy Fine, the forensic accountant.

  “So, Ms. Fine, in light of the information I brought you earlier in the week, what are your conclusions?”

  “First of all, Ms. Brinsley, I want to thank you for your tireless effort to bring the truth to light like this. Secondly, let me say that I had your information independently validated by a former member of the FBI. Something I should have done when I received the second set of books in the first place.Your information holds up; these second books do not. And finally, upon further investigation we were able to locate a shell company that traced back to Congressman Walker. The bank accounts tied to those companies held close to a million dollars.”

  “So that would be the balance of the missing $1.3 million?”

  “Give or take a few thousand dollars, which we suspect was used for cash bribes, yes.”

  “One last thing, Ms. Fine.”

  “Yes?”

  “What are your final conclusions as far as Dr. Steven Williams’s involvement in this entire enterprise?”

  “Wholly innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. From what I can tell, he is a brilliant engineer and I sincerely hope he will continue his research. We need more men of intelligence and integrity in the world today.”

  Christina turned back to the camera with a brilliant smile. “Amen to that. And on a personal note, as a woman and a journalist, allow me a moment here. In America today, with the 24 / 7 / 365 availability of information, it’s easy to not trust what you know to be true. It’s easy to get jaded and only see the worst in people. If I could take anything from this experience to leave with all of our viewers, it’s that the concept of innocent-before-proven-guilty was put into place for a reason. Trust your instincts and take a chance. I know that’s a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. After the break, Tracey Tulum takes over with the top stories in today’s news. Again: Dr. Steven Williams—absolved of all wrongdoing. Lance Porter, Congressman Walker, and a host of others—in hot water. More after the break.”