Too Many Suspects

by E B Corbin

  “I’m not going to worry about that now,” Roxanne said. “At least if he’s governor, he’ll be out of our hair.”

  “That’s one way of looking at it. I feel sorry for the entire state if that happens.”

  Roxanne sighed with relief when a knock at the front entrance drew Sylvia’s attention. Getting so riled up could be dangerous for the older woman’s health.

  Sylvia leaned back to peer down the hall. “Damn. I can’t see a thing with that pebbled glass. Maybe I went too far when I ordered it.” Muttering to herself about getting a buzzer installed, Sylvia picked up her pace as they heard another knock.

  Roxanne sat at her desk enjoying the silence after Sylvia left. She pushed all thoughts of Cummings out of her mind except for the warning he’d given her. A half hour ago, she was strategizing how to get closer to Callahan and take their relationship to the next level. Now, she didn’t know what to think.

  The sound of footsteps grew closer, alerting her to more visitors. Damn, her office was like a bus stop at rush hour, today of all days, when she wanted some time to pull her thoughts together.

  But why hadn’t Sylvia announced the new arrivals?

  - 21 -

  When Sam entered the office with Henry close behind, Roxanne’s heartbeat kicked up. Yesterday’s events flashed through her mind—the gun leveled at her and Vicki, the man’s aggressive behavior.

  She furtively glanced at the space between them to determine if Sam had a weapon at her back. Negative.

  The ease with which the blonde walked in and plopped onto the chair recently vacated by the mayor reassured her somewhat. As Henry sank into the second chair, Roxanne waited for them to speak first.

  “We need some legal shit,” Sam said with a smile. “And you’re the one to do it.”

  Roxanne raised an eyebrow. “What kind of legal shit?”

  If Vicki’s brother had blown his fuse again and needed a defense attorney, why come to her? She had little desire to represent the man and a thousand reasons buzzed through her mind.

  To Roxanne’s surprise, Sam said, “I want some kind of agreement stipulating that I’m hiring Henry for one year.”

  “Hir-ing him?” Roxanne sputtered.

  “Yeah, I’ve decided I need an assistant to help with the families I approach in the future. I can’t afford to mess things up again.” Sam looked at Henry. “A bodyguard wouldn’t hurt, either.”

  Roxanne shook her head to be sure she’d heard correctly. “Henry’s going to be your, er, assistant slash bodyguard?”

  Sam nodded. “With his training as a SEAL, he’ll be perfect to have my back. From what he tells me, he’s also a whiz with programming.”

  “I see. Isn’t this kind of premature? I mean, you’ve only met today, didn’t you?”

  “Correct. We’re just getting acquainted, and a year is a long time to work with someone you don’t get along with. That’s why the contract must include a clause that says if our arrangement doesn’t work out, I can fire him or he can quit with no consequences to either of us.”

  “After a probationary period of thirty days,” Henry added. “We’re both impulsive and don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

  Sam stared at Henry, her mouth hanging open, “I guess that can be added.”

  “So it’s a contract for a year with a trial period of thirty days? Is that correct?” Roxanne struggled to understand why the competent woman in front of her needed a bodyguard. Sam had shown many times that she could handle herself in a tight situation. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why do you need a bodyguard?”

  Sam glanced at the ceiling, then at the floor. Finally she ran a finger across her lower lip and spoke. “Well, without getting into specifics, my dear father has discovered his money’s missing and put a hit out on whoever had the audacity to steal it.”

  “Does he suspect you?”

  Her hands lifted in doubt. “I wouldn’t be surprised. He knows I’m more than capable of tracking his accounts and I made it clear how despicable I found his actions.”

  “But he’s in jail. How can he put a hit out? Your words, not mine.” Roxanne picked up the yellow highlighter she used to mark up contracts and twirled it through her fingers.

  A smile cracked through Sam’s serious demeanor. “It’s not impossible. Find another inmate who’s close to getting out and have him spread the word.”

  “But you’re his daughter! Surely he wouldn’t want you dead.” Sam’s reason for a bodyguard didn’t sound that credible to Roxanne and she took a dim view of Henry fulfilling that role. “And how can he pay them if he doesn’t have access to the funds?”

  “A minor detail. He’s missing close to a billion dollars. A small portion of that is enough incentive for a crooked hacker to trace where the money went and try to get it back.”

  “Would somebody do that on just your father’s word?” Roxanne asked.

  “The word of the biggest con-artist of the twenty-first century? You bet. A criminal might know his way around computers, but not be too smart about human nature.”

  “Hmmm.” She stopped twirling the highlighter.

  Henry squirmed in his chair. “I told you she wouldn’t understand.” He turned to Sam. “We can work out something ourselves.”

  Sam stared at him with unflinching eyes. “You want this job or not?”

  Chastised, Henry slumped against the back of his chair. “You know I do. I haven’t found any decent employment since leaving the Navy.”

  “Then let me explain to Roxanne what we agreed upon. I’m sure she’ll be able to come up with a bona fide legal document that will satisfy both of us.”

  A customized employment agreement still made no sense to Roxanne. She looked from Henry to Sam. “What do you need that’s so convoluted? A standard employment agreement…”

  Sam cut her off. “No, there’s nothing standard about it. If everything works out, after a year, Henry and I will become equal partners.”

  Henry nodded at her words. He stretched his legs out, making himself comfortable.

  “Partners in what? A business?” At Sam’s nod, Roxanne continued. “How do you plan on making a profit if you’re only returning illegally acquired funds to the rightful owners? Didn’t you say you were paying them back with interest?”

  Sam smiled. “When I finally convinced Vicki to accept her share of her father’s funds, she made me promise to keep a ten percent finder’s fee. I opened a business account with it.”

  “She took ten percent of my share, too,” Henry grumbled.

  “Oh don’t be such a grump,” Sam said. “You’re a hell of a lot richer than you were before.”

  While he muttered under his breath, Roxanne spoke to Sam. “You sure about using him as a bodyguard?”

  Sam laughed. “Don’t pay any attention to his gripes. He likes to think he’s some kind of badass when he’s really a marshmallow.”

  “I’m hardly a marshmallow!” Henry protested.

  “All right then, a prickly pear,” Sam said. “Full of thorns on the outside, but sweet like a melon inside. Is that better?”

  Henry mumbled something, then said, “You still took ten percent of my money.”

  “That seems reasonable.” Roxanne wanted to end their bickering. “After all, you’re getting a salary aren’t you? So you’re getting part of it back. Sam couldn’t afford to pay you if she didn’t take a cut.”

  “Right.” The blonde reached over and punched Henry in the arm, then sat back. “Maybe I should also have you draw up a contract I can use with my father’s marks before I return the money.”

  “Wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Roxanne said. “Not just for the ten percent but to stop them from suing for more than their fair share. People can get greedy, you know.” She directed the last statement at Henry.

  “Henry’s not greedy.” Sam�
�s slight grin grew wider. “But do you know how much ten percent of a billion dollars is?”

  Roxanne paused as she struggled to do the calculation in her head. All those zeroes made it confusing. “Ten percent of that is…”

  “One hundred million dollars.” Sam supplied the number before Roxanne came up with a total.

  As the magnitude of the number sank in, Roxanne could only stare, dumbfounded. “You’ll never have to work another day after collecting that.”

  “True,” Sam said. “Except my father would never give up the contract for the hit so I’ll be constantly looking over my shoulder.”

  “Wouldn’t you have to do that anyway?” Roxanne asked.

  “Sure, but once I pay everyone, there’s little he can do to get his money back. Besides, life could get pretty boring if I don’t have a reason to watch my back.”

  Since Sam didn’t seem the type to splurge on fancy clothes, yachts or living the high life, Roxanne agreed. “What do you plan to do then?”

  “Haven’t quite figured that out yet. It will take years to return all the cash so we have some time.” Sam turned to Henry. “If our business arrangement works out, Henry and I will come up with something. Maybe we’ll offer our services to catch corporate embezzlers or something. I found my father’s hiding place, I can find others, too. My background with the FBI lends us plenty of credibility.”

  Henry straightened in his chair. “Or maybe we’ll start some sort of philanthropical organization.” He glanced at Sam for her approval.

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, we just don’t know what, yet.”

  “Those are big plans,” Roxanne said.

  “We’re dealing with big money,” she told her.

  Roxanne set aside her doubts about Henry and focused on Sam’s abilities. The woman had a good head on her shoulders and just might be able to pull it off. “Okay. Tell me what you need in this agreement.”

  “Most of all, we want an iron-clad document that will stand up to any challenges coming from any source.” Sam leaned back in her chair. “Do you think you can do that?”

  Roxanne laughed. “You’re not asking for much, are you? You know that any agreement can be disputed. It doesn’t have to be from an outside principal, either. What if Henry decides he wants a bigger cut of the pie down the road?”

  Anger crept into Henry’s face. “I’m not gonna…”

  Sam held up a hand to silence him. “I understand your misgivings about Henry, given what happened yesterday. But I have a really good feeling about our working together. I’m not being reckless here. Henry and I have been going over this all morning. Vicki put in her two cents worth, too.”

  Roxanne decided to keep any remaining misgivings to herself. “Okay. I’ll see what I can come up with. Give me the details.”

  Sam offered a sheet from a yellow legal pad, straightening the folds. “This is what we’ve got so far.”

  As Roxanne skimmed the list, she was amazed at how thorough it was. All the points appeared valid and well thought out. “It will take a few days. I want to cover every feasible outcome.”

  “Good.” She nodded. “That’s what we want. Remember, Henry is my employee for one year and after that we’re partners.”

  “Got it,” Roxanne said. “I’ll contact you when I have a rough draft.”

  “You should also start thinking about what kind of contract we’ll need before we return the money to the marks,” Sam said.

  “That will take more diligence.” Roxanne scratched her chin. “Since every circumstance will be different, it may be difficult to come up with a one size fits all.”

  “Right.” Sam went silent a few moments. “Maybe each case will require a specific contract. Would you be willing to handle that?”

  Roxanne thought about her uncertain future in Oilville. “Sure, I guess. Once we have the basics worked out, it shouldn’t be too difficult to add specifics. But first, let’s get this employment contract out of the way.”

  Henry stood and offered his hand to help Sam up. “Looks like you’ll have yourself a new bodyguard soon.”

  “How about starting right now,” she said, then snickered. “Of course, the way Roxanne’s life is going, she needs one more than me.”

  “Thanks for the reminder.” Roxanne kept her voice light but deep down knew Sam was right.

  Sam did an about-face before she left. “Try to stay out of trouble for a few hours. We’re going to Pittsburgh to pick up a few things.”

  “Like a new phone.” Henry gestured with one hand toward his soon-to-be employer. “Mine’s out of commission through no fault of my own.”

  “You brought it on yourself trying to deactivate my app,” she told him.

  “I don’t like being tracked.”

  Sam pushed him out the door ahead of her. “We’ll see about that. Now we need to get moving if we want to get to the Apple store before it closes.”

  Roxanne waved them off then began to study the sheet that Sam had given her. She needed to do a bit of research before she started on it since employment agreements were not her specialty.

  Luckily, she had a PDF of her agreement with her old law firm. She pulled it up and went through each clause but saw little of use for this project. Maybe her agreement with the district attorney’s office in New Orleans would be more on point. Hopefully she had the ten-year-old paperwork somewhere in her document folder.

  A thorough search of her computer files turned up zilch. She tried to recall what she had done with that old agreement but memories of Louisiana crept in and distracted her.

  At first she’d been excited about her work putting away thieves, rapists and drug dealers. However, she soon grew tired of the ones who slipped through the cracks, either by cutting a deal with her boss or threatening her witnesses.

  She hadn’t thought about that period in her life for years and didn’t want to dwell on it now. It brought back feelings of frustration and helplessness, emotions she could ill afford at present.

  With a sigh, she closed her laptop and stared at the pendulum swinging back and forth, marking the passage of time. The hands of the clock blurred before her until a sharp rap on her door brought her out of the trance. Then she realized it was close to seven o’clock.

  The door opened before she could react. Roxy and Conor swept in, concerned looks on their faces. “You need to come with us,” her mother said.

  Roxanne’s first thought was that something had happened to Callahan. “What’s wrong?”

  “We don’t know. John called us and asked us to pick you up. He wants us to come to the diner but didn’t say why.”

  - 22 -

  No neon lights for Roxy’s Diner shimmered in the purple twilight. Only a yellow glow came from inside the diner. With the exception of an eighteen-wheeler and a rusted Ford Escort, the parking lot stood empty.

  “What the hell?” Roxy muttered as she pulled around to the rear of the building where the employees parked.

  Roxanne recognized Tiffany’s BMW, Callahan’s SUV and Kate’s minivan sitting side by side next to the dumpster. What was going on? Why were they all hidden in the back? She wondered what misfortune awaited them inside as they scrambled out of the car. Her pulse hammered in her throat with each step she took.

  They entered through the rear door to the office, rather than the steel double doors used for taking out the trash. No sounds came from the kitchen—no clatter of dishes, no sizzle of the fryer.

  Roxanne’s bewilderment was mirrored on Roxy’s and Conor’s faces. They stepped from the darkened office into the glaring lights of the kitchen to find Snukie staring into space. No steam rose from a tea kettle, the only pot on the six burner stove. She jumped, her eyes going wide as she clutched at her heart. “Oh my God! You scared me!”

  “What’s going on?” Roxy asked the startled waitress. “Where’s Leonard?”


  “He’s, uh, he’s out front. I’m just making some tea to take to them.”

  Roxanne scanned the clean kitchen. “There are no other orders to get up?”

  “No, well, um, I kind of sent people away.” Snukie’s voice wavered. She wiped her hands on her uniform apron while the words stumbled out of her mouth. “When Leonard opened that note, he almost collapsed.”

  “What note?”

  “I’ll let him tell you.” Snukie swallowed. “We had no choice but to shut down.”

  Although Roxanne needed more information, she zipped her lip. Best to hear the explanation firsthand. It had to be critical for both local law and federal agents to be here.

  Snukie continued, “Stacy and I finished up the orders we had and then told anyone who came in we were closing early. There are only three customers left. As soon as they finish, I’ll lock the front. I hope I did the right thing.”

  “I’m sure you did. Thanks for handling it.” Since Roxanne was the one who named her manager, she felt responsible for the waitress’ actions. The least she could do was stand behind the frightened woman. “Callahan and the others are out front?”

  “Yeah, yeah. They came as soon as Leonard called them.” Snukie placed a tea bag in each of two mugs on the counter. “I’ll bring this out as soon as it’s ready.”

  Roxy pushed through the swinging door without waiting for anyone to follow. Roxanne and Conor exchanged a glance, then hurried after her, unsure of what they were walking into.

  A grey-haired man in a plaid flannel jacket sat at the counter forking apple pie and slurping coffee. An elderly couple stood by the register, cash in hand.

  The woman’s chipmunk cheeks puffed out with her wide grin. “Lordy, if it isn’t Roxy O’Donnell. I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age. How are you, my dear?”

  “I’m doing fine, Mrs. Wozniak, how have you been?”

  “Same old, same old,” the white-haired woman said. “Are you back to taking care of the diner?”

  “No, I’m afraid not. I’m just passing through.” Roxy turned to the elderly man. “But I’d be glad to take care of your check for you.”