Chapter Nine

Gail

The day after the anniversary of my brother’s death was a wakeup call. I had done the unforgivable and I had no idea how to make amends. The wedding ring didn’t help either but what matters most is that he isn’t married. Kicking him out of the bedroom was a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe I used Chase’s sculpted body and his experienced tongue to forget about my grief. My head is in a tailspin. I felt like I should explain over dinner at my house.

The brownstone was an architectural masterpiece with those traditional touches. I bought the place and found my home within the walls.

I didn’t sleep around for the sake of getting some. I vetted potential suitors. I had to find out if they had any skeletons in their closet before even venturing any further than a goodnight kiss. My time with Chase was merely scratching the surface. I wanted more.

“I know this might be intrusive, but it wasn’t my idea.” My back got rigid and my shoulders stiff from his voice whispering into my ear.

“It’s good you are here. I need to explain what happened. I don’t even know where to begin.” He placed his index finger against my lips to silence what I was about to say.

“I’ve been known to come on strong and that’s something I’m working on. It was one of those things and we don’t need to discuss it. Mason requested I help go over the discrepancies.” I was already neck deep into the problem and I was the one that brought it to Mason’s attention.

“I’m grateful for the help. I thought I was going to do this alone. I’ve been pulling out my hair trying to make sense of this. It appears somebody is working to undermine this company by planting false evidence of fraud and embezzlement. It’s rather ingenious and disturbing at the same time.” I showed him what I had.

He didn’t seem all that surprised like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something was on his mind and I recognized how it was a steel trap. Getting him to open up was going to be like pulling teeth.

“We have to make sure there isn’t any merit to these discrepancies. We need to find out the origin of these made up allegations. I believe I heard somebody mention something about being able to track IP addresses. Is this something we are capable of doing?” I had considered going down that road, but it meant getting other people involved.

“We do have an amazing IT department. I’m hesitant to show them any of this in case there is a leak. Letting them dig into this might be exactly what is expected.” I held onto the hope this could be cleared up, but the evidence against Mason was piling up with each keystroke.

“I’m sure you’ve been here long enough to know who you can trust. Think about it and tell me one name that comes to mind.” Ethan James was a young kid beyond reproach in my opinion. I had seen him pick up a man’s wallet and run half a block to return it to him.

“Ethan James is a genius with anything electronic. His walls scream his accomplishments with diplomas from several different schools.” He would most likely be suspicious of leaving the others in his department in the dark.

“I have a few people in the military which I believe I could reach out to. But for now, it might not be a good idea to involve anybody outside the inner sanctum of this company. We are already under the microscope by the military. We need to hide this until we get to the bottom of it. I’m not suggesting we sweep it under the rug.” I was afraid for a moment I had stepped into something that would leave me missing in action.

“I can transfer everything we found to a file that only the two of us can access. I can write up some fake documents and plant them to make it seem like everything is on the up and up. It will only stand up to a casual look. Anything more in depth and the ruse will be discovered.” I didn’t feel very good about hiding evidence, but it wasn’t like I had made it disappear.

“We should go over this where the walls don’t have ears. I will be happy to follow you back home and take you from there to my place after work. I promise to be on my best behavior.” Those discrepancies weren’t easy to find, but I prided myself on my work ethic. I left no stone unturned.

“I should contact Ethan and have him join us, but we can always bring him into this when the moment is right. It’s probably better we leave this between the two of us for the time being. This has to be on a need to know basis.” I was using military jargon not realizing how strange that might sound coming from a civilian.

Henry was the only one that knew about my brother and he was there for me when I was falling apart. I put on a brave face and went back to work the very next day after the funeral. I wasn’t very chatty around the water cooler. I felt it was important to separate my personal life from my professional obligations.

“It might be a good idea for you to contact him and get him to track the IP address. It’s my understanding there’s always digital breadcrumbs to follow.” He had been with the military long enough to know technology was taking over.

“I will do what I can to get him to look into this discreetly. He’s pretty much by the book, but maybe I can sweeten the deal with a couple of tickets to the Black Eyed Peas.” I had two tickets and I was going to ask Henry to join me.

“That’s a pretty big sacrifice for a company you have only been working for a few years. Don’t look surprised. I have to go over everyone’s file. I’m a little anal with the people he hires. I make sure there aren’t any wolves in the henhouse.” I felt violated, but I understood what I was signing up for.

Nobody was above suspicion in an environment where secrets were par for the course. I should’ve known they would have dug into my past to see if I was hiding anything that could come back and haunt them. I didn’t know how extensive the research into my life was. I really didn’t want to know.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I feel like you have invaded my personal space. It seems strange saying that after what we did last night.” Something was nagging at me about the way he was staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“You are entitled to your feelings. I would probably feel the same way standing in your shoes. It was nothing personal. This business is one where the one hand doesn’t always know what the other hand is doing. It’s perfectly natural to feel like you have had a colonoscopy.” It was an interesting analogy and one that made me shift nervously in my seat.

“I want you to brace yourself for what we might find against Mason. He claims to be innocent, but he could be waiting to see how far up the chain of command this goes. I know he’s the owner of the company, but he has clients depending on him for his discretion.” Those clients would take a dim view about allegations of fraud and embezzlement.

“I know him better than anyone. You are vastly off the mark with this one. We have saved each other’s lives more times than I can count. You get to know somebody quickly when their lives are in the palm of your hand.” I could hear his conviction and understood this was a sore subject better left alone.

“Leave me with this and I’ll see what I can dig up about the IP address without involving Ethan.” His hot breath on my shoulder was causing those butterflies to churn in my stomach.

“You don’t need me standing over your shoulder. I trust you and I don’t even know you very well. Being intimate with someone gives you a better understanding of what they’re capable of.” My cubicle was surrounded by others with the sound of typing and talking going on around me. The lights were giving me a migraine.

I was lucky that Henry was busy and didn’t stick his head up to see what was going on behind his back.