A Beautiful New Life (19 page)

“When was that exactly?”

“At the resort, you were getting your nails done.”

She laughed at the memory.
“I remember that.” She
lay
back down and thought about h
im gliding in the room
. How long ago was that now? Seemed like a lifetime.

“It is getting late we should head back. You have work tomorrow and it
wouldn’t
be good if you called in sick or showed up late. Make sure you put that flash drive in a safe spot. I would recommend you not take it to work with you tomorrow. If they really suspected something they will search you for sure.”

“Yes, let’s get back, I forgot all about that. I was able to copy the financial file they had on me and I haven’t been able to look at it yet.”

“Are you sure you want to look at that tonight?”

“Well why wouldn’t I?”

“You just don’t know what is in it that’s all. You may want to give yourself a weekend to really hash over it.”

“What do you know that you aren’t telling me?”

“Nothing, I’m just saying. I may not know you well, but I know you enough that you’ll stay up all night trying to figure it out.”

“What if there’s nothing to figure out?”

“You have a point but
like I said before,
knowing you, there’s always something to figure out.”

Louise just laughed and raced off to Jordan’s car.

Chapter
Seventeen

They arrived at Louise’s apartment and Jordan insisted on coming in and looking at the files with her.

“So did they have one on me?”

“I couldn’t find one on you or Michael
.
I noticed that not everyone had one. The people that I tagged as one of them didn’t have one and there were several that had the two personnel files but no financial record.”

“Well let’s see what they have in this record.”

Louise pulled the flash drive out of her bra and inserted it into the computer. Jordan had insisted that she not hook up internet or any other wireless device to the computer because that would open it up to them tracking her on the computer. That was no problem for
her,
as she only wanted it to view the files she copied.
Besides,
she learned
soon enough
that they really did not have true internet access. They went to great lengths to ensure no outside access.

“Okay. Well here it goes.”

The file loaded and Louise took a deep breath. The first page had all of her information. She was referred to as the target and they listed her full name, including maiden name, her address, work location, family, friends, coworkers, and some people she was not sure who they were. After reading the second page Louise found out her acquaintances were in order of how close they were to her. She was surprised and scared at how well they appeared to know her by where they placed some of her siblings. Included with these names were their home addresses and points of interest.

“Seems like a lot of information to have for what appears to be no apparent reason.” Jordan had been looking at the information over her shoulder.

Louise turned to the third page. She started shaking as she saw Arlin’s name listed as the client. His personal information only i
ncluded his name, address and his work
phone number
.

What did they mean by client?
As she continued to peruse the
form,
she saw his bank information.

Why would they have that?
The
sickening feeling she felt when she left home months ago started
again
.

She turned to the fourth
page
; it
showed a receipt for a down payment. The receipt
,
made out to Arlin
,
was for a payment of
fifty thousand dollars
.

“Down payment on what?”
It was Jordan who
spoke. Louise did not say anything she just kept looking and hoping and wishing the bad feeling would go away. They did not have that kind of money.

The fifth page contained the itinerary for her trip to the resort. By now the tears where flowing freely. She remembered wanting him to go and he insisted he could not. She also remembered someone else now. A girl she had met at dinner the last night at the resort and more
importantly,
the story she told that contradicted the story Arlin had told her about changing the reservation. She fought hard to gain control of her emotions.

You’re
not seeing the whole picture.
There’s
a reasonable explanation.
She thought, b
ut as she continued to turn
the
pages,
she knew what was going on. Louise still held out hope. This could not be true. It was not what she was thinking. They had their problems but they loved each other, they had kids. As she turned the next
page,
her doubts
were confirmed
.
Arlin will pay Genesee the
final payout
, which is
forty-five percent of her life insurance upon proof of her death.
Her heart was heavy with the feeling of betrayal as she read the words.  It was a contract
on her life
.
H
ow did they get payment from her life insurance
, she was still alive
? The thought that went through her mind broke her heart as she could feel the pain her kids must have felt at the word of her death. So why would they not just kill her? These
people are not as smart as they might want people to think. Then she remembered someone else saying the same thing just hours ago.

She bolted up from the chair she was sitting on and turned to stare at him. “Did you know about this?”

Jordan took a step back holding his hands up in defense, “No!
No,
I swear! I
didn’t have a clue about this.” 

She wanted to believe him; she needed someone she could believe right now. She watched as the past twelve years, her marriage, her life, flashed before her. Had any of it been true; had he ever loved her; how could she have not seen this coming. Crushed and broken, as she now felt, she looked for those answers. She
sank
to the floor and sat with her arms around her knees pulled to chest, rocking back and forth.

“Louise.” Jordan reached down to her.

She only responded with a brush
off
of
her hand. She would not look at him. She had to think about this. Did he know? If he
had,
he would have told her. She ached for someone to trust. Her marriage was a sham, how did she not see that coming? When she thought hard enough she n
ow saw the signs that she been too
naïve to see.  

By the time Kenny was born, Louise
didn’t
think life could get any better. Well she had been wrong. Arlin was fading fast; he was
n
o
t as attentive as he
used to be
; in fact
,
he was never home anymore. Business was booming for him and he was always working. Louise soon found comfort in her boys and work. She moved over to the quality assurance department but knew she
needed her degree to advance any
further. She tried to go to night school but with Arlin gone all the time she did not want the boys to
be neglected
. Her life soon revolved around them
,
and when Arlin decided to be part of the family again
,
there was no room for him. He was a stranger to Louise and the boys. He did not fit into the life they had made without him. Louise tried to make things right but even Arlin had moved on to a new, secret life of his own.

The women came and went and Louise always knew when one got tired of his lies and had left. At work
,
Louise was strong and stood up to anyone who challenged
her
but at home
,
she was the quiet submissive wife Arlin expected. She did not want to lose her boys and Arlin threatened plenty of times to take them from her even though he had no relationship with them either. They did not fear
him
;
they just liked it better when he was not home.

Jordan now came and sat in front of her. He was not ready to give up on her so easily. He grabbed her hands, “Look at me”. When she would not he tried again. “I need you to look at me, I swear to you. How would I?”

Between sobs, “You knew about Louise, you gave me a box with my personal items.
How is it you
knew about the box but you did not
know about Arlin
?
About how he, he p
aid them
;
paid them to
kill
me.” She broke into a new set of sobs
,
pulled her hands back from Jordan and rocked back and forth.

Jordan hung his head, he felt defeated. He knew how he got here and it was not because someone paid to have him here. “I knew about Louise because I knew about me, Jordan. As far as the
box,
I knew it existed but I did not know where. I remembered
them
col
lecting
all of my personal items and put
ting
them in a white box. I
never went looking for the box because
I had remembered everything.”

“Why didn’t you leave?”

He knew they had talked about this but felt it better to just share the story again rather than argue.

“
I have always allowed fate to lead my life. I believed fate led me here. Once I got
here,
I
couldn’t
leave. Fate held me here. Then I saw you that day in the salon and I knew you were the reason. I just didn’t know what they were going to do to you or I would have taken you then and left this place.” He hung his head. “I’m sorry Louise that I didn’t do something sooner.” He took a deep breath. “
But if I had and you made it home safely you wouldn’t know what you know now about Arlin. He may have found another way.
Besides,
I’m
the one who supported you in accessing those files and finding the truth. If I had known, would I have been so supportive?”

She now lifted her head to look at him. She wanted so much to believe him
,
b
ut everything she believed was now nothing but lies.
“I don’t know what to think anymore.
But
I think Arlin tried killing me himself. There was a year I was in and out of the hospital several times. I was so sick but the doctors
didn’t
know what was wrong. I then had all these mechanical problems with my car that could have resulted in more serious, maybe even fatal results.”

He voice filled with tears. “I’m the one who showed you that you were married. Knowing how much I love you, do you think if I had known I would have ever shared that information with you? I have always looked out for you. You can trust me.”

She wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him.
She looked over at Jordan. “I’m so sorry.” She reached for him.

“What are you sorry for?
”
He took her hand.

“For pushing you away when I found out the truth.”

“Don’t be sorry for b
eing an honest woman with values? That
’s what
made me love you even more.”

“Make love to me, here.
Right now.”
It was not a question, she was so hurt, wounded and only he could help her get past this and heal. She put her arms around his neck.

“Louise
,
no, I won't be with you like this.
You need time to let this sink in.” He removed her arms from around his neck. He did not
just
want to walk away but he knew this was wrong. As much as he hoped the day would come again where he could take her in his arms and love her as she
was meant to be loved
,
this was not it. He got
up, sat on the couch,
and bent over putting his head in his hands.

“Get out then! You’re no better than he is!” She was yelling now, all the hurt that Arlin had ever put her through was now coming out, the anger, the insanity,
and the
hell. She lashed out at Jordan throwing it all at him
and
he was ready to take it. She needed to get it all out
,
so when they did come together
,
it would be because of their love for each other
,
not the hurt she was feeling now.