Isn't It Time (18 page)

Standing in the driveway watching their daughter drive away,
Kate turned to her husband and lifted an eyebrow. “Sarah?” she asked.

Mike laughed and squeezed her shoulder before releasing
her.  “Well, you put me on the spot. It was the first name that popped into my
head. Do you think she bought it?”

“Yeah, I think she did.” She reached out and rubbed Mike’s
arm. “You did good.  I apologize for throwing you under the bus, but I needed a
real-life example to make the point. I just didn’t think she would believe it
if I suddenly had a situation like that in my past that I had never mentioned
before.”

“Real life?” he snorted.  “I was afraid she was going to
start asking a lot of questions that I wouldn’t have answers for.”

“No, you definitely got her thinking.  That bit about not
seeing or hearing from Sarah for more than twenty years was brilliant, by the
way.  That’s what clinched it.  I could see it on her face.”  She leaned in and
planted a kiss on his lips and his arms came around her.  “We’re on the right
track.  Unless I miss my guess, she’ll be calling Jack the minute she gets
home.”

“Why are those two so blind to the obvious?” Mike asked. 
“Everyone can see it but them.”

“Mmmm. Remember what she said about Jack acting differently
this week? I think that since you and Al got Jimmy out of the picture, Jack
might finally be thinking about making his move. That leaves Angie as our only
remaining problem. Stubborn girl.”

“She’s just like you,” said Mike, pulling his wife in closer
and hugging her.

“Hah! Very funny.” Kate slapped him on the arm and laughed. 
“I wonder how Jimmy is going to feel when he shows up for that job and there’s
no Marla there waiting for him. According to Peggy, Marla laid it on pretty
thick and made him some elaborate promises about what their relationship would
be like when he got there.”

Mike chuckled at how easily Jimmy had been led astray. 
“Yeah, Al getting her to pull that scam just sweetened the pot.  Thank God Bill
was willing to offer the idiot the job. That was one owed favor I was happy to
collect on. Which reminds me – Bill called this morning and said Jimmy showed
up for work yesterday, so he’s not coming back any time soon.  I hope that
asshole enjoys being all alone in Oklahoma.”

They both laughed as they envisioned Jimmy wandering around
the state of Oklahoma, searching for Marla - who did not, in actual fact, work
for the company that had hired him.

“Who knew Marla was such a romantic?” Kate said.  “I would
have expected someone who owns such a successful escort service to be a little
more hard-nosed.  I swear, she wants this to work out between Jack and Angie
even more than we do.”

“I don’t think anyone wants it more than we do.  Well,
except Al and Peggy.”

“Well, we did manage to get them working a little more
closely together and Marla’s keeping an eye on things at the office. She’ll let
Peggy know if she sees anything else that looks like trouble. All we have to do
now is find a way to keep Angie away from Nate for the next couple of days.”

“Yeah, he was an unexpected wrinkle,” Mike said with a
frown.  “What awful timing.”

“You got that right. But if we can prevent Angie from doing
something stupid with Nate, I think we should have this situation
satisfactorily resolved by the weekend.”

“I hope so. I’m not cut out for this espionage shit,” Mike
said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“You’re better at it than you give yourself credit for.  Now
come on. I have to call Peggy so we can figure out how to keep Nate from being
alone with Angie.  It’s only two or three more days.  I know Peggy will have a
plan.”

Kate and Mike stepped back out of their embrace and, joining
hands, walked back into their house to see to their daughter’s future
happiness.

Approximately five minutes after leaving my parents’ house,
I was standing in my kitchen, having hurriedly dumped my purse, my gym bag and
Jack’s cookies on the counter.  The shelves were stashed in my bedroom and my
beautiful new picture was sitting on my couch, waiting to be hung. I walked
over and smiled at it as I dialed Jack.

His phone rang four times and I heard the loud pounding beat
of music in the background when he picked up.

“Hellooooooooo, baby,” he answered with a laugh and I knew
immediately he was drinking.

So much for a serious conversation tonight. But still, I
needed to feel that connection and even if tonight wasn’t turning out to be the
best time for him to come over and discuss our relationship, I wanted him to
know I was thinking about him.

“Hey,” I responded. “Where are you?”

“We are at a titty bar,” he said, enunciating each word
clearly and sounding as if he was smiling while he did so.

A titty bar
?  Now there was an expression I had never
heard him use before.

“A titty bar? What are you doing there?” I asked.

“Looking at tits,” he replied, the obvious answer to my
stupid question – and then he started laughing.

I paused for a second, then I laughed with him.  I couldn’t
help it. He never talked like that – at least not to me – and he was rarely so
noticeably drunk.  If he was drunk, I knew that meant he hadn’t gotten around
to eating dinner.

“I see,” I said.  “Do they serve meatloaf in titty bars?”

“Nope. No meatloaf here. Just tits.” He laughed again,
cracking himself up, and I laughed at the sound of it.

“Where’s Nate?”

“Oh, he’s around here somewhere.” He sounded as if he was
looking around as he said it. “I’m not sure where, exactly.”

“Who’s driving?”

“Luke is. Don’t worry. He’s sober as a…a…” he paused,
searching for the right word. “…as a sober guy,” he finished, laughing some
more. “You should come and join us.”

Although I was tempted, just for the entertainment factor a
really drunk Jack would provide, I declined.  “No, not tonight. I just wanted
to say hi.”

“Well, hi…oh, my God!” he exclaimed. “You should see this.”

“See what?” I asked, smiling at the enthusiasm in his voice.

“This chick. She’s blindfolded and they’ve got her tied to
the pole. And this other girl is….well, I won’t tell you what the other girl is
doing. Don’t want to offend your sensibilities.” He laughed some more and
added, “The blindfolded one kind of looks like you. Great ass. You’d look hot
tied up like that.” 

I froze and stopped smiling. He laughed loudly and then
choked out, “You know how I loves me some bondage!” He continued laughing as if
that was the funniest statement ever made - totally unaware that I was on the
other end of the line having a minor freakout.

The fear I intended to let go of came back in a rush – and I
was no longer considering it irrational. Ten minutes ago, the fact that he was
admitting to picturing me in a sexual situation at all would have thrilled me –
but now the specifics of his fantasy left me trembling and feeling depressed.

All the expectations I had for the conversation I had
already played out in my own head, and my optimistic hopes for how it would all
work out, faded. Just like that. He didn’t sound like someone who would easily
give up that part of his life and I just couldn’t imagine trying to make him do
it. If pressed, he might tell me he could live without it, but I was convinced
he couldn’t.  I wanted him to be happy and had been starting to think that
maybe, just maybe, he could find that happiness with me. But that dream was
dying now – and I pictured it as a living thing, tied to a stripper pole and
shot through the heart.

“Luke! It’s my Angie on the phone.” Jack’s voice got a
little more distant like he was holding the phone up. I heard Nate’s indistinct
reply before Jack said into the phone, “Luke is back.”

“Let me talk to him,” I said, walking to my living room
window and staring out numbly at the approaching darkness.

“She wants to talk to you,” he said, his voice fading out.

“Hey, Angie,” Nate said.

“Hey. You need to get some food into him as soon as you can.
He’ll get sick if you don’t.”

“I know. I’m already on it. I just ordered him a burger.
It’ll be here soon.”

“Okay, good.” I said, raking my free hand through the top of
my hair and leaving it there. “He’ll tell you he doesn’t need it, but do
whatever you have to do to make sure he eats it.”

“I will.” He paused for a second and I heard Jack say
something I couldn’t make out. Then Nate laughed and told me, “He said to tell
you he loves you and he misses you.”

I looked up at the ceiling and blew a breath out slowly,
trying to stop myself from crying – at least until I got off of the phone.

“Angie? Are you there?”

“Yeah. Tell him I said ditto and I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“I will.  Are you okay?” It was suddenly quieter on his end,
as if he had walked away with the phone.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little worried about him, that’s
all.”

“He’ll be all right. I promise. Are you upset because we’re
at a topless bar?”

“No,” I laughed. “That doesn’t bother me at all.”

“What
does
bother you?” Nate asked.  “And don’t say
nothing because I can tell just from your tone of voice it’s something.”

I let go of the hair I realized I was clenching and watched
through my window as a teenaged couple, walking across the park with their arms
around each other, stopped under a tree to kiss.  I smiled sadly at that before
closing my curtains and turning away.

“Angie? What is it?”

“Oh,” I said on a long exhale. “It’s nothing, really. And
it’s everything. I’m just in a mood tonight, I guess.”  I walked back into the
kitchen as I was talking and closed the blinds there before leaning with my
back against the sink.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No. It’s kind of complicated and something I have to work
out for myself. But thanks for the offer.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. Call me if you need to talk.”

“Thanks, Nate. I appreciate that. Have fun and I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Angie.”

I set the phone down on the counter and turned off the
kitchen light, struggling with feelings of regret and loss.  I hadn’t lost him
yet, but it was coming.  I knew that with an unwavering certainty. Despite his
promises to always be in my life, he would eventually move on and find someone
better suited to his needs. And I would be left alone.

My phone beeped as I started to leave the kitchen. I picked
it up and a text from Jack lit up the darkness.

“Sweat dreams, baby. xoxo”

The first tears fell even as I snorted out a half-laugh at
his autocorrect failure and set the phone down.  And they kept falling until an
hour of bereft sobbing into my pillow left me exhausted and I slid into a
dreamless sleep.

In the end, finding the first piece of the embezzlement
puzzle didn’t take as long as I had expected.

I had woke up with a new resolve to pretend nothing had
changed between Jack and me. I decided to ignore the clear signals he was
sending, at least until I could work up the nerve to lie to him and tell him I
wasn’t interested in him in that way. It wasn’t going to be easy. I wanted him
so badly it almost hurt - and he had an unnerving way of reading my thoughts
that made it very difficult for me to get away with a lie. I just needed to
figure out a way to get him to believe me and to do that without hurting his
feelings.

I made it to the office an hour early, set Jack’s cookies on
his desk, and got started right away on studying my report. By the time I heard
Jack’s door open, I was already feeling out of my element and like I was
wasting time with the project. Nothing was jumping out at me.

“Have I mentioned how much I love your mother?” Jack asked,
strolling into my office, looking none the worse for wear, with one cookie in
his mouth and another in his hand.

“Good morning, Jack,” I laughed.  “She’ll be happy to hear
that.”

“I’ll send her a love text in a minute. These are so good –
just what I needed this morning.” He shoved the second cookie into his mouth
and asked around it, “What are you doing here so early?”

He was interrupted by Nate, who called out good morning from
the kitchen where he was pouring himself a cup of coffee.  He walked in with
his coffee in one hand and two cookies in the other. 

Jack looked pointedly at the cookies and glared at Nate.  “I
knew I should have hidden those,” he said.

“Too late,” Nate told him cheerfully. “I know you’ve got
them now.” He bit off half of one and grinned at Jack while he chewed.

“Now boys, play nice,” I said. “There are plenty of cookies
for everyone.”

“Not really,” Jack muttered.

Nate and I laughed at Jack’s pout and I turned back to my
project. “I feel like I’m spinning my wheels with this report,” I told Jack,
directing the conversation back to work. “I just don’t know what I’m looking
for. There’s got to be an easier way.”

Jack and Nate both came to stand behind me, looking over my
shoulder at the report on my desk. I had crossed out all the vendors GLC had
been doing business with for years but that still left a large number of newer
vendors that didn’t look at all suspicious.

“Maybe if you sorted it differently,” Nate suggested.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Jack agreed. “How about by
invoice amount – highest to lowest?”

“Worth a try,” I said and reconfigured the report.

Jack went to get a cup of coffee while we waited for the new
report to compile and Nate leaned against my desk telling me about his own
wasted efforts in monitoring emails and internet usage.  “Some interesting
stuff there, but nothing related to what we’re looking for,” he told me. “But I
will say that I’m pretty sure we can take Marla off of the suspect list.”

“Tell me why; I’m dying to know,” I said, unabashedly nosy.

“Sorry. My lips are sealed - by order of the boss,” he said
with a nod to Jack, who had just re-entered my office with his coffee and two more
cookies.

The report was done so I opened it up on the screen and Jack
and Nate resumed their positions at my back.  I scrolled through it slowly, not
noticing anything unusual – until I got to the $15-$20,000 range. Then it
jumped right out at me.

“Oh my God,” I said, leaning in closer to my screen and
examining it. “There it is.”

“Where?” Jack asked, and he and Nate both leaned in, one on
each side of me, and looked at my screen.

“Right here.” I put my finger on the screen and started
pointing out duplicate invoices. In each instance there was one from an
established vendor and another, completely identical from the amount to the
invoice number, from a company by the name of ARC Electrical Supply.

“That’s got to be it,” Jack said, straightening up behind
me. “I’ve never even heard of them. Run me a report for just that vendor and
get me a total. I’ll get the invoices and the cancelled checks and see what
we’ve got.”

“I have all the cancelled checks,” I told him as I started
the report he had asked for. Reconciling the bank statements was one of the
tedious accounting tasks I had retained.  “And good luck to you in getting that
file from Marla without answering a lot of questions.”

“I’m the boss.  I don’t have to answer any questions,” he
said pompously. Then he grinned and added, “But I think if I hurry I can get
the file out of her area before she gets here.”  I laughed at his false bravado
and he hurried out of my office.

Approximately sixty seconds later, the new report popped up
on the screen. Nate and I leaned forward again as I scrolled to the bottom
line.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“Holy shit,” said Nate.

Over the course of three years, ARC Electrical Supply had
been paid $1,274,596.45. I looked back at Nate.  “That’s insane,” I told him.

“Yeah. Jack is going to freak,” he responded.

“I’m already freaking,” Jack said as he came back into the
office holding a bulging file folder.  “Look at the size of this folder!” He
held it up and shook it at us. “Print that report and bring it to my office,”
he ordered as he headed that way.  “I’m calling Finn.”

Three hours later, Jack was locked in his office with Frank
and Al.

He had called Al immediately after talking to Finn, who had
assured Jack he could easily get all the necessary information on ARC Electrical
Supply – if they were a registered company. He had warned Jack it would be more
difficult if they weren’t.  Jack gave him the go ahead to find out what he
could and gave him the information he had on the company and its bank account.

While we waited for Al to arrive, Jack and Nate helped me to
pull all the cancelled checks out of my files. There was quite an alarming pile
of them building up on my desk when Al walked in through Jack’s office.

Dressed in khakis and a golf shirt, Al was an older,
slightly more distinguished version of Jack.  In his late fifties, he was still
handsome and fit and his dark brown hair held only a smattering of gray. He was
taller than Jack by about an inch, and Jack had Peggy’s eyes, but everything
else about him made it easy to see what Jack would look like in thirty years.

“Good morning,” he said grimly to the room at large. We all
looked up and returned his greeting as he walked over to me.  “Hey, beautiful.
How are you?  I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he said, pulling me
into a hug.

“I’m okay,” I said, returning the hug. “I missed you. How
are you doing?”

“I’ve had better days,” he said, pulling away and turning to
shake Nate’s hand. “Nate. Good to see you.”

“You, too,” Nate replied. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long,” Al agreed.  “And how are your wife and kids?”

Nate laughed. “I’m not married, Al. You know that.”

“Oh, that’s right. I guess I just thought you might have
made it official by now. Gorgeous woman. You should seal that deal before she
gets away from you. But we’ll catch up later.” He turned away from a
befuddled-looking Nate and said to Jack, “Let’s all have dinner tonight. My
treat.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jack said. “Sounds good to me. Luke?”

“Sure, sounds good. Thanks,” Nate said.  “Angie? Are you
coming, too?”

I opened my mouth to decline, but Al interrupted. “I thought
we’d just make this a boys’ night. No offense, sweetheart. You know I love you,
but you’d probably be bored with a lot of talk about the old days.”

The old days? He made it sound like the three of them had a
long, action-packed history together. Nate and Jack were both frowning
slightly, trying to read him.  I wasn’t hurt that he didn’t want me to go, but
I didn’t believe his reason for it, either.

“I’m not offended at all. I was looking forward to staying
in and catching up on some reading.  I need a quiet night,” I told him.

“Okay, good,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulder.
“I promise Peggy and I will get together with you and Jack another night.
Okay?”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Great, then that’s all settled.” He removed his arm from my
shoulder and turned to Jack. “Now show me what you’ve got here.”

“Let’s go to my office,” Jack said, scooping up the pile of
cancelled checks and leading the way.  “Can you guys finish getting the rest of
the checks for me? Angie, keep everyone out unless it’s an emergency.”

“Will do,” I said, watching as they entered Jack’s office
and closed the door behind them.

Nate and I spent the next fifteen minutes gathering the rest
of the checks and quietly exchanging theories about who the culprit might be. 
I was convinced it was Heather, who I hadn’t seen since the night at the
casino.  She wasn’t scheduled to work again until Thursday and my suspicions
were so strong, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to interact normally with her
when I saw her. Then Nate reminded me that if she was the guilty party, she
couldn’t have done it by herself.  She would need Frank’s help. He was
responsible for authorizing all new vendors and he signed all of the checks.

Jack and Al must have reached the same conclusion.  Jack’s
door opened and he walked out with his cell phone in his hand. “Frank’s on his
way in. Take my phone and handle any calls.  Stay close by, but don’t put any
calls through unless it’s Finn.”

I took the phone from him and handed him the rest of the
checks as I heard Frank enter the office and exchange greetings with Al. “Show
time,” Jack said under his breath. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” I whispered as he returned to his office and
closed the door.

I turned to Nate who was looking as jittery as I felt.  “I’m
feeling kind of scared,” I confided.

“Yeah. Hard to say how this is going to go. But I have to
say, Frank doesn’t strike me as the type to do this kind of thing.”

“No, he doesn’t. But you’re right - he almost has to be
involved. Otherwise, I don’t think this could have got past him for so long.” 
I hadn’t been taking this whole situation very seriously, putting it on the
back burner and allowing my head to be clouded with thoughts of Jack and our
relationship. But now I was realizing how ugly it might get and I was worried
for Jack and Al’s safety. “You don’t think it will get violent in there, do
you?” I asked Nate, nodding toward the closed door.

“I hope not. But you never know how people are going to react
when they’re facing jail time.”  Nate gave me a grim smile and patted my arm. 
“Don’t worry. Jack and Al can take care of themselves. You stay here in case
they need you. I’m going to take care of some things I have to do in the server
room. Then do you mind if I work in here if they’re not finished when I get
back?”

“No, of course not. I’ll call you if we need you.”

While Nate was gone, I tried to behave normally as I
answered Jack’s calls and emails and kept people from entering his office. 

About thirty minutes later, Nate walked back in just as my
desk phone rang with a call from the reception desk.

“Hi, Dorothy,” I answered.

“Hi, Angie. There’s a Mr. Finn Brogan here to see Jack.” 
Her voice was unusually breathy and I tried not to laugh at the effect Finn was
having on a 72-year old woman.  I could hear some giggling in the background
and imagined word of the hotness gracing the lobby was spreading quickly
through the female population of the office.

“I’ll be right out. Thanks, Dorothy.”  I waited for a
response and didn’t get one.

“Dorothy?” I asked.

“Oh. Sorry, Angie. Okay, I’ll tell him.”  I was laughing at
the distraction in her tone when she hung up on me without saying goodbye.

“Finn’s causing a commotion in the lobby. I’d better go get
him before they attack,” I told Nate.

“I’ll come with you. I want to see how big of a crowd he’s
drawn this time.”

There were a great deal more bodies in the lobby than was
usual, with four women standing around trying to act as if they had important
work at the reception desk – a pointless endeavor, since the only things they
could possibly do there had to do with the mail.  Three other women were
strolling through casually and I saw one of them snap Finn’s picture as she
pretended to raise her phone to her ear.

Finn was doing a pretty good job of giving them all a
simultaneous once over when we walked in.

“Hey, Finn,” I said with an amused smile.

“Angie.” He barely acknowledged me before he turned his
attention to Nate and shook his hand with a smile. “Hey, Nate.”

What the heck? Did he just snub me? I looked at him as he
and Nate shared pleasantries and tried not to let my displeasure show on my
face. What was his problem? He turned to see me looking at him and frowned. I
tilted my head and raised my eyebrows in question.

Nate’s brow scrunched up as he looked between the two of us,
locked in our silent conversation. “Come on, we’ll take you back,” he said, and
turned to walk away. I glowered at Finn, whose brooding attitude really kind of
got on my nerves, then turned away to follow Nate.

“Ladies,” I heard Finn say in acknowledgment to the women in
the lobby, and I pictured him smiling and winking when I heard the sighs and
giggles going on behind me.

If I knew him better, I would have stopped in the corridor to
ask him to explain the attitude.  But I didn’t, so I walked stiffly in front of
him, feeling the daggers he was shooting at my back.

Nate led us back to my office and I turned to Finn. “I’ll
let Jack know you’re here,” I said curtly.

“Thank you,” he responded with a sneer.

“What the hell, Finn? What’s your problem?” Nate asked as I
moved away.

“Just stay here, Nate, and you’ll find out what my problem
is.”