Seven Years of Bad Luck (25 page)

“I’ll do you a big favor right now and tell you if you don’t already know. Sticking your nose into John Murray’s business is a death sentence, sugar. I’d tell you to ask my husband, but he’s dead. So you figure it out.”

Oh, Crap!

“Um, yes ma’am, I know. I am sorry for your loss…”

“No loss to it. He was taken from me by that snake, Murray. They were in business together for years, and my husband wouldn’t tell me what was going on; but I knew my man well. He found out somethin’ about Murray that rattled him, good. I ‘spect he was going to blow the whistle on the bastard,” she said. “He ended up six feet under ‘fore he could do just that. I told all the police and every reporter that has come callin’ the same thing, but nothin’ has come of it. Seems no one cares. He was the love of my life, and not a damn person cares.” The sadness in her voice was palpable. She was sure someone had a hand in her husband’s death, but no one had been held responsible for it yet.

“Ma’am, Mrs. Kemp, I’m so sorry. I promise if I find out anything helpful, you will be the first to know. Can we set up a time to meet? I’d love to ask you a few questions in person.”

“I’m at home now. If you’d wanna swing by, you’re more than welcome, sugar, but I meant what I said. You mess with Murray, and you’re askin’ for trouble. That man won’t bat an eye at doin’ you harm. You had better watch out for yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am.” We exchanged information, and I once again left work to visit with Mrs. Kemp in person. When I arrived at her home, she had no qualms about providing me with every bit of information she had available. She warned me over and over about Murray. I ignored her warnings. I told myself I was capable of dabbling into the sordid mess just enough to appease my curiosity and then withdraw myself just as quickly. I was foolish and wrong yet again, but I didn’t know that then. Mrs. Kemp gave me an external hard drive and said she had no idea what was on it, but that she had recently found it in her husband’s belongings. A note was in the plastic sandwich bag that the external drive was in. Scribbled in terrible handwriting was the name, ‘Nate.’ Along with the name was an address. Without further thought, I drove to the address straight from Mrs. Kemp’s house. The address was a techie store. The front of the small store said, ‘We repair your PC or its free.’ I parked and strode into the store.

Not much business, huh? I thought to myself as I stood in the quiet shop. Not one person was there. I heard shuffling from behind the counter.

“Ahem!”

A small-framed man about my age popped up from behind the counter. “Oh, ah, can I help you?”

I walked towards him. “You Nate?”

“Who’s asking?” He backed away from the counter.

“My name is Kat Cooper.” I extended my hand towards him. He took my hand in his sweaty hand briefly and introduced himself.

“Yeah, I’m Nate,” he sputtered out warily.

“Okay, Nate, what can you tell me about this?” I removed the plastic-bag-clad hard drive from my purse and slid it to him across the counter. That’s when things got crazy. He snatched the hard drive and marched to the door of the shop, flipped the sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed,’ and stalked back to me.

“Who the hell are you? How’d you get this? Are you trying to get us both killed?!”

Stupid. Why the fuck do I even care what Ben is dealing with here?

I knew exactly why I cared so damn much. It wasn’t just my curiosity that drove me to snoop. It was the fact that I had begun falling for Ben and that I needed to know what he was dealing with where John Murray was concerned.

“Relax, guy! Mrs. Kemp gave this to me. She said she found it recently in some of her husband’s stuff. I’m no one. I work for a law firm; I am just looking into this for Mrs. Kemp,” I lied and pointed my finger at the hard drive in his sweaty palm while trying to remain confident.

“Lady, something tells me you have no idea who you’re messing with here.” Nate’s eyes began darting nervously everywhere in the room except at me. “These guys are the type you stay away from. You… you’re putting both of us in danger by even being here.”

“So tell me what’s on the hard drive and what your involvement is, and I will leave.” I folded my arms across my chest to punctuate my demand. He swallowed hard.

“I did some work for Mr. Kemp. That’s all. Work is over. He’s dead. I am so out of that shit.” I cocked my head to the side and scowled at the small framed, nervous Nate.

“No, you aren’t, Nate. You either tell me what I want to know, or I drag you further into this mess,” I lied. I would never do anything so malicious. He ran his shaking hands through his scruffy light brown hair and caved.

“Fine. Come with me.”

That was easy. Good job, Kat. Add bullying techies to your resume.

My phone chirped as soon as Nate led us into a closet-sized space through a narrow hallway at the back of his shop. I had a text message from my lonely lover.

‘Landed in Cali. Miss you already. -Ben’
I smiled as I read his short but sweet text. I shot him a quick text back.

‘Glad you made it. Miss you a little, too. ;) -Kat’

“Okay, you want to sign your own death certificate? Fine. Kemp asked me to work on some things for him. I helped him uncover some dirt on Murray. I wish I had known the shit storm I was getting myself into before I took that load of cash from Kemp to do this work.” Nate shook his head.

“Go on,” I prompted.

“Anyway, he brought me these encrypted files that he stole from Murray. Turns out, Murray has scammed millions, I mean, loads of dough from investors. Some of the files had information and photos of people he is involved with and the investors he has conned. A list of his known associates are on this drive.” He held up the small square black hard drive. “Most of which are the criminal type, which means, not only could Murray have the need to get rid of you, but any one of these guys on this list could want you gone if they find out you have this info.” Nate shoved the hard drive into my chest as if it were searing his hands by simply holding it. He began pacing in the small space. “Somehow, Murray has managed to keep things under wraps by convincing investors to stay put, along with their money. Kemp knew he was into some bad stuff. He was going to out Murray. Murray found out about Kemp’s plans before he was able to go to the authorities, and Murray offed Kemp. I would put money on it. Kemp gave me a letter just before his death and said if anything happened to him, to give it to the cops.”

“Have you given it to the police?” A look of shame came over Nate, and he froze in place.

“No. I was scared. I still am scared.” I held out my hand expectantly.

“Give it to me. I’ll take care of it.” He crouched to the floor and crawled under his desk. He ripped something from the underside of the desk and handed me the envelope.

A letter from the grave. Interesting.

“Anything else I should know?” I asked.

“No. That’s all I got. Everything on this hard drive is all the dirt that Kemp collected on Murray. He worked on it for months. I hope you know what you are doing. You are messing with the wrong guy. He has these huge goons that handle people like you and me. I’m talkin’, like muscle you see in the movies or something.” I ignored his ranting.

“Can you copy these files for me?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I handed him the hard drive again, and in no time, he had a duplicate for me, and I was on my way. I decided the best course of action would be to hide the duplicate hard drive somewhere safe. Just in case.

In case what? Geez! What the hell am I doing? Ben is going to flip if he finds out what I’m up to.

I put thoughts of Ben out of my head and plotted my next move. I drove to the postal annex near my apartment and signed myself up for one of those small mailboxes that they rent out. I made sure to sign for it under my maiden name, Kathleen Hensley. I wrote a quick letter to Mrs. Kemp explaining that I wanted her to have the second key to my new mail box, and that if for some reason something happened to me, she would need to turn the contents of my box over to the police and Benjamin Chase at Chase and Associates.

Once I addressed the envelope to Mrs. Kemp, I addressed another large envelope to be sent to the box I had just rented. I stuffed the duplicate hard drive and the original letter from the grave into it and paid the cashier for the postage on both parcels. Just like that, ground work was laid. Curiosity and a need to know what Ben was dealing with started my mission, but I found myself driven to help Mrs. Kemp find answers. I felt that Nate was right. Mr. Kemp met an untimely end at the hands of Murray because of what he uncovered. He didn’t accidentally overdose like the autopsy had declared.

If I had to bet, I would go even further and say that Murray likely even threatened or paid off someone at the Medical Examiner’s office to ensure that the cause of death was declared accidental. Nate and Mrs. Kemp were both right. It was obvious that Murray was not the type of man you crossed or threatened. I forced myself to be even more careful while gathering more information to give to Mrs. Kemp and the police. I couldn’t help wondering why the police had not gotten very far in the investigation into the ‘suspicious,’ albeit declared accidental, death of Mr. Kemp.

Murray have some dirty cops under his thumb too? Shit. That could be bad for me. No one to trust.

By the time I returned to work, most of my coworkers were filing out of the doors while I squeezed past them. I went to my office and immediately began taking down hand written notes. Earlier in the day, I had texted Cheyenne to let her know that I was still alive and would be staying at Ben’s house for the rest of the week. She said she would catch up with me over the coming weekend since she, too, wouldn’t be home until Sunday sometime. I had not spoken to Ben aside from our earlier ‘miss you’ texting. I was for sure missing him. I ignored the tightening sensation in my chest.

So what, you miss him. No big deal. He is a great lover; what’s not to miss?

I tried to rationalize the pang of genuine sadness that was squeezing my heart as sexual frustration, but it was far from sexual frustration that had my insides in knots. I was lying to myself, but lying to myself felt much better than admitting the reality. The reality was I was involved with an amazing man who was unbelievable in bed, handsome, successful, smart, caring, and generous. And he missed me. I missed him too. A lot. I was missing the scent of him, his touch on my skin, his soft, full lips, the way his hand seemed to always find the small of my back, the way that, even in his sleep, he kept a tight grip on me. I missed the whole of him.

Should just forget about it. No way that falling for Ben could be a good idea. He deserves more than a screwed up, emotionally damaged woman. He should find someone else to get involved with.

I cringed at my private thoughts of Ben with someone else. I didn’t want him with someone else but I also didn’t want him with me. It was clear that Ben wanted things between us to go further, but I simply wasn’t in a position to give anything to anyone. I was still trying to right my own world. I couldn’t fathom dragging anyone else into my screwed up life. I would only get my hopes up, and inevitably, disappointments would come crashing in to wipe out everything I had gained. With my private thoughts swirling out of control, I decided to take a break. I backed away from my desk and clicked my heels down the hall towards the ladies room. I stared at the woman in the mirror and tried hard to reason with myself about falling for Ben. I used the facilities, gathered my thoughts, and resigned myself to focusing on my meddling into John Murray and all his business dealings. I would have to deal with my feelings about Ben, later. When I made the turn into the corridor that led to my office, I saw something odd. There was a shadow cast onto the slick floor outside my open office door. Whoever this shadow belonged to was in my office, standing beneath the buzzing fluorescent lighting that annoyed me on a daily basis. I charged forward towards my office making sure to click my heels against the floor loudly.

“Excuse me! What the hell are you doing in my office?” The person standing at my desk startled and jerked her head upward, righting her gaze from the scattered papers on my desk.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Janis blurt out while scurrying from my work space.

“I thought maybe you left your office open. I was just going to close it for you and shut off the lights. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.” I stood with my arms bent at the elbow and my hands perched haughtily on my hips. I was completely unmoved by her apology and excuse. I wasn’t buying it. She was snooping around me just as much as I was snooping around John Murray. I just knew it. I could feel it in my gut.

“Yes, because the light switch to this office is on top of my desk.” I made a noise under my breath, laced with cantankerous undertones that I was sure would communicate my disbelief and abhorrence for her actions. “Well, do me a favor Janis. In the future, don’t do me any favors. Okay?”