AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Every inch.”
“Where’s the laptop?”
“Digital forensics connected to it the moment she touched down in Corpus Christi, sir.”
“What in the world is going on here?” Lauren demanded. “I get a call after hours from my boss, telling me I better get on a plane and get here quick. That there’s some ‘serious stuff’ going down. So I do, and I show up to some…some…apocalyptic scene in my office building.”
Her chest hurt from the lack of oxygen, and Lauren hated how manic she sounded as she sucked in a breath. She tried to hold it, but it wouldn’t stay in her lungs.
“You can’t stay here, ma’am,” the agent said who’d been reporting to his boss. “If you’ll come with us, we’ll lay it out for you.”
“You’ll interrogate me,” Lauren said, shying further from them. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been flying for three hours, terrified of what I’d find here, but it wasn’tthis.”
“I’m Agent Toledo,” the taller man in charge said. “Come next door with me, please.” He indicated the open doorway behind him, and Lauren had no idea what to do. She looked at Mark, plenty of pleading silently thrown in his direction.
“Go,” he said. “You’ll be okay, Lauren. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.” The slow weeping started again, and Lauren really didn’t know what to make of that. She’d seen Mark angry plenty of times. So angry, he’d throw a tape dispenser or the nearest object he could get his hands on. But weeping?
Never had she seen him do that.
She held her head high and stepped past him. She told herself she could answer any question set to her and do so truthfully. She didn’t know why there would be two federal agents at Simple Solutions, and Agent Toledo had sounded like she had an office to go into.
She did that, flanked by both suited men. The lights came on as she entered, the way they usually did. They didn’t illuminate total chaos like she’d seen out on the main floor, but there had definitely been a crew of people in her personal space.
On her computer. In her files. Accessing her laptop the moment she landed in Corpus Christie. She started to turn numb, her mind going blurring along the edges of her thoughts.
“Ma’am,” the agent who hadn’t identified himself said. “I’m Agent Bell, and we’ve been investigating an embezzlement scheme here at Simple Solutions for the past nine months.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Please sit down,” Agent Toledo said, and Lauren did. Her sleek, shiny black leather couch still sat against the wall, though the framed picture of the ocean she kept above it had been removed. As she stared across her office to her desk, she found the majority of the artwork from the office standing against the far wall. The one she shared with Mark.
“I don’t have a job anymore, do I?” she asked.
“We’ve frozen everything inside Simple Solutions,” Agent Toledo said. “Mark Wellington, as well as at least three others, have been siphoning money from corporate funds to the tune of seven-point-three million dollars.” He perched on the edge of her desk and picked up a black pen. One of her really nice gel ones, as Lauren wouldn’t sign documents with anything else. “And ma’am, you’ll forgive me, but as closely as you two worked, I’m finding it hard to believe you didn’t know.”
He looked up, his eyebrows adding a silent question mark to the statement.
“I didn’t.” Lauren swallowed and cut a look to Agent Bell. “I only work out of the office about half the time. I’m not over any corporate budgeting. I get told from the accounting team how big the individual account budgets are, but even that I don’t touch. I’m in charge of design, communication, and quality assurance for our clients.”
Their clients.
She took a long breath in through her nose, trying to calm down. “What about our clients?”
The two agents exchanged a glance. “We can’t comment on them at this time,” Agent Bell said. He took a seat next to her on the couch and touched her knee. “Miss Keller.”
She swung her gaze to him, surprised he was there. Lauren felt outside of herself, and she didn’t like it. “I think you should get on home,” he said, and these federal agents were definitely Texas-based. She could hear the twang in their accents. Why her brain seized on that, she didn’t know, but it did make her feel more comfortable with them.
They knew how things ran in Texas. They understood Texas manners.
“We’ll drive you, as we’ve confiscated your car,” Agent Toledo said.
“My car?” Lauren asked.
“Truth be told,” Agent Toledo said. “I was hours away from putting your name out to Interpol and launching a nation-wide manhunt for you and your car.” He gave her a smile that wasn’t meant to be happy.
Asmile.
Lauren sucked at the air then, full-blown panic descending on her. She’d been holding it back since she stepped into the wasteland that was now the twelfth floor, but there was no stemming it now.
