Eye Candy (18 page)

She complied with his wishes not wanting to upset him anymore. The two spent the rest of the night in her bedroom as the heavy rain continued to fall.

CHAPTER 20

It was a few minutes after nine o’clock in the morning and I was already bored out of my mind. I didn’t know how I planned to spend the next few weeks away from work wondering if the revitalization project was okay in Sebastian’s hands. I figured he could handle it although I would give him a courtesy call later in the day just to see how things were going.

Monica was already in the kitchen as I could smell her cooking a light breakfast for us as usual. Apparently, she woke up before I did and managed to take a quick shower before she went downstairs. I noticed our bathroom was still full of steam from her prior use of it as I made my way out of the bed. Quickly, I took a hot shower to rejuvenate my bones then put on some casual clothes and went downstairs.

When I arrived in the kitchen, my plate and cup of coffee were the only items on the table. The plate contained scrambled eggs with melted cheddar cheese, sausage links, and French toast. Monica was just finishing up with the dishes and tiding up the kitchen.

“Well, you seem to be in a better mood this morning,” I said to my wife as I walked over to give her a kiss.

“Yes, I feel a little better today, Aaron,” she said sounding optimistic. “Spending the day with my mother yesterday helped cheer me up a little.”

I noticed Monica was dressed in a pink and white jogging suit and she already had a pair of her Nike running shoes on. Coincidentally, her hair was pulled back in ponytail and she had no make-up on.

“Monica, where are you off to so early this morning?” I asked.

“Oh, Shanna and I decided to meet for an early morning jog,” she replied. “It’s a good stress reliever and keeps you fit.”

“Where do you two plan to go jogging?”

“Piedmont Park because it’s safe.”

“I can come if you like,” I said trying to sound enthusiastic. “It will only take me a few minutes to change into my workout gear.”

“No, honey, you can stay put,” she said pulling out a chair from the table. “Besides, I don’t want your breakfast to get cold. Just take a seat now and enjoy it.”

“Yeah, it does look tasty.”

I sat in the chair Monica had pulled out for me and then made myself comfortable. After taking a sip of the perfectly brewed coffee, I dug into my breakfast which was still warm.

“Well, I’ll see you in a little bit, honey,” she said grabbing the keys to the rental car from the kitchen counter.

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” I said before stuffing my mouth with scrambled eggs. I chewed and swallowed before I spoke again. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.”

“Will do, Aaron.”

“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked while Monica made her way to the front door.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said halting in her tracks.

“It’s your purse, Monica,” I pointed out. “You left it on the kitchen counter.”

“I don’t need my purse to go jogging, silly,” she said with laughter. “I’ll see you later.”

Monica exited the house as I continued to stuff my mouth. By the time she was pulling out the driveway, I was halfway done with my breakfast. The French toast was delicious as I took one bite and it was almost gone. As I prepared to finish the remaining portion off, the house phone located near the kitchen sink rang. I took a quick sip of coffee, wiped my mouth, and made my way out of the chair.

“Malone residence,” I said answering the phone somewhat upset the caller had disturbed my breakfast.

“Yes, sir, I’m trying to reach Aaron or Monica Malone,” said the female voice on the other end.

“This is Aaron Malone you’re speaking to.”

“Ah, Mr. Malone, I finally was able to reach you. This is Brenda with Paramount Insurance we insure your automobiles.”

“Yes, Brenda, I’ve already received your settlement check for the total loss damages to the Tahoe,” I said in a hurry looking at my plate that I wanted to get back to.

“Actually, sir, I’m calling you on another matter concerning the damaged Tahoe.”

“Well, what could that be?”

“Our investigation team found some disturbing evidence with your on-board computer we retrieved from the vehicle,” she said. “It’s sort of like a black box that are used to record data on airplanes.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” I said listening more closely to the caller.

“Apparently, we discovered your vehicle’s system had been hacked into which caused the brakes to fail.”

“Brenda, that sounds too unrealistic to believe,” I said scratching my head.

“In reality it’s not, Mr. Malone. You see someone with a minicomputer or even a smart phone with the right software could have compromised your vehicle’s system with direct access to it.”

“Uh-huh, I’m listening.”

“But the person or persons responsible for this weren’t an average Joe.”

“What do you mean by that, Brenda?”

“Sir, I mean it takes a sophisticated mind to be able to reprogram or even crack your vehicle’s computer. We believe someone quite familiar with computers or even with an engineering background.”

“That sounds very interesting, Brenda,” I said. “Tell me more.”

“First, let me ask you a simple question, Mr. Malone.”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“Did you have your vehicle serviced by someone prior to the accident?”

“No, the last time I had my vehicle serviced was six months ago at the dealership. That was for a routine oil change.”

“We estimated that whoever tampered with your vehicle had to do so within a week or two prior to the accident,” she said in a confident way. “Do you recall anyone having access to your vehicle during that time frame?”

“Not that I can…”

Before I could finish my sentence my mouth froze with an eerie chill that came over me. I stood in the kitchen looking stunned with my jaw wide open. There was dead silence in the room.

“Mr. Malone, are you still there?” Brenda asked as she listened to the silence.

“No, say it’s not so,” I finally yelled out shaking my head.

“Sir, are you okay?”

“Brenda, I just realized something and I have to go now.”

“But, Mr. Malone, I need your cooperation in order for us to complete our investigation.”

“I’ll have to call you back later, Brenda,” I said angrily and slammed down the phone.

My blood pressure was at a boiling point as I managed to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. There was only one person who had access to the Tahoe, prior to the accident, besides Monica and I. Seems like Tiffany was the culprit, who was in the garage with me, during the twins’ birthday party.

I gathered my thoughts and took a deep breath of air. Then I repeated the process again so I could think straight. I still didn’t want to believe what my mind was telling me. I fumbled for my car keys which were in my pants and decided it was time to leave.

“Well, it looks like I’m about to pay Ms. Tiffany Towns an unannounced visit at her company’s satellite office downtown,” I said to myself. “She’s been dying to speak to me lately and it’s about time we got reacquainted.”

Like a madman on a mission I ran to the front door, with keys in hand, anxious to get to my car. As I opened the front door, I was surprised to see who was standing there.

“Good heavens, Aaron, it looks as if you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Mrs. Chastain, what are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ring your doorbell when you unexpectedly opened the door,” she answered still startled.

“Yes, Mrs. Chastain, I was actually on my way out to take care of an urgent matter this morning,” I said stepping out of the house and closing the door behind me. “You’ll have to excuse me.”

“Well, is everything alright, Aaron?” she asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Yes, everything is fine.”

“The reason I asked is because you look quite upset.”

“Mrs. Chastain, I’m not trying to be obtuse with you but I really must go now,” I said walking quickly to my Audi that was parked in the driveway. “We will have to talk later.”

“But wait, Aaron, that’s not what I came over here for this morning,” she said following behind me. “I just wanted to give Monica this cover sleeve for the DVD.”

Confused and annoyed by the conversation I was having with Mrs. Chastain, I stopped at my car and turned around to face her. By now, she had made it over to my car as well and was waving the DVD cover sleeve in her hand.

“Monica is gone right now, Mrs. Chastain. However, I’m sure she won’t damage the movie you let her watch.”

“It wasn’t a movie, dear.”

“Well, what could be so important that you needed to bring over a DVD cover sleeve to her?”

“You mean she didn’t tell you about yesterday evening?”

“No, what on God’s green earth happened?”

“Well, I decided to watch what my newly installed surveillance cameras had been recording lately,” she said slowly. “And that’s when I found something that piqued my interest. Then I called Monica over to take a look with me.”

“So what did you see?” I asked with a bit of curiosity.

“I went back and watched the footage from the first day the cameras were installed. It so happened to be the day of the twins’ birthday party.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“Do you remember the pretty woman your wife introduced me to during the birthday party?”

“Vaguely, but which one are you referring to?”

“She was wearing a pretty pink pastel-colored dress.”

“Yes, her name is Tiffany.”

“That’s the name your wife called out yesterday,” she said in agreement. “I can’t believe I already forgot her name so quickly. My memory is not what is use to be, Aaron.”

“Mrs. Chastain please continue on with the story,” I said wanting her to get to the point. “What happened next?”

“Well, that same woman was outside your garage near the side of your house talking to someone on her cell phone,” she continued. “It just happened that one of my security cameras caught everything she was saying.”

“What was she talking about?”

“Apparently, she was letting the person know on the phone that your wife’s Tahoe had been infiltrated and everything was going according to plan,” she said looking sad. “And as you know, Aaron, shortly after the twins’ birthday party your wife had that terrible accident.”

My mind took another blow but what Mrs. Chastain was telling me solidified what Brenda had said earlier.

“Yes, I finally see your point.”

“So did your wife, yesterday, after watching what happened. She bolted out of my house but first insisted I let her hold onto the DVD which had the recorded incident.”

“Thanks for all your help, Mrs. Chastain,” I said opening the door to my car. “But I really must get a move on. And don’t worry I think Monica won’t let that DVD get damaged. It’s a valuable piece of evidence right now.”

To make her feel better, I took the DVD cover sleeve out of her hand and tossed it into my car. After I sat down in my car, she spoke again.

“Aaron, it seems like Monica didn’t tell you anything about what she and I witnessed yesterday,” Mrs. Chastain said.

“That’s right she didn’t say a word to me,” I said finally closing the door to my car. Then I sped out the driveway of my home.

I raced through the downtown connector tying to make it to Marietta Street before my wife did. I knew all hell would break loose if Monica reached the offices of Topaz Consulting Group before I could. But Monica being a savvy person was already two steps ahead of me. She had traveled to Tiffany’s condo at the Twelve Hotel at Atlantic Station.

Tiffany didn’t go into the office this morning due to a brunch meeting she had with a potential client of hers. She had just slipped on her business dress and was putting on one of her conservative diamond earrings when her doorbell rang. She thought it probably was housekeeping and failed to look through the peephole or ask who it was before opening the door. When she did, it was Monica standing there with a cold stare.

“Monica, what a pleasant surprise to see you again,” she said lying through her pearl white teeth. “How did you know where I lived?”

“It’s called a wife’s intuition,” Monica said boldly.

CHAPTER 21

I must have broken a dozen traffic laws and almost caused a major accident trying to get to Tiffany’s office. I was finally on Marietta Street and could see her office in my sight. Without time to spare, I pulled my car into a no parking spot right in front of the one-story office building. The last thing on my mind was trying to find an available parking space in busy downtown Atlanta.

As I entered the quaint office, a receptionist was sitting behind a desk and perked up immediately. Behind her were several rows of low portioned cubicles where many employees were busy working. The majority of them turned their attention to the front entrance where I stood.

“I need to see Tiffany Towns right now,” I demanded looking straight into the receptionist’s blue eyes.

“May I ask what it is in regards to, sir?” she asked so eloquently.

“It’s rather personal to be quite honest with you,” I said getting to the point. “But if you must know she worked as a consultant for my firm, Donaldson and Bradshaw, on the revitalization project at the old General Motors assembly plant.”

The receptionist began typing fast on the keyboard to her computer which was in front of her. Soon, she finally found the information she was looking for and spoke out before I could.

“Yes, sir, I’m showing her consulting services have already ended with your firm.”

“So, where the hell is she?” I asked angrily.

“I’m sorry we can’t divulge any information on our employees, sir.”

“Well, it looks like I’m going to have to find her myself.”

All eyes were really fixed on me now in the front as my voice resonated back to the cubicles. The employees had a concerned look on their face not knowing what to expect next. I took it upon myself to walk past the receptionist’s desk and into the rows of cubicles.

“Sir, you can’t go back there,” she said standing up out of her chair. “That’s a restricted area for employees only.”