Rough Ride (17 page)

“Yes, but according to the detective working the case, the return on the initial investment is not possible.  I can’t explain where the other money came from because I don’t know!” She cried.

“How much is in the account now Mrs. Warner?” Simon asked setting down his fork and leaning towards her.

“Upwards of twenty eight million but I swear I have no idea where the excess money came from.” She said

Watching the silent exchange between Kyle and Simon had her so on edge she was terrified she would slip up and give herself away.  Deciding she needed a minute to collect herself she said “I’m sorry I need to freshen up, I will return shortly.”

With that she lifted her purse and then remembering the recorder inside she reached in and turned it on before grabbing her makeup satchel out.  She sat the purse on her seat and left the table. 

As she made it to the women’s restroom, several ladies stopped talking when she entered and then quickly finished up.  She sank against the wall as they quickly exited after making a show of snubbing her.  One of the ladies was the wife of one of the men who had invested with Darren.

Though she wanted to defend herself to the woman and tell her it was all a big lie and that she was trying to help them, instead she fought back tears.  Staring at herself in the mirror she freshened up her makeup and forced herself to calm down.  After several minutes she felt ready to face Kyle and Simon once more. 
She could do this.

As she approached the table, it appeared that Simon had finished his meal and was getting ready to leave.

“Mrs. Warner, I am going to look over the arrest warrant and subpoena the arrest report from the detectives.  I will be in contact with you in a couple of days once I have looked over everything and have a more accurate picture of how to proceed with your case.” Simon said as he shook her hand.

“Thank you Mr. Barhorst.  I appreciate you agreeing to represent me and please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.”  She said.

After Simon walked away she sat down next to Kyle and placing her makeup bag in her purse turned off the recorder.

“I don’t know how I will ever be able to repay you Kyle, especially if I’m convicted…” She choked out.

“Mr. Barhorst is a powerful man Lilly.  He will get this mess cleared up for you and
then
you can worry about repaying me.  For now, don’t worry about the money or anything else.” Kyle said reaching across the table to take her hand.  “I have to go to the office for a little while, did you want to stay here or would you rather I take you home?”
Home?

Looking around she watched as several women’s heads turned away from her.  How had she ever felt comfortable around these people?  People who were supposed to be her friends, people she had tried so hard to impress.  Looking back she realized she hadn’t ever felt herself here and had only participated in the farce to please Darren.

“I’m ready to leave now.  Thank You.” She said

After dropping her off at his estate, he offered her his credit card and the use of one of his vehicles to do some shopping.  She waited for twenty minutes in her room after Kyle left before leaving.  Finding a local coffee shop she went inside and called Detective Sanders who called her back ten minutes later asking her to come outside to a waiting van.

Climbing in to the back of the van she noticed that another man was inside.  After sitting down she fished the recorder out of her purse and handed it to the detective. 

As he worked on rewinding the tape, Lilly said “I turned it on earlier during a meeting with my attorney.  I haven’t listened to what was said while I was in the restroom yet.  Other than that, there isn’t much else on the tape.”

As the tape began to play, Lilly sat stunned.

“Apparently that Bastard was holding out on us.” Kyle’s voice came through the recorder.

“You be whatever shoulder she needs to cry on while I get this taken care of in court.  Once she’s in the clear and they remove the hold on her account, we get her to hand over the money and it’s done.” Simon replied. “I got a friend in the clerk’s office who will see to it that she gets our Judge.  Before, I do that though you need to know that if you dick me like Darren did on this deal, I will take your ass out too.” Simon said

“Unlike Darren, I know who my friends are.  I take care of those who take care of me.” Kyle said

“Well on that note, I got some other business I have to tend to so I’ll catch up with you later.” Simon said.

Her voice cut in on the recorder asking if Simon was leaving and Detective Sanders shut off the recorder.

“Mrs. Warner… I don’t know how to thank you.” The man who sat in the front driver’s seat said.  “We knew he was working with others but had no idea who they were.  Thanks to your tape, we can put some guys in the courthouse to see which Judge is in Mr. Barhorst’s pocket.”

“Do I know you?” She asked

“He’s FBI Lilly.  Special Agent Leo Brower is also working with us on this case but he couldn’t be here today. ” Detective Sanders said showing her a picture of the other agent.  “Barhorst and Kyle were responsible for the ‘accident’ that killed your husband.  We suspected it… but couldn’t prove it until now.  As much as I’d like to just arrest them both on charges of murder and laundering money amongst other things I need to hold off for just a bit longer.  As you heard on the tape, there are more people in on this thing than even we knew.  We’re going to need you to stay on this at least long enough for Simon to lead us to his contacts at the courthouse and the Judge.”

“How long will that take?” She asked.

“I wish I could say for sure but it shouldn’t take long because it’s a high profile case and will move along swiftly without opposition from the defense…” He said winking at her “Once we know who the Judge is you’ll be pulled out of this whole thing.  We don’t want to risk any of them finding out there really isn’t any extra money… it could endanger you and we need you to testify.”

She realized that it was in Simon and Kyle’s and whomever else’s best interest to move her case through the system quickly in an effort to get to the money.  However, should they find out she’d made it all up…she’d be a dead woman.  Living amongst snakes was very likely to get her bit if she wasn’t careful.

“When this is over we are even.  I want any funds that I am legally entitled to and I never want to deal with these people again.” She said

“I promise other than testifying in court which will probably be necessary, when this is over I will leave you alone…you’ll never hear from me again.” He said.

She spent the remainder of the afternoon shopping and found a few outfits she thought Kyle would approve of.  She decided to stop by the storage facility and as she looked around at the household items, she wondered how much of it was purchased with money that didn’t rightfully belong to her or Darren. 

Guilt over what Darren had done seemed to weigh her down and she decided that when this was over she would auction off everything she owned and give the proceeds to the victims or at least to charity.  This would be the last step in leaving behind the ghosts of her past so that she could move on with her future.

Would her future include the motorcycle shop and Bobby?
  She missed them and not having to watch her back, what she said, and how she might appear to others.  She missed having the freedom to be herself that Bobby and the guys had given her.  She swallowed a lump in her throat as she thought about how quickly Bobby had moved on from her but yet given the chance, she wouldn’t change the night she’d spent in his arms.

After finding a few more outfits to wear in the storage unit and then locking it back up, she headed back to Kyle’s.  As she headed out of town, a motorcycle passed her, and the noise from it seemed to batter her frayed nerves and aching heart. 

God help her
but she was falling in love with Bobby Jackson, regardless of his bad boy image and playboy ways.  Somehow she would have to hide her broken heart from Kyle, though she really wanted to unleash the torment of feelings that any thought, memory or reminder of him seem to bring on.  As much as being amongst known criminals would be a hard road to travel, getting over Bobby would be the roughest part of the ride.

By the time she made it back to Kyle’s she was tired from the stress and strain of yet again pretending to be something she was not.  A nagging sensation at the base of her skull pounded out a question over and over. 
What was the worst that could happen if she called him?

The worst that could happen was if Kyle, Simon or anyone else involved in this mess were to catch on to this dangerous game she played, it would not only put her in danger but anyone else she cared about.  Sherri would be their first target which was bad enough.  As bad as the thought of Sherri being in danger was the thought of the guys…
Bobby
…being in danger if they found out she had contacted him, stole her breath.  The less he knew the better…
not that he even cared.

After hanging up her clothing in the closet of the guest room Kyle was allowing her to use for as long as it was needed, she laid down for a much needed nap.  Sometime later she was startled awake from the feel of being watched.  Rolling over she noticed Kyle sitting in a chair across the room.  His legs were crossed and he was watching her. 
Had he figured out she was here to bring about justice?

“Has something happened?” She asked

“No… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you” He replied “I just came to make sure you were ok after our meeting with Simon this morning.”

Then why was he just sitting there… staring at her?
  “I’m fine… just trying to deal with the waiting which is the hardest part.  I just wish I knew something…” She finally answered after a long pause.

“Well I can tell you that Simon is already working on having your case transferred to a different Judge… one that is more impartial and less likely to decide against you based on media hype” Kyle said.

Yea…right!
  “Thank you Kyle… I owe you already with no way to repay your kindness.” She said and then flinched as she realized her words nearly sounded like a come on which was
not
her intention.

“Unlike Darren I don’t do things for other people in an effort to stockpile IOUs.  Especially not where you’re concerned… I hope you will see this as simply one friend helping another…a sign of affection and appreciation…” He said with a smile.

She could only smile back as she forced herself to swallow the choking lump of nerves that was lodged in her throat.

“I hope one day you will realize that you can come to me for
anything
you need…anything at all.  I’m your friend…always” He finished.

Then standing up he headed to the door and looked back at her with heat in his eyes before leaving her room.  At one time those kinds of honey coated words would have left her speechless and blushing.  Thanks to Bobby it took a whole lot more these days to render her breathless and flushed.  Flowers, candy and fluff no longer had the effect heated and inappropriate words did…
or rough handling
.

A full week had passed since she’d been ‘arrested’ and already she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.  She was skating on very thin ice and dodging different obstacles at every turn.  The lies were starting to mount up to a point she needed a journal to write them all down in as an effort to keep from forgetting them and messing up everything.

Simon had filed a motion to have the case transferred to another Judge the same day she and Kyle had met with him.  The motion had sighted that the appointed Judge, who was handpicked by Detective Sanders, was impartial. Simon had argued that the Judge should have filed a motion to excuse himself from the case, since he had family members who’d lost money in the scandal. Detective Sanders was thrilled that Simon had jumped so quickly at the bait she’d laid out.

She and Kyle had a meeting setup with Simon this afternoon to discuss the new Judge on the case.  Detective Sanders had advised her that he felt certain they would begin hounding her for information on her account and had prepared her as best he could on how to handle their questions.  Between worrying that she would say the wrong thing during the upcoming meeting, and trying to fend off Kyle’s subtle advances, her nerves were gone.