Rough Ride (19 page)

Scanning the length of her body as she stood at the entrance to the guest closet searching for an outfit he finally said “Sorry… I uh… I just got off the phone with Simon.  We have a meeting with the Judge in his chambers in one hour”

She made every effort to increase the size of the towel so that it would cover more of her skin and block his gaze and finding her efforts useless she said “I can be ready in time if you’ll excuse me…”

He frowned at her but then left closing the door behind him.  Quicker than she’d have thought she was capable of moving, she found an outfit consisting of a skirt such as the one she’d worn the first time she’d taken a motorcycle ride with Bobby, and a white blouse.  She forced her nerves aside so she could focus on dressing before Kyle returned.

Less than an hour later she and Kyle were pulling into a parking lot near the courthouse.  As they entered the front entrance to the courthouse, and stood in line for the security scans, she noticed the FBI agent leaning against a door frame…staring at her.  Upon catching her eye he nodded his head towards the door he leaned against.  Staring for a moment longer he then opened the door and headed into the room.

He expected her to meet him but how could she possibly get away?  Kyle accepted a phone call and stepped away from her.  After listening to the person on the other end of the call, he eyed her suspiciously and after hanging up he grasped her elbow and began to move her quickly down a hallway.

“We need to hurry… we don’t want to keep the Judge waiting” He said.

She nonchalantly attempted to remove her elbow from Kyle’s grasp as he nearly dragged her down the hall.  Upon his easy grip suddenly becoming tighter and almost painful she knew she was in trouble.  Looking behind her in hopes of seeing either Detective Sanders or the FBI agent following her she suddenly crashed into a woman exiting an office.  Cold liquid flowed down the front of her shirt and her screech stopped Kyle in his tracks.

“Oh God!  I’m so sorry!” The woman said in shock.  She was petite with blonde hair and lovely hazel eyes “Here let’s go to the restroom real quick and try to dry your shirt…I’m sorry…I’ll pay your cleaning bill…here right this way”

With that the woman grabbed her arm in such a way that Kyle was forced to release her or risk appearing as though he was struggling with the woman to maintain his hold on her.  His eyes darted all around and before he could respond she was in the women’s restroom and Detective Sanders hand was clamped over her mouth.  He indicated for her to be quiet and then smacked the button on the hand dryer located close to the door.

“I have a flight scheduled for you tomorrow morning at 9AM.  I need you to retrieve the necklace you left in the Judge’s chambers and play dumb or insulted as though you were setup.” He whispered “You’ve done great… better than I could have ever expected and now I need you out and safely stashed away.  We are ready to blow this thing wide open all over again”

With that the blonde woman left the bathroom and Lilly could hear her say “I have a dry blouse in my office that should fit her… I’m so sorry sir.  I’ll just be a minute more.”

Looking into Greg’s face she could see he was alert and listening so she remained still and when the hand dryer stopped she reached up and turned it on again.  He looked at her with a quick grin and then the door to the bathroom re-opened and the blonde woman returned.

“Here sweetie, see if this will fit” She said handing her a hanger with a clean and dry blouse hanging on it.

Lilly quickly changed shirts with her back to the detective and upon turning back around a knowing look passed between Greg and the woman.  Taking her soiled garment and the hanger she pulled Lilly towards the door.

Pushing open the door she shoved Lilly back into the hallway.  “I’ll have this dry cleaned today and see about getting it back to you… again I am so sorry”

“It’s ok, I shouldn’t have been walking so fast” She said giving Kyle a disgusted look.

A shocked expression passed his face and after several moments he said “I’m sorry…”

“I should hope so… you were practically dragging me” She complained.

Again he looked shocked but after a moment he said “Come on we’re going to be late now”

She followed him down the hall until they were ushered into the Judge’s chambers where the Judge and Simon sat and upon seeing her enter they looked at each other.  After Kyle offered her one of the chairs facing the Judge’s desk she sat down.  She needed to sit near the couch so she could get the necklace.

Picking up a packet of papers the Judge handed it to her.  It was a new account statement showing her real balance.  In an attempt to buy her some time to think she thumbed through the documents and was startled to find a line showing a withdrawal of thirty million dollars.  Continuing to thumb through she found several deposits over the past two years of several million dollars at a time.

“I don’t understand…” She began

“What did you do with the money?” Judge Henry asked angrily.

“What?  I didn’t do anything with the money!” She said looking towards Kyle.

Kyle gave a confused shrug to the Judge.  The look of shock she knew was on her face wasn’t forced as she was completely baffled how Detective Sanders had managed to get her account statement doctored to look as though the money had in fact been in the account at one time.  The group continued to sit and stare at each other in silence.  Knowing she had to do something to get over to the couch to retrieve the necklace she sat forward and propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward placing her head in her hands.

“They are setting me up…they can’t get to Darren obviously so I’m the next best thing.” She said with just enough volume to ensure they all heard “Oh God!  I feel sick”

“Here now…” Kyle said crouching down next to her and placing his hand on her back.

“I need to lie down” She said breathlessly “Whether the money rightfully belonged to me or not… now that it’s gone I look even guiltier.”

“Put her on the couch” Judge Henry said

Kyle helped her stand and guided her over to the couch.  Before he had a chance to sit next to her she flopped down and then lay down stretching her legs out along the length of the couch taking up as much room as possible. 
Perfect!

“Just give me a moment” She said putting her hand over her eyes.

After a few minutes Kyle made his way back to the desk and sat in the chair she’d vacated.  “She’s been with me constantly since her arrest…she couldn’t have done it…moved the money” He said

“I will see if the Prosecutor can meet first thing next week for an evidence hearing.  Perhaps law enforcement has moved the funds elsewhere until the trial” Judge Henry said glancing between Simon and Kyle.

As they continued to talk amongst themselves completely forgetting about her and her drama, she pushed her hand into the couch cushion and felt around until she located the chain of the necklace.  Pulling it out she pushed it down into the pocket of her skirt as she continued to lie there listening to them talk.  Now if she could just get away from Kyle and safely to Detective Sanders, she’d be on a plane headed home.

He needed to get her out…
now
.  Sitting in a van down the street from the courthouse listening to the live audio feed from the necklace Detective Sanders could tell from the rustling noises and the sudden change in the clarity of the audio that Lilly had the necklace back in her possession.  She was blissfully unaware of the plans the Judge and Simon had for her.  Leaving the necklace behind in the Judge’s chambers had been ingenious on her part.

Though it had started with him wanting to nail Kyle for his part in the scheme, it seemed of those people involved, Kyle was low man on the totem pole.  He’d nearly had a heart attack when the Judge had subpoenaed Lilly’s account information.  He’d had to call in a favor from his sister who was a criminal defense lawyer.  She’d represented the president of the financial institution Lilly’s account was through when the scheme had originally came to the attention of the FBI. 

Other than his firm not notifying authorities about the large amounts of money being filtered through the account, the man wasn’t in on the scheme.  The only thing he was guilty of was not paying attention and staying on top of his business.  He’d been too distracted by his twenty year old intern.  He’d cut a deal to clear himself and his company of any wrong doing in exchange for assisting the bureau in their investigation.  His sister had simply reminded him of his obligation to assist with the ongoing investigation and he’d been happy to assist them.

With the help of the firm’s president, they’d made it appear as though the funds were actually in the account.  Only he and the lead FBI agent on the case knew no such money existed.  Surprisingly the Judge had pulled some strings to have the ‘money’ moved into another account.  Upon hearing and recording conversation between Simon and the Judge, thanks to the necklace, he now had enough evidence and enough names to bring down the remaining players in this game of greed. 

He just needed Lilly out of harm’s way so he could execute the arrest warrants and search warrants that were piling up quickly.  Once she testified at trial he’d be glad to hand over whatever money in the fund she was entitled too…she’d earned it.  Now that Judge Henry had access to the ‘funds’ he and Attorney Barhorst were looking for a way to either eliminate Lilly or at least make it look like she’d somehow gotten the money out of the account.  Kyle had been in on past deals but not on this one...he was apparently too close to Lilly to be of any use.

After that conversation he’d gotten a warrant to allow him to put a better audio device in the Judge’s chambers.  Now he needed the original device back that he didn’t have a warrant for.  The device was intended to track Lilly and ensure her safety.  He claimed the audio recording of the Judge conspiring with Simon on how to best deal with Lilly had been accidentally recorded when she’d left the device in her purse and then went to the restroom. 

After hearing that conversation he’d wanted to yank her out right then but Kyle had stuck with her like an irritating fly.  His sister Becca had helped him once again by spilling a drink down the front of Lilly to give him the few minutes he needed to get her out.  However, Kyle had remained in the hallway waiting for her and he couldn’t risk pulling her out just yet.  Now he had to try again to get her out and on a plane back to Florida before the warrants were executed. 
Damn Kyle
… the lovesick fool!

Switching off the feed from the necklace and turning up the volume on the device still in the Judge’s chambers he listened.

“You invite Kyle out for a meeting around nine this evening and make sure he leaves her at his place.  Then send your man in… then you notify me first thing in the morning that she’s disappeared and I’ll take care of the rest.  It will look as though she took the money and ran” Judge Henry said.

Something nagged at the back of his mind about the night they’d been set to take down Lilly’s husband Darren.  It was going so smoothly only to have him die in a traffic accident only an hour before the arrest warrant was to be served.  Looking back it had felt like too much of a coincidence at the time but he’d had nothing to go on.  This time he’d be watching the object of his case with his own two eyes…until she was safely on that plane and out of the state.

Looking at Agent Brower who’d practically lived in this van for the past couple of weeks he said “You see to it that someone is there a little before nine tonight and as soon as he’s gone… get her out of there”

“I’ll take care of it” the agent said

He made his way out of the van and called the lead FBI agent and filled him in on what was going on.  Then he headed to the unmarked car he would be using to track Lilly’s every move for the rest of this day until she was safely in custody.  He expected her plane to be leaving the state just as they were rounding up Kyle, Simon and the Judge.

Several hours later he found himself hiding in the foliage that surrounded Kyle’s estate.  He watched as the garage door opened and Kyle pulled out in his sports car and headed down the street.  He was alone but it was too early, it was only seven thirty.