The Best of Everything (20 page)

Alicia couldn’t hear what the woman was saying to him but she guessed that with today being Friday, the attorney wouldn’t be returning Levi’s call until Monday.

“You have a great weekend,” he said and hung up. “He’s away with his family up at their cottage in Wisconsin, but I’ll chat with him first thing next week.”

At this point, Alicia saw no way out. She decided it was just best to go along with the program, get as much money from Levi as she possibly could, and then simply tell him that she’d changed her mind about leaving Phillip. He’d be upset about the way she’d lied to him and led him on, but it wasn’t like he was going to do any harm to her because she still remembered how on the first night they’d slept together, he’d told her that when a person lied to him and it wasn’t business related, all he basically did was drop them from his life and never had another thing to do with them. She was sorry she was going to have to deceive him in such a cold and uncaring way, but there just weren’t any other options. She was sorry, and all she could hope was that he’d one day be able to forgive her. But even if he didn’t, the good news was that she’d only have to sleep with Levi maybe a couple of more times at the most. By then she would have more than enough money to pay the minimum payments for each of her bills over the next few months. Even better, Phillip would never have to find out about anything—not about Levi or about the number of times she’d falsified Phillip’s name on credit applications.

When they finished getting dressed, Levi gave her a stack of hundreds, which she forced into her leather shoulder bag, and they went outside to the garage. Once they were in the car, Levi backed out and headed down the long, winding driveway. There was an iron gate at the end, and as they approached it, Levi pressed a button and the gate slowly moved to the left.

While they waited for it to open completely, Alicia admired the flawlessly maintained, rich-looking, bright-green lawn and the exquisite water fountain positioned right in the center of it. Levi truly was living the good life, and regardless of how he made his money, Alicia had to give credit where credit was due.

Levi drove through the gate, closed it, and then a few feet
into the street, slammed on his brakes. They screeched loudly, and Alicia’s heart plummeted as she watched, in what seemed like slow motion, a massive number of detective vehicles and squad cars closing in on them, one after another.

“Take that money out of your purse.” Levi said.

“What?”

“I said take it out now! Drop it anywhere!”

Alicia frantically did what she was told and watched countless officers of the law jumping out of their cars, drawing their weapons and holding their positions.

She watched and knew there was no chance of escaping.

O
ver the last hour, Alicia had cried a bucket of tears, and she could feel how swollen her eyes were. Now, though, two of the arresting detectives were holding her in a small room with a table and two chairs, and the situation wasn’t pretty. The thirtysomething officer had been standing the entire time and was seemingly treating her pretty nicely, but the fiftysomething gentleman, sitting adjacent to her, had a very nasty attitude. He’d questioned her over and over about one thing or another and was furious because she wouldn’t say anything. She’d kept her mouth shut because after watching enough
Law & Order
,
Law & Order
:
SVU
, and
Law & Order
:
Criminal Intent
episodes to last a lifetime, she knew how to protect herself.

“Look, we know you’re the girlfriend and that you’ve been helping Levi push a ton of drugs through this city,” the mean detective said. “So, why don’t you just make things a lot easier on yourself and tell us everything?”

Alicia looked at him. “For the hundredth time, I’d like to make my phone call now.”

“Just as soon as you tell us what we need to know.”

“I know my rights, so like I said, I want to make my phone call.”

The elder detective laughed out loud. “For what? So you can lawyer up? So you can buy some time and work on getting your lies together? So you can run home and try to hide some of that dope and the thousands of dollars you’ve been making off it? Well, if so, little lady, I hate to be the one to tell you, but at this very moment we’re getting warrants so we can search your vehicle and your house.”

Alicia wasn’t worried about them finding anything because she knew she was innocent but when she thought about Phillip, and how hurt he was going to be, she burst into tears. She hadn’t thought she had any more tears left to shed, but here they were showering down her face again.

The nice cop unfolded his arms and walked closer to her. “Okay, fine, one phone call.”

Alicia wiped her face with both hands, slid her chair back, stood up, and walked outside the room. The officer directed her to an empty cubicle and stood a few feet away.

Alicia picked up the phone and dialed her father’s cell.

“Daddy, it’s me.”

“Hey, baby girl. What’s up?”

Alicia tried to contain herself, but she couldn’t.

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?”

“I’m…at…the…police…station…and…”

“You’re what?”

“Daddy, they arrested me, and I need you to come down here.”

“Oh my God. Arrested you for what?”

This was the one question Alicia didn’t want to answer, and she was glad when she heard someone calling her name. When she turned to see who it was, she realized it was Brad.

“Daddy, Brad is here, but please hurry.”

“I’m on my way.”

Alicia hung up the phone and then hugged Brad like he was her blood brother. She was so happy and relieved to see him. Happy because she knew he was the one person who would be able to help her.

Brad embraced her as well. “I thought that was you, but what are you here for?”

“They arrested me.”

“For what?”

Alicia saw the detective who’d escorted her to the phone talking to one of his colleagues, and she was glad to have this moment alone with Brad. “It’s a long story but I really need you to represent me.”

“Very rarely do I even come to the police station but it just so happens that, today, one of my business clients got picked up for something bogus. Anyway, let’s find somewhere to talk.”

The good cop came toward them. “Brad, long time, no see.”

“John. Hey, man, how are you?”

The detective shook Brad’s hand. “Good. And you?”

“Well, I was fine until I just learned that you’re holding a close friend of mine.”

“Man, we’ve been trying to get Levi Cunningham for a very long time, and everybody around here knows it.”

Brad frowned. “Levi Cunningham? The drug dealer Levi?”

“That’s the one.”

“Now I’m completely lost, but if you don’t mind, can I talk with my client alone?”

“Of course.” The officer led them back to the interrogation room and closed the door. Alicia was glad the mean cop had gone elsewhere.

Alicia and Brad sat down and Brad laid his black leather Tumi briefcase on the table. Alicia could spot Tumi anywhere, but right now name brands of any kind were the least of her worries.

“What does them busting Levi have to do with you?”

Alicia’s hands shook, so she removed them from the table. “I was in the car with him when they picked him up.”

“Why?”

“Brad, this is all just a really big mistake, and I really need you to help me out of it.”

“That’s fine, Alicia, but what I need to know is the absolute truth. I need to know everything or otherwise I can’t help you to the best of my ability.”

“We’re friends.”

“Who? You and Levi?”

The high pitch in his voice told her that the idea of her being anything to Levi was basically ridiculous and impossible.

“Yes. We’re friends.”

“Okay, wait. Either you’re not telling me something or I’m not understanding, but either way, I don’t get what you’re saying.”

“I told you, this is just a huge mistake. I’m friends with him and that’s all.”

“What kind of friends?”

“Just friends.”

“Well if that’s true, does Phillip know about this so-called friendship?”

At that very moment, Alicia knew Brad was turning on her. It was as if he’d had a revelation and was no longer buying her story.

“No, he doesn’t. But I’ve known Levi for a long time, so that’s why he’s a friend of mine.”

“Wait a minute. Were you cheating on my boy, Phillip, with that criminal?”

“Brad, please. I really, really need your help.”

“Unbelievable,” he said, standing. “Un-freakin’-believable.
You’ve been sleeping behind my best friend’s back and now you have the audacity to think I’m going to help you?”

Alicia swallowed the lump in her throat.

Brad snatched his briefcase from the table and went over to the door. “You’re a real piece of work, Alicia, and if Phillip knows what’s good for him, he’ll dump your little skank behind before the sun goes down.”

Alicia sniffled and covered her forehead, and the younger officer came back in again. This time he didn’t stand over her but instead took a seat.

“Look, the sooner you tell us something about Levi, the sooner we can work on getting you out of here.”

She debated whether she should respond, but for some reason she no longer saw any harm in telling the officer the truth—or at least most of it, because she wasn’t about to reveal how, just recently, Levi had said that he was thinking about leaving Mitchell for good and that it was best he didn’t tell her why.

“I don’t know anything. I never heard anything or saw anything that had to do with drugs. Never.”

“Well, if that’s so, it’s really too bad that you got yourself mixed up with the likes of Levi. And it’s even worse, considering how prominent your family is in this city.”

Alicia closed her eyes and prayed that they weren’t going to release her name to the media. Until now, she hadn’t even thought about any of that, and she couldn’t believe how careless she’d been over the last few months.

“I’ll leave you to yourself until your father gets here. But remember what I said. The sooner you talk, the sooner you’ll be out of here.”

When he closed the door behind him, Alicia anchored her elbows on the table and then rested her face inside the palms of her hands. This was one of the worst days of her life, and she
had no clue as to how she was going to get out of it. She couldn’t tell if they were trying to figure out some way to pin something on her or if all they really wanted was the statement they kept asking for. But it wasn’t like it mattered, one way or the other, because the only thing she knew about Levi was that he had a lot of money, he had a fabulous house, and he treated her like a queen. She did know about all the rumors, the same ones everyone else in the area knew about, but she’d never seen him do anything illegal. Of course, with him giving her a large sum of cash on two different occasions—cash that he hadn’t had to withdraw from a bank—she couldn’t deny that this was usually a sign that something unlawful was going on, but again, she’d never witnessed anything with her own eyes.

To be honest, he’d only actually given her money one time because the police had now confiscated the five thousand dollars Levi had demanded that she take from her purse and toss away. She’d sort of been upset about him making her do that because that same five thousand dollars was going to take care of a lot of her money problems. But now that she’d had time to think about it, she knew he’d only done it to protect her, and she would always be thankful to him.

Alicia was so tired and couldn’t wait to get out of there, but she smiled when she heard the door open and saw her dad walking in.

“Daddy,” she said, rushing toward him.

“Hi, baby girl.”

“Daddy, I’m so glad to see you.”

“Let’s sit down. And where is Brad?”

“He left.”

“Why?”

“He’s really mad at me, Daddy.”

“Okay, it’s time you tell me what this is all about so I can
get my attorney over here. And tell me the truth, Alicia.”

He was calling her by her first name again, and she knew he wasn’t playing games with her. “I was arrested with Levi Cunningham and…he’s the man I’ve been having an affair with.”

“Levi Cunningham?! Have you lost your mind?”

Tears streamed all over again. “I know, Daddy. I’m sorry.”

“I can’t believe you would do something like this. It was bad enough that you were sleeping around on Phillip but with a known drug dealer? The same drug dealer I cut ties with and told you not to even talk to when you were younger?”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Dear God. This is a mess. And it’s going to kill your mother, Alicia. It’s going to hurt a whole lot of people, and if the police release your name it’s going to mean yet another scandal for our family and for the church.”

“I know” was all she could think to say.

“Why couldn’t you just leave him alone when I had that talk with you at the hospital? You promised me that you were going to end whatever relationship you’d gotten yourself caught up in and that was over a month ago. So, what happened?”

“I made a mistake, Daddy. A really big mistake.”

“This is bad. And I hate even seeing the look on Phillip’s face once he finds out about it.”

“But you’re not going to tell him anything, are you?”

“He wasn’t in the office when you called me, but I left him a voice message telling him that you’d been arrested and that I wanted him to meet me here.”

“Daddy, why did you do that?”

“Why? Because he’s your husband. That’s why.”

“But you could have at least given me a chance to figure out how I’m going to explain this to him.”

“What is there to figure out? Except the truth?”

Alicia knew it wasn’t worth debating this with him, because the damage was already done. She’d slept with Levi, her father had told Phillip about her being arrested, and it was only a matter of time before he stormed in there, saying only God knew what.

But at least Phillip still didn’t know about the credit card and loan payments she was behind on, so not all was completely lost. She had to do something and do it fast, and while she’d vowed not to ask her father to help her with her debt issues, he was now her only hope. But she wouldn’t ask him today, not with him being so furious with her about this Levi fiasco. However, she would ask him before the weekend was over.

She’d have to do it because if she could keep the debt situation undercover, she had a feeling she’d be able to smooth over this problem with Levi. She and Phillip had been having so many marital problems over the last few months, she was sure he’d understand how easy it had been for her to slip into the arms of another man. She was sure he’d think about the commitment he’d made to her on their wedding day and how God really did expect him to stay with her for better or worse. He’d think about all of this, and in the end, she knew Phillip would do the right thing. He was a good man and that made her feel better already.