The Tea Series Page 38

  Although I think Teagan might have a really good idea, I can’t imagine what it is that anyone would put in my apartment, and I highly doubt anyone planted cameras to watch my every move.

  So although we have a working theory, the more I think about it, the less it is working.

  At first the camera thing made sense, but it really doesn’t anymore, and I’m having a hard time figuring out what they would have left if it isn’t a camera. I’ve been through everything in that apartment. Every drawer. Every closet. Every everything. If they left something in my apartment, it is something really tiny.

  I know cameras are really tiny now, but I can’t imagine someone sitting at their monitor watching me.

  That’s just creepy, but even more important than that, I don’t do anything that is all that interesting.

  My tea was off. I’m not sure why, but every once in a while, when I make a cup of tea, it just tastes wrong.

  I still drink it. It’s a superstition thing. I don’t know why I can’t ignore those. Things like putting on a shirt inside out. I can’t just take it off and put it on right side out. I have to wash it first. Or dropping silverware. Or walking under a ladder. Or bad guys. They come in threes, right? Depending on how you count your bad guys, I may not be out of the middle of all of this yet.

  I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, grabbed my phone and stuck my Bluetooth in my ear, put my purse on my shoulder, and headed out the door.

  I completely forgot to do the alarm and was several steps toward the parking lot when I remembered.

  I really resent having to alarm my house.

  I’d resent it more if somebody got back in, so I shouldn’t complain. About one more break-in and I’m going to have to move, and Suzi just got settled.

  Once the alarm was set, I headed back for my car.

  Got all the way to the far side of the parking lot when a guy about my height, wearing a white t-shirt and board shorts, came running out of nowhere and grabbed my bag. My phone slammed up against the side of my car. My purse went flying in the other direction. I fell down and scraped my left knee. I know scraped knees don’t sound like a big deal, but they really hurt.

  I admit it.

  I was more angry than scared, and when I’m really angry — I mean really, really angry — I turn stupid.

  I went after him.

  Left all my stuff thrown all over the parking lot, and I chased him for all I was worth.

  I’m tall.

  I’m not a sports person like Teagan, but when you have as many brothers and sisters as I do and a mother who figures if no one is bleeding, she should just stay out of it, you learn to run. Fast.

  I almost got him.

  But at the water retention pond up by the office, behind the mailboxes, he zipped right, and I slid on the grass, and he was gone.

  I limped back to my car.

  Collected all my stuff.

  My phone is history.

  I broke two mirrors in my purse. Fourteen years of bad luck or seven years of really bad luck. Not sure which to hope for.

  My car has a mark on it.

  My left hip is doing something funny.

  And now I’ve got to go back and call Roland — thank God my mother always nagged me to keep a landline, because I’m not going to be calling anyone on my cell phone for a while — and tell him that I have problems. Again.

  This is so getting old.

  Roland’s guys showed up in their big black SUVs within minutes. They had guys spread out around the neighborhood, but I’m betting the kid was long gone.

  I gave them a pretty detailed description, considering I only got a glance at the guy.

  Roland said the things I took note of were the right things. That people can change their clothes or whatever, but the things I told him about couldn’t be changed. Like his height. Not so much a guess, but in relation to my height, which is verifiable. And I noticed several other physical characteristics that he can’t change. Not like facial hair, but like a weird thing on his jawline and his nose has been broken or God was not kind.

  After we talked for a little bit, it became really obvious that the guy thought that my bag was a computer bag. He didn’t grab my purse or my phone, and they are both worth money.

  He was after my laptop.

  If it was just for money, he would have gotten my purse and phone too, although now that I’ve thrown my purse across the parking lot, it isn’t worth as much as it once was.

  Roland asked if he could take my computer.

  No.

  I’ve been completely cooperative since all this started.

  I’ve done exactly what I’ve been asked on every topic.

  I told him that there was stuff on my computer that I didn’t want anyone else to see. Even if Roland and his guys were snooping around on it without my permission — something I never would have thought about a while back, but now seemed like a very realistic suspicion — at least I felt like it wasn’t me handing over all of Adeline’s personal information.

  All of the research I’d been doing, not only on the different charities and the people she wanted to help, but on every planned and thought-about adventure she and the girls were discussing.

  It’s one thing to turn over your plans to your security guy once they are made, but it just seems more intrusive to hand over all the background things, the wishes, the daydreams. Adeline had shared that stuff with me, and I’d be damned if I was going to share it with anybody else without talking to her first.

  I’m done.

  I’m not doing what Roland says just because he says it.

  I told him I’d call Adeline, tell her how I feel, and if she still wants me to hand it over, I would.

  I called Adeline.

  I know it’s unprofessional.

  I get that.

  I really do.

  But the moment she got on the phone and was kind to me, I started to cry. I couldn’t help it.

  After some back and forth, we decided that instead of handing the computer over to Roland, I’d bring it to her, and we’d look through it and see if we could find anything.

  Roland was not happy.

  He said something about me stepping all over stuff on the computer.

  I’m of the opinion that if his computer guys are good enough to track whatever someone might have put on my computer in the first place, they can track it after Adeline and I look at it.

  I just feel like it is time for me to take back some control.

  I feel like I’ve been letting everybody else tell me what to do and when someone isn’t telling me what to do, I don’t do anything.

  That’s just not like me.

  I’m not passive.

  Well, I’m not that passive.

  This has got to stop, and it has got to stop today.

  I don’t want my parents coming back and having me in the middle of yet another big drama.

  I’m done.

  Roland tried for a couple of minutes to talk me out of it. When that didn’t work he said one of his guys would drive me over to Adeline’s house to make sure that no one ran me off the road to get at the laptop.

  I hated to admit that I wanted someone with me, but I was still a little freaked out, and I don’t have a phone, so it was probably a good idea to agree with that one.

  When I got to Adeline’s loft there was a young woman there.

  Adeline introduced her as one of Roland’s employees.

  I groaned.

  I actually groaned.

  First I cry in front of my employer, and then I groan.

  Great.

  Adeline explained that when they were looking for Barry, Kimberly, a computer genius of sorts, had helped set up all the equipment they needed in Anna’s house. She then replicated the whole network at the loft and at Carolyn’s condo. Each of the girls had more computer equipment than most small businesses, and I’m pretty sure that most small businesses can’t afford the kind of setup that each of the girls hav
e.

  Adeline said she would appreciate it if I allowed Kimberly to look around in my computer. She wouldn’t be snooping as much as creating a timeline that would check to see what was done when.

  No problem.

  I know it’s sexist and everything, but having Kimberly searching through my stuff didn’t seem as intrusive. And it is my computer. My personal computer. I just do all of Adeline’s work on it because I didn’t really want to have to keep track of everything on two laptops.

  Judge me all you want, but I’ve had a bunch of guys treat me a little less than kindly lately, and it’s beginning to take a toll.

  Before I handed over my laptop, I printed out a copy of all my contacts so that I could call my appointments and beg off. I normally just hit a couple of buttons, but my phone is dead. Thank God for backups. I hope they can just use the backups I’ve got to set up my phone exactly as it was before.

  I don’t need a new contract.

  Getting a new phone is going to be expensive.

  No subsidy.

  Great.

  Such nice people. Even though I canceled at the very last second, they were very understanding.

  It took Kimberly about three hours.

  Adeline and I were sitting in the kitchen eating crispy grilled cheese sandwiches when Kimberly came in. At first I thought the smell got to her. They really did smell good, and although she’d turned down the offer of food, I figured the smell got to her. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d seduced someone into unplanned high-caloric intake.

  “I found it, and, Adeline, I’m really sorry.” The look on her face was heartbreaking. She looked so sad.

  We walked into the office. Great smelling sandwiches left forgotten.

  Kimberly tapped some buttons and brought several files up onto the big screen.

  “These files were placed on the computer the day of the first break-in. The day the warehouse and the apartment were entered and vandalized.”

  “I’ll be damned. Teagan was right. She said that they probably left something instead of taking it and that they probably broke into the warehouse to raise suspicions so that we would look for something and connect it all together.”

  Kimberly took a deep breath. “It’s all supposition at the moment, but my guess would be that when they broke into your apartment, they intended it to look like they were stealing something, assuming that Roland and the guys would do a thorough investigation and find the files on the computer, once they linked the problems at your apartment to Adeline through the break-in at the warehouse.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much what my sister said.”

  “Your sister want a job?”

  I responded without thought. “No, she was just made partner at her company.”

  I completely missed Kimberly trying to lighten the mood. Good job.

  I stared at the files on the screen. She hadn’t actually opened them yet. I don’t know what I thought I was going to gain by staring at the little icons, but I just couldn’t look Adeline in the eye, so there was no where else to look.

  When Kimberly came into the kitchen and said she was sorry about what she had found, it was worse than the look someone has on their face when they knock on your door and say they are sorry they just ran over the family pet.

  Total devastation.

  And she really doesn’t know Adeline all that well.

  “Kimberly, please, show me what you have found.”

  “I made a copy of the hard drive. I wanted to keep everything separate, just in case you decided to go to the police.”

  “Understood.”

  “Okay, I was looking around.”

  “No need to explain the process to me. I am only interested in what the files contain.”

  “Okay. Basically, they are medical files. I took the time to search a few databases I am aware of. I can give you the information on the doctor. He seems to be extremely well respected, and I’m certain this would have all ended up in a courtroom, so I’m not sure what they did to bribe him into saying what he says.”

  “And what is it that he says?”

  “Basically that you are incompetent.”

  “I see.” Her voice was so quiet. Still, it begged more information.

  “There is a lengthy report and lots of test results. It states that the doctor did a bunch of due diligence and that it was his opinion that you were no longer capable of dealing with the responsibilities of your life. Business or personal. And that all of your power to do so should be taken from you immediately.”

  I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. I let “Oh, dear, that’s not good” slip out of my mouth.

  It was such a stupid thing to say that Adeline started to laugh.

  Then Kimberly.

  Then me.

  We laughed and laughed, and finally when we got ourselves under control we could move forward.

  “Kimberly, please see to it that Roland has this information immediately and have him do whatever is necessary to discredit this mountebank.”

  I’d never heard that one before. “Mountebank?”

  “Swindler.”

  “Got it. I have a stupid question.”

  “There are no stupid questions, Cara. What is your question?”

  “Why?”

  “I think that is pretty obvious.” Kimberly couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  I tried to do the same, keep the sarcasm out of my voice, and was slightly more successful. “It isn’t obvious to me. If they really thought that they could pull this off and they have a well-qualified doctor who is willing to put in writing that he examined Adeline and that he ran a bunch of tests — and they seem to have documentation to back all of that up — then why did they do it this way? Why didn’t they just make a couple of phone calls to some high-placed judge or something and make it so? If you’re going to keep all of this rather high up there on the food chain, why involve me? Why break into my apartment and trash everything? Why plant documents on my computer and then make such a big deal that we are bound to find them? Why plant the documents at all? Why not just hand them over to a judge? This makes sense to you? It doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”

  Adeline thought about it for a moment. “That is a good question. Why plant the documents on Cara’s computer?”

  I muttered. “It just seems to me that if you want to do something dishonest, you would keep it simple. And that raises another big question for me. I really didn’t want to get involved with all of this, so just tell me if I’m overstepping, but why did they hire dweebs in Las Vegas?”

  Kimberly looked confused. “I’m sorry?”

  “It just seems to me that if you have as much money as these people have, and you are trying to go after as much money as they want, you would hire the best of the best. You would hire people who never got caught, not people who were spotted by three women who didn’t even know what they were doing.” It dawned on me I’d just insulted my boss. “No offense.”

  “None taken. Anna asked that question as well, and we got so busy doing other things that we just let it slip away. I think that is a question that deserves an answer.”

  “I guess that I just assumed that these people would be more sophisticated in their attempt, you know what I mean?”

  “Perhaps it is not my children, but their children. Perhaps they lack life experience as well as polish.”

  “Do they have the kind of money that it would take?”

  Kimberly said, “Maybe that is the reason for the budget approach.”

  “While I understand what you are saying, I would hesitate to concur. My grandchildren are not wealthy, but they are rich. The resources they have available to them would be more than adequate to fund anything and everything they could imagine.”

  “Then what’s really going on? It’s not my place, Adeline, but I have to tell you that I think that there is a lot more to this story that we don’t know anything about. I’m not really well educated, but I’m pre
tty good with people, and there is something that just isn’t right here.”

  Kimberly tried to inject some logic. “Why don’t we take this one step at a time? First, we can document everything I’ve found. We can have Roland and the guys do their thing and figure out just who this doctor is and why he would be willing to risk everything.”

  I jumped in. “Good point, because if he got caught, they’d take his license, wouldn’t they? How much would you have to pay a doctor to risk everything? I know doctors don’t make as much as they used to, but that’s gotta be a really big bribe.”

  Adeline warmed to the idea. “Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe it has nothing to do with money. Perhaps they have some unsavory detail about his life that they are using as leverage.”

  “That would have to be pretty abhorrent.” See, I can use interesting words too.

  Adeline smiled. “Kimberly, please take everything you have learned here this afternoon and present it to Roland. Please advise him that on my authority he is to pursue this aggressively and that whoever is responsible is to be held accountable. Please make him aware that I would like the parties involved to be charged legally and that any and all steps to assure the successful conviction of those responsible is of particular personal interest to me. Further, I would like to pursue any and all options available to me in a civil arena. I want to make it quite clear to those involved that I will not be taken advantage of. I would rather burn my assets in the street than see any involved in this outrage benefit in the least.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Cara, please thank your sister Teagan for me. I am aware that she has been forthcoming with several theories, and although I am confident that you would have drawn the same conclusions, eventually” — Adeline has a beautiful smile, and she graced me with one — ”her involvement may have expedited this whole process.”

  “I will let her know. Thank you.”

  “And, Cara, I’d like to meet with you once Kimberly has packed all of this up and taken her leave. Please wait for me in the living room. I’m going to go into my bedroom and make a few phone calls. I won’t be long.”