Chapter 19
brOOKE
I was nervous but, perhaps, not as much as I should. I’d worked for Marks and Fields for two years. I spent more time in this building than my own house. It was familiar. Still, I felt sneaky, like some big goon was going to pop out from behind a filing cabinet at any time.
I knew Roy wasn’t happy about coming here and doing Mark’s work for him.
He’d been quiet on the ride over in his van.
The building that housed the accounting office was on the west side of town in a cluster of older buildings.
They were all brick and three stories tall with ample parking.
All of the spots were empty, so he decided to park one building down and then walk over.
My badge offered me access through the building’s main doors, then into the office on the second floor.
Easy. All was quiet, but it was like that when the office was full.
Accounting wasn’t a team thing. I cut through the main office and down the hall, flipping on one of the overhead lights.
It turned on the fluorescents down one side of the main room.
“My office is over here.” I pointed as I led the way, a big looming bodyguard behind me.
Once in my room, I went around the desk and sat down, waking up my computer by moving the mouse.
I glanced up at Roy, and he was taking in the small space.
I wondered what he was thinking about it.
The term office was a little generous for my space.
The desk took up most of the room. There was no chair for a visitor to sit in.
Six filing cabinets lined one wall, which was ridiculous in the age of everything being digital.
But clients sent in actual shoeboxes loaded with receipts, and it took a while for the interns to slowly scan everything.
The space didn’t even have a door. I pretty much worked in the file room.
Was it only yesterday morning that I had dreams of passing the CPA exam, getting a raise, and living the amazing life I’d planned? Now, well… now, I was clicking through to Burke’s Bowling’s client folder and opening up the same accounting spreadsheet I had yesterday.
“This is it,” I said, pointing.
Roy leaned down and stared at the screen.
He pulled the thumb drive Mark had given me from his pocket and handed it to me.
I leaned down and plugged it into the port on the front of my computer tower, which was beside my desk.
Then, using the mouse, I dragged the file onto the thumb drive’s folder, copying it.
“All done?” he asked. He didn’t appear nervous, but I knew he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
“I have to go into the client’s bookkeeping. The wire will be listed in those files because their banking data is attached.”
I worked as quickly as possible, finding the statement that included the wire, then copied it to the thumb drive. “There, it’s all–”
Noise from down the hall cut me off. I froze. Roy froze, then he quickly leaned over and turned off the monitor. Whispered, “Get under the desk.”
I blinked. “What?”
“NOW,” he growled as the voices and heavy footsteps drew closer. “I’ll deal with whoever this is.”
That spurred me into action. I rolled my chair back, then slid under my desk and pulled it back into place. Remembering the thumb drive, I reached around and pulled it from the port on my computer. Had Lazano’s men found us?
“Police! Hands up!”
I sucked in a breath, my eyes wide.
“Stay there,” Roy breathed to me.
Did he not believe they were police?
“Call Mark.” He dropped the keys to his van in my lap.
Oh my God, this was bad. I couldn’t let Roy get arrested.
Roy put his hands in the air and called out, “They’re up. I’m not armed.”
“Step out into the hall, hands in the air, then place them on the wall.”
“It’s okay,” he murmured and moved away from me. I assumed he was complying since he wasn’t being shot at. Again.
I tried to breathe as quietly as possible, but it was so hard. I was panicking and sure they could hear my heartbeat with how it was thundering in my ears. I clenched the flash drive in my sweaty fist.
“Got any weapons or anything sharp on you?” Roy was asked.
“No.”
I assumed he was being patted down.
“Hands behind your back. I’m going to cuff you for our safety until we know what’s going on.”
There was some squawk of chatter on the police radio, and the man responded in the coded terminology as seen on TV.
“ID?”
“Wallet, back pocket.”
“Roy Banner. Montana,” the man read. “What are you doing breaking into an accounting office?”
“No comment.”
“How’d you get a hold of an employee’s access card?”
“Found it on the ground,” Roy replied.
“Check the rest of the office,” the police officer said. From my curled up position, I had to guess there were more than one who showed up. Should I pop out and tell them we were here legally?
“I’m here alone,” Roy said.
Shit. I couldn’t now. If I did, they’d obviously know he was lying. Then they’d be doubtful of anything else he said, and lying to the police couldn’t be a good thing.
“You found it on the ground and decided to enter illegally? Again, what are you doing here?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“Don’t want to answer any questions?” The police officer grunted. “Works for me. You can call your lawyer down at the station.”
“No one else here,” a different voice said, probably a second police officer. “Nothing appears to be disturbed.”
“Okay. Roy Banner, you’re under arrest for illegal trespassing. You have the right to–”
My heart pounded. I considered coming out from my hiding place once again. I could run out there and tell them Roy was with me. That I worked here. Why did he just give himself up like that?
He tucked me away with the thumb drive for a reason. He told me to call Mark.
And Mark is law enforcement, so he had to sort this out. He had to. It was his fault we were here in the first place.
I clung to that thought as the voices got softer. I waited a while–I had no idea how long–after they left and all was quiet to climb out from beneath my desk. I had the thumb drive and the info Mark wanted. But now Roy had been arrested and was going to jail because I’d agreed to help.
It was all my fault. Again.