Sizzling Hot Apple Cider

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  “It may get everything cleared up,” I said. “But I’m down another client. Losing two or three was fine, but I’m now at five and that’s making a dent in my income. Needing to take care of the twins, if I lose any more, then all this fear is going to turn into reality.”

  Mr. Haynes’ smile was understanding. “My job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. Come on.”

  I let my lawyer do all the talking, knowing to do that at least. He didn’t mind, seeming to know exactly what to do. He rattled off the name of a detective. A moment later, a man in his thirties came out. He was in a basic suit, though there were some wrinkles.

  “Hi, I’m Detective Burch. Thank you for meeting me.” The two of them shook hands. Detective Burch focused on me. “Miss Daniels, thank you for taking the time to come down.”

  “Did you get in contact with Detective Patel?” Mr. Haynes asked.

  “I have. He’s sending everything he has over to us. There’s a little bit of red tape since he’s part of a different district, but I should have everything by this afternoon. Please, let’s talk somewhere private.”

  The detective led us further into the building. We moved down a short hallway before he stopped at a door and opened it. We stepped inside a real interrogation room. There was even a mirror. They did exist outside of TV shows.

  I pointed to it. “Is that a one-way mirror?” I asked, feeling oddly excited about it.

  The detective chuckled. “Yes, it is.”

  Ignoring the chair Detective Burch motioned to, I went to the mirror instead, wanting to get a closer look.

  All I could see was a reflection of my freaked-out self, but I wondered what the other side looked like. I used that chance to collect myself, trying to calm my beating heart and to get rid of my clammy hands.

  There was nothing to be worried about. Nothing at all.

  “Please, take a seat, Maddie,” Mr. Haynes said.

  “Okay.” I settled in next to him, having trouble meeting the detective’s eyes.

  I had nothing to be guilty about, but why did being here make me feel like I should. The lights suddenly felt brighter and a panic attack threatened to rise.

  A hand rested on my shoulder, and I jumped at the contact.

  “Breathe, Maddie. I promise, you’re going to be okay.”

  I nodded and rested my hands on the table, fighting not to fidget.

  “Okay, I’m going to get down to it,” the detective said. His voice wasn’t judging though. It was calm and relaxed, and that went a long way to soothing my panic attack, calming me down. “We do have to look into this. We are looking at felony larceny charges, with up to five years of jail time in a state prison, plus a hefty fine.”

  “Five years?” My face paled. That was a long time. A good chunk of time away from the boys during the most important years of their lives.

  “We’re currently looking into everything very carefully,” Detective Burch said. “We don’t think you did it either. The company let us know in what capacity you work with them. My team is already working on getting access to their data to piece everything together. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money to go missing, especially for such a small startup company like theirs. I’m sure we can all agree we’d like to figure out what happened to this money. Have you noticed anything weird with the numbers?”

  His question was pointed at me. I shook my head, licking my lips. “Everything was fine. From my end, I didn’t see anything missing.”

  “That’s what I thought. We’d like to request permission to look into your accounts. If you work openly with us, it’ll go a long way into resolving this issue. If we have to get a warrant, then it’ll only prolong things. I’m sure you know you’re not in a position to let something like this drag out.”

  I knew a threat when I heard one, but he was right too. Word would get around to my clients, and I risked losing even more of them. That was dangerous for me.

  Mr. Haynes gave me a small nod.

  “Yeah, of course,” I whispered. “I’ll, uh, send you all my information. Anything to clear this up.” Mortification built up inside of my stomach. Oh, yeah, that egg sandwich was so going to come back up.

  I swallowed, hoping to keep it down longer.

  “Thank you.” The detective flipped open a folder. “We do have some questions from the information we were able to obtain this morning. I only want to verify them before we move forward. You recently came into money from your sister, correct?”

  “Yes,” I croaked out. “It’s for the twins. It was her life insurance.”

  My throat tightened, making it hard to breathe as my eyes watered.

  Incoming. Incoming. Incoming.

  I eyed the room, my mouth tingling as it filled with saliva. I blinked furiously, trying to hold it up.

  “And you have a different account set up for them?”

  “Yes,” I forced out. I swallowed hard, my breakfast now working its painful way up from my stomach.

  Panic took over as I glanced around for a garbage bin. My lawyer noticed the change in me and saw what I was looking at. He moved faster than I thought possible, and it was pushed into my face just as it all came out.

  Every last morsel of food. I regretted eating anything as it all came up and splashed into the bin. Meals never tasted good the second time.

  Tears flooded my eyes in mortification, my face burning with embarrassment. When it was safe to move the bin away, the sour stench of my stomach contents threatened to send me into another round of puking, I carefully put the bin down and slid it under the table.

  “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” I sniffed, rubbing at my face, refusing to look at anyone.

  A cup of water and napkins were put down in front of me.

  “Are you okay, Miss Daniels?” Detective Burch asked. He sounded like he was truly concerned for me too.

  “No,” I admitted. “Not at all.” I drew in a breath, trying to fight off doing that again.

  Tears fell down my face, and all I wanted to do was run out of the room, but I couldn’t do that either.

  My legs wouldn’t work. As soon as I tried to stand, I was going to fall. I knew it. My body shook hard, and I’d never felt so alone as I did in that moment, in a room smelling like my puke with a detective whose job was to put me into a jail and a lawyer I was meeting for the first time.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “You’re okay, Maddie,” Mr. Haynes said.

  My shaking hands said otherwise as I struggled to take the cap off the bottle of water. Mr. Haynes grabbed it from me.

  I still couldn’t look at him. Or at the detective. I wiped my mouth and took a drink, grimacing when I realized I couldn’t do anything with the water mixed with the other bits in my mouth.

  Dismissing myself to use the bathroom was probably what I should have done. After forcing the drink down, I took another one; this time, it felt more refreshing. Not ready to do anything else yet, I sipped at the drink, hoping to calm my churning stomach.

  While I did that, Detective Burch didn’t say anything as he took the bin and placed it outside.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” the detective said. Finally getting up enough nerves, I looked up at him. “I’ve had worse happen in this room.”

  No way did I want to know what was worse. Sniffing, I finally put the water down. My hands were still shaking, but I did feel better. Since I only had water in my stomach at that point, it felt more settled.

  “Would you like to get some fresh air? Take a break? You can come back at a different time.” Detective Burch was trying to be accommodating.

  I shook my head. “No, let’s finish this up. You said you only had a couple more questions?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maddie, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Mr. Haynes said.

  “No. I want to. This needs to get cleared up as soon as possible.” I let out a bitter laugh. “And this is far from something I want dangling o
ver me.”

  “Okay, so you have an account for each of your nephews?” Detective Burch asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, for when they reach eighteen. I split the insurance money between the two, and I also put money into it each month.” Mandy had always been a prepper. As soon as she realized she had two young ones depending on her, she took life insurance out on herself. We never in a million years thought it’d be something that would be used so soon.

  The rest of the questions blew by, and frankly, I couldn’t remember what they were or how I responded. All I wanted to do was get out of there.

  The moment I was dismissed, I was out the door and walking down the street, taking in gulping breaths.

  I threw up in a police station. In front of a detective. In front of my lawyer. My grip on my phone tightened as embarrassment flooded through me. I was going to have nightmares about this for years.

  It was so tempting to call someone to talk through it, but tomorrow was Wednesday. Dr. Adam could hear all about my mortifying interview. I wasn’t so sure I could talk about it with anyone else, not even Kenni.

  And no way in heck was I going to tell any of the guys.

  Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow would have to work. Maybe I could calm down enough by then to even make sense of what had happened, because I still didn’t understand any of it.

  Right now, I needed to work. I needed to focus. Tomorrow would be here soon enough, and I’d be able to put this behind me.

  Chapter Six

  The day did nothing to calm my nerves. Not even the prospect of picking up Lawson and Lee helped. My hands kept shaking as the hours ticked by, and not eating ended up becoming the safe choice so that I didn’t have a repeat of what had happened.

  The kids’ school was packed with parents, children, and teachers as everyone headed home. I used the rearview mirror to check my face, making sure my makeup wasn’t a complete mess.

  “I’m okay,” I whispered. “Nothing is going to happen to me. It’s obvious that it isn’t me. I’m okay.”

  The words didn’t do much to calm me, but Dr. Adam was a firm believer of speaking positives until they felt real enough. I couldn’t live in self-fulfilling prophecies anymore. So I needed to believe that I’d be okay and everything was all right with the world.

  I forced myself out of my car and headed in. The classroom was still partially full of children. Dayton was helping a child tie their shoes. The twins were putting blocks away.

  They spotted me and sent me a wave. I returned it as dramatically as I could. If I didn’t look like one of the aircraft marshals, I didn’t do it right. Once they were embarrassed enough, I stepped to the side to get out of the way while I waited. My thoughts were so consuming, bringing me in circles that involved prison time, that I didn’t notice Dayton until he was standing in front of me. A frown twisted his face, and I was tempted to reach out to him to smooth out the lines. I missed his crooked smile.

  “Maddie? What happened?”

  The fabric of my sweater twisted in my hand, and I looked away.

  “Maddie?”

  I shook my head. “Everything is wrong. I thought it was the end. The stepmonster was going to try to take the twins away from me and you got me an awesome lawyer and everyone keeps telling me that it’s okay. That woman has nothing against me. But I’m losing clients, five clients now, and I have felony larceny about to be put on my record because some butthead is going around and smearing my name and now people don’t trust me. I’m going to be poor, living on the streets, fighting the street cats for leftovers. I’ll lose against a cat. They’re cruelly smart. And adorable. How could I win against their adorableness. All they’d have to do is look at me and meow and I’d hand over the meager food I was able to dumpster dive for. So no. No, I am not okay.”

  Dayton’s hands went to my shoulder. “Whoa, okay, okay. Take a breath for me. You’re doing one of your rants again, and I need you to calm down.”

  I glared at him. “I don’t rant.”

  His lip twitched with humor. “You do. And that’s what makes you you. So for now, calm down and tell me the new stuff. Did you say felony larceny?”

  “A client reported me to the police. Now they’re ripping my life apart to make sure I’m straight and narrow. I swear, I never strayed, but if I never did, then why do I feel so guilty?”

  “I have to admit, the police make me feel guilty too, and the only thing illegal I ever did was shoplift a candy bar when I was a kid. And maybe run a couple of red lights.”

  Snickering, I said, “I never took you for a felon. Should I be worried?”

  “What?” He grinned, his eyes darkening with a look that made my stomach tighten in a good way. “I know how to be bad when I need to.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. You’re very… bright.”

  “Bright?”

  “Yes.” My eyelids lowered. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.” I stepped closer to him. Then reality crashed back into me. “Crap.” I jumped back and rudely pointed at him. “You’re cheating!”

  Dayton blinked a couple of times, and the look in his expression melted away. He grabbed my finger and lowered my arm. “It worked though, right? You calmed down. Will you tell me what’s going on?”

  “The guy calling my clients and lying through his fake teeth struck again.” I forced my body to stay relaxed despite it wanting to lock up on me. My stomach reminded me that it still wasn’t happy. “The client went the extra step and reported me to the police. Apparently, they’re really missing money.”

  “And you’re convenient to have a finger pointed at.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. And your lawyer knows?”

  I nodded. “I came from the police station.”

  “You’re not behind bars, so I’m going to assume that you’re okay.”

  I shrugged. “Who knows what’s going on.” I glanced toward the door. “I keep waiting for the police to bust through the door and drag me out of here screaming with the twins crying out for me and trying to keep me with them.”

  “You’re going to be okay. That won’t happen. I’m assuming you’re even helping them? We know you didn’t do anything, and I’m sure they know too, especially if they know about the man making the calls.”

  “But it doesn’t account for the missing money. Did he steal it and try to frame me?”

  “I don’t know.” Dayton ran a hand over his hair. “I don’t know, but I believe in the system. You’re going to be okay. Despite all the shit that has been going on in the news, the police aren’t idiots. It’s easy to see you weren’t the culprit. They’re going to figure this out. Let them do their job.”

  I nodded as his words surprisingly worked to calm me.

  “Sissy, we’re ready!” Lawson came over with a proud grin.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, stepping away from Dayton. When did I get so close to him? The man was a magnet.

  “Yeah, he has his library book.” Lee joined.

  “All right, then let’s go.” I smiled at Dayton. “Bye, Dayton.”

  “See you all tomorrow.” He waved, not as dramatically as he was supposed to, but it was still a big wave as he smiled at the twins.

  By the time we made it home, all the work Dayton had done to make me feel better unraveled. I didn’t even remember helping Lee with his homework, but I knew I did. Eventually, they were in the living room, playing a board game, and I was in the kitchen staring at them as our dinner burned.

  “Shoot,” I mumbled and turned off the stove top as the water boiled over. I was only trying to make noodles, and I couldn’t even do that. The interrogation room kept coming to mind, and soon after that was me in a cell with the metal door clanging shut. I could even hear the keys clanging as Detective Burch locked me in.

  As the fear became real, itchiness crawled along my skin. I was on the verge of breaking out in a rash. When was the last time that happened to me?

  A flash of a memory came forward of my mother sitting in a hospital
bed, her skin translucent, eyes closed, body skeletal, and hands cold. The first time she had almost died.

  That was the last time I had broken out in hives.

  I was feeling trapped, like the walls were closing in on me. Sweat broke out across my skin as my mind threw numbers my way. Five clients. That was a huge chunk of change lost. I kept telling people it was okay. I’d be fine. But that was the thing. I would be fine. But there were two boys who also relied on me. If I lost anymore clients, changes were going to be made.

  Olivia would also get what she wanted.

  Before I could overthink it and be forced to order out tonight, I grabbed my phone and called Dayton.

  “Hey, Maddie!”

  “Tell me again that everything is going to be okay.”

  There was a long pause before he finally answered. “Maddie, I promise, everything is going to be fine. The police aren’t idiots. It’s clear that you didn’t do anything, and they will get to the bottom of this.”

  “I won’t be hauled off to prison?”

  “No, of course not. Take a breath, Maddie. Do that for me.”

  I did.

  “Do it again and this time, imagine that your worries are going out with that breath.”

  I did it again, feeling my body relax.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Better.”

  “Good. That’s good. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. You don’t deserve any of this, and I wish with all my heart that I can make it go away for you.” His voice was smooth and soft, seeping deep into me. “I wish I was there with you now, holding you close, and helping you through this.”

  My words were thick as I spoke. “That’s not a good idea.”

  “I know. I know, Maddie. I wish you would let me though. You don’t need to say anything. Just know that you aren’t alone and I’m willing to support you anyway that you’d allow me. You know what I feel for you, and just because you aren’t ready doesn’t mean I’m going to turn them off. I’m here for you. It’s as simple as that. That means I want to support you when you need it. The fact that you called me tells me that you think the same. So don’t think you’re alone.”