by Raven Rivers
“No, I haven’t. I promise.”
“Then how is it that our accounting team discovered you scammed almost a million dollars from us over the last few years?”
“That was just nickel and dime shit on the side. It wasn’t Nash money.”
“No, it was just from venders. Guess what? That resulted in my father paying more for alcohol. A lot more. You even set up your own little side business of exploiting our employees. Jesus, we’ve got less than fifteen hundred people on our payroll and this was your full-time job. How could you possibly fuck that up?”
Yuri remained silent. Whatever happened, he was not going to let Tony fly off the handle and kill the poor slob before they managed to recoup their money. Victor would be highly pissed if he allowed that to go down.
“You know that kind of shit has never been considered a problem,” Reginald said in his defense. “I’ve been around long enough to know that people have been running side jobs like that for generations. No Don has ever gotten his panties in a twist about shit like that.”
“Who in the hell have you been listening to?” Anthony spat back. “No one’s gotten away with that kind of shit for decades. My father wants a word with you and I can’t promise you won’t end up taking a dirt nap.”
“No dirt naps until I get my hundred grand back,” Yuri interjected. “With interest.”
“I’m sorry!” the accountant blurted as he began to sob. Embarrassed for him, Yuri couldn’t help but look away as the pudgy man with a bad comb over continued to weep. “I’m so fucking sorry! Look, I… I… I can work my debt off. You prefer that to killing people, right? Right, Tony?”
“Reginald,” Tony sighed, “count the man out his money.”
“Why is he even here? Are we taking orders from the Russians now?” Reginald asked with a sniffle. “I never thought I’d see your family reduced to that.”
Anthony’s voice dropped an octave and he took a menacing step closer to the clearly rattled accountant. “Now might not be the best time to be insulting my family or making a bunch of stupid assumptions.”
Reginald grabbed the duffel bag, counted out ten bundles, and handed the money to Yuri. “I just don’t understand why the Russians are suddenly calling the shots, that’s all.”
“You talk too much,” Yuri grumbled as he took the stacks of cash.
“It’s a new world, shithead,” Tony explained to Reginald as they made their way outside and reconnected with Karl. “Alliances make us stronger and increase revenue. I wouldn’t expect a numbers man like to you to understand how shit like that works.”
Yuri handed Karl the bundles and watched as he quickly counted them. Tossing one to Anthony, he shot Yuri a quick look. “That bundle is three hundred dollars light.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Reginald replied. “I counted them myself last year.”
“Well, you’ve already proven yourself to be a moron by trying to steal from people like us” Tony reminded him. “Your count being off doesn’t surprise me one bit. Make it right, Reg,” he sighed as he handed him the wad of money. “You’re a fucking embarrassment.”
The accountant did as he was told, visibly nervous as he pulled three hundred dollars from the bag and added it to the bundle.
“There,” he said, swallowing hard as he gave the cash back to Karl. “That should do it.”
Tony bent down and threw the strap of the duffel bag over his shoulder, then motioned with his gun for Reginald to head to his car.
“Do you need help with him?” Yuri asked.
“If your guy could zip tie him and toss him in the trunk, that would be much appreciated.”
“Consider it done,” Yuri replied.
“Thanks.” Climbing back up the small embankment, Tony threw the duffle bag in the passenger side of his car and climbed into the vehicle. “I still owe you a little punch up.”
Yuri stuffed his hands into his pockets, watching as Karl shoved a frightened Reginald in the trunk. “Perhaps another time, Anthony Nash. I don’t have time to hang around with Jersey’s number one playboy. Unlike you, I actually work for a living.”
Not taking the bait this time, Tony put his designer sunglasses on and started his car. “Dasvidaniya, Yuri.”
“Goodbye to you, too. Give your father my regards.”
“Will do.”
Yuri returned to Mikael’s SUV and found the driver’s side window down. Mikael had been watching the events unfold and it wasn’t hard to connect the dots.
“Do you think he’ll survive the night?” Mikael asked as Karl finished stuffing the screaming accountant into Tony’s trunk.
“The way they run their organization?” Yuri sighed as he watched Tony’s car speed off. “I highly doubt it.”
Chapter 10
Ancient History
Jade
Woken in the middle of the night by her house alarm going off, Jade rushed downstairs to find Sir Kitty pacing in circles by the front door as if somebody had been there. Covering her ears with her hands, she tried to shut out the noise. Nothing like this had happened in all of the years she’d been in her home, and panic immediately swept over her. Adrenaline pumping and heart racing, she had a hard time catching her breath as she tried remembering the code to the alarm. After fumbling with the buttons a few times she managed to silence it, but couldn’t silence the voice in her head telling her that somebody had been there.
Knowing the security company would have contacted the police already, she double-checked her front door to make sure it was still locked before hurrying to check the back door. She calmed down slightly when she found that locked as well. Heading back to her living room, she surveyed her property by sneaking a peek out her front window. That’s when she saw it: the shadowy figure of a man standing by her hedges. She wouldn’t have seen it at all if it hadn’t been a cloudless night with a full moon. There was just enough moonlight to see the dark outline of a man. He was just standing there, staring at her through the window.
Something about the situation felt so familiar that it made her pull back from the window out of his view. Frantically pacing back and forth, a kind of coldness crept up her spine that she hadn’t felt in ten long years. Why was this happening all over again? She’d gotten away, relocated to New York City, and had cut herself off from everyone, including the only man who’d ever mattered to her. Still, she couldn’t escape her past.
Suddenly, someone was aggressively pounding on her door. “Ma’am? Are you okay in there? This is the police. We’re responding to a possible break in at this address.”
Flying to the door and standing on the tips of her toes, she peered through the peephole to see two officers. Quickly unlocking it, she ushered them inside.
“Are you alright, ma’am?” one of the officers asked, shining a flashlight around the unlit room.
“I am, but I just saw someone outside standing by my hedges. My name’s Jade Reinhold.”
“Ms. Reinhold, I’m officer Brookes and this is my partner, officer Kelsey. Officer Kelsey here is going to go take a look around while I get your statement, okay?”
“Sure, that’s fine,” she replied, still heavily rattled. Turning on the living room lights, she relayed what happened in a nonsensical stream of consciousness. “I think he was on my porch. He had to have been. I think he tried getting inside. That had to have been what set off the alarm. Right? He probably tried the doorknob and—”
“Ma’am, just calm down,” Brookes instructed as he jotted down her story. Kelsey headed back outside to search the property as Brookes continued to take her statement. “Tell me what happened from the start. Don’t leave out any details, no matter how insignificant.”
“My security alarm went off. It woke me up. I ran downstairs and found my cat acting weird by the front door. He was acting like somebody was outside. I looked out my front window there,” she paused, pointing at the window she’d looked out, “and that’s when I saw him. He was just standing there. Right ou
tside, by my front hedges.”
“He who? Did you recognize him?”
“No.”
“What did he look like?”
The words froze in her throat. Scrubbing her hands over her face, she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I couldn’t see his features. There just wasn’t enough light to make anything out. It’s just…”
“Just what, ma’am?”
“I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not, but he reminded me of someone I once knew.” Nervous, she began pacing the living room while muttering, “It can’t be. It just can’t. Not after all this time.”
“Ma’am, I can’t help you unless you calm down and talk to me,” officer Brookes said gently.
Stopping in mid-stride, Jade asked, “I need to know something first. Is what we talk about confidential?”
“Police reports aren’t open to the public,” officer Brookes answered warily. “However, if any criminal or civil litigation results from this case, both parties will be privy to any and all information you provide here today, as well any other information our investigation reveals.”
“That’s all I need. I just don’t want everyone in my community knowing about my past.” Taking a seat on her sofa, she buried her face in her hands as she began to recount the story of Calvin McMillan and the cave. How he’d beaten her and would have likely raped and murdered her had she not been rescued by her high school sweetheart, Yuri Kozlov.
“That’s quite the story,” Brookes said, looking genuinely sympathetic. “And they never caught this Calvin McMillan guy?”
“No, I’m pretty sure he fled to some country that wouldn’t extradite him. It’s been ten years but I’m worried he still has it out for me.”
“Has he contacted you at all?”
“No, he hasn’t.”
The front door opened and officer Kelsey stepped back inside. “All clear out there,” he told his partner. “No sign of anyone.”
“Look,” Jade sighed, pleadingly looking at officer Brookes, “you don’t know what it’s like. Living in perpetual fear that some maniac is coming back to finish the job. It’s horrifying and keeps me on edge.”
“I’m sure it does,” Brookes nodded. “But ten years is a long time. I doubt he’d come back now. It was likely just some peeping Tom. Maybe a burglar, but they’re rare in this neighborhood.”
“I don’t know. I had a feeling somebody was watching me yesterday at my book signing, too.”
“You’re a writer, eh?” Brookes asked as he scribbled a few more notes in his pad.
“I am.”
“Have you thought about hiring a private security firm?” officer Kelsey asked, having noticed her collection of books on a nearby shelf and suddenly realizing who she was.
“I always think about it, but then I somehow manage to talk myself right back out of it.”
“If you’re the same Jade Reinhold my wife loves, then you might want to consider it. You’re quite popular,” Kelsey smiled.
“You thinking it could be an obsessed fan?” Brookes asked his partner.
“Could be,” Kelsey shrugged.
“Either way, we’ll increase the patrols through this neighborhood and try to keep an eye on you for a few weeks,” Brookes offered. “We’ll check to see if any of your neighbors have seen anything out of the ordinary, or if they have security cameras that might have captured anything.”
“Thank you,” she smiled meekly.
“You seem to be diligent with your alarm system,” officer Kelsey noted. “That’s a good thing. Keep it up. Maybe even updated it since it appears to be a bit older. I’d also recommend entering and exiting your automobile from inside your garage.”
“I can lock myself inside the car before opening the garage door with my remote. That will give me a fighting chance if he’s trying to get to me.”
“Maybe it’s a creepy fan, maybe it’s not. Either way, you should consider getting some real security,” Kelsey said, and added with a smirk, “I can’t have anything happen to my wife’s favorite author.”
Chapter 11
September Sixteenth
Jade
Getting out of her car and feeling the gentle seabreeze hit her face, Jade opened the back door and pulled Sir Kitty from his cat carrier. He stared up at her with a hint of annoyance but she chose to believe that he was as excited as she was. September sixteenth was one of the days she looked forward to the most each year. Aside from book signings, it was also one of the few days she actually left her house. Snapping on his six-foot leash, she stood back and gave him room to jump out of the vehicle. Everything with cats was a waiting game. Since he was her only friend, she tolerated his inconsiderate ways.
Stretching, he extended his front paws. Then, with a contented purr, he jumped out of the vehicle and walked with his tail straight up in the air, like royalty; a signal in the feline world that he was to be followed. Her fat little buddy was getting a bit too big for his britches these days. Slamming the door shut, she used her key fob to lock the car and followed her pompous four-legged friend towards the shoreline. September sixteenth was the first day each year that leashed pets were allowed to walk along the dunes of Cape May Point. They’d started coming when he was a kitten and made their rounds almost every day from the sixteenth of September until the fifteenth of April.
Jade always found it amusing, watching dog owners scrambling after their pets to grab their poo before they trotted off. Naturally, she carried a tiny roll of bags in the ridiculously small purse she wore hanging sideways off her torso. She’d been carrying the same bag for years, but Sir Kitty refused to go anywhere except in his own litter box. Thank God for small favors, she supposed. Still, it was better safe than sorry. The one time she left the small plastic bags at home would be the one time he actually decided to do his business.
As they walked the dunes, the regulars ignored him but the newbies barked their heads off as their owners struggled to control them. Most people thought of pet beaches as primarily belonging to dogs. Sir Kitty, however, had been coming here for the last few years and he wasn’t about to give quarter to what he considered an inferior species.
It was a marvelous day indeed. The sun was shining, the ocean was blue, and the gentle breeze caressed them as they walked. The high tide had left an exquisite menagerie of shells decorating the beach. Picking through them for choice specimens, Jade almost fell when Sir Kitty circled her a few times and tangled her in his leash. Dusting sand off her clothing once she managed to get herself free, she saw him staring up her.
“Bad, bad Sir Kitty!”
A young voice sounded from nearby. “Sir? Is he royalty or somethin’?”
Turning, she saw a boy who looked to be about eight or nine. He had a gigantic lollipop in one hand, the other hand holding a long leash attached to a plump iguana. He had bright red hair and freckles, and looked up at her with innocent blue eyes.
“He’s not, but he sure acts it,” she explained with a smile, then knelt down to talk with him at his level. “That’s a really nice lizard you got there. I’ve never seen one that big before. What his name?”
“I named him Queen Elizardbeth. My parents didn’t like it ‘cause he’s a boy lizard, but they let me do it anyhow.”
“Well that was nice of them,” she chuckled. Sir Kitty was having no part of the introduction, tugging at his leash with wide eyes as he stared at the strange animal before him. He’d never seen an iguana and didn’t know what to make of it. Conversely, the iguana wasn’t thrilled by Sir Kitty, either.
Glancing at the frightened cat and the hissing lizard, the boy shook his head. “I don’t think they’re gonna be friends.”
Looking over at Sir Kitty, she saw that he’d gotten brave and was daringly reaching a paw towards the big lizard. Hissing louder, the iguana panicked and whipped the cat with his long, saw-like tail. Sir Kitty backed up, shaking his head, then hissed back at his new green nemesis. Jade quickly ended the hissing contest by scooping hi
m up in her arms.
“Sorry, kid,” she muttered, petting Sir Kitty in an effort to calm him down. “I should have been more careful.”
“That’s fine. Queenie’s a little riled up ’cause we almost got eaten by a Doberman.”
Gaping at him, she shook her head. “Jesus, where are your parents?”
“At the lighthouse,” he told her, pointing in the other direction.
“That’s pretty far from where we are now. Would you like me to walk you back that way? We non-dog owners have to stick together. You never know, there might even be gremlins lurking around here somewhere.”
“What in the world are gremlins?”
“I guess that’s a bit before your time, kid,” Jade smiled as they started towards the lighthouse.
“I’ll look it up. I like vintage things.”
“I thought you might. You’re wearing an old school Star Trek shirt, after all.”
They continued the casual banter until they were approached by a frantic older couple. The woman screeched, “Jonathan Sanders! Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you.”
“I told you I was going to walk Queen Elizardbeth,” the boy shrugged, “but you didn’t pay any attention. I don’t think you’re very good at this whole parenting thing.”
The woman stepped forward and took his hand. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’re new at this but we’ll get better.”
The man looked over Jade and Sir Kitty curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking, who might you be?”
“We didn’t tell our names,” Jonathan answered before Jade could reply. Turning to her, he jerked his head in the direction of the couple. “These are my new foster parents, Stephen and Natalie Decker.”
Holding out her hand, Jade introduced herself. “I’m Jade Reinhold and I’m pleased to meet you.”
The woman eyed her suspiciously. “The Jade Reinhold? The author?”
“That’s me,” Jade smiled, thrilled by the name recognition. Her degree of fame was something she hadn’t quite gotten used to, and it was growing every day.
