Swindled

by Mayes, June

  Clapping a hand over Karin’s mouth, Beth held her breath. They heard a man and woman’s voices. The woman sounded posh like… Anne maybe? Beth felt a shiver go up her spine. What would the capable untouchable Anne be doing in Brian’s flat? Beth crawled forward and put her ear against the closet door. There had to be a reasonable explanation. And not the explanation that Beth was currently thinking about. Anne was not the type to have a fling in the boss’s place, especially a dead boss.

  Karin crept up beside Beth. There was more talking and then a heavy tread on the stairs leading to the floor they were on. The two friends crept back toward their corner in the closet. There was someone just outside in the master bedroom. Then the sound that something heavy had been dropped on the floor making both friends jump. Beth looked over with Karin with wide eyes. Had Brian’s flat just become murder central? Was there some sort of new rule that anyone with a dead body should dump it here? Beth shook her head. There was no way of knowing what had been dropped. She clung to Karin’s hand and hoped that maybe this once her run of bad luck would change and it would all be okay.

  There was a sound of a heavy weight shifting across the wooden floor and a grunt. A low muttering made it sound as if the man outside the door was talking to himself. He was still moving around in the bedroom. Beth could just make out the sounds. What was he doing? Was he the murderer? She and Karin were crammed up against the back wall of the closet.

  Suddenly there was a loud bang against the closet door. Karin and Beth scrambled frantically into the corner away from the closet door, pushing aside all the designer shoes. Beth was sure that anyone outside would be able to hear the pounding of their hearts. That is once their hearts had started beating again after the shock. There was someone in the on-suite bathroom looking around. The open bathroom door must have banged against the closet making the heart stopping noise. Karin and Beth were safe so far but with Beth’s luck that was only a matter of time. Beth bit her lip to stop a hysterical laugh from escaping. They were going to die.

  *

  David sat staring at his mobile. He wasn’t sure why he was behaving like an eighteen year old when it came to Beth but he was. Should he call her or shouldn’t he? She was without a doubt deranged but he thought, in an interesting way. She had also sent his jeans and sweater, neatly folded and freshly clean back that afternoon. He should thank her for that at the very least. Shouldn’t he?

  As he debated it, the phone on his desk rang. It was Thomas.

  “I found the guy who did it,” Thomas said succinctly. He sounded very pleased with himself. “The only person who could have accessed those accounts and taken all the money without going through the failsafe was the owner of BG Investments.” David started to chuckle. It was so satisfying to know they were going to get them.

  “Tell me,” David asked leaning forward in his chair, Beth forgotten for a moment. He wanted to know just who was responsible for taking all the money.

  “We’re not the only one’s looking for him. From what I gathered from my contact, the three accountants looking into his accounts found a number of irregularities in the company. There are rumours of money missing and general misappropriation of funds. It’s not going to be a pretty when this guy is done with all his explanations,” the usually cool and collected Thomas sounded positively gleeful.

  “So we watch and make sure the guy doesn’t walk away without paying his dues,” David finished for his friend. As long as the guy didn’t get away with it, David was happy. Thomas agreed and minutes later David was once again staring at his mobile. Thomas’s call had distracted him for a minute but Beth was once again on David’s mind.

  Finally biting the bullet he called her, laughing softly to himself. David felt like a teenager again. No doubt about it, he thought as the phone rang and rang, he needed to get her mobile number. At the very least it would help him keep tabs on her. David had a funny feeling that Beth was out there somewhere up to her neck in trouble. He turned his attention back to his statements. He’d call her tomorrow.

  *

  Chapter 20

  Before Karin and Beth could get comfortable in their corner of the closet, the noises in the bathroom stopped. They could hear more faint movements and then the woman’s voice calling from the first floor. The footsteps walked back to the stairs and they could hear the creak as the man went down. There was a murmur of voices and then no sound. Karin and Beth looked at one another.

  Karin whispered, “How long do you think we should wait before getting out of here?”

  Beth shrugged back and crawled to the front of the closet again. She peeked around the door and said “I think the coast is clear.”

  Karin stood up and swore. Beth swung around and started laughing. She couldn’t help herself. Karin was standing entangled in what looked like a pink and blue neon swirl patterned bra. She looked disgruntled and extremely put out having the nylon wrapped around her head. By the time Beth stopped laughing, Karin had just about managed to extract herself. She strategically draped the underwear as if she had never had a close encounter with it. Both were trying to hold back their giggles.

  “I don’t even want to think about who that belonged to,” Karin whispered as they quietly walked back into the bedroom. Beth wasn’t sure what they expected. A body maybe? The room looked empty and just the way they left it. No bodies, no murder weapons, nothing. They crept to the door of the master bedroom and from downstairs they could hear the sound of a door shutting.

  “Phew,” Karin said sagging against the door frame. “I thought for a minute there we were goners.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Beth replied grimly. “Come on let’s see what’s under the bed and get out of here.” It was the only place Beth figured someone could stash something in the pristine room.

  “We haven’t found the paperwork yet,” Karin said.

  “I have a feeling that we may not want to stick around after we look under the bed,” Beth admitted.

  “Good point,” Karin replied succinctly eyeing the bed. Together they got down on their knees and looked. Beth was surprised. It was a box. Just an ordinary cardboard file box. She shared a glance with Karin and reached in to pull the box out. Lifting the lid she flicked through a few of the papers.

  “That’s strange,” she said looking at a page in her hand.

  “What is?” Karin asked. “Something important?”

  “This is our paperwork.” Beth replied surprised. “And look, here is our dad’s birth certificate.” She handed the paper over to Karin who looked confused as she stared down at it.

  “Why would someone be hiding that under Brian’s bed? And tonight of all nights?” Karin asked mystified. It was all very strange.

  “Why would someone have had it in the first place? It’s not exactly the most life altering stuff in the world,” Beth added looking through more of the papers. There didn’t seem to be anything else in the box other then their paperwork.

  “Maybe your luck has finally changed,” Karin suggested hopefully and Beth shot her an evil look.

  “Very funny. Let’s just take it and figure out what is going out once we are home free,” She put the lid back on the box and glanced around the room. There didn’t seem to be anything else for them there.

  “Oh agreed,” Karin said climbing quickly to her feet and brushing the dust off her clothes. “Let’s go.”

  They grabbed the heavy box between them and made a hasty exit out the front door. Having found what they were looking for and having been nearly discovered made them rush.

  As they approached the car, Vickie said, “At last! We thought you two were going to be in there forever!” She blew a relieved sigh patting frantically at her tummy as Beth and Karin dragged the box around to the back of the car. While they were busy, Bee got quickly out of the car and shimmied out of her jacket. Underneath she was wearing a revealing slinky red dress that set off her long straight black hair. Bee was the grand finale of Plan A. With her exotic far eastern features
and tight dress, she was there to rescue Charlotte.

  She gave everyone a cheeky grin, slid her hands down over her hips and headed in to the office reception toward the flirting couple. Beth and Karin heaved the box in the boot of the car. That done, they climbed back in the car.

  “Some guard you turned out to be. Didn’t you see the people that came into the flat while we were there?” Karin asked as Beth gently hit her head against the dashboard. Why did the these things always happen to her, Beth wondered? She goes to pick up paperwork and ends up playing a quick game of hide your life may depend on it. Beth wondered just what she had done to make fate try so hard to make things difficult.

  “No!” Vickie exclaimed. “How did they get in? They didn’t go though the front door!” Vickie asked looking first at her sister and then at Karin in the back seat.

  “It must have been through the office door,” Beth said frowning. Why would anyone from the office have had their paperwork? It made no sense.

  “I thought Brian was the only one with that code,” Vickie paused and then gave a start. “Oh no! Did they see you?”

  “No, we heard them coming and hid in the closet.” Karin admitted looking embarrassed. Beth quickly glanced out the window to see how Charlotte and Bee were doing, avoiding her sister’s wide eyed stare.

  “You hid in the closet?” Vickie asked her jaw dropping. “You could have just explained you were picking up the papers.”

  “After Anne went on and on about them being in the office? Anyway we didn’t know who it was until they got up to the room. We thought it could have been the murderer coming back. It could have been anyone from the office,” Beth explained. She realised that it had never occurred to either of them to explain why they were there. Maybe it wasn’t fate that had it in for Beth after all. Maybe there was just something instinctive that made Beth turn even the most uneventful situation into an adventure.

  “You were lucky you didn’t find any skeletons in the closet with you,” Vickie said raising an eyebrow. She was obviously thinking along the same lines as Beth. Still what was life without a bit of adventure?

  “No skeletons. Only a bra,” Karin confessed nonchalantly. Beth tried to smother her giggle and looked back out the window. It really was funny she thought.

  “What?” Vickie asked scandalised as she pulled away from the curb. Karin and Beth were laughing so hard they couldn’t tell her the details as they drove away. Charlotte and Bee would follow in Karin’s car once they had extracted themselves from the security guard’s attention. Given their attire that might be more difficult then just saying goodbye. Vickie had waited until she saw them leave the offices so they knew the two wouldn’t be far behind. Indeed they arrived at the house just as Beth pulled out a bottle of chilled white wine from the fridge to help the debrief. Vickie opted for her usual tea and after a much needed break in the downstairs loo, it was time to tell all.

  With Scott still at the pub they had the house to themselves. Amid much laughter Karin and Beth managed to explain what had happened. Hiding in the closet was a cliché that was too good to pass up. Getting entangled in a bra while in said closet was just icing on the cake. There was no doubt about it. This was going to be a Friday night out that was going down in the history books. They would be reliving this one when they were all old and grey with a slew of grandchildren gathered around their feet.

  “But who would have put that box in Brian’s room and why?” Charlotte asked looking slightly crossed eyed thanks to the wine they were consuming. It was the third time she had asked the question in the last hour. Beth decided that if they ever were going to get to the bottom of the mystery and Brian’s murder the whole lot of them were going to sober up, or maybe drinking more might help? She couldn’t decide.

  “That’s what’s so strange. Who would have wanted it?” Beth replied reasonably after swallowing more wine. ‘There’s nothing in there of any interest to anyone but us.” She flung an arm out causing the wine in her glass to slosh over the side. Beth stuck her finger in her mouth to catch the spill and tucked her feet more tightly under her.

  “It could have been anyone from Brian’s office. We’re never going to figure it out until we know why they took the box in the first place,” Vickie pointed out, balancing a cup of tea on her round belly. They had already figured out it had to be someone from the office. The guard’s reception was to the front of the building with a wall between it and the main office reception. It would have been easy to get into Brian’s flat without anyone seeing them especially as Charlotte was distracting the guard from the video surveillance.

  “Ooh and what about the bra?” Bee asked looking around wide eyed. She and Charlotte were sitting on the couch with Beth and as the evening progressed they were all sinking closer and closer into the middle. Eventually Beth was sure they would end up a bundle of arms and legs, all in a pile.

  “You would think whoever was wearing that thing would have noticed it was missing,” Karin muttered. She was sprawled in one of the wing back chairs with her legs over one arm and the rest of her propped against the other. One of her shoes was dangling by its laces still wrapped around her ankle. Karin had gotten bored halfway through taking them off. She was now staring contentedly into the bottom of her glass.

  “Oh it had to belong to his latest squeeze,” Charlotte said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. ‘She probably wouldn’t care if it were missing. Brian was not known for dating the classiest of women,” she said seriously to Vickie waving her finger. Well Charlotte looked as serious as she could given her current condition. Vickie just smiled and shook her head. She was the only one sober having been drinking herbal tea since arriving back. Beth just hoped that Vickie would remember if any of the rest of them came up with any revelations about the situation.

  ‘Question is why did it end up in the closet/ Maybe Brian liked to do it in closets,” Beth said sitting up suddenly and raising an eyebrow suggestively at her friends. They had slept with him, they would know.

  “No,” Karin and Charlotte replied in unison and then glanced at each other with lecherous grins on their faces.

  “No,” Charlotte said more calmly. “Brian was very much a missionary style man. He wouldn’t have done anything as depraved as try a new position. Let alone try a location other then his king sized bed,” she shook her head. Brian had obviously not impressed their rather sociable friend, Beth thought.

  “In typical Brian fashion, he probably stuffed some girlfriend in the closet when another one turned up on his doorstep,” Karin suggested. “What I would have done to be a fly on the wall when they found out about one another.”

  “What makes you think they did,” Vickie asked curiously.

  “Why else leave your underwear hanging?” Karin asked. “Either she left it there after storming out or had to leave it there when she was dragged out kicking and screaming. Either way she was large enough to notice it was missing!” They all started giggling hysterically. Even Vickie, sober enough not to loose that much control, was laughing. Before they could go back around the circle of questions, the cabs arrived to take everyone to their respective places of rest.

  Beth realised that by the time the five of them had run the adventure into the ground, they had gone through several bottles of wine and at least a gallon of tea. The repercussions of their evening Beth couldn’t bear to think much about. Vickie would no doubt be in the bathroom all night while the rest of them would suffer tomorrow.

  Now late into the evening, the whole jaunt into Brian’s house seemed like a distant memory or a very far fetched dream. What had they been thinking of? Why on earth had they decided to go into Brian’s flat the day after there was a murder , for paperwork of all things? It seemed that somewhere over the course of the last few days they had lost their minds. Actually Beth reflected maybe it was all her fault. Given that in the past few days she had threatened to kill someone, slept with a complete stranger and had led the infiltration of a murder victims flat, it seem
ed likely her bad sense was contagious.

  As she got ready for bed Beth wondered briefly if the police had spotted the bra. It had been at the very back of the closet and surely they should have taken it had they seen it? She had never known a policeman to not to seize the chance or the bra in this case. How to let the police know it was there would take some explaining she decided.

  Turning over Beth vowed to herself that she would be good once all this blew over. No more adventures getting into who knows what trouble. She was done with her less then sensible ways. Her last thought before falling asleep was that she would promise herself to be good unless David Andrews was around. With him she didn’t think it was reasonable to expect that she might behave. Beth knew herself too well.

  Chapter 21

  On Saturday morning Beth and Vickie sat down at the breakfast table to figure out what they were going to do for Brian’s funeral. The coroner had called the afternoon releasing the body for collection. On this cool and clear day it was time to decide what could be done for Brian. Deciding that it was too much for them to do on their own, Beth and Vickie called a funeral broker. Beth couldn’t believe that there were actually brokers for funerals but there were and apparently the brokers never sleep. Within an hour of calling Vickie and Beth were here sitting down with their newly appointed funeral ‘associate’.

  “It is understandable that you need to arrange everything sooner rather then later. That’s what I’m here for,” he said pulling out numerous different catalogues of coffins, venues, flower arrangements and price lists. The associate had come rushing to them from another job with a flurry of paperwork trailing in his wake. He obviously had come prepared.

  “There is almost as much to decide about as there was for my wedding,” Vickie said looking dismayed at all the pamphlets he had spread on the table. Beth picked up one of the brochures and paged through it. Who knew there were that many different styles of a coffin? She looked more closely at one of the styles, were those cherubs on the handles??? Beth glanced up trying to keep her expression neutral.