The Crime of Seduction

by Nadine LaForet

  “Actually,” he went on, undeterred, “I’m a little dehydrated, too. Maybe we should go get some water together after work?”

  Alex was caught off guard by Cody’s invitation. Is he asking me out?

  “Um,” she said, turning to the cashier and handing him a five for her coffee and water. “That’s OK, I have some here,” she said, waving the bottle at Cody. She could tell by the expression on his face he hadn’t expected her to turn down his offer.

  “Really, Alex, just a drink. It doesn’t have to be water.”

  “I’m sorry, Cody, but no.” She smiled a weak smile at him, turned on her heel, and walked away, leaving all 6’ 2” of Officer Cody Patrick feeling like he was two inches tall.

  * * *

  12

  Chapter Twelve

  Alex walked briskly back to the office, her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. She was greeted by a foot-high stack of folders in her chair when she got back. There was a yellow Post-it with a note from Sheila saying “Come see me when you get back.”

  Alex sighed and set her coffee down in one of the only clear spots she could find on her desk. It was amazing how much of a mess she had made that morning, when all she was trying to do was get her workspace organized again. She lifted one stack of papers and shoved aside another to make room for the water bottle. She picked her coffee up, walked over to Sheila’s office, and poked her head in the door.

  Sheila was on the phone, listening intently to whomever was on the other end. Alex caught her eye and Sheila held up a finger and mouthed, “Give me a minute.” Alex had worked with her enough now to know that meant she would be with her in ten minutes—if not longer.

  Instead of going back to her desk, Alex turned around and went to say hello to her friend Rachel. Rachel was one of the senior legal secretaries and had worked in the Prosecutor’s Office for many years. Rachel was the primary contact for any and all rumors, truths, misconceptions, suppositions, and secrets that floated through the office. Since Alex had been so preoccupied with Heath over the past few weeks she had fallen out of the office gossip loop and figured she ought to get caught up.

  “Hey, Rach,” Alex said, peering over Rachel’s gray cubicle wall. “What’s new?”

  “Hey, stranger!” Rachel looked up at Alex, smiling. “Just knee deep in the usual. It’s Monday, so we are slogging through custodies.”

  Each morning of the workweek the county jail sent a list to the Prosecutor’s Office of everyone who was in custody in the jail. Anyone booked with in the previous 24 hours was considered a “fresh arrest.” By law the Prosecutor’s Office had 48 hours to hold someone in custody without charging them. Within that time they had to decide whether or not to file charges against them or they would be released. The exception to that rule was Mondays—when everyone who had been arrested after 5:00 Friday night was held over unless they had posted bail. If someone posted bail, they were released on the promise that they would come back for their arraignment on charges within a few days—or lose the money they put up.

  All that combined to make Monday a very busy day for Rachel. As a senior secretary she handled the most serious and high-profile felony cases. On occasion, local law enforcement would work in tandem with other agencies like Homeland Security or the FBI to catch various forms of bad guy. In the years that Alex had been at the Prosecutor’s office they handled cases generated by Homeland Security agents acting as underage girls online to arrange meet-ups with adult men or breaking up child porn–sharing rings, to working with FBI agents on bank robberies and interstate illegal drug operations. There was never a shortage of interesting cases within the walls of the Emerald County Prosecutor’s Office, and that was one of the reasons why Alex loved working there.

  “Busy weekend?” asked Alex.

  “Not too bad, really. I guess the big news is that bust the SVPD and INTERPOL had Friday.”

  “INTERPOL, really? That’s exciting. What was the bust?” Alex had been painfully out of the loop for longer than just the weekend.

  “Art theft. Apparently there was a major international art theft ring planning something here.”

  “Art theft? In Scottsville? They must have gotten lost!” Alex and Rachel laughed.

  “I know, right? But I guess that new curator at the museum has some kind of connection and was bringing in a private collection for an exclusive show. Looks like SVPD had a bunch of guys in on the arrest.”

  “Cool—” Alex turned around to look back at Sheila. She could hear her say, “Yeah, OK, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” It sounded like she was wrapping up her phone call.

  Alex turned back around to say goodbye to Rachel just as she said, “Yeah, it’s like something out of a spy novel, complete with the sexy art thief. This guy is even hot in his mugshot. You gotta check him out. And get this—his name’s Valentine!”

  Alex’s head snapped back around to face Rachel. “What?”

  “Valentine—the hot thief’s name is Valentine.” Rachel adopted a bad British accent in what Alex thought was a horrible James Bond joke. “Valentine, Heath Valentine.”

  Alex’s heart dropped to her feet and she felt the blood drain from her face. “You have a picture?” she asked, trying to sound calm and merely curious in a girl-gossip kind of way.

  “Yeah, here.” Rachel scooted her chair to the side as Alex came around the corner of the cubicle. “Check him out. I mean, who looks that hot in a mugshot?”

  Alex felt physically ill as she stared into the hazel eyes of her lover.

  “Alex? Alex?”

  Alex vaguely heard her name being said, but all she could do was stare at Heath Valentine in an orange jumpsuit stamped “Emerald County Jail.”

  “Hey, Alex—” It was Rachel, staring up at her with a puzzled look on her face. “You OK? Sheila’s calling you—I think she’s ready for you now. You better catch up with her.”

  “Oh, uh, yeah,” Alex stammered, coming back to reality. She stood up and smiled at Rachel. “Sorry, guess he just took my breath away,” she said, trying to recover.

  “Yeah, well he can take my panties away anytime!”

  Alex tried to laugh at Rachel’s joke, but all she managed was a weak bark.

  “Hey, well, good to see you,” Alex stammered as she walked out of Rachel’s cube and into Sheila’s office.

  * * *

  Sheila gestured for Alex to sit down and smiled at her. Alex smiled back and for the next thirty minutes she tried to nod and the appropriate times and interject a timely “uh-huh” and “alright” when Sheila paused and looked at her expectantly before continuing. Alex had spent so much time with Sheila recently she was easily able to give the impression that she was listening, even though her mind was racing and she was trying desperately to understand the pieces of this crazy puzzle she was a part of.

  Heath arrested? An art thief? It must have been the guys he was having dinner with - those are the thieves! I wonder if he knew. This is all a big misunderstanding, she thought.

  “So the bottom line is—” Alex took a deep breath and sat up straighter, making an effort to pay attention to Sheila’s instructions. “I want you to begin by scanning all of those files and then we want to pull out any information that could be pertinent to this case, OK?”

  Alex smiled. “Absolutely, Sheila. I’ll get right to it.” She rose from the chair.

  “Great, let’s meet at 3:00 to see how you’re doing. Keep in mind we are in the home stretch. I need your best work.”

  “Always,” she said, giving Sheila her most professional “I got this” smile and walking back to her desk.

  Alex plopped down in her chair and exhaled. She hadn’t noticed she had been holding her breath. Holy Shit, she thought. What now?

  * * *

  Alex called Mari. “You have to go to lunch with me today.”

  “Why?” Mari asked. “What’s up? Did he finally call?”

  “No. Worse.” She paused, trying to keep it together. “I h
ave a ton of work to do for Sheila, but I can take a lunch at noon.”

  “You OK?” Mari asked, sounding concerned.

  Alex could hear the other phone lines ringing in the background. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Come get me at noon.”

  Mari said she would and hung up.

  * * *

  At noon Alex and Mari walked down to the cafeteria for lunch. Mari couldn’t wait to hear what had happened. Alex, however, didn’t know where to start. Between walking in and seeing Cody to viewing Heath’s mugshot…there was so much to get out she could barely speak.

  “Let’s just get our food first and then sit down. I can’t even think straight, let alone talk and walk at the same time.”

  Mari gave Alex a worried look. “What is going on? You look spooked.”

  Alex turned to the refrigerator and grabbed a pre-made sandwich and another bottle of water. She really wasn’t hungry, but knew she needed to eat if she was going to be able to think straight. “I seriously don’t know where to start,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Start at the beginning, I guess,” Mari replied.

  They paid for their food and sat down by the door. “OK…” Alex started by telling Mari about running into Cody that morning and how embarrassed she was to see him.

  “He asked me out,” Alex said, opening her water and taking a sip.

  “He did?”

  “Don’t sound so surprised,” Alex said, pulling a face.

  “Maybe he’s ready for that blow job now that he’s not worried you’ll vomit.” Mari laughed and unwrapped her sandwich.

  “Ha. Very funny.” Alex was not amused. “I said no.”

  “Why? Why did you say ‘no’? He’s adorable and supposedly a really good guy. David thinks very highly of him, and he doesn’t like many other cops.” Mari took a bite of her sandwich.

  “Well, aside from being mortified that I tried to suck his dick on my front porch—and got rejected, mind you—I thought I was seeing someone.”

  Mari slowed her chewing and looked expectantly at Alex. “Thought?”

  Alex took a deep breath.

  “Is he married?” Mari asked, her voice getting loud.

  “No! Oh my God, nothing like that,” Alex looked around, hoping no one was listening. “No, no, it’s just that I figured out why he stood me up this weekend.”

  “And? Jesus, Alex, tell me what the fuck is going on!”

  “He got arrested.”

  There, I said it, Alex thought. She felt a little bit better just having said it out loud.

  “Arrested?” Mari’s voice was rising again. Alex put her hand on Mari’s, trying to get her to quiet down a little. “Arrested for what?” she hissed.

  “I’m sure he was in the wrong place at the wrong time; in fact, I am sure it was the guys he was having dinner with that—”

  “What. Did. He. Get. Arrested. For,” Mari asked again through clenched teeth.

  “Theft. Art theft. International art theft.”

  Mari’s eyes grew huge. “He’s one of them?” she asked, breathlessly. “One of the ones they mentioned on the news? The Inter-fucking-national art theft ring that the FBI and INTERPOL are in on? THAT ONE?”

  Alex rolled her eyes. “Will you please keep it down?”

  Mari looked at her incredulously, her eyes growing even wider as she looked at Alex with utter shock.

  “What?” Alex said, peeling the plastic wrap off her slightly soggy sandwich. “I’m sure it’s some sort of misunderstanding. Remember he said he had to take some clients to dinner? I bet they are the thieves, and he just happened to be there when the arrest went down.”

  Mari swallowed. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that Alex. This is serious. You know they no-bailed them, right?”

  “All of them?” Alex knew that the judges rarely “no-bailed” someone unless they considered them a very real flight risk and had solid evidence against them.

  “Yes, all of them.” Mari stared at Alex.

  “Well, of course they are flight risks, if they are part of some international art theft ring. Duh.” She stared back at Mari. “I’m sure when he gets arraigned they will understand he was just having dinner with them and had no idea what was going on.”

  “I guess that’s possible,” Mari conceded. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

  Alex and Mari finished their lunch in silence, Mari watching her friend closely. Alex was deep in thought, trying to remember any kind of clue that Heath was, indeed, part of some international crime ring.

  “He did travel a lot…” Alex said, glancing at Mari. “And had some really nice art in his house.”

  Mari tossed the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth and wiped her hands.

  “And that alarm system was pretty sophisticated.”

  Mari looked up at Alex and raised her eyebrows.

  “Yeah, I always had to wake him up to let me out after I tripped it trying to sneak out the first night.” Alex reflexively smiled at the memory of Heath, half-asleep, stumbling down the hall to let her out.

  Mari shook her head slowly. “Look, I guess you can give him the benefit of the doubt if you want to. But it could explain a lot.”

  “Yeah, like why he would stand up a hottie like me!” Alex tried to make light of the situation, but it didn’t fly.

  “You have to tell Bev, you know.”

  “Why?” Alex didn’t want to have to tell her boss she was—had been—involved with an arrestee.

  “Because he is a suspect in a major international crime ring that the prosecutor’s office you work for is going to be handling. Jesus, Alex, why do you think?” Mari sounded pissed.

  “I get that, Mari, thanks.” Alex snapped. “I think I owe it to him to wait until he is arraigned tomorrow, though. I really don’t think he’s going to be charged. They will let him go, I’m sure of it.”

  “I disagree. I think you should tell her now—even if he is ‘innocent,’” here Mari made air quotes, “like you think he is.” Mari stood up and gathered her things. “I’ll let you slide until then. But you tell Bev tomorrow, after his arraignment, no matter what.”

  “Yes, Mom.” Alex sat still, not getting up.

  Mari let out an angry exhale and walked away.

  God, why does she have to be such a bitch sometimes? Alex sat and sulked for a few more minutes, trying to wrap her head around these new complications in her life—Cody, Heath, and now Mari.

  * * *

  The rest of the day was miserable. Alex was buried under a pile of scanning, archiving, sorting, and reviewing, and Sheila’s mood was getting worse as the trial date got closer and her habit of burning both ends began to catch up with her. They stayed holed up in Sheila’s office until the halls were empty and everyone else had gone home. Alex was exhausted from the events of the day, combined with the brutal pace of trial prep for Sheila.

  Sheila finally cut her loose after nine, and once she got home she turned off her phone, stripped off her wrinkled clothes, and climbed into bed. She was grateful that her brain was too tired to think, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

  * * *

  Tuesday morning Alex woke with a jolt—she was disoriented and had forgotten to turn on her old-fashioned alarm clock when she had turned off her cell phone the night before. She hadn’t overslept too late, but she did have to rush in order to get to work on time—or a little before, as she knew Sheila would expect. It took her a moment to remember all that had happened the day before and when she did, it felt like someone handed her a backpack full of bricks to lug around.

  She got dressed in record time, climbed into her car, and hit a drive-thru coffee stall on her way to the office. She thought for sure she would make it in before 8:00 until she parked and saw all the news vans lined up outside the courthouse. What the fuck? she thought, as she got out of her car and pulled her bag up on her shoulder.

  Looking around, she saw all of the local Emerald County news stations represented, as well as a few of the national c
able news networks. She sipped her coffee and made her way through the maze of reporters warming up, while cameramen and -women set up their shots and got their equipment ready.

  Alex saw a friend of hers from high school with a microphone in her hand. Krista was one of the main anchors for Emerald City’s main evening newscast, and she smiled her high-wattage TV anchor smile when she spotted Alex walking toward her.

  “Alex!” she cried. “How are you?”

  “Hey, Krista,” Alex smiled back. She genuinely liked the anchorwoman and they often saw each other out and about around town. “What’s the big news story?”

  “And here I thought you’d be able to give me a scoop—you’re no help!” Krista laughed, keeping an eagle eye out for anyone else who might be able to give her an on-air interview.

  “Seriously, what’s this all about?” Alex asked again.

  “Hello? Don’t you watch my newscast? You do work in the Prosecutor’s Office still, don’t you?” Krista looked at Alex like she was stupid.

  Alex felt stupid, and then she heard a reporter behind her say, “…art thieves to be arraigned this morning…” and it all fell into place. “Oh! The art thing,” she said.

  “Uh, yeah!” Krista said emphatically. “This is the biggest story we’ve had in a while; I thought for sure you would have some inside information for me. All the major networks are in town trying to bully their way in.”

  “No, sorry,” Alex apologized, “I’m working on a big case with Sheila Robbins. What’s your angle on this one?”

  “Well, first of all, these guys are hot!” Krista laughed and actually blushed. “Second of all, they have their nuts in a vise. Apparently they have been following them for months and the story is chock-full of international intrigue, sex, money, art, con jobs… It’s got movie written all over it.”