Aria sat there for a few minutes and pondered what to do. They would definitely think she had gone nuts if she told them, thought Aria, there is no use sharing this detail. She decided and started her car. She looked into the rearview mirror to check if the guy was back. She pulled the car out when she saw no one. She had planned to go straight to Coons’ house from there.
After about an hour, she reached his house. The lights were on, meaning his wife was home. She parked on the street and looked around to check if anyone was around. Aria got out of the car and went straight to the front door and knocked.
She saw someone peeking from behind the curtain of the window, and the door opened after a few seconds.
“Yes?” asked the slender blond woman.
“Mrs. Luis?” Aria asked. The woman nodded.
“Hello! My name is Aria. I worked with Coons,” Aria was hesitant, she wasn’t sure if his wife would know her. She should have called, Aria thought.
But the woman smiled at her and opened the door wide. “Of course. Come in, please.”
Aria relaxed and entered the house. “Thank you, Mrs. Luis.”
“Call me Ellen,” she smiled at Aria and led her through the entrance hall into an open dining area. Aria looked around. The entire room was decorated tastefully. There was a small dining table at the corner near the open kitchen, and the rest of the room had comfortable couches facing the giant home theater system. There were a few paintings up on the walls as well.
“Please sit down, Aria. Make yourself comfortable,” said Ellen. Aria thanked Ellen and sat down.
“I am really sorry that I came over unannounced,” Aria started, and Ellen waved it off with a smile.
“It’s good to have some company. I have heard a lot about you from Coons,” she smiled sadly.
Aria cleared her throat, “I am sorry for your loss. He was an amazing boss.”
Ellen nodded and reached out to hold Aria’s hand, “I can’t imagine what it must have been for you Aria. They told me that you were the one who… found him. Thank you for trying to save him.”
“I should have done more...,” Aria’s eyes filled with tears.
Ellen interrupted her, “No, honey. You did all that you could have done, and I appreciate it. I am just glad that he didn’t… he didn’t die alone in that dark alleyway.”
They sat there in silence for a few minutes.
“Mrs. Luis… Ellen… I know he is accused of… well, you know,” Aria didn’t know how to approach the subject. She wished that she had thought this through before barging into the house. She noticed Ellen’s face hardening and quickly said, “I believe that’s completely untrue. I worked with him for years. Coons would never do something like this.”
Ellen looked resigned and just stayed quiet.
“Do you…,” Aria hesitated, “do you know anything about it? I mean, did Coons said anything to you that someone is threatening him or anything?”
Ellen’s head jerked up instantly, “What? What do you mean threatening him?”
“No. I mean. He seemed a bit off in the last couple of weeks…,” Aria felt she wasn’t doing this the right way. She had no intention of making Coons’ wife angry.
Ellen’s eyes were wide, “No. He was fine,” she said hurriedly.
“Did he ever talk with you about anything unusual happening at work?” asked Aria.
“Of course not,” Ellen said. Aria noticed that she was getting uncomfortable with the conversation. She apologized. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I am just trying to figure out what happened and what he was trying to tell me…”
Ellen cut her off, “Tell you what?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. Coons looked a bit scared and said he wanted to tell me something, but then he… someone got to him,” explained Aria.
Aria looked at Ellen, confused. Ellen had the same terrified look on her face as Coons did. “What is it? Do you know something? Anything can help us right now,” Aria sat at the edge of her seat and hoped Ellen would tell her something.
Ellen shook her head, “Oh, no! No. He said nothing. He was pretty happy with work, and we were making travel plans,” she said with a forced smile on her face.
“What?” Aria looked at her, surprised. She was clearly hiding something. “Ellen…”
“It’s getting late, Aria,” interrupted Ellen. “I have to start getting ready for bed. I have to go to work tomorrow.”
Aria immediately stood up, “Of course. I am sorry I took so much of your time.” She tried to stay calm, but her heart was pounding. Ellen knew something but didn’t want to tell her for some reason. She followed Ellen towards the front entrance and tried to make one last attempt.
“Ellen…,” she tried as she stepped out of the door. “Please. You have to tell me if there is anything.”
Ellen replied calmly, “There is nothing to tell, Aria. It was an unfortunate thing that happened…”
“I am being followed!” Aria said in desperation. Ellen’s eyes widened. “It has been happening since before Coons died.”
Ellen opened her mouth to say something but then shut it instantly.
“Aria,” she started. “I am sure there is some misunderstanding. I suggest you let the police do their work,” said Ellen.
“But…,” Aria said but was interrupted by Ellen, “Let it go, please.” And then the door was shut closed.
Aria stood there in shock. There was a warning tone in Ellen’s voice, and she was clearly scared. What is she hiding? Aria thought. She wanted to knock on the door again and beg Ellen to tell her what she knew. Why did she look so scared? She wondered. There is surely something wrong since Ellen warned her to let it go. She looked worried when I had told her I was being followed.
Back home, her mind was still whirling with questions. However, now she was also afraid. Someone was continuously following her around. They had already killed Coons and might harm her too. Aria kept a watch out for any car following her throughout the drive back home. She double-checked the locks on her windows and doors when she arrived home. She made herself a cup of tea and settled down in front of the television, even though she wasn’t paying attention to it at all.
She went over the entire conversation she had with Ellen and couldn’t figure out why Ellen didn’t tell her anything. “She knows something. Maybe she even knows who did all this,” Aria thought, “Was she being threatened too, just like Coons?” she wondered.
Aria felt exhausted. Every time her eyes shut with fatigue, the thought of someone breaking and entering her home to harm her would instantly alert her, leaving her wide awake. She knew she should have told the detective about the person following her. Detective Sanjay seemed reasonable, and he might believe her, she figured. She tried to stay up as long as she could, but just after an hour, her eyes felt heavy, and she soon fell asleep on the couch.
She woke up with a start. “What?” she said out loud. She thought she heard a sound. She switched off the television and tried to listen hard, but there wasn’t any sound. It might have been a dream or something on TV, she thought sleepily. She made her way slowly to her bedroom, and suddenly she heard the noise again. It was coming from the backyard. She cautiously made her way towards the kitchen, where there was a backdoor. Fortunately, the lights were all switched off so she could sneak a peek from the window.
Before she reached the kitchen window, she noticed the doorknob of the back door gently being turned. She stopped short. Her heart was pounding. Someone was trying to get in! Fortunately, the door was locked. Her mind was screaming at her to call 911, but the shock had her rooted in one spot. The person tried opening the door a few times and then stopped. She let out a breath. She started to make a mad dash to the TV room to get her cell phone and call the detective, but just then, the doorknob started turning again… this time more aggressively. Aria thought the person had left, but it seemed they were determined to get in.
Even if she called the detective now, it wo
uld take the police a few minutes to reach, and it might be too late by then. “Clark!” she realized that Clark would come over instantly the minute she called him. She raced to the living room and grabbed her phone.
She made her way back to the kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife just in case the intruder succeeded in breaking in and called Clark. She was startled when she heard the ringtone right outside the door. “What?” she whispered. The door stopped rattling instantly. She hung up the phone, and the ringing stopped.
Confused, she dashed towards the door and cautiously opened it. The intruder was caught off guard and fell back. His phone dropped on the ground. The screen lit up, and she noticed her name and a missed call alert.
“Clark!” said Aria, her eyes widening. “What the hell are you doing!”
“Oh God, Aria! You scared me,” said Clark as he got up.
“I scared you?!” Aria yelled. “You are the one trying to break into my house. What were you doing?”
“No, no, I wasn’t trying…,” Clark was dusting off the dirt from his trouser and looked up at Aria, his voice trailing off. “Whoa… easy.” He held up his hands.
Aria looked at him with confusion and noticed he was staring at the knife she was still holding. She lowered it a little. “What were you doing, Clark?”
“Aria! I knocked a few times, but there was no response. I was worried about you. You haven’t even texted me in a while and with all the weird things happening, I got concerned. Especially since you seemed hellbent on finding out who was behind this,” explained Clark. Aria stayed quiet. Her heart was still pounding.
Clark continued, “I noticed your car in the driveway and wanted to check up on you. I stood outside the front door for a long time, knocking loudly. I panicked when there was no response. I came to the back and tried to see if you kept an extra key hidden somewhere, and tried to open the door.”
Aria interrupted. “I was sleeping. I didn’t hear anything I guess. But I did wake up startled due to a loud noise coming from outside. But… you didn’t have to try breaking in… I almost called 911. Why didn’t you just call me?”
Clark stammered, “I… I don’t know. You haven’t been answering my calls lately… I thought it would be better if I just came over.”
Aria stayed quiet.
“I am sorry. I can now see how it all looks. I should have been more careful, especially with all the crazy things happening,” Clark took a deep breath.
“No. It’s okay. I understand. I probably would have done the same thing…,” Aria took a deep breath. “I just… I honestly was terrified! I thought someone was breaking in to hurt me.”
“I am really sorry,” Clark came closer to her, gently took the knife from her hand and hugged her. She realized just then that she was grasping the knife rather tightly. Aria smiled up at him. “Don’t worry about it. Come on inside. I would sleep better, knowing you are with me.”
They started going inside when Aria stopped Clark. He gave her a questioning look. “By the way, I do keep a spare key hidden outside.”
She smiled at him and pointed towards a large planter, placed near the stairs leading up to the backdoor. “Next time, you wouldn’t have to try breaking in.” She laughed and took his arm, leading him inside.
The next few weeks went by smoothly for Aria. She was relieved. “I guess my stalker got scared when I bumped into him,” she thought to herself. Whatever the reason, she was glad she didn’t have to spend her days constantly looking over her shoulders to see if anyone was following her. Aria also decided against telling detective Sanjay about the stalker. There wasn’t any point, she figured. She became more relaxed, and work kept her busy.
However, she wasn’t letting go of her quest to find answers. Whenever she had some spare time, she would go through old emails of Coons, looking for any clues. Aria hadn’t told Tanya about her investigation. For now, she didn’t have any lead. She was still determined to continue looking. “There has to be something. Even a small thing that can help me,” she whispered to herself. She was checking every single document that Coons had sent her through email in the past two to three months.
So far, the police had no leads on Coons’ murder, and it seemed like it would turn out to be a cold case. Aria had lost all hope that the police would find anything. People at work were also falling back into their usual routine, and there were fewer discussions about Coons and his murder.
Aria was devastated at how quickly people were moving on after everything that had happened. “I guess his murder didn’t affect others as much as it affected me,” she thought as she opened another email from two months ago. It had several attached documents related to a client’s account— the usual monthly finances and budgeting reports.
She glanced through the documents and was about to close the email to check the next when something caught her eyes. There was one untitled document attached among all the client’s reports. It was unusual because all the employees made it a point to properly name each file, so it is easier to extract from the emails when needed. She downloaded the file in her system and opened it.
Her jaw dropped open. It was a screenshot of an email sent by Coons to someone, along with a payment transfer attachment. She couldn’t figure out who the email was sent too, but it said Coons had transferred the money to the account as instructed. Were the accusations true? Was Coons stealing from the company? Aria thought as she stared at the screenshot. But then why would he send this to everyone! How come no one saw this?
She checked the original email and noticed this email was sent only to her. She went back to her email and saw that Coons had sent the same email twice. One was sent to her, and the other one was sent to her and everyone else working on the client’s account. She checked the one he had sent to everyone. Everything was the same except for the untitled document. He had only sent that document to the email he had sent only to her. Was he trying to send me a clue? She wondered. But that screenshot didn’t reveal much. It just proved that Coons was transferring money to an overseas account.
But wait. Aria realized something. He wasn’t transferring the money to his own account, but someone else’s. He had written that the money was transferred as instructed. If Coons sent her this clue, he might have sent her some more.
Aria quickly glanced through her emails. Surely enough, she found another email that Coons had sent twice – once to her alone and then the other one to her and others. She looked at the number of attached files on each email and realized the one sent only to her had an additional attachment. It was another screenshot, this time it was from the person Coons sent the payment to. While the email was written rather formally, it had a threatening tone. The person wanted Coons to transfer the money immediately, or there may be consequences.
Aria gaped at the email. He was being threatened, she thought. This was only one email. Who knows how many threats Coons received. Ellen probably knew about this, which is why she warned her, Aria pondered. Maybe Coons refused to send more money, which is why he was killed. She returned to her inbox and searched some more. This was not the only one. Coons had been sending her proof throughout the past year. All she needed to do was gather all screenshots, and she might find out who was behind his murder. Even if she didn’t, she would still be able to hand over these emails to the police and get Coons’ name cleared.
There was a knock on the door. Aria quickly closed everything. She was not ready to tell anyone yet. It was Tanya. Aria contemplated whether or not to tell her but decided to stay quiet for now.
“Hey! Are you coming?” Tanya asked her.
“Where?” asked Aria, her mind occupied by her latest discovery. She opened up another tab and quickly attached the two screenshots and sent the email to her personal email address.
Tanya glared at her, “You forgot?”
Aria forced her mind back to the present and realized she had promised Tanya they would go out for lunch. “Ah! Of course not. I was just preoccupied with work and lost trac
k of time. It’s lunch break already?”
Tanya rolled her eyes at her. “You are working like crazy nowadays. I hardly see you anymore, except when we are discussing a client’s account.”
“I am sorry, T. It’s been hectic. I am all yours now,” said Aria. She stood up and switched off her monitor before heading out with Tanya.
Aria was in high hopes. She barely heard what Tanya was telling her throughout lunch. Her mind was on overdrive. She wanted to look into other emails and find out what more clues Coons had sent her. She opened her personal email account, downloaded the two attachments on her phone, and started reading them again.
“Are you listening?” Tanya interrupted her thoughts.
“What!” Aria stammered and placed her phone on the table. “Of course. I was just enjoying my food.” Aria smiled at Tanya, who looked at her suspiciously.
Aria sighed. There was no need trying to lie to Tanya. She could see right through her. Tanya raised her eyebrows as if she already knew Aria was hiding something from her.
“Spit it out,” demanded Tanya. “What’s going on?”
“Okay. Don’t get mad at me. I wanted to tell you when I found something concrete. There was no point involving anyone on a fruitless hunt,” explained Aria.
“What is it? What have you been doing?” Tanya was intrigued. “Is this about Coons?”
Aria nodded, and Tanya’s eyes widened.
Aria moved closer to Tanya and told her in an urgent whisper, “It turns out he was stealing from the company, but…”
“What!!?” Tanya blurted out loudly.
“Shush!” Aria looked around. “Would you please just listen for a minute!” scolded Aria. “and keep it down.”
Tanya nodded and stayed quiet.
“He was transferring money to an overseas account, but he was being told to do this. As I suspected, Coons wasn’t stealing from the company. He was, in fact, being threatened to steal it for someone else.”
“Who?!” interrupted Tanya. “How did you find out?”
“I don’t know, yet,” answered Aria. “It turns out Coons had been sending me screenshots of his interactions with that person. I have only se…”
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