Five Midnight Moments: New Year Bae-Solutions

by Lister, Sheryl

  “I guess.” A small smile peeked out. “Who’s older?”

  “Me, by five minutes. And I never let Dwight forget it. I’d actually had planned to tell you about him and my entire family this week,” he said going back to their previous conversation.

  “Why now?”

  “Because I’m done with the secrecy.” He also wanted her to meet the rest of his family, but decided not to share that piece of information just yet. He trailed a finger down her cheek and tilted her chin. “I’m done with all of it, Lyn.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips. Dwayne could see the wheels turning in her mind and changed the subject. He gestured to her computer. “Find anything?”

  Valencia stared at him, then said, “Not yet. Whoever she is, she’s good. The files were accessed directly from my computer, so you can add breaking and entering to your list of crimes. I distinctly remember locking my office and Jenice can vouch for me because she’d stopped to ask if I’d gotten any more gifts.”

  His mouth settled in a grim line. Only two people had a master set of keys—him and his administrative assistant. No way would he believe Norma Roberts had anything to do with this. The forty-something woman had worked in the same position for over fifteen years, first with his father and now, Dwayne. On the way back to his office he was going to stop by Human Resources and pull a few files.

  “I can’t figure out why someone would target me. I’ve only worked here six months and, aside from Ingram—who can barely retrieve his password from a computer, let alone try to siphon money out of an account—I haven’t had a run-in with anyone else.”

  “I’d wondered the same thing.” The only other alternative was someone wanted to ruin him, the company or both. Dwayne had continued the same comfortable, family-oriented working environment as his father and got along with all the employees, so he didn’t have a clue as to the reason why. Valencia touched his arm and drew him out of his thoughts.

  “Hey. I’m going to find out who did this.”

  “I know. I’m going to look into a few things and Dwight is working on it, as well.”

  Valencia frowned. “Oh, great. I just thought of something.”

  “What is it?”

  “I could’ve been smiling at Dwight some of those times I passed you in the halls.”

  She looked so mortified, he couldn’t do anything but laugh.

  “It’s not funny, Dwayne.”

  “I can guarantee you he hasn’t gotten any of my smiles. Dwight has only been here a couple of weeks and he rarely leaves the office.”

  “Thank goodness,” she said, slumping against the chair. “Some of the thoughts I had—.” She cut herself off and spun around back to her computer.

  Dwayne rotated her back to face him, leaned down and braced his hands on the chair’s armrests. “Naw, baby. I want to hear all about those thoughts. Maybe they’re the same as the ones I’ve had about you.”

  “Um…we have a thief to catch right now, and didn’t you say you needed to look into a few things?”

  Sobering, he straightened and blew out a long breath. “Yeah, we do.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Let me know if you find something, and I’ll do the same.”

  “Okay.”

  Because his father built his business during the days when paper ruled, Dwayne had the human resources manager pull the files he needed. However, he’d grown up in the world of technology, so he also kept electronic records. For the next several hours, he went through each file, making notes and flagging anything that could be considered a clue. He paid particular attention to those who had extensive computer experience.

  When he came up for air, it was after three. His stomach growled and reminded him that he’d worked straight through lunch. Closing the files, Dwayne locked them in his file cabinet and went to the sandwich shop on the first floor.

  He found Dwight waiting in his office when he returned. His heart rate kicked up. “What did you find out?”

  “Nothing yet. I’ve been checking out the two women who work in marketing and the one in IT, since they have the most computer experience and wanted to ask you about them.”

  “What do you want to know?” He sat down at the small conference table on the other side of the office and unwrapped the turkey sandwich.

  Dwight took the chair opposite him, opened Dwayne’s bag of chips and dug out a few.

  “You really need to stop grabbing people’s stuff and get your own damn food.” For as long as he could remember, Dwight always helped himself to someone’s food or drink. Because they were twins, Dwayne ended up being his victim most often.

  Smiling, he said, “You wouldn’t know what to do if I stopped.”

  “Yes, I would. I’d be able to eat in peace.” Dwayne slid the bag closer to him. “You wanted to ask some questions?”

  “Yeah. How long has Ms. Lynch worked in IT?”

  Before he could answer, Valencia stormed into the office with fury in her eyes and slapped a photo on the desk.

  “It’s Shawna.”

  “The marketing manager?” Dwight asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Valencia nodded. She pointed to the photo of a woman sitting at Valencia’s desk. “I recognize the bracelet she’s wearing. She doesn’t have gloves on and I guarantee you’ll find her fingerprints on my keyboard or mouse.”

  Dwayne shook his head. “They’d probably be smeared since you’ve been on it today.”

  “I used my laptop today, not my computer. And every night, I wipe down the screen, keyboard and mouse.”

  He recalled her being on her laptop when he’d been in her office earlier. He walked over to his desk and hit the intercom. “Mrs. Roberts, can you please ask Shawna to come to my office?”

  “Sure can.”

  He shared a look with Dwight, then turned toward Valencia. She looked ten times angrier than she had this morning. Not good. Dwayne thought about asking her to leave, but knew what her response would be, so he didn’t bother.

  “I’ll call the police,” Dwight said, taking out his phone.

  Two minutes later, Mrs. Roberts escorted Shawna into the office.

  Shawna smiled. “Well, this is an honor, Mr. Albright,” she said, entering. “I’ve never been called to the bos—” Her eyes widened and she gasped when she noticed Dwight across the room. “Who is…what’s going on?”

  Dwayne’s gaze dropped to her wrist. She had on the same multi-colored crystal bracelet from the photo. He sighed inwardly. “That’s what I’d like to know. Would you like to tell me why you stole a hundred and fifty thousand dollars from one of our client’s accounts and used Ms. Townsend’s computer to do it?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, looking from one person to another.

  Dwight held up the photo. “This says differently.”

  “That’s not me!”

  “Lying bi—” The rest of Valencia’s words were drown out as she crossed the space in a flash, punched Shawna in the face, knocking her on her butt. The woman lost a shoe in the process and her wig ended up slightly crooked. Pointing a finger in Shawna’s face, Valencia said, “The next time you try to impersonate somebody, don’t forget to take off that loud ass bracelet!”

  Dwayne and Dwight stood in stunned silence, then Dwayne gently pulled Valencia back. “Let’s try this again, Ms. Baker. Better yet, you can explain it to the police.”

  “No! I’ll tell you everything and I can get the money back.” Shawna scrambled off the floor, not bothering to fix her wig or retrieve her shoe and started singing like Jill Scott. She threw her cousin—the woman Dwayne had fired for harassment—under the bus and backed it over her, tearfully confessing how she’d paid Shawna to ruin him. The woman had been essentially blackballed and unable to find another job in her field, and was still angry because Dwayne had rejected her advances. Shawna also gave up the account information where the stolen money was supposed to be deposited. Fortunately, because of the immediate alert from the security system and Valencia’s
quick work, when they accessed the account, the money was still there and could be returned to its rightful owner .

  Dwayne didn’t have one ounce of sympathy and turned her over to the police, who said they’d be picking up Shawna’s cousin for questioning, as well. A detective and a couple other officers stayed around to question them further and to collect any evidence from Valencia’s office.

  After all the commotion died down, he sat in his office with Dwight and Valencia as she worked to redeposit the money into Mr. Smith’s account. His woman was something else. Not only had she solved the case in record time, she’d delivered a punch that would’ve made Muhammed Ali proud. She’d done it in a skirt and heels and not one strand of her shoulder-length hair was out of place.

  Dwight stood. “I’ll leave you two alone. Ms. Townsend, nice work.”

  “Thanks,” Valencia said.

  As soon as the door closed, Dwayne pulled her out of her seat and held her close. “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad she was so stupid. It made it easier. I guess I’m going to be fired for knocking her out.”

  “Hardly. It was justified and you saved Mr. Smith and the firm from a big loss. It’s been a long day and it’s almost seven. Why don’t you go on home?” They’d had to endure almost two hours of questions from detective.

  “Are you coming over tonight?”

  “You’d better believe it. Midnight.”

  “I’ll be waiting.” She seemed to war with herself for a few seconds, then came up on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. “See you at midnight.”

  He smiled. She was definitely the one for him.

  * * *

  After a long bath and a glass of wine, Valencia finally felt her calm return. She couldn’t believe a woman would be so upset about Dwayne saying no that she tried to ruin his entire career and get Valencia thrown in jail. Then again, if word got out, it could have affected everyone’s job. She shook her head to push the rising anger down and went to refill her glass. The day had been so crazy, she’d forgotten about not having a car until she’d gotten ready to leave. By the time she made it home, the auto shops near her had all closed, which meant another Uber ride in the morning. She probably could have asked Dwayne to bring her home, but Valencia needed a few minutes to herself. She prided herself on being relatively even-tempered. Even when she’d issued the set-down to Ingram, she had done it with class and without raising her voice once. Today, however, a side she never knew existed surfaced and exploded in a matter of minutes.

  Back in the living room, she sat on the sofa, reclined and tossed the car manual on the end table. Hopefully, it would turn out to be nothing more than a dead battery. She still couldn’t believe Dwayne had a twin. She’d studied them both and they were identical in every way. It took her a little while to find something to distinguish the brothers from each other, but she finally figured out how to tell them apart—their eyes. While both had the same shape and coloring, Dwayne’s held a playful light that Dwight’s lacked. His, on the other hand, had been shuttered and she saw what looked like sadness in their dark depths. She couldn’t help but wonder what happened.

  Valencia sipped her wine as her mind drifted to Dwayne’s words. I’m done with the secrecy. Truthfully, so was she. Today, she’d kissed him in his office and it had been one of the boldest things she’d ever done. Unless she counted that punch to Shawna’s jaw. She flexed her hand. It was still a little sore, but knocking her out felt so good. Needing to talk to someone other than Dwayne, she grabbed her phone and called Leah.

  “Hey, girl,” Leah said when she answered. “You calling to update me on your as-the-mystery-man-turns soap opera?”

  Valencia laughed for the first time that day. “You are so crazy. I don’t know how we’ve been friends all these years.”

  “Yes, you do. I’m the friend who’s there to keep your otherwise bland life exciting. Although, I must admit, you’ve spiced it up a little these past few months. So, what’s up?”

  “I almost got fired today.” She gave her friend a rundown of the day’s events, but had to stop every other word because Leah was either screaming or cursing.

  “I hope your boss is on top of things.”

  “We already found out who did it. Long story short, the woman was paid by a relative who’d been fired for sexual harassment. But I still have no idea why she used my computer, though.”

  “You should’ve called me so I could beat her ass because she deserves it. I know you wouldn’t do it because you’re too nice sometimes.” Growing up, Leah had never been one to shy away from a fight. She may not have started them, but she always finished them.

  “Not this time,” Valencia mumbled.

  “What does that mean?”

  “She kept saying she had no idea what we were talking about and I got tired of her repeating that same lame lie, so I punched her in the face.”

  Leah burst out laughing. When she finally calmed down, she sniffed and said, “I’m so proud.”

  She couldn’t say it was her proudest moment, but seeing Shawna sprawled on the floor had given Valencia some measure of satisfaction.

  “Since your mystery man works there, I’m sure he heard about it. What did he have to say?”

  For the millionth time, she debated on whether to tell Leah the truth. Once again, Dwayne’s words floated through her mind. If he was okay with them going public, she could be, too, especially to her best friend. “He turned her over to the police.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “My mystery man is Dwayne Albright, CEO of Albright Financial Group.”

  “You’re dating your boss?” Leah screeched.

  “Yep, and I have to go because he’s coming over.” They’d been talking for over two hours.

  “You can’t just drop that bomb on me and say you have to go. What kind of friend are you?”

  “Your best friend.”

  “Valencia Denise Townsend, don’t make me have to camp out on your doorstep to get answers.”

  “I won’t, Leah Sheree Ward. Later, girlfriend.” Valencia could still hear her friend fussing as she disconnected. She finished off her wine and picked up the manual.

  Like clockwork, Dwayne rang her doorbell precisely at midnight. When he entered, he didn’t say anything, just wrapped her in his arms and held her close, as if he knew they both needed this. At length, he eased back.

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay. You’re the one I’m concerned about.”

  Dwayne gave her a small smile. “I have to say it’s been a helluva day, but holding you in my arms makes everything better.”

  “I feel the same way.” The kiss that followed was soft, sweet and filled with so much emotion, it brought tears to her eyes. When it ended, she rested her head against his chest. The rapid pace of his heart matched hers. She took his hand and led him to the living room.

  He sat next to her on the sofa and gestured to the manual. “Is something wrong with your car?”

  Valencia blew out a long breath. “Yeah. It wouldn’t start this morning. With everything that went on today, I didn’t get a chance to call the shop.”

  A frown creased his brow. “Then how did you get to work?”

  “Uber.”

  “Baby, why didn’t you call me? And this evening, you took Uber home, too? You know I would’ve taken you home.”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. “I know. But I needed some time and I know you had to do a few things, as well.”

  “Anything I had to do could’ve waited. Promise me you won’t do this again.”

  The sincerity in his voice touched her deep inside. “I promise.”

  “Good. I’ll check and see if I can find out what’s wrong.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Now, for my next midnight moment.” They shared a smile. He handed her yet, another jewelry box.

  “I feel like it’s Christmas all over again.” This time, nestled against the blac
k velvet, she found an anchor charm. “This is so beautiful and I have to say that diamonds are definitely becoming my best friend.”

  “The anchor symbolizes hope, security and stability, and you are all that and more for me. Today tested me in a way that I’d never experienced, but you kept me grounded. With you by my side, I felt calm in the face of that storm, as if nothing could shake my foundation. Let me do the same for you, baby. I want be your anchor, the one to keep you safe from whatever storms life throws in your path.”

  All she could do was nod around the lump in her throat. She’d been out of her mind to think she could give him up. Valencia cupped his clean-shaven cheek. “You are the most amazing man I have ever met.” Leaning up, she kissed him and tried to communicate just how much she’d come to love him.

  “You’re the amazing one, sweetheart. I’d like for you to pack a bag. You’re coming home with me. We’re riding to work in the morning together. And before you say anything, I don’t care what anyone thinks. We’re grown and it’s nobody’s business what we do. So?”

  She didn’t even hesitate. “Give me ten minutes.”

  Chapter 5

  Aside from a few curious looks when Valencia and Dwayne arrived at the office together the next morning, no one said a word. She wouldn’t have cared anyway because she was far too happy. Instead, they were still whispering about what had happened the previous day. With it being New Year’s Eve, she hoped they could have their own private party. A smile curved her lips. She could think of nothing she’d rather do than spend another night in his arms.

  At five o’clock on the dot, Valencia locked up and headed over to meet Dwayne. She said hello to Mrs. Roberts as she approached Dwayne’s office.

  The woman gave her a knowing smile. “Go on in, Valencia. He’s expecting you.”

  “Thank you.” She opened the door and saw Dwight sitting at the small conference table. He wore the same white dress shirt as Dwayne, but the moment he looked her way, she knew he wasn’t the man she loved. “Oh, hey, Dwight. I was looking for Dwayne.”