A Deadly Promotion

by Melanie Jones Brownrigg

  “So, it was Ethel who pushed me and Julie,” I said, beginning to see how the pieces were fitting together. “But what about Penny? Ethel wasn’t there to poison her sandwich.”

  “Again, Lidia wanted you out of the way so she could replace you as the CFO. You said yourself that you had been eating the sandwich the day before, talking to David, when Lidia and James entered the room. Lidia saw you put the leftovers in the fridge. She probably poisoned the sandwich, assuming you’d eat it later … not Penny.”

  “Are you arresting her?” I asked.

  “No, we don’t have enough proof … not yet. We’ll keep looking though. But we have charged her with the embezzlement, based on the Cayman bank video. And the FEDs are looking into Ethel’s fraudulent claim for SSI.”

  “Ethel and Lidia,” I said. “Together they scammed the government, stole from the company and killed two people in the process.”

  “And almost you,” Paul added reaching to squeeze my hand. “When are you dropping the charges against Paige? Obviously, she didn’t kill Julie.”

  “It’s already been done. I spoke with the D.A. today and the paperwork was submitted to the judge.” He reached for a file. “Here’s a copy for your records.”

  “Thank goodness,” I happily expressed, briefly gazing across the heading, while Paul reviewed the finer details.

  “I’ll let you know if we find out anything else,” Detective Sutton said, wrapping up the meeting.

  We thanked the detective and left the precinct with Paul’s arm tightly wrapped around me. “Let’s go home,” Paul said as soon as we left the precinct.

  My heart zoomed to lightning speed, thinking his home was my home. “Okay,” I quickly agreed, letting him take my hand in his.

  As soon as we stepped inside his condo, he pushed me against the door, holding me in place. “It looks like you’re no longer my client,” he said, moving in close to me.

  “Looks that way,” I readily agreed, my voice turning into a throaty whisper.

  “I’ve been a good boy up to this point,” he told me, the look in his eyes turning molten.

  Then he leaned in and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stepped in closer. His arms encircled my waist and he pulled me next to him. Rockets exploded in my head and my chest burst wide with warmth. Between our feet, Callie and Freddy rubbed against our legs. Everything felt magical, something I wanted to feel from now to eternity.

  A giggle left my lips when he scooped me into his arms and carried me down the hallway. In his bedroom, he slid my feet to the floor and closed the door behind him. “Freddy likes to watch. He makes me nervous.”

  The shadows of both cats closed the gap underneath the door, and I heard Callie meow.

  After shedding his jacket, he loosened his tie and whipped the whole thing over his head. I unbuttoned my blouse and tossed it on a nearby chair. He did the same with his shirt. While he unlatched his belt and kicked off his pants, I unzipped my skirt and wiggled out of it. Our shoes were kicked off, quickly followed by undergarments being tossed to the floor. Naked, we stood in front of each other.

  “You’re beautiful,” he admired, his gaze scanning every little detail of me.

  “You’re magnificent,” I swooned. His repetitive trips to the fitness center had left him toned across his whole body. His arms portrayed the perfect amount of muscle and his chest was a well-defined sculpture. Below his tight washboard stomach, his manhood stood tall and erect, larger, and thicker than I had expected.

  He closed the gap between us, pulling me in close. I nestled into his chest, feeling his anxiousness pressing into my tummy. His mouth covered mine, resulting in a fiery kiss that weakened my knees.

  “I want you so much,” he whispered in my ear.

  “I want you too,” I breathed.

  We settled ourselves on his bed and within no time, we were nothing but a tangled web of limbs, rocking his bed, shaking the walls and bringing down the house. It had been a long, long time since I’d felt the tender caresses of a man and enjoyed the magical touches in all the right places. Paul did right by me, satisfying my deepest desires while making me feel like a princess.

  “Holy moly. That was amazing,” he panted collapsing in a heap next to me.

  My chest thundered against my ribs from our tumultuous workout. “It was indeed,” I fully agreed.

  We cuddled against each other, our coziness interrupted by Freddy’s pawing at the door and Callie once again mewling.

  “Parties over,” Paul said with a chuckle, getting up to open the door and then returning to me. Both cats pounced on the bed and inspected us thoroughly to make sure we were okay.

  Paul leaned up on his elbow and looked into my eyes. “I don’t want you to ever leave. Will you stay with me?” He held his breath while his dark brown eyes searched my face for clues of how I might react.

  “Yes,” I strangled out through a gasp of air. “Yes, I’ll stay.”

  Before long, the cats and Paul and I were huddled together in Paul’s bed, one big happy family. For the first time, in a long time, I felt safe, secure, and loved. But most of all, I felt at home.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  David Ross

  David couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. “Idiots. All of them,” he muttered. He wasn’t Mensa material, but he might as well be. Maybe he should be tested. His gaze momentarily left the road long enough to admire the leather satchel buckled in the rear seat behind him. If he breathed deeply enough, he could smell the money seeping from within. It was only $175K. It wouldn’t make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, but it had served his purpose in every way conceivable.

  “Who’s the idiots?” his mother asked from the passenger seat.

  “Ethel and Lidia,” he replied to his mother.

  It had all been a big, big show, one David had choreographed down to the last detail. Well, okay, not all of it. But it had worked out well enough in the long run. The police were focused on Ethel and Lidia and he was already making his getaway. They’d never find him.

  To be truthful, he was crazy wild about Paige. He’d even admitted as much to the detective, telling him he liked Paige … a lot. He had followed her everywhere, taken hundreds of pictures of her, and been jealous when he saw that bear. Did it make him a stalker? Well, not in David’s mind. But if the detective saw it that way, then so be it. If David were caught – because you know, best laid plans can go awry – then he could get off on insanity. Otherwise, he’d be facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. Faced with such a horrifying possibility, he wanted a backup plan. If the judicial system perceived him as being a psycho stalker, it might be beneficial to him in the long run.

  “Didn’t I tell you long ago that you’d be much better off without any of them in your life? That’s what I told you,” his mother reminded him.

  David reached over and patted his mother on the leg. “Mothers always know best, don’t they?”

  “Yep, just as I thought back then, it would’ve been better if your father hadn’t insisted on telling you about the adoption. But I let him have his dying wish. See, I knew nothing good would come of it.”

  “And you were right,” David appeased her once again.

  It had been three years since his whole life had been turned upside down. After his father had a stroke, he had made a bedside confession to David, letting him know he had been adopted. David had always felt loved and wanted, but hearing they weren’t his birth parents came as shocking news. David had sat in a chair, next to his dad, while his father disclosed a family secret.

  “Your mother and I wanted a child so very much, but she was unable to carry a baby to full term. We had to give up and that’s when we adopted you. But, David, we have always loved you from the bottom of our hearts. You have filled our hearts with happiness, and we have been forever grateful.”

  “Adopted,” David had spluttered out. “Who are my real parents?”

  His father’s frail hand reached
for his. “We are your real parents. But your birth parents were Edward and Ethel Ratcliff,” he croaked out in a weakened voice.

  “Where are they … my birth parents?” he inquisitively asked.

  “Edward works as a security guard, usually the evening shift in the Harrington Oil & Gas Building, but sometimes he’s rotated around to other buildings on an as-needed basis.” He stopped, going into a coughing spell. David reached for a container of water and held the straw to his father’s lips. He spluttered water, coughed some more and then finally caught his breath.

  “What about my birth mother?”

  “Ethel works in the same building. She’s some bigwig with Harrington Oil & Gas.”

  “Why did they place me for adoption?”

  His dad lifted and dropped his thin, bony shoulders. “They’d already filed for a divorce when Ethel turned up pregnant. Ethel wanted a divorce so she could marry Wayne Johnson, who she was having an affair with. Wayne didn’t want to raise another man’s child, and Ethel was willing to give you up to get what she wanted. And she wanted Wayne. They’re still married and have a child together … Lidia. Lidia is married to Douglas Gentry. I heard they got a divorce, but I don’t know for sure.”

  “I have a half-sister?” David asked, gulping back a frog in his throat. David dearly loved his mother and father. His childhood had been picturesque, with nothing to complain about. But David had always felt alone and had often wished for a sibling to have grown up with. He flashed back on a different life he might have had if there had been someone to play with, share secrets between, and create memories together. He imagined being the protective older brother for his baby sister and suddenly he had to meet Lidia. “Where is Lidia?” he asked, already imagining the hug he would embrace her with and the joy on her face when she learned she had a half-brother.

  “She works in the same firm with Ethel,” his father provided, his face grimacing with a sudden blast of pain.

  Two weeks later, David buried his father. Then he had a long discussion with his mother about getting in touch with his birth parents.

  “If that’s what you want,” she said supportively. “But I think you’ll find you’re much better off without any of them in your life.” This was something she repeated to him many times from that day forward.

  Another month later, he applied for a job in the Accounting Department, tasked with making reimbursements. It turned out to be monotonously simple, leaving him with most of his day to study for his night classes where he was pursuing a computer science degree. Luckily, his desk was on the far end, giving him the ability to keep his monitor turned to the side and his materials sheltered, so that Paige, who was seated beside him, remained clueless.

  “Stop peeking,” he’d told her once with a wide grin on his face when he caught her trying to snatch a look.

  “We’re not taking the same test,” she emphasized, her sparkling blue eyes mesmerizing David.

  David chuckled at her wit and went straight back to his studies. Whenever he wasn’t poring over his homework, he watched his extended family, getting to know them from afar, albeit in the same two rooms, and by the occasional light-hearted conversations he had with his birth father in the building’s lobby. His birth father was okay, but not a replacement for the father he had learned to love and respect. David hadn’t told any of them who he was and, quite obviously, David’s birth parents, Ethel and Edward, didn’t have a clue as to what happened to their baby boy.

  Ethel spent her days in her glass office, while Lidia bossed everyone around in the common area. Neither were what he expected. Ethel was a large woman with mean, beady eyes. She rarely interacted with the employees and her whole body screamed leave me the hell alone. Lidia was nothing but a volcano of orders and sarcastic comments. David often stared at her, looking for any family resemblances. They both had black hair and dark eyes. But otherwise, they were completely different. He couldn’t imagine himself sharing any secrets with her. And she certainly didn’t need the older-brother protection.

  Still, they were his family. After careful consideration, he decided his first contact should be with Ethel. Surely, she felt something after carrying him for nine months. Maybe she’d even had time to reflect on her decision and wished she had a second chance. And too, he wasn’t sure if Lidia knew of her mother’s prior child and he didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot.

  It took him many months to muster the courage to approach Ethel. Finally, he sucked it up and waited outside her office door late one evening.

  “What do you want, David?” Ethel said as she locked her door and turned around to find him standing there.

  “I … I … I.” David suddenly lost his nerve.

  “Well, spit it out,” Ethel barked in a raspy smoker’s voice.

  “You’re … you’re … you’re my momma,” David stammered. But once it was out of his mouth, he felt a load slide off his shoulders. He’d done it. He’d confronted his birth mother. Now, all that was left was making up for lost time. His mind went immediately to Thanksgiving turkeys, exchanging Christmas gifts and festive birthday celebrations. He would have an extended family. The thought thrilled him to no end.

  “What the hell did you say!” Ethel screeched.

  “My momma and dad, Elizabeth Ross and Thomas Ross, they adopted me from you. You’re my birth mother, and Edward Ratcliff is my dad.” He stood straight and beamed a smile. “I’m you’re son.”

  “Jesus Christ. Well, that’s a hell of a slap in the face.” She stood back and eyed him up one side and down the other. “Are you sure? You don’t look like I thought you’d look.”

  “It’s me. I’m your son,” David repeated, flashing another smile at her, waiting for her to throw her arms around him.

  “Well, that was a long time ago and it’s not something I want to dredge up. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge and I don’t want the dam breaking now. I’ll tell you what, you keep your mouth shut about it and leave me the hell alone, and in return I won’t have you fired. In fact, I’ll get you a small raise? What do you say?”

  David just stood there, completely mute. He couldn’t believe his ears. Nothing she’d said had fit with the happy reunion of his expectations.

  Ethel took his silence as an agreement. “Good then. And don’t you open your damn mouth to Lidia. I don’t want you causing her any emotional problems.” Ethel walked away, leaving David standing alone with his hands in his pockets and his tongue too thick to speak.

  But it was the day when an overflowing pot of hatred began to slowly simmer. With each passing day, Ethel’s alienation of David grew like an infected sore, filling with pus, growing and growing, until there was no alternative but to rupture.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  After returning from the police station, I headed straight up to Mr. Harrington’s office. There were several issues which needed to be addressed. He invited me inside and gestured for me to take a seat.

  “The party was amazing, as always. Thank you so much.”

  “Sorry about the last part though,” I apologized.

  “Don’t be, you had a breakthrough up on the stage. Not only did you remember who pushed you in the stairwell, you exposed Ethel for trying to fake a disability claim. You did good!”

  “It doesn’t feel like it. In fact, I keep thinking I misremembered something.”

  “Like what?” he asked, his bushy gray brows shooting up his forehead.

  “I don’t know … but something.”

  “Well, it’ll come to you when you least expect it. Last night, it came to me who Edward Ratcliff was. He was Ethel’s first husband. I remember it was a real stink of a situation because she was pregnant with his child, but she was having an affair with another man. They ended up putting the poor lad up for adoption. It was real gossip around here at the time.”

  “Oh my, I had no idea. Any idea on what happened to the little boy?”

  He shook his head. “No, it was all hush-hush back then.
”

  “Well, speaking of Ethel, what are we going to do with her daughter? According to the bank video and the cruise video, Lidia was the one who withdrew the funds. It must mean either she embezzled the money, or Ethel did. But either way Lidia was involved.” I paused. “She and Ethel are both out on bond. Do you think she’ll try to come into work?”

  He pulled a face. “I can’t imagine it. If either of them shows up, tell them to come and see me. I’ll show them the door. Lidia is as good as fired.”

  I nodded. “Okay, what about Lisa? She went into my computer and deleted my work product.”

  He took in a deep breath. “I think she did it because of that girl … Angela, isn’t that her name?” I nodded. “Send her up to talk to me. Depending on what she has to say, I’ll either fire her, or transfer her to a different department.”

  “Are there any other employees you’d like to get rid of?” he asked jokingly.

  “Yes, sir,” I responded, which drew a shocked look on his face. “David. He gave his two-week notice, but I told him you’d wave it. I hope I didn’t speak out of turn.”

  “Well of course, consider it waved. Not only did he go into your computer, he entered your apartment and stabbed a bear. He’s obviously stalking you. We can’t tolerate those behaviors.” He shook his head. “Goodness, Paige, do you have any employees left?”

  I sighed. “Well, James and Carter. That’s it.”

  He continued shaking his head. “You’re either the worst CFO I’ve ever had … or the best.”

  My lips firmed together, thinking I was probably the worst.

  “Well, okay then, I’ll let you begin interviewing for new employees in the next few days. When you have it narrowed down, let me make the final decision.”