The Butterfly Dance

16

One week. It had been a whole week since Jason had been arrested. A week since Elena, Michael and Timothy Evans were doing the impossible to get him out. And nothing, they had gotten nowhere, as if they were spinning in a vicious circle. Four days ago, Jason was moved from pretrial detention to prison, and Elena hadn't seen him in a week. His refusal to let her visit him in prison was firmer than ever.

Elena sighed and rested her elbows on her knees, rubbing her temples. She looked at the baby monitor, it was almost four in the morning, Christina had woken up an hour ago, but now she was sleeping peacefully again. She returned her attention to the documents scattered on the bed in front of her. Invoices, reports of other requested documents, copies of the documents provided in Jason's case that Evans had obtained from the prosecution to prepare the defense.

She bit her lip, flipping through one or another sheet without really reading them, she already knew them by heart. Her eyes filled with more and more tears and her heart raced faster and faster. Her strength was at an end, Elena had really thought that she could handle it, that she might be the strong one for once. But the truth was that her power was called Jason and right now that power was gone.

Tears began to flow as she looked over and over again at the copies of the invoices Turner had requested and those provided to the IRS and then to the prosecution. Soft sobs began to well up in her chest as the numbers blurred before her eyes. Was it possible to love someone so much that even your lungs were bursting with reluctance to take in and hold air in their absence?

Because with every next breath Elena took, she felt Jason's absence more and more, and it suffocated her, she felt nauseous and as if something heavy was lying on her chest. She had never had trouble breathing on her own before, did she love him so much that even this simple act depended on him? The answer was yes. Elena had melted into him, had allowed him to take the place of her being, and now she was slowly dying.

Nothing and no one could replace the feeling of security and peace he gave her. People said you don't appreciate something until you lose it, and right now Elena realized that Jason was the meaning of her life, without him, nothing mattered, everything was gray and dark and cold, and she had nothing to hold on to continue her life.

Her eyes continued to scan the two pages when something caught her eye and she almost choked on her tears. Elena put the two sheets down, quickly wiped away her tears, and picked them up again, looking more closely at them, bringing them so close that they almost stuck to her face. Decimal mark! How had she not noticed it until now? She had looked at the documents so many times, but she had not noticed something so simple.

She transferred and compared other invoices, some were perfect copies, but others had other errors, a wrong name, some letter, or swapped places of numbers. She put the paper aside and took her phone from the nightstand. "I want to see you in the office in half an hour!" she ordered sharply, then dialed another number with the same order. It took her fifteen minutes to dress, prepare the sleeping Christina for their midnight walk, and join the night traffic, following the road with firm determination.

"Of course they wanted to make sure, but there was no way they could get the originals out of the finance department without Jason's permission or yours, so they tried to reprint the invoices, they must have been in a hurry to make such basic mistakes" Michael bit his inner cheek and handed the invoices in question to Evans. "But why didn't they just make copies?" Elena was pacing back and forth thoughtfully, Christina was sleeping in her bassinet, and Evans was sitting on the couch.

"Because they can't" Elena and Michael looked at Evans at the same time, who looked as sleepy as if he hadn't driven halfway across town. "A few years ago, Mr. Hex introduced a new security system, after an attempt to sell information about the company's transactions. All documents that are taken out of the office must be approved by the head of the department, who informs the security. As you know, every employee is checked at the exit. And the copies would issue them. Each office has a printer, but the copier is common to each department and is set to save the copied documents, in case it is necessary to check whose code was used to copy it, if there is a leak " he looked at Elena, then at Michael.

"So their only option to avoid being caught by security was to make new invoices, probably forward them to someone's email and then have them printed somewhere else" he finished and Michael snorted. "Okay, that makes sense, but seals?" he asked and Elena growled. "Any printing house can make a stamp for you, it is enough to have the name and registration data of the company. And they are easily available on the Internet if you go to the website of the Registration Agency" she explained.

"But then anyone can make such a complaint" Michael rubbed his forehead and leaned back in his chair in front of the desk. "And they do" Evans replied. "Hundreds of such complaints are processed by the tax agency every day, they just give priority to complaints that refer to large-scale fraud" Michael cursed under his breath, and Elena sighed and sat behind the desk.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do" Michael stood up on the chair and looked at Elena. "I want you to order all the hard drives in the company to be checked, even if they deleted the copies made in order to forward them, they should have saved them first, which means that there are copies left on the hard drives" Elena nodded. "Mr. Evans, I think it would be enough if you photocopied the documents and took them to the DA as a reason for Jason to be released on bail, I suppose the suspicion of forgery would give him reason to agree?" Evans nodded and began stuffing the papers into his bag.

"Meanwhile, I'll continue digging into Turner, checking his other deals and possible inconsistencies and scams" Elena looked at him curiously. "And how are you going to do it?" Michael chuckled. "Until now I've been focused on finding out who's to blame for the complaint, but the IRS aren't easy to convince. Now I'm just going to focus on Turner, and it's going to be child's play, give me two days and I'll tell you the favorite food of his great-grandmother" Elena raised her eyebrows, but Michael looked more than convinced.

"Okay" Elena sighed tiredly. "If that's all, I think I'll get a few more hours of sleep and visit the DA in the morning" Evans stood up, hugging his bag to his chest. "Thank you Mr. Evans" he gave her a sweet smile and nodded to Michael before walking out. "Now tell me how you are?" Michael turned to Elena and she shook her head. "Exhausted" Elena admitted sincerely and her eyes filled with tears.

"I don't know how much longer I can take this Michael, I feel like I'm running out of air and I miss Jason terribly" he stood up and walked over to her, lifting her up and hugging her. "I can't sleep, I can't eat and I don't know where I find the strength not to cry in front of Christina" cried Elena and Michael rocked her, stroking her back. "With the new evidence, Jason will be home for dinner Elena, then you two will fight" Elena shook her head and pulled away, wiping away her tears, or at least trying to.

"He said the same thing when he was arrested, and look where we are now" she turned her back on him so Michael wouldn't see her crying. "Elena, I know it's hard, but he'll be home tomorrow. It won't stop the case, nor the company's tax audit, but at least you'll be together" Elena huffed and sniffed, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. "I don't want anything else right now, Michael, just for him to come home to us" Elena sobbed.