Employee of the Year

Chapter 35 - A Talent for Money

That night it wasn’t just Reina’s crying and colic that kept me awake. I tried to imagine the one who had texted me, the one who was watching me. Surely it was the killer, still out there, still haunting me and getting me mixed up in some tangled plan I didn’t understand. The anxiety was back. After everything that happened during the investigation, arrest, and the hearing, I wasn’t free. Something out there still threatened to destroy me.

            The next morning at Passion Headquarters, a crowd of federal agents and TV news crews were clustered around the reception desk on the first floor. Sheri Abolhassani, Alex Weisbein, and Harvey Chang were walking Marcus out of the building in handcuffs, trailed by a half-dozen other FBI agents carrying out the CEO’s computer and files in evidence boxes.

            Gina took me aside and explained that the FBI had decided to file charges against Marcus for securities and wire fraud. I figured the investigation must have been going on in the background ever since the three agents brought me in to talk about the Leadership Retreat. The leak on the Internet must have been the last straw, the final flood of proof to bring formal charges.

            “Chet Castle is the only one who wasn’t arrested,” Gina said. “He’s flying out here from Connecticut to hold an emergency meeting with the remaining board members.”

            Another text hit my cell phone.

            I TOLD YOU THE PLAN WAS ALMOST COMPLETE

            MEET ME AT 8 TONIGHT

IN THE CONDOBUILDING NEXT TO DISNEY HALL SUITE 2000

            After work I drove downtown to Bunker Hill to a big underground parking maze by Disney Hall, which catered to people going to see the opera or the symphony; it was only half a block from my destination.

            The luxury condos were right in the middle of fancy mixed-use complex full of offices and restaurants. The swimming pool for condo members on the third level had some of the best views in Bunker Hill. Across the street I could see the hotel where my mother had worked as a maid, the place where I got in trouble as a kid.

            When I reached the twentieth floor, I found Suite 2000 and knocked on the door. No one answered so I checked the knob and realized the place was unlocked. I stepped in and took a look around.

            It was a luxury penthouse, tastefully decorated and unnaturally clean. It looked like one of those model apartments that are used only for showing. Whoever owned the place did not live there. Everything was too perfect.

            The entrance corridor led through a foyer into a leisure room with a sweeping view of the Hollywood Hills northwest of downtown. Glass double doors led to a balcony with deck chairs and a circular patio table for entertaining. Beyond the leisure room, the corridor extended into the living quarters. The layout made it hard to figure out exactly how big the condo was, but it had to be at least three or four times the square footage of my apartment.

            She was seated on the couch in the leisure room, dressed in a violet blouse, black skirt, and stockings. She looked as beautiful as ever. If she wanted to charm a man, resistance would be futile. But I knew she wasn’t here to charm me. Teresa was here for some other reason. She looked as surprised and confused as I was.

            “What are you doing here?” she said.

            “You told me to come here. You told me you’d tell me everything.”