Strange Encounter

Chapter 6

        Riley stared at her computer at home, papers scattered all around her living room floor.  After William left she found the company phone bill that had 2 long distance calls to London the day before Marcia Lewis was fired.  Why would anyone call London? The company had no affiliates overseas. Things were just not adding up.

      Sally and Benedict returned after an hour. Riley told Sally about the phone bill but Sally said it wasn't out of the norm for people to use the company phone for personal use.  Riley dismissed it. Among more papers, Riley found some of Mr. Wilson's personal bank statements in the archive room and noticed some of the withdrawals from the company were being sent to his personal account and then withdrawn again on the same day. Some of the mystery was solved but Riley usually did all the wire transfers for the company. Who was doing these transfers and why? She emailed Mr. Wilson telling him of her findings.

William left Riley in her office and headed straight to his headquarters downtown.

"I must withdraw from this assignment."

His superior dropped his pen and gave William his full attention. Peter Donaldson knew this was coming since Benedict called him during lunch. "Nonsense," Peter declared, grabbed his pen and continued writing.

"Sir, there is a conflict of interest, I met the subject prior to the assignment which can cloud my judgment so I must withdraw," William pleaded.

"Bullshit. You like the chit and don't want to hurt her feelings and lie to her," Peter lowered his head, looking at William over his reading glasses. At least William hung his head in embarrassment. "You are in. What would have taken months to establish, you achieved in a weekend. Brilliant."

William raked his fingers through his curls. This was not going as he had planned. "It was a mistake. I did meet her by happenstance. I had no idea who she was until this morning."

"That is why I always insist you read the dossier before committing to an assignment," Peter chastised.

William knew he was right. He never read a dossier. He would rather go in blind and assess the situation without prejudice but this time it bit him in the ass, hard.

"Now you will return to your assignment, get the evidence required and arrest the chit so we can go home."

William reached into his pocket and threw the thumb drive on his desk. "What if she is innocent?"

"Doubtful. She handles all the money transactions. We will find out what we need once Jackson gets into these files." Peter grabbed the thumb drive.  "Don't let a pretty face cloud your judgment. "

William opened his mouth to say more but the look he received, he thought better of it. This conversation was a total failure. 

"Do not mention any of this to her or she might flee the country and we'll have to chase her all over the world. We have her where we want her."

"I just think we need to investigate all avenues and stop condemning Riley."

"Riley is it? Don't get too involved in this Inspector. Don't risk your career on a piece of ass."

William's head snapped up. "It's not like that at all."

"Careful with your tone, Inspector," Peter warned.

"My apologizes, sir." William sounded contrite.

"Go home and start fresh tomorrow. Do not reveal your cover."

"Understood." He left the office frustrated.  He walked aimlessly the streets of the city until he stopped in front of her apartment building.

Riley had just hung up on Robbie, hopefully for the last time. She ignored most of his calls and texts but she needed to end this. She told him to leave her alone and go on with his life. She was with William and was happy. Robbie began pleading but she hung up. Frustrated and annoyed, she kicked her table making most of her papers fall on the floor. On her hands and knees, she was collecting them when she heard a knock on her door.