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Chapter Thirty-Four: Ballroom Blitz (Part 3)
Drake raced out of the ballroom. He spotted Catlin with her assistant in the lobby.
"Excuse me, Catlin Tucker, do you have a minute?" He said walking after her.
"No questions, please." Catlin said, walking off with her assistant to the elevator bay. "Wait till after the event for a press conference."
Drake chuckled. "No, ma'am I'm not a reporter. I'm a Deputy."
That caused her to stop and look at him. "You're a Deputy?" she eyed him suspiciously.
"Yes," he flashed his badge with a small grin. "Deputy Drake Garcia. Arlington County."
"No I'm sorry, that won't do."
Drake heard Catlin's assistant. He looked across the hall to the petite brown haired woman conversing angrily on her cellphone.
"Deputy, can we discuss this later?" Catlin requested. "I have a presentation to give in fifteen minutes."
"I can see you're a busy woman," he turned back to Catlin noticing the annoyed scowl on her face. "But I'm afraid it can't wait."
"Alright, what is it pertaining to?" Catlin asked somewhat annoyed.
"You."
"Regarding what?"
"The legitimacy of your charity's funds and your method of acquiring them," Drake smirked. "I don't think you want to wait for a press conference to talk about this."
Catlin looked at him with a cool indifference. Something he'd expect from a con woman like herself. She'd practiced for a situation like this.
"I see," she said simply. "Deputy, let's discuss this in my office, shall we?"
He gestured to the elevators. "Lead the way."
Catlin turned to her assistant, "Kim, get to the next presenter. I'll be back soon."
"Yes, of course, ma'am," she replied as Catlin and the man walked into the elevator.
"Where did Catlin head off to?" Emily asked herself, watching for her as people strolled in and out of the ballroom. It was taking the con woman a while to come back. Just then, Catlin's assistant stepped onto the stage.
"Hello," the woman said nervously into her mic. "Up next we have Purple for Vets. A charity that Miss Tucker has recognized for their exemplary accomplishments. This charity has received statewide and regional recognition, including that of fashion designer and New York Secretary of State's wife, Sophie Bonnard, who is a good friend of Catlin's and an ambassador and longtime member of the charity. Unfortunately, Miss Bonnard couldn't join us tonight, but her presence is still with us as she shares her feelings on this wonderful charity. Thank you."
The assistant walked off. Everyone applauded as the project changed to a video and Sophie's voice played as the presentation started.
"That's not right," Nolan pointed out to Emily. "Catlin's supposed to go next."
"Find her," Emily said. "Something's not right."
"Finding," Nolan shifted through the different security cameras feeds he had access to on his Nolpad. "Looks like Catlin has company."
Emily scooted closer to Nolan, getting a better look at the tablet. A live camera, perched atop the bookshelf in Catlin's office, showed her sitting across from a man in a suit. His back facing the camera, as he sat cockily on the edge of Catlin's desk. Emily couldn't see his face. But he had dark brown hair and a tall stature.
Was that Aiden?
"Ma'am, we have reason to believe you're running a charity scam. We have a trail of civil complaints from your clients about your charity."
Emily realized that the man's voice sounded deeper than Aiden's, but he was a professional at disguises and could change his appearance and accent easily.
"That's all well and good," Catlin stated. "But unless you can produce these so called 'civil complaints', along with a warrant, I think we're done here."
Standing up, Catlin grabbed her clutch and moved to the door. The man sat still, turning his head to the con woman.
"I'm sure Greg Milano would love to file a complaint against you, if he could that is. Would shed some light on why he's in the hospital, after narrowly surviving a beat down by your mercenaries for hire. Or we could get Stanford Shepherd to talk about the gang violence at his repair shop. I could go on…. being friends with the Chief of Police makes those crimes easier to cover up I'm sure."
Catlin stopped at the door. She turned to the man with a venomous glare.
"I could arrest you right now and then everyone down stairs would know all about you and your con. But somethings tells me you don't want that. Especially when there's a bunch of reporters' downstairs. So, I suggest you cooperate and tell me what I want to know."
Emily knew for certain this was Aiden. No law enforcement knew these details.
"Damn it, Aiden," she muttered under her breath.
"Aiden?" Nolan tuned to Emily, confused. "What's he have to do with this?"
Emily glanced to him, trying to keep the guilty feeling in her throat at bay.
"Look, I've been in contact with Aiden. He's been in Virginia for the past few weeks. He knows about Catlin, Stanford, and the Milano's. He claims he's here to help me and regain my trust.…I almost believed him."
"Is that why you were so distracted earlier?' Nolan asked, annoyed. "Because you watching for him? When were you going to tell me all this?"
The confusion and annoyance in Nolan's eyes made her wish she didn't lie in the first place.
"I wasn't."
"Why?" Nolan asked, hurt. Why wouldn't she tell him about this? He thought now they were in a relationship, they would be open and honest about things with each other. Meaning no secrets.
"I wanted you to stay focused on the case and not get distracted. The less you knew the better."
"Right," Nolan scoffed. "Nice to know we're on a new level of trust," he grabbed his tablet and stood.
"Where are you going?" Emily asked.
"I need a minute alone to think."
Emily watched as he walked out the ballroom. She shouldn't have kept anything from him. She should have told him what was going on. She didn't want to lie, but she thought she was doing the right thing by keeping the trouble contained, instead she'd strained the trust between herself and Nolan. Again.
"Damn it," Emily muttered to herself.
"Emily have you seen Nolan?" Ford asked, hastily, stopping at her table.
She turned to him. "Uh, he just stepped out."
"Well, let's find him, I need to talk to you both."
They walked out to the ballroom, just then a young Deputy Sheriff passed them, his walkie talkie buzzed as a command came through.
"I'm on my way," he spoke into the walkie talkie and then made a beeline for the elevators.
"Emily, I'm in the lobby," Nolan said through her comm. "Come quick."
Spotting Nolan standing off to the side off the entrance of the lobby, Emily and Ford strolled over to him.
"What is it, Nolan?" Emily asked.
He glanced up from his tablet to them. "Catlin isn't talking to Aiden; she's talking to Deputy Sheriff Drake Garcia and he knows all about her money laundering scheme and charity scam."
"How could he know all of this?" Emily asked, confused.
"Because of me," Ford stated. "I told Drake but didn't give him any of your names and gave him evidence to build a case."
"What?" Nolan glanced to Ford, eyes wide. "Why would you do that? I thought you trusted me."
He couldn't believe this. Why was everyone keeping secrets from him? How could Ford, his uncle, betray his trust like this?
"Son, this wasn't about trust," Ford stated coldly. "I wanted this whole nightmare to be over. Asking Drake to help was the only way I knew how."
Nolan sent Ford a glare. "Well, thanks to your help, you might have just screwed up this entire case."
"Well, all that's left is to arrest Catlin for her crimes," Ford pointed out. "This is good news, right?"
"Not exactly," Emily explained calmly. "We're transferring the money from the charity's' fund as we speak. If Deputy Garcia makes a public case on CARE and Catlin, the feds will freeze the charity's' bank account —"
"And if that happens, we can't touch the money, ergo no one gets paid." Nolan pointed out to his uncle, not hiding his scowl.
Ford felt like a complete idiot. He thought he was doing the right thing. But he'd only made things worst. He didn't mean for this to happen. Thanks to his actions Greg, Tanya and everyone else was screwed.
Emily could feel the tension between Nolan and Ford. She could see how upset and hurt Nolan was. He wasn't even looking at Ford, who had a guilty and sad look in his eyes.
She understood Ford's motives, his intents were in the right place, she just wished he didn't act without telling them.
Well, she wanted to help Nolan, now was the time to step in and do something.
"Stanford what did you tell Deputy Garcia?" Emily asked.
"Everything… and I gave him a black flash drive," Ford glanced to Nolan with a sad expression. "Containing all the evidence Nolan compiled."
Nolan scoffed. "The Price is Right, huh?" he shot his uncle a disappointed look.
"We need to get our hands on that thumb drive," she announced, trying to steer everyone back on track.
"I'll look it up," Nolan said. After a few minutes of hacking through the sheriff's department's database, he looked up from his tablet with a frown.
"Find anything?" Emily asked.
"Nada, there isn't a record of a flash drive in the temp evidence locker."
"Well, then it has to be at his workplace somewhere." Emily figured, ruling out other options.
"Well, tonight's Poker night at the sheriff's department. Everyone will be occupied we can get in and out without much trouble."
Emily shot Ford a curious look.
He shrugged, "I did some volunteering last summer."
"So, what's the plan?" Nolan asked.
"Stanford and I will go to the sheriff's department, find the flash drive and erase what's on it. Nolan you stay here," she glanced to him. "We need to be ten steps ahead of Deputy Garcia. I'll call you once we've found the thumb drive."
"Well that's great, but how do you know Drake won't arrest Catlin?" Nolan stated.
"Because he knows if he takes her in he'll have nothing to convict her of. He'll lose his job," Emily said knowingly. "He's playing this smart. He knows he'll look suspicious that he didn't follow through and file a report. Not to mention all the physical evidence he's withholding in a state investigation. The only thing he's going to do is sit there and interrogate her until WE make a move."
Nolan grinned, "We've got him right where we want him."
Author's Note |
I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't updated the past MONTH aside from the usual school/other projects bit. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know it's short, with just one scene, but it sets up the next chapter, which is twice as long.
Thanks to Shetkhal Shahaar for beta'ing and recommending some fixes! And thank you all for you support/comments/faves/watches! I really appreciate it!
Until next time,
DDLJ