Kwest opened the door of his duplex irritably only to pause in shock as he noticed Tom and I standing there stoically, and I felt myself blush as he looked over my disheveled appearance knowingly. Well, there goes discretion.
"Come on." He said quietly before ushering the two of us through the entrance. "Your clothes are in the bathroom, Jude." He finished as I nodded before heading over into the small room down his hall.
After waiting for Jude to enter the bathroom…Kwest looked over at Tom in amazement as Tom fidgeted under the extensive scrutiny.
"Wow!" Kwest said suddenly as Tom nodded in understanding—leaning against the door jam as he did.
"That would be an understatement, man." Tom reiterated as Kwest sat down heavily on the end of his couch before looking up at Tom curiously.
"So I'm guessing that whatever assumptions I am making right now are all true, right?" Kwest asked—trying not to be obvious as Tommy shrugged before glancing down the hallway at the closed bathroom door.
"Yep, that just about sums it up." Tommy answered him vaguely as Kwest reached desperately for a cup of coffee.
"Wow!" He muttered again as he took a sip—looking up as Jude suddenly entered the room once more, this time dressed in blue jeans (her favorite item of clothing), a blue knit top, and strappy blue heels grumbling about how she really needed to go do her own shopping when time allowed. Kwest smiled at her as she smiled back before sitting on the couch next to him and patting his knee in a friendly gesture.
"So what did I miss?" She asked haughtily as Tom and Kwest just glanced at each other silently before shaking their heads in unison. Jude threw her hands up in surrender.
"All right fine. I won't meddle. I can always do that later after we leave the studio." She said with a mischievous grin as Tommy and Kwest both groaned before Tommy suddenly stepped forward—placing a manila folder in the center of Kwest's coffee table. Kwest narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What's this?" He asked before picking up the object—turning it over and over in his hand curiously.
"My curse and my salvation." Tommy answered vaguely as Kwest and Jude stared up at him questioningly.
Switching back to Jude POV…"What do you mean?" I asked uneasily—glancing at the document Kwest was now perusing with uncertainty. Kwest just whistled as he looked down at the paperwork and then back up at Tom silently.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Kwest asked as he handed me the documents before standing up to pace the room. Tommy shrugged.
"Would I be here if I didn't?" Tom asked as Kwest stared at him a moment in uneasy silence. I was just confused. I didn't know enough about running a studio to know what the problem was. It was like deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.
"Then can someone explain it to me?" I asked in a small, uneven voice as Tommy looked over at me—allowing the hard look that had been in his gaze before soften as he stared at me.
"It means that I've been stealing money from G Majors Studio." Tom stated point blank—leaving the statement to fall over the room like the debris from a bomb. I was just flabbergasted.
"Excuse me. You what?" I asked in confusion as Kwest threw Tommy a 'take it easy' look before sitting down next to me.
"It means…." Kwest began as he patted me gently on the knee before throwing Tom another 'you don't have to scare her' kind of glance. "That someone has been stealing money from the studio—sort of overdrawing funds by taking a little money here and there in such small amounts that no one has noticed, but now the fall in the income level is beginning to show that something is wrong. I'll bet you money that Darius already has an investigator hired to try and figure it out." Kwest explained softly as I shook my head slowly—still as confused as ever.
"okaaaayyy…and what exactly does Tommy have to do with this?" I asked as Tom suddenly walked over and sat down on the other side of me. I immediately felt safe then because I knew there weren't two men I trusted more than Tom and Kwest, except maybe my dad. Tom took my hand in his before looking down pointedly at the manila folder in my lap.
"Jude, Someone's been using my bank account to deposit the funds. I just figured I had gotten a pay raise when I first noticed the raise in my income, but when Spied came to me with this folder…." He left off chillingly as my eyes widened in shock. Of course, that's why Tom and Spied had been hanging out together. Besides, Spied definitely paid more attention in Economics class than I did. I had never made higher than a D. Tells you how much I know about revenue and other such shit. A sudden thought struck me.
"Spied…?" I began as Tommy shrugged before holding his hand up and finishing my sentence for me.
"Found this the night of the cocktail party, and if the figures are correct, then the money started disappearing from G Majors and entering my account about five months after I started working at G Majors." He finished quietly as I stared up at him a moment in shock. Okay, wait! Who would have access to Tom's account, and who hated him enough to get him accused of money laundering? Oh my God!
"Justine." I said suddenly as the guys looked at me a moment stonily—obviously aware, even before it had clicked in my head, who was responsible for it. I just felt numb.
"That's why she's back, isn't it? She's had this planned all along. She didn't return just because you had a girl on the side. No, she came back because she knew it was getting close to time to land you in federal prison." I said irately, all of sudden feeling like I was in some screwed up episode of Law and Order.
"What are we going to do about it?" I asked suddenly—peering up into Tommy's face as he squeezed my hand gently.
"I'm going to let Justine think I'm warming to her. The good thing about being married is that I have as much access to her accounts as she does mine. So what happens when the extra money from the studio disappears from my account and ends up in hers?" Tommy asked as I smiled when the realization hit me.
"She goes to prison and gives you that divorce." I replied as Kwest put one of his hands on my shoulder.
"Bingo." Kwest answered as Tom reached for his keys.
"You guys ride to the studio together. I don't want Justine to think Jude spent the night with me. I'm going to be a little late this morning. I have a bank account to clear. Fortunately enough for me, I have more than one account and more than enough money to be able to afford to do it. And if things work in our favor, then I'm hoping by the end of today, Justine will no longer be a problem for us." Tom said softly before leaning over to kiss me on the forehead gently.
"See you two at the studio." He remarked before walking out the door, flipping his phone open to call Spied as he went.