"Mm, this is just what I needed today!" Liz exclaimed as she dug into her sandwich. M.J. was a little caught off guard at her friend's enthusiasm; it wasn't that Liz didn't appreciate some good food on occasion, but she was never this blatant about it. She just stared at her, with Liz catching on after a moment.
"What?" the woman asked.
"Nothing," M.J. said. "You just really seem to be enjoying that sandwich."
"Is there something wrong with that?" her business partner questioned.
"No, not at all," Mary Jane assured her. "It's just that how you said it felt a little...I don't know, out of the ordinary somehow."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Liz said.
M.J. tilted her head, giving her friend a more serious look. Her cheeks suddenly flushing a little with embarrassment, Liz then set her sandwich down.
"I just know that you've been worried about me recently," she explained. "I guess I'm just trying to convince you that I'm okay."
"By making a heavy-handed remark about your sandwich?" Mary Jane questioned.
"Hey, it's a thing people do!" Liz defended, producing a chuckle from both women.
"Look, I don't want to push too hard," M.J. explained. "You and I have never kept anything from each other when something was going on, so I just find it a little strange that you wouldn't talk about what was going on with your brother."
"Mark has just... he's been having a bit of a hard time," Liz explained, preparing to take another bite of her sandwich. "I guess that I've just always been a little protective of him."
"I remember," M.J. concurred. "When we were kids, you found out about him getting bullied and you went and nearly got into a fight with the ones who were messing with him. It was in that moment that I questioned everything I knew about you up to that point."
"Yeah," Liz replied, clearly remembering that day as well. "I told that one boy that I was going to break his nose."
"You were lucky that you didn't get detention," Mary Jane added.
"For sure!" Liz agreed. "Anyway, I've just been helping him try and get some things in order is all, I guess kind of like what you did for your dad and Gayle."
"I guess we're lucky that we're in the position to be able to take care of our families like that," Mary Jane replied as she swallowed her most recent bite of food.
"Yeah," Liz agreed. "Alright, I'll tell you what: why don't you come over tonight? We can have a real girl's night this time, since I was so distracted even when I was there last time. That is, if I can tear you away from Peter?"
M.J. let out a light huff through her nose.
"Oh, I'm sure I can squeeze you in," she said. "Besides, I know that he wouldn't hate spending some extra time in that new lab of his anyway."
"How is that going by the way?" Liz asked as she took her final bite of her sandwich.
"Sounds like everything's going well so far," Mary Jane assured her friend. "He made sure to take some pictures to send to me as he was setting some stuff up."
"Did he hang the sign that you got him?" Liz questioned.
"Right by the front!" Mary Jane replied proudly.
"Wow," Liz said, "sounds like he's really making himself at home."
"Absolutely," M.J. concurred. "Honestly, I think that, outside of our wedding and honeymoon, this is the happiest that I've ever seen him."
"I can imagine," Liz said as the two ladies got up to throw away their trash. "That big brain of his must have felt pretty couped up working at a newspaper."
"He loved what he did at the Bugle, and the people there too," M.J. clarified, "but yeah, he just seems so excited to finally use that brilliant mind of his for something that can hopefully make a major difference in the world."
As she threw her trash away, she turned to Liz, who was just smiling at her.
"What?"
"You really are proud of him, aren't you?" her best friend questioned.
"Well yeah, of course I am," she said. "My man is going to go out there and help heal millions of people from a debilitating condition. He's going to save so many lives and help so many more realize things they'd given up on. I couldn't be more proud of him!"
"I'm glad," Liz said. "You two really deserve everything that's coming to you."
"You do too, you know," Mary Jane assured her friend. Liz just smiled, and the two ladies then walked outside to head back to work.
Peter was so zeroed in on his work that he didn't fully register a knock on the door at first. When a second barrage of knocks came through and jolted him out of his case of tunnel vision, he finally turned away from what he was doing, his mind flooding with curiosity as he made his way to see who it was. M.J. had called him earlier to let him know that her and Liz would be hanging out this evening, so it likely wasn't her, and he really wasn't sure who else it could be.
Popping the door open, he found none other than Robbie outside.
"Hey," he said, somewhat caught off guard by the random nature of his former boss's appearance.
"I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?" the man questioned.
"No," Peter answered, opening the door more widely. "Come on in. I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting anybody."
"Fair enough," Robbie replied as he stepped through. "I do apologize, but I just thought I'd stop by and see this place for myself since before I headed home for the day.
Wait, home for the day?
It was then that Peter glanced over to a clock on the far wall, observing that it was after six in the evening already, which wasn't unusual a time for Robbie to be leaving at if it was a slower news day. Apparently, he'd lost track of time a lot worse than he'd thought.
"Well, this is it," Peter said, gesturing out to the room around them as he refocused.
"It's impressive," Robbie said. "Looks like you've already got a lot going for you."
"I really owe a lot of the credit to you and M.J," Peter explained. "Between your check and her connections, it opened a lot more possibilities than I expected to have starting out."
Robbie then turned around, seemingly observing Peter specifically for a second.
"I have to say, this look suits you," the man said, gesturing towards Peter.
"Oh, thanks," Peter said, glancing down at his shirt and lab coat. "I guess I figured that, now that I'm basically a real scientist, I should dress the part."
Robbie nodded, glancing around before his gaze settled in the direction of Peter's main workstation.
"I'm guessing that this is your friend that you told me about?" he questioned, walking over towards the desk. Peter came over, observing that Robbie seemed focused on the picture of Flash.
"Yeah," he said. "Hopefully my research will help him and so many others be able to regain something they thought they could never have again."
"Well, since it is likely far too early to ask how your research is really coming, I'll just say for now: good luck, and of course, if you need anything more in the meantime, let me know," Robbie said.
"Thanks, I appreciate that," Peter said. "Honestly, it's just been nice to get everything set up and really start to get my feet wet in my research. Hopefully I can really begin putting some ideas and theories together soon."
Robbie nodded.
"Well, I guess I better get home to my family," he explained as he moved past Peter towards the exit. "Randy and his family are coming over, and Martha said she's planning some fancy surprise feast for us tonight. You know, Peter, we may be doing what we love for work, but the main way that we are both lucky in life is that we get to share it all with those we love."
"You won't hear any arguments from me," Peter replied. "Tell them I said hello."
"Of course," Robbie replied. Peter then saw his former boss out.
Mary Jane rang the doorbell to Liz's apartment, and it didn't take long for her friend to open it for her.
"Hi," she greeted, with M.J. stepping in. "How was the rest of the day in your neck of the woods?"
"Crazy," Mary Jane replied. "You?"
"It was pretty busy at our store too," her best friend replied.
"I know we obviously still have to look at the numbers, but we're really going to need to talk about getting those other locations going soon," M.J. spoke up as she removed her shoes and took a seat on the couch, making herself comfortable.
"So, I guess it's a good thing that I'm just reheating some leftover Mexican food for dinner?" Liz asked.
"Oh, absolutely," Mary Jane replied, giving a thumbs up. "After nearly having to call the cops to break up a fight between two girls over a pair of sweatpants, that sounds perfect!"
"You know, I'm not sure if that kind of thing means that we're doing something right or wrong," Liz remarked as she ran into the kitchen to check on the food.
"I'm pretty sure it just means that some people are just crazy," Mary Jane asserted.
"Yeah, that sounds better anyway," Liz replied. It wasn't long after that that she brought two plates of food, handling the one with more food to Mary Jane before taking a seat on the couch.
"You are the best!" M.J. said as she took the plate from Liz.
"Thank you," the woman said proudly as she took her seat next to Mary Jane. "So, you want to watch something?"
"Sure," Mary Jane replied. "A good thriller, maybe?"
"Alright," Liz said, passing her the remote. "You pick."
Mary Jane took the remote, but just before she could turn on the television, there was a sudden hard knocking at the door. Since she was closer, she opted to get the door for her friend. When she did, she was surprised to find a woman and a couple men in police uniforms.
"Elizabeth Allen?" the woman asked.
"That's me," Liz said, standing and coming alongside M.J. "Is something wrong?"
"My name is Detective Terrie Lee," the lady said, holding up her police badge. "We have a warrant to search your apartment."
"A warrant?" Mary Jane questioned even as the detective and her friends entered the apartment. "Why do you have a search warrant?"
"Frankly ma'am, we have reason to believe that your friend here has been involved in a money laundering scheme," the detective explained.
"That's ridiculous!" Liz defended. "I barely even dabble in the stock market, much less do anything illegal!"
The detective was about to speak up again when her colleagues approached her.
"We found this paper with some numbers written down," they said. "It could be something."
The woman took it, showing it to Liz and Mary Jane.
"Ms. Allan, what do these numbers mean?"
"I have no idea," Liz answered, "I jot a lot of stuff down, so maybe it's from when I was doing some math by hand the other day or something?"
"Hmm," the detective said, folding up the paper. She then nodded to the men, who continued their search. As they did, M.J. glanced over at Liz, observing her friend's confused and troubled expression. She tried to give her a gentle side hug to reassure her, but not much seemed to shake her from her state.
"The rest of the place seems clear, but we'll have to do a more thorough check on the computers and stuff to sweep for any files," the officers explained.
"There's nothing on there," Liz insisted.
"Maybe, maybe not," the detective replied. "But unfortunately, even if there isn't, we already have enough from other sources to make a case against you. Therefore, Elizabeth Allan, you are under arrest for your involvement in illegal money laundering."
Mary Jane glanced over at her best friend, her previous look of concern now turning to horror and shock as her rights were read to her, one of the cops cuffing her wrists.
"Hey," she said, getting in front of her. "It's okay, we're going to figure this out, alright?"
Her friend didn't even have time to respond before she was led out the door in handcuffs.
Peter was putting a clean plate back into the cabinet when his wife returned, unlocking and entering in a hurry.
"Hey," he said, only barely glancing her way before returning to his work. "Girl's night over alre..."
Mary Jane just ignored him, making a beeline straight for their room. Peter could soon hear stuff being tossed around, so he went in to investigate, finding his wife scrambling around, seemingly at a loss for whatever she was searching for.
"What's going on?" he questioned.
"Liz was arrested."
At that, Peter's mind momentarily froze; Liz Allan, arrested? He came over to M.J, observing her wide-eyed and overall stressed look, as she put her hands on her head in exasperation.
"What?" he questioned.
"The cops showed up at her apartment with a warrant," she explained. "They said that they had some stuff on her, and they arrested her."
"Okay," he said, taking his wife by her shoulders and coming alongside her, leading them both to the bed and taking a seat. "Did they say what they were charging her with?"
"Something about being a part of some money laundering, I think?" Mary Jane replied, her response sounding more like a question than an answer. "I don't remember for sure; I just know that I don't believe whatever they have against her is real. It can't be."
"Alright," Peter said; M.J.'s breathing was starting to get a little heavy, so he helped her steady herself a little.
"I have to help her, Peter," she said in a low, soft voice. "I don't know where we're going to find a lawyer though; we've consulted some before when we were making sure that we were following everything that we needed to when we were starting up the first store."
"That's what you were looking for just now?" Peter asked. His wife nodded.
"I don't know thought, I just... I just really want someone that I feel like I can trust," she explained. "I don't want just anyone handling her case."
Peter glanced away for a moment, an idea coming to his mind.
"I think I might know someone."
His wife glanced at him curiously. Getting up, Peter walked out of the room and to the counter in the kitchen, with Mary Jane following closely behind. He grabbed his wallet, fiddling through some cards before finding what he was looking for: a business card that read "Page, Murdock & Nelson."
It looked like it was time to pay an old friend a visit.
Here we go!
As always, I appreciate the support of everyone who's stuck this series out with me. It's been a lot to keep up with, and I just want you to know that I don't take you all for granted. Hopefully I can continue to entertain!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14
