Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love by Allende Carlos

Author:Allende, Carlos
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636280363
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

25

Deirdre

I wake up to a warm cup of coffee, brought to my bed by Charlie.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he says, putting the cup on the side table. “Did you sleep well? I slept fantastically. Thank you for a delightful evening. I have the mortgage statement here. I’ll leave it next to your coffee. No hurries, sugar lump. It isn’t due until the fourth, next month. Now, these are my credit card statements,” he holds up a sheaf of papers. “I hope you won’t find it too vulgar that I bring them up this early in the morning, but yesterday you offered to help, if I may refresh your memory, and this one is already late, this one is due on Friday, and this one is a first warning from a collection agency. Do you mind calling to make at least the minimum payment? Drink your coffee first. I’m making you breakfast.”

I reach for the statements the moment Charlie leaves the room . . . I should have killed him last night when I had a chance. His minimum payment is $252 on just one of his credit cards. The mortgage is $1,900!

“Do you want one or two eggs with your chilaquiles?” I hear Charlie holler from the kitchen.

I jump out of bed and log into the company’s bank account on my laptop. The transfer I made on Friday hasn’t cleared yet.

“Four, please,” I reply.

Shortly before ten, Mike calls me. By then, I’m already on my way to the office. He asks about Justin.

“I told you he wasn’t reliable,” I say, feigning indignation. He asks me to call him again as soon as I make it to the office. “Did you see the photos I sent you on Saturday?” I add. I spent the entire day fast-forwarding through ten hours of footage trying to get those pictures.

“I did, but the photos weren’t too clear. I asked Clara to look into it as well.”

My heart stops.

Then again, why do I worry? Clara can’t open a file without requesting assistance.

“How is Clara going to log in?” I ask timidly.

“I reset the password,” Mike responds.

I remain silent.

“She may not be able to figure it out,” I say when my heart starts beating again. “As soon as I make it to the office, I’ll log in again and send you better pictures.”

“She figured it out already. She’s watching the video right now, with Rogelio. I want you to help them, though, so they don’t spend the whole morning working on it.”

I hang up and immediately call Clara. My call goes straight to her voicemail. I call the office. Voicemail again. Clara and Rogelio are the only ones at the office right now, so they’re either busy with other calls, or the police are already there and have ordered them not to pick up the phones until my arrival.

I’m climbing the steps to the office door when I receive a text message from Clara: We caught you red-handed.

I open the door.

“We know what you did, Jignesh,” Clara says, looking at me from Mike’s desk.

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