Charlotte’s cell phone rang at eight o’clock that night while she was rewarding her hard work with a sushi dinner at her favorite Japanese restaurant. She saw Millennium’s number and answered warily, “This is Charlotte Walters.”
Charlotte immediately heard the tremor in Janise’s voice. “Charlotte, I’m so sorry.”
“What do you mean, what’s going on?”
“Anna wasn’t working alone. I just couldn’t figure out how she had gotten access to your accounts so I kept digging. It turns out that Paul—my boss—was in on the whole thing! I used our security software and found the text messages on their company phones.”
“This is crazy, Janise. Why would Paul be working with Anna? I wouldn’t even think she would know who he was.” Paul was definitely not Anna’s type. Anna went for flashy, successful business-types who played golf on the weekends and showered her with expensive gifts. Paul was quiet and dorky. From what Charlotte remembered, he spent his weekends playing board games and watching movies.
“As far as I can tell, she was using him. He thought their relationship was real.” Janise admitted, “I feel kind of bad for the guy. I mean, he must have been stressed out about what he did, and Anna ghosted him right after you left. I think that’s why he’s been a nightmare to work for since then. Paul found me digging through the access records and freaked out.”
Janise’s voice elevated. “He threatened to fire me! But look, Paul reset your passwords and gave Anna access to your files that day. Then, he reset it again and you had to create a new password when you logged back in that afternoon.” Janise was sobbing at this point and the rest of her story came out in spurts. “He took my phone. He saw your text message and called her. Anna knows you have proof.” She tried to compose herself. “I don’t know what they’re going to do. You’ve got to stop them. They just left the office. I’m so sorry, Charlotte.”
Charlotte threw some cash down on the table and abandoned her sashimi platter and ran out of the restaurant. She ran as fast as she could in her heels to make it the five blocks back to her condo. Briefly, she registered the broken door frame before she cautiously stepped into the small entry way. The condo was still dark, and her winded breaths sounded impossibly loud in the silent space. Slipping off her heels, Charlotte crept into the open-concept living room. She heard a man’s voice coming from the office, to her left.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for, Anna. All I see is a bunch of papers and a laptop.” The voice paused, and then continued. “Of course, I love you, baby. Please don’t cry. I’ll just get everything I can carry and you can figure out if it’s important, okay? I’ll meet you in an hour.” Another pause. “I’ll hurry. She was gone when I got here, but I’m not sure when she’ll be back.”
Charlotte listened silently at the door and pulled out her cell phone as she backed into the bathroom just down the hallway. After whispering her address and that there was an intruder to the emergency operator, she returned to the office and decided to confront Paul. God, I sure hope this is the right move. Please keep me safe.
“The police are on their way.” Thankfully, her voice sounded a lot more confident than she felt.
Paul whirled at the sound with wide eyes.
“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Charlotte kept her gaze on his, but noticed with relief that he didn’t have a weapon of any sort. She read his expressions. Panic, fear, guilt.
“Yes, I do. Anna will never forgive me if I don’t go through with it. She said this is the last obstacle to us being together for good. That she was only ignoring me because there were loose ends.”
“Okay, okay. I can see that you love her very much.” Paul nodded.
“I’d do anything for her.” She saw the truth of that statement in his eyes.
“That’s very romantic. Would she do the same for you?” Charlotte watched the doubt cloud his expression. “Where is she, anyway? Weren’t you together at the office just a bit ago?”
“She had to go feed her cat.”
Charlotte nearly laughed. “Anna’s allergic to cats, Paul. She lied to you. Anna just didn’t want to be the one caught breaking and entering.”
Paul shook his head. “No. She had to feed her cat!” He spoke with absolute conviction
“Okay, okay.” Charlotte tried to change her approach. “Paul, the police will be here any second. You can go to prison, or you can leave now and I won’t say anything about your involvement in this.” She watched the indecision war in his eyes as he glanced to the door behind her.
Charlotte stepped to the side. “Anna won’t wait for you if you go to jail.” Charlotte tried desperately to get through to him. “Paul, she doesn’t love you. She’s just using you—like she used me all those years. Don’t you see? You deserve someone so much better.”
Charlotte pulled every bit of information she remembered about Paul from her mental file on him. “Someone who appreciates your sense of humor and gets your jokes about Star Wars.” She took a stab in the dark. “Have you seen her at all since I left? Or did she only come back once she knew I was in town again trying to prove my innocence?”
Paul’s jaw tightened before he exhaled and seemed to deflate before her. His bravado was gone and she saw the familiar IT supervisor she remembered from before. “I’ll go.” Charlotte stepped aside and let him pass. “For what it’s worth—I’m sorry. I never had anything against you.”
Charlotte laid a hand on his shoulder. “I know. It’s okay. I forgive you. Just go, before the police get here.” He went back out the front door and down the steps.
Sirens wailed in the distance, getting louder as they approached her building. She opened the window to the fire escape and then stood in the hallway outside her busted door and greeted the police as they came up the stairs. She let them do a sweep of her apartment looking for the long-gone intruder and then went in to confirm that nothing was missing. Since nothing was taken, the police warned her that there was not much they could do. Her building didn’t have any security cameras. They assumed the intruder had heard her call and then exited the window before they had a chance to take anything. Charlotte didn’t say anything to correct their assumption.
* * *
Charlotte got a text the next morning from Janise’s email account.
I found something last night. Can you come to the office before your meeting?
Curious what Janise could have found, Charlotte got to the office early. Since she didn’t work there anymore, she was given a visitor badge by the front desk and asked to sign in. The cold treatment stung as she took in the familiar surroundings. These were her stomping grounds, or at least they used to be. Father, I am going to need You today. Help me know what to say. Help me be patient and not be quick to anger. Help Roger see that I am right and that Anna is to blame!
She knew her prayer was petty and self-serving, but she didn’t know what else to pray at this point. Hopefully God understood. As she waited, Charlotte mentally rehearsed all the things she planned to say. In her rehearsal, she appeared calm, collected, professional—and right. In her mind, Roger sat there and listened and nodded along in agreement as she explained.
Janise came to the waiting room and found her. “Here, I managed to get this printed before Paul found me last night. It’s the log of the file breach and the password resets. I thought it might help. Plus, I found a box of your office stuff in storage. Can you think of anything from your office that might help?”
Charlotte studied the log and her heart sank. “It still says that charlotte.walters accessed the file on August 2nd.”
“…Any chance you weren’t in the office on August 2nd?” Janise joked.
Charlotte jumped, pulled from her thoughts at the last question. “I don’t know, but I can find out where I was!” Quickly giving Janise instructions of what to look for, she sat back down, thankful she still had fifteen minutes before her meeting. Hopefully that would give Janise enough time to find what she needed and get back before the meeting started.
She paced for a moment, but Charlotte sat back down just before Roger’s assistant came to take her back to the conference room, with Janise nowhere in sight.