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Fucking hell! I go through what Holly has shown me and do the same searches to confirm, as she had done. I call my private investigator and tell him what I need. He promises to get right back to me. Going through, I total everything. I’m pissed, she’s stolen forty-two thousand dollars over the past four years. This bitch has stolen from the wrong man.
The other partners are able to conference with me immediately. As I never call a conference, I’m sure it’s mainly out of curiosity. I tell them what I’m going to do. I’m telling them out of respect, they know I’m not asking. Leonard Harker, a partner retiring in a week, gives me my first good news of the day. I can have his secretary when he leaves. Opal is the best damned secretary here, I thank him for the offer, letting him know I’ll ask her. Back in my office, I make two calls and call in a favor. My guy has faxed over the documentation I need.
Fifteen minutes later, I get the call from main reception, they are on their way up. Seconds later two uniformed CPD officers are handcuffing Sharon while reading her rights to her. I watch from my office, satisfied at the sight. Printing out everything I have, I go downstairs to follow the police car.
Once I get inside, I hand over everything, making it clear I want to press charges. I also make it clear I won’t settle for anything less than jail time. Mitchell Ryan, the prosecutor who will be handling the case, tells me good news, there was a previous conviction under her maiden name. With that, he can get me the jail time I want, he’ll offer a plea deal of five years and restitution. Even though I know she’ll likely only serve half that, and I’ll likely never see a dime, I’m satisfied.
It’s a little after six by the time I’m ready to leave the station. I call Holly. “Get dressed, wear one of those new dresses. We’re going out to celebrate.”
“You confirmed it and fired her?”
“Not just fired. She’s going to jail.”
A gasp, “Jail? I feel awful.”
“You shouldn’t. Sharon is a thief, not you. Who knows how many others she stole from? Now she’ll have it on her record for the next person who considers hiring her. I’ll be home in about a half hour.”
“Ethan, I’m sure I don’t have anything nice enough to go out with you.”
“If you don’t find something then I will. Finding out I’ve been robbed and putting the person away has me feeling in the mood to celebrate.”
Her sigh is loud. “All right, I’ll find something.”
When I get home, the door to her room is closed. I knock, I hear her muffled voice tell me to give her another ten minutes. Looking down at my suit, I make the decision to change my shirt and tie. In my closet, I change out of my snow-white shirt for another. Then exchange my blue striped tie for a gray tie to match my suit. Opening my door, I watch as Holly walks out of her room.
My cock salutes the dress she picked out and her straightened hair. The dress is a shift dress in a dark red, stopping a prim two inches above her knees with a three quarter sleeve that goes to her elbow. She’s not just pretty, she’s beautiful to me with her smile wide as she sees me. While the dress isn’t a big label, she makes it look like one, it’s stunning on her. Shit, my stomach knots at how much I want her.
“You should allow Amelia to take you shopping more often. Not only does she have good taste, she can talk you into dresses you’d never buy yourself.”
“I have good taste.” She defends herself.
“You like the White Sox, I already know you have good taste. I also know you’d never allow yourself to buy a dress that nice.”
Shrugging, she nods. “Money was always tight in a three children home in the military, with a stay at home mother. The idea of spending money on myself is hard to do still.”
“Let’s go.” I’m staring, longing to touch her curves. Downstairs, I make sure to open her door before Ricky gets to it. The drive to Goldfinches is quick. I haven’t been in a while. It’s one of my favorite places to have dinner though.
The menu is a wide variety leaning toward a steakhouse, still, it has almost everything, including fish. I order my usual a side salad with house dressing, my main entrée is steak, rosemary covered roasted potatoes, and asparagus even though I’m not a fan of asparagus. I’m not a fan of green vegetables at all really; spinach is one of the few vegetables I’ll eat, usually uncooked.
Holly selects a side salad with house dressing. Her main entrée is salmon with sides of parmesan encrusted French green beans and wild rice. The waiter is staring down her scoop-necked dress and I give him a look. He’s gone in an instant.
“Give me a hint. Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”
“I’m not talking about my stupid tattoo. Since we’re out because I did good, you have to answer my questions. Why did you become a lawyer?”
She’s sincerely curious. I debate whether to be honest or not. Looking into her soft sherry brown eyes, I go with honesty. “I wanted a degree I could use in almost any high power position. Lawyers are sitting in investment houses, head corporations, and a wide variety of industries.”
“You wanted to make a lot of money to get to a position of power.” It’s no question.
“Yes.”
Her eyebrows are up. “Why?”
“My father told me I would never amount to anything. I wanted to prove him wrong.”
“When did he tell you that? Why did he pay for your education if he said that?”
“He didn’t pay for me to go to Penn State or Harvard. My dad was one of eight kids born in Mobile, Alabama. Ask my dad though, and he won’t admit it. He never spoke about how he grew up. He joined the Army and never looked back, didn’t even keep in contact with his brothers and sisters. One of his brothers managed to squirm into our lives because he was a successful physician.
“When I went into juvie, my uncle was the only one to come to see me the whole year I was there. He promised that once I got out and went back to school, real school not getting a GED, he would pay for my schooling all the way up to a doctorate, if I wanted. As a bachelor without a wife or children, he could afford it. I worked my ass off to make him proud.”
“And you proved your dad wrong, too.”
“Yes. What about you? Why did it take you four years to get out of community college when your intelligence is clear?”
“My parents didn’t have much money. I paid my own way, working and going to school wasn’t easy. Then my mom messed up her back really badly. Since my parents couldn’t help me to pay for school, their concession was for me to live at home rent free. When she got hurt, I had to drop out to take care of her. God forbid my father actually cook his own breakfast or make a sandwich.”
“You didn’t apply to only a community college.” No way.
A blush highlights her high round cheekbones. “My mom made a big deal about me going far away. I got into Vanderbilt and Duke, close enough to please my mom, only neither of them came with scholarships. The problem was I couldn’t get loans. My mom has problems, she’s a shopaholic and wrecked their credit.
“It was fine, really. I didn’t, and embarrassingly still don’t know what I want to do with my life. To go to school without knowing what I wanted to do would have been a waste of money. I thought of maybe being a teacher, I like kids and wanted to work with them.”
“So, how did you end up a medical assistant?”
“Pretty much everyone I told about wanting to be a teacher went on and on about how poor the pay was, and how I would end up a babysitter with bratty kids. My mom urged me to go into the medical field because of the job opportunities, but I’m too squeamish to be a nurse. The community college pushed becoming a medical assistant, and how I could get into a doctor’s office or pediatric ward. Almost as soon as I started though, I didn’t like it. It took a while to admit it. I hoped maybe a change in city was the problem.”
“What made you pick Chicago? It’s a long way from Jacksonville.” She’s finally growing comfortable. Her beautiful eyes are seeing me instead of looking through me, as she has for the last few weeks. I’m growing hungrier for more of her like this.
“One of the women at the doctor’s office had moved recently from Chicago and waxed lyrical because she was homesick. Somehow, it niggled into my mind to come here. I got a job quickly, but it was just as bad, actually worse. The patients stacked to the brim with the doctors barely looking at them. One of the nurses there told me about the firm I was at recently. There were promises of big money with better hours, all lies. They couldn’t keep people; the husband got a bonus for every person who was hired.”
“If you could get paid to do anything all day long, what would you?” I’m curious.
She smiles wide, her eyes bright, “Read all day long.”
“No wonder you and Amelia get along. I remember her saying the same thing. From the time she was little she was always carrying a book. I understood; she came along when I was almost ten and away at boarding school. So, for many years we weren’t close, and it’s hard to make friends moving from base to base.”
“Sometimes books were the only friends I had. My brothers were close and I was the odd one out. When I was a kid, I tried to find all the jobs that would allow me to read all day. Only it became clear I couldn’t get hired as an editor by a publishing house with only a community college degree. Also, I needed to make money to get out of my parent’s home.”
“You did a great job hunting down the oddity in the bills.”
“That was actually pretty fun. There were a few tasks I liked to do at the investment firm that involved running numbers and making sure everything added up.” She seems surprised by her answer.
“An accounting degree would be easy to get online.” The idea of Holly spending her life cleaning doesn’t seem right.
“I don’t know, it’s a big commitment. I’m also not sure I want to spend my days under fluorescent lights running numbers.”
“You don’t have to work for a big firm, you could work for yourself. It’s a flexible degree, you can take clients on your own terms, and work the hours you want.”
Our food is brought out. We’re both quiet as we eat. It’s nice to see a woman actually eating a salad instead of pushing it around.
“That was good. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed. It’s annoying to take a woman out only to watch them move the food around on the plate without eating.” Her plate is almost clean. The parmesan encrusted green beans were apparently a hit. “Dessert?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Come on, they have the best cheesecake in the city.” Her smile is there and gone. I catch the eye of the waiter. “A piece of cheesecake and two forks.”
“Do you always have to get your way?”
“Things are better for everyone when I do.”
Her laughter is light, fuck, my chest expands simply hearing it. I realize then, I haven’t heard it before. “I remember the first time Amelia complained about you. By the time she finished her long rant, she had me thinking she was exaggerating. Then I met you. Now I know she was being kind.”
Great, now she has me laughing. The way she says things with a saccharine sweetness, that are complete putdowns. Aside from my sister, there’s never been another woman willing to go toe to toe with me verbally. It’s really fucking annoying that I find it appealing instead of irritating.