"...So, he hits you and doesn't remember doing it the next morning?"
"Yes."
Okay. Possible drinking problem.
"Does he drink a lot? Maybe he has a disorder or something?"
"He drinks, but not a lot. I haven't heard about any disorder. Even at the doctors, they don't bring up his mental health."
"Of course not. I could look into it...If it is okay with you, Mr. Chance."
The room swelled with silence as the couple took a long look at each other. I waited, not wanting to disturb their silent conversation. I was about ready to call it quits on this couple. I was bored. I was tired. Why'd I decide to come in today? Why did they decide to come in today?
"Do whatever you want. You're not going to find anything bad about me," He snapped. "It's my wife you should be worried about."
"Solomon, you can't blame everything on me. I literally have nothing to do with you problem." His wife sighed. "We can't get along. If it's not him, then it's somehow me."
"Could you explain that a little more?" I asked, my patience running thin. "I just want to understand all this a little more clearly. If it's not you, Mr. Chance and it's most definitely not you, Mrs. Chance, then whose fault is it?"
"It's his."
"It's hers."
"I can tell that you both are having some issues right now. It's not just him, Mrs. Chance," I muttered. "...and it's not just her, Mr. Chance. This is something I know how to fix, but before I do that, I need your undivided attention."
The couple stared at each other for longer than I thought. I only looked at my clipboard, reminding myself to make some more notes about this later. I knew that if I started writing now, they'd both wonder what I was writing. People were like that. Even if they were the nicest of people, they asked me. It was like they came to me and the moment I tried to figure them out, they shut me down.
I was more than happy to have their appointment interrupted. Shelly walked in and greeted the distraught couple. I immediately got up to greet her myself and told them that I'd come back after talking with Shelly. They both ignored me and continued to shoot daggers at each other. Well, I guess I wasn't going to come back.
"What?" I asked as soon as the door closed. "Is Lexi fine?"
"I don't know, Mr. Thompson. She seemed sort of...distracted when I got in," She said. "She wanted me to come and get you."
"Alright." I sighed. "How about you deal with this couple and...I pay you double this week, yeah?"
"Deal. I expect you to do me a favor if anything goes wrong."
"Of course."
I left Shelly and took the elevator up to Lexi's office.
⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️
As I sat down at the table, I took a long look at Lexi. She seemed a bit shaken up. I'd have to ask her about it after the meeting. I couldn't have made her look so scared. Not in this situation. Plus, I knew it wasn't about the money. Lexi would never get so...excited about this. There was something going on and I wanted to know what.
"Thanks for coming," She said and took a deep breath. "...I assume that everyone here knows why they're here."
"No," Brad spoke up. Leave it to him to make this situation weird. "Please, enlighten me on why I was pulled away from my meeting."
"Someone has been stealing the money from the main account. I checked the transfer accounts and they don't seem to be as bad. Whoever did this didn't mess with one account." Lexi took a look around the room. "It just so happens that this account is protected way more than our main account. It is also under Brad's name. I doubt anyone would dare mess with him if they knew who he was."
"Of course no one would dare take the money in that account. Not unless they want the SWAT at their doorstep." Brad chuckled. "Anything else, doll?"
"Um..." Lexi picked up a file in front of her and began flipping through it. Couldn't she have someone else do that for her? I hated it when she did things like taking control. It made me look bad.
"Not really Besides the fact that our security and technicians don't seem to be doing their jobs right." She bit her lip. "Is there any reason why no one checks up on them regularly?"
"Our teams are busy 24/7, hoping to catch who's being this retarded." Shelly said. "I checked with them last week and they were doing fine."
"That was last week."
"...Lexi, it's not that serious," I butted in. "If they turn out to be people who aren't working for you, then that's when we need to worry."
"We don't know who to trust right now. I'm worried to the point that I'll fire any of them if they even look at me."
"Lexi, darling, we all know there's someone who would gladly mess with you like this. You wouldn't believe us, because you'll think he wouldn't do something so...vile."
"Who, Luca?" She demanded. "Who could you possibly have in mind?"
"I don't know...Asher." I dared to utter his name.
What I didn't expect was her to suddenly look as if she might pass out. Shelly noticed this and immediately went to get her a cup of water. I sent her a look of question, but she waved me away and warned me not to say him name again. I wanted to say that I was right, but I knew that it would make me seem like the bad guy. I was the bad guy. I was only telling the truth.
"Anyway...he has nothing to do with this. I haven't done anything to him to make him want to suddenly steal from our company."
"You do know that he almost went to jail for it before?" I asked. "No matter how much you trust a person, they always have something they resent you for."
"How is he still alive?" Brad asked. "I swear that boy has the life of a cat. He just keeps coming back."
"You do realize that the more you try to kill him, the more likely he's going to get more protection? He's not an idiot, Brad. His father was the son was a mafia boss."
"...Never thought of that. I guess I need to go find his aunt and kill her. That'll break him for sure."
"What the heck..." Lexi muttered. I threw her a grin. "Can we just get on with the meeting? I really want to know who is stealing the money and why."
"Asher, because he knows you won't suspect him..." I muttered once more.
A growl arose from Lexi and for a moment I was scared. Just a moment. There was no way she was going to have me listen to her willingly. I knew what I was talking about. Asher was causing her trouble and she knew it. I wasn't going to be convinced otherwise. Even Brad agreed with me and he barely likes me.
"May I say something?" A newer voice spoke up. I don't think I've ever heard or seen this person. Lexi nodded and I turned around to see who had asked that question. Boy, I was not prepared what I saw. Talk about stunning.
"Go ahead," Lexi said.
"...I do feel like it's someone close to you. There's no way a random person would do this. Not unless they were getting paid. Plus, they, or their boss, has to know exactly who Brad is to leave his account untouched."
"Makes sense, but how close, Taylor?"
"As in this person knows your work schedule. When you come here and when you work at the police station. I think they might even know Mr. Thompson's schedule too. When he goes to lunch and when he's busy with appointments."
See. I knew someone else understood what I was saying. Even if it wasn't Asher doing all this, it had to be someone we knew. It could even be someone from the tech team. I knew most of them. Which meant most of them weren't that trustworthy.
I took a long look at Lexi and the same look from when I mentioned Asher flashed across her face again. The door opened and Shelly came back with a glass of water. She handed it to Lexi and we all watched as she took a huge gulp and put the glass down on the table. Then, she turned her back on us and I saw her legs buckle. Before anyone could even make a sound, I was catching her and yelling her name.