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Part III - Chapter 5
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2024-10-29 19:42:56When Rachel first opened her eyes, the sight of a naked man in her bed startled her. Then she recognized Alex, and an overwhelming sense of serenity surrounded her when she remembered how his naked body felt pressed closely against hers all night long.
She carefully got out of bed, went into the bathroom and gently closed the door. She turned on the sink and let the water run slowly so as not to disturb him. When she finished brushing the early morning haze from her teeth, she quietly picked her clothes up from a little pile on the floor and tip-toed into Karen’s bedroom to dress.
Pausing in front of the full length mirror, she was amazed to see how well rested she appeared, in spite of having been up most of the night. She was not quite so amazed that Alex was still sound asleep, since he had been, quite definitely, up most of the night.
Close to exhaustion for several days, Rachel felt miraculously energized. Though it was only nine in the morni
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Alex heard the front door close twice, followed by a penetrating silence. He assumed by the way the windows rattled, the first one to leave had been Mark, followed by Rachel, who was a bit gentler on the building.The shock of walking naked into the living room and seeing Mark had been only slightly less than the shock of hearing Rachel’s unintentional confession.So, that was the old friend she’d had sex with three weeks ago. She told me their relationship was over years ago. And what was he doing in her apartment at nine on a Saturday morning?Alex was asking questions to an empty apartment. But the biggest question of all was; when he queried Rachel, would she give him honest answers. Alex checked his watch. He had told Brad to meet him at Crystal Lake around noon, which didn’t leave much time for a lengthy discussion when - and if - Rachel returned.He dressed in the clothes he had worn the night before, except for his
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Traffic on the New York State Thruway was unusually heavy for a Saturday afternoon. By the time Alex arrived at the Crystal Lake Postoffice it was close to three . Brad unlocked the back door and introduced him to Postal Inspector Tanya Thomas, who paused briefly from her examination of the accounting records to shake his hand.Alex’s initial impression of the attractive young woman was that she could have easily been a model. Her straight blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and fell to her slender waist. When she looked at him, he noticed her deep blue-green eyes accompanying the warm, friendly smile and a surprisingly firm handshake, which immediately conveyed the message that, looks notwithstanding, Inspector Thomas was a determined professional, a fact Brad soon confirmed.“I’m glad you’re here, Alex. If there’s anything to be found,” Brad said with pride, “Tanya will find it. She was recently promoted to head the Fraud
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With Alex gone, the apartment felt uncomfortably empty. Rachel almost regretted her decision not to go to Crystal Lake with him, but her obligation as his attorney took priority. She needed a clear head and uninterrupted time to begin drafting his defense, neither of which would have been possible if she spent the weekend with him.Rachel refilled her cup with the remainder of the coffee, sat down on the couch and opened the folder Mark had given her. She finished reading though the entire contents of the file before she finished drinking half the contents of the coffee cup.She was beginning to think Alex had been right about Mark’s intentions. The file contained little more than a copy of the arrest warrant and the prosecutor’s witness list, information which could have easily waited until Monday.This was all part of Mark’s stupid little game, Rachel thought angrily, tossing the file on top of the crumpled newspapers. He didn&rs
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I’ve got to call Alex. Rachel thought. She grabbed the phone, nearly knocking it off the table and hit the memory key. When the phone connected, instead of Alex’s voice, she heard the repetitious beeping of a busy signal.“Dammit, get off the phone!” She yelled into the handset. Rachel continued to hit the redial key and continued getting the annoying response.“Karen, can you call Gary on your cell phone and find out if his client Cynthia Anderson works for the Postoffice? I’ll keep trying to get through to Alex,”Karen took her phone from her purse, but when she phoned Gary, she too heard the same irritating sound.“Maybe Gary is talking to Alex?” Karen said, turning off her phone in frustration. “Tomorrow is Sunday, Rachel. There isn’t anything you can do until the offices open on Monday,”“If my suspicions are correct, we won’t have to wait that long. I’ll
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Rachel received a call from Tanya that she had secured the search warrant and was sending a car to pick her up. As Alex’s lawyer she would want to be there in case they found anything incriminating. Rachel phoned Alex.“I tried calling Cynthia earlier, but she wasn’t home.” He said. “I drove to her house, but the place was locked and her car was gone,”“Is that unusual?”“Under normal circumstances, I’d say no. Most of the permanent residents get away for the weekend to avoid the tourist crowds. Many of the vacationers have already started to migrate back to the city, with summer coming to an end,”“And the beginning of fall,” Rachel lamented. “Just as I’m getting used to warm weather, it’s time to get the coats and gloves out of storage. I hate the cold and the snow,”“Not me,” Alex replied. “I love the changing of the seasons. Q
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“As you can see, Rachel, orders for Legal Briefs have skyrocketed since your picture landed on the front page of every newspaper in town,”Having spent most of the previous day staring at numbers, and most of the previous night celebrating what those numbers revealed, Rachel’s eyes weren’t entirely focused on the list Peter placed in front of her.“So, you can understand our interest in booking as many events as we can while you’re still a hot property. How long do you think the case will last?”“I’m hoping to have the charges dismissed, so it should be over fairly soon.” Rachel wearily handed the paper back to Peter. “In fact, as soon as we’re finished here, I’m going to try to find a judge who will order an emergency hearing. The new evidence I’ll present to the court should clear my client completely,”“Damn,” Peter swore. “Any chance yo
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It wasn’t the six words Peter spoke that terrified Rachel, it was the frightening tone of utter devastation in his voice that paralyzed her vocal cords.“Peter? What’s wrong?” she croaked.“I don’t wish to discuss this over the phone, Rachel. You’ll need to come to my office immediately. I’ve already sent the car to pick you up,”“You sent a car? Peter, I’m not even dressed,”“Get your ass into this office dressed or undressed, within the hour, understand?”The phone went dead in her hand. Rachel jumped from the couch and ran into the bedroom. A concerned Alex followed her.“Rachel, what’s wrong?”“I have no idea,” She grabbed underwear from the drawer and hurriedly changed her clothes.“That was Peter. He said something about a serious problem and that he wanted to see me right now,”&ldquo
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Rachel’s breathing was beginning to return to normal. “I noticed you were leaving, which is why I just ran the three second dash to catch up to you. There’s been a lot of activity in the past few hours and we need to talk about your case,”“I was going to lunch. Can you join me?”“Absolutely. Let me get my purse and briefcase from the car and I’ll tell the officers to go along without me. I’ll be right back,”As Alex got into his truck and waited for Rachel to return, images flashed through his mind with lightning speed. Tanya flying to West Palm Beach. Cynthia getting arrested on her way to the same destination. Rachel showing up in Crystal Lake.The last mental picture froze his thought process. Rachel was here with him and all the other images were no longer of any consequence. He was about to light a cigarette when he heard the passenger side of the truck open.“Got one of those
