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Part III - Chapter 7
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Traffic 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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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
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A thick fog forced Alex to drive slowly through the streets of Albany. The occasional green traffic light shining through the haze reminded him of the pleading look in Rachel’s eyes when he’d left her at the curb.Once the fog cleared, Alex turned on the cruise control and let his thoughts wander. While his hands directed the car straight toward Voorheesville, his mind returned him to the scene in the lobby of the Prelude Press office hours earlier.The phones rang constantly, keeping Allison distracted as Alex wandered around. He watched with amusement as a short hefty woman about fifty-ish, stormed through the lobby doors like a hurricane, interrupting Allison’s phone call and demanding, in a voice that nearly shook the windows, to see Mr. Williams immediately. Allison started to hit the intercom, but the woman refused to wait, blowing past Alex and disappearing down the hallway.He checked his watch, wondering how long Rachel’
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Alex woke the next morning, expecting to find Rachel’s warm body cuddled next to him, but when he stretched his arm over the cold mattress, he discovered he was alone in the king size bed.An annoying tapping sound, coming from the far corner of the bedroom, irritated his semi-conscious nerves. Bewildered, he opened his eyes a slit and scanned the room until he located the source of the noise.Seated at the faux antique desk, Rachel was vigorously hitting the laptop keyboard, her attention fixed intently on the screen. Alex sighed and rolled over to glance at the clock on the end table. He was surprised to read a single-digit hour and even more surprised to see that the hour was a six.Not wanting to interrupt her concentration, he propped himself up on his elbow and silently watched as she typed. He could only imagine the words flowing from her delicate, sensuous fingers, the same fingers that had made several painful indentations in his back the night be
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The Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York was in the middle of an Indian summer. Although the calendar read October, the temperature was a blissful seventy-five degrees. Perfect climate for an outdoor wedding.Rachel and Alex walked through the opulent glass entranceway and into a Victorian setting alive with color and beauty. The lobby was decorated in vibrant tones of mauve, olive, and gold, as brilliant as the fall foliage of the countryside.Rachel was amazed to find herself in such an elegant setting in what she considered to be the middle of nowhere. The gothic pillars, mahogany registration desk, and the full crystal chandelier reminded her of some of the best European hotels she had visited on her book tour. She couldn’t think of a better atmosphere for a wedding.“I see Brad at the bar,” Alex said, looking toward his left. “Mind if I join him?”“Not at all. I’ll get our room key and meet you in a f
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For the next six weeks, Rachel devoted herself to her extensive promotional schedule. She traveled the European Book Festival circuit, making personal appearances at every small town throughout Scotland and Germany and attended numerous booksigning events in London and Paris.She returned to the States as guest speaker at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, then flew on to personally meet booksellers at Chicago’s BookExpo America and represent Prelude Press at the American Booksellers Association Convention.During the final conference presentations, it was announced that Legal Briefs had received the National Book Foundation’s award in New Fiction. She flew to New York City on the next flight to attend the awards banquet, which took place the night before Brad and Tanya’s wedding.The moment her plane landed in Newark, Rachel called Alex on her cell phone, but the line was busy. She tried the number a few more times before giving
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A melancholy drizzle fell over the Postal Headquarters Building at eight-thirty Wednesday morning. From the plush leather chair in his office, Alex solemnly watched the drops of rain trickle down the windows. It looked to him as if the heavens were crying tears of disappointment over his recent betrayal.He spent most of the previous night with a glass of bourbon in one hand and the remote control in the other, his guilt not allowing him the freedom of sleep. At four in the morning, he made a decision. After finishing his drink, he put on an old pair of jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers and spent the next four hours transporting his belongings from the Voorheesville apartment to his car.He drove to the Albany office under a dark and dismal sky. After signaling the security guard to open the front door, he entered the empty building and took the stairs to his office. He purposefully arrived long before the rest of the staff. He needed uninterrupted time alone to write his r
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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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Alex waited in the truck while Rachel met the officers, who were finishing their search of Cynthia’s house. Rachel was handed a stack of credit card receipts, money orders and several bank statements, which she put into her briefcase. She thanked the detective and the officers and left to join Alex.During the short drive to his house, he was unusually quiet. Rachel was excitedly telling him how important the papers were to their case, but his mind was a million miles away. After pulling into the driveway, Alex lefy the truck and waited for Rachel to meet him before unlocking the front door.He took three steps into the house and closed the door behind them. Before Rachel had a chance to sit down, he gently pulled her toward him, his arms encircling her slender body and feverishly began kissing her.Rachel dropped her briefcase and purse, freeing her hands and returned his embrace. His hands gently stroked her back as he lightly kissed her neck, his mousta
First Class Male Part III - Chapter 12
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
