Amber walked into the office at her normal time at eight o’clock. She looked down the hallway and noticed I was already in. My desk lamp brightened my office and some of the hallway. After putting her bags down, she popped her head in with a concerned look on her face. Amber had the feeling too something wasn’t right. “You’re in early…” She said as she walked in and sat down in the chair in front of me.

I was looking down at the news article about how Douglas was found and the evidence that concluded his death was a suicide. “I couldn’t sleep. Memories of the Edwards and my parents kept flooding my mind last night. Memories I’d never thought I would remember being so young and all. So I decided to come in early and get a head start. It’s eight o’clock already?”

“Yea, it is.” She didn’t take her eyes off me. I could feel Amber’s stare. She plopped down in the chair and put her S-Edition purse in her lap. “So, what do you think about this case with Shanti? I’ve only seen you like this twice since we’ve been working together again and both times it turned out bad. What is it?”

I let out a huge sigh, “She knows a lot more than she’s letting on. Shanti seems to care more about the missing money thing. I’m not sure what to think about that. Plus, the whole Syndicate thing.”

Amber leaned forward when she asked, “Yea about that, are we in any danger? Am I going to have to take my boys somewhere else? I always thought this Syndicate stuff was about a gang or something.” She shuffled around uncomfortably, “I don’t know Ally… what does your gut tell you?” My colleague and best friend was a widow and a mother of three boys. Her husband, Cole died in the last tour in Iraq right before he was planning to retire. She had already left the Intelligence a few years before I did to be a stay-at-home mom but we still kept in touch. Cole was killed by an RPG missile attack. He was trying to rescue a small family out of an apartment building under attack but everyone was caught in the blast. Amber received his Purple Heart Metal and his folded American flag for the heroic service. She was six months pregnant was her youngest son when he passed.

When I started this business, she was the first person I asked to help me run it. Amber is like my sister, we’re all the family we have. I’m glad she’s my business partner too because without her nothing would flow as smoothly the way it does. “Amber, I would never put you or your boys in danger. If that ever were to happen, you know we have a plan in place for that reason. The Syndicate is real… They’re an underground elite crime organization ran by the top crime bosses in the region. They have their hands in everything they can touch or buy. I’ve crossed paths them a few times but always kept my distance.”

She looked away for a second and turned to look at me, “Just promise me that you’ll back away if it becomes too much. Obviously, Douglas Edwards was more than just a booty club owner…”

“Oh, he was! I’ve been reading about him all morning. He wasn’t a club owner, he had businesses all over the country. He also own some businesses internationally. This guy had his hands in everything… Finding this out, definitely expands the list of people who could want him dead. However, if he did work for the Syndicate, all of the businesses make sense. I believe Douglas was their accountant…”

“So, what about this Charlie guy? I heard Shanti call him ‘eye candy’. Girl, if he’s hot like that take advantage.”

Amber concerns faded away when she brought that part up. I just cut my eyes and shook off the comment.

“You know I don’t mix business and pleasure… I just want to hear what he has to say about Douglas. You know I don’t work well with others. In this case I think I need to get a better feel on what exactly is going on.”

Amber looked at me and burst out laughing. It was so loud it me jump a little. “What pleasure?! You haven’t been someone since Reggie!” She heard nothing I said after ‘pleasure’, “Girl, please… If you don’t want this ‘eye candy’ Charlie than send him my way OK.” She smirked as she stood to her feet and walked out to the front desk.

After a quarter pass ten, Charlie decided to bless us with his presence. When he entered my office, he swung the door open really wide almost bursting through. Amber gave him a look like what was his problem… A few moments later, she came down to my office to deliver the news. She entered my office with a disappointed look on her face. A huffed and asked, “Is that him?”

“Yes it’s Charlie… I’ll send him back right now.”

“What? He’s not the ‘eye candy’ you were hoping for?” I laughed.

“No girl, he’s fine as hell. Completely scrumptious… He came bursting through the office door like a bat out of hell. I don’t think he’s in the best of moods, rushing me and shit. He rubbed me the wrong way… Just give me the word and I’ll pepper spray his ass.”

“Ok… send him back.” Now I’m extra curious…

Charlie gently knocked on my door before entering. When I saw him, the first thought that came to mind was whoa! This six foot or so muscular man was very handsome, model material. Everything on him flowed perfectly. His beautiful brown skin, neatly buzzed cut fade and beard. The light blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans complimented his dark green and hazel eyes. The diamond earring in his right ear, the loosen fit gold Rolex with clean white Jordans, definitely helped him to stand out in a good way. I also noticed he had several scars on his face. One on his eye brow, one on the left side of his cheek and the last one on his upper lip. They were deep old wounds like they had a story to tell.

He was so damn pretty, he had me feeling self conscious of my own appearance. I turned and looked to a small wall mirror by my desk to check myself out. I quickly grabbed a rubber band from my desk and combed my braids with my fingers into a high bun. I fixed my collar on my tan button up shirt and pulled down my brown jacket. I looked over at my light skinned freckled face then pushed my glasses off my nose. I could look pretty too if I wanted…

Charlie dashed to desk like he was in a rush, “I just came in to you that your services are no longer needed. Ms. Edwards should not have involved you in such matters. Thank you.”

As he started turning around, I stopped him. “Wait! Whoa, hold on a minute.” I stood to my feet, “That’s not the impression Shanti gave me when she came by yesterday. She said you were willing to help find some answers to what happened to Douglas Edwards. She mentioned you were quite fond of him and you were his assistant.”

He laughed sarcastically and placed a finger under his nose. He looked even more annoyed. “Of course she did.” He replied, “She’s a funny one that Shanti… Look I’m doing you a favor ok. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself involved in, trust me.”

I knew there was more then what Shanti was letting on. “Why don’t you take a seat, Mr. Sanchez.” I pointed to the chair in front of my desk. He down at it but decided to stay where he was. I took a deep breath and sat down as I continued, “I was hired to find out how Mr. Edwards died. I want to start there… The money he allegedly from the Syndicate, I know nothing about. She said you were his assistant I’m just looking for insight on what do you think happened.” I noticed his reaction when I mention the Syndicate. I wanted to see his reaction…

He walked around the chair and sat down. I think the notice of saving me from being ‘involved’ was out the window. “How much did she tell you? She had no business involving someone from the outside.”

The outside? Shanti didn’t tell me shit. No where near enough of what I needed to know, in my opinion. Lesson learned…

I gently shrugged my shoulders and tried to avoid the question as he continued, “And there is no alleged when it comes to Douglas stealing that money, the bastard. He threw a handful of us into this mess especially me since we worked close together. Now we have to clean this shit up from somebody who did everything the old school way. The man wrote everything in composition notebooks. I mean who does anymore? There’s loads of information I have to comb through because of him.” Charlie got more upset as he explained.

“So why would Shanti make it seem you were the go-to person to answer any questions about his daily life. She said you knew more about him than she did. Do you know how he died?”

Again, Charlie gave me a blank stare, “No I don’t. That’s above my pay grade. My job is simple… and knowing how he died is not apart of it.”

I leaned back in my chair and twirled my pen. “I take it you weren’t his assistant? So, what is it that you do exactly?”

Charlie slowly leaned in and replied softly, “None of your business…” He jerked up out of his chair but before he took off, he noticed my school trophies and metals. Then he noticed the dog tags… He quickly turned back around and asked, “You served?”

I looked over at the silver dog tags encased in black rubber trimming. “No those are my dads he served. He was a Marine. I worked in Intelligence both foreign and domestic.”

Mentioning my dad’s military background and my experience made Charlie relax and take interest. He decided to sit back down but with a much calmer demeanor. “I served in the Army than eventually moved up and trained to be a Ranger Special Forces.”

“Nice…” I nodded with him recognizing his achievements. "I had a few friends who served in the Army."

He leaned in closer to get a better look at my pictures by the desk. He blink a few times then turned to smile at me. “Oh the Mitchell last name. You’re Derek Mitchell’s daughter. I knew Detective Mitchell, he was a good man.”

He knew my father? Then something hit me, “You said you had to comb through a bunch of notebooks Douglas had written. Were they ledgers?” I hoped I loosened him up enough. I had my own personal reasons behind that question.

“Yea. A few years ago a bunch of notebooks went missing. Ledgers of different account holders. It spooked them so bad my employers went fully digital. Only a handful of people now have access to that information.”

Did Douglas have access to that information? Did my dad? I remember when I was a little girl, he brought home a big heavy box filled with notebooks. He would pull them all out and read them for hours. Every time I tried to pick one up, he snap at me commanding me not to touch them. I know where that box is…

Charlie was still talking when I bounced back into the conservation. “Let me ask you a question?”

“Shoot…” I sat back down in my chair and crossed my hands.

“How do you know Shanti? She seems to know you on a personal level.”

“Shanti’s dad and my dad were good friends. We used to play together when we were kids.” I grinned in a sarcastic way while showing my dimples. I looked up at him and just came out with it. “Look Charlie, the way I see it is we can help one another find the answers we’re looking. Even though I don’t work with people or partners necessarily, I believe we could kill two birds with one stone? I scratch your back and you scratch mine… at least we both get what we need.”

The six foot Army vet slowly stood to his feet once more. As he was standing he didn’t take his eyes off me and I didn’t blink while looking back either. He let out a sigh and said, “I can tell you’re going to persistently annoying…”

I laughed and gave him a big smile, “Ditto…”

He smiled with me. His smile made me melt inside. “I’m supposed to meet Big Pop at his diner tomorrow night to speak to him about Douglas. He was the last person to see him alive. You know where Priest Diner is?”

“Yes of course I know Priest Diner. I also know Big Pop really well too. He’s my god-father.”

Charlie huffed as he started walking out of my office, “Small world Ms. Mitchell. I’ll see you tomorrow night and it’s a date.” He quickly turned back and smirked as he left. He meant it as tease. Moments later Amber came dashing in.

I put my hand up and stopped her in her tracks, “It’s not what you think…” She smacked her lips and walked back to her desk disappointed.

***

Later that night, I visited my dad’s storage unit across town. I couldn’t shake this eerie feeling about the ledgers Charlie mentioned, the ones that went missing. I don’t know why but my gut is screaming at me. Screaming I’m about to go down a rabbit hole I believed I wasn’t ready for yet. Maybe this case was the push I needed. There were a lot of unanswered questions when my dad’s cold case was solved. I always knew even as a little girl my dad took pride, enjoyed it even, to keep secrets. That was his bread and butter as a detective, discovering people’s secrets. Things or events people don’t want anyone to know. It was his job to uncover the truth… In return, he learned how to keep his secrets iron clad.

When I walked inside, I took a moment to look around at all of my parent’s things. After my mom passed away, my dad had a hard time letting her things go. He rent the storage unit just so he could come visit and reminisce memories of her. Sometimes he would take me with him and he would tell me stories about her I didn’t know.

She died when I really small. My dad says I was about four when she died in a factory fire.

It took me awhile to find the specific boxes I was looking for. After moving some things around I found the boxes label fragile don’t touch. I dusted off of the top and slowly opened the box to find all of the old composition notebooks Charlie may have been talking about. I picked up one of the notebooks and flipped through page by page looking at dates, numbers and long sequences of codes. Could those be account numbers?

I picked up two more and noticed some of the notebooks were exact word from word. I compared some of them and sure enough they were the exact same expect for the signature on the bottom. The first set I picked up was signed ‘DE’ and the copied set was labeled, ‘SM’. Who is ‘SM’? The copied notebooks also had large amounts, of what looked like dollar amounts, missing. It also was smaller with less accounts in it. If I had to guess, this was the start of something. Maybe the beginning of Douglas’ embezzling scheme?

Was my dad involved?