Fervent Desires

Chapter 20– Interrogation

I walked into the office thirty minutes later, dreading what was to come. Anna sat nervously at her desk, shuffling through various documents. She looked up when I approached and quickly got up to meet me.

“Where have you been?” I could feel the stress radiating off of her. “Mr. Hayle is in your office and he is not happy,” she added before I could respond. I swiftly moved past her and Anna grabbed my hand, stopping me in my tracks. We exchanged knowing glances before she let her hand fall and I went on to accept my fate.

I gingerly opened the door to my office where I found an angry Vincent pacing back and forth. He stopped pacing when he saw me, his face bright red. “Where the hell have you been?!” he charged at me, “The feds were here and they needed to talk to you”.

“I needed the day off and I accidentally left my phone,” I answered calmly.

“The day off?” I didn’t know his face could have gotten any more inflamed but it did. “Why the hell do you need the day off when we have an investigation on our hands Taylor? We have auditors coming in and if they find anything out of place it’s all our asses,” his expression shifted from anger to worry.

“What did you tell them?” I asked, beginning to worry myself.

“When we couldn’t reach you they went downstairs to records,” he rubbed his temples and I could see him visibly trying to calm down. “You know Taylor, if you weren’t so damn good at your job I’d fire you right here and now,” he turned to look at me and I raised a brow at him. “Fix this!” he yelled before storming out of my office.

I picked up the intercom and rang for Anna. She promptly answered, no doubt worrying about the state of my job “Anna, let the FBI know that I’m here,” I instructed before hanging up.

I sat at my desk already exhausted. I could feel the first pangs of a headache coming on. I leaned back with my eyes closed, my hands to my temple. Anna’s voice buzzed through the intercom informing me that the FBI was outside. I quickly rose, putting on my most charming smile as they entered the room.

“My apologies for being late,” I extended my hand to greet the agent who had introduced himself the day before as Agent Pierce.

“Hello again Ms. Vanderbuilt, this is my colleague Agent Hodgens,” his voice boomed

“Pleasure to meet you,” I extended my hand to her as well, which she shook firmly.

I motioned for them to have a seat and took mine as well.

“How may I assist you today officers?” I kept a smile plastered on my face.

“We just have a few follow up questions,” Agent Hodgens took the lead.

“Go right ahead. Anything we can do to assist the authorities at this time; rest assured this is a top priority for us,”

I was sincere. This would cost our company millions, not just in the millions we already lost but our reputation was at stake. We couldn’t have this matter lingering on, or worse leaking to the public. They took turns asking questions, this went on for two hours. They went through several company documents and asked me about the procedures we had in place to guard against these kinds of occurrences. By the time they were through my headache hand turned into a full blown migraine.

“Well I believe we have what we need,” said Agent Pierce as he rose from his seat.

“Well if you need anything else don’t hesitate,” I said, rising as well.

I took out my business card and handed it to Agent Hodgens. “I’m at your disposal,” I said looking her in the eyes. She blushed slightly before shoving the card in her pocket.

“We’ll keep in touch,” she responded.

I showed them to the door exchanging pleasantries before they left.

“Well?” asked Vincent as I turned around, almost bumping into him in the process. I hadn’t even realized he had come up behind me.

“Nothing much,” I reported “they just went through the files with me and they said they would call me if they had any further questions, No biggie”

“No Biggie!” he screeched. Everyone paused what they were doing to look at us. “You know what Taylor, I don’t think you are taking this seriously enough,” he continued in a more muted tone.

My head felt like it was about to split open. I couldn’t believe he thought I wasn’t taking the situation seriously. “Look, we followed all the necessary procedures with this deal. This isn't on us, besides getting worked up isn't going to do any good. So let’s allow the authorities to do their job. We need to do ours by giving them whatever information they need," my words were slow and deliberate.

He nodded and calmed a bit. “Now I have a splitting headache. I’m going to go take an aspirin, if you need me I’ll be in my office,” I said in the same even tone.

Vincent spun on his heels and headed in the direction of his office and I briskly headed to mine as well. Anna stared at me as I walked by and I smiled reassuringly at her. I finally made it to my office where I quickly took two aspirins, closed my blinds and reclined on the sofa with my eyes tightly shut. This day was a roller coaster of its own and I was dying for it to end.