Love and Its Lies

Seventeen ‐ Aly's Plan

“You already know how John works at Barrington, an oil company. We… there are allegations that they or at least some people in it are working with Florence Port.”

Danny waited for her to say something, but given her dumbfounded reaction, he sighed and explained, “He's been in the news a few times?” he said, waiting to invoke a response. “He runs a gambling organization and is tied to an underground gang—but he’s never really accidentally, but smaller news outlets and a few locals say otherwise—that they saw some men start it. Those men, being some of Port's cronies. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Aly nodded. “I did hear about the fire. The environmentalists were not happy about it,” she said, remembering the protests in the street the followed soon after.

“Okay, so if one were to put two and two together, there must have been some foul play involved. We have Barrington working with Port, but of course, doing the dirty work also means getting paid dirty money, and external tax investigations would have proved that they were paying a hefty amount for Port’s services.

“The news about embezzlement,” Aly said thoughtfully.

Danny pointed at her proudly and nodded. “Right. Barrington employees—somewhere high up—embezzling and laundering money to pay Port. The empire widens, and everyone involved gets more money.”

Aly frowned at him. “But what does John have to do with any of it? Why are you so sure he’s the one doing it?”

“He was a low-tier accountant that suddenly rose in rank, and is now up to be a chief financial officer. No one rises that quickly without getting in the right person's good graces. Who better to deal with numbers than the numbers man?”

Danny gave Aly some time to digest all the information. She stared blankly at the floor with her eyebrows meeting. A few seconds later, she said, “If you know all this, why did you say you don’t have any concrete evidence?”

Danny sighed and uncrossed his legs. “You were right when you said that the pictures of meetings weren’t enough to convince you. More so for a courtroom.”

“So, you need to get your hands on John’s files?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“But why go after John exactly? Why not go after that gang leader Port or other Barrington employees involved? You said John was promoted by someone, right?”

Danny hesitated for a second before answering, “He has the numbers, which means he has the most incriminating paperwork trail.”

Aly narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not saying something,” she accused, and Danny looking away from her for a short second confirmed it. “You’re not telling me the whole truth. Where did you even get all your information?”

Danny, who was starting to tense up a little bit, only said, “I have connections,” he continued, firmly, “and I have my reasons.”

Aly didn’t protest after seeing the hardened look on his face. Instead, she said brightly after a while of consideration, “Alright. I believe you.”

Danny was taken aback. “You do?” he asked, incredulous, to which Aly nodded at. “Okay, then,” he slowly said.

“So,” she said with determination, “Now we have to get our files on John’s files. The ones that secretary Clement—”

“Hold on, how did you know he's a secretary?”

“Have you seen how he walks and talks?” Aly asked, as if she was stating the obvious. “Well, he looked more of a butler… anyway, he’s one of the secretaries in Barrington. I saw him once talking to John out on the street in the city, and my friend, Brenda, who also works in the same building, told me who he was. I’m just not sure whose secretary he is, though.”

“He's the COO's—David Camp's—secretary. Camp is in one of the pictures I showed you before, meeting with Port.”

Aly's mouth formed an o as she remembered. “The one with the tattooed guy?”

Danny nodded, impressed with her memory and attention to detail.

“Cool,” she said. “So, the next mission is to get our hands on that—”

Danny leaned forward again and wagged a finger at her. “Not ‘our’ mission. Mine. You already know there are dangerous people involved. I won’t have another person—” he stopped to correct himself, “I won’t have you involved.”

Aly looked crestfallen. She stomped her feet in protest. “But, we’re a team, Danny!” she complained, looking like a child. “We’re partners in crime! The spy duo!”

Danny did not attempt to hide the disgust in his expression. “Stop saying that. First of all, we’re not partners. Second, it’s journalism.” He stood up and grabbed Aly by the arm to get her up on her feet.

“Is there a difference?” she asked with an eyebrow raised, but Danny only continued to usher her towards the door.

“You will not be doing anything more about this. Stay in town if you want or go back to the city. Just stop following John.” He opened the door and Aly stepped out. “Promise me,” he said.

“Fine,” Aly said with a smile—a smile that Danny knew he couldn’t trust. He was about to close the door when she used a hand to stop it. “Wait a second,” she said.

“What, did you forget something?” Danny asked, now looking annoyed.

“No, I just… I remember Mr. Clement saying something about an accident and someone named Burton.”

Aly noticed his grip on the door tighten at the sound of the name.

“Nothing you need to know,” he said, and she knew by the tone of his voice that there was no more convincing him to talk about it. She took a step back and let him close the door.

Aly wouldn’t say she’s hard-headed or stubborn. She was more of a…passionate or a curious person—or at least that’s what she told herself when she decided to approach John the very next morning after Danny had spilled everything—well, mostly everything—about him. If anything, the way he seemed so reluctant to elaborate on Burton made Aly even more determined to find out the truth.

It was not as if she didn’t believe Danny. Based on what she had heard at the edge of town and the news, the explanation he gave did fill in most of the blanks. He did not seem to be lying either, although Aly was sure that he was keeping something from her as well. What or why he did that, she couldn’t think of.

Even with all of the answers that he had supplied, new questions arose that kept her mind awake at night. Questions like: is John really doing all this for money and power? Is John really capable of doing such things, or is he not aware of the nature of work he’s doing? But no, he wouldn’t have made a meeting so inconspicuous if everything was completely legal. Who is this person named Burton who was involved in an accident? How does he fit into all of this, and why does Danny react differently when he’s mentioned?

Aly was never one to leave questions unanswered, just like how she couldn’t stand the thought of procrastinating school work. However, when she saw John the next day, it was all unplanned. She only went to the diner to get coffee since she was barely able to get any sleep, and the hotel coincidentally ran out of beans so Fred had to go out and buy some.

John sat at his usual spot on the counter, and Aly took a seat in a booth. If she were being honest, last night, she did not have an ounce of idea what to do next—should she heed to Danny's warnings or continue to get close to John? But, after getting a glimpse of John’s face, she knew exactly what she had to do: she had to get her hands on that folder—whatever it contained.

Aly could only assume that it was the key to her never-ending questions, and Danny sure as heck wouldn’t let her do what she wanted to do if he knew how she was planning to do it.

After looking around the diner and even through the diner's windows—just in case Danny was lurking in the trees—she approached John. With a bright smile, she sat next to him and greeted him with a jolly “Oh, hi, John!”

John was pleasantly surprised. He quickly swallowed the food in his mouth to greet her back with a cheerful, “Aly! Good morning!” he searched at the space behind her. “Is Danny with you?” he inquired.

“No, he’s a sleepyhead, that one,” she jokingly replied. “Anyway, I hope you don’t mind. I just saw you sitting here and decided to say hi.”

“No, no, of course not. Are you having breakfast? Don’t they serve you some at Tourelle?”

“Oh, I just came here for coffee. The hotel ran out this morning.” That, technically, wasn’t a lie.

John nodded understandingly, and to Aly's delight, he proceeded to order coffee for her, saying, “It’s my treat.” It was reminiscent of the time in college when he had bought her iced coffee. He had gotten her order wrong, but it was the thought that counted, and Aly would be lying if she said her heart didn’t do a small thump right then and there.

The cup of coffee was quick to arrive, served by May with a peppy, “Nice to see you again, Aly! Enjoy!” to which Aly replied a thanks that tried to match her spirit. Turning to John, she said, “I don’t know if I’ve thanked you enough for dinner the other night. Danny had a lot of fun, too.”

John shyly smiled, “Oh, psh, you’re the ones who made the night better. It was a nice blast from the past.”

Looking at him now, seeming so kind and pretty and…harmless, Aly still couldn’t imagine him privy to any illegal business. If it weren’t for what she witnessed last night, she would’ve been swayed once again. With much difficulty, she repeated to herself that she only approached him for a specific reason, and proceeded with her plan—the one she thought of just a minute ago.

“Speaking of the past,” she said innocently as John finished his last bite, “I remember I have our college yearbook with me.”

“Really? I never had the chance to claim mine. I keep forgetting,” he said sheepishly. It was a piece of information that Aly already knew. She only had the time to claim hers last year and with a bit of sweet talk and cupcakes for the alumni head, she also found out that John had yet to get his.

“Why did you bring it?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, I was,” Aly remembered the backstory that Danny made up for them, “going to bring it to the family house in the West, since Danny and I are heading there for the annual reunion.”

Flawless, she thought, as John nodded without a hint of doubt.

“I was thinking, maybe you’d like to take another trip to memory lane with me and look it over? I could bring it to you,” she said, her fingers crossed that he’d take the bait.

John thought about it for a second, then his face lit up and he said, “Sounds great! You want to come over tonight? I can make dinner again.”

Aly wanted nothing more than to have dinner alone with John—even though she had conflicting feelings about him at the moment, it was still one of her fantasies for the past 6 years—but the risk of running into Danny around dinnertime made her say, “I can’t do dinner, but how about dessert? I can come over around 8.”

“Sure. I hope banoffee pie is okay?”

“That,” Aly smiled, “sounds great!”

Aly had decided to dress in her usual clothes—a blue chiffon button-up blouse and tight high-waist pants. She previously avoided her “city clothes,” as how Fred called them, because they were too light for the cold and too standoff-ish for the town—and the last thing she wanted before was to stand out while she was secretly following John.

Tonight, however, she dressed to impress.

A week ago, if anyone told Aly that she would be invited to John Wendell’s house so they could hang out alone together at night, she would’ve laughed in their face. Although tonight wasn’t exactly a romantic date, and Aly's intentions weren’t the most noble, she couldn’t help but feel her heart jump for joy as she put on her make up.

Before leaving her room, she made sure to look sideways for Danny. When there was no sign of him, she hurried down the stairs, said a quick hello to Marion who was leaving the kitchen, and busted through the doors. By that time, she could only assume that Danny was either holed up in his room or eating dinner in the dining area.

Aly kept her eyes open as she walked to John’s house. Thankfully, she only ran into Brian—the kid from the grocery store—and when she rang the doorbell to John’s house once, he immediately came out to greet her with that dazzling smile of his.

“Aly!” he exclaimed as he opened the gate, as if they hadn’t just seen each other that morning. He gave her a quick hug before leading her up to his house. “Right on time,” he said. “I hope you were okay walking at this time of night? I would’ve come to pick you up but I didn’t have your number and I didn’t want to impose.” John led them in, and gestured at the couch for Aly to take a seat.

“No, it’s fine, everyone here in town is really kind and it wasn’t that hard to go here,” Aly said as she sat on the farther end.

“Good to hear, but I’ll walk you home later, if that’s alright,” John said, to which Aly—who had been wishing for forever to get a chance to walk alone with him—tried to hide her excitement by shyly saying, “Alright, then.”

“Okay, you stay here, and I’ll just get dessert and drinks from the kitchen,” John turned to leave, but said to her before walking away, “You look great, by the way,” with such sincerity that Aly couldn’t help but giggle and pinch her cheeks as soon as he was out of sight.

When he came back, he had two plates of the promised banoffee pie and two cups of tea. Aly brought out the yearbook and he sat right next to her—not at the other end of the couch, but directly right beside her that their thighs were almost touching.

“That looks great, John!” Aly admired the food. “Your girlfriend must be so lucky that you like to cook and that you’re actually good at it.”

John sheepishly looked at her and replied, “Ah, but I have no girlfriend. Not right now, anyway.”

Aly, who had known this bit of information all along, feigned ignorance. “Really? But you’re so… why not?”

“I guess I just didn’t have the time for it,” John said, seeming a bit embarrassed. “I’ve been so busy with work so almost all of the girls I meet are also from work, and I think I want someone who is… you know, different,” he said. Aly didn’t know if it was the shine of the light from the fluorescent lights in the living room, or if it was her wishful thinking magnified by their aloneness, but when he said the last part carefully, the way he looked at her seemed to suggest that he was talking about her.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” was all Aly said about it, looking calm and comforting while squealing inside her head. It was a good thing that the doorbell rang at that moment, or she would have found herself getting swayed even more.

“Are you expecting someone?” Aly asked.

John shook his head, “No,” he said as he stood up. “I’ll just go check who it is. I’ll be right back.”

After Aly assured him it was no trouble, he went out the door. It was a few seconds later, while Aly was taking a bite of the dessert he’d made, that he came back. Only, this time, he wasn’t alone.

“Look who decided to drop by,” John announced excitedly. To Aly's surprise, Danny stepped from behind him, holding a pack of beer in his hands. The smile he gave was as fake as one could be. She knew that she’d been caught, and she knew that he knew it.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said in a tone that may have sounded perfectly normal to the oblivious John, but Aly knew was dripping with sarcasm.