Tell Me Carter

Chapter 8: Jacob

On the​ ride home, I quickly send Carter an email to let her know she's still expected at work tomorrow. “Hey Reg,” I say. “I’ll drive myself to the office tomorrow. Please pick Ms. Cadwell up at 9AM.” “Sure thing, ” he says as we pull up to my building. “See ya later boss!”

I take the elevator up and my thoughts are still on Carter. If only we hadn't been interrupted by her neighbor. “Jakey...” My thoughts are broken by a female voice. I cringe as I realize who it belongs to. “What are you doing here, Tammy?” She is wearing a very tiny blue mini dress. She is petite and blonde with green eyes. “You said you would call, ” she says in a pouty voice that’s annoying. “I will--when I want to see you!” She takes a step back and then says, “I’m here now. I thought you might want some company.” That's what I get for bringing her back to my place. “I’m good. I have to get up early,” I say. “Oh, come on, it's still early. Invite me in for a drink, ” she says--again with the whining.

“Tammy, I don't want to be rude, but this is not happening. I told you I'm a one night guy. I don't do repeats. I need you to leave.” She storms away and I finally enter my home. I need a shower, a strong drink, and sleep. My phone buzzes. “f**k you Jake! You could've got me a cab home!” I'm guessing that’s Tammy but I never saved her number. I don't bother responding.

The next morning

I arrive at the office at 5:00AM. Being that I haven't actually worked in the building in years, it takes me a minute to get settled into my office. I go over some reports that Jack emailed to me and review some plans for a property being built. I send an email to my assistant, Penny, to let her know the plans for the day. She's probably awake now but I would never bother her this early. Penny was a friend of my parents. I hired her after husband passed away. She did me a huge favor cause after the situation with the cunt I was fine with never having another assistant. I remember her laughing and saying, “Jacob Elliott, I am too old. I can barely spell computer and you want me to use one!” That was five years ago.

There's a knock at my door. “Come in Lawrence,” I say. “How did you know it was me?” he says flashing a knowing smile. “Only you or Jack would knock on my door this early. We both know it's too early for him. How can I help you?” He clears his throat, “I know you have the entire prep team coming here for your interrogation, but think we have already figured out the person responsible for last night’s umm...video..or should I say interruption.” Lawrence is blushing at this point. I decide to give him a minute to catch his breath. “Was it the guy in the video?” I ask. “I expected it to be him too” he says. “I think she planned it that way.”

“She?” I can feel my heart drop into my stomach. Please don’t let Carter be involved in this. She doesn’t seem like the type to garner pity to get ahead but sometimes people surprise you. “Good Morning!” Jack bellows as he enters my office. “It’s just about 6. Everyone is in the conference room as you requested.” “Lawrence was just about to tell me what he found,” I say bringing Jack up to speed.

“As I was saying,” Lawrence continues. “I think she planned this thinking that we would automatically implicate the male in the video. I consulted with a friend of mine and from what we can tell the video was uploaded from the IP address of her PC.” “Is there anyway she could’ve been framed?” I ask—still processing this. I’m in shock. “I guess that’s a possibility but we will not know until we question them both,” Lawrence responds. “Umm, did I miss the name?” Jack questions. “I know I got here late.”

The phone rings and I move to answer it. “Yes, we’ll be right there.” Lawrence and Jack give me a quizzical look. “Apparently, there’s chaos in the conference room. So Lawrence, who’s the culprit?” I ask. I steel myself against the blow. Lawrence responds, “The video appears to have been uploaded from an IP address associated with a Pita Andrews.” “Who?” asks Jack. “Ms. Andrews has only worked here a little over a year. She started in our mailroom and worked up to an administrative assistant position.” Lawrence sounds like he’s presenting her as a candidate for employment. I scoff, “Well that’s all over now. If she did this, she’s fired!”

The three of us head to the boardroom where everyone is gathered for this morning’s meeting. At first, I don’t see our suspect but she saunters up to me and says, “Good Morning! We met last night, if you can call that a meeting.” She is dressed in skin tight jeans and a snug blouse that she’s made sure to unbutton just enough so that her cleavage is on display for everyone. She’s definitely an attractive woman. Her skin is the color of toffee and she’s wearing red lipstick. She goes to shake my hand and I notice a small tattoo of a pink heart on her wrist. “Good Morning, Ms. Andrews,” I reply. I head to the front of the room to stand with Lawrence and Jack.