Chapter 7

“Eric? I’m not sure what you’re hoping to accomplish right now, but I can assure you that my daughter is not in the mood to talk with you.” Glaring at the dejected man standing at her doorstep, Elizabeth Sterling was ready to slam the door in his face.

“Please,” Eric countered. “I know she hates me right now. I understand that the situation is so twisted and confusing. I just want to see if we can figure out what happened and why.”

“What happened is you came in, at Gold Mine, under false pretenses and seduced my daughter for your own twisted desires, laughing to yourself, and setting her up for this false accusation and breaking her heart. As for the ‘why’ part? Only you know. But I will let you understand that my husband went and purchased a new box of shotgun shells earlier today and wrote your name on it with a marker pen!”

“Mom? Can you go get Ruth from school? I will talk with Eric.” Seraphina came down the hall in jeans and a hoodie. “But I don’t want you anywhere near her. So if you want to talk, we do so at the park. Go. I will be there soon.” She looked at him with a mix of contempt and pain. “It’s at the corner of Wenderos Way and 19th street. Find a bench not too close to anything so we can talk in private.”

Eric nodded and turned to walk to his car.

“You wanted to talk? Okay. Talk.” Eric looked up at Seraphina as she sat down on the park bench next to him and focused her gaze at the distant line of trees.

“Please, you need to believe me. When I first came into Gold Mine, I was NOT looking to create chaos. There were some financial irregularities and I was sent to find out why. And having you caught up in all of this shocked the hell out of me!”

“You do understand that even when I’m cleared of these accusations, I’m pretty much persona non grata with any dealerships I apply to work at, right? Who would take that risk? So, thank you Eric, for pretty much destroying a career that I have enjoyed for a long time. Because I sure don’t see me returning to Gold Mine. Not after that public humiliation yesterday!”

Indeed, as Jeff had escorted Seraphina to get her purse and then quickly out to her car, word started spreading with all manner of possible rumors. Zoe had looked up, stunned and asked what was going on. Looking at her friend, Seraphina shook her head and said “We can talk later.”

“Don’t say that! I’m certain that once we know all that is happening, and you’re reinstated at the office, this will quickly be a distant memory.” Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Look, I’m not even sure I should be talking with you right now because of all this, but I can’t live with myself because I know you are innocent, but there is evidence that says otherwise. The reason I was brought in is because the company I work for is looking to buy Gold Mine. They want to expand from central Oregon into California. They noticed some irregularities and wanted me to find out what was going on. There were only a few people who knew this, Jeff was one of them, and you must believe that you were the last person I thought would be a concern in all of this!”