Chapter 5

The following morning I woke up hungry, and my whole body hurt. ‘Woke up’ was probably the wrong term, since I hadn’t really slept that well in the first place. My arm hurt whenever I moved. My left leg hurt and my back hurt. I should have been angry, but when I remembered what had happened, I just had to smile. The only drawback was that I had no food in my apartment. An hour later, I was inside my office. Only then did I realize that there was no way in hell I could get any breakfast from the diner across the street. To make things worse, I didn’t have my car here. My good mood started to evaporate as my stomach started growling louder and louder. Once Mrs. Bonner opened my door and saw me already there, she gasped.

“Oh my God! What has happened to you? I heard some disturbing rumors...”

I looked at her sternly.

“Mrs. Bonner! Not really your business. But as nothing here remains secret for very long, I may as well tell you that yes, I’m divorcing Caryn and I had a sort of confrontation with Sean Donaghue.”

I kept my gaze on her face while saying that, and even if it was only a fraction of second, her face betrayed her. Shit. Absolutely nothing really remains secret in a small town like this. I closed my eyes for a second and did my best not to show what I was really feeling. I just smiled at her.

“Besides, he’ll be resting in the hospital for the next few weeks. I’m sure that you’ll keep all that information between us at least for a while ... and there is another thing...”

I was interrupted by my grumbling stomach.

“ ... I’d be happy if you could arrange for me to have some breakfast. Maven’s diner on the other side of the road is probably not a very good place for me, right now.”

She looked like she was about to say something, but after a moment, she just nodded and returned to her desk. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing and pushing back the pain. I didn’t want to take any pain killers on an empty stomach.

To tell the truth, I didn’t get anything meaningful done before Mrs. Bonner brought me a huge sandwich and a big styrofoam cup of coffee. I said my thanks and smelled the coffee. I took a look at the sandwich, and I could feel my mouth water. I had managed to take one bite of the sandwich and one sip of the coffee, when Caryn rushed in, carrying Judy in her arms. Mrs. Bonner followed her in, but I just made a gesture for her to leave us and close the door.

“Are you hurt, Will?”

I looked - no, I stared at her, and she seemed genuinely worried.

“Just a bit, nothing serious.”

“I was so afraid that I couldn’t sleep...”

Only then did I recognize the dark circles around her eyes and the fact that she had problems standing. I stood up and took Judy from her with my right hand. Then I gently pushed her to the sofa and, once she was sitting, I managed to carry my coffee and the remaining sandwich to her. I guess that she didn’t really understand what was happening, but after a moment she started eating and drinking the coffee. She finished them while I held sleeping Judy with my right hand, sitting in my chair. She was about to say something, but I shook my head.

“You should rest now for a moment. I’ll come home after work today, and we’ll talk about things.”

“But...”

“No, you need to rest now. Otherwise, you can’t take care of Judy.”

It seemed that she wanted to argue, but instead she just closed her eyes and almost immediately was asleep. I held the equally sleeping Judy in my lap, and stared at my computer screen - I didn’t have the guts to look at the sleeping girls. I wanted to close my eyes, but right now I couldn’t. I wanted to ... Right now I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, but I knew what I needed to do - and that couldn’t be helped. After an hour and a half, Judy started to stir. I started walking slowly around, and she calmed down for another half an hour. Once she let out her second little cry Caryn’s eyes snapped open.

“I think she is getting hungry.” I then carefully gave Judy back to Caryn. When our gazes met, I made sure that my face didn’t give anything away. After all, I would still be divorcing her.

After shutting down my computer, I left Caryn feeding Judy. I looked for Mrs. Bonner and gave her a twenty.

“Mrs. Bonner, please see that Caryn gets something more to eat. I’ll take a cab to go get my car.”

The cab driver looked at me and tried some small-talk, but after getting a few two-lettered replies he finally understood that I really wasn’t in the mood for talking. Once I was sitting in my car, I was happy for the very first time that this car was an automatic instead of a stick.

After a one-hour drive, I had to stop for breakfast, but after that, I was feeling a bit better. I finally took a single painkiller - or half of the amount prescribed to me. Intellectually, I knew that it was needed for healing, but I needed to remain sharp for a while.

It took me another hour and a half, but by then, I’d had a meeting. I agreed with a security company that they’d follow me this same evening. They’d start their security audit of our bank immediately, and they promised to work the whole night, if needed. After that, they would check the system installed in our home. Possible legal actions would depend on their findings, but I was almost sure that there would be some major problems.

Mrs. Bonner and the other ladies were dumbfounded when I came back with four serious-looking guys in tow. They were shocked when I told them that every one of them should leave their workstations open at the end of the day, since it was against anything we had done before. Besides that, they all were asked to keep this secret, for a while. Once I retreated back to my office, Mrs. Bonner followed me there.

“Mr. Hart ... William. I know it is not my business, but...”

Whoa! All it took to make her start using my first name was to start divorce proceedings. I had no problems trying to sound annoyed and angry when I interrupted her.

“Mrs. Bonner! You have it right, it’s not. Not at all. But I can assure you that I’ll be there helping her with Judy until Caryn gets things under control.”

Even if I’d tried something else, my voice was only tired. Nothing else but tired. Luckily, Mrs. Bonner just nodded and left me there. I spent the next hour working and making sure that the new disposable phone I had purchased was charged. I was quite sure that my normal cell phone wasn’t being tapped, but there was no point in risking things now.

I was ready to leave when the top guy of the security company asked me to follow him. To my surprise, he didn’t show me anything, but he just asked me to follow him all the way outside before turning to me.

“Look, I hope you don’t mind, but I made contact with a friend of mine who is a Fed. In fact, it turned out that they are already sending some guys this way, and they only added two more specialists to the team. I’m sorry, but I had to do it because of what we found.”

“The security company?”

He just nodded, and I sighed.

“I guess that I need to contact my superiors, and let them know that there will probably be some unavoidable legal actions. Damn, this really isn’t needed, now.”

“It seems to me, that right now they were only collecting information. I’d almost guess that you are not their only victims so this may even turn good for you.”

“I sure hope so.”

My arm still hurt so I had no problem looking grim even though I wanted to laugh for joy. It seemed that the dominoes had already started falling. I turned to him.

“Look, do you really need me here? I’m starting to feel a bit exhausted, and my wife is alone at home with a small baby...”

“No, I guess that I’ll see my friend once he arrives some time later in the evening. I can tell him why you contacted us, and show him the copies of the papers.”

Well, I didn’t lie to him. I’m still married to Caryn.

A hour later, I was back at home - just like the day before. I could only hope that the response wouldn’t be the same, as one broken arm and aching muscles was quite enough. I stopped and sat at the top of my steps, and checked my disposable phone with a few text messages. While resting there, I also picked Sean’s phone from behind the pot, and put it in my pocket. Before opening the front door, I just stood there for a moment longer, taking some deep breaths and calming myself. It should not be this difficult, since I had made my decision for a very good reason. I opened the door.

Caryn was sitting in the living room feeding Judy. I nodded to her, retreated to the kitchen and started emptying the dishwasher. Shit, this was going to be even more awkward than I had imagined. Luckily, I was able to remain quite busy by taking care of several things in the house and by making some dinner for both Caryn and me. Caryn and me - not us. Even though I knew it was something that was needed to happen, the thought saddened me.

We ate dinner in uneasy silence, but after clearing everything away, Caryn turned to me.

“Will, I’m...”

I lifted my hand and she stopped mid-sentence.

“Caryn, I know you’re sorry, and you didn’t want him to hurt me. I only wish that you could have trusted me, and believed in me when I said that I’m not afraid of bullies. I don’t hate you, and I’ve no intention of leaving you high and dry with Judy. I want to give you the possibility of moving away from here and getting a fresh start.”

It took her a second to understand what I had said to her, but she turned away from me as soon as she understood. But not fast enough to prevent me seeing the tears in her eyes. The rest of the evening was spent in silence while I somehow managed to handle Judy with one working hand and the fingers of my left hand. Before making myself a bed in the empty bedroom next to our old one, I warned Caryn that there would be some security company guy coming the following morning.

Judy woke up only once during the night, and I was able to lift her to Caryn and change her into a dry diaper afterwards. Only this time, I didn’t watch Caryn feed Judy; I waited outside the bedroom. I was awake early in the morning, and I prepared breakfast and coffee. A few times, Caryn looked like she was about to say something but every time she hesitated and remained silent. After the third time, two things happened almost simultaneously: Judy woke up hungry, and my phone rang.

While Caryn was getting Judy, I was talking to Lieutenant Johns who asked me if I could be able to visit the station in order to give my official statement. I promised to do just that. Caryn was back with Judy while I was already struggling inside the shower. There was no time to really talk to her, since the security company guy appeared just before I left. I gave him the schematics of the system the company had installed, and asked him to check if they worked as they should.

My visit to the station was almost anticlimactic. The Lieutenant checked and confirmed all the facts once again, but I could see that his thoughts were running somewhere else. All that I could see out of normal was a glimpse of a guy in a suit - which was supposed to be nothing extraordinary, but everything in the guy screamed: federal authority. Even if it wasn’t yet public, it was clear that something was going on in our little town. When I was able to get to my bank, I noticed a sign at the door that said:

‘The Bank is suffering some network problems. Therefore our service times may be longer than usual. We apologize for the inconvenience.’

I raised my eyebrows while opening the door and searching for Mrs. Bonner. She was by my office door talking to another guy in a suit. There were also two security company guys doing some cabling work and a few customers. As soon as I was inside, Mrs. Bonner pointed me to the guy in suit and he approached me.

“Mr. Hart?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good. Look, I need to talk with you about the ... networking issues you have. As there is someone working in your office would it be possible to discuss it somewhere else, like in the diner across the street?”

I winced. “Anywhere but there.”

He looked at me questioningly. I sighed.

“Look, I just started divorce proceedings, and my wife works - or worked there. Right now I wouldn’t like to drink the coffee they would serve me; which is too bad, since their coffee was excellent.”

“Sorry to hear that. On the other hand, if you don’t mind joining me in our temporary office, I can probably send someone to pick up the coffee - incognito.”

“I don’t mind that at all.”

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in a nondescript office in a building just outside the town limits. On it were signs claiming office space was for rent. The good thing was that I had a cup of good coffee in my hands. The bad thing ... well, we were still waiting for one more Fed to arrive, and I probably wouldn’t get any work done today. After another fifteen minutes, I could hear some voices coming from the entrance and two new men in suits entered the meeting room.

I was soon introduced to the newcomers as Mr. William Hart, the bank manager. The guy from the bank - an Agent who never told me his name - explained that it seemed clear that the security company that was supposed to protect our bank had, in fact, installed some extra surveillance there. Long story short, they were spying on my office and our internal network. Their initial interest had been re-awoken when someone from our police station had made a query about old Mr. Hanson, the former manager who had disappeared, and who was still a ‘person of interest’. After a call to our police station, some agents were ready to return to town. The level of their interest only rose when the security company contacted them because of their findings.