Page 105 of Devil’s Disciples

The son-of-a-bitch probably started planning to rob me right after he swept me off my feet. I should have known better than to ever let my guard down. Confiding in him that I had the nest egg was a mistake I’d undoubtedly regret until the day I died.

Admitting now that I once loved him made me feel ill. Thoughts of my future reminded me of how bleak life would be without the interest income from my investments.

I owned a cute little shoe boutique. It was my pride and joy, but it produced virtually no revenue. The earned interest of my inheritance was my main source of income. Without it, living day to day – even in my modest home – would be impossible.

I stared blankly at him, waiting for something to change. For him to tell me that there was something left. A crumb. A few thousand dollars.

Something.

He stood and straightened his tie. “I’m sorry, Kimberly. I know Isaac and Janet are turning over in their graves about this.”

Fearing my legs wouldn’t hold me if I stood, I chose to remain seated. As he came around the corner of his desk, the sorrow he wore caused my stomach to twist into a knot.

“Whoever did this was a professional?” I pressed my forearms tight to my mid-section. “Someone who knew what they were doing? Someone who didn’t leave a trail?””

“Absolutely. It isn’t that they didn’t leave a shred of evidence, because they did.” He exhaled a long breath. “It’s more difficult than that. When the funds were turned to cash, all traceable activity vanished.”

I drew a slow breath, and then stood. After bracing myself on the arm of the chair, I met his sorrowful gaze. “The FBI can’t trace the cash?”

“They’ll try, but I have doubts they’ll do anything in a manner timely enough to recover the funds. Cases like this are always shoved to the back burner, so to speak.”

“To find this guy, a person would have to move quickly. Is that what you’re saying?”

His gaze narrowed. “For you to find him?”

I nodded.

“It would require more than moving quickly. It would entail finding a computer genius who was capable of hacking deep into the bowels of a financial network designed to thwart such activity. There’s a handful of such people. They’re either employed by the government, or they’re very anti-government,” he explained.

“A hacker?”

“A hacker who isn’t opposed to breaking the law. They’d have to search without warrants, or cause. The person in question would have to be a criminal with experience in manipulating funds. Not simply a criminal, a professional criminal.”

My mouth twisted into a smirk.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Do you know such a mastermind?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

Eager to find my money – and to bury the prick who stole it – I brushed the wrinkles from my dress and straightened my posture.

“Take your time giving the FBI any information they might need,” I said. “It’ll buy me some time. I may need it.”

“If you retrieve the funds before they do, there’ll likely be no prosecution for the crime.”

I chuckled a dry laugh. “If I catch this son-of-a-bitch, there’ll be nothing left of him to prosecute.”

43

Kimberly

When it comes to relationships, forever doesn’t mean forever. It means until something more exciting comes along.

For twenty years, Marvin promised that the day would come when things would be different. For nineteen of them, I believed him. Convinced that he was going to change, I lived hoping the next sunrise would bring with it a new life. One where I lived with the man of my dreams, not the one I was married to.

But change never came.

My fear of being labeled a failure prevented me from leaving him. Somehow comfortable in the awkward one-sided relationship, I accepted that I’d simply be alone throughout our marriage. That fear was replaced by anger when I found out he’d been cheating on me for two decades.