Page 115 of The Attraction File

“Is this yours, Evaleen? Did you really have this file in your office?”

Her eyes were wide with a pain so great I only remembered seeing it once before. Fifteen years ago. But Evaleen didn’t say a word. She didn’t deny any of it.

“Tell me it’s not true, Evaleen. Tell me they’re lying and somehow planted this in your office. Or someone planted it. Why would you have this?” I held it up in front of her face. She turned away and the only sounds out of her mouth were cries.

“You have the right to remain silent . . .” Detective Hardy began to read Evaleen her Miranda rights and pulled her away.

She stumbled but finally righted herself just before leaving Jacob’s office.

I slumped into one of Jacob’s office chairs, angry by what had happened. She fooled me. All this time I was trying to protect her from the bad guys and she was with them all along.

“I’m sorry, Edgar. I had to do this for the company.” My brother came over and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“But why, Jacob? Why would she do any of this? That’s what I’m having trouble with.”

Part of me, no matter the evidence, no matter her refusal to deny the Attraction file, still felt like something wasn’t right.

“I don’t know, Edgar. Maybe they got her too. I know Evaleen and she never struck me as someone who would be the criminal type. Perhaps someone got to her and threatened her? I’m sure when this plays out in court we will find out the truth.” My brother wouldn’t look me in the eye.

But the hack wasn’t that big. About a month after Ashton went missing I figured out who had been compromised.

“But only two customers had been targeted. We reached out to them and informed them what happened. I even told them what to do to secure their data and accounts. Everything is fine now. They aren’t pressing charges.”

Jacob walked over to the other chair and sat. “Edgar, this wasn’t about the hack. A man is dead because of her. Killed. And now they have to find whoever was involved.”

Hold up.

“But you told me it was a suicide. You never said anything about Ashton being murdered.”

It was obvious to everyone Ashton was killed but my brother kept insisting it was suicide. Why the change?

“Uh, I meant suicide. Driving a man to suicide, which is the same as killing him.” My brother stood and walked over to the wall of windows, refusing to face me.

“Why don’t I believe you, Jacob? I discussed Ashton’s death with you several times, even mentioning that I think he was killed but you insisted it was suicide.”

He wouldn’t turn. The image of the detectives laughing as they came out of his office last week kept running through my head.

“Is this some sort of set up, Jacob? Are you framing Evaleen for maybe something you did?”

I stood just as he turned. His eyes wide as he waved his hands in front of him. “No, Edgar, it’s nothing like that.”

“But it is something. Goddamn it, Jacob, she’s pregnant. You had a pregnant woman arrested for something you are trying to hide.” I ran to him and grabbed his arms. “Tell me right now what is going on. I love her. If anything happens to her you will have that on your conscience.”

I was shaking him now. But I didn’t care. I hated what he had done to her.

“Edgar, please stop. Stop and I’ll tell you.”

I did as he said and my brother ran his hands through his hair to collect himself.

“We’ll talk, but not in here.”

Jacob walked to his private office bathroom and took out his key. It was locked at all times as only he used it. He even insisted on cleaning it himself, not letting anyone inside. I thought that was weird but he once told me it was the only place in the world that was his, and his alone.

He opened the door and based on how secretive it was, I expected porn magazines and pictures of naked women on the wall. But there wasn’t any of that. There were framed posters on the wall, but they were of superheroes and even some villains. Growing up I knew my brother liked comics and was a bit of a nerd with it; he even once saved up to go to a comic convention in town.

But what I saw in this bathroom blew me away. A rack of comic books lined the wall, Action figures on shelves. Even the towels were comic book themed.

“Nerd.” I pretended to sneeze as I said it.

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