Page 31 of Tell Me the Truth

I had memorized the name of the correctional facility from when the inmate call was announced, so I grab my jacket and head down to the parking lot. I get into my car and head out of the city, to where Tracey Devina is being detained.

Inside the facility, I am brought to a visitor’s room where I will speak to Tracey using a phone on the wall. A thick pane of clear fiberglass separates the visitors from the inmates. I hear the long, loud buzzing sound from the doors on the prison side before they open.

Part of me wonders if this will all be for naught, but I figure there is no going back. And I need to get to the bottom of it—all of it. If there is anything Tracey can add to the story, then I will be open to it.

Tracey walks through the door on the other side of the partition and sits in the seat opposite me. She is wearing a grey tee shirt and grey pants that are cinched at the waist. I take the phone out of its berth on the wall, and so does she.

“At first, I didn’t think you had it in you to show up … but then I remembered you were once a Marine. You must have seen way worse than a ladies’ correctional facility.” Her attempt at humor or a compliment pass by unappreciated.

“Why did you ask me to meet you here today?” Impatient, I don’t plan to exchange small talk with her. I need answers and I don’t intend to stay with her here for long.

“Hmmm.” It looks like she is thinking about what she wants to say next. Like she wanted to see me face-to-face so that she can decide whether I am worthy of hearing what she has to say, and now she may not be so sure. Then she glances left and right to make sure no one else is listening in before turning back to me. She looks different from the person whose headshot I had seen on the Seth BioTech website, like a thin mask has been peeled off her demeanor.

“I need you to get me out of here,” she whispers into the phone.

“Now why exactly would I do that?” I ask, almost laughing at her absurd demand.She has to be joking.

She chuckles. “Because my interests align with yours. Everything I did was for your benefit and that of your company.”

“First of all. You needed money for your mother’s medical bills, and you skimmed some for yourself. Secondly, I don’t know you. And, I definitely never asked you to do anything for me.” I hope I made that clear. I don’t know whom she was working with, but from what she’s saying, I’m guessing that she thinks whoever got her to set the lab fire had done so on my behalf.

She shoots me a look like she has made a mistake calling me in the first place. “What the hell are you talking about?” She asks me. An incredulous look spreads across her face, and it is that brief moment when I think that I notice a look of confusion or maybe it is shock. She then places the phone back in its berth and calls the guard to take her back.

Her last question sticks around and causes me confusion.What did she mean, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’As I walk back to my car, I get the ominous feeling that none of this is even close to being finished.

Chapter Twelve

Alexandra

Thursday

When Ellis calls to tell me that he wants to meet me and talk in person, my heart races and my stomach twists in somersaults. It is a strange time for me to get the butterflies over a man, when my lab was just destroyed, and my closest co-worker was arrested for setting the fire.

I chalk it up to being overwhelmed with emotions and give myself some grace to feel whatever the hell I am going to feel.

After all, insurance will cover the construction of a new lab. Brent-Sigma will no longer be a threat since they would be the first to be suspected of shady dealings. The connection to Tracey, though circumstantial at best, would be enough to put their corporate activities under the microscope. And, I am positive that is the last thing they want.

The files that I had downloaded to an external hard drive three days earlier are instrumental in ensuring that we won’t lose more than a few weeks in the research that we are doing. I can just load any data that is missing and redo the tests that were started before and destroyed in the fire.

Plus, I now have proof and know that Ellis had nothing to do with the fire. In fact, he has done everything he can to help with the investigation. And everything else he told me, besides omitting his last name for the first two days, was the truth.

“Let’s meet at the coffee shop,” I tell him. And about 20 minutes later, we do.

When I see him walk up, I feel giddy with how his emerald eyes shine when they look back at me. They sendme a simple spark. The same spark that sent my toes curling at this same coffee shop just three days before.

I reach my hand out to him, palm up and fingers spread. An amazed look appears on his face. The look shows that he temporarily questions whether he understands my intent. But he grabs my hand, and I start walking. He follows my gait, next to me on the sidewalk.

Together, we walk and talk. First, about holding hands, walking together in public, and where our relationship will go from there. I let him know that I meant it when I said I believed his feelings for me and that I am open to seeing where it all leads. And that since he had nothing to do with the fire, there is nothing I have to forgive him for.

When I tell him that I want us to date, in the open, and without regard to who might photograph us or write an article, he is elated. I know that makes him feel as light as it makes me feel, as he takes me in his arms in the middle of the sidewalk and spins me around, kissing me with joy and exhilaration. We have nothing to hide.

I feel that it could actually strengthen my company’s position for Ellis and I to be seen in public, rather than caught sneaking around. If a reporter has a question about Seth BioTech’s intentions with any other company, they won’t have a problem finding me and asking me directly.

Then we talk about the fire, Tracey, and his suspicions that there must be a connection somewhere within Brent-Sigma. But, since he doesn’t have proof of any connection, he can only wait until his private investigator gets back to him.

We agree that we should continue our separate investigations and that we’d keep our eyes on the lookout for other conspirators.

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