“Of course,” he said. “Whatever you need, you know that.”
“I need records of a marriage to disappear off the face of the earth.”
The look on his face might have been funny if I was in an amused kind of mood. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand…”
I proceeded to tell him the story. I didn’t mention the embezzlement but I told him about Robyn’s marriage and the man’s blackmail. When I finished he said, “Oh dear, it sounds like he should be in jail.”
“That’s my next step,” Aaron told him. “I’ll be going over to One Police Plaza as soon as I leave here. “
The mayor was nodding, “Under the circumstances you’ve described… I may have a clerk who can take care of something like that for you. Meantime, I’ll call over to the police chief and make sure he helps you out however you need him to.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” I told him.
“I know you do,” he said. “This city appreciates all you do for it, I’m sure. You go take care of your lady and tell her she doesn’t have any paperwork to fear here in city hall any longer.” I thanked him again and shook his hand before I left. When I got back to the car I gave Jeffrey the address of our next stop, Hayley’s apartment.
I knocked on the door and I heard, “Who is it?”
“It’s Aaron Winters.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath and just that small sound was enough to make me feel awful. She was frightened of me, or at least what I had the power to do to her. I didn’t like that at all.
Hayley opened the door a crack and peered out at me. She looked like she’d been crying. Her eyes were swollen and her nose was red. “What can I do for you?” she said. “I spoke to an attorney and he said that I shouldn’t talk to any of you when he’s not present…”
“It’s okay Hayley. I’m here to do the talking. May I just have five minutes of your time, ple
ase?”
She still looked worried, but she stepped back and let me in the door. The place was small, but neat and tidy. I actually felt huge standing in the middle of her living room. She didn’t invite me to sit down however and I didn’t blame her.
“First of all Hayley I owe you a very large apology.”
“For?” She was looking at me, suspiciously.
“For accusing you of something that I have since found out you had nothing to do with. As a matter of fact, the money had just gotten moved somewhere else and no one had taken it at all. So from my heart Hayley, I am so very sorry for whatever you’ve been through the last couple of days.” She looked hopeful then as I went on, “I realize that you may not want to keep working for me after this, but I assure you if you do I will change your job status from “Paid Intern” to “Full Time Employee” effective immediately. I also have a check here for you,” I said, taking it out of my wallet. “In hopes that this might compensate somewhat for the humiliation of what you’ve been through.”
Hayley was looking at the check in my hand like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Finally she swallowed and said, “Thank you, Mr. Winters. I’m so glad you found out that it wasn’t me. I love my job there and I would love to keep it. I realize that everyone makes mistakes, and I heartily forgive you for yours. But as far as that check there goes, you don’t have to do that…”
“Please, Hayley. I know it seems like a bribe, but I’m not asking you for anything. I just want you to have it in order to ease my own conscience.” She looked at it again. I could see just in the room I was in that there were many things she could use it for. I didn’t doubt that she, like Robyn, had plenty of student loans to pay off.
She finally, shyly took the check from my hand. She looked at it one last time and now with tears in her eyes she said, “Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome. I’m so sorry.”
~
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
ROBYN
Aaron told me to stay home from work on Wednesday, but there was something that I had to do. I showered and made myself as presentable as I could after all of that crying the night before. I text Aaron then because I didn’t want to do anything to make things worse and I said, “May I go apologize to Hayley?”
A few minutes later I got a text back that said, “If you feel you need to. I told her it was an error in the accounting.”
“I won’t mess with the story. I will just take responsibility for the accounting error. I have to take responsibility for something. This was all my mess.”
The next text I got reaffirmed that he was the most amazing man on earth. It said simply, “I love you.”
I sent back, “I love you too. So much!”
I drove over to Hayley’s apartment and knocked on the door. She pulled it open and grabbed my arm, pulling me inside. She was smiling from ear to ear.
“Hi,” I said. “You’re happy.”
She giggled and said, “Aaron Winters… your boyfriend, our boss… he just came by here a while ago.”
I laughed, “Yeah, he said that he told you everything was taken care of now.”
“Yes, but he also handed me a check for ten thousand dollars. I told