Minnesota

Epiphany

The Minnesota branch of Praeda Inc. was located downtown. Regina purchased the entire block of decrepit buildings in the last financial bust. The previous owner, mere weeks away from foreclosures, gladly took her cash offer. The best way to get rid of extra cash no one is supposed to know about.

            Steve pulled the rental car into the parking lot of their office building. “How much did the Magician fleece us for this one?” He gleaned at the solid window and steel construction. The ‘Magician’ was a man named Arwyn, from the Isle of Man, or so he says. He had a habit of appearing out of nowhere, ready to orchestrate the erection of a new masterpiece. No one knew if the degrees in architecture, mathematics and physics were really his or if he conjured them up, like he did everything else.

            Regina shrugged. “Does it matter? It’s all cash that needed a hiding place. Arwyn was more than happy to take it. His usual fee, plus 5%, for inflation.” She laughed. “Besides, he does excellent architectural work. He knows how to motivate contractors to work within the necessary guidelines.” She said the last word with emphasis; code for ‘they’ll work for cash and promise to only report a nominal amount and pocket the rest’.

            Steve laughed. “That and the fact that, somehow, he always knows which local politician has specific needs and can be convinced to give us the documents we need.”

It was late Saturday night. The parking lot was empty, and no guards were scheduled to be on duty. Guards weren’t there to guard the property, anyways. Their duty was to keep an eye out for employees and to monitor visitors.

Steve and Regina made their way to the employee entry. Steve keyed in his security code. The door opened with a low hiss. They entered into a small foyer, closed off by another security feature. Steve swiped his fingerprint and an automated voice prompted him to for voice verification.

“Is there anyone else on this premise?” He asked after the security system cleared him.

“Yes, Mark Praeda is in his office.” The tinny voice replied. It was supposed to be an authoritative male voice, but Zee, another magician but of the technical persuasion, couldn’t stop fiddling with it. Steve, however, couldn’t care less about the voice. To him, it only mattered that it was state-of-the-art, and that Zee had immediate, real-life, control. All notifications went directly to the central app on Zee’s and his phone. It’s how he knew Mark was here.

Steve motioned to the stairs, and they made their way to the executive officers’ floor. They stopped at an oversized steel door. Steve leaned in, nodded to Gina and opened it.

The office was large, the stereotypical corner office, with wall-to-wall steel-framed shelves, wood floors, leather furniture in one corner, a large desk in the other. The floor to ceiling windows overlooked Minneapolis. This office, like all executive offices at Praeda Inc., had a man-sized wall safe, hidden by drywall and decorative paneling. Standard office policy.

The safe was open, Mark stood next to it. Laptops, I-pads, notebooks and dozens of phones littered around him.

            “What are you doing? “Regina hadn't been sure of what to expect.

            Mark waived his hands. “It’s nothing, just cleaning up.” She moved toward him, reached down and picked up a basketball sized red velvet bag. She glared at him, opened the bag and let the content fall on to the floor. She knew from the sound of metal hitting the wood floor what it was. Trophies.

            Regina felt her face warming as she bent down and picked up a single ring. A small gold band with a distinctive yellow stone in it. A woman’s ring. Her body temperature went from warm to ice cold.

            “Personal effects? Oh my God.” She turned her hand and the ring fell to the floor.

            Mark stood there, wringing his hands, his mouth open, his tongue profusely licking his lips. “Auntie, please, I wouldn't have brought this here, but I need to get rid of it and I ...”

His stammering stopped when she struck him across the cheek.

            Regina seethed at him through clenched teeth.  “I don't care; you don't piss into your food dish. Why do I feel like I’m talking in a foreign language to you? Does anything penetrate your brain? Steve, tell him what we found at his house.” Mark’s head snapped in Steve’s direction, who, until know, had remained near the door, silently waiting for his partner to finish.

            “House?” Mark squeaked.

            Steve’s smile and the predatory way he moved across the room made it clear - payday had come. Steve motioned Mark to sit down. Regina watched as Steve sat on the table in front of Mark, padding his leg.

            “We know everything. We watched the video feeds. We skimmed through your online activities. We found your personal porn page on the dark web. And, we know you had something to do with that little pervert that got killed a couple of days ago.”

Mark glanced back and forth, his tongue continuously wetting his pugilistic lips. Regina knew her nephew was trying to buy time, find an excuse.

            Steve didn’t give him time. “I could go into a long and boring explanation on how I know these things. But I don’t feel like it.” Steve clapped his hands. Mark flinched. “Needless to say, the girl that made the news recently is featured on one of your recordings. Your voice is very clear as you cheer on pervy-boy Duane while he rapes her. And yes, I know it’s Duane, because I saw his dumb face at the fencing event.” Steve leaned forward, nose to nose with Mark’s. “What I don’t know is if you posted the video to the dark web, yet.”

            “You’re lying, my computer system is hack proof, not even that whore …” Mark whined. Steve sighed, leaned back and slapped Mark across the face, twice.

            “Telling everyone that you are a computer genius doesn’t make you a computer genius.” Steve lectured him. He waited for Mark to say more. He didn’t.

            Steve leaned in again. “I don’t need you to answer me. I didn’t care who killed that hooker two years ago in Seattle. And I don’t care if you killed anyone here. Personally, I think everyone is responsible for themselves. If they can’t keep themselves alive, not my problem.”

He sighed, pushed away from Mark and stood up. “I do care that your actions draw attention. You put your family at risk. You put our operation at risk. And that, I will not tolerate.”

Steve pointed toward the hardware on the floor. “Zee is at the house with a cleaning crew. Her orders are to find out what she can. Then, destroy everything. For now, this loot goes back into the safe until Zee gets here.”

Mark shook his head. “No. This is my work. You have no right to make these decisions.” Mark looked at his aunt. “Gina, say something, you can’t let him bully you like this. He’s just a cleaner, if it weren’t for you, he’d be …”

Regina lifted her hand, motioning him to stop talking. “I swear, another word and I’ll muzzle you.” He still believes that Steve got his place in this company because he sleeps with me. Mark really doesn’t know how to handle people. She sighed, realizing Steve had been right all along. Mark was a predator, only interested in satisfying his urges.

Hands on her hips, she rendered her judgment against Mark. “As of right now, you are locked out of the system. You will stay here, wait for Zee and you will comply with everything she, or Steve, needs to know. Then, you’ll be accompanied to Canada. And you will stay there until I say otherwise.”

            Mark opened his mouth to protest, but Regina walked past him. On her way out, she slammed the door shut with such force that the sole picture on the wall shook.