Trading Secrets. Christine Flynn

Trading Secrets - Christine  Flynn


Скачать книгу

      She gave a nod, still twirling the little piece of wood. “An associate’s degree usually only takes two years, but it took me three because I had to work full-time. As soon as I had it, I headed for Boston. My savings had just about run out when I got a job at Salomon in staff support.”

      “Staff support?”

      “I was a secretary,” she clarified. “They don’t call secretaries secretaries anymore. At least, not there.

      “Anyway,” she continued, now shredding away a bit of bark, “four years later, I’d worked my way up to administrative assistant to one of the company’s senior VPs. Then, a month ago,” she explained, going for the condensed version of her life to that point, “I found myself in the middle of a criminal investigation.” A piece of the bark fluttered to the step. “My boyfriend worked at Salomon, too,” she said quietly. “It seems that he had been using my computer to transfer rather large sums of other people’s money into his own bank accounts.”

      “That’s where the detectives came in,” Greg concluded.

      “About six of them. Part of them were at the city level. Brent had apparently taken some office equipment home with him, too, so there were theft charges against him along with the federal ones for embezzlement and I can’t remember what all else.”

      The federal investigators had been the most frightening for her to deal with. The city police detectives had backed off on her once they’d realized only Brent had company property and how little of it there was. It had been over three weeks before the federal investigators had let her go, though, and then not until what had seemed like a dozen people had asked her the same hundred questions.

      “I hadn’t known anything. Nothing,” she insisted. “But no one would believe me.” The strain clouding her expression slipped into her voice. “I obviously hadn’t even known the man I’d dated for over two years.” Which was just a few months shy of how long his little scheme had been going on.

      She couldn’t believe how hurt, foolish and betrayed she felt. The emotions sat like a rock in her chest, making it hard to breathe at times, making every breath she took remind her of how easily she had been taken in. She’d been a kid from the backwoods, easy prey as far as a man like Brent Collier had been concerned. A trusting innocent armed with nothing more than a hunger to experience sophistication and excitement and no experience at all swimming with sharks. But what she felt more than anything else was anger at herself for the naiveté that had allowed her to be charmed by a man who’d wanted nothing but to use her.

      “I’d even saved myself until I was twenty-three, waiting for the right man, and he’d just been using me in bed, too.”

      She gave the stripped twig a toss. It was only when Greg reached over and handed her another one to peel that she realized she’d spoken her last thought aloud.

      The admission brought color to her cheeks—and a look of sympathy from the man beside her.

      He had to think her truly pathetic. Wanting badly to mask the depth of how very hurt, used and betrayed she felt, she tried to dismiss the emotional slaughter as inconsequential.

      “Do you know what’s the real icing on this little cake?” she asked, able to mask everything but her agitation. “The investigators confiscated most of my possessions in case they’d been purchased with any of the illegal funds. They took my furniture, the great little paintings I’d collected at art fairs, and my television. They even took my clock radio,” she said, unable to imagine why they’d want something that had only cost $24.95 and would barely fetch five dollars at a flea market. “The only reason I still have my car is because I could prove I’d bought it before I’d met Brent. But you know what’s even worse than that? “I can’t get a job doing anything that requires references,” she fumed into Greg’s coaxing silence. “Even if I’d wanted my old job back,” which she hadn’t, considering how humiliating the whole scenario had been, “I couldn’t get it. I was fired. After the dust settled and I called my boss to change my status from having been fired to having quit, he informed me that the firing stood. He said that a person with access to privileged information should be a better judge of character than I was. If I was duped once, it could happen again.”

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEAYABgAAD/4RFURXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgABwESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEaAAUA AAABAAAAYgEbAAUAAAABAAAAagEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAUAAAAcgEyAAIAAAAUAAAAhodp AAQAAAABAAAAnAAAAMgAAABgAAAAAQAAAGAAAAABQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIDcuMAAyMDEzOjEy OjE5IDE4OjI4OjI2AAAAAAOgAQADAAAAAQABAACgAgAEAAAAAQAAAfSgAwAEAAAAAQAAAyQAAAAA AAAABgEDAAMAAAABAAYAAAEaAAUAAAABAAABFgEbAAUAAAABAAABHgEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAIBAAQA AAABAAABJgICAAQAAAABAAAQJgAAAAAAAABIAAAAAQAAAEgAAAAB/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEASABI AAD/7QAMQWRvYmVfQ00AAf/uAA5BZG9iZQBkgAAAAAH/2wCEAAwICAgJCAwJCQwRCwoLERUPDAwP FRgTExUTExgRDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwBDQsLDQ4NEA4OEBQO Dg4UFA4ODg4UEQwMDAwMEREMDAwMDAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDP/AABEI AIAAUAMBIgACEQEDEQH/3QAEAAX/xAE/AAABBQEBAQEBAQAAAAAAAAADAAECBAUGBwgJCgsBAAEF AQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAEAAgMEBQYHCAkKCxAAAQQBAwIEAgUHBggFAwwzAQACEQMEIRIxBUFRYRMi cYEyBhSRobFCIyQVUsFiMzRygtFDByWSU/Dh8WNzNRaisoMmRJNUZEXCo3Q2F9JV4mXys4TD03Xj 80YnlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vY3R1dnd4eXp7fH1+f3EQACAgECBAQDBAUGBwcG BTUBAAIRAyExEgRBUWFxIhMFMoGRFKGxQiPBUtHwMyRi4XKCkkNTFWNzNPElBhaisoMHJjXC0kST VKMXZEVVNnRl4vKzhMPTdePzRpSkhbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2JzdHV2d3h5ent8f/ 2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AKvqtpO9wJA0j4rSwup4gxa2uLg4FwiPMlZGUCaSGjcZGiEz1PRBaZD5II01 /dcxLKalfhT0nP2csY67A/8ATeqo6pgABpcHEfmgxoVo0WUmve6T3ZuMgTq122VwkvY0FzdTHeD/ AJq1a3WY9YcLN5IADNDz/VlVMswKvqeha3AD1p27cil1h26eDf8Aeo131bwZAM+H9yx/tQewAth4 MjaY0MH6H0v+krOP6Bc1xe5xOu0ggA+Ti73J8cuIirI6ap9uQGzv04Uw/e189mmFeZVjViC4k9/a vPfrL1nNtsswelue2nGZOU+olsucQ1ofY38yv/q1V6V9YsnAdVVl3WWVO9tjbDPp/wAtnKsCUAaB P0c+c5GVE/Wn1Wt2JEAkecIm7FGpePuH968/xvrt02x/pi11f7psZG4ePt3bVqDr7SzcK3OHOkce P9VPodDa0YuPUTt//9CjknbSXDQggzI/inocwVtJ8nPAMiHF2xsfyk3Uq7vslgYwlzoHhyfFVcGq 4VVvcwObb7LWkSQCfa5v7u3+UhzIF7jZ3/iM6zxqz6Y/3d5uzW5jQN1Lm7YDS5uojgu37/elZax7 muB9v7zo4P7iquyXkuDgRQHQNhGgHsdAbu2fmqBzTucXVAitw1LR7mu+hu2/nrK4STZ/O91sbJNN oUtc6Wn3Rva6Po/5yE6706nVtFjyT+jZUJeT/JZDvd/K+goHqDqrKq2t3Tw6SAY9z27SPdZ/X+gt PpN1Dcc5NzWY1mQ8tawnUxu2sb+c76Lnp+CMpzAl8vzX4RZL9JF0XPwaGUdNsZcTTk5JdRkVvAIN pf8AobLLWTZX6DPe799Vug/V2h+a7IveL/s94AaCPROkue57vdd6T/oMb+j/AOMV3q4zXZbasSxl bLBLy6BtI9vqMsPuY9rf3UqW9TxqzUa6zU6RW7UH3+6H/vKxPFkjGZidD/0f/QWucMbFxMuDr/3T x2fZinNyPs49JpscWtBBA1iGu/0f7n8hGxurZH6Ou6x7hQHGohxbA5LHu/d3Ld6z9XcjOqZZSzHx qcVm2ttbTLp2+p6u1u5rK2M/Q111/Tf+k/wli5v9mvrqPqse2SQHQWg7fzWFwUgyY546PlXVpezm x5SY7b2NIn6P/9GPVWVHpzxeS2q1zGktIB930Vl4lj6sZr/U9tTSHNI7gn2tlXPrDkGjo9lkNLQ6 oOkcS7vuXPYfULHNc0gNZZMgxAn92PoqDm4SMr6UHoM88ccgjP5q9JH6P7rftzRlbnt/RsH0myAZ PtkwFPFtEA3WbCXhr3cNIA9tm+FQrY6oOcG8eJ5BVik2glhEbxM86fS5+SrSiKIGzHAyB1Op7Oi+ 2uxra3Q4F23cRr/Jj93d/IW2wNqpq0g1NGnECPesCtjyWtG18OnaR2GnDf5K222eowFwlup+IA+j tSx8ERMS2kKtsWDvpaslrG5NdwdAI2uJ81s9Ny8dtGTa8BzbW+i0ATIIJs1PxYuYF9Ntfp2vdsEO mJJZy3+SruDm1ZuVXg0EtpEvtdy4tby3+s/6CfCc4w9oD1AkWfliGvMxMDGXU3pu7GD0m3NYwAmj DYINxEveeHemP+//AEELr3QXU4Tm1Xi2kAB9JEODR+4/d+9/Ie961znBlZc1u1oEMEaANG3a0LB6 vnWWQ4kgv07RHmiYYoQonXv/AFmHHLNLKCNI2NPB/9Kh9YKrMro11NTXPIcx0NaXfRO7T+yuexsN zMRgE/aXH9JWYBaJIcPd/Nv+h9NdbdXlX9ItoxQ5z3WbtrDDjDYdteS1vtZuVPOuxbcLCYywXZWJ R6eTlTItcbA+pu5388zDqbt9d/8AOf2EzmpGMqHSj

Скачать книгу