I had a moment of uneasiness. Did he know? Did he know about Nick and Lexi? About me and Nick? I could feel my face get warm and my heart was racing. This was crazy. I hadn’t done anything wrong. There was absolutely nothing suspect about my landlord introducing me to his sister and her hiring me to do design work for her.
Except Nick didn’t want anyone to know that Lexi was his sister or that he was paying for the work, and I definitely didn’t want anyone to know that I was sleeping with Nick. Fair or not, I knew it would damage my credibility in bringing in this client. I knew that I’d have gotten the job whether Nick and I had hooked up or not, but it wouldn’t appear that way from the outside looking in and there was nothing I could do to curb the speculation.
I glanced around the room. Everyone was watching me, some wanting to see how I handled Carson and others looking for an explanation.
Miguel glanced at Carson, looking irritated. He was about to say something but I jumped in, knowing that if I didn’t answer Carson, his question would linger in people’s minds. I was not about to let him sow seeds of doubt about me.
“I know, it’s crazy, right?” I asked. I decided to brazen it out. As has been noted before, I am a terrible liar so I stuck as close to the truth as possible. I forced a laugh and hoped it didn’t sound like I was choking on it. “Lexi and I have a friend in common who introduced us and we clicked. I guess it was sheer luck, being in the right place at the right time.”
Carson stared at me. He looked like he wanted to push for more details, but Sophie interrupted him.
“It was lucky for Vasquez Squared, that’s for sure,” Soph said. “But then Annabelle has always made connections so easily. I’m not surprised at all.”
She brushed a speck of lint off of her suit coat. Everyone was watching her, but I was looking at Carson, and I saw his eyes narrow with a blast of hatred that made me catch my breath. For the first time, I wondered if Carson’s problem wasn’t with me so much as it was with Soph.
The thought made me very uneasy, but not as uneasy as the summons I received later. Trent called me into his office just after lunch. I left the preliminary mockups for the logo for Lexi on my worktable and hurried to his office. I was feeling very connected to the project and had some ideas I wanted to flesh out before bringing them to the team, but when the business department called, I answered. This reminded me of why I had liked working for myself. No interruptions.
I knocked on the doorjamb and waited for Trent to call me into the room. He was seated at his desk, and a frown marred his usual jovial appearance. I wondered what was up.
“You wanted to see me?” I asked.
Trent waved me into the chair across from his. “Come on in, Annabelle, this should only take a moment.”
I sat, and Trent smiled at me, but I noticed it didn’t reach his eyes. I started to get a bad feeling.
“I just need to go over some expenditures with you,” he said.
“All right.” As far as I knew, I didn’t have any. We were all issued company credit cards for taking out clients, but I hadn’t used mine as yet.
Trent handed me a sheet of paper. I looked at it and blinked. It was an itemized list of expenses billed to the credit card that had been issued to me. The sum at the bottom made me gasp. It appeared I had charged over a thousand dollars’ worth of food and drink at several restaurants in Phoenix. Restaurants to which I had never been.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“This is your billing statement for the past few weeks,” Trent said. “Looks like you’ve been working the client connection hard.” He laughed as if trying to make light of it, but I didn’t return it.
“But I haven’t used my card,” I said.
Trent stopped laughing. “Are you sure? You’re not in trouble. It’s just that we try to keep the monthly totals to a quarter of what’s listed here, but with the client you’ve brought in, I’m sure Miguel and Sophie will be okay with it.”
I nodded. “Soph told me that when she gave me the card, but I’m telling you the truth. I haven’t used my card. Not once.”
Trent’s eyebrows drew together. He glanced down at the copy of the bill that was in front of him and said, “On March seventh, you weren’t at Durant’s on Central Ave?”
I shook my head. “I’ve never even been to Durant’s.”
“Oh, you should go,” he said. “It’s like walking back in time. You enter through the kitchen and the chefs all greet you. And the dining room is totally vintage with red leather booths, paneling, and red velvet wallpaper.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” I said. I glanced down at his desk and Trent glanced down, too.
“Right,” he said. “Okay, how about Tarbell’s on Camelback on March ninth?”
“Nope.”
“Pizzeria Bianco downtown on the thirteenth?”
“Never been there.”
“That’s a pity. You should check it out. Do you still have your card?” Trent asked.
“As far as I know, it’s in my wallet,” I said. “Do you want me to go get it?”
“Yes, please.”
I hurried from Trent’s office back to my own. I opened the door and rushed to my desk. Even knowing I hadn’t made those charges, I felt sick to my stomach. How could this have happened? Had I lost it? Had it been stolen? I opened my wallet. Sitting right in its place was the business credit card. I thought I might throw up.
I took the card back to Trent. Sheepishly, I handed it over and he examined it against the balance sheet as if he thought it was an imposter.
“It’s your card all right,” he said. He scratched his head as if boggled. It was clear. Somehow I’d been hacked.
“Annabelle, it’s not that I don’t believe you—” he began but I interrupted.
“But it seems weird since I’ve never used it,” I said. “How did someone get the number?”
“Good question. Do you remember where you were on those evenings?” he asked.
I tried to remember. “Home alone, out in the desert watching a meteor shower, and—” I paused. I’d been having mind-blowing sex with Nick on that third date. This was not something I planned to share for a variety of reasons. “Again, home.”
“Can anyone corroborate your whereabouts during those evenings?” he asked. He sounded hopeful then quickly clarified. “For the credit card company.”
“No,” I said. I was not dragging Nick into this. Full stop.
“It’s clear someone made fast and loose with your card, repeatedly,” Trent said, and sighed. “I’ll cancel this card and have them issue you a new one.”