Prince Charming Wears a Badge (18 page)

“Sharon will cover for me during my break. There's a small lounge down the hall where we can talk.”

Tyler was surprised at Wendy's attitude, how cordial and accommodating she was being. She was dressed in purple scrubs, the obvious uniform for the employees at the clinic, from what he'd observed. She was also well-groomed, quite different than when he'd seen her at the community center or in the church parking lot.

She came through a door into the waiting room and he followed her to the lounge where there were three tables with plastic chairs at each. The small kitchenette had a refrigerator, a large sink and a single-cup coffeemaker. Currently, he and Wendy were the only occupants.

As soon as they were seated at a table across from each other, Wendy spoke. “So what did you want to ask me? I assume this is an official visit?” She gestured to his uniform.

“Yes, it is. I'd like to know about some checks that were written to the Pullman Corporation.”

He watched her face for a sign of guilt when she realized what he was talking about, but all he saw was relief.

“So you figured out what that email meant.” She stated a fact, not a question.

He looked at her, his eyes wide. “You sent the email?” He'd thought she'd gotten caught because someone else had figured out what she'd done.

She nodded, her lips twitching. “Yep.”

“So who wrote the actual checks?”

She hesitated. “You haven't read me my rights, so you can't use whatever I say against me, right?”

He considered his options. “If you cooperate and give me all the details, I'll see where we stand.”

She pursed her lips. “Look. I want my husband in jail. Steve's the guilty one. I'll do whatever it takes to get him there. But I can't get in trouble myself. I have a son to take care of.”

“And where is he since you moved out? Is he at the shelter with you?” Steve had thought he was at a friend's, but Tyler didn't consider him a credible source.

“No, he's staying with his friend. I talk to him every night and check in.” Her voice caught. “His friend's mother knows why I needed him to stay with them. She's taking good care of him.”

This was a very different Wendy than he'd expected. He had no explanation for her change of personality, but he preferred dealing with this Wendy rather than the one who'd threatened Callie.

Tyler took his notebook and pen from his pocket. “I'll need an address for your son since he's a minor. His name is Eric?” He looked up at Wendy and she nodded as she recited the address.

“Let's start at the beginning. Who wrote the checks to the Pullman Corporation?”

“It's kind of complicated,” she said. “Steve—my husband—was laid off from his job about seven months ago and we began having money trouble just living on my salary even after his unemployment kicked in. He came up with an idea to have the city pay a dummy corporation—he named it the Pullman Corporation—for services rendered. He wanted me to get the checks written. I tried to tell him that I didn't have access to checks, but he wouldn't listen. I told him we were sure to get caught, but he didn't give me a choice.” She twisted her hands and didn't look at Tyler as she spoke.

“What did you do?” From Wendy's nervousness and what he suspected about her marital situation, it wasn't difficult to figure out that Pullman had physically threatened and abused Wendy.

“Since I didn't work in the accounts payable department, I wasn't sure how to get a check cut. But Steve insisted that I figure it out.” She paused. “I casually knew someone in the department, so I began getting her to go to lunch with me and spending more time with me.”

“Did she agree to write the checks?”

“Oh, no. She has no knowledge of what happened. I began by asking about her job, making her think I wanted to transfer to her department when there was an opening. One day when she got distracted by a call on her cell phone and I was waiting for her to go to lunch, I saw a reimbursement form on her desk. It had been signed by both cosigners. I snatched the form then made a copy of it back in my office after lunch. The next day, I returned it to my friend's desk. She was none the wiser.”

“How did making copies of the form help you?”

“The signatures were from black stamps, so my copy looked exactly like the original. Then I just had to white-out the other information and I made copies. So about once a week, I would fill out a reimbursement form from the Pullman Corporation for whatever amount Steve told me. Then I'd sneak it into my friend's pile of reimbursement forms.” Wendy was being careful about not revealing the friend's name.

It sounded like the city's payment procedures needed a complete overhaul.

“And who opened up the post office box?”

Her eyes widened. “You know about that, too?”

“It wasn't difficult to find out once the checks came to light.”

“I guess not.”

“And to be clear, you wrote the email that led to this investigation?”

She nodded vigorously. “When no one figured it out right away, I had no choice. I thought everything I was doing was obvious, but apparently it wasn't. And I thought sending the email would also help the authorities realize I didn't want to be committing a crime.”

“You left your job a few weeks ago. Were you fired? Did someone discover what you were doing?”

“I wish I
had
been fired, but no one ever caught on to what I was doing. I never wanted to steal from the city and as long as I was in that job, I had to keep getting money for Steve.” She sucked in a breath. “I resigned. I gave no notice, just quit on the spot. Then I told Steve I got fired.”

“What happened then?” He prepared himself for the worst.

“He was mad,
very
mad, but not at me. He blamed the people I worked for. I told him I was fired for coming in late several times because of dropping our son off at school.”

“He believed you?”

“At the time.”

“And then you moved out and into the shelter?”

She shook her head. “Not immediately. It was the next day when he saw a text on my phone from my friend asking why I'd resigned.” She folded her hands on her lap and bowed her head. “I thought he was going to kill me. He'd never been that mad before. Sure, he'd hit me numerous times, but never like this. He usually chose body blows that wouldn't show in public. This time, he didn't care. Even when he nearly choked me to death.” Her voice became more and more quiet and she was shaking. “So I left as soon as I could after making sure my son could stay at his friend's house where he'd spent that night.”

“Did you see a doctor?”

She shook her head. “No. Just bruises, no permanent damage.”

Tyler continued to write in his notebook and flipped to a clean page. He looked up. “Is there anything else you'd like to add?”

She seemed to ponder that for several seconds. “Not that I can think of.” She hesitated. “I've cooperated and I was the one who reported the crime. I'm not going to get into trouble, am I?”

“Like I said, I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to the assistant state's attorney first thing Monday morning.”

She nodded sullenly. “Will you be arresting Steve?”

“I will if you'll go to the police station right after work today and sign an affidavit stating what you just told me. You'll also need to testify against him.”

Her eyes widened. “Testify in court? I can't.” She shook her head frantically. “He'll come after me. And next time he'll be sure to kill me.”

He'd made a promise when he took his job to protect and serve the citizens of Whittler's Creek. That included Wendy, no matter what she'd done. “I'll see what I can do about protecting you. For now, stay at the shelter until I figure out the next move.”

“Okay.”

“And one more thing.” He needed to take this opportunity to give Wendy a warning. “Stay away from Callie.”

She opened her mouth to speak and he held up a hand to stop her.

“No exceptions,” he said sternly. “I want you nowhere near her unless it's by her invitation. Is that clear?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I mean it. If I find out you've hurt her or caused her any more grief, I'll make it my mission to make sure you land in jail. I don't care if you were threatened into embezzling the money or not. Got it?”

“Yes.” She was acting uncharacteristically agreeable.

He gave her a questioning look. “You're sure?”

She nodded. “Being here the past week has opened my eyes.”

He wasn't sure what her cryptic words meant, but he'd seen a huge change in her attitude and appearance. “Okay. I'll be in touch. Get to the police station as soon as possible.”

When he reached his truck, he radioed one of his officers to give him a heads-up about the arrest. “Once Wendy Pullman signs the affidavit, pick up Steve Pullman and arrest him for embezzlement and attempted murder.” He recited Pullman's address and described the mobile home where he could probably be found.

There would be more charges once the ASA took over, but that would be enough to hold Pullman for now and Wendy would be protected from him.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

L
ATER
THAT
NIGHT
Callie was heading upstairs to bed when Tyler stopped her. “I need to ask a favor.” Before she could reply, he added, “I wouldn't ask if not for Alexis and Madison.”

That got her attention. “What is it?”

“I'm moving things into the house tomorrow and you had told the girls you'd help them set up their bedrooms.” He paused. “Is that offer still open? I can make up an excuse if you'd rather not.”

She pondered his request for a few seconds. She enjoyed the girls and this might be her last chance to spend time with them. “I'll do it.”

His demeanor went from rigid to relaxed. “Thank you.”

The next afternoon Callie laughed harder than she had in a long time. The girls were so excited about each of them having their own bedroom and their giggling soon became infectious. After their beds were assembled, she helped them put sheets on them, teaching them how to tuck in the corners properly. They moved on to unloading their books and stuffed animals, so Callie left them on their own while she went downstairs to begin unpacking kitchen boxes.

“Do you have a plan for how you want the kitchen set up?” she asked Tyler, who was attaching the legs to the kitchen table. Until now they'd successfully avoided each other.

He shrugged. “I don't know. You're probably better at figuring out what should go where than I am. The kitchen's not where I shine.”

She put her hands on her hips. “That was pretty sexist.”

“Whoa, whoa! I didn't mean it that way. I just meant I'm not into cooking. As long as I can find a bowl for cereal and a mug for coffee, then I'm happy. In fact, putting them right next to each other to make it easier for me would suit me just fine.”

“I'll do the best I can.” She turned her back on him to put plates into a cupboard, hiding her feelings about never coming back here to share breakfast with him.

Callie's phone began ringing. She pulled it from the back pocket of her denim shorts. She didn't recognize the number, thinking it was probably a robo call. She put it back into her pocket.

“Daddy!” Madison called from her bedroom.

Tyler stood to go to his daughter and Callie's phone made a sound to announce a message. She retrieved her phone from her pocket again and after Tyler left the room, she played the message.

“Callie, this is Wendy. I'd really like to talk to you about some things. Mostly about how I've treated you.” She paused. “If you're interested in meeting, please call me back at this number.”

Callie didn't know what to do. Should she tell Tyler? With the way things were with them, she'd feel awkward. Should she meet Wendy? Was Wendy setting her up?

She finally decided to tell Tyler, just so she'd have some kind of backup in case Wendy was planning something dangerous.

“Damn it! I specifically told her to stay away from you,” he said after Callie played Wendy's message for him. “What is she up to now?”

“You saw her?”

“Police business” was all he said.

“I know you wanted to talk to her about the embezzlement, but you can't tell me what she said?”

“Not yet.”

She understood, but it didn't help her make a decision about whether or not to meet Wendy. “So what do you think I should do? What if she's planning to hurt me when we meet?”

He seemed to consider it. “She seemed different—civil—when I saw her.” He shrugged. “I could go with you.”

She pursed her lips. “I don't know. Seeing you with me might scare her.” Would relying on him right now make it more difficult to leave him?

“Maybe she needs to be scared. Remind her that I meant what I said about not harming you.”

“That's true.” She looked at her phone. “Okay, I'll call her and arrange a time and place.” She hit the number on her phone, curious about Wendy's true reason for getting together.

Callie agreed to meet Wendy later that day.

“I can't come with you,” Tyler said when he heard what they'd planned. “I assumed you'd pick a day later this week. I don't have anyone to stay with the girls today.”

“It's okay. I'll be fine going alone.” She hoped. Besides, it was best that she do this on her own. It was too easy to rely on him and soon she'd be leaving him behind. “Just like you said about her yesterday morning, she sounded like a different person. She even asked about my dad.” She looked at Tyler with wide eyes. “Can you believe it?”

“I wouldn't if I hadn't talked to her myself.” He shrugged. “Maybe it has to do with her relief that this embezzlement thing is out in the open.”

“She explained it?” At his nod, she asked, “Will she be charged?”

“Just between us?”

“Of course.”

“I'd say probably not. If she's willing to testify against her husband.” Tyler checked his watch. “Turns out he forced her to do it.”

“Really? I guess she has no loyalty to him if he forced her to break the law.”

He seemed to hesitate as if weighing his next words. “Well, I guess you'll find out soon enough. Her husband has been arrested for both embezzlement
and
attempted murder.”

“Murder!” Callie was astonished.

“Attempted murder.”

Callie stared at him until he provided more information.

“He's been abusive to Wendy, which you know because she's in the shelter. For how long, I don't know. But the last time before she left him for the shelter, he nearly strangled her to death.”

Callie knew Wendy had been having a difficult time but never suspected it was this bad. She checked her watch. “I should go. We're meeting at the same diner where we met Norma.”

“Be careful. Don't let her talk you into going anywhere that's not public.”

“I won't. She seems changed, but that doesn't make me automatically trust her.”

“Good.”

Their eyes met and time stopped. More than anything, she wanted to slip into his arms and have him hold her. But that wasn't an option. They had no future, so why make things worse?

By the time Callie arrived at the diner, the sun was low in the sky but the oppressive heat from the day lingered. The moment she stepped into the air-conditioned diner, she saw Wendy seated in a booth and headed in her direction.

“Hi,” Wendy said when Callie was settled. “I'm glad you came.”

“I was surprised to hear from you,” Callie said in greeting.

Wendy nodded. “I know.” She was dressed in purple scrubs as if she had come from working at a medical facility. Her clothes were neat, her hair was clean and she even wore a little makeup. Completely different from the other times Callie had run into her.

Callie folded her slightly damp hands on the table and waited for Wendy to speak.

“I ordered a soda,” Wendy said instead of explaining why they were meeting. “Would you like something?”

Callie saw a server coming their way with Wendy's drink. “Could I have some water, please?” she asked the young woman when she reached their table.

After the server left, Callie decided she needed to take control since Wendy wasn't offering an explanation or even a single word as to why she'd wanted to meet. “Why are we here, Wendy?” Being forthright was how she'd decided to play it. Wendy had treated her poorly all their lives and Callie was through taking it.

Wendy looked up at the question but didn't meet Callie's eyes. “I've learned something about myself over the past few days.” She paused. “You've already seen me at the battered women's shelter.”

Callie nodded. She thanked their server when she brought Callie's water. “Go on,” Callie said when they were alone.

“There's a woman there who's downright hateful to all of us.” Wendy raised her hand. “I know, I know. It's what I deserve, right?”

Callie shrugged. “What does this woman have to do with us meeting?”

“She made me realize how I've treated you all these years. I heard the same things come out of her mouth that I've said to you numerous times.”

“And this was the first time you realized how mean you've been to me our entire lives together?” Callie had a difficult time believing that.

“It's true. Let me explain.”

“I wish you would.” Callie kept her hands on her thighs, opening and closing her fists as she became agitated. “I just have a hard time believing that hearing yourself in one woman's words actually changed you that much.”

“I understand your doubt. I don't know if it's just hearing that woman or maybe everything I'm going through right now, but I want to make changes in my life and in my attitude. The other thing that happened was when you were talking to the women about finances. You really cared and wanted to help them. That's when I began to question why I'd always hated you so much.”

“I'd love to know what I did to deserve your hatred.”

Wendy pushed her hair back from her face and took a sip of her soda. “You were born.”

Callie wasn't sure she heard correctly. “Did you say I was born?”

Wendy nodded. “Haven't you ever wondered why my mother treated you so horribly?”

“Every day of my life.”

“It's because she always hated that your mother had a child—you—with your father. My mother was in love with your dad from the moment they met in high school. But it was
your
mother he chose.”

“But our mothers were best friends,” Callie said. “At least, that's what I was always told. Your mother was my mother's maid of honor.”

Wendy nodded. “That's right. My mother swallowed her feelings when your parents married. But when your mother died in that carjacking, my mother wasn't about to let your dad get away again. According to what she told me in the last few years, she divorced my dad immediately and it didn't take long for her to get your dad to marry her. He couldn't remain a long-haul trucker with a three-year-old to take care of and no relatives nearby. So my mother filled the bill and she got the husband she'd always wanted.”

Callie was stunned. She'd never known that her stepmother resented her mother. “But I still don't quite understand. Why did your mother resent me even after she married my dad? She finally had what she wanted.”

“You'd think so, but no. She resented you because you were your father's child and her doctor had told her she'd never be able to have more children after me. I guess I was kind of a miracle baby. But what she'd always wanted was a child with your dad.”

Callie was beginning to understand her stepmother's screwed-up ideas. “That explains her resentment of me, but not why you've hated me all these years.”

Wendy looked down at her hands on her lap. “You have to understand. All my mother ever did was talk poorly about you. How you were needy and stingy and disagreeable. I wasn't even three when we came to live with you and Bart, so her hatred for you is all I knew.”

“So now I should believe that everything's different just because you've run into this horrible woman who treats people as poorly as you do? That you've had some huge revelation?”

Wendy sighed. “Like I've told you, I'm trying to make a new life for myself and my son. Having the opportunity to explain to you why I've acted like I have is just one of the things I'm doing. I know it's too late for us to be sisters, but I need to at least come clean about the past. I've been through a lot recently and being around the other women at the shelter has opened my eyes to how my behavior has affected other people.”

“What else is on your list?” Callie still had a difficult time accepting that Wendy had changed for good. “Like admitting to embezzlement?”

“You know about that?” She paused. “Of course you do. You're best buds with the chief of police.”

“If you're going to go off about me stealing him from you, then stop right there.” Although, truthfully, he wasn't Callie's anymore, either.

Wendy shook her head. “No. I know he was never interested in me. That's just remnants of my mother again. She thought he would make a great husband so she always pushed me to go after him so I wouldn't lose the ‘love of my life' like she had. I figured she knew better than I did, so I took her advice. It's almost as if she brainwashed me my entire life.”

Wendy used her mother as an excuse for much of her behavior, but then maybe some of what she was saying was the truth.

“I know about the embezzlement because I was the one who uncovered it.”

“You did?” Wendy's eyes widened. “Then, thank you.”

Callie nodded. “You're welcome. You did a lousy job of covering up your activity.”

“I know—that was the idea. I thought someone would figure it out sooner, but no one did. So my next step was to send that email to Tyler. I'm glad he didn't ignore it.”

“Me, too.” Callie changed the subject. “What are you going to do when you leave the shelter? Will you go back home now that your husband has been arrested?”

“I don't think I can take that chance. He'll be looking for me if he makes bail. Those first few days when I left him I couldn't find a shelter to stay in that he hadn't already contacted to see if I was there.”

“What did you do?”

“I spent a couple of nights in my car, but there aren't many places to park overnight in this town. I also did a lot of walking during that time, paranoid that Steve would spot my car and follow me. As I went on job interviews, I saw some business cards in one office that gave a number to call if you were in need of help, with no questions asked. That's how I found Norma.”

“I'm sorry you needed the help, but I'm glad you got it.”

“You are?” Wendy seemed truly surprised. “After all I've done and said to you? How can you be so nice and understanding?”