Old Friends, New Beginnings

[zydrate]

(Closed. If you're interested in writing, please send me a private message and I'll explain my idea...thanks)

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The judge's chambers was pretty quiet after the ruling made regarding Jeff and Nicole's son, would be remaining with his father under full custody. And that left a bad taste in Nicole's mouth. But there was nothing she could do. They had already gone through a messy divorce and it was everyone's opinion that Nicole was a terrible mother for never being home for her family.

At least it was the opinion of Jeff's family and friends.

Keeping her composure, Nicole stood with her lawyer and thanked the judge for his time. Of course, Jeff didn't dare keep any class about it all. He laughed and hugged his lawyer...his female lawyer, thanking her for winning on his behalf.

It took a lot on Nicole's part to not go over to Jeff and punch the smile off his face.

With a huff, Nicole turned and walked out of the courthouse. With the look on her face, no one dared stopped her.

That was 2 weeks ago. Nicole had a hard time telling her only son why Mommy wouldn't be around anymore. Actually it hurt Nicole more than it did to Aaron. He was used to his mother not being there. He asked if she had to go to work and she said yes and that it would be a while before she got to see him again. His "OK Mommy, bye!" broke her heart more than anyone would know.

Now, after insistence from her Commander, Special Agent Nicole Mason, was down in Los Angeles, California on a 'forced vacation'. According to her CO, she needed to time to get herself back together. To find herself.

What the fuck was there to find? Her marriage ended in a bitter divorce, her only child taken from her. Now her job forced her out to collect herself? That didn't seem right. Nicole never felt more at peace than when on a case...which was probably why her marriage suffered.

So, here she was, up way too early for some, out having breakfast alone, nonetheless. This was day 2 of her 'vacation' and she intended to make the most of it. It was the least she could do, right?

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse Parmalee was living the American Dream. He had barely graduated from high school, but then worked his way through Community College before transferring to UCLA where he finished his degree in finance. He went on to get an MBA, and he was now the CFO of a start-up tech firm that was making money hand over fist. He worked hard to make sure that everything went well, because, if this panned out, he would be set for life.

There was, however, a little problem that had arisen. Some unsavory people had invested money in the start-up during the IPO. They bought a large number of shares and now they were trying to use the company to launder some of their illegally obtained funds. Jesse found out about it and attempted to put a stop to it. Then, one night, while working late, a couple of large men paid him a visit, and told him to stop worrying about things that were none of his business. Just look the other way and let the business run its course.

Jesse wasn't comfortable with that. He started documenting what he knew. He kept a ledger of all of the illicit transactions. Then, one night when he got home, his house was a mess. Everything was trashed. Someone had been looking for something. Maybe they had found out about the ledger. Maybe they were looking for it. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to do the right thing, but he also liked living. He knew a girl in high school who was really smart, in addition to being the hottest girl around. He had heard that she had gone into law enforcement. He thought he remembered hearing she was some kind of Special Agent. He reached out to a couple of people who had been friendly with her. He got her cell phone number and he called her.

 

[zydrate]

Pressing the end button on her phone, Nicole frowned as she placed it back in her coat pocket.

"Weird..." she said, as she finished up her coffee.

Thankfully, her breakfast hadn't arrived so she threw a couple of dollars down on the table and picked up her bag in order to find the place she was supposed to meet Jesse.

She remembered him from school. They had a few classes together and talked every now and then. Once, they were even partners on a class assignment and was pretty nice. As much as she wanted to know, he didn't go into specifics when he called. Hell, she didn't even know how he knew she was in town.

But that didn't matter, answers would be coming soon.

After a 20 minute taxi ride, Nicole stepped out of the taxi, paid the driver and found herself in front of a small house in a normal sort of neighborhood. Walking up the steps, she waiting for the door to open as she continued to keep track of her surrounds. It was still early enough so not many people were awake, that and it was a Sunday, so the neighborhood remained quiet.

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse was surprised that Nicole had agreed to meet him so easily. He thought that it would take a lot of work to convince her to take the meet. He had heard that she was one of the top agents in her field and that she was always busy, so, it was a big surprise that she was willing to meet him right away.

He arranged to meet her at the house he was renting after his house had been broken into. He put on a pot of coffee while he waited; not even sure if she drank coffee. He wasn't sure what he expected of her, but he was hoping she could help him in some way.

He heard a car door close, and went to the door to see Nicole walking up to the door. He opened the door as he saw her step onto the porch. He greeted her and invited her in. "Nicole, thank you so much for meeting me. I am not sure what I expect, but I really appreciate you coming. Please, have a seat. Can I get you some coffee, or anything else?"

 

[zydrate]

During her wait, Nicole stood on the porch and looked around at the neighborhood. It was a quiet morning, seeing as how early it was, nothing out of the ordinary.

Hearing the door unlock, she turned as it opened and was greeted by a tall man she could only remember vaguely from his high school days. But now, the facial features were different and well, grown up. Which of course was supposed to be expected since she was sure she looked a lot different also.

"Hi..Jesse?" she asked as she stuck her hand out, "Nicole." They shook hands as she smiled. He was taller than her 5'5" (and that was with heels), and so he towered over her, like almost all the men in the world probably...

He offered her coffee and she she nodded, not wanting to be disrespectful, "Sure, coffee sounds great."

She didn't take a seat...instead, as he went to get the coffee, Nicole looked around the living area, noticing that there were no personal items...

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse saw Nicole's nod and he was certain that she didn't really want Coffe, but was just being nice. He went and poured the coffee, and returned, sitting it on the table. He noticed how she was looking around. It was obvious that she was checking things out.....the sign of a good law enforcement officer.

"Thank you for meeting me Nicole. I am not sure if there is anything you can do for me, but I did not know what to do." He paused for a second and looked her over. She had always been the popular girl in high school, and he was pretty certain she probably was still very popular. She certainly was extremely attractive. Some things never change.

"I am staying here for a while. Renting. My place got trashed. It probably would have been easier to just do what they wanted, but that is not me." He stopped and waited for a reaction from Nicole. He was wondering if she just took the meeting to keep him from bothering her in the future.

 

[zydrate]

Nicole took the coffee, nodding at what he said, "What about the local PD? Did they tell you anything?"

The look on his face said it all as she nodded knowingly, "Ahh, the old 'no one hurt, we'll take your statement and let you know if we find out anything' deal probably." She said, and took a sip from her cup as she was quiet before turning to him, "Smart thing to do here... I mean, staying elsewhere where it's safe." She set the cup down, "Tell you what, show me your place and I can get a better idea of what's going on. Also, on the way, I want you to tell me everything."

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse nodded when she talked about the local police department's reaction. "Yea, they were not interested in doing too much there. I was hesitant to tell them what is going on. Not sure if there is anyone in the department working for them. I know, maybe I watch The Godfather too often, but, I just decided to let it go."

After Nicole was finished with her coffee, which it turned out she really wanted, Jesse led her out to his car. While on the way to his place, he told her everything. He started with how he got involved in the start-up...moved to how well it had been going....then to how he had been contacted about laundering money through the company. He was not interested in going to jail, nor was he interested in taking down the great company that he was partially responsible for being so successful. When things started to get a little scary, he didn't know where to turn. "Then, I remembered being with a couple of our old classmates and they mentioned that you were involved in law enforcement. In fact, they said that you were very good at what you do, and that you had a terrific career going."

 

[zydrate]

Nicole couldn't help but smile at the mention of other classmates. Wasn't their ten year reunion coming up also?

Clearing her head of that random thought, Nicole took in all he had told her and came up with several scenarios...some of them not so pleasant. There were some stories of other cases where this sort of situation got ugly real fast. And she was hoping to avoid that in the near future.

"Oh wow, I can't imagine what they're going to say after the news gets out about my divorce..." she said with a bitter laugh and quickly changed the subject when the car stopped in front of another house. As Jesse turned off the engine, Nicole held out her hand, "Keys."

With the look on his face, she knew she had to explain, "I'm going to go in, take a look around and make sure it's safe. Besides, if it's still in the same state from the incident, then it'll give me a better picture of what's going on."

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse listened as Nicole mentioned her divorce. "I am sorry to hear that." Truth was, he didn't even know she was married. Of course, it wasn't like they had ever been friends. He was pretty sure that Nicole had no idea who he was in high school; the only interaction they ever had was one group assignment they had to do together.

"I am not afraid to go into my own house Nicole. I won't touch anything. I will let you have your look around and I will stay out of your way." He handed her the keys and followed her to the door. He couldn't help letting his eyes roam over her body as he followed her. She was extremely attractive. He shook his head to clear those thoughts. That was not why she was here. Plus, it wasn't like he had a chance with her.

 

[zydrate]

"I didn't say you were afraid," she said, trying not to smile, "I'm just being careful is all." She said as he handed her the keys.

Ever observant, Nicole got out of the car and looked around before heading up to the porch, where she motioned for Jesse to wait as she looked on either side of the house from the porch before going to the door and unlocking it, all with cat-like movements as the lock and door made no sound as she opened it.

She briefly remembered Jesse from back in the day. He was a little more...she hated to say it, but dorky back then... but now, he looked really good. And he smelled good too... she was a sucker for how good a man smelled.

After securing the house, Nicole nodded at Jesse, giving him the OK to come in as she started to look around, careful not to touch anything. This was all unfamiliar ground and she had regretted not bring her gun with her today.

 

[BeachBum25]

He hung back at her direction; waiting until she directed him to come into the house. He did not want to piss her off...after all, she was doing this when she really didn't have to. He felt almost as if she was doing it out of pity for the "loser" guy from back in high school. He had changed what he was in high school, and was now very successful, but was in danger of losing much of what he had worked so hard to get.

Jesse watched Nicole look around his house. There was something that was arousing about the way she moved. Her every movement was fluid, and, what made it even more impressive was how well she moved while she was wearing those high heels. He thought about Nicole with a gun, and that was another arousing thought. He watched as she took everything in. He didn't say anything to her. He did not want to interrupt her train of thought.

 

[zydrate]

"When did all this happen again?" She asked, speaking for the first time since coming into the house. It was still a mess, but she noticed only the office was the one that was more messed up than anything. The living room was still somewhat neat.

She heard him answer as she walked back up the stairs and to the rooms up there, "A lot of space for a single guy," she said, her voice teasing as she glanced quickly back at Jesse, who was following her. When they came to the bedroom, it was also more trashed then the other rooms. "OK, Jesse." She said turning to the man before her.

"Are you telling me absolute everything?" She asked.

 

[BeachBum25]

Jesse followed her. There was something special about the way that she carried herself. There was a special air of confidence....of grace.....of beauty. He watched as she took it all in. The house was a mess.....some rooms more than others, but each room had been pulled apart.

"Yes. It is a big house for one person. I did pretty well with the initial public offering of the company, and I needed to invest some of the money. It is way too big for me. I only used a couple of the rooms." He was a little taken aback by her asking if he was telling her everything. "Nicole.....I have no reason to hold anything from you. I wouldn't waste your time...or mine. I swear I have told you everything."

 

[zydrate]

"OK, I'm just making sure." She said, not offended by the tone of voice in his answer. It was just standard procedure in question asking. Sort of like the 101 of being in law enforcement.

She was also impressed with what he said about the investment. It probably was a smart move but investments wasn't one of her fortes.

"Well, from what I see and what you've told me....and as obvious as it is to you and me, this was definitely related to all you've said..." she stopped in mid thought, "How much money do think was moved?"

 

[BeachBum25]

"Millions"

He looked directly into her eyes as he said it. "I could get a better estimate off my computer, but that is back at the rental place. The laptop I used to have went missing, but I was able to wipe it clean remotely. I had a program installed on it when the nonsense first started. I wanted to make sure I could do my best to keep company information out of their hands."

He stopped for a second. "When I say millions I mean tens of millions. I don't know how much they have run through in the last couple days, but they were in a hurry to clean a lot of money. They must have had one hell of a deal go down in order to need to launder that much."

 

[zydrate]

“Wait.” Nicole said as she mulled over all the information. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute as she came up with different theories, scenarios and of course, companies underground that had made the reports lately.

There weren’t many coming to mind and with that, Nicole cursed under her breath as she turned away from Jesse. She needed resources and also, the report from the local police.

“I need to get to the police station and talk to some people there. In the meantime, you can’t go back to the other house and you sure can’t stay here.” She reached into her purse and took out her keycard to the hotel room she was staying at and gave it to Jesse, “Here, go here, room 90. Stay there and don’t talk to anyone, OK? I don’t know exactly what’s playing out but to be serious, it’s not good, especially when that much money is moved.”

 

[BeachBum25]

Jessie looked at Nicole as she talked to him and gave him her keycard. "But, Nicole, I have all of the information on my computer back at the rental. I could just swing by there to pick it up and then I can go somewhere else. I don't want to be an inconvenience to you. I just wanted to see what you thought. You don't need to turn this into your personal investigation."

Up to this point, he wasn't worried about the rental. Of course, that may have been his naïveté in these kinds of issues. Still, he didn't want to seem like a pussy and run and hide. He wanted to be able to help catch the criminals and to save his company. Right now, however, that seemed like something Nicole wasn't going to permit.

 

[zydrate]

“NO!” Nicole said, more vehemently than she wanted. With a deep breath, Nicole shook her head and placed the card in Jesse’s hand, her own lingering for a moment longer than necessary. Realizing what she had done, she pulled back, “No, please, don’t worry about everything. I want to find out more, if not for you, more for me because once I start something, I can’t let it go.” She said, remember how much effort both of them had put into the group project they had done in high school.

It was something Nicole’s ex didn’t like. How she never let go of anything and once she got started, it was hard to get her to stop. “As for your laptop, we’ll stop on the way to the hotel and then from there, I’m going to need to borrow your car.” She told him, not really giving him a choice.

 

[BeachBum25]

Jessie froze when she said no. He listened to what she said and agreed to do as she said. He got her involved in this and he was going to have to follow her instructions. She was the expert and he was going to do whatever she said he had to do.

He followed her out of the house...putting her keycard in his pocket. They drove to the rental place and got the laptop. The he followed her directions and drove to where she was staying. He took the laptop and got out of the car. As Nicole got out and went around to the driver side, Jessie said to her, knowing it would have no effect, "Nicole, you do not need to get involved in this. I was just hoping for advice." He got the reaction he expected.

He headed toward her room and watched as she drove off in his car. Once inside, he put the laptop down and sat in a chair. He did not know what to expect going forward. Then, he thought about the fact that he was in his sexy, former classmates room, and his mind wandered a little before he dozed off in the chair.

 

[zydrate]

There was no argument when Nicole gave him that look. Her partner Dan referred to as her "Mommy" look. Whatever it was, it worked.

***
Later, after many hours of getting nowhere with the captain of the station, Nicole left with nothing.

It pissed her off that they weren't willing to help. But it was no surprise because the New Orleans PD had a reputation for not meeting standards. Corrupt cops, corrupt justice. It's all how it ended in the end. Too many red flags that Nicole didn't have time to bring to light. Right now, she was more concerned with Jesse's situation.

Arriving at the hotel, Nicole made her way up to her room and used the spare card, opened the door and saw Jesse working at his computer. "Well, that was a bust... how about we order something to eat and talk some more?" She said as she tossed her bag on a chair.

 

[BeachBum25]

Jessie turned as Nicole walked into the room...startled a little, because he was so engrossed in his work. He watched her throw her bag on the bed and sit on the edge of the bed. "Yea, we can order anything you would like. I am not picky. I'll settle for anything you like."

He hit a couple more keys, and then he turned to Nicole. "I have been able to trace over 40 million dollars that they have run through the company." He hesitated. "Oh, you said that we would talk after we ordered food. Sorry." He waited to see what she wanted to eat. As he sat there looking at her, he was once again mesmerized by her beauty. It was going to be hard concentrating in such close quarters with her.

 

[zydrate]

"Great!" She said, realizing she was hungrier than she had thought. Leaning over to reach the hotel restaurant menu, Nicole looked through it for a few minutes and then grabbed the room phone.

She ordered two of the dinner specials before shedding her jacket and sitting over by Jesse. "Well, OK..." Nicole started, "I didn't get much at the station. But, that was to be suspected. The local force usually doesn't like outsiders busting in on their investigations but trust me, I have a few favors owed me in the bureau, but," she looked at the time, "It's too late in the evening to call them up right now and besides, I want them in good spirits when I talk with them tomorrow."

 

[BeachBum25]

"I appreciate all you are doing Nicole. I really do. I really wasn't expecting you to go this far. I just was hoping for advice. After all, we really didn't know each other in school, and it isn't like we have been friends since then. We ran in totally separate crowds. You with the cool kids. Me with, well........ The dorks. Well...anyway."

Jessie paused for a second. "Anyway. What I found is that they are moving a shitload of money. They obviously have someone else in the company working for them because they know which accounts to run the money through, and which ones to stay away from. They are able to get into accounts that they should not be able to get into." Jessie showed Nicole some of the information on the computer. Then, he turned and faced her. "The company is done."

 

[zydrate]

"The popular kids?" Nicole repeated as she realized what he was saying. Although she never saw 'groups' in high school, she knew some did. If anything, she was never mean to anyone...at least not that she thought.

"Even though we never talked much, except maybe on that one class project we did, didn't mean I didn't notice you or ignored you." She said, smiling.

Leaning over his shoulder, their faces inches from each other, Nicole looked at the monitor and saw what he was pointing out. "This is big." She said.