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Megan’s Codes: Episode 2

Written by: P. Ryan Hembree

But the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from evil. (2 Thess. 3:3)

Megan approached her ex-fiancé’s faculty office with trepidation. She’d determined that she wouldn’t let him get into her head or her heart. He could always push right through her mental defenses. He was sitting at his desk, concentrating on his computer screen.

She tapped lightly at his door. “Steve.”

He glanced up and the furrows in his forehead vanished as he smiled at her. “Megan.” He stood. “Come in. Have a seat.” He pulled a chair from a long table and placed it next to his desk.

“Thanks, but I can only stay a few minutes. I came to drop off some flash drives for Jolie.”

“I heard about the home invasion this morning. I didn’t know anyone was hurt. I was going to call after I finished my office hours.”

“I wasn’t home when it happened, but Jolie was banged up pretty badly. She was released from the hospital this morning and is staying with her sister, Lynne.”

“Did they take anything?”

Megan shook her head. She pulled the plastic case out of her purse and handed it to Steve. “Jolie thinks they were after these flash drives. She wanted you to look at them and see what you think. I don’t know what it is. Something to do with what she was investigating for the local paper.”

Steve popped the flash drive in his computer. “She called me yesterday afternoon about some files she’d copied at a medical clinic. She’s doing a story on Medicare fraud.” He tapped on his keyboard and studied the data for a few seconds. He sat back and nodded. “Your usual garden-variety type of up coding of the bills. It will take me some time to go through these files.”

“Now that she knows the flash drives are safe, she can rest and recover from the attack. She’s going to stay at her sister’s today. I need to straighten the house. I don’t want her coming home to that mess.”

“You need any repairs? How’d they break in?”

“The back door. Lynne’s husband came over early this morning and fixed the lock and added a better deadbolt.”

Steve was quiet for a minute. “So, how are you? I miss seeing you.”

This is how it always starts, she thought.  That boyish smile, the caring eyes. Her defenses go down and she’s back into what she doesn’t want to be into. “I’m fine. Work is good.” Short answers.

“You still selling advertising for the television station?”

“Yes.” She wondered how he was. Was he seeing anyone? “So you’re teaching here?”

“I’m working in my uncle’s insurance company and teaching two classes a semester.”

“You always liked teaching.”

“I’m a people person. Tracking algorithms all day doesn’t feed me mentally.”

She listened politely as he explained his two classes. It was a discussion about finances that caused their separation last year. He wanted one family account between them, combining their incomes. She wanted her own accounts. She’d taken care of her finances since she was a teenager and just couldn’t relinquish that much control to someone else. Maybe she wasn’t ready for marriage, but that’s how she felt.

She watched him closely as he spoke and realized how much she missed him, too. He was such an easygoing person, why couldn’t he just let her have this one thing for herself? Why couldn’t she give in to his request to combine their resources? It was all so long ago, so trivial. She’d better get out of here before it’s too late.

“I’m glad things are going so well for you,” she said, standing. “I have to swing by the office and then go home and put the house back together. Jolie should be home tomorrow.”

“I’ll go through this data and write up a report for her. Megan, I mean it that if you need anything, you can call. I was sick when I found out about your break-in. I care about both of you.”

Megan shouldered her bag. “Thanks, Steve. It means a lot that you care. I have to go.”

Megan went into the newspaper office and made some phone calls on several accounts. She’d landed two large contracts the last two weeks and her boss didn’t mind her taking two days off. Her assistant, Kyle could handle the desk for her. He majored in advertising in college and worked for her part time. As a college student, he was way underpaid for his creativity. It was a relief to leave her accounts in his capable hands.

Megan turned into her drive at the house. A man sitting in a battered white pickup was parked at the end of the block talking on his cell phone. She remembered that the pickup was there in the morning when she left.  Everyone on this street had driveways and garages, and it was rare to see someone parked on the street. She was still on edge since last night.

She entered the house and set the groceries on the counter. She stood still and listened. All was quiet. A note on the counter from Lynne that Jolie was better and she’d put a casserole in the fridge for later. When George got home from work, she’d come over and help with the cleaning.

Megan put the groceries away and walked through the house. A few things broken, pictures and lamps, but the rest was just a matter of putting things back in drawers and in bookcases. Jolie’s hard drive and a stack of file folders had been set by the back door. Apparently the thieves were going to grab them on their way out.

She started in Jolie’s room. She washed her sheets and refolded her clothes in the drawers. Tomorrow, she’d buy some flowers and put them on the dresser. They had been friends since college. Both had been engaged and both had backed out of their engagements. Jolie’s was more serious, he was dating another woman while he was engaged to Jolie.

Megan wanted out of her engagement. Maybe it was fear of commitment, but at first, she was relieved. Then months later, the doubts crept in. After the breakup, Steve took an eight-month assignment with his uncle’s insurance firm in Japan. That took the pressure off her to reconcile with Steve, but it deepened her awareness that she’d made a mistake. The harder she worked to get him out of her mind and heart, the more difficult it became.

By eight-thirty, she had the house back together. She heated the casserole and made notes for the next day. Tomorrow, she’d go out early and get bouquets of flowers for the rooms and two new lamps. She took a quick shower. She hadn’t slept all night and dressed for bed. She took one final check through the house, doors and windows. She was locked up tight. She left a light on in the kitchen.

She lay in bed and whispered a prayer for Jolie.

Outside, a man in a battered white pickup watched the house. In a deep sleep, Megan did not hear the back door open or hear the man creep to her door and set a note on her end table. He slipped out of the house undetected.

END OF EPISODE 2

Megan’s Codes: Episode 1

Written by: P. Ryan Hembree

But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from evil. 2 Thess. 3:3

Megan Lake spied police car lights flashing before she turned down her street. She drove as close to her house as she could and parked. At first she thought the activity was at her neighbor’s house, but she saw police entering her home.

“Jolie,” she gasped as she ran up the sidewalk. “This is my house,” she said, tugging away from a policeman who restrained her. “My roommate, is she all right?”

“She’s inside,” the policeman said, releasing her arm.

Megan raced up the steps and through the front door. Jolie Croft sat on the couch clutching a blanket draped around her as a paramedic bandaged her head. Megan dropped down next to Jolie and put her arm around her. “Are you okay?”

Jolie nodded. “I hit my head when I fell,” she said in a shaky voice. “Someone broke in.”

Megan glanced around the living room. Drawers were pulled out of the desk, the contents dumped on the floor. The bookcase emptied, books strewn across the room. From where she was sitting, she could see into Jolie’s bedroom. The dresser drawers were dumped upside down. Megan clasped her friend’s hand. “Is it just your head? Are you all right?”

“I may have some broken ribs.” Megan gasped in pain as she tried take a deep breath.

“We need to get you to the hospital.”

Jolie tried to stand. “I have to get my purse.”

“I’ll get it.”

Jolie tightened her grip on Megan’s arm. “I have to get it. Walk with me.”

Megan realized Jolie wanted to tell her something that she didn’t want the police to hear. She helped her friend into the bedroom and found her purse under the head of the bead. She handed the bag to Jolie.

Jolie leaned into Megan’s arms. “In the kitchen, in a box of rice, are two flash drives. You have to take them to Steve at the university. He’s teaching a course this term on actuarial science.  Don’t let anyone know you have them.”

“My Steve?”

Jolie nodded. “Please do this for me.”

Megan had her arm around Jolie to steady her as Jolie shook uncontrollably. The cut on her lip was bleeding again. Megan pulled tissue out of a box on the floor and pressed it against her friend’s lip. “Of course I will.”

“He’ll know what to do with them,” Jolie whispered.

“Is that what this is all about?”

Jolie nodded.

“Let’s get you into the ambulance.”

Megan walked Jolie out to the ambulance and the paramedics helped her on a stretcher in the back.

“I’ll lock up here and come right over to the hospital,” she said as she climbed down out of the vehicle. Megan whispered a prayer for her friend as the ambulance pulled away.

Inside the house, a policeman was taking pictures. Whatever had happened, the robber hadn’t made it to the kitchen. Megan provided the police with information about the house and her roommate. She said she’d call Megan’s sister when she got to the hospital.

A policewoman leafed through her notes and focused on Megan. “Ms. Croft set off her car alarm, which alerted the neighbors who called us. Smart girl. It may be hard in all this mess to determine what was taken, but if you notice anything of significant value, you can call the station and add the lost items to the police report.”

“Thank you,” Megan said. The reality of the home invasion hit her and she began to absorb Jolie’s shock. She fought to keep herself under control. As soon as the police left, she’d go to the hospital and stay with Jolie until her older sister arrived.

After the last police car drove off, Megan pulled two boxes of rice out of the kitchen cupboard. Both boxes appeared sealed, but one box had a fine slit along the bottom, which had been glued. Megan tore the top off the box and dumped the grains into a bowl.  She scooted the rice around, and a small plastic case emerged. Inside were two flash drives.

Jolie was a reporter for the local Lincoln newspaper and frequently took special investigative assignments. This was the first time an assignment had visited their home they shared. Whatever was she investigating? And how did it connect to her ex-fiance? She shook her head as she tucked the flash drives in a zipped pocket in her purse. She hadn’t seen Steve Firth in over a year since she had broken off their engagement. They were going through marriage counseling before the wedding and something he said in one of the counseling sessions spooked her. They were never able to resolve it, and she walked away. He pursued her relentlessly, but she held him off. Now, she’d have to face him. But she’d do anything for Jolie.

   *     *     *     *     *

   Megan entered the cubicle in the emergency room. The nurse had explained to her that Jolie would be watched overnight and discharged in the morning if she was stable. Megan wanted to check on Jolie before she called her sister. Her friend appeared to be sleeping. Her head had been re-bandaged and a long cut across her cheek had been taped. The bruise around her right eye was darkening. An IV dripped slowly into her left arm. Whatever Jolie was investigating, she didn’t deserve this.

   Megan stepped out of the cubicle and called Jolie’s sister. She hated waking her up at two in the morning, but she’d want to know. Forty minutes later, Lynne Parks arrived at the hospital.

   Lynne adjusted the blanket around Jolie. Five years older than Jolie, they could be twins. Tall, thin, with long dark hair, they were inseparable and called each other frequently during the day.  Lynne glanced up at Megan. “What do you think happened? A neighborhood robbery? Were you there?”

   Megan shook her head. “I’d driven to Kansas City to visit my parents over the weekend. I called her before I left Kansas City, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.” Megan studied the monitor over the bed. “I think it has to do with what she was investigating. I still don’t know what. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

   “My husband’s mother will watch the kids. I’m going to stay until she wakes up.”

   Megan shouldered her bag. “I have to go to the office for a few hours in the morning, then I’ll be free the rest of the day.” Megan hugged Lynne and together they prayed for Jolie.

   Outside, Megan tugged her jacket around her, staving off the night chill. In a few hours, she’d have to face Steve.

END OF EPISODE 1