13 Nancy Drew

Chapter Thirteen: Nancy Drew

Alexandria's POV

After my shift had ended, around 1:45p.m. I was exhausted beyond measure. I booked an Uber to take me home— sleeping throughout the ride. Luckily for me, the driver was not a serial killer or a kidnapper so he woke me up when we got to the block of apartments I lived in. When I walked into the lobby, I spotted Mr. Elvis sitting down on one of the chairs meant for visitors waiting for their hosts to clear them in.

"Hey," I said to him walking over. "What brings you here?"

"You," he said with a polite smile. "Mr Norman told me what you uncovered."

"Oh," I muttered. It was the only response I could think of.

"I was wondering why you never applied to the account department when there was vacancy," he mused.

"Maybe because I had a job then," I said, shrugging. "Plus I'm not educationally qualified. I only have a little experience in that field."

He smiled. "I have a lot of experience and educational qualifications in that field. Same with Mr. Norman but we were not able to notice."

"Because you are used to the system, it's actually easier that way for you to overlook it," I responded with a smile. "Plus you probably have bad auditors."

"Hmm," he nodded.

"My bad," I said facepalming. "I should have invited you to my apartment and offered a hot drink and—"

He chucked lightly, "Thanks but no." He paused. "I have a job offer. I don't know how long it is going to take. Probably a week."

"What job is that?" I perked up. A temporary job to get some extra cash was always worth it. I was going to save up a lot of money so I could invest in something just in case I lost my job too soon.

"I need to get to the bottom of the fraud," he told me with a tired sigh. "So I need four help going through the accounts and we might have to do some sleuthing."

"Like Nancy Drew?" I asked, excitement crawling its way into my arteries and veins the same while a smile climbed unto my face. "Sounds fun!" I chirped. "But let's discuss the pay first."

"A thousand dollars per hour," he offered. "Feel free to negotiate."

"It sounds good," I hummed. If I worked for twenty four hours I would be making twenty four thousand. That was some people's annual salary.

"Can you come back to the office so we can start today?" He asked. "I know you're probably tired and all but—"

"It's fine," I said. "I just need to freshen up."

"Sure."

"Come up with me," I suggested. "I don't think you'd want to sit out here for an hour."

His face morphed into shock. "An hour? I thought you just needed to freshen up."

"Yeah, it's supposed to take like two hours but this seems urgent and,"

He gave me a stare that I couldn't read— pursing his lips. "I'll come up."

We walked silently to the elevator, and down the corridor leading to my apartment. Unlocking the door, I walked in, ready to embrace the warmth but a cold wind engulfed me instead. Cursing, I stomped inside the turned on the heater. "My bad, I mostly turn off all appliances when I'm not home."

"It's a safe and cost effective idea," Mr. Elvis said with a smile. He was always smiling.

"Make yourself at home," I said, gesturing towards the sofas and the TV.

He gave me his unreadable stare again. "I don't think you'll like it if I made myself at home here."

I couldn't help but laugh at his statement. "Would you like anything warm to drink? Tea or water?" I paused. "I don't drink coffee so I don't think I have any. Maybe instant 'cause of Lay."

"I don't drink coffee either," he told me. "I'll have tea."

"Again there aren't much tea options," I said with a wry smile. "There's lemon tea, hibiscus tea— which might take a while, and of course green tea."

"Sweetened Hibiscus is Mr. Norman's favourite even though he is a coffee addict," Mr Elvis told me with an eye roll. A suggestive tone in his voice. "I'd have lemon tea."

"Okay," I chirped. "Why did you tell me Mr. Norman's favourite tea though?"

"Miss Dankworth, don't pretend to be ignorant of my reasons," he laughed rolling his eyes.

I sighed— still laughing. "I'll get you your tea and get myself ready for work." I walked towards the kitchen, "Oh and just Alexandria is fine."

"Divine is fine as well," he said.

*+*+*+*+*

We worked nonstop in his office for about four hours, discovering that the fraud had been going on for about five years. We also did some sleuthing for about three hours discovering a lot of dirty secret about a Mr. Ferdinand the head of the accounts department who I had no idea how he looked at first. I imagine him to be a balding old man with beady, cold and watchful eyes. Someone with a tall and lanky frame. Someone who looked over his shoulders anywhere he went.

But when Divine and I had visited his home— in disguise just in case we got caught since he was soon going to be back from work— he was not the man I thought him to be. He was the complete opposite. His hair was a full mop of grey and blond. His blue eyes were jovial and friendly. They still held a lot of life. He had the body of Donald Trump — just not as old and wrinkled.

Luckily we were able to get past all the security— with a few hitches. We couldn't disable all the cameras but hacking into his computers and safe was easy. Our next assignment was to go to his holiday cottage where he probably kept his cash.

During the three hours, we had also visited the hospital where a Mr. Evans or so had been rushed to for his heart attack, asking questions about a syringe mark Mr. Elvis had told me about. The doctors were very reluctant to talk, some even refused bribes so we resulted to other methods. Although we didn't get much out of them, we were able to confirm the marks on his wrists. Next we visited the police station in disguise, asking a detective some questions about the law— not relating to Mr. Evans or his case directly— but something close enough. We did not get all the answers we needed but what we had was enough to keep us going.

Divine and I bonded quite well— we had a lot in common and barely bickered. There was a connection between us but it was very different and far from the connection Mr. Norman and I shared.

We parted ways— after informing me that he was going to see how Mr. Norman was faring around 9:00 at night. He didn't say much about what had happened to Mr. Norman because it wasn't his place to tell me.

Despite my fatigue, the excitement and thrill of almost getting caught prevented me from being able to fall asleep. I thought about it nonstop— and of our tomorrow plans— trying to sleep off on the thought but it can't working. I went as far as creating a romantic story between myself and Mr. Norman in my imagination but it wasn't working.

It was twelve o'clock— exactly midnight— when I was finally feeling sleepy that I got a call from Mr. Elvis. Rubbing my eyes, I swiped the green call button up and put the phone on speaker.

"We might have a problem," was Divine's greeting over the phone.

"How about, my apologies for interrupting your sleep," I said scowling at the phone while rolling my eyes.

Divine tsked. "Mr. Norman Senior knows about the fraud so he is continuing the investigation by himself."

I groaned, sitting up in bed. "So how about tomorrow plans?"

There was a long pause at the end of the line. "Alexander— Mr. Norman junior might be accompanying us."

"Aish," I said facepalming. "I need to stone you for telling him our plans."

"Um, the more the merrier?"

"Dumbass, it's just an extra burden," I yawned. "Whatever."

"I didn't peg you as a night owl," he finally said after a brief silence.

"I'm not. All the excitement and thrill is getting to me too much," I confessed. "I've been trying to fall asleep for so long and when I was finally succeeding, someone called," I teased.

"My bad," he said. I could picture his polite smile as he said that. "I didn't realize its really late until now."

Snorting, I said, "How can you not know."

"I'm just eating dinner," he told me. "I've been so busy trying to calm and old man down."

"I take it that the elder Mr. Norman didn't take the news lightly."

"At all," he said sighing at the other end. "He was fuming but not trying to show it. Mr Norman and I got a good scolding though."

"Good for you," I muttered, already dosing off.

"I think he is going to fire a lot of the account staff."

"He should," I started firmly. "Even the ones that didn't aid, abetted the crime."

"Yeah," he muttered. "You sound tired. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I murmured sleepily.

I don't think I was the one who cut the call.