Mr. Bad Influence

Chapter 10 - Part 2

Kerri clipped the phone between her ear and shoulder. "Hey, Anna."

"So?" Anna, her part-time maid, asked on the other end of the line.

"Well, I didn't burn my house down," Kerry said as she opened her door and hurried over to the laundry room. "Here goes." She bent forward and pulled out the gym clothes she had thrown into the dryer.

"So?"

"Smells good." She held on to the dark gray tank top and threw the rest back into the dryer. Lifting it up, she examined it and said, "I think I've successfully washed and dried my first batch of clothes."

Anna laughed. "The machine did it. You just pressed a couple of buttons."

"Hey, I had to add the detergent and such as well."

"What would you do without me?"

"I couldn't live without you. You're not thinking about quitting, are you?"

"Will you give me a raise if I say yes?"

Kerri bent forward and grabbed the rest of the clothes. "If you need more money, you can always tell me."

"I was joking. I wouldn't be in college if it weren't for your parents."

"Anna, if you need time off to study, you can let me know, too." Kerri had said this to Anna quite a few times, but Anna never failed to show up at her place every morning. "If cleaning both my parents' and my house is too much work, you have to let us know."

"Kerri, your parents have a full-time maid. I barely have to do anything at their place. I know they're paying me just to make sure I have enough to eat while I'm studying."

Kerri smiled. "I do have great parents."

"Yup. Well, if you need help operating any other cleaning equipment, call me."

"Will do." She went back to her room and laid the dried gym clothes over the white single-seater couch in her room, then hurried back down when the doorbell rang. "Oh, you're early. I thought it was the food." She stepped aside and allowed Eric to enter. "Why did you insist on having dinner here instead of your place?"

It wasn't as if Senator Wales would be home anyway.

"Oh, guess what? I just did laundry. All on my own! Actually, Anna guide—" Kerri stopped when she heard Eric sigh.

"What's wrong? Is it your mom?"

Eric strode over to the silver gray couch. "I don't want to be overheard."

Kerri frowned and stared at Eric.

"I'm not crazy. At least I don't think I am. I think I'm on to something, and I don't want to be overheard."

"Stop saying that," Kerri said.

Whenever Mrs. Wales went off her medication, she would go on about people bugging her room and listening in to all her conversations. Hearing that same sentence from Eric scared her more than it should.

"Something's wrong. I'm not sure what, but something's wrong."

"Eric." She closed the door and sat on the light tea-rose-pink couch that was directly across from Eric. "What are you talking about? You're kind of scaring me."

"A month ago, one of my ex-employees stopped me in the parking garage. He told me that something was wrong with the business accounts. He said money has been transferred to and from several shell companies before ending up in the same company. When he escalated the matter, he was fired." Eric stopped and looked up at her.