money laundering, drug trafficking, and murder.
Looking out at his face at the
defense table, she never thought wickedness could have such an ordinary
face. It frightened her each time she
saw the murderous look in his gaze. Then
she caught the eye of the police detective sitting in the second row and knew
that she had the strength to go into detail about what she heard and saw.
This wasn’t what the small town girl
expected when she got a job with Anderson Trucking as a secretary but then,
Betsie was naïve and still believed in the Tooth Fairy. She didn’t see the malevolence in the world
around her.
Chapter One
Betsie Wolfe was raised in a tiny
town along the wine fields on the shores of Northern Ohio. Her town was so small that if she was picked
up for speeding in her town, her parents knew about it before she even got
home. Growing up as the daughter of a local minster didn’t help either.
During high school, Betsie was the
quiet studious type who was known for her grades and not her looks. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty; she just didn’t
stand out enough. Boys would rather pay attention to the cheerleader beauties
or the socially outgoing girls. Betsie liked to blend into the background.
After taking typing classes at the
local community college, Betsie decided to leave her small town and experience
life in a bigger city. She needed to see what life was like away from the
quiet, peaceful wine fields of Ohio. Packing her bags, she headed south towards
Columbus and landed a job with Anderson Trucking in their office on Madison
Street.
****
Being new to the secretarial pool,
Betsie was quick to learn the ropes from the veteran secretary and manager of
the secretarial pool, Miss Hildebrand. Built like a small pit bull, with silver hair pulled tightly in a bun,
Miss Hildebrand ran the secretarial pool like a military campaign. While the
secretaries laughed at Miss Hildebrand behind her back, no one dared to
contradict her to her face.
Everyone had their jobs and each
person pulled their weight or was quickly let go. No one was silly or overly social
around Miss Hildebrand. In order to get on Miss Hildebrand’s good side, Betsie
worked harder than any of the other girls. She would often work during her
lunch hour or stay after work to finish up some filing. It was during one of
those late nights that her world became a perilous situation.
****
It was a late October evening. Everyone
else in the office had gone home, but there wasn’t anyone waiting at home for
Betsie, so she decided to get the last of the filing done first, hoping to earn
some bonus points from Miss Hildebrand. While sitting at her desk in the
secretarial area she overheard a conversation between her boss, Mr. Anderson
and another man.
“Do you have the stuff, you know the
drugs?”
“Yes I do but they are hidden until
you pay me twice the amount we agreed upon.”
“That’s not the way to do business.
We agreed on a fee. I did the loading and driving. I had all the risk.”
“But it’s my company and my name on
those trucks that’s taking the biggest risk if we get caught, moving your drugs.
So the amount is double.”
“I don’t have the money now. You
should know, you write my paycheck. You’ll pay for lying to me!”
“Don’t threaten me. You won’t like it
when I’m threatened. Find a way to get that money by Tuesday or I’m selling
them to another customer.”
Quietly the men left the area and Betsie
couldn’t hear them anymore. She wasn’t quite sure if she had heard the whole
conversation correctly. Could the men
have been talking about something other than drugs? Wasn’t it illegal to ship
drugs across the US border? Maybe it wasn’t her boss. After all, she didn’t
actually see the people talking.
Keeping her mouth quiet in fear,
Betsie hid under her desk for two hours and then snuck out the door, hoping
that no one had noticed her. Keeping her eyes alert, each sound that
Looking out at his face at the
defense table, she never thought wickedness could have such an ordinary
face. It frightened her each time she
saw the murderous look in his gaze. Then
she caught the eye of the police detective sitting in the second row and knew
that she had the strength to go into detail about what she heard and saw.
This wasn’t what the small town girl
expected when she got a job with Anderson Trucking as a secretary but then,
Betsie was naïve and still believed in the Tooth Fairy. She didn’t see the malevolence in the world
around her.
Chapter One
Betsie Wolfe was raised in a tiny
town along the wine fields on the shores of Northern Ohio. Her town was so small that if she was picked
up for speeding in her town, her parents knew about it before she even got
home. Growing up as the daughter of a local minster didn’t help either.
During high school, Betsie was the
quiet studious type who was known for her grades and not her looks. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty; she just didn’t
stand out enough. Boys would rather pay attention to the cheerleader beauties
or the socially outgoing girls. Betsie liked to blend into the background.
After taking typing classes at the
local community college, Betsie decided to leave her small town and experience
life in a bigger city. She needed to see what life was like away from the
quiet, peaceful wine fields of Ohio. Packing her bags, she headed south towards
Columbus and landed a job with Anderson Trucking in their office on Madison
Street.
****
Being new to the secretarial pool,
Betsie was quick to learn the ropes from the veteran secretary and manager of
the secretarial pool, Miss Hildebrand. Built like a small pit bull, with silver hair pulled tightly in a bun,
Miss Hildebrand ran the secretarial pool like a military campaign. While the
secretaries laughed at Miss Hildebrand behind her back, no one dared to
contradict her to her face.
Everyone had their jobs and each
person pulled their weight or was quickly let go. No one was silly or overly social
around Miss Hildebrand. In order to get on Miss Hildebrand’s good side, Betsie
worked harder than any of the other girls. She would often work during her
lunch hour or stay after work to finish up some filing. It was during one of
those late nights that her world became a perilous situation.
****
It was a late October evening. Everyone
else in the office had gone home, but there wasn’t anyone waiting at home for
Betsie, so she decided to get the last of the filing done first, hoping to earn
some bonus points from Miss Hildebrand. While sitting at her desk in the
secretarial area she overheard a conversation between her boss, Mr. Anderson
and another man.
“Do you have the stuff, you know the
drugs?”
“Yes I do but they are hidden until
you pay me twice the amount we agreed upon.”
“That’s not the way to do business.
We agreed on a fee. I did the loading and driving. I had all the risk.”
“But it’s my company and my name on
those trucks that’s taking the biggest risk if we get caught, moving your drugs.
So the amount is double.”
“I don’t have the money now. You
should know, you write my paycheck. You’ll pay for lying to me!”
“Don’t threaten me. You won’t like it
when I’m threatened. Find a way to get that money by Tuesday or I’m selling
them to another customer.”
Quietly the men left the area and Betsie
couldn’t hear them anymore. She wasn’t quite sure if she had heard the whole
conversation correctly. Could the men
have been talking about something other than drugs? Wasn’t it illegal to ship
drugs across the US border? Maybe it wasn’t her boss. After all, she didn’t
actually see the people talking.
Keeping her mouth quiet in fear,
Betsie hid under her desk for two hours and then snuck out the door, hoping
that no one had noticed her. Keeping her eyes alert, each sound that
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