The Deception (11 page)

Carrie tried to pull herself together and go back to work. The calls were disturbing and she was having a hard time concentrating. She heard the bell at her front counter. She stepped into the reception area to find Marcy, her letter carrier.

"Good morning, Marcy. How was your Fourth of July?"

"Nice and quiet." She placed the mail on the counter. "I have something you need to sign for."

Carrie signed the form and Marcy handed her a large, thick envelope. The sender was GMH Publications, from Los Angeles. She didn't recognize the name. More than likely it was a prospective client. Marcy said goodbye as Carrie took the mail back to her desk and opened it. Inside the big envelope was a check, payable to her, for five thousand dollars. Attached to the check was a personally signed letter from Caleb Wyman, publisher of
Gentry Magazine
, congratulating her for winning the photo contest in their latest issue.

"What on earth? I never entered any photo contest. Not for anyone, and most certainly not for you."

She reached back into the envelope and pulled out the remaining contents. It was the latest issue of
Gentry Magazine
. As she thumbed through the pages something familiar caught her eye and she heard herself shrieking. Inside the pages were two of the nude photos Louise Dickenson had shot of her. One was of her kneeling on top of the four-poster bed, the other of her reclining in the leather chair.

"What the hell!"

She looked at the captions. Both photos were titled as self-portraits, and she was identified as both the model and the photographer.

Tears ran down her face as she stared at the photos. Her entire body was shaking and she was in state of total shock. Louise had assured her that she would remain anonymous and that no one buying any of the prints would ever know her name. The only buyer who knew her identity was Scott, but what reason would he have for doing this? She'd had no contact with him since the day he'd dropped by her office to tell her goodbye, and he certainly didn't appear to be angry or resentful.

Carrie picked up the letter. Wyman's address and phone number were printed on the letterhead. Her hands were still shaking as she dialed the number.

"Stay calm, Carrie," she told herself as she took a deep breath and waited for someone to answer. After punching a few buttons, a live person came on the line.

"Yes, hello." She fought to keep the tremble in her voice down. "This is Carrie Daniels. I'm calling about the pictures of me, in this month's issue."

"Yes, congratulations Carrie. Those photos were exceptionally well done. We've never seen anything this classy in our contest before. You've certainly raised the bar."

"Thank you, but I need to ask a favor. I can't find my release form. Would you mind emailing a copy to me?"

"Certainly. Let me pull up the file on my computer."

Moments later she read off an email address, asking if it was correct. Carrie didn't recognize it.

"Can you send it to this email address instead?"

She gave her the correct address and quickly ended the call. Ten minutes later she'd received the email, with an attachment, which she immediately downloaded and printed.

"Oh my God."

She looked it over. It had been filled out with her name, business address and office telephone number, but with an unknown email address. She let out a gasp as she looked at the signature. It had been forged. She sat in stunned disbelief, unsure of what to do until it finally occurred to her to call Steve. She was about to reach for the phone, when it started to ring. She quickly answered.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Louise Dickenson's voice had an accusing tone she'd never heard before.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," she tersely replied.

"Oh don't act so innocent with me." Carrie heard the anger in Louise's voice. "What reason would I have for entering
Gentry Magazine's
photo contest? Don't you think that if I were to publish any of my photos I'd want to be credited as the photographer? Sorry, Carrie, the jig is up. You'll have to find another way to pay your mother's medical bills, and you might want to get yourself a lawyer while you're at it. My attorney just got off the phone with
Gentry Magazine
. We know you're the one who submitted the photos, and we know they mailed a check to your office. This is copyright infringement and plagiarism, Carrie. Did you really think I wouldn't find out about it? Karl subscribes to
Gentry Magazine
, you stupid little bitch, so you can imagine our surprise at what we found in our mailbox today. You, of all people, should have certainly known better, but don't you worry about that. I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget. By the time I'm through with you, you'll not only be out of business, you really will be living in that cardboard box underneath the bridge."

"Louise, I didn't do this. Someone set me up!"

"Yeah, right. You know, you must really think that I'm pretty damn stupid. Well, I've got news for you, Sweetness. You just picked a fight with the wrong person. Trust me, I'm someone you never, ever want to have for an enemy. My attorney will be in touch. From here on out you'll be talking to him, not me."

Louise slammed the phone down in Carrie's ear. Carrie burst into tears and cried for several minutes. Once she finally calmed down, she stepped out to get a bottle of water and lock her front door before coming back to her desk. She took a deep breath and placed a call to Allison. She fought back the tears, when she heard her friend's voice.

"Allie, thank goodness. I was afraid I'd get your voicemail."

"Carrie, what's wrong?" She could hear the despair in Carrie's voice.

"Everything. Allie, I have an emergency. I have to talk to Steve, right away. I need his work number."

"Here you go." Allison read the number off. "Carrie, what happened?"

"I can't talk right now, Allie, but I'll call you tonight. I promise."

She ended the call and quickly dialed Steve's number. She was connected to his secretary, who informed her that he'd stepped out.

"But you don't understand, it's an emergency. I have to talk to him, right now."

"And I just told you, he should be back in about fifteen minutes. If you'll just give me your name and number I'll give him the message."

Carrie quickly gave the woman her name and number, repeating again that it was an urgent matter. She hung up the phone and waited. It seemed like an eternity before her phone finally rang.

"Carrie, this is Steve. What's up?"

"Someone's out to ruin me." She quickly filled him in on the details.

"Holy crap!
Carrie, I want you to listen to me closely and do everything I tell you to do. First, I want you to call your webmaster. Tell him to take your website down, immediately. Then I want you to gather up everything that was in that envelope, along with the release form, and take it with you. I want you to go straight home. As soon as you get there, I want you to call the police and have them send an officer over to take a report. Keep you door locked and don't open it unless it's me, or Allie, or the police. And don't answer your phone, unless you know who's calling."

"Steve, you're scaring me."

"Carrie, you have an enemy out there. Someone's gone to a great deal of trouble to set you up. Right now we don't know who it is and what else they're capable of."

Carrie shuddered. She was genuinely frightened.

"What about Louise? She's made it abundantly clear that she's going to sue me for breach of contract, copyright infringement, plagiarism, and who knows what else."

"We can help you with that. There's a guy in our office that specializes in this sort of thing. He has an excellent track record so you'll be in the best of hands. He's in court today and tomorrow, but if you'll hold on for a moment I'll go talk to his secretary and find out how soon we can get you in to see him."

Steve put her on hold. While she waited, she took a few more deep breaths and tried to calm her nerves. In a minute, he was back on the line.

"Alex has an opening at three o'clock on Thursday. I've already scheduled it for you and I'll make sure I'm there too. Do you need the address?"

"Yes."

Steve gave her the address and she looked it up on Google. At least his office was close to her apartment.

"I'll see you on Thursday, Carrie, and I'll fill Alex in before you get here. In the meantime, if you need anything, and I mean anything, you call me, or Allie, right away."

"I will, and thank you, Steve."

Carrie called her webmaster as soon as she hung up. Within minutes her website disappeared from the web. She gathered everything up in the envelope before setting the alarm, locking the door and quickly heading home.

C
arrie arrived at Steve's office a few minutes early. She introduced herself to the receptionist and took a seat in the waiting area. The office was beautifully decorated with plush furnishings, confirming her fear that their services would not come cheap. She set her satchel down and nervously began flipping through one of the magazines laying on the coffee table. Her ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice.

"I have to make a quick phone call, Brenda. Is my three o'clock here?"

"Yes, Alex."

"Good. Tell Steve I'll be ready in a couple minutes. We'll be meeting in the conference room."

Carrie looked up, but whoever was talking to Brenda had already left. She shrugged it off as nervousness. Her mind must be playing tricks on her. She turned her attention back to the magazine.

"Carrie?"

She looked up. "Hey, Steve."

"Are you all right? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. As you can imagine, I've been under a lot of stress and I haven't been sleeping very well."

"I understand. Are you ready?"

She nodded as she rose from her chair, picked up her satchel and followed him to the conference room.

"Alex, your three o'clock is here," he announced as he stepped inside.

Carrie abruptly stopped in the doorway. She couldn't believe who she was seeing. He'd filled out over the years, but she knew those distinctive gray eyes and curly blond hair. He was seated in one of the high-backed leather chairs surrounding the cherry wood conference table. A broad smile broke out across his face as he looked up from her file and recognized her.

"Well hey, Carrie-Anne."

"You remembered?"

"How could I forget our song?"

He walked up her and they embraced, lingering in each other's arms. Reluctantly, she stepped back and began to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I understand the two of you already know one another," said Steve as he handed her a tissue.

"Yes." Carrie dabbed her eyes as they took their seats. "Alex and I go all the way back to the fourth grade. I was the kid that everyone else hated because I was on
TV
, and Alex was the skinny, nerdy guy who took pity on me. He and Allie were my two best friends, but then we lost touch with one another about ten years ago. So, Alex, what have you been doing since then?"

"Going to college, going to law school, and coming to work here. And you?"

"Going to college, becoming a photographer, and most recently, watching my entire world go up in flames." The smile instantly faded from her face.

"Alex has gone over your file," explained Steve. "I've brought him up to speed on everything."

She looked at Alex. "So, you've seen them?"

He lifted up his folder, revealing the current issue of
Gentry Magazine
hidden underneath.

"Yes, I have."

Her face began turning red. "Alex, I need you to understand something. I'd been living with someone, long term, and during that time my mother had a stroke."

"I know. Steve told me about her insurance running out and you going broke trying to take care of her."

"That's right. So when Doug dumped me, I was literally left homeless. I was camped out in my office. Then Louise called and offered me that photo shoot. I was desperate. I needed the money so I could find a decent place to live. That was the only reason I agreed to do it. She promised me the photos would only go to serious art collectors and that I'd remain anonymous. I don't want you getting the wrong idea."

"I understand and I'm not judging you, but now we have to deal with the consequences. Steve tells me someone set you up, and Louise has threatened to take legal action against you."

"I'm afraid so." She reached into the satchel, removing Caleb Wyman's letter and the check, and handing them over to Alex. "This arrived at my office two days ago. I swear, on everything that is holy, that I never, ever, entered their photo contest. When I came across those two photos of me, along with my name identifying me as the model, I totally freaked out."

"I understand. So what did you do after that?"

"As soon as I calmed down, I called Mr. Wyman's office, and when whoever she was answered, I told her I'd lost my copy of the release form, and could she email me another. She asked me to verify the email address they had on file. Alex, it wasn't my email address. It was one I'd never heard of."