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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781524613112 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 06/17/2016 |
| Pages: | 368 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Desires of the Soul
By Andrea E. McKinney
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Andrea E. McKinneyAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5246-1313-6
CHAPTER 1
The Set Up
It was a bright sunny summer day. The cool breeze whispered to the seagulls gently in the air. Her name was Chelsea McQuire. When she finished the salad that she had prepared for herself when she got home, she began her walk as she did every day to fill the rest of her lunch hour. She had hurried home on her lunch break so that she could eat her lunch and take a walk on her favorite beach in Marshalls Bay. She hopped in her sedan and drove the three blocks to her beach house to have lunch and then drove the three blocks to walk on Marshall's Bay beach. After she parked her car when she arrived at the beach she slipped out of her heels to make her way to the shore for her walk. She had locked up her cottage and could leave directly from the beach to her place of work after she was finished walking. She had packed a bag of bread crumbs for the seagulls to eat while she walked on her favorite beach. She loved the way the sand felt between her toes and the way the waves splashed against the shore. A boy was playing catch with his golden retriever and he threw the tennis ball into the surf as the dog chased after it. Then the dog gripped it in his mouth and returned it to the boy. Girls laid out in skimpy bikinis on towels along the way.
It put her at ease and gave her peace because she knew every inch of this beach that she called home. She was a beautiful blonde with long flowing hair and she walked the shores of the beach that she adored every day at this time on her lunch hour from work. She watched the children play in the sand, making sand castles and playing without a care in the world. She watched the seagull's fly overhead. She tossed a few broken pieces of bread in the air for the birds to eat from the bag of bread crumbs that she had packed for just such an occasion. She delighted in the fact that the birds could catch the pieces of bread in midair. This was something that she loved to do because the birds were always true to her. They always seemed to know when she was coming. She always made sure she had plenty of bread crumbs to share with the seagulls.
While she was walking along the shore she could feel the surf hit her toes. She was paying attention to the children and the seagulls while she took her treasured walk along the shore of Marshalls Bay beach. She dreamt of the day when she too would have children to take to that very beach and watch them play in the pearly white sand. The mother of the children called them to their blanket to feed them their lunch. Watching this made Chelsea's heart ache for her Prince Charming.
She owned a charming little two-bedroom cottage just a few of blocks from the shore. One day she hoped to share this beach house with the man of her dreams. Then she could take her own children to the beach and teach them how to swim and build sand castles in the sand. She looked at her watch and found that it was almost time to get back to work. She had to hurry because her lunch hour was almost over. So she quickly made her way back to her car, unlocked the door, and jumped in to head back to her place of work, Trinity bank. The beach was along the shores of Tallahassee, Florida. Her cottage near Marshalls Bay beach was just a few minutes down the road from the bank where she worked.
Many wealthy people banked at this establishment. The decor alone attracted the wealthy. Mr. Joseph Eldridge, the owner, was a kind old man. Many who patronized the Trinity bank knew Mr. Eldridge personally and highly respected him. He was a fourth generation banker, and he knew quite well how to run a successful bank. He was a faithful man and was a regular attendant to Sunday services with his wife Eleanor.
Chelsea was unaware that she was being watched every day when she made her precious walk along the shore of Marshalls Bay beach. Frank Snow sat in his rented van alongside of the road. He took pictures of her with the high powered lens on his camera so that he would know every inch of her by heart. He could download the pictures onto his high tech laptop to edit and print so that they could be hung on the walls of this temporary residence. He was also able to get her in full motion with the movie setting on his camera. He could just download the video surveillance to his high powered laptop and add it to his collection at his leisure. He had become accustomed to the way that she moved when she walked and the sound of her voice on the recorder when they taped her calls. He didn't realize it yet but his heart already belonged to her.
He knew her routine like the back of his hand. Chelsea was a creature of habit and he used this to his advantage. He had nefarious intentions. He smoked a cigarette while he watched her make her way down the beach and innocently feed the seagulls. He thought she was a beautiful sight and he was very happy that she would be the one that fit into his plan. Every day he sat in different rented vehicles watching her take her treasured walk along the crowded beach. He traded in the vehicles each day so she wouldn't notice that he was watching her. He would soon get to know her very well, because he intended on using her in his plan. Chelsea walked down the beach as though she did not have a care in the world. This pleased Frank because he knew she would be an easy target.
When she headed back to her sedan and hopped in she made her way back to the Trinity bank. Frank threw his cigarette butt out the window and started the engine to the van. He would follow her to her place of work so that he could keep close tabs on her from a distance. He followed her back to the Trinity bank and parked his van. Then he waited for her to exit her vehicle, so that he could take one more picture of her as she entered her place of work.
After college Chelsea had already achieved her employment goals. She worked in a bank of high caliber and had a very lucrative career. She was the vice president, third only to the president of the bank who was also her best friend Ms. Felecia Grey and Mr. Eldridge who was the owner of the establishment and treasured her as an employee as well. She was very comfortable in her current position. She knew that she was secure in the job that she held.
When Chelsea returned from her lunch break she said a quick hello to Harold the security guard and Cheryl the banks greeter then climbed the stairs to deposit her purse in her office. She then entered Felecia's office and asked, "How was your lunch break, Felecia?"
Felecia was a shorter version of beauty. She was a brunette but always kept her hair in a tight fashionable haircut. Her biggest assets were her breasts. She didn't like a hairy body, so she paid to get a brazilin wax every week religiously. She had an appointment to get her Brazilian that evening after work. Her breasts were quite large for her size and she was very proud of them. They were a natural asset and she knew the men went wild for them. She had a very strong sexual appetite and she did not have a problem finding sexual partners when she turned on the charm.
Felecia was sitting behind her desk going over the daily books as was her job. She too had just returned from her lunch break. She knew full well that Chelsea had spent her lunch break walking the shores of her favorite beach.
"Well, it was lovely. Mr. Eldridge took me out to a very nice lunch to go over last month's balance sheet, I was pleased to tell him that we are in the black once again. How was your walk?" Felecia asked
"It was very relaxing. Where did you go for lunch?"
"That upscale Italian restaurant, Luigi's. It's one Joseph's favorite restaurants."
"How is Mr. Eldridge feeling?"
"He is doing quite well considering his recent heart attack."
Chelsea knew of Mr. Eldridge's latest scare with his heart. He was a very wealthy man with a lot on his shoulders. Since the heart attack he had scaled down his hours and he depended more and more on Felecia and Alice his secretary than ever before. He began coming in at the hour of 10 am and often left the bank early to please his wife Eleanor.
Then Chelsea inquired "Do you think Mr. Eldridge should be back to work so soon?" Chelsea went on to say "He seems quite capable of doing his job, but we better keep an eye out for him just in case. He has cut back on his hours to accommodate the risk to his health"
"Yes, that's a good idea, we don't want him having another heart attack on our watch." Felecia replied.
Then Chelsea excused herself and went back to her own office. After Chelsea and Felecia were back in their offices Frank moved the rented van to a place where he could see Chelsea's office as well as Felecia's easily through their large picture windows, on the walls, in their offices.
He kept close tabs on Chelsea and Felecia while Jonathan his brother listened in on the tape recorded conversations that he could pick up from the ladies offices. Jonathan Snow was also Frank's partner in crime. Jonathan kept tabs on Felecia by listening in on the tape recorders that picked up every conversation that each woman had within the confines of their offices. Both women were part of the plan. Jonathan spent most of his time listening to the tape recorders that shared the information with the Snow brothers when the ladies were in their offices. Jonathan was trying to figure out a way to break the banks security codes on both Felecia and Chelsea's computers and decode their passwords so that he could download the money that they intended on stealing from the Trinity Bank in Marshall's Bay.
The Snow brothers would soon bug their homes and have complete access to everything the two women said within the confines of their homes as well. They had many pictures and a lot video of Felecia and Chelsea as the women busied themselves with their duties for the bank. Frank was busy taking as many pictures as he could get with his long-range camera as the two women worked diligently in their offices. Neither woman suspected a thing.
Frank Snow was also keeping track of the armored truck deliveries and logging the information onto his tablet to send to Jonathan who was keeping track of this through a spreadsheet on his computer. Jonathan was extremely well versed in computer technology and had bought the latest and best computer just for this occasion with the money from their last heist. This is because the armored truck delivered the money on a rotating drop schedule. This meant that the armored truck made its drops on different days and times rotating the drops every day.
Jonathan had spent the last two months studying the times and days of these drops so they could choose the best day and time to rob the bank and the armored truck. He had found a program that helped him download the armored truck schedules as well so that there could be no errors on the day of that the plan was to take place. He had matched the download to the log that Frank had been keeping of the armored truck drops. This was to insure that there would be no mistakes made on the day that the plan was to go through.
By this time he knew every move that that the armored trucks made on their delivery route that delivered the Trinity banks money and took the deposits to be processed. Frank Snow was pleased that he was able to get this information and it had only taken time to gather the information that gave him the tightly guarded schedule of the armored trucks.
Jonathan was to be Felecia's newest mate. This was all part of the plan. Frank would seduce Chelsea and get as much information out of her about what was going on inside the walls of Trinity bank. They were both quite handsome and knew how to treat a lady and get what they wanted. Jonathan's job was to keep tabs on both women through the bugs. He counted on his brother to get him around in his rented vehicles. When Frank couldn't take him where he needed to go, he just called for a cab to take him where he needed to go.
Felecia lived alone as well but she had a three-bedroom house close to the bank in an upscale neighborhood in the residential district in town. Like Chelsea she only had to drive a few minutes to get to work. She was a successful woman and didn't feel the need to get married anytime soon like Chelsea did. Felecia was not as much of a creature of habit as Chelsea was, but she enjoyed her nightly trip to the gym. She was a bit harder to follow and keep tabs on, but Jonathan was up to the task. The Snow brothers would make their move soon.
The bank was secure as far as Mr. Joseph Eldridge knew. Each and every day that he came into work Felecia made sure that the picture windows above the door were free of window shades, so that Mr. Eldridge could rest at ease. No one knew that Anthony Alvarez had ulterior motives. Though he had been an employee for only two short months, he was proving to the Snow brothers that he was worth his weight in gold, or so they thought.
Mr. Eldridge thanked Alice for her services that day and told her that he was on his way home. It was almost 4 o'clock and time to head for home before he overdid it. "Goodnight and watch your health carefully. Mr. Eldridge, we don't want a repeat performance", she said as she waved good bye. Then she packed her things to leave as well. Alice was fond of the elevator.
Then Mr. Eldridge went to Felecia's office and said "Well, Ms. Grey the Mrs. will have my hide if I put in any overtime. She's assured to keep me on my toes about my health. So I'm going to call it a night and I wish you a good weekend."
"That's a good idea Mr. Eldridge you take good care of yourself, we don't want to see you have another heart attack. You can count on me to take care of things for you. I'll close up for the night."
With that, Mr. Eldridge turned on his heel and left Felecia's office heading for the elevator to leave the building. Then he entered Chelsea's office to say goodnight to her before leaving.
"I will see you on Monday Ms. McQuire, time to call it a night". Mr. Eldridge said,
"You have a restful weekend Mr. Eldridge. Good night, I will see you on Monday" Chelsea knew that Mr. Eldridge was growing weary of all the interest in his health so she stayed away from the subject when she said goodnight. Then he turned to leave her office for the weekend. He took the elevator to the first floor and said a quick goodnight to Mark and Ken then he went to his son's office and said good night as well. He told him that he would see him at home soon. He then said his good byes to both Cheryl and Harold and left the building, feeling quite confident that Felecia had everything under control.
Anthony Alvarez was the newest employee and the Snow brother's mole. He watched Mr. Eldridge intently while he made his rounds. He wanted to keep close tabs on him so that he would know when he was ill again if that happened again, which might benefit him. Felecia was anxious to get ready for the date that she and Chelsea had set. She knew there were only a few hours left before she would be sweating like she liked to.
The tellers had to count their drawers and then hand their bags over to Felecia to deposit into the vault for the weekend. She stopped by Mark Patterson's office to say goodnight. She went into Ken Steven's office and asked if he was ready to assist with letting the tellers go for the night. He was ready and told her that he was right behind her. Chelsea was already waiting by the door for the employees to finish counting their drawers for the day. She had already let all the loan officers out for the weekend.
Until Monday the money bags would rest in the vault waiting to be reconciled behind the secure doors of the combination lock that held the banks money. During the week she went over the reports that the tellers had made out before they left for the night. On Fridays she locked the money bags in the vault for the weekend until she could check the balances of the teller's money bags and balance their tapes. Then she would make her report for the armored truck and bag up the deposits that the armored truck would take away then as well. This was a procedure that she was assured to regret in the near future.
Chelsea chatted with Harold about his weekend plans while she waited. He divulged that he was going fishing with his son this weekend. Chelsea was happy to hear that Harold had plans.
Ken Stevens oversaw the tellers and helped Anthony Alvarez with his drawer. He was having a hard time balancing and this was making Felecia a very anxious. With the help of Ken Steven's, Mr. Alvarez was able to get his drawer to balance. Then he was let out of the bank for the day. With everything secure Chelsea already let the rest of the employees go for the weekend one by one. Then Felecia went back up the stairs to her office, she had a feeling that Anthony Alvarez was going to be a problem and she didn't like those thoughts. She then went to Chelsea's office and asked if she was ready to lock up the vault for the weekend.
"Ready when you are." Chelsea replied. Then both ladies went to the vault to lock it up.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Desires of the Soul by Andrea E. McKinney. Copyright © 2016 Andrea E. McKinney. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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