First Activation

“He’s a bit of a creepy bastard. But he kept giving me pay raises and I took lots of vacations. I didn’t want to cause trouble, as I was onto a good thing. Martina really loves him.”

“Creepy?”

“Yeah, I went away with him to one of his meetings in Florida. I didn’t attend the meeting, but he tried to book us into a double room and said it was the only one available. When I checked with reception, they had a few spare, so I took one of those. He was wasted in the hotel bar that night and tried to persuade me to go up to his room, and offered me fifty bucks to give him a back massage.”

Jerry laughed, I looked across at him.

“I didn’t say a word,” he smirked.

“Carry on, Lea, how did you meet Jerry?” Jack said.

“It’s pretty much like he said. Ron took me to a few meetings; one was at Jerry’s barn. Martina came down with me and we had a weekend in Manhattan afterwards.”

“Why did he take you to meetings?” I replied.

“I took bank details from people after the meetings and set-up payments to them through the company account. Jerry’s account received thousands of dollars from Genesis Alliance. He was one of the people I met who stuck in my mind.”

“I can understand that,” Jack nodded.

“So how many were on the payroll?” I asked.

“I can’t remember, maybe a few hundred. I tried to keep clear of Ron after what happened in Florida, that’s why I tried to get Martina along. It was difficult; she covered Latin America, so she was often on trips abroad. It started to put a strain on our relationship.”

“Do you think she knew more about this? Did you tell her about Ron?”

“We didn’t really talk about work; I found it all pretty boring. She might know more, as Ron and her are close. I was scared that if I told Martina about him, she’d dump me. She worships Ron and if I made it a choice between him or me…”

“Was there anything else? Thinking back can you think of anything suspicious?” Jack replied.

“No, that’s just about it. If you were in my shoes, would you have guessed what was going to happen?”

“I’ve no idea, probably not. So how did you end up on a flight to New York? I’m surprised Martina would let you go if she had any feelings for you.”

“I had a massive argument with her on Thursday night. Ron had planned a company party somewhere out of town, I refused to go and she went crazy. I was in a bit of a state and booked a New York flight to go and see a friend for the weekend. I needed a shoulder to cry on. Martina called me on Friday morning and was really pissed. I was already at the airport by then.”

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She wanted me to go straight to Ron’s house. She said I was letting down the company at an important time and they needed me back in Monroe. I hung up and switched off my mobile.”

“It sounds to me like she knew what was going to happen.”

“I don’t want to believe that yet. When the plane landed and I saw what was happening, I didn’t connect any of it with Genesis Alliance. I had shipped boxes and set up some payments. Would you get suspicious off the back of that?”

“I suppose not,” Jack replied.

“I was going to try and find my friend in Manhattan; I hoped that he could help me. That’s why I joined the group on their trek into the city. But in the apartment, I decided my friend was probably dead.”

“Did you hear from Martina?”

“I received two direct messages from her on twitter. She told me in the first not to tweet anything about G.A and asked me to stay indoors for the next seventy-two hours. That’s when I first started to become suspicious. I replied asking what was going on. The second message told me not to answer the door to anyone and keep it locked.”

“She sounds like she definitely knew what was going on,” I replied.

“You don’t know that, she might have asked Ron after it all started.”

“Yeah right. Come on, Lea, you’re blinded by love. What happened next?”

She shook her head.

“This is where you guys came in. After Chris was killed, and you turned up at the parking lot, I thought you might have been one of them. I needed help to get to Jerry’s farm. If Genesis Alliance had anything to do with what was happening, I thought he might have some answers, it was the closest meeting place to Bernie’s I could remember. I still didn’t believe it though. I also wanted to get back to Martina.”

“So you used us?” Jack said.

“We all wanted to leave. All three of us are finding out what’s happening, right?”

“It was four of us.”

“I’m just as upset about Bernie as you are. Give me a fucking break.”

“Hold on, why didn’t you go straight to the farm when we arrived in Orange County?” I asked.

“I planned to sneak out and confront Jerry if he was still alive.”

“When?”