An ill-advised venture
By Carolyn and Riwa
It all started innocently enough. Clarissa was working as a secretary in a building where a lot of money flowed in and out. And she was not being paid enough.
Often there were piles of it seemingly lying around. She dutifully filed the paperwork that came her way, keeping track of records and other sundry files. It wasn’t long until she established the place she was working for wasn’t very honest. And still she wasn’t making much money.
One day she was alone in a room filing papers when a box of cash had been brought in and opened. She was left all alone and had looked longingly at the contents. She had needs for the day, purchases without the corresponding cash to make them.
The temptation became too great and she took a small wad of bills. It wasn’t much; with the amount that flowed in she doubted it would even be missed. Then she went back to work.
The amount she helped herself to was enough to cover expenses, leaving a bit left over. She felt better being able to keep out of debt without having to wait for a stingy boss to up her salary. But perhaps it was best not to take anymore.
A few weeks went by and no one seemed to comment on the shortage. Perhaps it had been attributed to an accounting error. She breathed a sigh of relief… until life thrust upon her another needed expenditure.
She struggled to make ends meet but she was getting behind again. Then another opportunity presented itself – another box of cash. She’d gotten away with it once before; perhaps she could do it again.
She took a small amount, just enough to cover her immediate debts. Then she waited, doing her duties while wondering if she’d been caught. But again there was no reaction to any missing funds. Her little venture appeared to have gone unnoticed.
She vowed never to do it again. But she liked dating men. That meant dressing up and going out to dine and wearing nicer things. And she didn’t have enough money for that kind of lifestyle. So she decided if another opportunity presented itself she would act upon it.
Clarissa woke up for work the next day but when she came out of the shower she paused. There was a full length mirror in the bathroom and she took off her towel and used it to wipe the steam off of it. Standing naked, she looked up and down at herself.
Her hair, which was jet black and tangled, would turn back to its normal light brown color and flow nicely to her shoulders once it dried off and she made it up. She was 5’6″, but with 38C breasts that were a bit out of proportion for her frame… a bit on the large side. She had always felt lucky to be that way. Still looking at herself, she thought (and had been told in the past) that she had all the curves in the right places. Smiling, she turned around and started to dry herself off.
When she was done she turned and went to her closet and frowned. She was proud of her appearance but that pride went away when she looked at her closet. There were some nice outfits in there – work outfits.
The rest of her clothes, those for her personal and night life, left a lot to be desired. They were acceptable, but not good enough. Being just acceptable rubbed her the wrong way. She had to admit to herself it was a large part of why she had started doing the things that she had done.
Clarissa decided not to dress but just sat in the kitchen with her coffee in her bathrobe, mulling things over. So much cash went through that place and yet nobody had noticed. Still, she realized that it would be best to stop what she was doing, at least the way she had been.
She had not always been a secretary. Before she worked there she had been a bookkeeper at a small accounting firm. She knew all about keeping books and paying bills.
Without anyone knowing, she set up a corporation of her own from her own kitchen that day. It sold, according to the records she later established at work, offices supplies like ink toner, copy paper, and other such things.
Clarissa never again touched the extra cash in the office. In fact she went out of her way to avoid it. Still, almost every day, she bought some supplies that seemed innocent yet never arrived at work. In the meantime, she upgraded her wardrobe courtesy of her credit cards.
She stopped being overly greedy and settled into an established daily routine that took a little bit at a time. However, she had not been as clever as she had thought that she had been.
She was several months into her scheme when she met Juan at a café where they had coffee together. They seemed to hit it off. She was attracted to his charm and his physique.
He invited her out the next day and the day after. He seemed interested, and she found herself becoming more and more attracted to him. But that meant dressing in such a way as to impress him. And that meant furthering her scheme a little more.
She bought more supplies and used the funds she’d generated to buy a few more nice dresses. She wore one the night he took her out for drinks and a movie at the local movie house. She knew the outfit had worked the moment he’d moved in for a kiss.
There were more dates, requiring her to make sure she was beautiful and attractive to him. She tried not to make purchases that would arouse suspicion. But it hadn’t occurred to her just how much money was necessary to maintain such a relationship.
Several weeks before she met Juan a mid-level person at her company noticed that things were off. There was less money in the company than there should have been.
Clarissa would never have taken a cent, or even taken the job, if she knew what her employer really did. They made money, and sometimes people, disappear.
Nothing was revealed on the security footage but someone went to the supply closet one day and saw that there was only a single box of toner. That didn’t seem to match up with something that he had thought that he had seen at another time. A quick check of the books showed a lot of ordering of office supplies and, with a quick google search, showed that they had been paying more than 5 times what any of it would have cost at Staples. That was when Juan was sent into her life.
For a while, Clarissa and Juan were never really alone on their dates. Sitting at a table close by was one of several different women who were watching her. Although no man would have noticed, they picked up right away on how well dressed she was. With each date her clothes, jewelry, and looks improved. Still, nobody wanted to hurt her until they were sure.
Juan dated Clarissa, the women watched, and a third man stayed at the office and hacked into her bank account. There was no way that there was anywhere near enough cash to pay for her new lifestyle, and she had long since paid off her credit card bills. A final search revealed who had set up the company and a decision was reached.
Clarissa kept up her scheme as her relationship intensified with Juan. He stopped taking her to movies and they went to high end restaurants instead. Many times, after the meal, they walked hand in hand in silence.
One night he took her home and she asked him if he’d like to come in. Juan accepted and, as she was getting them drinks, he came up from behind her. She felt his arms wrap around her while one hand slipped down through the dress and between her legs while his lips kissed her neck. That was the first time they made love.
It was not the last time that they did either. All the while, Clarissa was kept under surveillance and her activities monitored. Juan was enjoying this assignment more than most.
She was over at his house early one morning. She had spent the night and after breakfast they walked behind his house, hand in hand, as they had done many times before. Then Juan took her from behind and held her close.
Clarissa leaned back into him and felt his lips on her neck. She never saw his right hand, with a rock in his palm, swing around and hit her in her temple.
Clarissa didn’t feel any pain from the impact, but realized something was wrong when she felt her legs go out from under her. After that it was just blackness.
Clarissa awakened with a splitting headache. She moaned softly, wincing at her throbbing temples. She went to rub her forehead only to discover another surprise…
Her hands were not available…
She shook the fog out of her eyes to take in her surroundings. She was sitting in the front seat of her car, her hands duct-taped to the steering wheel. The vehicle was sloped downward on a deserted boat ramp, the calm waters of a lake staring back at her.
She shook her head again, unable to comprehend what her eyes were seeing. She let out an anguished cry as she pulled against her hands strapped to the steering wheel. But they were secured tightly. She wasn’t getting free without assistance.
She looked to her right and saw nothing – no vehicles or individuals who might save her. She looked to her left and saw the same. The only difference was the driver’s side window had been rolled down, cracked open about half an inch.
She began to scream, jerking her hands against the steering wheel. Then she looked in the rearview mirror to see a familiar face. “JUAN! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!” That’s when he came up to the driver’s side door.
Juan looked at her and cocked his head.
“For whatever it’s worth, you’re great in the bedroom….” The he walked away and circled the car.
Clarissa pulled at the steering wheel to free her writs. She might have been able to free herself if things had been looser. But the duct tape wrapped itself around the wheel and her wrists several times over.
Juan opened the passenger side door and sat down. “You know, you might have gotten away with it if you hadn’t been so greedy. You might have gotten away with it too if you had messed with other people. But clearly you don’t know who you were stealing from.”
He reached around and took something slender from the back. She recognized that it was a laptop. “Juan..Juan..Please, don’t do this!”
Juan came over with an angry look that she had never seen before. Before she say anything else he covered her mouth with duct tape. Clarissa cried out but only heard her own muffled cry.
She felt her own chest rising and falling painfully as she was forced to breathe through her nose. All the while she saw Juan working on the laptop. He turned her by the chin and she saw that the laptop had full signal and he had brought up the home page for Wells Fargo, the bank that she had been using.
He ripped the tape off her mouth, yanking her hair in the process. Clarissa cried out in pain while he held her chin firmly. “Now Clarissa, I believe you have something for me….first the account name…then the password.”
“Juan; please don’t do this to me!”
“Account name and password, Clarissa.”
“Get me out of here!”
“Now!” and he slapped her face hard. Clarissa gasped as her eyes flew open in horror, her face still stinging. And still she said nothing.
“Is this the way it is going to be? We have nothing further to discuss? Very well. Allow me to remove the parking brake and put your car in neutral. It’s too bad it must be this way, Clarissa.”
“No; WAIT!” she gasped anxiously as he reached for the gear shift. “2271 – password: dresses615now.” He looked at her curiously.
“Dresses… I wanted to buy dresses… 615 is the date I activated the account… June fifteenth.”
He nodded as he plugged the information into the computer. A moment later he began the transfer. “It appears we caught you before you could siphon off too much money through your phony corporation.”
“I’m sorry, Juan; I’m sorry. I’ll close the corporation account immediately!”
“It’s already been handled.” He calmly climbed out of the vehicle with the laptop in hand and closed the door.
She watched anxiously in the rear view mirror, her chest heaving as he walked all the way around to the driver’s side door. He opened it up and reached inside. She gasped as he popped the parking brake. Then he reached over to the gearshift.
“Juan; NO!” But he popped the lever into neutral. He jumped out of the way and slammed the door as the car began to roll downward toward the water.
Clarissa looked ahead of her and at the boat ramp. It was long but the slope was obvious.
“JUAN, I’M SORRY!!” she cried out, all the while pulling against the steering wheel. If only she could get one hand free, then untie the other and get out of the car.
Clarissa stared ahead, her eyes wide open in horror, as the water slowly drew closer. From underneath her she could feel the planks of the dock bumping against the tires.
“PLEASE JUAN…I’M SORRY! I’LL PAY YOU BACK, I PROMISE!!”
Juan just stood on the dock, watching Clarissa’s car go on its slow journey. As it went he walked behind it at a slow clip. He wanted to see her face but there wasn’t enough room on either side of the car to do it. She could see her head flailing as she pulled furiously against the steering wheel, but there was no way that she’d ever get free.
Clarissa kept pulling and calling for Juan when she felt the front of her car hit the water. It slowed, but didn’t stop and continued downwards. It still managed to stay above the water, at least far enough so that nothing came into the car. Then the rear wheels went off of the dock and her car tilted forward.
Clarissa caught a look in the rear view mirror. She saw her own horrified look, the bruise on her forehead, and Juan standing on the dock, looking at her with the laptop under his arm.
She kept calling for Juan, pleading for forgiveness. And then the car went down far enough to let water start to come in through the open window.
Walking closer, but keeping a discreet distance, Juan heard her cry out as the window went under the water line. He thought about how it might be nice to have some night goggles. But he hadn’t brought any. Oh well, he thought.
Inside the car, Clarissa kept pulling, somehow knowing how futile her efforts were, as she felt the cold water come in and rise up to her knees.
Forward momentum took her car further out as the weight of the engine angled the front of the vehicle downward. Water poured in through the crack in the window, making Clarissa cry out as it drenched her. It was already up to her waist, causing her to kick like crazy from the cold.
She could hear her precious air bubbling out of the vehicle as it settled lower in the water. The windshield and front seat windows were fully submerged. She kept screaming as water poured in on top of her.
Taking all that money had been a foolish thing to do; she knew that now. But there was no one to apologize to. It kept getting darker all around her; Juan was not swimming out to free her.
It climbed up to her chest, soaking her tits and causing her nipples to protrude through her blouse. She heard more bubbles as the car pitched forward. Then she felt it begin to take her to the bottom of the lake as it got dark and murky all around her.
Up at the surface Juan barely heard a muffled cry from the vehicle. He saw it angle downward amidst a flurry of bubbles. Then it picked up speed until the trunk submerged amidst a torrent of bubbles. A moment later the vehicle was out of sight, leaving nothing but a stream of bubbles bursting up from the flooding vehicle.
Juan kept watching as the bubble came to the surface. There was still quite a bit of them, more than a human lung could produce. He surmised that it must be coming up from the trunk. Then even that slowed.
Clarissa kept pulling against the steering wheel, the car’s inside totally filled. As she weakened she saw something to her left. It was another car and she saw that there was a girl inside. Her face was swollen and it was obvious that she had been there for some time. Her wrists were likewise taped to the steering wheel. The image caused Clarissa to scream on last time in panic. And then she passed out.
Juan stayed a little longer and then walked away and down the deserted road. Looking at his watch he heard a car come up from behind him and then stop. He got into the truck and it drove away. All this over clothes, he thought to himself, shaking his head.
© 2016 (written Aug 1 ’16 by Carolyn and Riwa)