The Pre-Coverup

Who threw the first punch was anyone’s guess, and at that point, it didn’t really matter. Embroiled in battle, it looked as though it’d be to the death. Jae Barlow and his business partner, Matt Brolin, had been at each other’s throats for weeks and it all came to a head that evening. Jae threw a gut punch that caused Matt to double over as he gasped for air. He followed up with a knee, catching Matt on the chin, forcing him to fall backwards.

As Matt rolled on the floor in pain, he was still gasping for air. Jae let his anger take over. He ran over and pounced on a defenseless Matt and pummeled him with blow after blow to his face, head, and anywhere else he could land a punch. As Matt rolled up into a fetal position to shield Jae’s attack, it seemed to anger Jae even more. He stood and began kicking Matt. He was sweating and panting for breath, as he finally showed signs of tiring out. Matt stood and launched a counterattack.

The first blow landed square on Jae’s nose and it shattered. He followed with a blow to the right side of his face, fracturing the jaw. A gut punch caused Jae to double over just as Matt had earlier, and Matt went to work pummeling Jae. Matt was not as fit as Jae and he tired early and fell to the ground exhausted. Both men did, each exhausted and gasping for air. They were both done. Jae got up first, turned towards Matt and stood over him, silently claiming victory. Matt closed his eyes and deflated, showing he’d had enough and Jae could call himself the winner. Jae walked out, got into his car, and drove off.

She had been driving at breakneck speed to get to her colleagues to keep them from killing each other. Things at work had come to a head, and she knew they planned to meet at the warehouse to settle the score once and for all. She passed Jae as he peeled rubber storming off. Still furious, he didn’t notice her. When she got to Matt, he was in awful shape. She kneeled beside him and checked for broken bones and assessed whether to move him or call 911. She did neither. Matt died a couple of hours later from complications of his injuries. Or so the story went.

The next morning at the office, Jae wondered where Matt was. He figured he took the day off to mend his wounds and never gave it another thought. He decided since everyone was already in the conference room, he might as well get the meeting started. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the outer office and he noticed a few police officers headed towards the conference room. They burst in. A couple of them stood in the doorway, preventing people from leaving or coming in. Another came and posted right in front of Jae.

“Jae Barlow, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of Matt Brolin. Please turn around and place you hands behind your head.”

His voice was commanding. His words, loud and deliberate. It rendered Jae immobile. His brain totally failed him as he desperately tried to process what he had just heard. He froze in absolute terror as his knees buckled. An officer had to catch him to keep him from falling to the floor. The scene horrified onlookers as the officer eased Jae into his chair and ordered everyone out of the room. He motioned for the paramedics to come in and administer aid. Jae fainted as soon as he saw them come into the room.

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It was the deal that would give the company the cash infusion it desperately needed to keep from going under. Jae Barlow, CEO, brokered the deal personally with input from his CFO, Matt Brolin. The two men started the company, and both equally invested in its success. Matt, however, had personal financial problems and sought a side deal with a less reputable group. The side deal was basically an offer for an under the table loan using the company as collateral. Matt knew he could not commit the company to shenanigans like that. He also knew that if he got caught, he’d be looking at jail time.

“So, why am I doing this?” He asked himself.

Hormones, of course. Enter Retha Clark. Retha was Matt’s Admin Assistant, and it was she who turned him on to the shady characters he dealt with on his side deal. Retha, a stunning brunette with cold blue eyes, had Matt wrapped around her finger. Her motive for pointing him to her friends was a setup he should have seen coming from a mile away. And he kind of did, but her flirtatious innuendo captivated him and his want for more of her.

Retha was an opportunist. She pitched her game to Jae originally. He saw through her immediately and threatened to fire her if she tried again. He also told Matt to be on the lookout for her and to fire her on the spot if she approached him with her scheme. Jae would have saved himself a ton of hurt had he simply fired her rather than issue a warning he should have known she’d ignore.

So Matt got his loan, paid his debts, and then sat back and waited for Retha’s guys to come collect their reimbursement. He, of course, didn’t have the money and suggested they go pound sand. He knew they were an inept group with not an ounce of “gangsta” between them. They would no more challenge him than a schoolyard bully would the quarterback of the school team. Retha went high order because her payday went poof along with her friends. Matt was even less concerned about her than he was about her friends. He fired her and she went whimpering away.

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In the hospital, Jae awoke to find himself shackled to the bed. He realized the dream he thought he’d had was not a dream at all and that his life was about to change. He remembered the fight he and Matt had, but he was sure Matt was alive when he stormed out of the building. Everything seemed surreal as he tried desperately to remember the exact sequence of events on that fateful night. And then luck stepped in. It seemed the police found video from surveillance cameras.

At first, the news confused him because they didn’t have cameras in the warehouse. But then he thought maybe Matt had them installed. It turned out the cameras caught the entire fight and clearly showed that Matt was alive when Jae stormed out of the building. But that alone didn’t prove that Matt didn’t die later from injuries sustained during the fight. What proved that, and what ultimately set Jae free, was what happened after he left the scene.

Someone else entered the building. The first camera angle seemed to show that person checking vitals and helping Matt. But another camera angle showed the person appeared to strangle Matt. So now the race was on to identify the person who entered the building after Jae left.

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Retha was furious at how Matt had so callously dismissed her and reneged on the payoff she sought. She knew her friends could not force his compliance, and neither could she. Her only recourse was to expose the scheme. Knowing Jae would be furious and challenge Matt for putting the company at risk. She came up with a plan, a terrible one that she didn’t think through.

She knew Matt was her best bet for getting paid. If Jae was out of the picture, it would make it that more likely, so her plan targeted Jae. She sent an anonymous letter, a ransom note of sorts, to Matt’s office demanding payment. She knew Jae would eventually find out about it. He did and challenged Jack. They agreed to meet some place neutral and out of sight to discuss the matter. It quickly devolved into a rather brutal brawl, which played right into Retha’s plan.

She knew that whenever Jae and Matt needed privacy; they’d go to the warehouse and sort things out. She kind of monitored the place to be there when they arrived to discuss things. Obviously, she couldn’t just camp out at the warehouse waiting for something to happen. She convinced her guys to work in shifts watching the place and to let her know when the guests arrived. Well, they immediately saw the flaw in that arrangement and opted to work smart instead.

One of them had tech skills and installed some cameras to do the watching for them. He had an old system lying around in his apartment and told the group it’d be a breeze to set them up. He brought everything online and then did a demo for the group. However, that group didn’t include Retha. He completely forgot about her.

Retha knew Jae was into MMA and had skills. Matt would be no match for him. Jae was also a hothead, and she wagered he’d lose his temper and attack Matt. A fight would ensue and Jae would end up losing control and unintentionally kill Matt.

When her guy called and said that Jae and Matt were at the warehouse, she rushed over to one, see if Matt was dead, and two, implement her coverup by planting evidence against Jae. She needed to make sure that when the authorities got involved, nothing would point to her.

Retha used Matt’s phone to place an anonymous call to 9-1-1 and report that she had found a body at the warehouse. She also left a note she had forged in Matt’s handwriting, inviting Jae to a meeting at the warehouse. With her steps complete, she left and then sat back, waiting for validation that her revenge plan had worked. The problem, and it was a big one, was that the “stupid is as stupid does” reality was in full swing.

Retha would not get paid, regardless of whether Jae and Matt lived or died. Her short-sightedness in that regard was astounding. In her haste to pre-coverup a crime for which there would be no evidence linking her, she foolishly interjected herself right into the middle of it. Worse yet, she implicated herself as Matt’s killer.

Retha had no idea one of her guys had installed security cameras. They recorded her actions from the time she walked into the warehouse until she left. That footage showed her strangling Matt to death. It showed her making a call afterwards and then tossing the phone on the ground beside his body. And they showed her walking out of the building. Everything was time stamped and painted a crystal clear picture of her implicating herself via a totally unnecessary pre-coverup.

K.R. Eaton - The Pre-Coverup

Short Stories by K.R Eaton