From the beginning, I knew Ronie was innocent. I was at my desk when the hysterical call came from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s office, I heard the loss apparent in Ronie’s voice, “She’s dead! She’s gone, nothing, nothing! She made the bed and made us coffee that morning for Christ’s sake! And these motherfuckers think I had something to do with it! Morgan, Morgan, tell me you believe me. Tell me you believe me right now!”

I’ve never heard Ronie drop an ‘F’ bomb before. Ronie is a cool-headed and brilliant engineer, not a murderer, and I was at a loss for what to say. 

“Yes, that’s ok Ronie, I know you’re innocent. Get a hold of yourself, you need to calm down in front of them,” I finally replied. 

“Don’t tell me to calm down! They think I wanted to take over, to be CEO. Like any of us could do this without her!” a slight pause filled with Ronnie's heavy breathing, “What’s going to happen to it now?” 

I prayed that Ronie would know enough not to begin speaking on the Rawls Machine while calling me from the Sheriff’s office. 

“Ronie, we’re going to hire you a lawyer, we know you didn’t do it. But, please remember your Non-Disclosure Agreement with the Company,” I gently reminded them. 

“No! You’re not going to keep me from speaking on her life’s work! Someone found out about it and decided to take her out before the implementation phase,” Ronie continued without heeding a word I said. 

“Ronie, that’s enough from you. I’m going to contact our lawyers to see what we can do,” and that was all I felt I could do while still in Chicago. 

“I’ve already talked to the District Attorney, they’re gonna press charges. Morgan, you can’t let me go to prison, not here. I won’t last a month in a prison, and for murder!” Ronie begged me. 

“I’ll do everything I can. Ronie, I’ll fly out next week after I wrap up here. The board is out for blood, two chief officers are unable to perform their duties and they want to pull their funding. They think it's time to cash out,” I tried to reason with them, to show them how utterly bleak the situation was on the outside. 

“Screw the board, Morgan! Aashvi is dead! And she’s not coming back!” Ronie became hysterical and the mention of Aashvi brought a tear to my eye. Ronie lost a lover, but that doesn’t compare to the friendship we’ve built over the years.  

“Yeah that goes without saying. There’s nothing you can do where you’re at though and talking to the prosecutor won’t help much. Just stay quiet until the lawyers reach out,” I pulled my phone away from my ear as a string of insults came over the line. “You’re not the only one in pain here, Ronie,” I whispered into the receiver before hanging up the phone. 

The mountain of paperwork on my desk mocked me and the voicemail light on my office line turned on. I knew it was the lawyer reaching out regarding the distribution of Aashvi’s shares of the company. I was lucky to have been in close contact with Cyrus over the past few days. With a founder dead and another member of the board in jail facing severe prison time, we were going to need a strategy and I am in charge. 

I logged out of my computer to grab some lunch. After locking my office, I pulled out my phone and dialed Cyrus, “Hi, Cyrus, it’s Morgan.”

“Hello, Ms. Ruiz. I’m glad you called me, I just left a voicemail to say that Aashvi’s shares have been transferred to you as per your previous agreement. Whether or not her mother challenges you in court will be another thing,” he finished talking right as I stepped into the elevator. 

The ride down made my stomach lurch, and with only coffee to start my day it burned with a mild twist. 

“That’s great to hear. We face incredibly difficult decisions as a company and it always helps to have a captain at the helm. Regarding our other board member, Ronie, do you think you can arrange for someone to represent them on behalf of the company?” I stepped out of the elevator and into the building lobby. The receptionist smiled at me and then at my back as I walked past her and through the double doors. 

“I certainly can arrange to have an associate fly to Miami to take care of this issue. A board member who murders another might garner some sympathy for the company, but only if the case plays out in your favor,” Cyrus buzzed from the phone. He always knew how to make me feel better. 

“Well, make sure that it does,” and I hung up before continuing along the sidewalk to my favorite sandwich shop. Once there, I ordered from the counter and then sat by while they made my food. I took some time to respond to Jake’s email, he was happy we would finally be able to move the project along with Aashvi out of the way. 

Sixty thousand dollars was all it took to convince the hotel cleaning staff to let an old friend of Jake’s into the building and provide him with a key to the room. Another hundred thousand for him to push Aashvi off the ledge without anybody noticing he had been there. Implicating Ronie was just an added bonus, or so I thought at the time.