Betrayal of Trust

Betrayal of Trust

Marion Rose was one of my best friends for thirty eight years. Before her husband Ralph passed away suddenly, we all went on many of couples trips. Our last trip was to Jamaica on a Carnival Winds Cruise. Ralph and Marion had been married for thirty six years. All of us met our husbands when we were in college. She seemed to have lost her will to live after Ralph died. Marion no longer took phone calls or visited with anyone. Then out of the blue about a year later, she had met a man named Alexander Wilder off of the Match.com website. Alexander was a younger man around his mid forty's, with tan skinned and a large devilish smile. He reminded me of Jack Nickels when he played the joker character in Batman. Out of the blue she shows up one day when the rest of the ladies were over my house playing bridge.

“Hello ladies,” said Marion.

“Hello stranger,” said Tia. “We though you had disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“No,” said Marion. “I'm still here.”

“Have a seat,” I said. “It's good to see you.”

“Thank you girl.” said Marion.

The whole afternoon was spent talking about Alexander and all his real estate businesses that he owned in Detroit Michigan. She said that he had planned to take her there during the Christmas holidays to meet his three children. This was too soon to meet family in only two months of talking. I wanted to pull her aside and talk to her but she was too swept off her feet to listen to reason. Marion was like a school girl with a crush on the popular high school football player. All we wanted was for her to be happy. After dating Alexander for six months, Marion got a call about suspicious activity on her bank account. She was told that the bank president Mr. Tracy wanted to talk to her in person at his office as soon as possible. I was putting the dishes inside the dishwasher when the phone rang.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello Nancy,” said Marion. “ Are you busy this morning?”

“No,” I said. “What do you need?”

“My car won't start,” said Marion. “ Could you take me to the bank?”

'Sure,” I said. “Give me thirty minutes okay?”

“Okay,” said Marion. “I'll see you in a bit.”

“Alright,” I said.

Marion was sitting on her porch swing staring at a piece of paper when I pulled in her yard. She seemed kind of worried. I opened my car door to step out and she waved at me to get back inside. She came to the car and opened the passenger door.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

Marion paused for a few minutes before answering me.

“I don't know,' said Marion softly.

When we arrived at the bank, Marion hesitated before she got out of the car.

“Would you like me to go in with you?” I asked.

“No, said Marion. “I'll be fine.”

Marion gets out of the car and goes inside the bank. She goes up to the teller window to tell a woman with thick glasses that the bank president is expecting her. The woman tells Marion to take a seat in one of the chairs and that he would be with her shortly. Marion sits twiddling her thumbs anxiously waiting on Mr. Tracy. Mr. Tracy finally emerges from his off ice with a young couple.

“Good morning,” says Marion.. “You wanted to talk to me about my account.”

“Yes,” says Mr. Tracy. “Please step into my office.”

Marion goes into Mr. Tracy's office. He closes the door behind them and sits at his desk.

“Do you know Alexander wilder?” ask Mr. Tracy.

“Yes,” says Marion. “He's my fiancé.”

“Did you authorize this?” asks Mr. Tracy. “A wire transfer for $230,000.

“No!” exclaims Marion. “I don't know a Geneva Banes.

Mr. Tracy showed her the woman's address and that Alexander tried to send $10,000 the next day but it was intercepted as suspicious by the bank before it went through. Marion was worried because this was her saving that her husband had left f or her after his passing. Mr. Tracy assured her that the bank would be replacing the funds to her account. He explained to her that Alexander would be found labile for paying the bank back the funds that he had stolen. Marion gave Mr. Tracy all the information that she had about Alexander.

“This probably isn't his real name,” said Mr. Tracy. “Looks like you got yourself a scammer my dear.”

“Oh my God,” says Marion. “I've been such a fool.”

“You're not a fool,” says Mr. Tracy. “You just trusted the wrong person.”

“Thank you for your help,” says Marion.

“Your welcome,” says Mr. Tracy. “I'll take it from here.”

Mr. Tracy walks with Marion out of his office. As soon as Marion get into the passenger seat of my car, she starts to cry.

“What's wrong?” I asks.

“He stole my money, ”says Marion. “How could he do this to me?”

“Have your tried to call Alexander?” I asked.

“Yes,” says Marion. “He won't answer his cell phone.”

“Let's go to his house.” I said.

“Alright,” says Marion. “I want to know why he did this.”

Marion and I were like to detectives searching for answers. When we arrived at Alexander house, the door was wide opened. We both went inside. The entire house was cleaned out from top to bottom. It didn't even looked like anyone had lived here at all. I felt sorry for my friend. She really had her hopes up to marry this man.

“What do you want to do now?” I asked.

“I want to find him,” says Marion. “I'll hire a private detective.”

“That will cost money,” I said. “Why don't we try to find him on our own?”

“How can we do that?” asks Marion.

“I know someone who can help us,” I said.

My uncle Ross was a retired detective with the Montgomery Police Department. I knew he would be more willing to help us find Alexander. Uncle Ross was sitting on his porch reading the daily newspaper when we pulled into his yard.

“Hello, Uncle Ross,” I said.

“Hello there,” said Uncle Ross. “How have you been?”

“I've been okay,” I said. “We need your help.”

Marion began to tell Uncle Ross about the problems she was having with Alexander. He immediately agreed to help her find where Alexander was located.

“It's been awhile,” said Uncle Ross. “Tell me more about this Alexander person.”

Marion gave uncle Ross and the information she had on Alexander including the name of the woman who Alexander had wired money from her account to.

“I'll be in touch with you soon,” says Uncle Ross

“Thank you so much,” says Marion.

“Thanks Uncle Ross,' I said.

Two weeks later Uncle Ross had found out where Alexander was located. He had swindle another woman out of more money and was caught by the police. Alexander real name was Carlos Kirkpatrick. He never owned any real estate businesses in Detroit. The last job he had was a mechanic working for Ford Enterprise. He was fired because he was stealing auto parts from the business selling them.. The mysterious woman named Geneva Banes was his girlfriend and mother of his three children. Carlos and Geneva was brought up on charges and given sixteen years for wire fraud and theft from swindling money from four older women including Marion.

After getting all her money that was stolen from her account, Marion learned her lesson about meeting total strangers on online dating sites. Taking advice from the quote: Patience is not passive waiting. Patience is active acceptance of the process required to attain your goals and dreams... Ray Davis. Marion is helping the local humane society with training rescue pets for adoption.