Three days later, Natalie was sitting in her new office in Colorado Springs and gathering evidence to prove Noah innocent.
She knew that someone was after him because of the arson and him being run off the road, so she had that going for her.
She also knew that the footage of him always going to the bank was because of the fire station, not because he was depositing fake cash.
And after getting a warrant and looking into his financial records, she was able to see that no deposits were going into his account, so if he really was dealing counterfeit bills, he was getting no money for it. And that made no sense because people only ever dealt bills like that for the money.
Now all she needed to do was figure out who had it in for Noah.
She believed he was innocent.
Most evidence pointed towards that.
If she could see some of his cash, she could prove that it was real cash as well.
Raelyn knocked on the door of her office. "Hey."
Natalie looked up. It was the first time she had seen Raelyn since the day she told Noah the truth. "Hi." She busied herself with sorting some papers and putting them into the new file folders she had bought.
Raelyn sat down across from Natalie's desk. "How are you doing?"
"Fine."
Raelyn crossed her arms. "How are you really doing?"
Natalie stopped messing with the papers. She propped her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands, "Not fine."
Raelyn reached across the desk and touched Natalie's arm. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Okay, I'll wait."
Natalie sighed. "I have evidence to prove Noah innocent, but it would be stronger evidence if he let me have some of the cash in his wallet to prove that it's real cash. Then Santiago would believe me and I wouldn't have to worry about Santiago bringing in the cops. But I can't contact Noah because he blocked my phone number. I feel like a terrible person for not telling him the truth earlier, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I had pure intentions, but I went about it the wrong way. The means didn't justify the ends, I guess. I also miss him. A lot."
Raelyn moved her hand away. "I'm not going to tell you that you did the right thing by lying to him, because you didn't. But I will tell you that you're doing a good job of proving him innocent and Santiago will have nothing to worry about once you present the evidence to him. I can also tell you that I can ask Noah for some of his cash to provide even stronger evidence. And I will say this, you were definitely falling for him, I could tell."
"He won't give the cash to you because he's innocent and he doesn't think that it's a problem." Natalie groaned, ignoring Raelyn's final comment.
Raelyn shook her head. "Does getting run off the road, shot at, and someone setting part of his house on fire not convey the fact that it really is a problem?"
"I don't know Rae." Natalie pressed her palms into her eyes. "I'm having trouble thinking straight."
Raelyn's shoulders slumped. "You really liked him didn't you?"
"Yeah I did. Even though I was lying to him, I really liked him. And I messed up. And he's never going to want to talk to me again."
"Maybe if I talk to him about it-"
"No, you shouldn't. He'll talk to me when he's ready."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
Raelyn stood up and walked to the door. She stopped just as she was about to leave. "I'm sorry about all this Natalie. I really am."
Natalie smiled slightly and watched as Raelyn left. She looked around her new office. The large mahogany desk took up most of the space and the three other boxes filled the rest of the space. Soon, she was going to hang her decorations on the grey walls, but she hadn't gotten around to it. There were other priorities to take care of.
Natalie decided that the best thing to do right now was to tell Noah that she had all the evidence to prove him innocent and ask for his money to prove it even more. That way, she could prove to Noah that she wasn't scared to talk to him.
Even though she was.
But asking him for some of his cash to prove that he wasn't using counterfeit bills would give her physical evidence to show Vincent Santiago that he was innocent and then she could close the case and not worry about Noah Garrison ever again.
Maybe moving to Colorado Springs wasn't such a good idea.
~~~~~
Noah was hard at work in the fire station's kitchen. He was preparing a great Italian feast, so the kitchen smelled like alfredo, chicken, noodles, and garlic bread.
He had been doing okay since he broke up with Natalie. He missed her presence, but he was happy he had gotten rid of something that he couldn't trust. After all, they hadn't dated for long. Only two official dates and then his house being on fire, then him almost getting shot.
Then why had they held such a connection?
That was something that only God knew.
Josh walked into the kitchen. "That smells good, when will it be ready?"
"Not sure. Maybe twenty minutes?"
Josh nodded. "Alright. Also, do you know anyone with a Toyota Corolla? They just pulled into the parking lot."
Noah dropped the spoon he was using to stir the noodles. "Natalie."
Josh raised a brow, "I see."
The whole fire station knew about what Natalie had done and they all supported Noah. For which Noah was grateful.
Lillian walked into the kitchen. "Linc's talking to your ex."
Natalie wasn't really considered his ex because they only went on two dates, but according to Lillian she was.
Noah managed a nod. "Oh really?"
"Yeah, she just came in the entry. I heard her say something about needing to see you."
Noah inwardly groaned. "You didn't tell her where I was, did you?"
Linc came into the kitchen and caught the last few sentences of their conversation, "No I told her that she can find you herself."
Josh snorted on a laugh.
Lillian frowned, "I get that she hurt you, but that wasn't very nice Linc."
~~~~~
Natalie brushed a stray lock of her red hair behind her ear. Linc, the firefighter, hadn't been very nice. Obviously, her story had gotten around and the station had Noah's back.
This was already proving to be a fun expedition.
Natalie didn't really remember the station from the time she had been there previously since she had gone inside a different way. So now, she was totally lost.
She turned a few corners and thought she could smell food. So Noah was here. She wanted to avoid all the people in the kitchen so she took another turn, away from the kitchen. She walked down the hall a little bit more and stopped short when she saw someone turn the corner.
Noah.
He saw her and stopped walking.
Natalie gathered up the courage to talk. They were in a brightly lit hallway alone and she noted a few other hallways around her so if she needed to leave she could. Why were there so many hallways? "Hey."
Noah crossed his arms and nodded, not saying anything.
Natalie shifted her weight from one foot to another. "Listen, I know I'm probably the person you least want to see right now, but-"
"You got that right." Noah interrupted bitterly.
She winced. So he was still mad. She supposed he probably had a right to be. "I came to let you know that I gathered enough evidence to prove you innocent so I'll be telling my client that they have nothing to worry about. I had just one small favor to ask."
Noah laughed coldly, "Haven't I already done enough for you?"
Natalie felt anger surge up. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I wanted to know if I could borrow some of your cash to prove that they're real bills so I can have physical evidence as well."