Lost Night in the Club

The attack was over in seconds. Danielle Davies walked around the broken glass that covered the club floor. She was the personal financial advisor and best friend to Ivy Condit, manager of Wherehouse, a famous club in Miami, Florida. This morning, Danielle woke up before dawn when her phone rang with a frantic Ivy on the other end.

"I need you to come to the club," Ivy cried. "There was a fight. Two guys. They started fighting out of nowhere. Everyone started running out of the club as they fought. The bouncers couldn't get them to stop. Everything is such a mess."

Danielle calmed her friend down, telling her she would arrive at the club as soon as possible. When Ivy described the mess, this wasn't what Danielle expected.

Walking through the club, she looked around for Ivy and found her talking to cops by the bar.

"Danielle!" Ivy ran to her and pulled her over to where the fight began. "I'm so glad you could get out here. Look at this place! Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost me to fix all of this?"

Danielle surveyed the scene and shook her head. "Ivy, where did the fight begin? There was glass at the entrance."

"It was so weird. They started arguing here. Their yelling was loud enough to have the DJ stop playing music. That's when we heard the glass shattering. Then, within seconds, it ended. I don't even remember much of what happened. Only that it got completely silent once the two men left the club. Everyone else who was here went outside, afraid they were going to get hit with the glasses they were throwing at each other. I had to close the club immediately so the cops could get here. They've been here since I called you, trying to investigate."

Danielle looked around and agreed with one thing Ivy said, the whole scenario seemed weird. How was it possible that an attack that only lasted a few seconds caused so much damage?

One of the cops walked over to where Danielle and Ivy were standing.

"Ms. Condit, was anyone hurt during this altercation?"

Ivy shook her head. "Not to my knowledge. Like I said, it was over quickly."

The cop nodded and walked back to where his partner stood by the bar.

"Ivy, don't you find this whole thing a little weird?" Danielle asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said the fight started here by the bar and only lasted a few seconds, right? What I'm trying to figure out is how I ended up stepping on so much glass by the entrance when I got here."

"Honestly, I don't know," Ivy shrugged. "I only know what I saw. And what I told you is exactly what I told the cops. Now, as my financial advisor, how much do you think this is going to cost me?"

"Hard for me to say. I'll need to find out once you see what insurance covers and then I can set up some kind of plan with you to help you see how much you'll have to pay to fix everything up," Danielle said.

Ivy nodded. "The insurance agent is supposed to be stopping by later today. Are you going to stay or…"

"Actually, I do have to go to my office and take care of some work. But call me if you find anything about what happened." Danielle said goodbye to her friend and left the club.

Danielle walked to her car and sat in there for a few minutes before starting the engine. There was something that bothered her about the situation and she couldn't shake the feeling that her best friend was hiding something from her. There had to be more about this attack and she wanted to find out the truth.

She said that it didn't look like anyone was hurt, Danielle thought back to what Ivy told her and she found that hard to believe. With the amount of glass she saw on the ground, she was sure someone must've gotten hurt. Or did they? Was there even an attack that took place? The more Danielle thought about it, the more she wondered if there was more to the story.

Danielle was no detective, but she always loved a good crime. She spent most of her time off watching true crime stories, always wishing she pursued a career in criminology. To this day, she still didn't know how she ended up in finances, but she'd been at it for eleven years, too late to start again with a new career. But it didn't steer her away from doing detective work on her own.

There was so much she had to do today, and none of it involved going into her office. She had every intention of going there today, but after leaving Ivy's bar, she wanted to help with the investigation.

She drove to the police station, hoping they would let her help in any way possible.

"Can we help you?" The cop at the front desk asked when she walked into the station.

"Yes, hi. My name is Danielle Davies. I'm a friend of Ivy Condit. There were two officers at her night club earlier today and I was wondering…" Danielle never got to finish her sentence when one of the officers she saw at the club walked over to her.

"Ms. Davies? I'm Samuel Young. I was at the nightclub and saw you speaking to Ivy."

"Yes. Hi, Officer Young," she shook his hand.

"Please, call me Sammy, he smiled. "Please follow me to my office."

Danielle followed Sammy through the hall and into his office. She didn't know why he was so open to speaking with her, especially when she hadn't told him yet that she wanted to help with the investigation, but she had a feeling that whatever the officers discovered at the club, they were thinking the same as she was, that this wasn't your ordinary attack that happened last night.

"Please, have a seat," Sammy said, taking a chair and bringing it over to his desk. "Now, tell me what you know about this attack?"

Danielle took a seat. "I only know what she told you. That two guys had a fight at the bar and threw glass. But something seems off to me. Like, did you notice there was glass in the entrance too? If this was an attack that happened at the bar, how did it end up all the way by the front door?"

"That's what my partner and I were trying to figure out too. I was hoping she would've told you more. Something else for us to go on," Sammy said.

"I am sorry, I wish I could've given you more information. There is a reason I came here today. I was hoping, now I'll understand if you say no since I'm not a cop or anything, but I really want to help in any way possible. I'm a sucker for anything to do with true crime and I want to help with this case."

"Tell you what. Leave me your number and let me talk to my partner about it. We have reason to believe Ivy might be involved in some illegal business and we could use your help."

Danielle took out her business card and handed it to Sammy. "This is my office number and my personal number. If you need to reach me, try my personal one first. The only time I'm not able to answer is when I'm with a client in my office, otherwise, I'm always available."

"Thank you, Ms. Davies."

"Danielle," she smiled. "Please, call me Danielle."

"Thank you, Danielle. I'll be in touch with you soon."

Danielle made her way to her car, mixed with emotions. She was excited that for the first time in her life, she was going to be a part of something she loved, working alongside cops to solve a case. On the other hand, she felt hurt and betrayed that her best friend would be involved in illegal activity. Not only that, but Danielle feared that if Ivy was involved with money fraud, it could be traced back to as she was Ivy's financial advisor.

Calm down, she told herself. You're helping the cops. You can explain everything to them once they get to the bottom of this. Honestly, she had no idea what Ivy was doing. The only thing Danielle knew was Ivy's budget when it came to the nightclub and how she helped her friend keep everything within that budget when it came time to buy things and renovate the club. Danielle had no control over what Ivy did to come across the money.

I have to stop thinking of what might happen, she thought, driving back to her office. Once she arrived, she went straight to her files and took out Ivy's folder, wondering if there was anything in there that may help the cops.

*****

Danielle spent hours looking up everything she had on Ivy. She'd been her financial advisor for ten years, ever since she graduated college, and had more than enough information needed on her best friend. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and she was about to give up until something caught her eye from last year's records.

As she was looking at the records, she decided to take a look online and see if there were any stories out there involving Wherehouse Night Club.

No. No no no. This can't be right. Danielle shook her head at what she just read.

LOCAL CLUB OWNER INVOLVED IN MONEY SCANDAL

The headline read. Under, was a picture of Ivy. The story stated that Ivy had been keeping money that belonged to the club for years. No one, not even her closest friends, knew what she was doing and until recently, there was no evidence that she was involved in the scandal.

Danielle continued to read the article, appalled by what she discovered Ivy had been a part of for all these years. She belonged to a ring of other so-called millionaires who banded together to cheat others out of their money. Not only was she a member, but she was second in command, the one who made sure orders were followed from their leader.

I can't believe this. Danielle didn't know how she had never seen it before. Ivy had been her best friend since college and when Ivy came to her once she opened the night club, begging Danielle to be her fiance advisor, she thought it was because she needed help budgeting for the business. She had no idea it was because Ivy wanted to use her as an alibi in case she was ever found out.

What do I do now? Danielle was sure, based on the talk she had with Sammy at the station, that he didn't know any of this. Or did he? What if this was all a test to see if she would run to him with the truth? What if Sammy thought she was working alongside Ivy and was involved with the scandal? I have to call him. She reached for her phone. She had to explain her side of the story. She had a reputation to keep up in Miami and couldn't afford to lose clients.

Danielle had her hand on the phone, about to call Sammy, when Ivy rushed into her office.

"I…I need your help," she slammed the door shut once she was inside.

"Ivy, what's going on?" Danielle put her phone down.

"The cops. They're after me." Ivy was having a hard time catching her breath. "Don't ask me how I know. I just do."

Danielle didn't want her best friend to catch on that she knew what was going on and pretended to be clueless. If I don't let her know what I found out, maybe I can get the truth out of her.

"Why…why would the cops be after you?"

"Danielle, look, I don't have the time to explain everything to you. I just need your help. You're my best friend. Right?"

"Yes, you know that I am."

"Then please, do this for me," Ivy begged.

"Ivy, you haven't told me what it is you want me to do."

"That's because I can't tell you exactly. But I'm in trouble. And it involved money that I took from the club. That's all I can tell you. And my time is running out. The cops are onto me and I'm afraid they're going to be questioning you about my part in this scandal. I need you to tell them it's all a mistake and you can confirm this because you're my financial advisor."

"Ivy," Danielle shook her head. She couldn't believe she was about to get involved with something illegal, especially when it meant lying to cops.

"Please. I know it's a lot to ask from you, but I need your help."

"Let me just think it over. This is a lot you've thrown at me in such a short time. Not only that, but you're still not giving me the full story. So I can't make my decision at this moment," Danielle said.

"I understand," Ivy asked. "Call me when you've made a decision."

Ivy left the office, leaving Danielle alone. Danielle shook her head, wondering how she got herself in this mess in the first place. I should've listened when everyone told me not to work with my best friend. Nothing but trouble comes out of working with someone you're close to.

Ivy threw too much at her today and Danielle didn't know what to do. Ivy was her best friend since college and Danielle didn't want to betray her trust. But what her best friend did was illegal and if it was found out Danielle lied for her, she would be in just as much trouble as Ivy.

Then, there was Sammy who was trusting Danielle to help the cops out with this case. And she couldn't lie to a cop. Who knows how much trouble she would get into if the truth was found out.

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Far too many people put their faith in me.