Chapter 13
Luke
“Did you sleep here last night?” Emily’s laugh fills the room the moment she walks in.
“I might as well have,” I grumble.
“I have coffee.” She sets a cup down in front of me before taking the seat where she’s sat for the last couple of days. We’ve been pouring through financial statements, tax returns, and now, off-shore bank statements, we’re no closer than we were when we started this project, but we both feel strongly that something is being hidden.
“Thanks.” I take a large gulp, surprised when I realize it’s exactly how I like it.
“Find anything new?”
“No.”
“It’s here, it has to be.”
As much as I didn’t think it was possible, spending the last couple of days with Emily has slowly gotten easier. Although I still can’t bring myself to say her name, I don’t cringe when someone else does. I’ve tried to stop comparing her to Em and sometimes I’m successful with that. Though, sometimes, I’m not. On one hand, she’s absolutely nothing like the girl I fell in love with so many years ago. Hell, I’m not the same guy from back then either. On the other hand, every fucking time she looks at me, I’m reminded of her. She has the same damn eyes.
It’s amazing what spending two full days sitting at the same table will tell you about a person. I’ve learned the moment she enters a room, she searches the entire thing. I don’t know if she’s memorizing what’s here or looking for something that isn’t here, but she does it every time she walks in here… even after being gone for only a few minutes. I’ve learned she bites her lower lip when she’s concentrating hard on something and that she twirls her long auburn hair around her fingers when she struggles with something she’s looking at.
Have I mentioned the fucking pull I feel every time she walks into the room? Every. fucking. time! It’s always there! I don’t know if she feels it; sometimes I catch her watching me when she thinks I’m not looking, but it seems like it’s more out of curiosity than anything else. I doubt she feels the same pull that I do, because what I feel makes no fucking sense for someone I just met. I have to fight the urge to touch her, especially when she leans next to me to read something or hands me a file to review. It’s a constant struggle to remind myself that she’s my employee which means I shouldn’t be thinking about touching her, no matter how badly I want to.
“I think I found something,” I cautiously announce a few hours later. My back is killing me from sitting at this table for so long, but if both of us are determined to find the missing piece.
“You did? What did you find?” She immediately jumps from her seat and takes the one next to me.
“Starting about two years ago, every other month on the same day, money is transferred from their bank account to a vendor. When I search online for this vendor, all that I can find is a splash page for a consulting firm—”
“What’s the name of the firm?” Her fingers fly over her keyboard, no doubt working some magic that I can’t.
“Davidson’s Creative Consulting Firm—”
“Wait… I know that name.” She’s up again this time going through the box where we’ve been dumping the documents once we’ve gone through them. “Here it is. There’s an off-shore account linked to a Matthew Davidson who owns Davidson’s Creative Consulting Firm.”
“What do you know about them?”
“Nothing yet. I’m going to do some digging and see what I can find out about them. I found an invoice from them, but it was for interior design work from five years ago. Nothing as recent as two years ago.”
“Did you finish the background check on Mrs. Thompson yet?”
“Yes, but it was clear; not so much as a speeding ticket. On paper she’s clean.”
“On paper…” I point out.
“People always try to hide things. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to access her home computer and other devices to see what she might be hiding there,” she requests.
“Go ahead.” I nod. “I think there’s still something we’re missing and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s tied to her. I’m going to email Alec with what we’ve found so far.”
Leaving Emily to do her thing, I grab my notebook and head out. As I walk past the windows to the conference room, I can’t help but look at Emily. She’s so into what she’s working on that she doesn’t even notice I’m watching her. As much as I don’t understand it, I find myself doing this very thing far too often.
Sitting down at my desk, I dial Alec to catch him up on what we’ve found.
“You find something?” he knows it’s rare for me to call him unless it’s something important. When he initially starting working after the accident, our communication was primarily through email and scheduled conference calls. At first it was because of his therapy and doctor appointments, but later it was because of schedules.
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“You wouldn’t be calling unless you thought it was more maybe than maybe not.”
“Very true.” He knows me too well. “Emily is still looking into it, but we need to know more about Mrs. Thompson.”
I briefly tell him about the consulting firm that we found money being sent to and, even though it could mean several different things, we both agree that it’s suspicious.
“Did you get anywhere with your leads?” I ask.
“Maybe, but it’s a long shot.”
“Most of our leads at this point are.” We both laugh, because some of the worst leads have turned out to be the ones that broke the case.
“Old college buddy of Jack’s owns a large resort on a tropical island just outside the US called Sunset Beach.”
“Interesting.”
“Mrs. Thompson knew nothing about it, but did mention that Jack and this guy used to hang out often.”
“Recently?”
“She thinks in the last year before they divorced.”
“You’re thinking maybe he’s hiding out there, under a false name?”
Hmmm… I quickly bring up a search engine on my computer and start looking into the resort. From the website it looks like the ideal vacation destination, somewhere under normal circumstances I’d love to go one day. Not that I ever would.
“Maybe. With his money, getting a fake ID that meets the government standards for flying wouldn’t be impossible.”
“I’ll have Emily look into the resort and see if she can find anything out. Though, if he is there under a false name, I doubt any of her computer magic skills will be able to confirm that.” She’s good, but even she’s not that good.
“You’re right. That’s why I think we need to send someone there to look around and maybe keep an eye out for Jack and the kids,” he suggests
“Let me think. I don’t have anyone with availability for at least another three maybe four days, not for a project like this. I can’t use any of the new guys—”
“No, definitely not.”
“Max and Cole would be my recommendations, but they’re both on assignments this week. I don’t want to pull them if I don’t need to. Especially just for a fact finding mission; if we knew he was there with the kids then it would be different.”
Max and Cole are my usual go-to team for missions like this. Although I have no proof, I’ve long suspected that they have more than a business relationship. It’s never interfered with work, which is the only reason I haven’t brought it up. Knowing Cole as well as I do, to him it’s just a fun time. Max, though, I can’t really read. She seems like she’d be looking for something more than Cole can give, but maybe whatever they’re doing works for her because of our demanding and ever-changing jobs. Max was the first female field staff member we hired and she works just as hard as any of the guys do.
“Agreed. So you should go.”
“Wait, what?” I did not just hear him correctly.
“You go. Take Emily with you.”
“Why?” I don’t bother hiding the shock in my voice.
“You just said you have no one else to send, all we need is for someone to go to the resort, look around and see if they’re there.”
“Right. So, why exactly is she going?”
“You’ll pretend to be a couple while there; it gives you the perfect cover to look around, go into the restaurants and use the amenities that might look odd if you were going by yourself.”
On the surface his argument makes sense, even I know that. If it was anyone else I wouldn’t be giving it a second thought, but there’s just something about her that I can’t ignore—at the same time, I can’t figure out what the hell it is either.
“But—”
“Have her bring her computers and whatever else she thinks she’ll need. When you’re not looking around, she can try to hack into the security system at the resort to see if you can find them that way. It would probably be much easier for her to do that from on-site then it would from here,” he explains.
“You realize this is the woman who took weeks to decide if she was even going to come to Virginia for a job interview, and now you think she’s going to fly to another country?”
“She’ll do it.” His voice leaves no room for argument, as if he knows her that well.
“I don’t know about that.”
“Trust me, she’ll go.”
“How well do you know her exactly?” He knows her far better than I do, even though I’ve spent the last few days working side-by-side with her on these stupid financials.
“I told you before, I don’t. I told you everything I know; I’m sure you’ve noticed she’s a very private person.”
“She is.”
I know all about her work habits, but really, I know close to nothing about her personally. Until he pointed that out, I hadn’t realized how little I knew about her.
“Talk to her, she might have reservations, but I think she’ll go. She has a big heart; it’s why she volunteered her time on all those cases, even her dad was sick.” Just like when it came to interviewing her, he phrases it as if he doesn’t know what the outcome will be. Sometimes he drives me crazy.
“Fine. But I still think there’s a better solution.”
“If you think of one, let me know, but in the meantime, plan on flying out tomorrow morning. I’ll make all the reservations. Plan for two, maybe three days tops, before you’re back here. If Jack and the kids are there, we’ll plan for Max and Cole to fly down and meet you there.”
“I thought I was the one in charge of assignments around here,” I half-joke.
“You are.” He chuckles. “And when you stop being a stubborn ass you’ll realize that this is the only solution.”
I hang up without saying another word and shake my head. I’ve dropped everything and flown out on assignment hundreds of times since we started the company, so it’s not that unusual. We tell all our contractors to have a go-bag ready at all times because, in this field, we rarely get advanced notice of the need to travel. Hell, I should be glad I’m not leaving until tomorrow morning.
Taking a deep breath, I head back into the conference preparing for the reaction I know is coming. Emily is almost exactly how I left her, surrounded by multiple stacks of papers and boxes. She looks up at me the moment I get to the door, her blue eyes immediately finding mine. I have to force myself not to respond, even if it feels like a punch to the gut.
“So…how do you feel about leaving the country?”