Tanner Farland wasn't on Richard's speed dial, but his cell number was in his phone. Without hesitation, he hit the number and the marvels of modern technology found the cell towers and connected the call. Tanner answered immediately.
"Richard," he said, his voice strong. He was laughing. It was evident through the digital network that the smile that had to be on his face came across the transom. Richard wished he was as happy.
"What's going on?" Richard asked.
"I was just playing with my son."
Richard heard the high tones of a child in the background. Then the sound ceased as if Tanner had moved into a quieter room.
"What's up?" Tanner asked.
"You said you'd do something for me," Richard reminded him.
"If I can."
"I want you to do some discrete background checks."
"Sounds doable," Tanner said. "Whom do you want checked out?"
"The guest staying at the Eden Paradise House and April Quinn Echoes," he said.
"Ah," was all Tanner said, yet he held onto the one syllable for over a second.
"I'll text you the names," Richard said. "And Tanner, this is a very low key inquiry."
"I got it," Tanner acknowledged. "I'll get back to you in a day or so."
Richard rang off, thinking about the guests. They couldn't have known April was going to be here. Her plans hadn't been determined well in advance. According to her, she'd come on the spur of the moment. But it wasn't like they couldn't have engineered the situation.
Richard felt as if the danger to April was closer. He had to keep her with him as much as possible. While she had no bodyguard and the need for one might be overkill, Richard was going to take on that role. And he wouldn't lie to himself. He'd fallen in love with Mason Echoes' daughter and if she was involved in his father's death. . .well, he'd cross that bridge when it presented itself.
Twenty-four hours later that bridge was still out of sight, yet Tanner Farland had hit pay dirt. Richard was, however, not delighted to see him standing outside his door.
The two men shook hands and closed the door after Tanner was inside. "You didn't have to come this far. We could have done this on the phone."
"I was curious and wanted to see the house before it's gone for good."
"You know about this place?"
"It was pretty famous before the storm devastated this island and reconstruction changed the focus to the resort." Tanner looked up at the ceiling and around the room. "This place must have really been something in its day."
Richard followed his colleague's gaze for several seconds before the two moved across the room. They sat facing each other at a table that doubled for both a desk and a dining table if he needed to bring a carry-out meal to the room.
"What did you find out?" Richard started, anxious to hear anything that might help him.
"There might be more that I haven't found out on Ms. Echoes, but I'll tell you what I know at this point."
"All right," Richard said with apprehension.
"I'll start with the guests. You gave me five people's names other than April Quinn Echoes. Two of them are married to each other. Two of them are a couple, but not living together and the last is single. Even though you didn't ask, I checked out the current owner of the Eden Paradise House. It was sold nine months ago to the Evans Realty Group of South Carolina. I found them to be financially sound and expanding, which is why they probably want the property. I couldn't find any reference to what they plan to put on the land, once this house is demolished."
"Who's selling the house?" Richard asked.
"It was sold by the mother and daughter owners. The mother, August Christian, is in her nineties and living in a nursing facility. The daughter, Carol Christian Mathers needs the money for her mother's continued upkeep."
Richard nodded. "This is probably why they've let the maintenance on the place take a back seat to parental care."
"Exactly," Tanner agreed. "Her mother has been in a nursing home for five years."
Richard nodded. "Who's next."
"Here's where things get interesting."
Richard could practically see Tanner flexing his mental muscles.
"Darcy Simmons is a former owner of this house," Tanner began. "She's and Ms. Echoes started their business together, but Ms. Simmons was bought out and went on her way. She's been married and divorced three times, always settling comfortably. She runs through money like she does water, generally making bad investments. She's a survivor. Her former husbands went bankrupt. At the moment, her finances are on the low side. She may be looking for another income source."
Richard pursed his lips, but remained silent.
"And that brings me to Giles Wicksham. He's from an old, but impoverished English family. He heads a bank that isn't doing well. Again poor investment strategy."
"Does Ms. Simmons know this?"
"That I can't tell you. Without interviewing her, I don't know what she knows. You said you wanted this low key."
Richard nodded. "Does Wicksham have a connection with April Quinn?"
"Beyond being with Ms. Simmons, there doesn't appear to be one. But–"
"But what?" The hair on Richard's neck stood up.
"Ms. Echoes got an email alerting her that the Eden Paradise was closing. The address links to an IP address in his bank."
Richard knew Tanner had methods of obtaining detailed information that was foreign to him. Both he and Tanner were computer whizzes, Tanner more than Richard. But to determine how and from where an email originated was above Richard's pay grade.
"I don't believe Ms. Echoes would be here without that message."
"Why is that?"
"She apparently left for Barefoot Bay within a couple of hours of receiving that message."
"You are good at uncovering information." Richard said with pride. "Remind me to partner with you in the future," he told the short man.
Tanner smiled at that, showing as much pride as he ever did – which was usually none.
He went on to report on the other members of the guest house. There was nothing significant in their backgrounds, other than the fact that all of them were just barely keeping their heads above water financially.
"That's probably why they're at this house instead of the resort," Richard suggested.
"Could be."
"Did you find anything significant about Ms. Echoes?" Richard had ceased thinking of her as April Echoes, Mason Echoes daughter, only April Quinn."
"She's registered here as April Quinn, her mother's maiden name and her middle name, but not as Mason Quinn's daughter. Her business is financially sound. She's in the middle of negotiating the acquisition of a vegan food company called Briar Foods. Both her and her company have excellent reputations. Her sales income has been increasing each year since she took over the business totally."
"What do you mean totally?"
"After she and Ms. Simmons parted. Ms. Echoes is an excellent business woman and her instincts have proven profitable."
Richard nodded. He wanted to smile. He was proud of April.
"As to your father. . ." Tanner said.
Richard's head snapped up. "I didn't ask you to investigate my father."
"I didn't. I found a connection between your father and hers."
Richard hesitated a long moment. He was here to find out the truth. Not hearing what Tanner found was counter to Richard's reason for being here. "What's the connection?"
"The night her father died, he had met with your father. The meeting took place at the airport after her father arrived in her Florida. After that meeting Mason Echoes died in a one car accident on his way to this guest house."
"Is that all?" Richard asked.
"There's one more thing about Ms. Echoes. When she started her company years ago, I looked into the financing of the business. Her applications at several banks had been turned down. Ms. Simmons supplied a large amount of the financing that she obtained from a divorce settlement. Ms. Echoes' money came from her father. However, I have not been able to determine where the source of his income came from. When Ms. Simmons left the business, Ms. Echoes again turned to her father for financing and Mason Echoes delivered."
"Do you know where he got the money at that time?"
Tanner shook his head.
"Is there any indication that the money was counterfeit?"
"Can't make that leap, yet."
That one word, yet, was the crux of Richard's investigation. Would they find out the money that National Nutrition was built on was counterfeit?
"Any connection to off shore accounts?"
"I'm still looking into that if you want me to continue."
"I need to know the truth," Richard said. "If it doesn't encroach on your vacation."
Tanner wiped his concern away with the wave of his hand. "I'm glad to do it."
"When do you go back?" Richard asked.
"Vacation ends this weekend. We're flying back on Saturday. What about you?"
"I have a few more days of leave, but I have to be back by the middle of next week," Richard said. "Thanks for the details. I appreciate what you've found."
The two men stood and shook hands. Tanner slide the folder with the information he'd compiled across the table. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a small jump drive and handed it to Richard.
"Everything I have is on this."
Richard accepted the drive and moments later, Tanner had left the room and Richard was alone. Sitting down again, he opened the file Tanner had been reading from and read through it again. Nothing more was revealed through his own reading. Yet, Richard had the feeling he was missing something. Tanner was thorough and Richard marveled at how much he'd uncovered in twenty-four hours.
What disturbed Richard most was the source of the money that allowed April to begin her company. It was a small manufacturing company with only one product. In the intervening years, she's built it into a multinational billion dollar business. As a non-public company, she was not required to disclose financial reports. Most of the financials in the report were sourced from interviews and voluntary reports that her company issued.
Richard couldn't help but feeling pride for April and her accomplishments. He stood up and paced back and forth. At the same time, he wondered just where Mason Echoes got that much cash to give his daughter. More disturbing to Richard was whether April knew that the money could have come from a counterfeiting operation? And was she involved?
***
April had been so focused on her problems that she had barely given her surroundings any thought. The day was bright, clear and with only a smattering of the humidity Mimosa Island was known for. She decided to walk to the resort. Golf carts passed her, ferrying guests to and the beach or villas, as she made her way along the stone pathway to the main building of Casa Blanca Resort and Spa. The place reminded her of other luxury properties where she often stayed. This one had the advantage of palm trees and the sweet smell jasmine from flowering bushes she associated with the Sunshine State.
The room looked like a war operations center after three hours of discussion and negotiation. Josie had proved her worth as she always did. She'd set up a meeting room with a long polished table and all the necessary connections and supplies needed for connection to the National Nutrition data bases.
Her VP's and managers sprawled papers and laptop computers on the table alongside coffee cups and half-eaten pastries or cups of fruit. April was tired and needed a break, but the acquisition was important to her. She concentrated as the executives went through their tasks lists, presentations and recommendations. Most she agreed with. April trusted her staff and their direction for how to proceed with acquiring Briar Foods. Accepting them wasn't a problem, even though her mind was trying to multitask between what was going on in the room and Richard back at the guest house.
When the meeting broke up, Josie, usually the last one the leave the room, stopped her act of making sure nothing incriminating or secret was left behind, to corner April.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
The others had said their good byes and left the room. Only the two women remained. April and Josie moved back to the table and sat down, swiveling the chairs to faced each other. Josie's face held concern for the woman she'd worked for and with the last five years. They'd become more than employer and employee. They were friends.
"I'm all right," April said.
"You were distracted in the meeting," Josie told her. "Something I've never seen in you. Your mind is somewhere else or on someone else. So is it a man?"
April sorely wanted to confide in her friend, but she couldn't. What she held was a secret that she could tell no one. Josie was perceptive enough to know that something had changed, especially considering the way April had left the office and then this trip that came out of the blue. Unable to tell her the whole and complete truth, April seized the subject Josie had offered her.
"There is a man," she said.
Josie's face relaxed. "Are you in love with him?" The shadow of a mile curved her mouth.
April almost recoiled. Love! No, she shouted in her head. But her head rejected the comment, no matter the strength with which she delivered it.
"I don't know," April replied.
"Do I know who it is?"
April shook her head. "His name's Richard Steele. I met him only a few days ago."
She wasn't sure she knew who Richard was. She couldn't be in love with him. At least not with the man who'd been consuming her thoughts. She hadn't known Richard Steele for a week yet. Actually, she didn't know Richard Steele at all. The man, destroying her mind and causing her such distraction was not Richard Steele. So how could she be in love with him?
Yet, most of her waking thoughts were about him, seeing images of him, having breakfast with him, or going to the beach with him and making love with him. There was also the fact that she didn't trust him. She vacillated back and forth between the way he made her feel and the logic of her brain.
"How does he feel about you?" Josie asked.
"He's never said anything to make me believe we're more than friends."
But there was that kiss, the toe-tingling kiss that did more to communicate his feelings than any words could. Behind it was the thought that Richard could be another gold digger. The thought reminded her of how little she actually knew about this Richard Steele imposter. April had had her share of gold diggers. She could usually spot them after a date or two. She'd had no dates with Richard, although they had shared an afternoon on the beach. Breakfast wasn't a date, only two single people choosing to not sit at separate tables in an almost empty dining room.
"Does he act like a man in love?" Josie interrupted her thoughts.
"I don't think so."
"Do you think he's after your money?"
April shook her head. Josie knew about some of the gold diggers of April's past. "He didn't even know who I was. And he thinks that I work in the finance department."
Josie's smile became a laugh. She covered her mouth trying to stifle it. "How did he get that impression," she asked through giggles.
"It's what I told him." April saw the humor and started to laugh too. She couldn't tell Josie the truth, that she knew Richard was an imposter, so she concealed herself. "I also told him my name is April Quinn. I left the Echoes off."
"That's good." Josie was still laughing.
She felt the release of tension that was coiled inside her. It was Richard that had her in knots. Her heart and her brain were tied together, each one warring for dominance and she was trying to appease them both, knowing that meant she'd lose on each front.