Chapter One
Jason
I was in my California office, and instead of preparing for my flight back to New York, I was killing time while waiting for a package to arrive. For a while, I browsed through my paperwork for some art pieces I hoped to acquire soon. Then I went over my flight plan. Usually, the pilots took care of that, but in this case, the pilot was me. Call me controlling—and many have—but I liked having my life in my own hands. Plus there was something quite powerful about being able to climb inside a piece of machinery and make it fly. Flying gave me a certain kind of freedom I couldn’t replicate in any other way. I was licensed to fly both airplanes and helicopters, and it was the helicopter I’d be flying home that evening.
I was roused from my thoughts by a knock on my door. “Mr. Barry,” I called out, “please come in and sit down.”
Mr. Barry was the private investigator I had hired to look into my finances. I didn’t dabble too much into them on my own—that’s what accountants were for—but a red flag had recently come to my attention that needed to be checked out. A large sum of money had gone missing. Not all at once of course—my accountant would have noticed that immediately. But upon further inspection, it appeared as if small amounts had been embezzled from my account over a long period of time. At the point I found it, it amounted to more than a million dollars, and I wanted to know where and to whom it had gone. I had my suspicions—there were only a few people in my life who had access to my accounts—but I needed to be very sure before I made any accusations.
Mr. Barry sat down.
“What do you have for me?”
He slid a manila envelope across the desk to me. “Well, your suspicions seem to have been accurate, sir. As they say in the mysteries, the butler did it.”
“Dammit, Edward!” I exclaimed before I could catch myself. “Forgive me, Mr. Barry, but Edward has been with me for fifteen years. Fifteen. I guess we can’t all have the reliable, steadfast butler that Batman had, can we?”
Mr. Barry chuckled. “Sometimes greed wins over, I’m afraid.”
“Apparently. It’s just so hard to believe I could completely trust someone who’s been fooling me for so long.”
“Do you need me for anything else, sir?”
“No, not right now, but I may call on you in the future.”
“Any time. Sorry I had to be the bearer of such bad news.”
“You helped me catch a crook. What more can I ask?” I smiled.
Mr. Barry nodded and headed out the door. I sat at my desk, fuming for a while before I finally made the call that would change two people’s lives.
Edward answered right away. He wasn’t only my butler, he was my right-hand man. The guy I could count on. We’d been through thick and thin together, and it made me wonder how much of that had been genuine. If I had been in the same room with him when I found out about the embezzlement of my money, I might have strangled him for this betrayal. It seemed crazy to me how you could think you knew someone so well, and then that person could turn out to be a complete fraud. The thought of it literally turned my stomach.
“Hello, sir. Will you be you returning home shortly?”
“Yes, but I needed to talk to you before I returned home.”
“Why?”
“I want you and your wife to be packed up and out of my house before my return.”
There was silence on the other end. “What do you mean, sir?”
“I mean you’re fired, Edward. I’m aware of the money you’ve been embezzling from me for God only knows how long. It’s a betrayal I can barely fathom, and I don’t want you to be in my home a second longer.”
“Sir, you must be mistaken.”
“Don’t insult my intelligence, Edward. Consider the embezzled money your severance pay, and leave my home immediately. I’m sure I don’t need to warn you about robbing me further. Leave now—and don’t take anything with you that doesn’t belong to you.” I hung up before he could utter another word.
Now that I no longer had an assistant, I had to find a new one. I’d have to do that as soon as I returned to New York. I was a very busy man, and an assistant was essential to me not going batshit crazy throughout the day.
I made a call to my best friend Brett next. He had mentioned knowing a good assistant if I ever needed one.
“Jason, old buddy, how ya doing?”
“Not good.”
“Why, what’s up?”
“Well, for starters, my butler stole from me, so I’m in the market for a new right-hand man. You mentioned before that you knew of a good one. Can you pass along a name for me?”
There was laughter on the other end of the line that caused my jaw to clench.
“You can’t seriously be experiencing any kind of joy about my circumstances.”
“Not at all. I just find it humorous how casual you come off after finding out Edward was an embezzler.” He hesitated before asking, “Did you shoot him?”
“That might be how the Scottish handle a situation like this, but I prefer to stay on the outside of prison walls. He’s packing his stuff up as we speak. If you could go over and make sure he leaves quietly—and without any of my possessions—that would be fantastic. Now, about that name…”
“I’m sorry, but that assistant has already been hired out.”
“Just great,” I murmured. Now what am I going to do?
“Are you still going to that party?” Brett asked.
“You know me—I never miss a good shindig.”
He chuckled. “Why don’t we meet for some drinks tomorrow after you’re back in town? In the meantime, I’ll ask around and see if I can find a less crooked butler to help you out.”
Relief swept over me. “Sounds great. I’ll message you when I get into town.”
“Sure thing, buddy. I’ll head over to your place to get rid of the riffraff.”
I hung up the phone and got up from my desk. I needed to get back home quickly to get all my affairs in order. It seemed like it might take a while to find an assistant. I wanted to put in a call to one of the agencies to see if they had any recommendations for me. It was imperative that I get someone in place as soon as possible.
When I got to the airport, I did a quick walk-around on my helicopter and scanned the pre-flight checklist before taking off. Within minutes, I became one with the sky. I settled in for my flight home, feeling more relaxed than I had in a long time. I knew it would all work out in the end. It was just one snag in an otherwise great life, and once I had a new assistant in place, I’d be able to get back to business as usual. I was looking forward to being home once again and sleeping in my own bed. Hotels were okay every once in a while, but there was certainly something to be said for waking up in your own bed.