I gobbled down a chicken salad sandwich in the back of a cab on my way to Fleishman Pharmaceuticals where I was meeting with Joel Gaines, the CFO. He’d called my boss three weeks before, requesting our help, informing him that their in-house accountant had found some troubling inconsistencies in their ledgers. I’d booked the rest of this week with them to see if I could find the error, and if more time was needed, I’d arrange it, but it would cost them dearly since it would require me to reschedule a job I had in Chicago the following week and possibly the next week’s job in Boston.

The cab dropped me outside the midtown Manhattan high rise and I took the elevator to the seventh floor where at the front desk I told the secretary who I was. She took my coat then immediately called Mr. Gaines to let him know I was there. A moment later, a handsome dark-haired man in his mid-thirties wearing an Armani suit—I knew this because Evan had one just like it—appeared and held his hand out for me to shake.

“Hello, Mrs. Chapman. I’m Joel Gaines. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he imparted with a very nice and very sexy voice. 

“Ms.,” I corrected, still finding it strange that Mason was gone and I was no longer married. I shook his hand and offered, “You can call me Birdie.” When the questioning look most people got at hearing my strange nickname appeared on his face, I clarified with a smile, “It’s short for Bernadette.”

“Ah. Well, Birdie, I don’t have a cool nickname. I’m just Joel,” he said with a wink then added, “If you’ll follow me?”

I passed several offices that had a front wall of full glass on the way to his corner office where he held his hand out—on which I noted a wedding ring, boo—for me to go inside first.

“Would you like some coffee? Or a soda?” he asked.

“Not at the moment, but thank you,” I answered.

“Just let my secretary, Sandra, know if you do.” He winked again as he picked up the receiver of his phone and pushed a button. “Sandra, please let Linda know that Ms. Chapman is here.” He hung up then updated me on the situation. “This is my first year here, and I guess I’ve walked in on quite the, pardon my language, shitstorm. Linda Reasor is our in-house accountant who found the inconsistencies, so she’ll walk you through what she found and then you can take a look at the books.” Just then Linda walked in. “Linda, this is Birdie Chapman from McNamara.”

We exchanged pleasantries then Joel and I followed her to another glassed-in office which I saw was a boardroom where several boxes sat on a large table surrounded by about twenty chairs.

“I pulled the past five years’ worth of books for you. The company was audited the year before that, which was just before I got here, so those books should be fine, but I seem to have screwed up royally somewhere along the line,” Linda disclosed with a sigh. “I also have a laptop for you to access the records online.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Joel said. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” And there was the wink again before he left the room.

Linda cut her eyes at me. “He’s hot but he’s also very married.” She rolled her eyes which made me chuckle. After helping me get things sorted and showing me how to access the online records, she left so I could begin.

Two hours and one-and-a-half diet Cokes later, I stood and stretched. Walking out of the boardroom, I went to the nearest cubicle and asked a bored looking man who wore black rectangle glasses where the ladies’ room was. He pointed toward the front and I took off in that direction. When I finished, I walked out into the lobby and stood at another huge window looking down at the traffic below as I pulled my phone from my purse.

“You bagged the criminal yet?” Jaden answered.

“Getting there,” I replied then whispered, “I think it’s in payroll!”

“Oooohh! Some nerdy administrator or lowly clerk is getting ready to be bus-ted!” She giggled.

“I know! See? This really is exciting!”

“Uh, B, I was kinda kidding.”

I let out a Psh! “Come on, J. Lemme have this. You know I love this shit.”

“Yeah, but you know what would really be exciting? If you personally got to go to the guilty party, pointing and nodding at them letting them know that you know, watching them get all nervous, sweating everywhere, then take their ass to the ground. Now that would be exciting!”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m a forensic accountant not Wonder Woman.”

“It’d still be cool.”

“Uh huh. You feeling any better?” I asked.

“A little. I’m not matching plaids and florals any longer, so that’s a plus.”

I chuckled. “Good. Okay, I’ve gotta get back.” I put a hand on my lower back and stretched again.

“Call me later, ‘kay?”

“Will do. See ya.”

I hung up and slid my phone back inside my purse, and turning to go back to the boardroom, I got the fricking shock of a lifetime. My keen accounting observation skills emerged as I took in a tall, dark-haired man whose Hollywood square jaw gave him a bad boy edge, wearing a white button-up—rolled up sleeves displaying strong forearms—navy tie loosened, and black slacks with a black belt and silver buckle, staring at me with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.   

I sucked in a breath just before he spoke.

“Birdie?” Beck asked.