Chapter 12
Hannah managed to get through twelve of the applications in between strutting her stuff and acting like an airhead. Candy Lee sold six of the ski suits at fifteen hundred bucks a pop. No wonder Max’s sales receipts were off the charts. Maybe she should invest in a ski resort herself. It was almost four o’clock by the time Candy Lee told her the doors were locked. “That guy didn’t call today. I wish he would. I want to help catch him. I wish I’d paid more attention.”
“That’s okay; you didn’t know. I sent my associate a printout of the phone bills for the past three months. She’ll find something. She’s good.” Max had e-mailed her copies of all the bills and she’d sent them to Camden, explaining about the modeling job that kept her out on the floor. Camden said she wanted overtime pay. Hannah agreed, and remembered to ask her to call as soon as she returned from her Hanukkah date with Art.
Hannah had hoped Liam would stop by, but he hadn’t. They were here to work, and she had to remember that. If time permitted, maybe she’d invite him for a drink tonight. In her condo. She’d invite him for a working dinner. She would cook. She loved to cook. While she made dinner, he could go through the files.
No! No! No!
She had to forget about spending time with Liam, at least until they finished this job. She was ashamed at her own thoughts.
“That dude is out back in the yellow Hummer waiting for you,” Candy Lee said. “He’s been there for about thirty minutes.”
“Let me get my laptop,” she said, hurrying to the back office and grabbing her purse and computer.
She was about to leave through the back door when Candy Lee stopped her. “Wait! You need tomorrow’s ski suit. I’ve spent quite some time looking you over today. I think we need to put you in something tighter, not so warm. So, this is what I want you to wear tomorrow.” She handed her two large shopping bags. “Don’t worry, I’ve got all the right sizes. You’ll like this outfit, too. It’s partially red. Now, go on so I can lock up.”
Hannah gave the girl a hug. She really liked Candy Lee in spite of the tough exterior she showed the world. “I’ll see you tomorrow at nine o’clock sharp,” Hannah said before hurrying out the door.
Liam waited in the Hummer. Hannah knocked on the window before opening the passenger-side door. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Candy Lee said you’d been out here for a while. You should’ve come inside. The kid makes a mean hot chocolate.” She put the bags on the backseat, then fastened her seat belt. She looked at Liam. He wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
“Buckle up,” she said as he backed out of the parking place.
“Yes, ma’am. Bad habit, I know.”
“So, did you work on the system? Any chance you found the thief who’s stealing Max’s money?”
“I have a couple of hits, but nothing is one hundred percent yet. All the hits were at one of the five or six local Internet cafés. That doesn’t make it easy, but it’s not so difficult that I won’t catch them. They were all in the late afternoon, so whoever is doing this is probably a local. Goes to one of the cafés when he knows most of the locals are either working or on the slopes. There is no obvious pattern as to which of the cafés they go to on a given day. With only fifteen transfers so far, it could take months before an outsider could find the pattern. And it could be a function of the traffic at the cafés.
“It’s not much, but it’s something. I called Max. Told him what I’d found. I also told him about the calls Candy Lee’s been getting. His antennae went up immediately. Did you get anything back on the phone records?”
“I haven’t checked my e-mail yet. If there was something significant, Camden would’ve called. So I guess that means no.” And her heart leapt with joy. She’d get to work another day at The Snow Zone, prancing and probing. Never in a million years had she ever had even the slightest thought that she would enjoy spending time at a ski resort, much less modeling for an appreciative audience. Never say never, her dad had always said. And damned if he wasn’t right.
“So we spend the rest of the night going over more of the applications,” Hannah said.
“Actually, Max gave me the night off,” Liam said.
“Lucky you,” Hannah replied sullenly, like a pouting child.
“And lucky you, too, if you accept my invitation.”
“Okay, where and what time?” Hannah said a bit too quickly.
Liam chuckled. “Anxious for a night out on the town? Even though it’s supposed to drop way below zero tonight?”
“I’ll wear this jacket. I kid you not, I haven’t been cold at all today. Whatever this stuff is made of really does work.”
“I can guarantee that if it didn’t, there wouldn’t be as many skiers out in this crazy weather.”
“I believe you.”
“A friend of Max’s wife is directing a Christmas play tonight at the local high school. He asked us to join him. Said to tell you Grace and Ella would be there, and Stephanie and her girls, plus a few others he wanted you and me to meet. Are you game?”
She’d never been to a Christmas play in her life. Of course she was game. She’d spend the night out in the cold if Liam McConnell were beside her.
“Sure, it’ll be a fun way to kill some time. When should I be ready?”
“The play starts at seven, so say, six thirty?”
“Six thirty it is,” Hannah said.
Thirty minutes later, she was soaking in the tub and singing at the top of her lungs.
“ ‘Jolly old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way . . .’ ”