by Toby Neal
“Cavorting. I like that.” Sophie’s dimple made an appearance. “All right then, since Pierre is in favor of us taking another job, let’s hear what you’ve got for us, Bix.”
Bix harrumphed. “This is strictly a white-collar job; nobody’s going to be getting their hands dirty or fleeing a volcanic eruption on this one—but it’s sensitive. Needs a diplomatic touch and tech skills. This is why I want my two senior investigators to work it, since there will likely be a need for forensic computer investigation. The client is actually waiting down in my office, hoping to meet with the two of you.” Bix turned the monitor of his laptop, so that they could see the logo of one of the premier privately funded schools in Hawaii. “Are you familiar with Kama`aina Schools?”
“Somewhat. They specialize in delivering college preparatory education to primarily Hawaiian children,” Sophie said. “They’ve got deep pockets that aren’t filled by parents—the schools are funded by a land trust created by the Hawaiian monarchy at the turn of the century. Those funds come from the lease fees of major properties owned by the trust in downtown Honolulu.”
“Correct so far,” Bix affirmed. “This new client is an independent auditor who has been hired by the Board of Directors for Kama`aina Schools. The board suspects there has been some kind of embezzling of the trust.”
“Why are we working with the auditor and not the board?” Raveaux straightened the pleat in his slacks and cocked an ankle over one knee, settling in.
“The endowment funding the schools is in the millions of dollars every month. The bookkeeping is overseen by a very well-respected accounting firm. Until recently, if there were any concerns, they were kept tightly under wraps and dealt with between the board and the firm. Recently, though, one of the board members with a background in accounting has made enough fuss to get an independent audit approved. That auditor has come to us on her own initiative to ask for help.”
“That is unusual.” Sophie reached back to pick up her electronic tablet off the corner of her desk. Her fingers flew over it as she made notes. “Why would the auditor want to work with a firm like us? We don’t specialize in forensic accounting.”
“I think we should let her present that herself, but the two of you have the unique skills we’ll need to assist her in this audit. One of you should work directly with the auditor and interface with the players in the case—Raveaux can play that part nicely. Sophie, you can run computer analysis on everything our intrepid investigators get access to and bring in. Between the two of you, you should be able to provide our client the support she’s looking for.”
“Call the client to join us,” Sophie said. “My curiosity is piqued.”
“Your wish is my command, boss lady.” Bix gave an ironic lift of his brow.
Raveaux had noticed the byplay between Sophie, as CEO, and Bix as Operations Head, on numerous occasions—they seemed to enjoy it, and they worked well together.
The three Security Solutions representatives stood respectfully as Bix performed the introductions a short time later. “Hermione Leede has come to us with a matter in need of skill and diplomacy.”
The client was a petite woman with a crown of intricately braided white hair encircling her head. She wore a bright scarlet suit, Mary Jane heels, and she carried a well-worn, top quality brown leather satchel that much reminded Raveaux of the messenger bag he used himself.
“Very pleased to meet you.” Leede enunciated her words with the crisp, tony accent of the British upper class. “I look forward to your assistance in this delicate matter.”
“We are delighted to help.” Sophie gave the warm smile Raveaux remembered, but hadn’t seen lately. She extended a long-fingered hand that engulfed the client’s petite, beringed one. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
A delighted smile wreathed Leede’s face. “Perfect. It’s so seldom that I am offered a cup of tea here in Hawaii, or hear the accent of a countrywoman.”
“I’m not British, but I’d be lost without my tea.” Sophie went over to the sideboard and pressed the button on her instant hot water pot. “I was educated in Europe, though.”
Raveaux sat back and waited as Sophie prepared the tea things and the two women chatted. Bix pushed a contract over in front of Leede eventually, when the client sat at the table. “Here’s our standard agreement for your review. Would you like to pay our hourly rate, or a percentage?”
“How interesting that you would offer those options.” Leede cocked her head. Raveaux was reminded of a sparrow eyeing a nice bit of seed. “I’ve hired on for this audit for a recovery fee that’s a percentage of the funds regained through my investigation—plus an hourly rate. If I fail to find any inappropriate losses, I’m paid the hourly rate only.”
“That kind of payment structure is often indicated in insurance recovery investigations,” Bix said. “We can work with that.”
They negotiated for a few minutes, agreeing on a princely hourly rate with a fractional percentage, if the money was recovered.
Sophie returned with the loaded tea tray. Leede’s pale brows lifted and she clapped her hands in glee. “I can’t believe you have real chocolate biscuits! And what kind of tea can I look forward to? Loose leaf, no doubt?”
“Of course. This tea is very special—a blend of new leaf tips dried and produced in my home country of Thailand,” Sophie said. “I have it delivered monthly, directly from the family that grows it.”
“I shall look forward to tasting this exotic treasure.” Leede accepted a teacup, saucer, and spoon.
“Let’s let it steep for a moment.” Sophie turned over the tiny hourglass that accompanied the set. She picked up her tablet and stylus from the table. “Now that we’ve observed the niceties, I have just one burning question. Why did you enlist our firm’s assistance? The Kama`aina Schools’ Board has entrusted you to do the audit on your own, and you would be entitled to the entire payment if you completed it. Why do you want us to get involved?”
“Because it’s too big a job for one person,” Leede said. “And I don’t feel safe.”
Chapter Six
Raveaux
Raveaux leaned forward, making eye contact with the tidy, petite auditor. “Tell us more about that. In what way don’t you feel safe?”
Hermione Leede adjusted the bright gemstone rings on her fingers in a habitual gesture. “Tempers are very high on the Kama`aina Schools’ Board, and they don’t want anyone to know that the audit is going on. A large bureaucracy supports the schools, and whoever is siphoning off this money will not want it to be discovered. I worry about the lengths someone might go to stop the audit. Not only that, I worry that I might need an additional witness to what I uncover, as well as more manpower for the various tasks I foresee.” Leede paused to take a sip of tea, and when she replaced her cup on the saucer, it rattled against the china. “In addition, I’m a traditional accountant. There will be forensic computer records analysis, and that’s not my specialty. Give me anything to do with a calculator and a spreadsheet, and I’m your girl—but searching a dozen computers for deleted files is not something I’ve ever wanted to learn.”
“Fair enough,” Sophie said. “Sounds like we’re a match, because I’m excellent with computers, and Raveaux here can provide all the protection you might need.”
The sideways compliment from Sophie warmed him, and Leede’s eyes twinkled at Raveaux from behind rhinestone-studded, cat eye glasses. “It definitely won’t hurt my reputation to show up with you by my side, Monsieur Raveaux.”
They wrapped up the meeting, and Raveaux made an appointment to meet Leede at her office the next day to begin the audit.
As Leede and Bix headed out, Sophie stopped Raveaux with a hand on his arm. “Can we speak for a minute?”
Her touch sent a zing of awareness through his body. “Of course.” Raveaux sat back down.
Sophie went to her desk and took out a surveillance wand. She ran it over him quickly and expertly; he bit the inside of his cheek and held ver
y still. He didn’t blame her a bit for wanding him; he’d been bugged the last time they spoke privately. “Should we turn on the fan?”
“Not necessary. This room is swept daily.” Sophie put the device away, and sat down across from him. She poured more of the fragrant tea through a strainer into their cups. “I’ve been meaning to catch up with you since you warned me about the raid on Phi Ni, but with all the security concerns we’ve been going through, I didn’t want to draw attention.”
“I understand.” Raveaux had been leveraged to get Sophie to return to the United States from her private island sanctuary in Thailand with a fabricated story. The multi-agency team that was after the Ghost had planned to raid the island and capture him; Raveaux’s warning had given Sophie time to warn Connor. “I know everything worked out, because you came back and it’s been business as usual—but what happened over there?”
“After I dodged the agents sent to detain me in the conference room—again, thank you Pierre, for that warning—I took our corporate jet to Phi Ni to check on what had happened. The Department of Justice had marked all of the buildings and the entire island for seizure. No one was there.” Sophie’s honey-brown eyes darkened with remembered stress. “It was terrifying.”
Raveaux’s brows drew together. “What had happened to everyone?”
“Connor took his houseman Nam and Nam’s wife Kupa back to the compound in Thailand. That place is so heavily armed that there’s no way anything less than an act of war could remove him from there. Just before they fled, he put Armita, Momi, and my dogs on a private plane back to Hawaii. And they were waiting for me when I got back.” Sophie’s cheeks flushed and she dropped her eyes. “I died a little bit that day, and came back to life when I found my loved ones at home. They’d have been taken to use against me if you hadn’t warned me, Pierre.”
Raveaux cleared his throat. “Don’t mention it again. What now?”
“I’ve decided to guard against the task force. I’ve arranged a meeting for us with my defense lawyer, Bennie Fernandez. He needs to interview both of us to determine if there are any conflicts of interest that might preclude him from being able to defend you.”
“Thank you.” He had heard the defense lawyer was one of the best in Hawaii. “But I am here on a work visa. I have few rights. I believe that I’m only still here in the United States because the team is still assessing if they can use me. Against you, and the man called Connor.”
Sophie met his eyes for a brief moment. “That’s why I want you protected.”
“You have my word that your interests will always come first with me.” Raveaux said it like a vow, each word precise and definite.
Sophie’s expression remained carefully blank. She consulted her tablet, fingers flying, and his phone pinged. “I just forwarded you the date and time of the Fernandez consultation. We’ll meet in this office since it’s easiest to control security. Now, have you had any further communications or threats?” She met his eyes. “I don’t want to come into work one day and find out that one of my most trusted colleagues has been deported, or worse.”
Raveaux shook his head. “Nothing, thankfully. I sent a communiqué to some of my old friends on the French police force and in Interpol, asking them to be on alert on my behalf.” He shrugged. “I felt better having warned some good people that I might be in need of assistance.”
“Absolutely.” Sophie fiddled with her stylus. “I’m taking my own security measures. In addition to hiring Fernandez, I’m moving in with my father every month that Momi and Armita aren’t here. I’m going to be seen with him as much as possible and take advantage of my position as his daughter.”
Raveaux’s conscience pricked—the ambassador was secretly working with the multi-agency team, and had been the one to try to recruit Raveaux to use Sophie to trap her friend Connor. Raveaux hadn’t told her of that a month ago because her grief over Jake was so fresh. Should he tell her now?
“In any case, that’s all I wanted to say.” Sophie stood up. “They must be watching you, so be very careful.” She walked over and sat down behind her desk, still carrying the teacup. “I’ll see you at the meeting with Fernandez.”
Raveaux stood up—clearly, their meeting was over. “Bonne chance, Sophie, merci.”
Chapter Seven
Sophie
Day 2, Evening
Sophie spotted a tail following her SUV as she drove home to the Pendragon Arches apartment after work. The surveillance vehicle didn’t break off until she turned into her building’s underground garage.
Her heart rate escalated—maybe she should pack tonight and go to her father’s apartment now, instead of the next morning as they’d discussed. She had no doubt she was being watched, every moment—even now as she let herself in and was greeted by Ginger and Anubis.
The dogs whined and jostled about anxiously as she packed her bags with just enough clothing and bathroom supplies to last the month. She’d return to this unit when Armita and Momi came back from her custody month on Kaua`i. Keeping Momi, a strong-willed toddler, on her schedule was challenging enough, without adding a new environment to the mix.
That thought reminded Sophie of the beautiful month she’d spent on Phi Ni right after Jake’s death. If only the three of them could return to that pristine white beach and beautiful house on the cliff overlooking the Gulf of Thailand with its picturesque atolls—but the island, though deeded over to her, had been seized by the Department of Justice, and its ownership was tied up in the courts.
Sophie turned to the dogs and made a hand signal. “Sit.”
Anubis, his sharp Doberman ears pricked, sat immediately. Ginger, Sophie’s yellow rescue Lab, had eventually learned the basics through two rounds of obedience school. Whining reluctantly, she lowered her plump hindquarters to the floor. Sophie tossed them each a small dog biscuit. “Ginger, stay. Anubis, patrol.”
Anubis leaped up and trotted off, following an established route of checking for intruders that Connor had trained him to do. Ginger remained sitting, whining low in her chest, intelligent eyes fixed on Sophie’s backpack duffel bag.
Anubis gave a short, sharp bark—his warning bark.
The front doorbell dinged.
Sophie frowned. She didn’t expect anyone at this time in the evening. She hit an app on her phone that activated a tiny security camera set over the door.
Two men in suits that bulged at the hip with sidearms stood in front of the aperture. Agents! They must have overheard her conversation with her father, and decided to pre-empt her move to his place. Because they’d followed her, they likely knew she was inside. The door was locked, but they might try to break in if she didn’t answer it.
Time to disappear.
Sophie snapped her fingers for the dogs, picked up her tightly packed duffel, and slid her arms into its handy backpack straps. She put her phone into her pocket and headed for the closet, leashing the dogs as she went.
Sophie opened the interior security portal in the back of the closet and walked both dogs through the opening. Early in her relationship with Connor, she’d discovered this secret entrance to an office he owned in the apartment next door. The steel-reinforced door closed soundlessly and was automatically concealed behind a rotating shoe rack filled with footwear she seldom wore.
Sophie stifled a sneeze as she exited Connor’s closet into his former bedroom, the dogs at her side. This secondary apartment was where the Ghost had really lived and spent time, but Sophie rarely used it. The lights were off and the air smelled musty.
Sophie entered what had been Connor’s computer lab, the only room she did use, and then only when she needed privacy and security for some online task.
This room was completely soundproofed and had no windows—it could even be sealed as a “safe room,” but she didn’t want to do that in this instance unless she had to.
Sophie sat down on one of two office chairs in front of the computer work area, and re-activated the phone app.
The two agents had escalated to pounding on the door of her apartment. The camera didn’t have audio, and she couldn’t hear it in this sound-dampened room—but she could feel their blows as a vibration in the walls. Ginger whined anxiously, pressing against her leg, while Anubis’s chest rumbled with a silent growl.
“Settle, my lovelies,” Sophie crooned, and stroked their heads reassuringly as she watched the app.
One of the agents waited against the wall beside the entryway while the other headed for the elevator. They were likely going to get the building’s supervisor to open the door for them.
Sophie settled into stillness. The dogs lay down at her feet.
She watched the entire drama as the reluctant building supervisor, prodded by the agents, unlocked the door—she’d had to give him the code and keys as part of the building’s safety protocol. The agents drew their weapons and moved into her apartment.
Now was the time to move. She couldn’t take the risk that they’d somehow uncover her secret exit.
Sophie stood up, tweaked the dogs’ leashes, and headed for the front door of the secondary apartment, using a workaround she’d already programmed into her phone to deactivate the building’s security cameras in the hall. Once the cameras were off, she slipped out and trotted lightly down the well-padded length of the hall to the elevator, bypassing that and hitting the stairs.
They might have left another agent to watch for her in the lobby, so she’d exit another way.
Sophie got off on the fourth floor, where the building’s gym and indoor pool were located. She slid her keycard into the gym’s door and hurried through the deserted workout area with the dogs close to her side, taking the service elevator that was accessible only on this level. The elevator dead-ended in the basement, bypassing the lobby altogether.