by Amy Saunders
“I promise. Jonas says they should be able to release it soon. Then, it just needs some fixing up.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “After that, it should be as good as new.”
Belinda smiled, cheered up by that idea. She sipped some of the melted lemonade, relieved she wouldn’t have to start all over again with a new car. And on a more somber note, relieved she wasn’t starting over in other, more serious, ways.
She held Bennett’s hand more tightly for a few seconds, then said, “I need my hand back. I want to finish my lemonade before the frozen part is history.”
Bennett reluctantly released her, but then went back to his own cup without hesitating. “Then what?” he said, his mouth full.
Belinda glanced sideways, the same seagull still fixated on her treat. “Then I think we should stop in on Vincent Sutcliffe. We keep circling around him, but it’s all hearsay really.”
Bennett nodded. “Good choice.”
For the moment, however, Belinda was going to finish her lemonade and no seagull was going to stop her.
Chapter 28
Vincent Sutcliffe was all too happy to meet with them the following day. He leaned onto the white marble mantle over the fireplace in a home Belinda understood he rented. It was certainly nice but not the showpiece she would’ve expected. He’d thrown his suit jacket over a nearby chair and rolled up his sleeves.
Belinda sat on the ivory-colored couch, a Pomeranian, almost the same color, hopping up next to her. Bennett took a stiff-backed Louis chair instead. After staring at the little dog briefly, Belinda ventured to pat its head, which it took as an invitation to climb onto her lap.
“I assume you have news for us,” Vincent said, casually putting his hands in his pockets. He was tall and lithe with dark hair tinted with gray in places. Belinda could understand on some level why Camilla liked him. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure she would ever trust him. And it appeared Camilla may have felt the same. “Though I have to admit I’m confused why Camilla’s not around for this.”
Belinda traded a glance with Bennett. “I think we have more questions than news today,” she said. “We have learned some things, but it’s really only led to more questions.”
Vincent weighed her in his dark eyes for a moment, then waved her on. “Ask away.”
“First of all, we want to know why you visited Henry Lawson on your own.” Belinda watched him carefully, but Vincent didn’t even blink. “It sounds like you weren’t Lawson’s favorite person, so it just sounded a little out of place to us.”
Vincent shrugged. “It’s no big secret. Henry and I didn’t see eye to eye on most things, but we wanted what’s best for the company.”
“And you visited Henry to discuss what’s best for the company?” Belinda raised an eyebrow. She was pretty sure what Vincent would think was best for the company included a more prominent–and influential–position, which Belinda doubted Henry would have approved. Though anything was possible.
“We were working out kinks in the transition,” Vincent said matter-of-factly. “Henry started this company from the ground up. He knew what he was doing, and I figured he was the best person to ask for advice. Not to mention, he was key in getting Camilla appointed the next CEO.”
“Did Camilla know you were going to her father for help?” Belinda stroked the Pomeranian, who had carved out a perfect nest on Belinda’s lap, curling into a ball.
Vincent hesitated, averting his eyes to the other side of the room. “To be honest, no, she didn’t. Maybe that’s why my visits looked suspicious. I preferred if Camilla didn’t know. However, if she had found out, it wasn’t the end of the world.”
Belinda didn’t care for the way he started his sentence–to be honest. Somehow, it made her trust him less. “Why not tell her? After all, it was about the company.” Unless some of the transition “kinks” were because of Camilla.
“Camilla and Henry had a….complicated relationship.” Vincent waved his hand in a gesture that seemed to infer they could use their imaginations on that one. “She needed Henry…that was clear…but she liked to keep her distance as much as possible.”
“You thought she’d be angry if she found out you went behind her back,” Bennett said flatly.
If their information was correct, Vincent’s position largely depended on Camilla’s support. If Vincent lost that, well, it didn’t sound like anyone else would’ve had his back. Did Vincent hope to gain Henry as another ally?
Vincent’s mouth curled in distaste, though it also seemed to indicate Bennett was right. “I don’t think she would have liked it, but I can manage.” So, he thought he could handle Camilla, even if she had a fit over his visits to her father.
“Did Henry help you out?” Belinda asked. “We understand you were around Henry’s a lot for a while.”
“Of course he helped.” Vincent held her gaze. “Like I said, we both cared that problems got fixed. Even if I wasn’t his favorite person, as you put it, we had mutual concerns.”
“Was Camilla one of them?” Belinda wasn’t sure why, but the way he’d said that seemed to indicate Camilla might be one of their “mutual concerns.”
“No,” he said firmly, his eyes hardening.
But Belinda didn’t give up that quickly. “I don’t believe you. We know Camilla is stubborn, so it’s possible she was refusing to budge on something you and Henry considered vital.” The alleged stolen documents came to mind. Maybe they wanted Camilla to put forth more effort into finding the culprit.
Vincent tried to maintain his casual appearance, but his shoulders stiffened.
“What about the rumors that you and Camilla are engaged?” Bennett said, folding his hands in his lap. “Maybe you and Lawson thought it would be in the company’s best interests for Camilla to remarry and you wanted Henry’s vote to be in your camp.”
Belinda’s head snapped to Bennett, taken aback by how out of left field that sounded.
Vincent’s face cracked into a smile and he threw his head back and laughed. “What century are you in? Camilla doesn’t need to remarry to run a company.”
“No,” Belinda said, thinking she knew where Bennett was going with that, “but her nebulous relationship with you isn’t helping, either.” Belinda sat forward, the Pomeranian looking up in objection when she stopped petting it. “To put it bluntly, Mr. Sutcliffe, we’re under the impression you don’t have many fans in the company. People don’t want you to influence Camilla, and I doubt they like the idea of you marrying her.”
“On the other hand,” Bennett said, continuing with her flow, “Lawson might have preferred marriage to the rumors flooding his ears about the internal power struggles taking over. He ran a tight ship and didn’t like that his successor, and daughter, was effectively fueling the internal problems. If there was a simple way to deal with it, he might have been willing to listen.”
“Of course, the best way to have dealt with it, at least temporarily, was to remove you from the picture altogether.” Belinda went back to stroking the dog’s head, who finally settled back down on her lap. “If I was Henry, I would have thought that.”
Vincent glanced from Bennett to Belinda. “You’re both very imaginative. Do you also assume the rumors are true and I killed Henry?”
“Not necessarily,” Belinda said. “I’m not sure it would have served your purpose. I don’t think Henry was really your enemy. Not in the long run.”
Vincent relaxed against his mantle again, assessing them both more carefully. If anything, Belinda guessed there were others with more influence inside the company whom Vincent would want out of his way.
“Then what do you want?” Vincent said.
“Puzzle pieces,” Belinda said. “We know you and Marie Sinclair worked with Henry outside of Camilla’s scope. And we have an idea of what was going on with Sinclair. But with you, it’s all wrapped around your relationship with Camilla, and I’m hesitant to accept it’s that straightforward.”
Vincent looked down.
&
nbsp; “Look,” Belinda added, “you claimed you wanted us to prove you didn’t kill Henry. So, unless you got us into this just for appearance, letting us get into a lot of trouble without a real reason, you need to start talking. Because if that is why we’ve done all of this, I can promise you, you’ll both regret it.”
Vincent looked back up, meeting Belinda’s now fiery-brown eyes. Old money had its advantages. And Belinda would use every one of them if these people had put them in danger to cover their tracks or save face or work out some personal agenda.
Bennett’s mouth curved in a slight smile of approval, while Vincent only gave her a look that said he believed her. After a silent moment, he finally pushed off from his mantle position and paced, running his hands through his slicked-back hair.
“After the transition,” he started, “we found a big problem. We think someone took advantage of the chaos and sold some important company information.” He paused, maybe waiting for gasps or wide eyes. Instead, he only got calm stares, waiting for him to go on. “You already knew?” He looked more surprised than they did.
“We weren’t sure if it was true,” Bennett said.
“Who knew about it?” Belinda didn’t feel like getting into a whole other conversation about how they found out. Vincent could figure that out on his own.
Vincent dug his hands back into his pockets. “To my knowledge, Camilla and I.”
“Is this why you went to Henry?” Belinda listed her head, wondering if Camilla and Vincent and then Marie Sinclair were really all working on separate pages. It certainly looked that way right now.
Vincent nodded slightly. “I thought he might have known something about it already and I suggested we go to him immediately.”
“But Camilla refused?” Belinda prompted.
Vincent sighed, his eyes dropping to the floor, showing the first real emotion she’d seen. “Camilla likes to do things her own way and she thought it would be better to keep it to ourselves. I didn’t see the harm in letting Henry know.” He stopped, recognition swelling in his eyes. “That could be why he’s dead.”
“We’ve thought that ourselves,” Belinda said. “Did he know anything about the suspected espionage?” They already knew Henry did from Marie, but she wanted to hear it from Vincent.
Vincent took a seat in the chair he’d draped his jacket on, his face wan and stretched now. “Henry suspected it, but he didn’t know who was responsible either. I…I didn’t think anyone knew about our conversations. Nobody was ever around when we talked.”
“None of the staff was in and out?” It may have just been because of the cleanout, but Lawson’s house seemed like a hive of activity.
“No.” Vincent rested his elbow on the chair arm, leaning his head onto his palm. “It was always pretty quiet when I went…except for Elizabeth popping up sometimes. But when Henry was locked away in his study, she never interrupted. And Henry seemed to trust her implicitly, anyway.”
From what Belinda had seen of the woman, she could understand why. She might have been a bit rough around the edges, but she was dependable. “Did you ever talk to Henry on the phone?”
Vincent glanced up, twisting a class ring around his finger. “I didn’t want anyone to overhear our conversations, so I only visited. Why?”
Belinda shrugged. “We were told he might have had an argument with someone on the phone.”
Vincent half smiled. “Henry always sounded like he was having an argument. It was just how he talked.”
“Still, you never heard Camilla arguing with him on the phone or anyone else in the company?”
Vincent shook his head. “Once he was retired, nobody openly talked with him. They might have at home, but not where I would have heard. And Camilla never called him at work.”
“And you’re sure Henry didn’t suspect anyone of the espionage?” Bennett asked.
“If he had a name in mind, he never told me.”
“And whom do you suspect?” Belinda said, glancing down as the Pomeranian kicked its back legs while it snoozed on her lap.
Vincent rubbed his forehead. “We can’t pin it to anyone. There are no signs of anyone inside company borders doing anything odd. Whatever’s going on, they’re managing to do it outside of our jurisdiction, so to speak.”
Belinda thought about Henry’s illegal document stash at home, which Vincent didn’t seem to know about. Or he was keeping it to himself. Maybe that was the only way the thief was stealing company secrets. In which case, unless the thief was Marie Sinclair, somebody else had found out about them.
“All I know,” Vincent added, “is the spy has to have the means of getting the information and then the contacts to sell it to. And, in my mind, that equals somebody working for us.”
Maybe so, Belinda thought, thinking about Alex. Or maybe that assumption was also a mistake.
Chapter 29
Vincent turned out to be more helpful than Belinda thought he would. He might not come across as the most trustworthy person, but she doubted he killed Henry. It just didn’t add up. Once outside in Bennett’s truck, Belinda said, “What are we missing?”
Bennett slammed his door shut, turning the ignition. “A lot of things.”
“I’m serious.” Belinda glanced down at her navy polka-dot top, her face sagging at all the white fur stuck to it. “We have three dead people, a possible link in a chain of corporate espionage, and a lot of sketchy, disconnected events. What’s the link between them all?”
“I think the better question is who’s the link between them all?” Bennett turned onto a back road, passing some grassy hills.
“I’d like to say it’s Vincent or Marie or even Camilla at this point. But I just don’t see it. They have more to gain from loyalty to the company, and even to Henry Lawson, than from betraying it.”
Bennett didn’t add anything to her rant, probably analyzing what Vincent told them, so Belinda stared out the window until her phone blipped with a message.
“Should I be worried?” Bennett said, sounding distracted.
Belinda checked the text, hesitating. “It’s Colleen.” Belinda read through her message, knowing Bennett wouldn’t be thrilled. But Colleen claimed she’d uncovered something in the case that might help, and she wanted to meet. “I know she’s not your favorite person in the universe, and she’s not mine either, but she can help out now and again. I think we should take her up on it.”
Bennett sighed. “She never helps you without a reason.”
“I know. But she usually just wants a story, and this could be one if we can crack it.” Belinda batted her eyelashes. “Pretty, pretty please…”
After a moment of huffing and puffing and muttering under his breath, he finally caved. “Fine. We’ll meet her. But I’m not putting up with her games.”
Belinda grinned, clapping her hands. “I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”
~ * ~
Jonas zipped down the sloping and curving back roads with Soto in the passenger’s seat, heading back to the station after interviewing Alex’ relative again. The only suspicious financial activity connected to Alex was that it appeared Henry Lawson had funded some college classes she’d been taking. When he asked her family about it, they only knew that Alex told them that she wanted to go but couldn’t afford it. Lawson had agreed to loan her the money and she was working to pay it back.
It may have seemed a little odd, but nothing about her finances, spending, or lifestyle screamed she’d come into a lot of money recently. Either Alex was working for her own ends or was in league with someone else but not necessarily working for them. Unless, of course, she had a cash stash hidden somewhere.
Jonas slowed as he turned a corner, a truck pulled over onto the grass on his side of the street. It wasn’t the best place to park considering how narrow the road was, but as he went by, something else occurred to him.
“That looks like Bennett’s truck.” Jonas swerved onto the grass himself, checking behind him. Nobody was in the truck, or aro
und it. He hopped out, Soto deciding to follow, and glanced around for signs of life. He peered inside, spotting some equipment in the back that he recognized. “Yep. It’s Bennett’s.”
Jonas spun around, wondering where they would have gone. There was nothing but a field on one side and woods on the other.
“Uh…Jonas,” Soto said, tapping on the passenger window, “two phones are still in the truck.”
Jonas peeked in, catching sight of one phone on the console, another one on the passenger’s seat. If they broke down, they wouldn’t leave their phones behind. And there was no sign of an accident. “Maybe they went for a stroll through that field.” He jabbed his thumb behind him. Maybe Bennett decided to propose…spontaneously…in a random field…
Soto didn’t look convinced, either. “You do know who we’re talking about, right? Besides, who leaves their phones behind this day and age for any reason?”
He had a point. Jonas tried the door. It opened and Soto did the same on his side. “Check both phones for any evidence of where they may be. I’ll call around and see if they’re home or something.” Not that Jonas believed the truck with their phones would be on a back street while Belinda and Bennett were cozied up at home. But he had to start somewhere.
After freaking out several people in pursuit of their whereabouts, he came up empty. Nobody knew where Belinda and Bennett were supposed to be. And neither of them was home or visiting friends or family.
Soto waved Jonas over, jamming one phone in his vision. “The last person contacted on this phone was Colleen Maguire. They were supposed to meet her right here.”
Jonas grunted. “Perfect.” He started searching for her number on his cell phone. “See what else you can find on the phones, in the truck…and put in a call that we’re looking for them.”
Jonas backed up to his car, calling Colleen. Not his favorite task, especially since he hadn’t dealt with her in ages. But if she knew where they were…