Melody stumbled blindly to her office. It was a stupid thought, but she was glad the redhead who fawned all over Grant hadn’t made a purchase.
#
Grant was talking on the phone when Melody came slogging into her office looking pale and shaky. “I have to go. Keep me posted when you locate him.” He hung up and was on his feet in an instant, crossing the room to reach her. Her blue eyes were wide and unfocused.
“Melody, what is it? Has something happened?”
Her head bobbed slowly and she held out her hand. He feared blood, except…this was green. He grabbed her wrist and examined the substance. “What is it?”
“Harmony.”
He knew for a fact that her cream was the color of freshly-fallen snow. “What the hell?”
“Someone tampered with my face cream.” She shook her head, as if coming out of a trance. “I’m having Deanna call anyone who made a purchase today and thankfully, there were only two. She refunded the woman who brought this in and I’ll send her a jar of untampered product.” She laughed bitterly. “If she’s even willing to try it after this happened.”
“Did you close the shop?’ She nodded. “Is this from the batch you made yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Have you checked the inventory?”
“No.”
“Let’s go.”
He guided her to the sales room where Deanna was making phone calls to the other two women who had made purchases. They opened the packages on the display shelf.
“This one is fine,” he said.
“This one isn’t.”
They checked all twelve sets and discovered seven altered bottles. Then they retreated into the storage room and found damage in several more.
Grant glanced around, noting the one conspicuous absence. “Where’s Raine?”
“She left right before we arrived for a dentist appointment. She should be back soon.”
He guided Melody back to her office and closed the door before turning to face her.
“This had to happen between the time we left last night and arrived this morning.”
“Yes.”
“Melody, we would have been alerted if someone had broken into your store.”
“Oh, you’re right…wait, what are you saying, Grant?”
“Whoever is sabotaging your business, it’s an inside job.”
Chapter Seventeen
Melody listened to Grant’s words in shock. “Are you telling me,” she paused and lowered her voice, which had risen several octaves. “Are you telling me either Deanna or Raine is responsible?”
Melody couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it without proof. The two women weren’t just employees, they were her friends. They’d given up steady jobs to come work for her. Why would they do that and then sabotage the business? If she went under, they would be out of a job. It didn’t make sense.
Grant pulled her into his arms and she realized she was trembling. “I’m sorry, babe. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Our security systems are fool-proof.”
She knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to believe.
After a few minutes, he leaned back to study her face. “Are you okay?”
She was afraid to speak, so she nodded.
“Let’s have a look at the security feeds.”
He punched buttons on his laptop and then the footage appeared on the screen. He rewound from the moment they left, fast forwarding until Deanna arrived, followed by Raine twenty minutes later. No one else had attempted to enter through either of the doors. A thought struck. “What about a vent? Could someone have crawled through one to enter?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “We’re good at our jobs, Mel. Sensors were added to any opening wide enough for even a mouse to crawl through. No one is getting inside without us knowing about it. Not even Casper, the Friendly Ghost.”
His attempt at a joke went right over her head. If it wasn’t a break-in, it had to be one of her employees. No one else had access to the products.
She looked up at Grant with pleading eyes. “Tell me what I should do?”
“First, we should check the rest of the footage. I have a camera covering the sales floor.”
He pulled up that feed and they watched as first Deanna entered. She headed straight for the alarm and punched in the code before dropping her purse behind the counter and flipping on the lights. Then she headed to the back, out of camera range. Melody assumed she was in the kitchenette making coffee. Raine entered next and she too, headed to the back. Grant fast-forwarded until Raine returned carrying bags to fill the display shelves, followed by Deanna. Deanna rearranged Raine’s placement, so there was no way to tell who brought the tampered sets. He fast forwarded until the first customer arrived and then the second one. Raine left and the third customer came inside. When it showed the two of them entering from the back, Grant couldn’t hit the stop button fast enough.
“Who is she?”
He played dumb, which she knew for a fact he was not. “Who was who?”
“The gorgeous redhead with the big boobs who plastered herself intimately against you.”
“No one, an old high school girlfriend. Haven’t seen her in years. Don’t care to see her again.”
“Please, Grant, give me a little credit. She’s stunning.”
“She is,” he agreed, a little too quickly she thought, but maybe that was the nasty green monster inside her talking again.
“I saw her slip something into your pocket.” She hadn’t meant to admit that. Great. Now she sounded like a stalker.
“Business card. It’s in the trash over there.” He pointed to the can by the door. “She means nothing to me.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
“Mel, we dated for two years in high school. It was a lifetime ago.”
“So that’s a yes.” Damn, she was going to have to beat the green monster into submission.
“Look, Mel, she is gorgeous, and successful and rich—no, don’t turn away from me,” he admonished. He grasped her chin and forced her to face him. “But you know what her biggest flaw is?”
She shook her head as much as possible with him still gripping her chin.
“She isn’t you.”
Then he kissed her and oh, my, she was pretty sure the world was spinning. He left no doubt as to his sincerity. She forgot about the redhead, the tampered product, everything but the point where their lips touched. The man knew how to kiss.
He finally pulled away and framed her face with his hands. “Okay?” She nodded, so in love with this man it was a physical ache.
She loved him. She loved Grant Colton.
That would explain the extreme jealousy. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt. She loved Grant. Wow.
“Does the name Andrew Polk ring a bell?”
She furrowed her brow in thought. “I don’t think so. Why?”
“The cops pulled a print from the car that tried to run you down. It’d been reported stolen earlier in the day. They ran the print and got a hit on Andrew Polk, from Terre Haute. He has a rap sheet for petty crimes.”
“Are they questioning him? Did he say why he targeted me?”
“They haven’t been able to find him. My guess is someone hired him to do the dirty work.”
“Can’t they check his bank accounts for deposits?”
“They need warrants to do that and it takes time.”
She sighed dejectedly.
“We, however, do not, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
She perked back up.
“One of our computer techs discovered he only has a checking account with about two hundred dollars in it. He’s either getting paid in cash, or not getting paid at all until he finishes the job.”
She paled “Finishes the job? You mean kill me?”
“Melody, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He wrapped her in his strong arms. “Back to the tampered product. Neither woman openly med
dled with the boxes. It had to have happened in the storage room or the lab.”
A sickening thought made her stomach roll and she leaned back to look in his eyes. “Do you think they’re both in on it together?”
Grant gave her a sympathetic look. “They could be.”
“You wanted to put a camera in the lab, but I wouldn’t let you.” Hindsight was fifty-fifty, but Grant had tried to persuade her to allow him to put eyes inside. She fought against it because her product was top secret and video feeds could always be hacked. She knew that was an almost nil possibility for a COBRA Securities video, but still, she declined.
“We don’t know which one is guilty or if both are,” Grant said. “So, here’s what we’re going to do.”
#
Elliot Kingman paced in his office, his mind racing. Time was running out. He needed Melody on board with a partnership before the infomercial ran because he knew from experience how a business could explode once one was launched. If that happened and Melody’s product was introduced to the nation, she wouldn’t need Chem-Co anymore and he’d lose any leverage he had, no matter how small. She had the star-power necessary to make sure people tuned in and picked up the phone. He was still baffled at how she’d managed to rope in an Academy Award winner, a pop icon and the others. Her product had best-seller written all over it and dammit, he wanted a piece of it. She owed it to him, to Chem-Co. They hired her right out of college without any experience. That had to count for something.
He’d prefer to have her on board before the grand opening, but that was looking less and less likely. His Plan C hadn’t made enough progress. A few stolen bottles, some green food dye squirted in jars, nothing that amounted to anything substantial. He had no copy of the secret recipe and Melody hadn’t been rattled enough to give in to his partnership request. He’d proceed right to Plan D…if he had one.
His phone pealed and he jumped a mile in the air. It was his personal line. That meant it wasn’t work related. He knew before he glanced at Caller ID it was his bookie. The man was relentless, getting more demanding. He’d held him off with the promise of payment with interest as soon as his new product was launched. The only problem was, it wasn’t his product. It was Melody’s, and the bitch wasn’t cooperating.
Rage filled his veins. He’d offered her a more than fair offer. She had no right to turn him down. It was time for drastic measures.
#
Melody was having a hard time pretending everything was fine. One of the two women she trusted to build her company had deceived her. She prayed it was only one. She wasn’t sure she could handle both betraying her.
Raine had been shocked when she returned to the office from her dentist appointment and Melody had filled her in on the tampering. She was either a very good actress or she wasn’t involved. She hoped it was the latter.
Picking up on her mood, Raine had been subdued as they worked together to fill more bottles. Melody checked each one as she packaged them up to guarantee they were fine. Usually she and Raine talked for hours about ingredients and formulas and their mutual love for science. But today, she didn’t feel like chatting. It made the time crawl by. She glanced at the clock. Only ten minutes had passed since the last time she checked.
Raine had tried to talk about the vandalism, but it was all Melody could do to hold herself together. It was one thing discussing it with Grant, who was firmly on her side. She hated to doubt the loyalty of either Raine or Deanna.
She’d been afraid to keep any of the original bottles, even the ones without obvious signs of tampering, so they were working hard to build the stock up again. At this rate, she’d run out of ingredients and bottles before the infomercial ran.
A frantic pounding on the door launched Melody off her stool. She ripped off her gloves and goggles and ran to open it.
Deanna was standing outside, a frantic look on her face. “The fire department just called. It’s your house, Melody. It’s on fire.”
Chapter Eighteen
As soon as the words left Deanna’s mouth, Melody dashed to her office to find Grant. She burst through the door without knocking. In hindsight, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do to former military men. He and Mason were on their feet in a heartbeat, the barrel of two guns pointing directly at her. They both lowered their weapons immediately and Grant reached her in two steps.
“Melody, what is it? What’s wrong?”
She was breathing heavily, possibly on the verge of hyperventilating. “My…house…fire.”
Grant and Mason wasted no time hustling her to Mason’s SUV parked outside on the street. She didn’t remember climbing inside or buckling her belt. Grant must have done it for her. She was numb.
Her house was small and nothing fancy, but it was all hers. She purchased it outright with the inheritance her parents left for her when they passed away. The neighborhood was safe and friendly, with a community playground, shelter house and pool, though she never used it. She knew most of her neighbors, albeit not well. She was close to her brother’s house and she could ride her bike there in the summer.
They reached her street minutes later. Two police cars blocked access and several fire trucks were clustered in front of her house. Mason parked and they headed for her home until a cop tried to stop them. She let the men deal with him and she kept on going, dodging thick hoses and firemen decked out in turnout gear. Several of her neighbors had gathered on the sidewalk across the street. The police or firemen, she wasn’t sure who, set up barricades to keep the crowd away. She weaved through them and stopped when she came upon her burning home. A column of thick black smoke wafted skyward and the acrid smell of charred wood hung heavy in the air. Her entire garage was gone, a pile of smoldering ash, but it looked like the firemen had saved most of the main structure. There were a couple of gaping holes in the roof where the firemen had vented it, and most of the windows were blown out, but the walls were still standing. She knew inside it would be heavily damaged with smoke and water.
She hadn’t had much time to decorate, but she did stock a lab with the latest equipment. Of course, that was before they were destroyed in the break-in last night. Though she’d mourn the loss of her possessions, she kept the important things in her fireproof safe, including pictures of her parents that were priceless to her. She had copies in frames around her house, but the originals would be saved. All her important papers and documents were securely locked up in a fireproof safe. She had an antique curio cabinet that had belonged to her great grandmother and a chair her grandfather had made. Hopefully they survived the flames. The rest of her furniture was nothing special.
Two big hands clamped on her shoulders, anchoring her. She leaned back against Grant. “I’m so sorry, babe.”
She swiped at an errant tear. “They’re only possessions. They’re replaceable.”
“We should’ve gone ahead and set up the security system.”
“I’m the one who asked that you wait, so it’s not your fault.” She’d been trying to save a little money, waiting to have them install it until she moved out of Grant’s apartment. If she’d listened to him, they might’ve caught the person…“Grant!”
“What?”
“I just thought of something. Both Raine and Deanna were at the office. They couldn’t be responsible for the fire. They’re not the ones causing problems.” Relief weakened her knees. She hated doubting her employees. They were both important to her.
“Mel, there are any number of ways to delay the start of the fire.”
“And Raine was gone all morning.” Her shoulders slumped and he caressed them, his thick fingers massaging the knots with skill.
A fireman approached them, his thick jacket unbuttoned. “Are you the homeowner?”
She nodded.
“Looks like gasoline was used as an accelerant. It was concentrated at the back of the garage, which is a total loss. We were able to save most of the house. One of your neighbors spotted the flames early and called it in. We got here mi
nutes later. There will be extensive smoke and water damage.”
“When can I go in and get some things out?”
“Not for a while. We want to keep an eye on it, make sure there are no flare-ups. We’ll do a complete investigation, though I’m ninety-percent sure arson is the cause. However, we were a little concerned when we encountered a laboratory downstairs. I thought we might be dealing with a meth house.”
“I’m a scientist. Nothing illegal.”
“We deduced that. None of the equipment survived, but I don’t think it was the result of the fire.”
“It wasn’t. Someone broke in last night and destroyed everything.”
The fireman whistled. “It sounds like someone is trying to get to you. The cops know about it?”
“Yes.”
“And she has protection,” Grant added.
“Good. Sorry about your house, ma’am. We’ll keep you posted on the investigation.”
“Do you want to stay?” Grant asked gently after the fireman walked away to confer with his colleagues. She shook her head. There was nothing she could do now. They had a vandal to catch. The sooner this nightmare was over, the better.
#
Grant settled closer to Melody, as they waited in the darkness. They’d set a trap to hopefully catch the person or persons responsible for sabotaging Melody’s business. A cop was stationed nearby to arrest the perp as soon as they made a move.
When they’d returned from the scene of the fire, both Raine and Deanna had surrounded Melody, offering their support. It was hard to believe one or both would betray her.
They’d held a meeting with both women, not letting on that they suspected either one, and told them that tomorrow, his company would be installing cameras throughout the interior of the building, hoping to catch whoever was tampering with the products. Tonight would be the last time they could cause any harm without being caught…or so they thought.
They waited until both women left for the evening and then they made a show of leaving as well, in case the building was being watched. Then they reentered through the back door while Noah Addison drove Grant’s SUV away, giving the appearance that they had truly departed.
Say Goodbye to Melody Page 15