“Are you sure a cleaning crew didn’t throw them away?”
“I’m sure — they never touch anyone’s desk.”
“Did you run them again?”
“Yes. And they came out totally different, matching exactly to what the board reports showed. I would have thought I’d made a mistake if I didn’t have the matching set at home from my staff member’s initial run.”
“Okay, so the reports were off.” Agent Vincent still hadn’t really grasped the relevancy or importance yet. “Why is that a big deal?”
“Because the reports I originally ran showed somewhere in the neighborhood of four-point-two million dollars missing.”
Vincent registered the comment silently and sat for a couple of minutes, probably to let it sink in. “Wow. That’s a lot of cash. Are you sure?”
“Dead sure.” His eyes stared coldly at Vincent, unflinching. Bob was not a quack. He knew what he was talking about and wasn’t about to have someone think he was prone to wild imaginings.
“But how could someone hide so much money? That’s huge. It doesn’t seem possible.”
“By funneling it through a dummy company into other accounts. The company grosses somewhere in the neighborhood of fourteen-point-two billion a year. In the overall scheme of their budget, that’s not a large number. For you and me, it’s huge, but not for them.”
“Do you have any idea who is involved and how they’re doing it?”
“No, I hadn’t gotten that far. After the night I tried to run the reports, I started getting prank calls at home. When I answered, most times the caller hung up. Sometimes, he would just sit there and we knew he was there but he said nothing. Then one day, he spoke … to my wife. He told her ‘tell your husband to mind his own business.’”
“What did you do?”
“I called you guys.”
“Had you tried to report the fraud internally?”
“Yes, they have a fraud hotline you can call. I tried it. Nothing happened.”
“Nothing at all?”
“To my knowledge, no, but they could have investigated it and just dropped it … or maybe chalked it up to the ramblings of a disgruntled employee. They seem to do that a lot when a complaint is made.”
“Well, that is often the case.”
“I suppose. I don’t know. That’s still not a good reason to drop it, is it? Even if it is a disgruntled employee, shouldn’t they document the call and investigate? I would think that more of a reason, rather than less. Employees want to believe their company to be ethical and trustworthy. If they think otherwise and complain, maybe there’s valid reason.”
“Okay, Bob.” Agent Vincent was clearly ready to wrap this up and leave. “Is there anything else we need to know? Anything else unusual that you remember?”
“No … not really.”
“Not really? Or you don’t want to say?”
“I think I’m being followed … or maybe listened to.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’m not sure, but there are a lot of signs.”
“Okay.” Vincent didn’t appear to believe that part but she didn’t say so. She wrote on the pad of paper she had in her lap, then rose to her feet. “I’m going to go back and write all this up. We’ll give you a call tomorrow morning and talk through what we want to do next. You’ll be home?”
It was a Friday evening and he didn’t have plans. “Yes, I’ll be here.”
“Good. Talk to you then.”
Chapter Four
Nate would always be the best friend Trev ever had. They entered the Academy at the same time. They did the majority of their training together and often became partnered together on assignments. In the first few years, they worked with a lot of the older guys and learned a great deal. They’d become pretty good friends despite their differences. Nate, a native Californian, was kind of a surfer type. His parents were both multilingual and spoke Spanish as their primary language. Trev, also bilingual, appreciated that they could often switch between languages when they wanted to talk freely.
Five years ago, Trev met Linda Catlin at a bar. She was there with a group of friends for a girls’ night out. Linda emanated an engineered beauty, grace, and glamour, and she had set her eyes on Trevor. He was between assignments and ended up spending the full week of his vacation with her. By the end of the week, on a whim, he asked her to move in with him. Another whim ended up in a proposal. Nate tried to stop him but Trev wouldn’t listen. “Trev,” he pleaded, “take a little more time, man. What do you really know about her?”
“I know enough.”
“Do you? Really? I don’t think so. There’s something not right about her. I can’t put a finger on it but she scares me a little.”
“Scares you? You’re an FBI agent, how the hell can a hundred and thirty pound woman scare you?”
“Not like that. I think she’s going to be trouble for you. I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t say that, should I?”
“No, and it’s none of your business anyway.”
Trev lived with Linda for a year. It was a pretty good year. She tolerated his constant travel and sometimes distant personality, or at least she seemed so. Two weeks after they celebrated their first year together, he came home from a trip to D.C. to find her gone. She’d left a note on the kitchen counter.
I’m sorry Trev, but I can’t do this anymore. I hate being alone all the time. I met someone a couple of months ago while you were in New Orleans and well, he’s pretty great. He’s also here … all the time. Again, I’m sorry.
Take care,
Linda
The key to the apartment lay on top of the note. All her things were gone. She ran out of his life as quickly as she came into it. Oddly, she didn’t leave the ring he’d given her. She said she pawned it. What a cold and cowardly person. She didn’t even have the courage to tell him to his face. He should have been devastated but he wasn’t. He missed her, but in truth, he didn’t like being told what to do. Probably what he missed the most was their physical relationship. Having someone to hold onto at night comforted him after the rougher jobs, especially someone as pretty as she was. Other than that, they had very little in common and he quickly realized that living with her stifled him, or at least he told himself that as often as possible. He wished he’d listened to Nate in the beginning and not wasted a year of his life trying to please her.
After she left, Nate came around every couple of days or so, to check on him. What a good friend. Trev, being the loner that he was, handled it just fine … and eventually told Nate, as politely as he could, to back off. The guy was driving him nuts being around all the time.
Today, Nate’s words showed his steadfast friendship.
“Trev?” Nate watched Trev walk back toward their pseudo office near Sophie’s building.
“Yeah?” The earphones were back in his ears.
“You haven’t worn a smile on your face in years — not since Linda left.”
Trev sobered up. “I’m not smiling now, either.”
“Looked like it to me, dude.”
“Shut up. You’re kind of a pain in the ass, you know. I think I’m going to quit wearing these earphones.”
Nate snickered. “She’s got legs a mile long. Looks good in a skirt, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t notice.”
“Yeah, right. I saw you not noticing, remember? It’s good to have you back.”
“I’m done listening to you.” Trev pulled the earphones from his ears and walked into their building. So what if he noticed her? It was kind of hard not to. It didn’t matter, anyway. She was a job, just a job. He opened his cell phone and dialed Sophie’s number.
It rang four times before she picked up. “Sophie Henderson,” she blurted in a bland and professional voice.
“Hey, Henry. Trevor here.” Trev liked the new nickname he’d given Sophie though she didn’t seem to approve. All the more reason to use it.
“Did I forget something again?
”
“No, that’s not why I called. Why don’t I meet you Friday evening after work and you can bring the reports? If you take them to work with you, we can just meet near your office. Will that work?”
“I can’t.” She’d hesitated before answering. “I already have plans Friday night.”
“Oh, big date?” Why did he ask that? It was definitely none of his business.
“No, not really. A group of us … we’re taking a friend of mine out for his birthday after work.”
“That’s good. Not a problem.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Well, I’d better go. Give me a call and let me know how you want to handle it.”
“Hey. We’ll be done around eight or so. Why don’t you meet me there and I can give them to you then and show you what I’m talking about?”
“Where?”
“Midtown. Tell me your email address and I’ll send directions.”
“I live near there so that should work out perfect. I have your business card. I’ll send you an email and you can just respond back.”
“Sounds good.”
“See you then.” He hung up without waiting for an answer. When he got to his computer, he shot her a quick email and she responded back with the address. Perfect, he thought. He’ll get a chance to see the information that she wanted to share. This will move the investigation along nicely.
Trev found passing time comfortable. On an assignment, he could sit for hours observing everything. The time passed so slowly it often felt like the world was moving without him. He was used to it and learned to be patient. It took incredible strength to drop his youthful impatience for the job. The waiting formulated scenarios regarding what actions to take and what actions might occur as a result. He spent several hours over the next days thinking about what might occur Friday. If the documents proved as expected, he’d still need the data but it would be important to know how much she shared with the others. It also might be good to watch her interactions with the coworkers. Do they get along well or is she more isolated or reserved from them? Which ones had she struck up friendships with … and did they possibly fit the profile for this?
His thoughts wandered a little as he looked back through all the profiles of her staff. She had a lot of men working on her team. Many of them young — her age or close — and also single. He wondered if any relationships had developed between them. There wasn’t enough information about them, the staff. Why did his investigative team only look at the two managers? The staff probably had as much or more access, and needed to be reviewed more thoroughly. He intended to get the researchers working on that on Monday.
Friday night came way too slow. He’d spent a little time watching her and that ended up being pretty frustrating, just watching. He found himself wanting to hear her voice again.
Sophie Henderson was like a firecracker wrapped up in cellophane. On Friday, he watched her standing at a table near the window, flashing that huge smile and laughing. She was vivacious. Everyone that saw her took a second look, wanting to see that smile again. He sat at the back of the bar with his back to them, looking through the mirror over the bar.
He sipped his drink and watched with interest, observing each member of the small group around her. Three women of varying ages stood across from Sophie all talking at once. He had read about two of them. Sophie’s best friend Callie showed up almost a year and a half earlier, he remembered. She’d relocated from New York. He had nothing on the other girl but her name, Christy James. Both worked for Sophie, but Callie became not only the best friend but also the right arm, so to speak.
Jake Wellborn, the tall blond guy next to her, was one of her team. His highlighted hair was spiked on top in that fake-ruffled way. A hole in his ear informed it had been pierced at one time. Maybe he didn’t wear the earring at work? His clothes, starched and pressed to perfection, portrayed an affinity for neatness. He was a programmer and according to the files, flagrantly gay. Trev could see it; the clothes and hair pretty much gave it away. No straight guy dressed like that. Jake was a decent guy though, no record. Good grades in school, all through college and graduate school. Smart. Really Smart. Born the only child of a family in East Texas, he distanced himself from his parents since leaving home. Not uncommon for someone who’d gone through what he probably had over the years.
Another young man returned from the bar with a couple of drinks. He squeezed between Jake and Sophie and handed her one of the glasses. She smiled and Trev saw her mouth the words “thank you” at him. That was Thomas Brand. He knew the face but not a lot of details other than he was a systems analyst with only a year at the company. His history was sparse in the agency’s files, and judging by his attention to Sophie, that probably needed to be checked out.
Thomas and Jake stood the same height, but where Jake defined fastidiousness in his appearance, Thomas was just the opposite. Wrinkled shirt. Wrinkled pants. Wrinkled jacket over the shirt. He obviously lived alone, did his own laundry, and didn’t care. His brown hair hadn’t been cut in a while so it looked wrinkled, too. A sizeable growth of facial hair either meant it grew really fast or he’d forgotten to shave. For some reason though, he carried it pretty well — a little slovenly but it worked for him. Trev watched him hand the glass to Sophie and decided to find out more about Thomas. He also needed to go back and check the levels of access each of these people had to the accounting system.
“Hey, Henry.” Sophie jumped when he spoke into her ear from her right side. She turned quickly into him, smiling and bumping her drink against his chest. Instinctively, she put a hand against his shirt to wipe away the drips then drew it back quickly and looked down. She tried to step back away from him but found herself jammed up against the table.
“Hello, Trevor. I see you found me.”
“You’re not hard to find.” His eyes looked around the room then settled back on her face, smiling with a slight tip of the lips.
“Yeah, I’m a little tall with these heels on so I tower over everyone most of the time. I guess I kind of stick out.” Apparently, she was a little uncomfortable with her height. He slowly let his eyes take in her shoes, legs, skirt, blouse, hair, and eyes.
“That wasn’t really what I meant,” he responded.
She looked at him curiously and opened her mouth like she intended to speak but said nothing.
“Sophie, who’s your gorgeous friend?” Callie asked from across the table as she leaned over to smile up at him.
Sophie snapped her attention back to the table. Her face warmed a little as she responded. “Everyone, this is Trevor Adams, a friend.”
Trev continued to watch her face, wondering why she’d introduced him that way. He liked it; it implied a relationship of some sort that would certainly raise questions. Is that what she wanted … questions? He turned to the table and shook each of the girls’ hands as they gave their names. It turned out the third girl, the one he didn’t recognize, was new, a friend of one of the others. He also shook the guys’ hands, noticing that Thomas’s expression clouded over instantly when Sophie introduced him. Thomas protectively put an arm on Sophie’s shoulder and asked Trevor, “So, how do you know my Sophie?”
“I’m not your Sophie,” she countered as she shrugged his arm from her shoulder.
“She saved me from an electrocution a while back so I bought her lunch.”
This guy’s got a thing for her, Trev thought, but she seems a little resistant to it. The guy’s kind of an ass so no wonder. Trev flashed a charming grin at him and spoke softly to Sophie, “Should I wait? Or come back later?”
“No. No. Please stay and talk with us. That is, if you can spare the time. I promise no one will bite you.” She lowered her eyebrows and shot Thomas a warning look as she put a hand on Trevor’s forearm, pulling him closer to the table. The others moved around to make room. He towered over her with one shoulder behind her and the other edged toward the table.
Callie winked at Sophie and laughed. “I’m not pro
mising I won’t bite you, handsome,” she flirted.
“Callie!” Sophie protested.
“Sorry, Soph, but in case you haven’t paid any attention … your friend here is definitely not hard on the eyes.” Callie’s eyes wandered up and down Trev as she smiled and fluttered her lashes at him.
“I agree totally.” Jake lifted his glass in a salute to Trev, making Trev look around the room in discomfort. He calculated an appropriate response and thought of none. He wasn’t good in crowds and certainly not the flirty type. He had no patience with idle chitchat, but she’d invited him so he’d tough it out.
“Seriously,” Callie’s friend persisted. “How did you meet Sophie, Mr. Adams? And where are you from?”
Trev’s shoulder stiffened against her. He wondered if Sophie could sense how much he wanted out of this conversation. Then she spoke. “Trevor is a security guy and he’s here to protect me from my stalker.” He glanced at the back of her hair, startled by her comment. Unable to see her expression, he contemplated whether the statement was serious.
“Really?” Callie exclaimed. “Is that guy still bothering you? What did the police find out?”
“Not a thing. I haven’t heard anything from them since I reported it.”
“Stalker?” The two other guys said in unison as Trev observed her facial expressions. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he intended to find out.
“Yeah,” Callie retorted. “Sophie met a guy here a couple months ago. He followed her out to her car and tried to grab her. She beat him off with that giant red umbrella of hers and managed to get away. He showed up again but just watched her.”
Trev’s eyes narrowed and shot to Sophie’s face. He leaned down and whispered into her ear so the others wouldn’t hear him. “Is this true?”
“Well, partially, yes,” she admitted, returning his whisper, her breath tingling against his ear. “He hasn’t shown up everywhere but I’ve seen him again.”
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
“I need to know more about this.”
Numbers Never Lie (Crimson Romance) Page 5