Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Wendy Soliman

  She shut herself in the ladies room until the sound of voices and footsteps receded. Then, checking that she had what she needed, she made her move. It was a piece of luck that Jeff, an ex-policeman, kept his horse at the same yard as Ashley kept Lucius. They’d both arrived one day without their keys to the tack room. Untypically, no one else was about, so Ashley was on the point of returning home to get hers when Jeff asked if she had a hairpin. She handed one over, and like it was no big deal, he showed her how to pick the lock. She joked with him about there being a thin line between breaking the law and law enforcement. Still, it was a lesson well learned—one she’d had occasion to put into practice a couple of times since.

  She returned to her desk, decanted her papers, and glanced next door. It was past one o’clock, Gloria’s desk was empty, and hardly anyone else was left in the main open plan office. Before she could think better of it, Ashley let herself into Charlie’s office, closed the door behind her, and took a deep breath. The credenza with the drawer that interested her was on wheels, situated behind Charlie’s large desk. She sat in his chair and leaned over the lock, carefully inserting the pin. Her hands shook so badly that she almost dropped it. She’d never opened a lock that she wasn’t legitimately entitled to before, and her forced initiation into the world of crime didn’t exactly fill her with joy. Even so, she persevered and was rewarded when the tumblers fell into place and the locked clicked open.

  She pulled the drawer out, wondering what she expected to find. A smoking gun in the form of a list of all the people involved would be handy, but she wasn’t holding her breath. Just as well because all she found was a neatly organized set of files. Charlie’s personal bank records, reports on his senior staff, some stuff to do with his divorce and remarriage. And a thick file on Matt that immediately piqued her interest. She picked it up and flicked through it, excitement causing her to hyperventilate because she was pretty sure that she was on to something.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Ashley’s bottom left the chair as she literally jumped with fright. The file fell from her hands, papers scattering in all directions as she slowly turned her head.

  “Charlie, I was just—”

  “Yes.” He closed the door behind him, leaned against it, his face like thunder. “What were you just?”

  There was no way Ashley could defend her actions, so she switched to the offensive. She retrieved the scattered papers, which gave her a moment to gather her thoughts, straightened up and place them on his desk. They she stood and confronted him.

  “I’m trying to see how you do it,” she said, meeting his gaze and holding it.

  “Do what?”

  “Fix the death claims.”

  He looked genuinely confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “The three fraudulent death claims that are likely to go to the ombudsman.”

  “Matt’s got that covered.”

  Ashley quirked a brow. “Of course he has.”

  Charlie moved further into the room, standing mere inches from her.

  “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  For the second time in one day, Ashley’s body language interpretation skills were called into play. Charlie did seem genuinely bewildered. Could she and Matt have got it wrong? No, of course not! Who else but Charlie would want to sabotage Interactive’s position?

  “Those claims aren’t bogus, Charlie, as well you know.”

  “Actually,” he said calmly, “I don’t. Claims have nothing to do with me. Our claims people followed their usual procedures and found non-disclosure, that’s all I know.” He shrugged. “Three in close succession is unusual, I’ll give you that, but it happens. Why would that make you break into my personal papers?”

  Ashley was speechless. She was speechless because she really did believe him.

  “This is something to do with Matt, isn’t it?”

  “Well, not exactly. He doesn’t know—”

  Charlie picked up his phone.

  “Matt,” he said when it was answered. “You’d better get down here. I just caught your girlfriend breaking into my office.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m not Matt’s girlfriend.”

  “Shut up.”

  Charlie folded his arms across his chest, refusing to look at her. It felt as though the silence was sucking the air out of the room as they waited for Matt to join them. Ashley’s heart was pumping at twice its usual rate. Matt would be furious with her. She’d completely blown it, and what passed for the relationship he maintained with his cousin was now dead in the water. The atmosphere was laden with incriminations, and Ashley felt an instinctive desire to defend herself. She resisted, aware that anything she said would only make matters worse. She risked a glance at Charlie, who was now regarding her with more curiosity than anger. She wondered if that was progress.

  The door burst open, and Matt stood there, frowning.

  “Join the party,” Charlie said sarcastically.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I rather thought you’d be able to fill me in on that.”

  “Ashley?”

  “I was just—”

  “I figured there was something not quite right about Ashley this morning,” Charlie said. “She was off her game. I couldn’t figure out why she’d be late for a meeting she’d been preparing for night and day. She didn’t put in her usual polished performance when she got her chance to shine and then cried off lunch with the others.”

  “So?” Arms akimbo, Ashley stood and faced Charlie down. “What are you now, my mother? Your concern is touching, but it’s really none of your business how I perform.”

  “Unless I catch you breaking into my private files.”

  “Why do you need to keep a private file on Matt?”

  “Ashley, it’s okay.”

  Matt’s voice startled her. She’d been so focused on her argument with Charlie that she’d almost forgotten he was there.

  “It’s not okay,” she countered. “Charlie’s trying to queer your pitch, but wants to make me out as the villain of the piece.”

  “What’s this all about?” Charlie addressed himself to Matt. “Something about those death claims not being kosher?”

  “Like you didn’t already know,” Ashley muttered.

  “I didn’t, as it happens. What’s going on, Matt. You said you had them covered.”

  Matt sighed. “Someone doctored our computer records. These cases were all rated from the outset. The policyholders told the truth about their pre-existing conditions, but when they died, all records of that were expunged from the system—”

  “What!” Charlie shot off the wall he’d been leaning against. “How?”

  “The original proposal forms were altered, the GP’s records changed. Our routine requests for reports when the policies were applied for aren’t there anymore.”

  “But surely you can—”

  “And there’s no trace of duplicate paperwork amongst the policyholders’ effects.”

  “Ah, I see.” Charlie scratched the side of his chin. “How do you know they told the truth in the first place?”

  “The premiums,” Ashley said. “They were rated from the outset.”

  Charlie looked genuinely shell-shocked. “And you thought I’m responsible for all this?”

  Matt shrugged. “Who else would it be?”

  “Oh, that’s just great!” Charlie rounded on Matt. “I know you don’t think much of me, but this really takes the biscuit.”

  “Oh, come on, Charlie. You didn’t want this amalgamation. You made that patently clear. You wanted to push ahead with expansion on our own.”

  “Yes,” Charlie said, steel in his tone. “I think you’ve been too cautious, and still do, but I got outvoted. End of story.”

  “So you decided to get you own back,” Ashley said scathingly.

  “Christ, I don’t believe this!” Charlie paused, clearly struggling
to control his temper. “I ask you again. Why? What do I have to gain by making Interactive look fraudulent? It would weaken our position and that would affect me as badly as anyone.”

  “Spite?” Ashley suggested mildly. “You’ll do anything to belittle Matt.”

  Matt put his hand on her arm to stop her saying anything else. “Are you saying it isn’t you?” he asked quietly.

  “Well, of course I bloody am! Christ, I know you don’t have a very high opinion of me, Matt, but I’m buggered if I’ll bite the hand that feeds me.”

  Ashley and Matt exchanged a loaded glance. It was obvious to her that their thoughts colluded. They’d been barking up the wrong tree all along. Charlie really wasn’t the one responsible. Matt stood and paced the spacious office.

  “Then it begs the question who? Who stands to gain the most out of us getting on the wrong side of the ombudsman?”

  “Stevensons’s, obviously,” Ashley said.

  “Yes, but to do what they’ve done, they’d have to have access to our computer systems—”

  “Or to someone who works on the systems,” Ashley pointed out.

  “Right. They’d also have to have something on the doctors who filed the initial medical reports. Something heavy enough to persuade them to make those reports disappear.”

  “That’s where I was this morning.” Ashley addressed her comment to Charlie, but she looked straight at Matt. “We discovered that in the three cases, two different doctors’ offices are involved.”

  “And Ashley found out that two of those doctors are married to each other.”

  “That has to be more than a coincidence,” Charlie said, frowning.

  “That’s what we thought, and so I went to see the wife this morning,” Ashley said. “I managed to bring up the Dawson case in conversation. It spooked her. She obviously knows something isn’t right about it, but I’m convinced she didn’t make the original report disappear.”

  “So it’s the husband,” Matt said.

  “Looks that way.” Ashley shrugged. “Dr. Simpson came back from her holiday early. I’m guessing that hubby came clean, they argued about it, and she came back in case there were any repercussions.”

  “Like you turning up at her surgery,” Matt said, glowering at her. “I told you not to go.”

  “It was fine.”

  “The perpetrator would have to have early warning that death claims were pending so as to choose the right ones,” Charlie said. “And, presumably, someone’s managing to get into the deceased’s homes and remove their records of the policies. Christ!” He shook his head. “This is some slick operation. The ombudsman would know from the premiums that the cases were rated and would never believe that we didn’t deliberately try to avoid paying out. It would be the end of us.”

  “Exactly,” Matt said grimly.

  “How much is involved with these three claims?”

  “Over half a million quid.”

  Charlie let out a low whistle. “What the hell are we going to do?”

  “We usually find out before a claim’s submitted that one’s pending when the premiums aren’t paid. The bank return the request marked deceased,” Ashley pointed out.

  “Which would show on our systems,” Matt and Charlie said together.

  “Right, but how someone’s destroying the policyholder’s papers is beyond me,” Ashley continued. “In one case there was a break in during the funeral, if you can believe it, but nothing untoward has been reported in the other two instances.”

  “You should have said something, Matt,” Charlie said. “At least told your fellow directors. Oh no, sorry,” he added sarcastically. “You thought you knew who the culprit was.”

  “Put yourself in my position,” Matt said shortly.

  “We may not be bosom buddies, but we are business partners. I’ve worked my nuts off to build up a decent sales team. Why would I wreck that?”

  “Look, okay, I admit I got it wrong.” Matt paused. “I’m sorry. And if it’s any consolation, I’m glad it’s not you.”

  “Apology accepted,” Charlie said shortly.

  “We think we know who’s altering our computer records,” Ashley said, “but not why?”

  “Who?” Charlie asked.

  “Claire Slattery.”

  Charlie pulled a face. “I’m not top of her Christmas card list, as it happens, because I fired her husband.”

  “So we gather,” Matt said. “How long ago?”

  “Oh, about four or five months.”

  “Why did you let him go?” Matt asked. “I hear he was good at his job.”

  “Yes, he was, but he was also fiddling his expenses.”

  Matt quirked a brow. “And you fired him for that? I should have thought a rap over the knuckles would be enough to keep him on the straight and narrow.”

  “No, I didn’t fire him for that, but I made it plain that the promotion he’d been hankering after had gone to someone else because I knew what he’d done. I hate being played for an idiot.” Charlie sighed. “Anyway, he lost his rag and took a swing at me.”

  “Ah, that black eye I recall you sporting a while back.”

  “Yep. Couldn’t let that go, could I?”

  “No, of course not. You did the right thing.”

  “But you obviously didn’t know his wife was pregnant and that, because you didn’t give him a reference, he couldn’t get another job in the industry and had to take something with less pay,” Ashley said.

  “Not my problem.”

  “No, but someone else must have known about it and targeted Claire,” Matt said. “She was a soft option.”

  “What I don’t understand,” Ashley said, frowning, “is how someone inside Stevenson’s could know all this. Know who to target, I mean. Know which claims were pending, stuff like that. And as to how they nobbled that doctor…well, it beats the hell out of me. Whoever it is has been very clever, put a lot of thought into it, and must have a huge grudge to bear against Interactive.”

  “How long have you two been an item?” Charlie asked, in an abrupt change of subject.

  Matt and Ashley shared a prolonged glance. She remained silent. It was up to Matt whether or not he admitted it.

  “So you know,” he said quietly. “We thought you must do.”

  “I only found out at that do we had a couple of weeks ago.”

  “The one when you targeted Ashley?” Matt said, frowning.

  “Yes, don’t know why I did that. I only intended to get her a drink and flirt with her a bit.” He shrugged. “You know me. Then you started shooting me daggers, so I carried on, just for the hell of it. Later on Ashley disappeared for ages to the bathroom, so on a whim, I followed her.” He barked a short, humourless laugh. “I saw the two of you almost making out right there in the corridor.”

  “And lost no time running to Eve?”

  “What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t tell Eve anything. Why would I hurt her like that?”

  “Because you’ve always wanted her, perhaps,” Matt suggested.

  “I did when we were kids, but she chose you and I don’t take another man’s leftovers. We’re friends. That’s all. As it happens, I’m very happy with my new wife.”

  “Well, she obviously knows,” Ashley said. “That’s why she’s been virtually stalking me since I came down here.”

  “If you were a man, you’d tell her yourself,” Charlie said scathingly. “Have to say I thought you had higher standards. You impregnate her then run off with another woman but don’t want her to know.” Charlie snorted. “Charming!”

  Ashley glanced at Matt and would have given much to know what was going through his mind. There was little doubt in Ashley’s mind that Charlie wasn’t behind the rigged death claims. Could it be that Matt had got it wrong about him fathering Eve’s baby, too? Had the competitive barrier that existed between them made him over-judgemental?

  “What happened that night when I passed out at your place?” he asked in a glacial tone.


  “What do you mean, what happened?” Charlie shrugged. “You had a few too many, virtually passed out, and it took Eve and me to put you to bed.”

  “No, I meant what happened between you and Eve when I was passed out?”

  “Nothing.” His eyes slid away from Matt’s face, and Ashley knew he was lying.

  “That’s not the way I remember it,” Matt said.

  “You weren’t in any condition to remember anything.”

  “Answer the question,” Matt snapped.

  “Oh okay, what the hell, you’ve got me down as a bastard anyway.” He let out a long sigh. “Eve was in one of her needy moods. She wanted a cuddle, so I obliged.” He paused. “She wanted more than that, which is when, as they say, I made my excuses and left.”

  “So you didn’t—”

  “No, Matt, I didn’t. As I said, I like Eve, and okay, I deliberately flirt with her when you’re around just to annoy you, but I did not shag her. Believe me or not, I don’t much care, but it’s true. I never have, and I never will. She wanted you, and that’s what she’s got.”

  Ashley could hear hurt and resentment in Charlie’s voice. He still cared for Eve, probably still loved her in his own way, but she believed what he’d just said. She glanced at Matt, and it was apparent that he did, too.

  “Then I owe you another apology,” he said quietly. “I thought you fathered the child.”

  Charlie looked genuinely shocked. “Are you saying it’s not yours?”

  “Yes.”

  Matt explained how it couldn’t have been.

  “Jesus!” Charlie plonked himself heavily into the nearest chair. “What a bloody mess. Talk about dysfunctional families.” His expression briefly lightened. “I guess that’s what the falling out between you two was about?”

  “Yes, it was,” Ashley said quietly. “But I’ve forgiven him now.”

  “Who do you think she’s been playing footsie with, then?”

  “No idea,” Matt said quietly. “But it explains a lot of things. She’s been on her own a lot over the past year or so whilst I’ve worked on the amalgamation, and she hasn’t once complained.”