Snowbound Snuggles

by T. F. Walsh

“I wasn’t myself then.” He paused, seemed thrown by her coolness. “No matter how much you’re prepared for it, getting fired is a shock.”

  So is finding out your mentor framed you. “You resigned.”

  “Officially. But emotionally, I was fired. Edie, I’m sorry. I know it was a shock for you too—”

  “No, I’m fine. So if that’s all—?”

  “Edie, please.” There was soft longing in his voice. A pause, and she knew he was about to speak the words that she’d yearned for, the words that would thaw her heart.

  She couldn’t afford that. Not and keep him at a safe distance, not yet. “Everett, it’s late. I need to go.”

  “Are you okay—”

  “I’m fine. Good night, Everett.”

  “Edie, I—”

  She hung up. Then she lifted the handset and left it next to the base. The dial tone was colder than the snow outside.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Sedgwick. The bastard.” Bethany’s heels flashed as she paced Everett’s . . . Howell’s office. “He’s obviously after the presidency. We need to do something about him, fucking now.”

  “Language, Bethany.” Edie sat in Everett’s . . . Howell’s guest chair. She hadn’t even gotten through HHE’s doors when Bethany dragged her, past two tall strangers in black suits and a very jumpy Ms. Dooley, directly into this meeting.

  “I say we kill the bastard.” Howell stabbed the desk with a finger.

  “Please don’t swear.” Edie was uncomfortable with Junior’s barely disguised corporate bloodlust. Everett, even in full suit-and-tie glory, was nothing like this. How could she have missed the obvious difference?

  “Murder, I like.” Bethany dumped herself into the other chair. “But think of the paperwork.”

  “No problem,” Howell said. “It’s all done on the computer now.”

  Bethany grimaced. “Whatever we decide, it has to be done today. We’re out of time.” She reached behind her to massage her nape.

  “Why?” Edie asked. “What’s the rush?”

  Howell rose. “More profit-loss reports have surfaced. Annual.” With an embarrassed glance at Edie, he moved behind Bethany and started massaging her shoulders.

  Bethany startled, then melted into her chair. “That feels wonderful, honey pie.” She smiled like syrup over her shoulder. He smiled like sugar lumps back.

  Eew. Edie almost wished for the Duke of Drama and his consort Her Grand Bitchiness back. “Okay. Annual numbers. What’s the problem?”

  “They’re not the real numbers, though I can’t prove it,” Howell said. “All indicators pointed to breaking even. But these reports show a horrible loss.”

  Edie rolled her eyes. “Again with the nasty rumors followed by faked reports. Sedgwick isn’t too original, is he?”

  “But he is effective. I got my hands on a draft hardcopy.” He flipped open an orange folder on his desk. “These numbers are being leaked to both the board and the stockholders.”

  Edie leaned in for a look. Her eyes flew wide. “These won’t destroy just you. Going to the stockholders? The stock will tank and the whole company will crash.”

  “Fortunately, no one else has seen the actual numbers, and I’ve been working my ass off plugging the rumors.” Howell pressed small circles on Bethany’s temples. “But it’s only a matter of time.”

  “Mmm.” Bethany said, “Which is why we need proof today. Daddy’s called a special meeting of the board.”

  “So soon?” Edie said.

  “Yes,” Howell said. “You know those two guys in black suits and iron attitudes running around the company? Those aren’t your average auditors. The Feds have heard about this, and falsifying business records is a felony. Now, normally they don’t get involved unless investor cash or billions of dollars are at stake. But somehow HHE got in their crosshairs. They’ve already questioned Kirk, and, since I’m currently head of the company, they’re gunning next for me.”

  Edie’s heart skipped a beat. “The Feds have questioned Everett?”

  “All that, and you’re only worried about Kirk?” Howell shook his head. “He quit under suspicious circumstances. What did you think would happen? They questioned my father yesterday and I’m scheduled to get reamed this morning. I’m surprised they haven’t pulled you in yet, Edie.” He paused. “Say, I’ve got it. We show the board the security footage. That’ll prove Sedgwick is the perp.”

  “That won’t work,” Edie said. “The camera shows Sedgwick typing, not what he’s typing. Oh, God, why did the Feds question Everett and not me?” She leaped to her feet. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got to find evidence to clear Everett—”

  “Sit down and stop worrying about Kirk. He hasn’t been charged with anything yet, and he’s walking free, isn’t he? Worry about us. We’re in the line of fire. Damn, I’m screwed. That fake loss makes me look like an incompetent leader. Worse, if we can’t prove Sedgwick doctored the numbers, I look guilty. Edie. Isn’t the IP thing proof that that Sedgwick planted bad files?”

  Edie shook her head as she sat. “The board won’t understand that. The Feds might, but it would take time to prove. In the meantime, it would be Sedgwick’s word against mine, and who’d take the word of a computer geek against a vice president? You only believe me because Bethany trusts me, and you trust her.”

  “I have an idea, honey pie.” Bethany turned in her chair to stare up at Howell. “Sedgwick’s responsible for finance, right? Why don’t you just tell the board and the Feds those awful numbers are his fault? They’ll believe you.”

  “That,” Howell said, “is the dumbest idea I have ever heard.”

  Bethany wilted.

  “Why not?” Edie snapped. “I haven’t heard anything better from you, Howell.”

  “Even if they believe me, Sedgwick’s the guy who balances our books, not the one who decides our profit strategy. Hell, all he has to do is say he was following the orders of a superior officer—again, that’s me—and I take the fall.”

  “Don’t listen to the grump, Bethany,” Edie said. “He’s just jealous. You’re at least coming up with possibilities. All he does is gripe and moan.”

  Bethany straightened. “You’re not jealous of me, are you Houghie?”

  “Me, jealous?” His tone held too much vehemence, too much denial. He frowned, seeming to hear it, and sat slowly on the corner of his desk. “Bethy, I’m sorry. It’s just . . . You’re beautiful and smart. I’m just a mediocre businessman with an inheritance. I’ve seen A Star is Born. I know what happens.”

  “You really think I’m beautiful?” Bethany smiled like sugar lumps again.

  Edie rolled her eyes. Out of all that, Bethany heard only beautiful?

  “Of course, Honey Bunny.” He smiled back, creamed goo.

  To have something to erk in, Edie grabbed the orange folder. The reports distracted her. “This looks official. Sedgwick must have hacked the reporting software itself. Wait.” She slapped the top page. “That means I can get the real figures and at least show Howell isn’t incompetent.”

  “How?” Howell asked. “If he’s rigged the report itself?”

  She’d forgotten not everyone was as tech savvy as Bethany, or plain savvy as Everett. “I can bypass the report system and run a tabulation straight from the database.”

  He considered her. “You’re as good as Kirk kept saying, aren’t you?”

  “Better.”

  “The real numbers . . . ” Bethany snapped her fingers. “We can use the real numbers against Sedgwick. Make him explain why his are different. Use truth as a lever.”

  “Or a club.” Howell grinned savagely. “That’s brilliant, Bethy. Sedgwick is used to operating in the shadows. I’ll back him into a corner, break his nerve. We won’t need proof. He’ll be bleating his guilt. Thank you, sweetheart.” He took her hands in his. The sugar-honey-barfy lumps had come back in his eyes.

  “You’re so very welcome, Houghie.” Her expression softened.

  The atmosphere went
toxically gooey again, so Edie left.

  • • •

  Edie did her data wrangling at 10 P.M. It went quickly and soon she was printing off the annual profit numbers directly from the accounting system. And the numbers did show a profit. Howell could confront Philip and force a confession from him. Although Philip would no doubt retaliate.

  She stared at the printout. How like a game this corporate intrigue was, move and counter move. Philip floated rumors. Howell refuted them. Philip floated fake numbers. Howell brought in the real numbers. A game, or wolves in the wild, fighting for dominance. It might go on forever, the two of them tearing at each other’s throats. Until one of them went down.

  Like Everett had gone down, taking the killing bite meant for her.

  Her throat thickened and her eyes itched. She stuffed the printout into her purse, wiped at her lids, and headed out.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The next morning Edie made copies of her printout for the board. Then she and Bethany followed Howell to the main conference room where the board—including Daddy Howell, Philip Sedgwick, and the two tall men whose black suits could have been tailored to cover shoulder holsters—were gathered. As Edie took her seat, Philip pointed an accusing finger at her. “What’s she doing here? She’s the one who got Kirk fired.”

  Edie’s face heated. Philip was nasty but she was unprepared for that knife. Even his rusty armor fell away. He’d called it working behind the scenes but sometimes a person just stood up for what was right. And sometimes she just stood up for her friends.

  “Gentlemen. Ladies.” Thankfully, Howell took the attention from her. He walked around the table, sliding packets in front of each person. “These are profit and loss reports for the year, as produced by our VP of Finance, Philip Sedgwick. As you can see, there’s apparent cause for alarm.”

  Edie watched Philip carefully, but he showed no sign of being flustered at this announcement, although one of the board members flipped open his packet and gasped. He obviously hadn’t heard about the rumored loss of $10 million.

  Capitalizing on the shocked silence, Howell sat across from Philip and rapped the glossy cherry finish in front of him. “Well, Sedgwick? Any explanation?”

  “Me?” Philip waved over the report. “I’m not operations officer.”

  “This report came out under your auspices. It must’ve been sitting on your desk well before today. Why didn’t you warn us of such a horrendous negative amount?”

  Murmurs around the boardroom indicated agreement.

  Philip shrugged. “That’s not my job. It’s yours.”

  Howell slapped the table and leaned into Philip Sedgwick’s face. “But these aren’t the real numbers, are they?”

  Instead of a stuttered confession, Philip smiled slowly, as if it was Howell who had walked into the trap. Philip said, “Of course they’re real. Why would you say they aren’t?”

  Howell flinched.

  “I didn’t want to alarm the board prematurely.” Philip stood. “But as you can see, there is indeed cause for alarm. Due to the incompetence of our top management.”

  Howell said, “Kirk—”

  “Not just Kirk. The management team of CEO and COO. A significant loss, and they’re now trying to blame me.”

  Next to Edie, Bethany turned white. Edie put a hand on her arm and tried to salvage the situation. “Your figures are wrong,” she said. “This loss is not what the accounting database shows.”

  “Oh?” Philip raised a brow at her. “You’ve been mucking about in the data, Edie?”

  Her blood boiled. He’d neatly pinned her into being in the wrong, again. Fury almost drove her to blurt she hadn’t changed anything. Honest, forthright—and implying she could have criminally altered the figures, exposing her throat to Philip, who was just waiting for her to blunder.

  Bethany saved her. “Mr. Howell asked Ms. Rowan to extract the annual profit directly from the data.”

  Philip’s grin turned feral. “Ladies and gentlemen, this only proves my point. Get rid of the cheating, lying deadwood. Remove Howell and his bedmates here.” He waved at Edie and Bethany.

  Edie glared.

  Philip smiled nastily. “I mean bedmate only in the political sense, of course. But this disgrace has gone on long enough. I move to wipe the slate clean. Get rid of these three, and hand over the reins of HHE to more . . . capable hands.” He opened his palms to the board.

  There was a deathly silence. Edie’s heart hammered as she waited for someone, anyone, to speak out against Philip’s monstrous suggestion. The Feds sat like statues, but she could feel the weight of their stares.

  Howell Senior feebly cleared his throat. “I don’t . . . but if that’s what the board wants.” He didn’t seem to be breathing well. “I move—”

  The door banged open. Heads turned.

  Edie felt the fierce masculine presence, practically heard the raw, primitive call of the savage beast. When she looked up it was with a smile.

  Everett strode into the room.

  • • •

  Philip whirled. “You were fired, Kirk. Get out.”

  Everett ignored him. “Let me come to the point. I have discovered evidence of a crime against this company.”

  The silent men in black turned toward him. They were listening.

  “Your crime, Kirk.” Philip’s face was red with barely controlled fury. “With your conspirator Howell.”

  Howell Senior held up one hand. “Sit, Sedgwick. Kirk. How did you get this new evidence? You left over a week ago.”

  “I’ve had access to it all along. But it only made sense after I put it together with information Ms. Rowan gave me while we were stranded.”

  “You see?” Philip slapped the table as he sat. “Kirk admits they’re co-conspirators.”

  “I admit I have respect for Ms. Rowan’s abilities,” Everett said smoothly. “And so should you. You see, I thought the loss numbers were faked. Ms. Rowan’s information pointed out an alternative. Ms. Rowan, would you please show the board what you found?”

  She’d given him an alternative? She didn’t know where Everett was going with this and nearly said so. Stopped herself. No, she trusted him. She passed around her printout.

  “Thank you. Ms. Rowan’s numbers are taken directly from the general ledger. The bottom line shows a modest profit of $1 million. But Mr. Sedgwick’s numbers show a loss of $10 million.” He raised one brow at Philip. “Why is that, Mr. Sedgwick?”

  Philip spluttered. “You can be sure that I’ll look into it!”

  “Thank you. But I already have.”

  “Delving into company files after you were fired? I’ll have you arrested.”

  Whispers broke out, and the two Feds started to get to their feet.

  “No, you won’t.” Everett didn’t even raise his voice to quell all action. “Ladies, gentlemen, please note the difference between Ms. Rowan’s total and Mr. Sedgwick’s. $11 million. That number is significant. Care to tell us why, Mr. Sedgwick?

  “I can’t imagine.” Philip sneered. “Get it, imagine? Because that’s all this is, imagination.”

  “Hardly.” Everett slapped another paper on the table, directly in front of Howell Senior. “This is the history for a certain property, purchased six months ago by Philip Sedgwick—for $5.6 million. Not his primary residence, by the way. Paid in full.”

  “So I bought a second house.” Philip glared at Everett. “You have no proof of anything wrong.”

  “No.” Everett strolled around the perimeter of the room, loose-limbed, superbly unconcerned. “But Petra Sedgwick does. Six months ago, that same amount—$5.6 million—went missing from her accounts. She’s sole owner of a very lucrative international boutique that designs and sells children’s clothes, and an heiress besides. She ordered a full audit and her accountant discovered that in addition to the $5.6 million, $150,000 had been siphoned off monthly for the last three years. The total amount missing—$11 million. Strangely, before Petra could dig any f
arther and find the perpetrator, the money . . . reappeared.”

  “So you have nothing,” Philip said. “Nothing but coincidence and innuendo.”

  “On the contrary. When I heard about Petra’s missing money, I suggested to her that she instead hire an investigations firm to dig into Mr. Sedgwick’s movements and finances for the last three years.”

  “Foul!” Philip’s fisted his hands on the table as his nonchalance slipped. “Our family’s money is none of your concern.”

  “Family money? Please. Don’t you mean your wife’s money? She’s the billionaire, with an ironclad prenup. Her detectives discovered that Mr. Sedgwick has an illegitimate child. He’s been paying support for the past three years and recently bought that house, in which to install his mistress and their child.”

  “You liar.” Philip’s face went an alarming shade of red.

  Everett spun. “Am I?” He strode to the table and stabbed Philip’s report. “The loss was meant to seem faked. But it’s real. Because you embezzled $11 million from HHE to pay off the money you stole from you wife. Not very smart of you, stealing it in one chunk. Then you diverted blame onto management here, in a power play to grab the reins for yourself.”

  “Liar!”

  “Names, Philip?” Everett gently shook his head. “Mr. Howell. I don’t belong to this board anymore, so I can only suggest you restrict Mr. Sedgwick’s access while you get a full audit of the books. Thank you for your time.” He turned to go.

  “One moment, Kirk.” Howell Senior was blinking rapidly. “How did you figure this out?”

  “Ms. Rowan told me a few weeks ago about a scandal at Sedgwick’s previous company. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. I dug into public records and found one house in Philip and Petra’s name. Then I found the second house in Sedgwick’s name only, and I called Petra. When I told her what I had found, she was more than happy to supply her details. By the way, Sedgwick, you’ll be hearing from her lawyers soon.”

  With that, Everett spun and swept out, Edie’s Tarzan and shining knight all in one.

  • • •

  Faces around the table turned to Philip, expressions dark.