by Lexy Timms
He held up his hands. “That’s not what I meant.”
“You don’t think I can handle this.”
“I don’t want my wife to get hurt,” he murmured. “Is that so wrong?”
Except something was wrong. A lot of things seemed suddenly wrong. “Why don’t you like the house, Dane?”
His eyebrows rose. Her husband shrugged. “Am I required to like the house?”
“Yes,” she said sharply. “You’re required to like the house that you’re going to be living in. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
“It’s not the house that’s the problem.” He sighed.
That made her heart start racing again. Sweat formed on her brow. If the problem wasn’t the house, then it was likely that the problem was their marriage. Or worse. Her. Swallowing hard, she asked, “Is it me? Am I the problem?”
“Of course not.” Concern flashed in his eyes. “You’re not a problem. How could you think that? Have I made you think that?”
“You won’t tell me what’s wrong,” she said softly. “I can feel this wall between us, and I know you’re keeping something from me. I can sense it.”
He got to his feet, walked over to her, and held out his hand. Anticipation over what he might say made her chest tighten painfully. Reluctantly, she placed her hand in his and let him help her to her feet. She let him lead her out of the living room and over to the balcony. As always, the view of New York City took her breath away. There was a slight chill in the air. The type of chill that was always invigorating. “My contract renewal is coming up,” he began. “But working at Prescott just doesn’t have the same spark that it once did.”
She blinked in surprise. That was the last thing she had been expecting. “You want to quit? Stop working?” Working without her husband made her feel hollow. Like her insides had been carved out and all that was left was an empty shell. Allyson knew it was crazy to feel something so extreme, but part of the joy of working at Prescott was working with the man she loved.
“I don’t want to stop working,” he said. “It’s just that, for the past six months, Prescott hasn’t been much of a challenge.”
“That’s because you’ve managed everything so well,” she pointed out.
“I guess I’m a victim of my own success.” He flashed a wry smile.
She bit her lip. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“I have no idea,” he said. “For the first time in my life I have no clue what I want to do with the rest of it.”
Sadness made her shoulders slump. He must have noticed how crestfallen she looked, because he wrapped his arm around her and drew her to him. His strong embrace warmed her. Steadied her as she went over his words in her mind.
For six months she had been so happy and fulfilled in her work with the women’s division, and the whole time Dane hadn’t been nearly as happy about his own work. How had she missed it? How had she not seen her husband’s unease until yesterday, during the tour of the house?
“I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “You were miserable this whole time and I didn’t even notice.”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t miserable. Not with you. I’ve been having a hell of a time with you.” He planted a warm kiss on her forehead. The tender gesture shot to her heart. “It’s just that moving into this new house because it’s near Prescott means that—”
“It means you’ll be making a big decision based on a job you don’t love the way you used to,” she finished for him.
“That’s right.” He nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “Shouldn’t we be able to tell each other everything?”
“Of course,” he said. “But you were so proud and happy to be working at Prescott. And I’m proud of you. I knew you would do well after getting the promotion.”
“You shouldn’t be so concerned about my happiness that you keep things to yourself,” she said.
“I probably should have told you,” he conceded. “But what’s done is done. Now you know.”
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“If I’m going to catch this thief and deal with the fallout, I’ll probably have to renew my contract,” he said.
“That means you’ll be at Prescott for at least another six months.” She lowered her eyes. The guilt was back again. “Six months of more unhappiness. Dane, don’t renew the contract.”
“I have to protect you,” he said. “That’s my priority. Always will be.”
She pulled away from him and turned to look back through the floor-to-ceiling window of their apartment. Everything inside was so luxurious. So masculine. Like him. This was his world. And now, she was dragging him out of it. Making him live in a house he didn’t really want. “If you’re going to hunt down the thief, there’s no way I can expect you move into the house now. Not if you have to renew a contract you don’t want to renew. You’ll be trapped because of me.”
“Allyson, if I renew my contract, moving into this new house will actually be convenient,” he said. “Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to moving into a new place with you. Besides, I’ve paid for the house. It’s ours now.”
“We can always sell it—”
“Not another word,” he interrupted. “This is the house of your dreams. I want us to really start our lives together. We’re moving in. It’s going to be my dream, too.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m more than sure.”
Her brows pressed together again. “What are we going to do about the embezzlement?”
He raised an eyebrow. “We?”
“You’re staying at a job you don’t love to help me,” she said. “So, yes, this is something we both have to do. I’m not backing down from this.”
“I’m not agreeing to anything,” he said. “But it sounds like you have one of your famous plans.”
She nodded. “I do. The best way to handle this is to call the police. Now.”
~~*~~
The next morning, instead of heading to work like he usually did, Dane escorted his wife into the police station. His father and the Prescott Family lawyer were trailing behind.
Ordinarily, he would never have allowed Allyson to talk him into something like this, but the longer they took to catch the thief the more money they were liable to lose. They’d considered contacting the board last night, and then decided that speaking to the police would be the best step. The less people knew until they had something solid, the better.
A police officer led them to a detective’s office and motioned for them to sit on the bench outside. “Detective Rossi will be with you in a minute, so you folks can have a seat.” With that, the officer walked off.
After about fifteen minutes Detective Paul Rossi appeared, introduced himself, and ushered them in to a dingy lecture room. There was a podium up front, a white board taking up an entire side wall, and chairs lined up across the room.
Dane had never met the detective, but the family lawyer knew him well enough and had recommended they see him. The only reason Dane was even bothering to trust a police officer was because their lawyer had vouched for him.
Dane took a seat beside his wife while Rossi sat down facing them, a notebook and pencil in hand. The detective was middle-aged, stocky, his dark hair graying at the temples. Rossi regarded them sternly, an air of skepticism radiating off him. “So, folks, what’s the trouble?”
Their lawyer cleared his throat and nodded to Dane. Quickly, he rattled off the facts he had managed to gather about the embezzlement, while his father helped fill in some other information.
“And you have the files to prove that the money has gone missing?” Rossi asked.
He nodded. “I’ve got confidential files in my father’s car. I’m not exactly authorized to take them out of Prescott, but I’m willing to risk it and hand them over if needed.”
“I can look at them,” Rossi said. “But we’re going to need a lot more evidence if we’re going to catch this guy.”
>
“How do we go about doing that?” Allyson asked.
“We need to narrow it down,” Rossi said. “We need to focus on everyone with access and everyone with a motive. Motive plus access is the most important criterion.”
“So, someone desperate for money, who has access to the accounts,” she said.
“Right. Do you know of anyone who’s been having financial difficulty?” Rossi asked. “That’s the first route. But it might not be someone desperate for money. Could be someone with a vendetta against you. Or someone who’s been doing this for year and only getting caught now. There’re a million scenarios. We just need to narrow them down. Let’s start with the financial issue first.”
“I can’t imagine the senior executives or the department heads having financial trouble,” Dane said.
Rossi shrugged. “You never know with people. They live beyond their means. Get into debt.”
“That still leaves a lot of suspects,” Allyson said with a frown. “We thought of about forty people who could have pulled off something like this.”
“Well, then, we need to start eliminating suspects,” Rossi said. “We might have to tap some phones.”
Allyson’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Look, we need to draw people out,” Rossi said. “Get a feel for what they’re saying and thinking. The thief is never going to open up to any of you, so the best chance we have is to tap the phones.”
“Is that the only way?” Dane asked.
“You said you wanted to keep things discreet,” Rossi murmured.
Dane nodded. “We do. Prescott has had one too many bad headlines this year, and we’ve only just gotten back on sound footing.”
“That’s why this is the best way,” Rossi said. “We’ll have to get the feds involved, but tapping the phones keeps things discreet. We can come in. Look like repair guys. Tap the phones. And nobody at Prescott will know. If we go in all guns blazing, we’ll scare whoever is doing this into hiding or getting rid of the evidence. This way we figure out who the thief or thieves are.”
“It hadn’t occurred to me that it could be more than one person,” his wife said softly.
Rossi gave her a hard look. “It’s probably fewer than three people. More than that and you’d have people revealing the secret. Whoever is doing this is smart. Smart enough to keep this hidden for six months. When did you start this women’s division again, Mrs. Prescott?”
“What the hell are you implying?” Dane demanded.
“Whoa.” Rossi leaned back. “I’m just doing my job, Mr. Prescott. It sounds to me like a lot of money is flowing through a division that’s been getting an awful lot of funding lately. And your wife is in charge of this division. I have to ask questions.”
Dane rose to his feet, staring the detective down. He balled up his fists. Felt a volcanic anger rising in him. Getting in a cop’s face probably wasn’t a good idea, but he wasn’t going to let anyone get away with insulting Allyson. He had anticipated that people would suspect her, but it still rankled. Nobody was going to get away with disrespecting his wife. “Do whatever you have to do, but leave my wife out of this.”
“We have to do a thorough investigation,” Rossi shot back. “You don’t have to like it, but there’s going to be a list of suspects. And, based on everything I’ve heard here today, you and Mrs. Prescott are my prime suspects.”
Chapter 5
He grabbed Allyson’s hand and started heading across the lecture room. “I’ve heard enough.”
“Wait.” She raced ahead of him to place her hands on his chest. “I know this is hard, but we shouldn’t leave.”
“I’m not going to stay here and take this,” he growled.
Behind him, their lawyer was speaking to Detective Rossi in desperate tones.
“Mr. Prescott, I’ll be needing those files,” Rossi finally said.
Dane turned around to scowl at the detective. “Why should I keep helping you?”
“Because I did you a favor by giving you a heads up about the wiretapping, despite the fact that you’re now one of my top suspects,” Rossi replied. “I’ve scratched your back, now you scratch mine.”
He took Allyson’s hand again and stalked out of the lecture room with her. There was an exasperated expression on her face, but she said nothing. Probably because she knew that he was on the verge of losing his temper. Not with her, but with Rossi. After making the difficult and dangerous decision to go to the police, this was how they were being repaid. With threats and innuendos.
His blood was still boiling when he and Allyson stepped out of the police station, Dane’s father and the family lawyer right on their heels. The black SUV his father often used pulled up to them, the tinted windows coming down.
One of the back doors opened and his father’s new assistant, Francesca Barnes, stepped out. He frowned. There was no love lost between Allyson and Fran. Not after she had make disparaging comments about his wife to Katherine Handel, of all people. His father’s assistant had interned at Prescott several months earlier and then gotten promoted to assistant when his father returned to work. Allyson had been gracious enough to put aside her misgivings about Fran, but right now he was fuming.
“We need the box,” Dane said bluntly to Fran.
Fran nodded and quickly grabbed the cardboard box full of files from the backseat. “I can bring it in for you if you’d like, sir.”
He nodded. “That’ll be fine, thank you. You can go inside with the lawyer.”
With Fran and their lawyer disappearing back into the station, Dane helped Allyson into the car and got into the back seat beside her. His father sat up front.
“That could have gone better,” his father muttered.
“What’s done is done,” Allyson said softly.
Suddenly, a shifty-looking man in a grey trench coat appeared, sticking his hand in through the window by Allyson. “Mrs. Prescott! I’m a photojournalist with the New York City Inquirer and I was wondering if you’d like to comment—”
“You’ve been following us?” Dane’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the photojournalist responded. Then, he actually grabbed Allyson’s arm. “What do you say? How about a quote?”
Before Allyson could pull her arm away Dane lunged across the backseat, shoved the door open, and grabbed the photojournalist by the collar. He swore loudly. “Touch my wife again and I’ll destroy you.”
The photojournalist struggled in his grasp. “And I’ll sue.” He swallowed. “Fine. You’ve made your point. Let me go.”
“Dane, don’t hurt him,” Allyson pleaded. “Don’t cause a scene. Not here. Not now.”
“You’re lucky my wife is such a sweet and gentle person,” Dane snarled before shoving the photojournalist away. He didn’t bother to watch to see what the creep did. He got back into the car, fury rippling through him. By the time his father’s assistant and their lawyer returned, Dane was so angry he could barely think straight. Nobody said anything. The tension in the car was palpable.
The SUV pulled down the street.
“That wasn’t wise,” his father said, finally breaking the silence. “The media’s just going to start digging in earnest now. We probably only have days before the story breaks. I have no choice but to call Detective Rossi and warn him about the press.”
“Sometimes, I really can’t stand this town,” Dane muttered.
Without a word, Allyson reached over and placed her hand on top of his. Her touch was soothing. Calming. Made the anger that had been roiling through him start to recede.
“What do we do?” she asked. “About the media? If the story breaks soon, it could be really bad for Prescott.”
“We can make some preliminary statements to the press,” Dane said. “Try to control things before rumors spread.”
“That’s fine, but you two should probably lay low for the next few days,” his father said. “Better to keep your heads down in case some unsavory speculation about you
r involvement with this comes out.”
“Lay low?” Dane asked.
“Don’t stay in your apartment,” his father instructed. “That’s the first place the press will go.”
“Where on earth can we go?” Allyson asked, her voice trembling.
Dane gritted his teeth. “I have an idea where we can stay.”
~~*~~
She stared into the fire. Stuck her hands out to let the flames warm her. “It works!”
Dane grinned. “See?” His voice echoed across the mostly empty living room.
After the awful time at the police station, they had spent the day at work. They had only just settled in for the night in the new house. There wasn’t much by way of furniture yet but her new assistant, Cameron, had helped her bring some essential items here so they could do their best and lay low in case news of the embezzlement broke. Cameron was a Godsend. He’d gotten them supplies, toiletries, a food stash, and extra clothes, not to mention the sleeping bags.
“I’ve never lived in a house with a fireplace before,” she said.
He stopped stoking the fire to sit down beside her on the sleeping bag. “Now you have one of your own.”
But for how long? Talking to that detective earlier today had unnerved her. She knew that she might end up a suspect. Especially after Dane had warned her about how suspicious she would look. It made sense, and the police wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t take a good hard look at everyone on staff. Still, she hated that Detective Rossi had not only suspected her, but Dane as well.
If something went wrong, and the police blamed them for the embezzlement, they could end up in a world of trouble.
“I’m sorry about what happened at the police station,” she said softly.
He gave her an incredulous look. “What do you have to be sorry for?”
“It was my idea to tell the police, and Detective Rossi suspected you,” she said. “I wanted to help you so badly, but I just got you into a bigger mess.”
“It’s done now.” Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close. “I don’t like you getting mixed up in all this, but going to the police was probably our best option. At least we look like we’re trying to be transparent and the cops can’t accuse us of a cover-up.”