Motive

by Kennedy Layne

  Grace didn’t need to have Detective Nielsen explain his last statement. He wasn’t used to dealing with financial firms, their employees, and the vast amounts of money and top tier attorneys who came with such criminal charges. It most likely wasn’t in her best interest to speak without Justin being present, but her decision had certainly sped this process along.

  “I just want my life and those of this firm to be able to put this behind them.” Grace stood when Detective Nielsen decided to take his leave. “Should you have any other questions regarding Brandon Walsh and the lengths to which he’ll go to in order to cover his own ass…I’m only a phone call away.”

  Grace waited for Detective Nielsen to close the door behind him before she basically collapsed in her chair. She’d been upfront with him and blatantly honest. No one else besides Brandon had reason to try and frame her for murder, and Rye being the responsible party wasn’t even a remote possibility.

  But it did beg the question—how had Brandon taken down the building’s security system?

  CHAPTER NINE

  Rye wasn’t a man who liked to be kept waiting, but that was exactly what Grace was forcing him to do now.

  He’d all but promised her that he wouldn’t show his face at Manon Investments, for obvious reasons. The firm was basically his competition when it came to courting high net worth individuals, so it wouldn’t look good to have him visiting an employee who handled the settlement of trades.

  He didn’t give a shit.

  “Rye, what the hell are you doing here?” Grace asked with incredulity, having looked up from the papers in her hand and caught him standing in the doorway of her office. “Are you crazy? We talked about this. The media—”

  “The media knows that we’re involved, so there shouldn’t be a problem with me visiting my lover at her place of business.”

  “It’s a problem for me, because you’re also this firm’s major competitor.”

  “Then come work for me. No more conflict.”

  “Rye, I’m not having this conversation while I sit here at work.” Grace rolled her chair back and stood to her full height. She was downright beautiful, but he held his tongue. He’d yet to address her declaration of love from last night, and he sure as hell wouldn’t do it here in such a sterile environment. “I told you on the phone this afternoon that I had to work late.”

  At first, Rye thought she’d been avoiding the continuation of their discussion last night. She’d declared her love and loyalty to him before falling asleep in his arms. He hadn’t had the heart to wake her, but it sure as hell hadn’t been his intention to wait twenty-four hours before finishing what she’d started.

  “The market closed at three o’clock central time, at which point the employee in charge of my trade settlements was done an hour after that. As a matter of fact, he’s already had dinner with his family and is most likely sleeping in his recliner watching the evening news with the remote still clutched in his hand.” Rye took a step into her domain and closed the door behind him, having noticed that the head trader was still hanging around the office at six o’clock at night. No one else needed to hear his and Grace’s private conversation. “I’m beginning to think either I’m not paying my staff enough or they’re just not as dedicated to their jobs. I’m also trying not to take offense at the fact that you just intentionally turned those papers over, as if I would take whatever information is on them and use it for my own gain.”

  “It’s not what you think,” Grace said with a sigh that spoke volumes about her frustration with the day’s events. She’d told him about Detective Nielsen’s visit on the phone this afternoon, which had resulted in a slight argument about the fact that she hadn’t called Justin to be in on the impromptu meeting. “I’ve been wracking my brain on how Brandon could have accessed the building’s security system. I told Detective Nielsen to follow up on Brandon’s time in prison, but…”

  Grace’s voice trailed off as she struggled to admit that her stepbrother’s plea of innocence might actually ring true. Rye hated seeing her struggle with this, and it was the very reason why he hadn’t called Crest Security Agency to pull their agents.

  Someone had gone to a lot of trouble in his or her attempt at framing Grace for murder. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was gambling with her life until he was one hundred percent certain that the guilty party was behind bars.

  “What is it that you’ve been doing here then?” Rye asked, closing the distance to Grace’s desk. He didn’t miss the way she pressed her fingers to her right temple. “Did you at least take some ibuprofen for your headache?”

  “Nothing is getting rid of this headache, Rye.” Grace slowly reached for the pen she’d set down on top of the paper, removing the only obstacle preventing her from flipping the sheet over. “And now I have guilt layered on top of my doubts. It’s not a good combination.”

  Rye had already figured out what she’d written down on the piece of paper before he ever picked it up from the glass top of her desk. Sure enough, a list of names of every Manon Investment employee was printed neatly under two columns—cleared and not cleared.

  “I see you’ve gone outside the employees of Manon Investments.” Rye didn’t take his eyes off the list as he made himself comfortable in the only guest chair available. The other one was filled with files. “Gareth Nicollet? I’d heard he was out of the country at the time of the murder.”

  Rye found it very telling that his own name was not on the list, and neither was Laurel or Grace.

  “Gareth wasn’t in the country, which is why I’ve put him in the cleared column.” Grace sat down before rubbing her hands over her face. There was something she wasn’t sharing with him. “Did I tell you that Gareth threatened to kill Brad a week before his murder?”

  “You and I both know that his words were hollow hyperbole.” Rye continued to skim over the names she’d written down on the numerous lines. One thing stood out. “Do you truly believe that anyone you’ve listed here would try and frame you for murder?”

  “If the responsible party thought for a second the police were closing in on them…yes. I believe that desperation can cause people to do some shitty ass things.”

  The only time Grace ever used foul language on a continuous basis was when she was either pissed at the world or frustrated over something she couldn’t figure out. In this rare case, it was for both reasons.

  “And whoever was that desperate would have had to have known that you didn’t have an alibi that night.”

  “But I did,” Grace pointed out, reminding him that the security guard at her building had recently given a statement to the police. “I have a witness that states I never left my apartment that night.”

  “You’re assuming the guilty individual thought things through to that extent, but you said yourself that you were here at the office when you disclosed that you’d lied to the police.”

  “Which brings me back to Meredith.” Grace leaned forward on her desk and pointed to the paper in his hand. “It always comes back to Meredith.”

  “We’ve already informed Detective Nielsen that Meredith might have overheard your conversation. The police have all the evidence regarding—”

  “Detective Nielsen pointed out that once Brandon was paroled from prison, you then were given the opportunity to take out the two people responsible for what happened to you all those years ago.”

  Grace wouldn’t have worked herself up into a frenzy and created such a list if something hadn’t happened to cause her to doubt Brandon’s innocence. Rye had known all along that Detective Nielsen had said something that upset her this morning. Now that he was armed with that bit of information, he had the tools to dismantle her stress.

  “Angel, you haven’t put anyone on this list who Detective Nielsen doesn’t consider a suspect.” Rye held his tie against his shirt as he stood and set the paper back down on her desk. Their problem didn’t lie in the fact that the police were looking elsewhere besides Brandon Walsh. Unfortuna
tely, it meant that Nielsen thought Brandon was being set up. “I’m not worried that the detective is questioning my motives. There’s a reason I hired the best of the best. Justin Monroe will handle any questions the police may have, while you and I carry on with our lives.”

  “Carry on?” Grace had pushed her chair back when Rye walked around her desk only to use the hard surface for something to lean against. “We can’t move forward until this is taken care of, Rye.”

  “Did you tell me that you loved me last night?”

  It was clear that Grace hadn’t expected him to bring up her declaration of love, but he also saw the deep-seated fear in those blue eyes of hers.

  “Yes, I did.”

  Damn it.

  Rye didn’t want to start their newfound relationship while she was terrified to have it ripped apart into shreds by another outside source. Neither one of them were qualified to investigate people, but he’d pick apart each name one by one if going through the list would give her some sense of peace.

  He pushed himself off the desk and removed his jacket before walking back around to the guest chair he was about to become quite familiar with over the next hour.

  “I’m giving you sixty minutes before I throw you over my shoulder and take you home.” Rye grabbed the piece of paper before she could, holding out his hand for the pen she was hoarding to herself. “I really don’t want to reciprocate my feelings in my competitor’s main office.”

  Grace’s perfectly outlined lips tugged at the corners, but her relief was palpable.

  “Every single name on here had the means to commit Brad’s murder. We’re looking for motive.” Rye clicked the end of the ballpoint pen so that he could write down the motivation of each suspect. “Meredith was having an affair with Steve. That gives each of them motive.”

  “But Meredith and Brad were divorced, so that takes away their motive.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Rye countered, recalling something she’d said after the day she’d come clean with Laurel and Cynthia about him not having an alibi. “You mentioned that Joshua Green had gone to Brad hours before he was murdered to expose Meredith and Steve’s affair. If Brad still had feelings for Meredith, I can guarantee you that he would have found a valid enough reason to fire Steve.”

  “So both Meredith and Steve still had motive, regardless of their denials.”

  “Why is Steve still at the office?” Rye asked, leaving the paper and pen on the desk when he leaned back in his chair. “Does he usually work this late?”

  “Meredith asked Steve point blank if he had anything to do with Brad’s murder.”

  “Ouch. That would definitely put a hitch in his giddy up.” Rye had a sudden revelation that the woman in front of him had never doubted for a second that he’d had nothing to do with his main rival’s murder. He’d never given her faith a thought, because he also had that much faith in her. Hell, she believed in him so much that she’d fabricated an alibi so there wouldn’t be suspicion cast on his name. “Meredith doesn’t love Steve.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” Grace answered softly, having obviously guessed where Rye’s thoughts had gone. “And that alone would give Steve Lewis motivation to kill the man she did love.”

  Rye glanced down at her handwriting on the paper, choosing another name that didn’t seem to fit the suspect list.

  “Vern Roberts.”

  Rye was wondering when the man’s name would come up in conversation.

  “We always promised one another not to cross personal and professional lines.” Rye carefully studied her body language to see if this put a dent in their faith in one another. He was once again floored that she didn’t seem to be batting an eyelash where this situation was concerned. “Vern came to me two months ago, looking for a fresh start. I know that he’s basically Paul’s right-hand man. I would have been a fool to turn Vern away without hearing him out.”

  “Fresh start?” Grace frowned and shook her head at what was obviously still not public knowledge. “Rye, Vern is on the board. There’s no way he was looking for a fresh start, nor would he do that to Paul. Besides, Vern has too much invested in Manon Investments.”

  “Grace, come on,” Rye said with a shake of his head. One thing Grace wasn’t? Naïve. “You said yourself that Brad had changed over the last few years. His dismissive attitude was setting people on edge, and everyone knows that Paul had lost control of Brad a long time ago. It was only a matter of time before the percentage on your employee turnover rate began to climb. Hell, even Smith was leaving Manon Investments in the very near future.”

  “There’s a bit of a difference between an employee jumping ship and one who has a vested interest in the firm,” Grace pointed out, still seemingly somewhat dumbfounded that Vern had been the one to seek out Marshall Securities instead of the other way around. “When Steve brought up the subject of Vern having been offered a job at your company, I automatically assumed that you had reached out to him.”

  Rye could understand why Grace and the others here at Manon Investments would have thought that was the case, but the truth now made Vern a prime suspect.

  “You think something else happened between Brad and Vern to make him seek employment elsewhere,” Rye suggested, leaning forward on his chair and scribbling down a note next to Vern’s name. “Detective Nielsen is fully aware of my business handling with Vern Roberts, so my guess is that he’s already been cleared.”

  “And you know as well as I do that the police have been following leads given by the real killer, such as trying to frame me for murder and then leading the police to Brandon.”

  “So you’re saying you don’t think Brandon is guilty,” Rye shot back, finally getting to the crux of the matter. Grace had put hours into this list, because there were names included he recognized in the business that had nothing to do with Manon Investments. “And you don’t like second guessing yourself.”

  Grace groaned in frustration and pushed on the desk so that her chair slid backwards on the plastic mat beneath her heels.

  “I wasn’t second guessing myself until Laurel and then Detective Nielsen pointed out that Brandon doesn’t have the knowledge to hack into a security system. I mean, what if they’re right? Detective Nielsen is under no obligation to continue investigating this murder if the prosecutor thinks he has enough to make the charges stick against Brandon.”

  Rye loathed the fact that the killer had involved Grace into his or her grand scheme, but there was one thing she could do to ease her conscience.

  “Angel, grab your purse.” Rye left the list of suspects she’d come up with on her desk. He highly doubted that she would want it thrown away, at least until she was convinced the right man was behind bars. “We’re going to grab a bite to eat, and then we’re going to go pay your brother a visit. You were the one who recognized his guilt the first time around when he was claiming to be innocent. There’s no reason you can’t do the same tonight.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Grace sat next to Rye in silence as he drove them back through the city from her parents’ residence to his place. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to happen, but it certainly wasn’t to be turned away at the door by her mother.

  “This will pass,” Rye reassured her, reaching over the console of his Audi and taking her hand. “Your mother is hurt because you wouldn’t go to the police station when Brandon was initially brought in for questioning.”

  “Brandon wasn’t only being interrogated over a murder rap, but he was also brought in to be questioned about framing me for a crime I didn’t commit,” Grace pointed out unforgivingly. Shock had been the first emotion she’d undergone while standing on the front step of the Walsh’s two-story home in Edina. Their wealth was displayed for all to see in the landscaping, let alone the long driveway that led to their sterile mansion. “My mother acts like Brandon is this innocent child who needs protecting, and I’m over it. Done. I’m her daughter, damn it.”

  Her shock had eventually turned into anger
about a mile outside of Edina.

  “I can’t believe my own mother told me to get off her property,” Grace muttered in contempt as she stared at the red light Rye was slowing down for near the crosswalk.

  “I’m sure it didn’t help that I was by your side. I imagine she still holds some animosity for me.” Rye squeezed her fingers in support, but he didn’t seem to realize that his statement made her mother’s reasoning all the more fucked up. “Maybe you can—”

  “Don’t you dare say I should go back alone in the morning,” Grace said, cutting Rye off mid-sentence. He understood more than most what loyalty meant, especially given the fact that he’d only kept one man around from his childhood…and that was Jag Douglas. “And you being with me should have been incentive to let us in, because it would have given Brandon a chance to apologize for what he did to you in person.”

  Resentment of the unfolding events coursed through her veins, but it gave her clarity over what needed to be done.

  “You said yourself that Detective Nielsen is good at his job, but I think you should talk to him again—with Justin present, of course.” Grace held her breath, hoping that Rye would do as she suggested. She hated that the police thought Rye was involved, and she didn’t doubt that Brandon had spun the situation in that direction. He must have explained that to her mother, because that’s the only reason Grace could come up with as to why she’d been turned away tonight. “We need to provide a united front. This way, Detective Nielsen isn’t wasting time investigating either of us.”

  “Two hours ago, you were making a list of suspects,” Rye pointed out as he pulled the Audi into the parking garage attached to her office building. A stream of headlights from behind joined them, indicating that either Ethan or Taryn had been following at a close distance. “Vern was at the top, along with a few other employees who we haven’t even discussed—such as Blair.”