“You have got to quit thinking about it,” she scolded herself, and took a quick look around the office, before turning off the light, and walking toward the main doors.
Roxanne glanced at all the cubicles as she reached for the panel along the wall to set the alarm, and then stopped.
“What is wrong with this picture?” she mumbled, and stared at the quiet, dark work area for a moment. “My God! That’s it.”
Roxanne walked over to the main server, which sat behind Dorothy’s desk, and noticed it was off, as it should be. Usually when she and Jordan worked nights, the light from the server glowed behind Dorothy’s desk, but tonight that area remained dark. More than likely, when Jordan and the others left, Jordan had shut it off. But if he had given Dorothy’s niece permission to use the computer, wouldn’t he have left it on for her?
Roxanne turned, and then noticed what she hadn’t noticed before. Linda Rickmeier’s computer was still on. The glow from the lights on the tower spread enough light to catch Roxanne’s attention. And normally that computer would be off as soon as business hours were over.
Turning to the processor’s desk, she tapped the keyboard to bring the monitor out of sleep mode.
The area filled with more light as the screen came to life, and Roxanne realized that this amount of light had been in the secretarial pool just a few minutes before, when she had tried to determine why things looked different to her tonight. The monitor must have just entered sleep mode, which meant it had been used recently. A list of recently processed loans appeared on the screen.
“Linda should know better than to leave her computer on like this.” Roxanne leaned over the keyboard, and began to shut down the computer. Then she froze. “Mark said all the accounts accessed were new accounts.”
Roxanne straightened, and stared at the list of accounts on the screen. She glanced at Linda’s desk, wondering if she could determine the last thing she had worked on before leaving that day.
“She asked me a question toward the end of the day.” She chewed at her lip until she remembered the question about determining income on a self-employed client.
Roxanne looked at the baskets at the edge of Linda’s desk, and found the one where Linda placed completed work. The file on top belonged to the client Linda had asked the question about. Roxanne opened the file and stared at its contents, and then glanced at the screen. The file that was open on the screen was a different account than the account in the file folder.
Roxanne glanced through the rest of the files in the basket. None of them matched the file that was open on the computer.
“Why would Linda be in this file on the computer?” Roxanne continued to stare at the screen, and then the contents in the file, but could make no sense of it.
She closed the file and placed it back in the basket where it would be collected and filed the next day, and then reached for the mouse to shut down the computer. Tomorrow she would have to remind Linda that she needed to close down her computer every night. The woman worked hard, and had learned a lot in the short amount of time that she had been with the company, so Roxanne wouldn’t make a big issue out of it. But it was important to remember to do even the small things, like turning off the computer.
“The last thing we need is an open invitation to allow our thief access to the rest of our accounts,” Roxanne grumbled, but then her hand froze on the mouse.
Then it hit her. Suddenly everything made sense. Her fingers shook when she pulled her cell phone out.
“Please answer.” Roxanne listened as the phone rang for the second time, and then smiled when a man’s voice answered. “Mark, this is Roxanne. I’m sorry to bother you so late in the evening, but would you be able to meet me at Hall Enterprises right now?”
Chapter Nineteen
Roxanne stood in Jordan’s office staring down at her desk. Jordan stood on the other side and watched Mark Dunne as he sat at Roxanne’s computer.
“Are you sure no one has been at this computer since your cleaning lady was here?” Mark frowned at the screen in front of him.
“Sonya Wisdom was the last person to sit here.” Roxanne had confirmed the young lady’s name when she got to work that morning. Mark Dunne had told her he couldn’t make it out the night before, but had agreed to meet her at the office first thing the next morning. “I left everything the way I found it last night, just as you asked.”
“Good.” Mark continued to punch keys on her keyboard. “And what about the computer out front? Can you make sure no one touches it?”
“Already done.” Jordan had a cross expression on his face and Roxanne could only guess that the thought of a teenager besting him for so much money didn’t sit well.
“I don’t want anyone in the office aware of what we have learned,” Roxanne said, and Jordan met her gaze.
“Well, we haven’t learned anything yet,” Mark told her.
Roxanne nodded and sighed. “You’re right. Part of me wishes it wasn’t Sonya because she is just a kid, and I can’t imagine what she would want with that kind of money.”
“You’d be surprised,” Mark muttered, but didn’t elaborate.
Mark Dunne seemed an odd friend for Aaron Tipley to have. Roxanne had thought that of the man the first time she met him. Where Aaron was a clean-cut young man, just out of the service, with a wife and a lucrative career, Mark Dunne seemed to be just the opposite. To the best of Roxanne’s knowledge, the man didn’t work. His brown hair fell past his shoulders and was tied into a neat ponytail. Mark wore blue jeans that had seen better days, and a well-worn T-shirt. He had thick glasses, and to all appearances looked very much the computer geek. Roxanne didn’t take to labeling people, but this man could be on a television show as a hacker, he fit the stereotype so well.
“What have you told the ladies out front?” Jordan asked her.
“Nothing, really.” Roxanne shrugged. “I told Linda that her computer wasn’t acting right, and until further notice she needed to stay off it. The women think that Mark is here to service the computers.”
Mark chuckled at that, but didn’t look up from what he was doing. Roxanne edged behind him so that she could watch, curious to see how he would be able to determine what Sonya had done on it last night.
The room fell into silence for a minute until Mark leaned back in his chair and sighed.
“What?” Jordan and Roxanne asked him at the same time.
“This.” Mark looked up at the two of them and waved his hand. “The two of you are breathing down my neck and it’s making it hard for me to concentrate.”
“Oh.” Again they both mumbled at the same time, and Jordan moved toward his desk while Roxanne took a step backward and wondered what she could do to make herself busy.
“Is there anything the two of you can do and I’ll contact you as soon as I’m through going over these two computers?” Mark looked first at Jordan and then at Roxanne.
“We’ll give you some peace,” Jordan told him, and gathered his briefcase, then turned to Roxanne. “Gather your things and you can run errands with me.”
Roxanne wanted to protest, feeling she should keep herself busy in the office in case Mark needed her. “Maybe I should stay,” she began.
“Don’t worry,” Mark looked up at her and smiled, showing two front teeth, which were slightly crooked. “I will be sure to call you if I find anything, or as soon as I’m done. Sound good?”
Roxanne nodded and then gathered her things. “Shall we?” Jordan held his hand out toward her in a gallant manner.
Roxanne narrowed her brow at the gesture, took her briefcase in hand, and headed toward the office door. “I have my cell phone on me,” she told Mark over her shoulder.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” Mark said.
Jordan placed his hand on Roxanne’s back as they entered the hallway, and Roxanne realized he had never touched her intimately like this during business hours. She wanted to step out of his reach, but at the same time liked him next to her.
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Joe Dixon stepped out of Layette’s office and faced the two of them. “What’s going on in there?” His question was directed at Jordan.
“He needs some time to do his work,” Jordan offered. “We’re going to run some errands.”
Dixon nodded and then turned his gaze to Roxanne. “Young lady, I believe I owe you an apology.”
Roxanne didn’t know what to say. “Yes, Mr. Dixon?” she asked, curious as to what the man had to say.
“I misjudged you, young lady, and I see that now,” Joe Dixon told her.
Roxanne didn’t realize that she held her breath, and exhaled at the man’s words.
“Yes, Mr. Dixon, you did misjudge me,” Roxanne said quietly. “I’ve never committed a crime in my life and I would never steal from anyone.”
Joe Dixon smiled, and Roxanne couldn’t believe how it changed his appearance. “I hadn’t met Jordan before this investigation, but I knew his father well. I didn’t want to see history repeating itself.”
Roxanne didn’t know what Joe Dixon referred to, and so had no response. She glanced up at Jordan and saw how masked his expression was. She couldn’t tell if he was pleased with Joe’s words or possibly embarrassed. But Roxanne couldn’t imagine Jordan being embarrassed over anything.
“Well, I wish you two the best of luck.” Again Joe nodded and smiled at Roxanne.
“We’ll find the thief.” And she meant it. She knew neither of them would rest until this matter was settled.
Jordan’s hand nudged her, guiding her toward the main doors of Hall Enterprises.
“Will you two be back soon?” Dorothy asked, as they entered the secretarial pool.
Roxanne turned her attention to their receptionist, and noticed the older woman’s warm smile as she focused on Jordan’s hand resting on Roxanne’s back. Roxanne stepped out of Jordan’s protective hold and approached Dorothy’s desk.
“Mr. Dunne needs some time to work on the computers,” Roxanne told her. “Make sure he isn’t bothered, and if he needs to work out here, please give him plenty of room and let him do what he needs to do.”
“Of course, dear,” Dorothy said, still smiling.
“If there are any client calls, forward them to my cell phone. I’m in the way in there.” Roxanne returned the smile, hoping the ladies wouldn’t break into a whirlwind of gossip over her and Jordan as soon as they left the building.
“Yes, call if you need us,” Jordan said over her shoulder, and Roxanne watched Linda look up from her filing at the two of them.
“Shall we?” This time Jordan put his hand on Roxanne’s shoulder, and urged her toward the doors.
Roxanne swore she could hear one of them make a comment about her and Jordan being a cute couple as the glass doors swung shut behind them.
They’d reached the elevator when his cell phone rang.
“Hall here.”
A female’s voice sounded through the phone, although Roxanne couldn’t tell what she said.
“I’m not sure yet what my schedule looks like today. Lunch?” Jordan’s expression wasn’t readable, and he didn’t look at her but focused on the ground.
They stepped into the elevator and Roxanne reminded herself that he’d told her there were no other women. The woman’s voice continued through the phone. It was hard not to edge closer to him so that she could hear.
The doors opened and Roxanne bolted free of her confinement with Jordan. She didn’t like the surge of emotions that rampaged through her like a prairie fire, burning her insides with intense curiosity as to whom he’d been talking to. She needed a distraction and moved toward the main doors of the building as she tried to clear her brain of Jordan Hall.
She needed to focus on what Mark Dunne was doing upstairs with her computer. He had the ability to determine what Sonya had done on her computer as well as Linda’s. And Roxanne hoped they would hear from him soon.
Roxanne hated the turmoil going on inside her over Jordan. The two of them needed to discuss what type of relationship they had. Obviously they had a great sexual relationship but Roxanne didn’t want just that. And hadn’t Jordan just made a show in the office that made it appear they were a couple?
“Have you given any thought to contacting the libraries we know our thief has visited and seeing if they’ve seen a young lady matching Sonya’s description?” Jordan asked her as he held the door and Roxanne stepped out into the morning sun.
“While I was in Nebraska, I made a friend out of the waitress,” she told him.
Jordan kept his hand on her back and she knew if he were only to remove it then she would be able to rid her mind completely of all sexual thoughts of him and focus completely on their conversation. At the same time, the possessive way he guided her made her feel important.
“The waitress that I had send breakfast to you?” Jordan looked down at her surprised. “You didn’t tell me this.”
“There are many things I don’t tell you,” she said, wanting to add that when he started telling her everything, then maybe she would return the favor. “But she gave me her phone number. I could call her and see if she would question the librarian.”
“You two got chummy enough that she gave you her phone number?” There was humor in Jordan’s face, and she squinted up at him.
“She sat with me while I ate, and we talked some,” Roxanne said, then looked away as they approached her car.
“And you told her why we were there?”
They stopped at her car, and Roxanne again squinted against the morning light, to see his expression.
“Yes,” Roxanne said, and then smiled as she remembered. “She thought we were FBI.”
Jordan grinned at her comment and appeared to be focused on something over her shoulder. She guessed his mind churned on several different thoughts at once, and she watched him until he looked down at her.
“Give her a call,” he said. “Let me know what she says.”
Jordan leaned forward and kissed her then, right in the middle of the parking lot. His cell phone rang again and vibrated between them at the same time. Jordan straightened to answer it and Roxanne found she couldn’t move. She stood in front of him, her face close enough to his chest that she could feel his body heat, smell his masculine scent, and it intoxicated her.
She listened to him discuss several possibilities concerning investments and then agree to prepare a proposal for whoever it was he spoke with.
Roxanne left him standing there and got into her car, pulling out her cell phone so that she could place her own call. Unfortunately, all she reached was Emily’s voice mail. Leaving a message for the waitress, she looked up to see Jordan standing outside her car door, watching her.
“It’s calls like that one that reassure me the reputation of Hall Enterprises is still on solid ground,” Jordan told her as he clipped his phone to his belt. He smiled down at her, and she could tell that something he’d just discussed really pleased him. “Paul Bradford, a brand-new client I just picked up from out in New England, has informed me that he wishes to put the rest of his accounts with us.”
Roxanne recognized the name as the one Linda had asked for help with the other day, but she hadn’t taken time to browse the contents of the file.
“Now that is good news,” Roxanne said, returning his smile, and then taking a moment to admire how the morning sun made his hair look like black silk, shiny and smooth. There were rare moments when she saw Jordan look this pleased, and she wanted to cherish the moment. “I left voice mail for Emily to call me back,” she added.
Her cell phone rang, and Roxanne grabbed it, noticing the Nebraska area code.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi, Roxanne, this is Emily, I just got your message off my machine.” Emily sounded just as she did in person, upbeat and happy.
“Do you have time to stop in to your library?” Roxanne asked. “I need to know if the librarian remembers seeing a teenage girl at the computer the day my friend was arrested.”
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nbsp; Roxanne gave Emily a detailed description of Sonya, and Emily sounded thrilled to help. Roxanne hung up the phone, knowing Jordan had listened, and glanced at the long legs that blocked her exit. Her phone rang again and this time Roxanne didn’t recognize the number. She pushed her talk button and answered.
“Hello,” she said, and then paused when she didn’t get an immediate response.
“Roxanne?” The voice didn’t sound familiar, and Roxanne frowned at the connection. Whoever it was, their voice seemed to vibrate.
“This is Roxanne. We have a bad connection. Who is this please?”
“Back off, Roxanne. That is an order.” The line went silent, and Roxanne sat there, staring at her steering wheel, repeating the vibrating words in her head.
“Back off from what?” Roxanne muttered, but then realized the party at the other end had disconnected.
She lowered the phone and stared at the blank screen that told her she had a strong signal. A second passed, and barely that before fear gripped her, making it hard to breathe.
“Jordan,” she whispered, and realized then that he had squatted next to her and slipped the phone from her hand.
“Who was that?” he asked, and began pushing numbers on her phone. “You’re white as a ghost. What did they say?”
“They said to back off, and that it was an order.” Roxanne took a deep breath, and heard the vibrating voice in her head. “I think I’ve just been threatened.”
Chapter Twenty
Roxanne sat in one of the chairs that normally faced Jordan’s desk, and listened to the police officers talk to Jordan and Mark Dunne. Jordan had pulled the chair around to the side of his desk, and planted Roxanne there the second they returned to his office. He had called the police, while a baffled Mark Dunne had listened as Roxanne explained what had happened.
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