by C. L. Stone
I didn’t have an answer and I was working myself into a corner. I didn’t know anything about investments. I was setting myself up in ways I wasn’t prepared to deal with. I waved my hand dismissively. “Look, I don’t know if I can help at all. I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”
“Listen, little girl,” he said, squinting at me. “You approached me. Mr. Murdock kept his broker away from us and now you’re telling me you’re it. Or did I not hear you correctly?”
“Excuse me,” Axel’s voice came from right behind me. I turned just as he slipped an arm around my shoulders, hanging onto me. He reached around, picking up one of the orange juice flutes and then held it. “Don’t mean to interrupt.”
My heart was beating a mile a minute. I was grateful Axel was coming in for the rescue, but Mr. Smith did not look happy at all.
“You did,” Mr. Smith said. He put the whiskey to his lips and took a long sip. He licked his lips after. “Are you going to tell me to keep my hands off?”
“I know I don’t have to,” Axel said with a small smile. “She can take care of herself. No, I just missed her.” He hugged me closer and then put his nose to my hair. He spoke loud enough for Mr. Smith to hear. “Why don’t we head inside? I want to check out the amenities.”
Thank goodness. I was in too deep and I needed a break. What had I been thinking? Investor or broker or whatever? Working closely with Mr. Murdock? I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t prepared anything. That was crazy. What was going to happen when someone...maybe Mr. Murdock’s true broker, whoever that was, took one look at me and called me out for the fraud I was? And I was talking to someone with a gun in his pants. I was going to get shot at again at this rate.
I walked away with Axel, although I still felt the heat of Mr. Smith’s eyes on my back. He either hadn’t believed one word I’d said, or if he did, I might be a link to his missing money. Money I didn’t know how to find.
That meant he didn’t know where the money was. He still might not have done anything wrong at all, just made a bad decision in giving money to Mr. Murdock. It could have been personal money. I hadn’t proved anything. Only that Mr. Murdock had taken money from him to invest and wasn’t around to pay him back his investment. And that there was a fund manager broker person.
A fund manager Mr. Murdock kept secret.
Wait.
When Axel and I were in the downstairs lobby, we took to the stairs and hurried along. Axel pulled me up to the third floor and into a room marked Study. Inside, it was just an office with a small bookshelf holding dictionaries and encyclopedias. There was a desk against one wall, not much space, but it was private.
Axel put his back against the door after he closed it. His chest lifted and fell with his heavy breathing after we’d hurried up the stairs. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You looked scared.”
“I don’t know,” I said, catching my breath and thinking of what Mr. Smith had said. I paced in the room, raising the static electricity in me by running the soles of the loafers against the carpet. “No. No, we’re not okay.”
“Why?” He moved to me and grasped my arms into his hands, causing a spark at his initial touch. He ignored it and held strong as he faced me. “Kayli, what did he say?”
Mr. Smith had invested with Mr. Murdock. There’s a chance Mr. Murdock had done the same with other people. Wherever they got the money from, they didn’t have it now. The pieces clicked together. “We can’t do plan C or D or E,” I said in a rush. “Whatever it was.”
“Why?”
“Because Mr. Murdock’s already done it. He’s already got all the money. They don’t have any to give to us because it’s gone.”
JUST GETTING STARTED
Silence filled the study after I’d spoken. I was considering what I’d said, but it made perfect sense to me.
“That’s ridiculous,” Axel said eventually. He still held on to my arms. “How do you figure that out in five minutes of talking to one person?”
“Old Mr. Murdock got money from Mr. Smith to join in on investments. Mr. Smith is looking to retire. He wants out.”
“So what makes you think old Mr. Murdock beat us to the punch?” Axel asked. “He’s just one person.”
“Because Mr. Smith now thinks I worked as Mr. Murdock’s fund manager. Selectively. I didn’t mean to lead him to that conclusion, but he kept pushing and he kept talking so I was letting it continue. He was adamant then that he wanted out. I’m guessing he wants me to locate his money and get it back to him.”
“So?”
“Is he that clueless?” Blake said in my ear. “Darling, you’re brilliant.”
I couldn’t respond to that. Instead, I focused on Axel’s dark eyes and when those were too stormy to look at steadily, I looked at the dark strand of hair now stuck behind his ear. “If Mr. Smith had invested in a normal way, he would have gone to...an accountant or whatever? Why would he need one fund manager he’d never seen before who claims to work with only Mr. Murdock?”
Axel released me slowly and then turned in the small space, looking at the bookshelf. His white pants swished a little as he moved. “That might account for some of those secret numbers. He was investing their money. That’s if he got to the rest of them.”
“But investing into what?” I asked. “And does that mean some people individually took money from Nightingale to invest with Mr. Murdock? Or did Mr. Murdock do that himself and this is their personal money on top of that?”
“If Mr. Smith has money that went to Mr. Murdock,” Blake said in my ear, although softer so it was harder to hear him, “and he knew it was secret, then he knew either the investments weren’t legal or he had money to clean.”
“We don’t know the whole story,” Axel said. “We need to step back and just try to get as much information as we can. We can’t make assumptions too soon.”
“I might have messed up already,” I said. “If he thinks I’m a fund manager of some sort...I don't even know what I’m talking about. I was just trying to get friendly and now he thinks I worked with Mr. Murdock directly. I told him I was the one investing their money. He’s going to be looking to me to help him get the money back.”
“We won’t be able to run off like this every time you feel flustered.” Axel straightened. “I’ll have to take the lead for now.”
“You can’t,” I said. “How is it going to look if all of a sudden you’re talking about investments and I’m not? Mr. Smith will wonder why we changed who was who. As it is now, I’m going to have to prove who I say I am. I’ve dug myself into a hole.”
“No,” Blake said. “You’ve done a good job, Kayli. Don’t make any more moves yet. Gather more information now and wait. Try not to talk to Mr. Smith again, but we should find out who he talks to and Doyle will listen to him. See if he spreads the word about who you are. Now I have to go quiet.”
Axel tilted his head, tapping at his ear. He must have Corey telling him something. “Tara Wayward is coming on board now.”
“I don’t know if I can handle any more right now. It’ll become too obvious if I’m doing all the approaching.” I shifted the glasses higher on my nose. “And apparently I look like I’m sixteen. Some of them might not talk to me.”
“I might need to take the lead with Tara.” He sighed. “We can’t stop her from talking to Mr. Smith.” He turned toward the door, his hands curled into fists. “If you’ve claimed to be Mr. Murdock’s fund manager, then we need to get you to continue that role.”
“I don’t know if he believes me,” I said. “At least not completely.”
“Well, we’re going to have to make him believe.” He turned, his eyes a storm, but different now. Sparking. Calculating. He fiddled with his ear again. “Corey, have Avery start spreading rumors about Kaylie being Murdock’s personal fund manager. And we need an ID for Kayli. Something clean, untraceable. She needs to look innocent on a file but she a reputation and educational background, too. Maybe an MBA or accounting. Reliable source
s.”
“Blake,” I said.
“Busy,” Blake whispered.
“Huh?” Axel asked.
I pressed my lips together. I was pushing my luck with this, but I was sure of this plan now. “Blake has a reputation,” I said. “He helps people out. He’d have the references and resources to create a background for me.”
Axel tilted his head, frowning. “We could pull it off,” he said.
“Do you have time? As in this afternoon?”
Axel shifted on his feet, unsure. “We can do it.”
“I can be the fund manager,” I said, “but if we’re going to make anyone believe I am who I’ve claimed, then I need at least one person who can make them believe it. Blake is right here on the ship and can vouch for me, and probably knows a few of the people coming onboard, or at least knows the right people to refer them to. You can’t do it because you’re my boyfriend. It wouldn’t be believable coming from you.”
Axel’s mouth flickered the smallest of smiles at this. “Thanks,” he said. “This is getting more dangerous. It might be better if we switch roles, though. I don’t like it. It might not be too late.”
I lifted my hands in the air. “Axel!” I said, exasperated. “I can’t magically change what I’ve already said. It is what it is. We can either run with it or I have to bail on this now and figure out another plan. You can’t go in with Mr. Smith as another broker, or he’s going to think something’s off. He’s already talking, giving us information. We’ve got a lead if we can run with it.”
He touched his brow, rubbing, thinking. “We need more security with you now,” he said. “Brandon and Corey are going to have to run in and out and be very close.” He tilted his head slightly. “No, Corey, we’re fine right now. Hang on a second.”
“Ugh,” Blake said and then gasped in my ear. I heard a thunk.
“Blake?” I asked quietly.
Nothing.
“Blake?” I said louder.
“What?” Axel asked.
There was a faint whisper. I put a hand out to Axel, a gesture of silence, and then covered my open ear so I could concentrate. “Blake? Say it again. Are you okay?”
“Fourth floor day room,” he said, quiet, gasping.
Alarm struck through me, right into my bones. Blake was in trouble.
I barreled right at Axel, who was blocking the door. “What’s going on?”
“We need to get to Blake,” I said. Panic forced adrenaline through my veins. I couldn’t hear anything now except for muffled movement. Something was very wrong. “He’s hurt. Or something.” My stomach tightened. Maybe the nausea had been stress, because I was totally freaking out.
Axel hesitated, reaching back to fiddle with the door handle. “We should get Corey or Raven...”
How could he just stand there? If any one of them were hurt, he’d never hesitate like this. I didn’t know what was wrong with Blake and who knew where Raven or Corey was and how long that would take to get them to go. We were close. “Axel!” I cried. “Get away from that door or I’ll rip you apart.” We didn’t have time for his indecision.
Axel’s head rocked back, but his hand shifted and he opened the door.
I didn’t look back. I bolted down the hallway, walking when I came to hallways where there might be other people. Axel followed by my side, quiet, my shadow. No more protesting. He must have caught on to how serious the situation was.
My stomach continued to twist the whole way, but the medicine must have still been kicking in, as nausea was kept to a minimum.
I followed one of the maps until we were on the fourth floor. I hurried, scuffling as well as I could with my badly-fitting loafers. I found a door marked Day Room and went for the handle.
“Wait,” Axel said. He pushed me out of the way, and then put his ear to the door.
“Axel,” I said. “You...”
“You don’t know who might be in there,” he said. He put his finger to his lips. And then smiled widely, and started to laugh before he opened the door. “And then I said to him...I said...”
He was playing the tourist. I gritted my teeth and forced a smile.
The day room was just a large lounge with a lot of chairs and one wall that was a wide window with an unobstructed view of the outside. Right now, that view was the river.
Blake was in one of the lounge chairs. He was crumpled up on his side, his back to us, and not moving. Someone stumbling on him might have thought he was taking a nap.
I didn’t see anyone else in the room. I walked slowly toward Blake. Axel moved ahead of me, checking behind each of the lounge chairs and then opened a single closet door in the room, finding only a stack of extra pillows that matched the chairs.
I hovered over Blake. His eyes were closed. His blond hair was stained red at the nape of his neck. Horror struck through my heart, and my stomach tightened more. This was my fault. I had told him to go after the blond man. Had he gotten caught?
I bent down, touching his forehead gently, checking for other injuries. “Blake,” I said.
Nothing.
I shook his arm. “Blake!”
He shifted, breathing, but not totally waking up. As his head moved, I spotted more blood dripping along his neck and pooling at his shoulder. It stained the white mat of the lounge and his grey shirt. I gasped. Was he dying?
Axel materialized next to me. He eased me aside, checked Blake’s pulse and then lifted his hair, revealing the deep cut and developing bruise. “Knocked out.” He turned Blake’s head gently and shook his arm. “Blake! Wake up.”
There was a moan from Blake, a cough and then groaning. His eyes fluttered.
My heart exploded, and then washed over in relief that he’d woken up. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“Peachy,” Blake said, his voice rough. He groaned again and then stopped short to cough. He lifted his hand to his hair. “Please tell me I’m not ugly now.”
“Someone hit you on the head,” Axel said. He stood up, looking around the room. “This place is clean. Did you start out in here?”
Blake opened his eyes, the gold flecks fuzzy and out of focus at first and then he spotted me and his attention zeroed in. “Where am I?”
“The day room,” I said. “You said to come here.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. He breathed in heavily and then out again. “No, I was brought in here.” He reached out for my arm, I thought just to get my attention but then he pulled on me, leveraging against me to sit up.
“Wait,” I said, putting my hand around his wrist, encouraging him to stop. The blood was worrying me the most. It looked like there was a lot. “Shouldn’t you like lay down? Do we need a doctor?”
“There’s a hospital on the ship,” he said. He continued to sit up and then steadied himself with one hand on the lounge cushion as the other tenderly touched his head, close to the injury. “What I need is a strong dose of Tylenol. My head is killer.”
“Who hit you?” Axel asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The blond crewman might know though. I don’t know. What’s his name...”
“You were following him,” I said. “He did this?”
“He couldn’t have done it,” Blake said. “He was standing in front of me when it happened. I was watching him go into one of the spas and then he walked out a few minutes later. I don’t think he saw me.” He pulled his hand away from his head and then unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing and took it off, exposing a white tank underneath. The gray shirt was stained. He balled it in his hand and held it to his head. “I could use some ice.”
“Can you move?” I asked.
“I’m just trying not to throw up right now,” Blake said.
“Then we do need to get you to the doctor,” Axel said. He touched his ear. “Corey, we need someone in the fourth floor day room. Take Blake to the hospital on the ship.”
“We can take him,” I said.
“We need to get away from him,” Axel said. “Someone attacked him.
We need to pretend we were never here.”
“But...” I couldn’t just leave Blake like this. That he’d gotten hurt felt like my fault. Whatever was going on, they didn’t want anyone else knowing about it. They were willing to attack Blake for it. Who would do such a thing? We’d just gotten started.
Axel came to me, and grabbed my elbow, pulling me away. “Kayli,” he said. “If you want to get anything done while we’re here, you need to stay away from Blake for now. If you want a reputation of being a fund manager and you want this to work, then you and I need to go make an appearance and give no indication we know what’s going on. He’s got an enemy onboard and we need to show we’re not acquainted or we’ll become targets.”
“Go,” Blake said. He waved me off. “He’s right. You need to keep yourself visible as much as possible to the people we’re here to talk to. I’ll spread your little rumor. I’ll give you a background and reputation. I can do it without us being friends, so whoever attacked me won’t get to you.”
This was so wrong. What was I doing? I was in way over my head. Was this what Blake was going to try to do alone if I hadn’t been around or had refused to join him? I had already been questioning my sanity in even agreeing. Axel had been right. They were dangerous men. The boat hadn’t even taken off yet and he’d already been attacked. “We should have been more careful,” I said. “We should take this slower.”
“We will,” Blake said, waving at me again before pressing the shirt harder against his head. “Now go away. Just give me a bit. I’ll be back on my feet.”
Axel tugged at my arm and I followed reluctantly. I wished we could have stayed until someone got there. I didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone.
Blake said nothing, just nodded at me as I was leaving. His gaze on my face told me to keep going, he’d be fine.
I trailed Axel slowly out into the hallway. Why had they just knocked him out and left him?