by Kate Benitez
“Moving on. Clara was more than helpful to explain how she’d been financing the campaign by stealing beauty and fashion items from shoots—things people normally don’t notice are missing until well beyond the time it could have been pinned on Clara. It also helped that much of the theft was done by her assistant, Daniel.”
Robert cracked his knuckles. “Ok, so Clara turned into a kleptomaniac. I don’t understand what that has to do with me. Even if the funds she contributed came from an illegal source, that can’t come back on me. I’m only responsible if I knew it was happening.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Leo said, reaching for a stack of paper. “Here are some emails between you and Dan where you detail information about how the money was coming in from various sources. The hair extension theft was one of your least productive avenues, one you actually note to cut,” Leo paused and looked up at Robert, who was sitting ashen-faced. “It’s really too bad they didn’t follow your advice. Had they stopped a month ago, you may never have been caught. But Dan admitted that he enjoyed the extensions theft for personal reasons.”
Robert said nothing and just sat with his teeth grinding together.
“You had Dan and Clara drug women and remove their hair extensions to sell on the internet. Clara was able to get her hands on the original empty boxes during her photo shoots, and all you needed to do was fill them again. The brilliance of the scheme was actually in the ridiculousness of it. I’m sure many of the girls were too embarrassed from a loss of memory and missing hair to go to the police. I’ll admit, from my own experience, that when they did, law enforcement probably wouldn’t have taken them seriously, anyway.”
Leo paused and took a sip of his water, giving Robert yet another chance to break in with a statement, but he remained as silent as stone.
“Actually, the only person each girl told about the thefts was their stylist and the head of the extension brand, Andrew Bernard. Andrew was worried about the reputation of his company and rightfully so. The fashion and beauty industry is notoriously fickle. That was your first issue—Andrew noticed. The second was that Clara had an exclusive contract with him. For the plan to work, the extensions had to be from him and in his boxes. Third was the weak link—Dan. He just couldn’t help himself from hitting on the women. You made it far too easy for someone low on the totem pole to land attractive, wealthy women. He couldn’t just give it up.”
Here Leo sighed, “I would ask you if you have anything more to add, but I don’t know that it’s necessary. I’ve got more than enough evidence to put you away as it is.”
Now Robert stood, just like Scarlett had an hour earlier. “What? You’re a private detective. What authority do you have to bring charges against me?”
Anneliese stood silently and went to the door, bringing in the final set of officers for the day.
“You’re right, I have none. But the Boston Police think my findings are more than enough to press charges. I only have one piece of advice to share, Robert,” Leo said, as the officers were revealed. “When you decide to become your own man, try doing it on your own merit as well. You’ll find you go farther.”
The police entered Leo’s office with a shiny set of cuffs and read Robert the Miranda rights and Anneliese moved to the side to let them do their job. When they finally heard the group exit the front door and close it behind them, both Leo and Anneliese sagged into their chairs in relief.
“Well that was a big day,” she muttered.
“The biggest. Welcome to the team, Ms. Nottingham.” Leo moved forward and extended his hand. “Your conditional contract is over. That was great work you did with the hair extensions case. Had you not followed up, we would never have caught Blackstone.”
Anneliese blushed in pleasure. “Well thank you, I just had a gut feeling about it.”
Leo nodded. “I’m learning to trust your gut,” he said before his grip turned tighter on her hand. “But don’t ever take a case without my knowledge again. That I won’t stand for.”
She bit her lip and agreed. After all, with such a great working relationship, why would she need to hide something like that from Leo again?
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More From Kate
Accidental Detective - Book 1
Accidental Detective - Book 2
Accidental Detective - Book 3
Accidental Detective - Book 4
Accidental Detective - Book 5
About the Author
Hello, and I’m glad you made it this far! A little bit about me... I grew up in England, just north of London, and worked a lot of my early life in the corporate world of banking and local government.
I love the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich and I always knew I’d rather be writing for a living than commuting to London every day. I never dreamed it would happen, but after spending some time in Florida, I returned to the UK and now I just love writing light-hearted, steamy romantic stories with a dose of humor!
You can usually find me at my home overlooking the beautiful English countryside, drinking tea (and the occasional glass of wine!) while I dream up the next story.
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KateBenitez.com
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank all of you, my wonderful readers, Facebook fans, beta readers and my loyal street team for all you do. I so appreciate all your love and support from the bottom of my heart!
A big thanks also to my amazing editor and cover designer for helping me bring my ideas and words to life. Without them taking care of everything I don’t have time to do, I’d never get any words on the page!