The Caspian Wine Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Series

by Maggie Thom

  “All right. These two believe I’m wasting your talents, and we’re not getting any further ahead. So I need you to go through the eighty emails I sent you a little while ago. Read them. Figure out which are real and which aren’t.”

  Her gaze flew to Guy and Bailey, who looked back at her with respect. Unsure what was going on and really unsure if she should mention it, she took a deep breath before asking them to come to her desk.

  “Look, I know I kind of did this without permission but I want you to see something.” She sat while they huddled behind her. She flipped through each of the websites. “Now I’m not sure, but there’s something odd about this one, this one and this one and potentially these other five. I don’t think any of these are real.”

  “What makes you say that?” Graham leaned over her shoulder. Neither noticed that Guy and Bailey silently made their way out the door, leaving them alone.

  Graham soon got a chair and his laptop and set up beside her. For the next hour, he and Tarin worked together, going through the websites and identifying what not only seemed fake about them but what made them special. Graham attempted to backtrace the IP addresses but most had been blocked. Tarin checked the hosting services and all were legitimate. Next she pulled up the yellow pages and then reached for the phone. She hung up and dialed the next one on the list.

  “Hi, can I speak to Cory Genner?”... “He doesn’t work there?”... “Okay, thank you.”... “Hi, is Penny Thornton there?”... “Oh, there’s no one there by that name. Uhm, could you tell me who your regional manager is?”... “You don’t have one. Oh. I’m sorry. I think I might have the wrong number. What is it that you do there?”... “Could you give me your website so that I can learn more?”... “Thank you for your help.”...

  She was about to call the next one when Graham took the phone from her and set it down. It seemed to take forever for him to remove his hand. He withdrew, settling back in his chair. She turned her attention back to the screen but the heat from his steady gaze was like a gentle tapping on the base of her skull, telling her that someone wanted her attention but would wait her out. Taking a deep breath, she turned to ask what he wanted but the words never came out. His green eyes were intensely focused on her. There was a new, questioning expression in their depths. And she realized his chair was snug up against hers and awfully close.

  Clearing her throat, she turned away and stood. “I need a drink of water. Do you want one?”

  He waited until she had the fridge door open before replying, “Yes, please.”

  The walk back to the desk was the longest ten steps she’d ever taken. She was trying to look anywhere but at him, fully aware that he hadn’t taken his eyes off her. At the far edge of the desk, she tossed a bottle to him. Opening hers, she took a long drink.

  “I’m sorry if making those calls was the wrong thing to do. I know I should have asked first but it made sense.”

  “Yeah, too much sense.”

  She met his gaze. Who did he think he was? “I don’t need—”

  He put up his hand. “Look, I owe you an apology. I’ve been a real butthead. I’m sorry. That was brilliant to call those businesses. I’m embarrassed to say it never dawned on me. I get so accustomed to using the internet, tracing and tracking everything electronically, that I forget there are other ways to get answers. Guy handles the investigations, so it never dawned on either one of us to do something that simple.”

  He shook his head but finally chuckled. “So what did you learn?”

  Reluctant to close the distance between them, she leaned against the far edge of the desk.

  “Well, I learned in the second phone call, I should have asked way more questions in the first. I did learn Cori Genner has never worked there. So that’s probably a bogus request. As for the second one, there is no Penny Thornton, which I’m sure means it’s crap, too. Now in both cases, the companies exist. Hey, wait.” She sat down in her chair and clicked open a new browser, typing in a URL. Then she went back to the emails and found the one she wanted and clicked on the link. Then she flipped back and forth between the two websites.

  “Okay, so what are you doing?”

  She turned her head, her focus still on what she’d been looking at on the screen, so it was a bit of a surprise when she found herself almost nose to nose with Graham. His eyes widened ever so slightly, while hers peeled wide as she jerked back in her chair. To hide her embarrassment, she waved at the monitor.

  “They look identical, don’t they?”

  Graham studied them. “Yes, but I take it they aren’t?”

  “You got it. Look at this.” She pointed to the two URLs—cornerstone and cornerstones.

  “Holy crap. How did I miss that?”

  “I’d have never missed that kind of trick before. Dammit. So why is someone setting up almost identical but bogus websites? What the hell is going on?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I want to meet you.

  The message sent her heart racing. This was it, she knew it. With shaking fingers, Tarin replied. The woman hadn't said where she lived but that she could meet in or around the Toronto area, no problem. Evenings or weekends were fine.

  Excited, Tarin had to correct her typing mistakes eight times before she was able to form a coherent sentence. Not sure where the woman had to travel from, she considered possibilities. Toronto wasn’t really a city one wanted to travel around in, because it took a lot of time—especially downtown. She kept picking and rejecting places—Tim Hortons, which were all over the city but they were always so busy... and noisy. She wanted something public yet private. Opening a browser, she scrolled through various places to meet. Parks brought up some interesting places. She read through several when she came upon Bronte Creek Provincial Park. It was outside Toronto, was public but would give them a quiet space if they needed it. She typed directions from the outskirts of Toronto heading southwest and set it for 10:00 Saturday morning. The traffic shouldn’t be crazy at that time. The only problem was it was still a few days away, and she didn’t know if she could wait that long. Before she could change her mind, she sent her reply.

  A rush of tiny waves of anticipation mixed with a niggling stab of fear coursed through her. She didn’t know if she’d done the smartest thing in her life or the stupidest but she couldn’t stop the voice that kept saying, ‘you did it, now you’ll get answers’. The thought of finally knowing what had happened to her three years ago was almost overwhelming. After she’d initially figured out some of what had happened, she’d been so frightened that she’d wanted to distance herself from it. Then things had snowballed on her. Finding out she was pregnant and alone, then having Stephen propose and then marrying him, only to have him change overnight... it had all been too much but now she needed to know. She needed to find out who the sick bastard was that had locked her up for a week. Who had drugged her? Who had taken away her memory and left her with only fleeting glances into what might have happened? And that’s what scared her the most—what might have happened? What really had happened? She only knew a very small part of the whole situation—the outcome. But who else knew?

  The USB that she still had hidden away came to mind. She so badly wanted to see what she’d downloaded from the winery and at the same time, she was having a hard time making herself snoop into someone else’s business. It felt so slimy and wrong. If she could, she really wanted to try to figure things out without having to use information illegally acquired. There may be absolutely nothing of value and then how crappy was she going to feel for stealing it? She was so morally torn between the urgent need to check it out and her conscience telling her not to touch it.

  Overcome with emotion, she sank into her chair as the reality of her actions hit her. On Saturday she was going to meet someone who may have gone through the same thing she had. Could that really be possible? Was there some sicko out there targeting women this way?

  Suddenly she sat upright and reached for her cell phone. She quickly pulled up
her calendar and then groaned as she realized she was already booked. She’d made a play date with Chance to take him to the Toronto Zoo. He loved animals and she thought it would be a great way to make up for being absent so much. Thankfully he was adjusting to Bobbie and Kim as babysitters. He no longer cried or held onto her with a stranglehold when she left in the morning. That alone instantly brought tears to her eyes. Things were changing. He was already becoming independent of her. And she was becoming more independent of him. The flood of emotion that hit her was like a dam about to burst. Pressing her hands in a steeple over her nose, she took some long, slow breaths, willing away the feeling of despair.

  After a few moments, she was able to think about it rationally. She could change her time with Chance to Sunday. The accompanying guilt almost had her throwing up. He wouldn’t really know the difference but she sure would.

  Sighing, she clicked on the email to send a new one and adjust the meeting time and day only to discover when she looked at her calendar that Sunday was booked as well. They were having brunch at Bobbie’s and then going to the lake. That meant she’d have to wait another whole week to meet this woman. An instant sense of dread bordering on panic at the thought of putting it off let her know there was no way she could do that. She’d have to come up with an alternative plan.

  “Good morning. You’re in early.”

  She’d barely had time to close out her emails and open the company information at the sound of the key in the lock. She hadn’t had time to get through many of the other messages she’d wanted to.

  “Morning, Graham. I hope it’s still okay that I deal with a few personal emails on this computer?”

  “Yes. We talked about it and I’m okay with it. What I’m not okay with, however, is you think you have to come in before 6:30 to do it. You can do it on your break that you never take, or the lunch that you work through.”

  She was tempted to press her hands to her heated cheeks but she refrained. “I don’t see you taking breaks, either.”

  “I’m the boss. It comes with the territory.”

  “All right. Thanks.”

  He headed to his office.

  “Uh, Graham?”

  “Hmm, yes?” He glanced over his shoulder.

  “Is there anything new on those emails I followed up on?” Things seemed to have shifted between them since she’d shown him what she’d discovered.

  “Well, so far I think you’ve discovered almost four hundred fake companies and requests. About one hundred and fifty that are maybes, which I think we’ll ignore—they’re taking too much time. And then there are twenty-five legit and thirty questionable ones. I’ll get you to do some more digging, on the questionable group. I don’t know how we’re going to take on much more work but we’ll see what we can do. Sorry if I haven’t said anything but that’s damn good. You’ve saved me countless hours.”

  “Even though you’ve gone through everything I’ve done with the utmost care to make sure I haven’t been messing with you or making mistakes?”

  His eyes widened but she was sure not as wide as hers. There was a stunned silence.

  “Oh my god, I’m sorry. I had no right to say that. I don’t know why I did. Really, just ignore it. It’s—”

  “A fact.” Graham started laughing. “So you know, I quit doing that a while ago.”

  “A day ago.” Tarin slapped her hand over her mouth.

  “No, a little longer than that. I might be a bit narcissistic but I’m not quite that bad,” he said in his best western drawl.

  It reminded her of the John Wayne movies she used to sneak out of bed and sit on the stairs to watch. Her dad had loved those old shows. For her it had been a way to feel she was doing something with him, although he’d never known she’d been there.

  She wasn’t quite sure how to react to Graham, since their relationship had begun as anything but friendly. She couldn’t help but smile though as he took a few steps in a comically awkward gunslinger’s swagger. Her eyes automatically gravitated toward his. The green of his eyes was as intense and arresting.

  “Hey, you guys look as though you’re having too much fun.”

  Tarin tore her eyes away from Graham’s. Sure they would show too much, she concentrated on her monitor.

  “Morning, Guy. Bailey.” She started opening emails, clicking on websites. She glanced up briefly to smile at them as they passed through to the inner office. Once the door was closed she wilted, laying her forehead on the edge of her desk.

  She felt like a teenager who’d been caught mooning over the cute boy down the street. She hadn’t been exactly, but she was so touched by his praise and his taking responsibility for his over-the-top actions. In the past, she would have been made to feel at fault.

  Rather than go down that dark hallway of her past, she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of finally being appreciated for something she’d done. She worked steadily throughout the day, able to get a lot of work done. Before she left for the day, she quickly checked her emails to see if the woman had responded, anxious to see whether she had agreed to the time and date. She was finally going to talk to someone who might have gone through the same experience. The odds of it being the same man—she chose not to go there. It was having someone who totally understood what she was feeling coupled with the off chance their situations were the same. Her knees were shaking so strongly they almost knocked together.

  I can’t meet. Not this Saturday. I’ll get back to you.

  Tarin slumped in her chair, feeling as if all the wind had been taken out of her sails as she read the woman’s reply. Damn.

  Sending a quick reply, she got out of there. About to call Bobbie, a text from Stephen came in.

  ‘Thanks for leaving my car at the airport. Real nice of you. You’re lucky it hasn’t been harmed. Good riddance. Not impressed. I can’t believe you’re standing me up. I had to find a replacement date. Wasn’t be easy to explain...’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “When were you going to tell me she’s gone?”

  How the hell does he know already? “I... look—”

  “No, you listen. I paid you handsomely to keep track of her. To take care of all that she needed. To make sure that she stayed in one place. That was too much to ask?”

  “Well, how was I to know she was flighty? She was following all my orders.” Stephen dropped into his leather chair. He’d been dreading this conversation. “Cripes she was always at home or busy with—”

  “You’re really not very bright, are you?”

  “I’ll have you know—”

  “Oh, believe me I already know. I know that you’re a Harvard grad. Your father believes you can do no wrong, although he is making you pay your own way, which you’re finding rather difficult. Oh and you have a mistress on 142—”

  “How the hell do you know that?” Stephen’s left knee bounced rapidly as he listened to the man he’d been eager to meet four years before. All he’d had to do was meet this young, attractive woman and convince her to marry him. Not only was she from money but he’d be paid handsomely to keep track of her and keep her in line. It had sounded so simple and although Stephen had never been told, nor asked what the man’s relationship was to her, he’d known it had to have been a close one. It hadn’t bothered him that he didn’t know that or even the man’s name.

  At the time, Stephen had been trying to prove to his father he didn’t need his money or his help to bail him out every single time he made a mistake. Stephen had decided he could look after his own problems. Besides, it hadn’t hurt bringing home a beautiful daughter-in-law. The grandson had been his security blanket. Stephen had never seen his dad so proud of him. The family money was now his to spend. If his father ever found out Tarin and Chance were gone, he was pretty sure the finances would disappear as well. And now his only source of income was going to vanish, faster than he was prepared for, leaving him with the pittance he got paid on his regular job. It didn’t even come close to meeting his nee
ds.

  “Do you really think I’d have hired you without knowing everything about you? I thought I made it clear that you weren’t to see other women.”

  “I didn’t. Well, not for the longest time. But god, she was like bedding a cold fish. You can’t expect a man in his prime to have to put up with that.”

  “So getting a piece of tail was more important to you than receiving the healthy cheque I sent you each month.”

  “No... well... look, I’ll find her. I promise. We have a good arrangement. I’ll get her back and we can continue as it was. My life is no picnic without her, you know. I’ve missed out on some things because she’s gone. I’ve had to put up with embarrassing moments. I’ve had to make up stories.”

  “Ah, but in the week or two she’s been missing, you’ve done nothing to find her, have you? I don’t do well with being taken for a ride.”

  “Not true. I hired a private investigator to search for her.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. He hasn’t found anything yet. I was hoping to get her back before I had to tell you about it. Don’t worry; I’ll fix this.”

  “You don’t and you’ll be swimming in the fish tank at the zoo.”

  Stephen sank against the wall as he listened to the buzz indicating his caller had hung up. When he finally felt as though he had some control over his muscles, he stood and walked to the wastebasket beside his desk. He rooted around in it until he found the card of the guy he’d actually met with but had to refuse because of his exorbitant fees. It looked like he didn’t have a choice now.

  That bitch has humiliated me for the last time. Dammit. Where the hell could she have gone?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  You so callously throw my love back in my face and vanish without a trace...

  A chill invaded Tarin’s core. Stephen had changed tactics again. That wasn’t surprising but he’d never used the ‘L’ word before. He’d even skipped it in his vows, rather than ‘love, honor and cherish’, he’d said ‘I’ll cherish & honor you’. She’d been too busy saving her own skin and so thankful to him for wanting to be with her that she’d overlooked it.