The Caspian Wine Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Series

by Maggie Thom

  “Oh, I mean JT. And then Arlene, she does payroll. Shannon is her assistant. You met them briefly the other day. Carl Jones, VP of Human Resources, is off due to a heart condition. He’s been gone about three months. No return date, yet. And Don Melner is off on a month long holiday. He doesn’t even know what has happened. When he goes on vacation, he does not take his work phone. There’s no way to get a hold of him.”

  “And Don does what?”

  “Oh, sorry. He’s Vice President of Customer Services. He’s really who should have stepped in to take over for your fa—” Mary put her fingers to her lips. “I’m sorry. I had no right to say that. It’s just that’s the norm. But your father never did things by any rulebook. He really didn’t trust well. I mean doesn’t. I—”

  Tijan touched Mary’s arm. “It’s okay. I know my father does things his way or no way.”

  Mary smiled. “Yes, he does.”

  “How have you lasted so many years with him, Mary?”

  “He’s a good, kind man. I know not many see him that way but he’s always been good to me.” Mary’s smile faltered. “It’s a good job. I like all the responsibility I have. There isn’t much that happens here that doesn’t go through me.”

  August hoped he kept his face neutral but from everything he’d heard none of those words had ever been used to describe James Madsen.

  “What exactly is JT’s position?” August realized he might have said that a little sharper than he needed to when both women snapped their heads toward him.

  Mary smiled; a deep-seated, warm smile. “He’s a good boy. He’s the Finance Manager. He’s in line to be the VP of Operations, although he calls it CFO. He has such high aspirations. In fact, he and your father were in negotiations when your father was injured. How is he, Tarin?”

  Tijan opened her mouth but hesitated before saying, “He’s okay. It’ll be a while before he’s back to normal. But he’s doing well.”

  “Do you know anyone who’d want to hurt him, Mary?”

  Her body snapped upright as if she was physically and emotionally withdrawing. “Why would you ask me? I already talked with those men from the CSIS and I told them I don’t know anything. I know your father didn’t have a lot of friends and many didn’t like his business dealings but I don’t know much about that. Your father is a good man. He doesn’t have good taste in women but, uhm—I really have to get back to work. I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. But I have a lot of work.” Mary walked briskly to the door and left without turning back.

  “Well that was obviously a good question, August. She left like a scalded cat. So what does she know that she doesn’t want us to know?”

  Chapter 46

  Tijan rounded the corner of the hotel, having stepped outside to get a breath of fresh air. She’d never been indoors as long as she’d been with this job, and she’d only been doing it for a week. How had her life gotten so crazy?

  Walking across the street, she strolled a few blocks before cutting across to a park. She needed grass and the outdoors. Leaning against a tree, she pulled out her phone and dialed her mom. She needed to talk to the one person who could always ground her.

  “Tijan. Where are you? I’ve been worried sick. Are you okay?”

  Tijan took a deep breath, feeling a lot of the stress and pressure ease. “Hi, Mom. I’m fine. I sure miss you. The big city isn’t like anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

  “You’re still in Toronto, right?”

  There was almost the sound of hope that she wasn’t. If only her mom knew was was going on. Tijan tensed. “Uh. I’m kind of switching. I mean exploring. I’m currently in Montreal.” She winced as the lie rolled off her tongue. The last time she’d fibbed to her mom, she’d been thirteen and had wanted to wear a certain short dress to the school dance. Her mom had said no so she’d snuck it out. That had been the last time she’d worn a dress. Kyle, her boy-crush, had laughed at her. It had all backfired.

  She just hoped this wouldn’t. Then she realized this whole trip was a lie.

  “Oh. Tell me about some of the places you’ve been. Who have you met? Did you go to Niagara Falls? They’re amazing. But it is a very touristy place. I bet it’s crazy there.”

  Feeling deflated and not really chatty and having totally killed the good feeling she’d had from hearing her mom’s voice, she looked around. What was she supposed to say?

  ‘I met a man who’s my father that you told me was dead. I found my sister that you told me was dead but I know you kept hope that she wasn’t. But how did that come about? How come she wasn’t in my life? What the hell, Mom.’

  “Tijan?”

  “Sorry, Mom. I just wanted to call and let you know I’m okay. I’ll send an email soon. And tell you all about it. I’ve been putting in some long days. I’m exhausted.”

  “Oh, that’s good to hear. I hope you’ve seen a lot and met a lot of people?”

  “Yeah. I have. I really have to go.”

  “Is there anything you want to tell me, Tijan? I get a sense that things aren’t good.”

  Tijan closed her eyes. At any other time, that would have been a welcome thing to hear. In fact, in the past they’d have stayed up late talking. Her mom really was her best friend. But right now her best friend had a lot of questions to answer and Tijan didn’t know quite how to ask them.

  “I’m good, Mom. We’ll talk soon. I miss you. Love you.”

  “Love you too. Don’t ever forget that.”

  Tijan hung up as tears pricked her eyes. She clutched her phone in her hand, wondering again how life had gotten so crazy.

  Kicking off her shoes, she walked barefoot, loving the bright, green grass under her feet. For a few minutes she let herself enjoy the beauty of it. But it didn’t take long for the noise and general hum of city racket to infiltrate her senses and destroy any peace she’d been feeling.

  The whole purpose for the walk had been to get rid of stress but that, too, had backfired.

  Her phone rang. Glancing at the one in her hand, she frowned before remembering that she carried two phones. She pulled the one Tarin had given her out of her pocket.

  “Hi, Tarin.”

  “Are you alright, Tijan? You sound down.”

  Tijan shrugged her shoulders a few times to ease the tension. “Yeah, just a bit overwhelmed.”

  “You don’t have to stay. We can figure something else out.”

  “That would mean you’d have to come out of hiding and that might put you and Chance at risk. I’ll survive. I am making a serious mess of everything. And I don’t know that I’ve done one single, solitary thing for the business but it has been an eye-opener.”

  “Yeah, sorry for the crash course in being a shark. Anyway, the reason I called, wait... do you have a minute?”

  “Yeah. I’m at the park, so we should be fine. No ears to hear me.” She looked around to make sure.

  “Great. Okay, we looked into all of the employees. There are a few who have had some interesting pasts, including several who lied on their applications. But the most interesting is what we found out about Chris Simmons.”

  “JT?”

  “Yeah. He was an orphan who got adopted at the age of five. Interestingly though, there are no records of who his parents are. Nothing.”

  “That’s weird, right? How can there not be any record of that?”

  “Someone obviously destroyed it. He does have papers mentioning his adoption, his name and a date of birth but no other information—at least not that we can find.”

  “Okay, this may sound odd. But are you guys any good?”

  Tarin laughed. “Very. I’m quite good at hacking a lot of websites but Guy and Graham not only surpass me, they have some crazy mad skills when it comes to the Internet and cybersecurity. They also have some really good connections.”

  “So essentially, you hack for a living?” Tijan was sure that wasn’t meant to be a good thing.

  “I guess that’s one way of putting it. We try
to figure out what the bad hackers are doing so we can stop them. Really, the main focus of Knight’s Associates is stopping cybercrime. Initially it was finding the bad guys by following their digital footprint. Now the company has evolved into a major contender in preventing hackers from accessing personal data in big companies and the government.”

  “Someday, we really need to sit down and talk about that. I’m fascinated. For me, turning on the computer is an accomplishment. Hey, I’m getting a text. Hang on.” Tijan looked at the message. “Well, it would appear that JT wants to meet with me. And Mary has texted me four times. I guess sneaking out on this job isn’t a good thing.”

  “Be careful, Tijan.”

  “Oh yeah. Do you know a good lawyer?”

  “What?”

  The shriek in her sister’s voice, reminded her that she couldn’t just jump topics, especially not when it involved legal stuff.

  “Sorry. I need someone to look over some papers. Mary keeps at me to sign these papers that say I’m in charge. But shouldn’t a lawyer be going through those with me? Eleanor, who is quite a delight, never mentioned them. I haven’t looked at them and I don’t know legal jargon but I’m not about to sign something I don’t understand. And really, since I’m not you, I shouldn’t be signing them anyway.”

  “Can you scan them and send them?”

  “I don’t recall seeing a printer in your dad’s office. I’ll take pictures and send them. It’ll be faster. By the time I figure out how to scan and send, Chance will be graduating high school.”

  “There’s a printer in the cabinet, beneath the windows.”

  “Oh, beside the liquor cabinet. Which is really well stocked.”

  “Yeah, that’s one thing he never scrimped on.”

  “By the way, I’ve been spending money on improving staff conditions. Just thought you should know I’ve signed your name a few times.”

  “As long as you aren’t giving away millions and doing anything illegal, I’m sure I’m fine with it. Be careful though.”

  “I will. You too. Keep that cute nephew of mine safe.” Tijan hung up. The warm sun felt so good, she tilted her head back and just stood there for several minutes enjoying it. One of her phones buzzed, reminding her that there was no rest. Glancing at her phone, she saw it was from Mary; in fact, there were now five texts from her. Not bothering to read any of them, she slipped on her shoes and started walking back to the hotel. Distracted by all that she and Tarin had discussed, she wasn’t really paying attention to what was around her. The information about Chris or JT seemed to be setting off some alarm bells but she wasn’t sure what that meant.

  There had been something about him that had bothered her from the beginning but knowing he’d been an orphan didn’t sit well with her. She’d hated on the ranch when a calf or a colt had been orphaned. Although she’d made sure they’d been raised with love and a lot of attention, she knew that humans that tended to be orphaned didn’t have that kind of upbringing. She felt for the guy. So was he just someone out to protect himself, since no one probably had, or was there something more sinister about him?

  Chapter 47

  A car came to a screeching halt beside her and Tijan’s head whipped around. The doors flew open and two men whose faces looked carved in angry stone rushed her.

  “Get in.”

  Tijan tried to shrug off the man who had her upper arm in a grip so tight she knew it was going to leave some deep marks. Fleetingly, she wondered if they could get fingerprints off her skin. “Really, I’m fine.”

  She soon found herself tossed in the back seat, her head down and most of her crumpled up on the floor of the limo.

  “Things really don’t have to be difficult.” Mr. Tesimmon grabbed her by the hair, snapping her head back. “But I like things done my way. If you do that, there won’t be any harm. If you don’t, well...”

  He released her hair with almost as much force as he’d grabbed it. “Now, sit up here so we can talk.”

  Rubbing her head, and feeling a weighted, sick feeling invade every pore of her being, she gingerly climbed onto the seat. Hugging the back corner, she put as much space as she could between her and the only other person in the back. The gold, heavy chain he wore flashed at her as they turned the corner.

  “It appears that your father was smarter than I gave him credit for. All his electronic signatures have vanished. He had someone create an app for him. When he signed something with his signature online, it was only good on that document and could not be copied or used elsewhere or it disappears. I don’t like when people screw with me.”

  Tijan found she could barely swallow; her mouth had gone so dry. His look felt like it could singe her hair. She was almost tempted to put her hand up to check but really didn’t want to make any sudden movements in case he took them the wrong way. She just about went limp when he looked away but she knew she had to be aware of every move he made. Keeping him in her sights, she glanced around to see if there was anything she could grab if she needed to protect herself.

  “I hear your father is awake.”

  Tijan froze.

  “It’s good that you’ve been visiting him.”

  The impact of that hit her like a sledgehammer to the gut. He’d been watching her father, which meant he knew that Tarin was going there. Did he know there were two of them? Struggling to swallow, she determined her best defense was to remain mute.

  “Now that he’s coming around, you’re going to get his signature on these documents for me.”

  He handed her some papers but she didn’t reach for them. He grabbed her hand, his nails biting into her bones and forced it open. He set the pages on her open palm. Curiosity got the better of her and she glanced at the top sheet. It was an acquisition agreement. Reaching with her other hand, which she assumed he took as her acceptance of them, she flipped through the pages. The sick feeling that had invaded her body the moment she’d met this man suddenly felt like a geyser about to erupt.

  “He’ll never sign these.” She didn’t know her father at all but from what she’d discovered, a man who had given his life to his business and who’d pretty much given up family to do so would never sign it away—and certainly not fifty-one percent of it. She knew enough about business to know that meant he was giving up majority control.

  “See, that’s where you come in. Because I know that you’ll want your father around for a while. If I have to I’ll fake these papers. But see I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. I’m going legit. So don’t fuck with me.”

  The car slowed. Tijan hadn’t paid attention to where they were going. Glancing out the almost black window, she was able to make out a large structure. Her stomach felt like it had dropped twenty stories. They were at the hospital.

  “He may not be awake.”

  Mr. T smiled at her. At least that was what she was sure he’d call it but it was the most evil, venom-filled thing she’d ever seen. “Then I guess you’ll wake him. I want these back.” He glanced at his watch. “You have fifteen minutes.”

  The door opened behind her and she was ruthlessly grabbed and yanked out. The pages in her hand went flying.

  “Fourteen minutes.”

  Scrambling to pick them up, she scrunched the sheets in her hand and took off running. Entering the hospital, she went straight to the bathroom.

  “Tarin! Tarin! He wants me to force Dad to sign forms that will give up Dad’s company. I only have ten minutes. Tarin!”

  “Tijan. It’s okay. It’s okay. He, meaning Tesimmon? You’re at the hospital, right?”

  “How’d you know?”

  “Our security saw what happened but couldn’t stop it. One of them followed you. We’re on our way. We’ll be there in five.”

  “He’s here. He brought me here. He wants me to get Dad to sign these forms. I can’t do that.”

  “It’s okay. Tesimmon wants Dad to sign forms? I’m assuming it means he wants to take over the business.”

  “He knows too much.
He knows I, I mean you, have been coming here. He knows Dad’s awake. He knows a lot. Wait; you can’t come here. He’ll know there are two of us.”

  “So, why don’t we use that? Where is he?”

  “Illegally parked in the drop-off area.”

  “Good. I’ll get Graham to drop me off a short distance away. Then he’ll drive by that area. I’ll come running, hop in and we’ll take off. That should get them to follow us.”

  “Are you crazy? They’ll kill you.”

  “Call those guys from the CSIS. You have their number?”

  “I’ll get it.” After hanging up, she called August.

  “Are you in the office?”

  “No; the hotel room, why? Where did you go to?”

  “I need you to go to the office and get me that card for the CSIS guys. Oh wait, it might be in my room.”

  “Just give me a second and I’ll check. Good thing you didn’t lock the door between our rooms.”

  She could hear him moving around, searching. She couldn’t even tell him where to look.

  “Here it is.” August gave her the number. “Care to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Mr. T. kidnapped me and dropped me off at the hospital to get Dad to sign some papers. He wants him to give up the majority of his business. I have about five minutes to do so. Tarin and Graham are on their way; they’re going to lead the guys away from the hospital. And then I don’t know.”

  August was silent for a few seconds. Tijan didn’t blame him; it was a lot to take in.

  “I’ll be there, in however long it takes to get part way across Toronto in a cab. Stay hidden. Get those CSIS guys to put security on your dad. Talk to the hospital as well. Stay hidden.”

  Tijan wasn’t sure how she was supposed to stay in hiding and do all of that but she proceeded to call the Canadian Security Agency.

  “Is this Jim?”

  “Just a minute.”

  She was immediately put on hold.

  “This is Jim. Hello, Ms. Roth.”

  “How—” Tijan felt a little sick but decided to let it go. “Look. That organized crime dude you’re after is here. At the hospital. He wants my father to sign some papers. I have about two minutes to do that. Then he’s going to, well I don’t know but I’m quite sure it isn’t good. I need some security on my father.”