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ADAM
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THE MOMENT WE GOT HOME—OR at least back to the hotel—we charged up to Katie’s room and collapsed on the couch, facing each other.
“So, Ms. Pro, what do we do now?” I asked quickly, my mind still raging with the possibility that Rachel was actually in deeper than either of us had thought.
I mean honestly, I’d spent most of the last week thinking that she was probably the outlier. Maybe she’d done something to Samuel or James that had landed her on that list, because she sure as shit hadn’t looked like she was actually doing anything even remotely like stealing from my company.
Yes, Katie claimed that she was an extremely intelligent woman. But she definitely didn’t come across as the type to build some master plan for how to steal millions of dollars. And she also wasn’t living like she had that sort of money.
I’d seen what Joseph and Arthur were doing and come to the immediate conclusion that they were the ones we were looking for. No, I hadn’t seen any hard evidence yet. But I was positive it was there. And I was equally positive that Rachel wasn’t our thief.
Seeing her with Arthur had changed everything.
For Katie, too, if her dazed look was anything to go on. “I don’t even know if I know,” she said quietly. “I didn’t think there was any way she could be involved in any of this. But now...”
“Now it looks a whole lot like she’s been keeping secrets,” I finished for her. “And if she was keeping Arthur a secret from you, then what else was she keeping?”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. “She told me how hot she thought he was, and they danced together that night when we all went to O’Malley’s. Do you suppose...”
“That this has been going on for a lot longer than it looks? Yes,” I told her firmly. “And if it’s been going on for some time, and Arthur is here working specifically because he’s helping Joseph with his con...”
“Then it looks a whole lot like Rachel might know about it, too,” she murmured. “She’s obviously done something. Why else would she be on that list Samuel gave you?”
“Honestly, I thought maybe she’d just done something to upset the higher-ups,” he said ruefully. “I’d written her off as a serious suspect. I just don’t see it.”
“Seeing her with Arthur puts the whole thing in a totally different light, though, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“It definitely does.”
I refrained from saying anything about how we were actually finishing each other’s sentences right now, and I definitely didn’t say anything about how our minds were running along the same exact track. I didn’t say anything about how well we were doing at working together, or the way we were falling right into a groove together.
I didn’t think it was the right time to draw her attention to something like that.
Though I was definitely noticing. And I was putting it away to think more about later.
Right now, of course, we had slightly more immediate things to deal with. Like what the hell Rachel was doing... and what we were going to do about it.
***
“SO WHAT DO WE THINK we’re looking for?” I asked, leaning forward on the steering wheel and staring intently at Arthur’s house.
The thing was just as huge as it had been the other night when I’d been here for dinner. The cars in the driveway were just as impressive, the landscaping just as beautiful. The whole thing was, in fact, just as awe-inspiring as I’d found it the first night.
Hey, I was from New York City. I didn’t see things like this very often. All the biggest and best homes in the city were of the townhouse or penthouse variety. For stuff like this—actual homes with landscaping and lawns—you had to go outside the city and out into the surrounding towns.
I was fascinated by the idea of having so much space. Fascinated by the idea of making a home in a place where you could have so much furniture—and such a large family.
“I’m not sure, honestly,” Katie said, answering my question. “Maybe we’re watching for Rachel to make a trip to his house. Or Joseph.”
“Joseph is already there,” I reminded her. “He’s staying here now that his wife has kicked him out.”
She hummed in memory. “Awfully convenient.”
“Awfully,” I answered. “The more I think about it, the more sure I become that it’s them.”
“Unfortunately, us being sure doesn’t mean much until we have proof. We can’t exactly call the cops because we have a gut feeling.”
“Ha ha.” I didn’t say anything else, though, because she was right.
We needed proof, and we didn’t have anything. Not on any of them.
***
TWO HOURS LATER, NOTHING had happened, and I was starting to feel very antsy about the whole thing.
“Are we sure there’s even anything to see here?” I asked.
She snorted. “You must be the guy who needs everything done immediately in the office, huh? The guy who decides he wants a new division and expects it to be done next week.”
“It’s one of the things that’s made my company so great so quickly,” I argued, defending myself. “Besides, I’m not sure you can call getting bored on a stakeout a fault.”
She sighed. “Either way, I think you might be right. Already 11 and nothing’s going on. We might be off-base here.”
“Or he might be on his best behavior because his wife and kids are here. Maybe he doesn’t bring Rachel to his house. Maybe he just goes to hers. If he’s sleeping with her, that would make the most sense.”
Katie pulled out her phone and thumbed through a couple of documents, then looked up at the house again. “They’ve been married for eight years. Seems insane to throw that away on an affair.”
“Except the timing is exactly right,” I noted. “Haven’t you ever heard of the seven-year itch? Seven years is when people start getting restless. Maybe he realized he didn’t actually want to be a family guy. We know he’s weird about his wife making so much money. Perhaps he decided that was too much for him. Or maybe he just wants to be newly single, like his friend Joseph.”
“Quarter-life crisis,” Katie agreed. “It’s definitely a thing. Get there and realize you haven’t done the things you wanted to do yet...”
“Or the things you thought you wanted aren’t actually what you like,” I added. “Not everyone chooses their career at sixteen and ends up loving it.”
“Is that what you did? Choose your career at sixteen?”
“No. I knew I wanted to get into business, but I had no idea how I was going to manage it. We can’t all be like you, you know.”
I heard her laugh softly in the dark. “Like me, with my current failure to solve the case I’m working on?”
I leaned over and bumped her shoulder with mine. “Like you, with your knowing from sixteen what you wanted to do, and then going out and doing it. Fearless. Driven. Always knowing exactly what you want.”
“Driven, yes. Fearless... Well, sometimes, I suppose. What about you? Do you know what you want? You’re so quick to recognize it in me, but it seems to me that you’re the same way.”
I stared out into the darkness of the night, illuminated by only two streetlights, and thought about it. I’d always thought that I knew what I wanted. I’d gone for it, too, without really thinking about the possible repercussions. But these days, I was starting to think what I wanted had changed.
Look, for instance, at my obsession with the house in front of us. And my first thought: that you could have a big family in a house like that.
“I have everything I want professionally,” I admitted. “The company has gotten bigger than I ever thought it would. I want it to keep growing, but I know I’ll be okay if it doesn’t. What I want now... What I want now is a family, I think.”
She was silent for a long moment, and then said, “That’s rich. Everyone in the world seems to think you’re the eternal bachelor. Happiest on your own.”
“Everyone in the world doesn’t actually know me,” I said quietly. “Or what I want out of life.” I paused, then, and thought about that. “But don’t go spreading that around. I wouldn’t want you to ruin my reputation as a playboy.”
“I’ll take it to the grave,” she said with a smile. “So what have we decided about our friend Arthur? Is he sleeping with Rachel? And even if he is, does that really prove anything?”
“No,” I said regretfully. “It proves he’s not as great of a guy as I had thought. He’s sleazy as hell, and she evidently doesn’t have the moral compass to realize that what they’re doing is wrong. But that doesn’t make them guilty of anything more than adultery.”
“We need more,” she agreed. “I’m going to talk to Rachel tomorrow. Ask her some questions. See if I can get any information out of her.”
I glanced at her, surprised. “That’s going to be tough when she’s not currently talking to you.”
She gave me a quick grin. “That’s what you think. Don’t worry. I’m a fearless professional. I have a plan.”
