I knew what I was about to tell my friends sounded slightly insane, but I needed their opinion. Since the three of us generally saw things from slightly different angles, I was anxious to hear what they had to say once I’d filled them in.
I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the little voice in my head that taunted, “Stalling for time?” Yeah, maybe I was.
“You’re going to think I’ve lost my marbles, but bear with me. You know the email Julia sent out about the big party and meeting afterward? Well some very strange stuff is going on around here and I want to give you a quick rundown about what I’ve seen and found out. I’d like to get together and talk about it in person, because I think we might need to do some serious sleuthing this weekend.”
Cameron was the first to comment. “My goodness, Kimberly. You sound like you’re reading too many crime caper books. Strange stuff? Sleuthing? That doesn’t sound like you.”
Kate chimed in. “Cami’s right. You’re usually so level-headed, and this almost sounds like you’ve gone ’round the bend. After all, CRS is only a company that markets furniture. Okay, the furniture is made in federal prisons, but what could possibly warrant sleuthing? Counterfeit cabinetry? It simply can’t be that bad. Calm down.”
“I am calm. I wasn’t a couple of hours ago, but yes, I’m 100% calm now. Just listen to what I have to say. After that I think you’ll agree something pretty serious is afoot.”
Except for a little gasp here and an “oh no” there, both of them were totally silent while I told them about the delivery of the escrow papers, my discovery that the address was the same as the great place Matt found for the party and my encounter with the security guard.
“First, we know some of our money is being held back. Second, where the hell would Julia get the money to buy a place like that unless she’s the general partner or something in an LLC named MULCT Enterprises? And what kind of an acronym is that, anyway? Who knows? The “M” could even stand for Matt. He said he inherited a lot of money from his grandmother. I hate to doubt him, but I keep getting the feeling he’s deeply involved in whatever this turns out to be. After all, he was her right hand in D.C., and she’s the one who brought him to Seattle. Damn it. I’ve shared so much with him.”
“Don’t beat yourself up for confiding in Matt. You needed a friend in the company, and there he was. I’d have done the same thing. Wouldn’t you Kate?”
“Sure. Until now, you really didn’t have reason to be that careful about what you said to him. You haven’t told him about any of this, have you?”
“Are you nuts? Of course not.” I listened to some of their theories while I dipped into a bowl of chocolate truffles on my cocktail table. I popped one into my mouth and savored the velvety texture while listening to my two friends offer their takes on what I’d just told them.
Finally Kate said, “I hear munching. Have you taken refuge in one of those decadent Ecstasy Chocolates creations you keep handy?”
“Whoops. Caught me. Yeah. I’ve had two. That one was chocolate raspberry. One more and I’ll be okay. So, do you agree that it all sounds very suspicious?”
They chorused, “Yes.” Then Kate said, “So now what?”
”Well, I was thinking since everyone is due to come in on Friday for the party and meeting, maybe both of you could work it out to get here on Thursday afternoon. You can stay at my place Thursday night, then take a day off after the shindig and book your return flights for Monday evening.”
Kate said, “That shouldn’t be a problem for me. One advantage of working remote instead of in an office is that they have a bit of a hard time checking up on you. Most of the military bases have some blocking of cell phone signals, so the excuse of being in a dead zone for cells is totally believable. What about you, Cami?”
“I’m good too. Maybe we can coordinate our flights.”
It was after ten by the time we finished the call. I said goodbye promising to be careful and added that I’d try to find out more. Matt would be tied up all day Thursday organizing the caterers. Thursday evening he had to help pick up some of the manufacturing partners and contracting officers at the airport and get them settled in their hotel. On top of that he had to attend to a myriad of other details.
Tuesday morning Julia called and said she was still in Paradise and wouldn’t be coming into the office before Friday. For all I knew, she was relaxing in a tub full of scented bubbles in Medina. I pictured a massive Jacuzzi surrounded by lots of marble or granite. A vision of Julia getting ready to drop her towel and step into the tub popped into my mind—not what I needed to imagine right then. Concentrate.
I poked around whenever I was able to for the next few days, sneaking minutes at a time in Julia’s office, but didn’t find anything. Matt was in and out, so I couldn’t risk going through anything in his office, although I really wanted to. In the back of my mind I hoped I’d be able to find something that proved he wasn’t involved. And to think that before all this, I’d even entertained the idea of taking our flirting to the next step. Who was I kidding? He had his fingers in the pie somehow.
Late Tuesday night I was tempted to go back to the office to snoop, but what if he walked in on me? Besides, like Julia, he had locked file cabinets and even locked his desk drawers. Thursday couldn’t come soon enough.
Kate and Cameron both flew in on the same airline and arrived within fifteen minutes of each other. We got back into town from SeaTac Airport right around dinner time. We’d been stuck in what Cameron called a mini traffic jam. Well, it was a big one to me, but being from Los Angeles, Cameron said it was just a little slowdown. I took them to a restaurant I’d been to before on Capitol Hill.
After dinner I drove past Julia’s old house in that neighborhood before continuing to the mansion in Medina. As we headed for my townhouse, I said, “It’s important for you to see the difference in the homes and neighborhoods first-hand so you have an understanding of what set my antennae vibrating.