Clint was knee-deep in paperwork when Ty showed up at his office the following day. After his conversation with Alex last night, Clint was on edge about having Ty walking the halls. He gestured for Ty to close the door behind him so they could speak in private.
Ty dropped into the chair opposite Clint with a frown. “I heard your partner, Locke, isn’t so keen on having my team poke around.”
“Yeah, to be fair, if the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn’t much like it, either.”
Ty shifted in the chair, all business. “Look, we need to talk about some of your inner circle. We’ve cleared most of the people on the payroll except a handful who work closest with you.”
“And?”
“And we’ve found nothing to support that they might be involved with the embezzlement or the attack on your life.”
“That’s good news,” he said.
“All it does it narrow the playing field. The people closest to you are the ones who stand to benefit if you aren’t around. At some point we need to talk to Locke.”
“I know but let’s try and leave him out until we absolutely can’t anymore.”
“Okay, there are others we can talk to before Locke. Starting with your assistant, Jeana. It’s time to question her.”
He wanted to protest that Jeana would never do anything to hurt him—she practically adored him—but he knew it would be a waste of breath.
“Okay, I understand,” Clint said on a sigh. “I’ll let her know you’ll be calling.”
“Thanks.” Ty paused before saying, “We did find some more information on the money. The transactions were tied to a terminal located within this building but narrowing down which computer was used takes time.”
Clint’s heart sank. It hurt to know that someone he worked with was stealing from him. He tried to create a good work environment and Broadlocke was considered top tier in the employment bracket for competitive wages.
And yet, someone was still stealing from him. Anger followed. “I want this person found. Who else is on your list aside from Jeana?”
Ty pulled a folded sheet of paper and carefully unfolded it before handing it to Clint. “That’s the short list we compiled. Everyone on that list needs to be cleared.”
Clint perused the list. Some names were familiar but others were hazy, as if he should know them, but his memory was still glitching. Of course Alex and Jeana were at the top.
“Another theory we’re working on is, do you have any disgruntled employees that come to mind who might feel justified in helping themselves to the piggy bank?”
A name jumped to his memory, Derrick Rochester, an analyst who used to be in charge of the old computer system before they upgraded. Rochester hadn’t been happy about the change, loudly protesting. In the end, Clint thought a different place might be a better fit and he was let go.
“Sounds like a good foundation for motive,” Ty said, jotting the name down along with contact information. “Anyone else?”
“We like to pride ourselves in being a good place to work,” Clint answered, searching his memory. “We don’t have a lot of people who don’t stay. We hire good people and good people stay.”
“Fair enough. We’ll look into Rochester and see if he’s keeping his nose clean.”
Clint nodded, unsettled by the conversation. He’d always been a straightforward guy. He tried to be fair and consistent, but there would always be someone who thought you were the worst no matter what you did.
Was that the case? Was there someone out there hating him so much that they wanted him dead?
“What about past lovers?” Ty asked. “Sometimes matters of the heart get messy.”
“There’s only one woman I dated in the recent past, Iris Yearly, and she’s already moved on to someone else. I doubt she cares about what I’m doing enough to cultivate this kind of scheme.”
“We should check it out, just in case. When it comes to emotion, things are never as black and white as we want them to be.”
He knew that to be true. This situation with Jordana had him twisted in knots. Clint nodded and jotted down Iris’s contact information. God, he hoped it wasn’t Iris. He exhaled a long breath. He wanted this nightmare to end. “Do you need anything else?”
“No, I think this will keep us busy for a few days.”
“Good.” Clint wanted to focus on work; that was something he understood. He had a major meeting with a new client and if they landed their account it could mean a lot to their company. He didn’t want to let anyone down and he still felt insecure about his memory. There were patches, blank spots, in his memory that cropped up at unexpected moments and he sweated the possibility of losing something vital at a crucial moment.
It was why he’d been staying late at the office. It could also be that he wasn’t entirely proud of his mumbled apology for being a difficult ass. Sure, Jordana had accepted his weak defense but he hadn’t let himself off the hook because he knew she’d deserved some groveling on his part. The thing was, he wanted to be able to show Jordana that they were both safe from any real threats, but he couldn’t do that unless he could prove it.
While Jordana worked with Ty, he poured over past accounts, refreshing his memory, reading mountains of memos, texts and emails so that his recall was up to date.
But all that “homework” took a toll on his time with Jordana, which he hated, but he couldn’t see a way around it. He’d much rather spend his time curled around her luscious body, listening to her laugh, making her sweat, but he couldn’t risk losing everything because of his memory loss. It was a full-time job keeping that information under wraps, particularly from Alex. If it weren’t for Jeana, he never would’ve been able to pull it off.
Speaking of Jeana, he hoped and prayed Ty was able to clear her. It would stab him in the heart if Jeana were found to be the one behind all this drama.
Also, if it was Jeana, he was in a whole lot of trouble because she knew everything.
She also knew when would be the best time to strike again.
He was living on the edge of a sword but he didn’t know who was doing the swinging.
Jordana was restless back at the penthouse. She felt like a caged bird in a pretty prison but she couldn’t leave unless she knew Clint was safe. She wasn’t the type to go shopping or sightseeing. She preferred having a job. So when Ty showed up at the penthouse and invited her to come along to question a former employee, Derrick Rochester, she couldn’t dress fast enough.
Meeting Ty downstairs in the lobby, she grinned when he ushered her into an awaiting rented car. “You have no idea how you are saving my sanity right now,” she said.
“I figured you were going stir-crazy when Clint said you were staying behind at his place.”
“You got that right,” she replied. “I’m beginning to question if it was a good idea to come to Chicago. I’m not being all that useful and I can’t just sit at home like a good little puppy waiting for its master to come home.”
“Which is basically what everyone was thinking when you decided to leave with Clint. He seems like a great guy, don’t get me wrong, but everyone who knows you...well, this kind of gig just isn’t your thing.”
She knew he was talking about the completely different world Clint inhabited in comparison to her own. “I know,” Jordana said, shaking her head. “I care about him a lot, maybe I even love him, but I don’t know how this works out in the long run. I’ve been thinking, maybe I should go back to Braxville.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know what I want. I just know that I’m not doing any good here. He doesn’t want to work on the case with me and he’s so distracted with the business that he doesn’t have time for me on a personal level so why the hell am I staying?”
“What do you mean he doesn’t want to talk about the case?”
“He says he’s overwhelmed and just needs a break when he comes home, which I can understand, but sometimes I feel he doesn’t give sufficient weight to the fact that there’s someone out there trying to kill him.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think he’s trying to ignore that fact. I think he’s trying to keep a lot of balls up in the air and a few keep dropping. I feel bad for the guy, honestly.”
“Yeah?”
“I do. He’s trying to balance a new relationship in spite of a bunch of different and equally time-consuming situations. I think anyone would be overwhelmed.”
Jordana digested her brother’s comment, nodding. “Yeah, that makes sense, but even so, it does draw attention to the red flags that are waving all over the place.”
“Such as?”
“Such as, I don’t belong in his world. I don’t fit. I’m not ever going to be some society girl or a ‘lady who lunches’ and I don’t see myself joining the Chicago PD. I like the pace of Braxville and maybe that’s not ambitious enough for some people but I liked my job back home. Hell, I miss home. I miss my bed. I miss my judgy cat.”
“Ugh, that cat. He is judgy,” Ty agreed.
“But I don’t want to leave unless I know Ty is in good hands.”
“Do you want to leave Clint behind?”
“Not really,” she admitted with misery. “But I don’t think I can stay, either.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I stay, I’ll become more resentful and eventually it’ll just tear us apart. I’d rather leave before we hate each other.”
He chuckled. “Maybe it won’t come to that.”
“No, it will. I can’t stay,” she realized, her sinuses clogging with the sadness of that conclusion. “Maybe it’s true that if you truly love someone you have to let them go. Staying would be a disaster for us both.”
“I want you to be happy, sis. If you think leaving is the best for both of you, I know I won’t be able to change your mind. All I can do is promise that I’ll keep your man safe while you’re gone.”
Jordana wiped at her eyes. “Thank you.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“Probably tonight, after I make my flight plans. I don’t want to give him the chance to change my mind.”
“For what it’s worth, I think he’s a good man. I like the way you light up around him. I’ve never seen you so happy...or so sad. I think it’s real between you.”
She smiled, appreciating her big brother’s support. “I think it’s real, too.”
But staying would be a mistake. As much as she loved Clint, she wasn’t doing him any good here and she was needed in Braxville.
Sometimes being an adult meant making hard choices.
Leaving Clint behind before she knew who was behind his attack was a thorn in her side but she knew she was leaving Clint in good hands.
Ty would do whatever was necessary to catch the person responsible.
She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation when she told Clint she was leaving.
Until then, she was happy to distract herself with a little old-fashioned investigative legwork.