Faith yawned as she pulled into the parking lot of Unfinished Business the next morning. It had been a late night for her and Asher. Or, rather, an early morning. They hadn’t left UB until after three. They’d pored over their files and explored the databases at UB’s disposal to gather every bit of information that they could about Leslie Parks, the younger sister of Jasmine, who’d been only fifteen years old when Jasmine went missing. But nothing they’d found gave them a clue about who might have taken her. And they hadn’t discovered anything to tie the two abductions together.
Other than the obvious—that they were sisters—their age difference meant their lives had been more or less separate and different. Leslie had been a sophomore in high school when Jasmine got her job bartending. It wasn’t like they’d frequented clubs together or hung out with the same friends. That left two distinct possibilities.
Either whomever had abducted Leslie was a completely different person than the one who’d abducted Jasmine.
Or both abductors were the same person.
The first option seemed ludicrous even though it was technically possible.
The second was terrifying.
Had the person who’d taken Jasmine kept an eye on her family all these years, waiting for the perfect opportunity to hurt them again? Had the perpetrator decided that he wanted to destroy the family’s relief at finding their daughter’s body by visiting more horror and pain on them? Faith couldn’t even imagine the sick, evil mind of someone who’d want to do that.
She yawned again and pulled to a halt at the end of the third row. She’d never had problems finding a parking space here before. Unfinished Business was located near the top of Prescott Mountain, owned by Grayson Prescott, whose mansion was essentially the mountain’s penthouse. No one else lived in this area and UB was the only business up here. People who came to UB were employees, law enforcement clients, or experts assisting them with their cases. So why was the parking lot full?
“Serves me right for sleeping late, I suppose.” She sighed and drove her sporty Lexus Coupe out to the main road and parked on the shoulder. Just as she was getting out of her car, Asher’s new black pickup truck pulled in behind her.
She leaned against her driver’s door, waiting for him.
“Morning, Faith. Did your army-green toy car get a flat or something?” He eyed her tires and started toward the other side of her car.
“Just because you traded your old car for a shiny new truck doesn’t mean you should make fun of my Lexus. It’s metallic green, not army green. And the only reason it seems small to you is because you’re so tall. It’s perfect for a normal-size person.”
He leaned over the other side. “I’m normal size. You’re pint size.” He winked then stopped in front of her. “No flat. What’s the problem? Need me to wind up the hand crank on the engine?”
“Ha, ha. There’s nowhere to park. The lot’s full.”
He glanced at her in surprise then scanned the lot behind them through a break in the trees. “Can’t remember that ever happening before. Guess Russo brought more of his team than he said he would.”
“I think it’s more than that. Look at the placards around the license plates on some of those SUVs up close to the building. They name one of the big rental car companies. My guess is TBI sent a bunch of investigators, maybe even the FBI if Russo invited them in on the case. Six bodies discovered all at once lit a fire under law enforcement.”
“That and a pushy local anchorwoman,” he grumbled.
“I thought you liked all that makeup and hairspray?”
“I liked her curves, and those sexy stilettos. Doesn’t mean I like her.”
Faith laughed. “Then you’re not as hopeless as I thought.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
She smiled and they headed through the lot toward the two-story, glass-and-steel office building perched on the edge of the mountain.
“Let’s hope that fire gets them cooperating and working hard to find Leslie Parks before she ends up like her sister,” Asher said.
“Let’s hope. Maybe they’ll let us in on the action to find Leslie since we’ve been investigating her sister’s case for several months.”
“I’m sure they will. Who else is better qualified? And finding her quickly is urgent.”
Three hours later, Faith and Asher were forced to stand out of the way in the war room as the TBI director, Jacob Frost, and an army of TBI agents used the power of a warrant to confiscate Faith’s and Asher’s work laptops and their physical files and flash drives from their desks.
Fellow investigator, Lance Cabrera, and their team lead, Ryland Beck, stood with them near the floor-to-ceiling wall of windows on one side of the cavernous room. Faith wasn’t sure if they were there for moral support or to keep her and Asher from attacking the TBI guys. Other UB investigators—Ivy, Callum, Trent, Brice—tried to work at their desks amid the chaos. But from the way they kept glancing around, they were obviously distracted. How could they not be? The agents were like locusts, buzzing around and swarming the entire room.
“I’m so mad, I could spit.” Faith glared at any TBI investigator dumb enough to glance her way as they ransacked her desk.
“Yeah, well,” Asher said. “It is what it is.”
“How can you be so nonchalant about this? They pick our brains in the conference room for hours, have us review every detail of our investigation. And then they shove a warrant in our faces and steal our files. On top of that, we’re ordered not to work the case anymore. These idiots are going to use our hard work to give them a jumpstart. Then once they solve this thing and catch the bad guy and, hopefully, rescue Leslie, it will be all glory for them and nothing for us.” She shifted her glare to Ryland. “Stop trying to edge in front of me as if you think I’m going to draw down on these guys. I’m not that stupid. I’m way outgunned.”
His eyes widened. “You’re outgunned? Is that the only reason you aren’t pulling your firearm?”
“It’s the main one,” she practically growled.
He swore beneath his breath.
Lance laughed and clasped Ryland on the shoulder. “I think that’s my cue to leave this to our fearless leader.”
“Gee, thanks for the help,” Ryland grumbled.
Lance only laughed again and headed to his desk.
Asher grinned. “Look on the bright side, Faith. With all of these suits on the case, and the resources they can bring to bear, they’ve got an excellent chance of solving this thing and rescuing Leslie. I don’t like being pushed aside any more than you. But if it means saving a life, I’ll bow out gracefully.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Have you forgotten that the TBI worked Jasmine’s case when it was fresh? And yet here we are, five years later, finding her body for them. What makes you think these yahoos will do any better with her little sister’s disappearance?”
Ryland eyed Asher. “Gun-toting Annie Oakley here does have a point.”
Asher’s smile faded. “She does. Unfortunately.” He glanced up at the glass-enclosed conference room at the top of the stairs on the far end of the room. “Grayson is still arguing with Russo and Frost about this hostile takeover. Maybe he’ll make them see reason and keep UB involved.”
A few moments later, Grayson yanked open the conference room door and strode to the stairs. His face was a study in anger as he took them two at a time to the ground floor.
Faith crossed her arms. “Looks like Russo and Frost saw reason.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm. “Good call on that one, Asher.”
“I can’t be right all the time. It wouldn’t be fair to you mere mortals.”
She gave him the side-eye. “Careful. I’m in a really bad mood.”
“Darlin’, when are you not in a bad mood?”
Her eyes narrowed in warning.
“Follow me,” Grayson ordered without slowing down as he passed them.
“O...kay,” Asher said. “Come on, Faith. Ryland, where are you going? The boss said to follow him.”
“I’m betting he meant the two of you. Good luck.” He grinned and headed for his desk.
“Traitor,” Faith called after him.
He waved at her from the safety of the other side of the room.
“That’s it. I’m going to shoot him.” Faith reached for her pants pocket.
Asher grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the door. “Shoot him later. The boss is waiting.”
They rushed to catch up. Grayson was standing in the elevator across the lobby, texting on his phone and leaning against the opening to keep the door from closing. When they reached him, he gave them an impatient look as he put his phone away. “Nice of you to join me.”
“My fault.” Asher practically dragged Faith inside.
She said a few unsavory things to him, yanked her arm free, then immediately regretted it when it felt as if she’d ripped her skin off. “Ouch, dang it.”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to yank your arm or I’d have loosened my hold. I just didn’t want you to jump out of the elevator and shoot anyone.”
Grayson briefly closed his eyes, as if in pain, then punched the button for the basement level, one floor down. It was the only part of the building underground. But it had the absolute best views since the entire back glass wall looked out over the Smoky Mountains range.
In spite of that view, Faith could count on two hands the number of times she’d been down there. The basement was where the forensics lab was located, as well as the computer geeks. She didn’t speak biology or chemistry and, other than knowing how to run her laptop, she didn’t speak tech either. Well, unless she counted Asher. He reminded her of Clark Kent, about as bookish as they came but also tall, broad-shouldered and decent-looking. Okay, more than decent. He put both Clark Kent and his alter-ego to shame in the looks department. But Asher was the only person who spoke technology that was patient enough to word it so that it made sense to her. There just wasn’t any reason for her to go down to the basement level and listen to other techies.
As the elevator opened, she looked out at the many doors on the far wall with some trepidation. “Grayson. Why are we here?”
She and Asher followed him as he strode down the hallway to the glass wall at the end.
“Where are we going?” she whispered to Asher.
“Since we passed the lab entrance and the storage rooms, I’m guessing the nerd lair.”
She let out a bark of laughter then covered her mouth. This wasn’t the time for laughing. Not when a young girl’s life was at stake, if she was even still alive. And not when her own desk upstairs was being violated, her laptop stolen, more or less—warrant or no warrant. Just thinking about it had her blood heating again.
Grayson stopped at the last door and glanced at them over his shoulder. “Wait here.”
When the door closed behind him, Faith whirled around. “What the heck?”
Asher shrugged as if he didn’t have a care in the world and leaned against the wall beside the door, his long legs bracing him as he stared out at the mountains. His navy blue suit jacket hung open to reveal his firearm tucked in his shoulder holster. It had Faith longing to pull hers from the pocket of her black dress pants to head upstairs and set a few people straight. She eyed the elevator doors, wondering if she had enough time to do that before Grayson returned.
“Dang. Absolutely gorgeous,” Asher said, recapturing her attention.
Since he was looking at her now, she blinked, not sure what to say.
He grinned and motioned at the windows. “We should make the IT department come upstairs to the war room and let us take over their subterranean paradise.”
She glanced toward the view that she’d only barely noticed, then shook her head. “Nah. Too distracting. Grayson knew what he was doing when he put us facing the parking lot.”
His grin widened as he continued to look her way. “Definitely distracting. I’ll agree with that.”
She shifted uncomfortably, her face heating. “Um, Asher, what are you—”
“The view.” He motioned to the windows. “I agree it would be hard to focus on work with that to look at all day.”
Her face heated with embarrassment. For a moment there, she’d misread him and thought he was actually flirting. Really flirting, not the teasing he normally did. She cleared her throat and leaned back against the opposite wall. “I wonder how the computer guys manage to maintain their focus.”
“They don’t strike me as the outdoors types. I doubt they even notice.”
“I’m told they get used to it.” Grayson stepped through the door that neither of them had noticed opening. Once again, he motioned for them to follow him to the elevator.
Faith gave Asher a puzzled look.
He shrugged, seemingly as perplexed as she felt. Before she could recover, he grabbed her hand and towed her after him.
Grayson leaned out the door. “You two coming or not?”
“Coming,” they both said as they hurried inside.
“Where to now?” Faith asked.
Grayson’s jaw tightened.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ve obviously aggravated you.” She pressed the button for the first floor. Since the only thing on the second floor was the catwalk around the war room that led to Grayson’s office and the large conference room, it was rare that anyone ever took the elevator to the second floor.
He sighed heavily. “I’m far more aggravated at the situation than at either of you. Russo shouldn’t have called TBI without our liaison talking to them first so we could arrive at an agreement. Instead, he made his own arrangement with TBI, letting them wrestle our case away. I’d bet a year’s profits from all of my companies that you two could figure out who this serial killer is way before those bureaucrats.” He glanced first at her then at Asher. “That is, if you were allowed to work the case. Which, of course, you’re not.”
The elevator doors opened and he strode into the lobby. But instead of heading into the war room, he continued toward the exit.
Again, Faith and Asher hesitated, not sure whether they were supposed to follow him or not.
“Uh, boss,” Asher said. “Did you want—”
“Hurry up.” Grayson flung one of the double doors wide and jogged down the steps. At the bottom, he turned and looked up at them. “Faith, did you bring a purse today?”
She blinked. “Um, I’m female, so, duh.” Her face heated. “I mean yes.”
“Go get it.”
“Go...what?”
Asher gently grasped her shoulders and turned her toward the building. “Get your purse, darlin’.”
She sighed and hurried to the war room. The TBI jerks had finished ransacking her desk and had everything they were taking boxed up and on a dolly. Lucky for them, they weren’t in punching range. After retrieving her purse, she headed outside.
“Where are you two parked?” Grayson asked when she reached the bottom of the steps.
Asher motioned toward the road. “We didn’t leave UB until after three and both got here later than we intended this morning. There wasn’t a single parking spot to be had. Both of us are on the shoulder of the road.”
Grayson’s jaw flexed. “They’d better hurry and get out of here while I’m still in a good mood.”
Asher choked then coughed when Grayson frowned at him.
Grayson headed for the road, and this time they didn’t hesitate to follow but were forced to jog to catch up. Once they reached Faith’s car, she leaned against the driver’s door, slightly out of breath. The fact that Asher, who’d jogged with her, wasn’t even breathing hard had her regretting that she’d missed so many workouts to focus on the case these past few months.
“Boss, please,” she said between breaths. “What’s going on? Are we in trouble? Are you...are you firing us?”
For the first time that morning, he smiled. “Why would I fire two of my best investigators?”
Faith gave him a suspicious look. “You tell everyone they’re you’re best investigators.”
“That’s because it’s true. I only hire the best. And, no, I’m not terminating your employment.”
Asher leaned beside her against the side of the car. “Yesterday you were pretty upset when you found out we’d—”
Faith elbowed him in the ribs, not wanting him to remind their boss about a sore subject.
He frowned and rubbed his side.
Grayson chuckled, which had Faith even more confused.
“You two are officially ordered to stand down, to not investigate the Parks cold case in any way. The case, after all, belongs to Gatlinburg PD, and they’ve rescinded their request for us to work on it. We’ll no longer have access to any of the physical evidence. That’s all being transferred out of our lab back to Gatlinburg PD’s property room, or TBI’s, if they decide to take it into their custody. And all of the files are being stripped from your computers and the physical files confiscated. I’m supposed to ask whether either of you have any additional files, printed or electronic, at your homes.”
Faith’s face flushed with heat. “This is ridiculous, Grayson. We’re not children, even if we tend to bicker back and forth. It’s just how we are, like brother and sister.”
Grayson’s brows rose and he glanced sharply at Asher in question.
Asher cleared his throat. “Exactly. Brother and sister. You were saying, Grayson?”
Grayson hesitated then smiled again. “I was asking whether you have any files, because, per our contract with TBI and all the eastern Tennessee counties that we work with, we always defer to law enforcement regarding their cases. They remain the owners and can fire us at any time, which is what they’re doing on this particular one. Therefore, since Russo and Frost told me to ask you, not to mention the warrant they got, I’m required to do so. Think very carefully before you answer because I have to pass your answer along to them. Do you have any more files pertaining to the Parks case?”
Faith tried to decipher the odd stresses he’d put on various words and phrases. Since when did he care if Russo told him to do something? Or even if he had talked a judge into giving him permission to take their data? Grayson always did what he felt was best, no matter what. It kind of went with the territory of being a billionaire and not worrying where your next paycheck was coming from.
She pictured her home office with reports and notes on the Parks case arranged in neat stacks on the top of her desk and filed in drawers. There was even a large map on the wall with the geographical profiling information they’d worked on. She probably had more documentation there than she had at UB. Still, there were quite a few files she didn’t have copies of. If she wanted to sneak and continue to work the case, she’d have to spend considerable time reconstructing that missing data. But Grayson was ordering them to stop. Wasn’t he?
“Faith?” Grayson prodded. “Nothing about the Parks case is at your home. Right?”
“To be completely honest, in my home office there—”
“Isn’t anything on this case,” Asher interjected. “Neither of us keeps copies of files at home. Ever.”
That was a whopper of a lie, since they all kept information on active investigations at their homes to save time. Grayson knew that. It wasn’t a secret. Having the data at home allowed them to jump on tips and take any documents they needed with them to conduct interviews or further their research without having to go to the office first.
Asher continued his lie. “Absolutely no notes, pictures, affidavits from witnesses, recordings of some of our interviews, maps, theories, plans for future interviews, or copies of any of the files that TBI confiscated here at UB.” He gave Faith a hard look. “Isn’t that right?”
She frowned. “Well, actually, it’s—”
“Excellent,” Grayson said. “I can truthfully tell Russo and the TBI that you told me that you don’t have anything related to the Parks investigation outside of the office. I hope you’re beginning to understand the situation.”
Faith blinked, the lightbulb finally going off beneath Asher’s hard stare. “As a matter of fact, it’s suddenly becoming clear, sir. Confusing, but clear. If that makes sense.”
“Glad to hear it. We’ve been ordered to no longer work this investigation. If we do, we could suffer legal consequences. All of us. And the future of UB could be at risk.” He frowned and glanced back at the building. “Or, at least, the way that UB operates today, with quite a bit of control leveraged by those we contract with.”
His look had hardened and he mumbled something else beneath his breath that had Faith thinking he was already revamping their future contracts in that business-savvy brain of his.
He smiled again. “We all know what a...stellar job the TBI and Gatlinburg PD do with cold cases. I’m officially ordering both of you to stand down. Again, do we understand each other?”
Since the whole reason UB existed was that Gatlinburg PD and TBI hadn’t done a great job and Grayson’s first wife’s murder had gone unsolved for years, Faith definitely understood him now. “Crystal clear, sir.”
Asher nodded his agreement. “Loud and clear. Sometimes Faith is a little slow but she catches up eventually.”
Grayson laughed. “You’re going to pay for that remark.”
“He certainly is.” She glared her displeasure.
“I can handle her.”
She gasped with outrage.
“Hold that thought.” Grayson took out his wallet and handed Faith a platinum-colored credit card. The thing was heavy and actually made of metal. She’d never seen a credit card that fancy before. “As compensation for this disappointment, I’m sending both of you on vacation. Use that card for anything you need. Don’t file expense reports or contact anyone else at UB about your...vacation. After all, the police and TBI might be here off and on while working the Parks investigation. I wouldn’t want you interfering with that in any way. Still clear?”
They both nodded.
“Take however much time you need. When you feel like you might want to come back, for whatever reason, rather than come to UB, come up to the house. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you check in with me every now and then with a status of your...vacation.”
Faith stared at the credit card in her hand. It was probably the kind with no spending limit. The kind people used to purchase multimillion-dollar yachts without blinking an eyelash. Her hand shook as she carefully tucked the card into her purse and zipped it closed.
“One more thing.” He reached into a suit jacket pocket and held up a flash drive. “Since you’ll be out of the office for a while, I had IT put copies of some upcoming cases on there, just in case you wanted to review them before coming back to work.”
Asher swiped the flash drive before Faith could. “Thanks, boss. We’ll take it from here. We won’t come back to UB until you tell us to.”
“Enjoy your vacations. And be discreet.”
Asher pressed a hand to his chest as if shocked. “Discretion is my motto.”
Faith snorted. “More like your kryptonite. Don’t worry, Grayson. I’ll keep him in line.” She quirked a brow. “I can handle him.”
Asher grinned.
“See that you do.” With that, Grayson strode toward the building.
Faith eyed the flash drive in Asher’s hand. “What do you think’s really on that? Obviously something about the Parks case, but what?”
“Backups. Every night IT backs up the network.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know a lot of things you’d be surprised about. I’m not just a handsome face.”
She laughed.
He rested an arm on top of her car, facing her. “If I’m right, everything that TBI just took away has now been given back to us. I hope you didn’t have visions of white sandy beaches and views of sparkling emerald-green water dancing in your head. This is a working vacation. We’re going to secretly continue the Parks investigation. And, hopefully, we’ll figure out the killer’s identity in time to send an anonymous tip to the police so they can rescue Leslie.”
Faith snatched the flash drive. “My house is closer than yours.”