Slowly opening the door, Tarin peeked around it. When she saw the inner office was closed she quickly entered, gently and quietly closing the door behind her before making her way to her desk. She hoped Bill had been truthful when he told her Graham wouldn’t be in until later.
Graham had insisted she come into the office. He thought it was safer for her than to remain at the house. Reluctantly she’d agreed, partly because she wasn’t the type to sit around all day watching television. Besides, waiting to see what was going to happen next wasn’t her style.
“Mommy. Pee.”
She smiled at her son and quickly led him to the bathroom. She was quite sure she wouldn’t get much done with him accompanying her, but there was no way she was going to be separated from him. When she first arrived in town, the urgency to get answers had been like a new puppy nipping at her heels. Now with everything that had happened, it felt as though she was risking attack by a fearsome animal that was not only going to bite her but rip her world apart.
After getting Chance settled with his toy cars and racetrack, she sat at her computer. She took a slow steady breath. She could do this. Graham hadn’t given her a choice. His message early this morning was that she show up for work voluntarily or the man he had watching her would bring her in. Whoever had been there all night must have been very good at hiding as she never spotted him.
Graham had said when he arrived later, they were going to talk... about everything. The mere thought of his questions left a gaping hole in her chest. She was feeling beyond sick at the prospect of how he would react when he learned all about her and her predicament. Like everyone else in her life, she was certain he’d run far and fast.
Pushing away her thoughts, she quickly got to work. Her intent had been to log into Stephen’s emails but instead she went into her website. She scanned through several emails, not having the energy to deal with someone who might have gone through what she did.
The woman who’d met with her at the park responded to her email.
‘Sorry. Had to run. My life is in danger. Whoever shot the arrow meant business. I think it was meant for me.’
Tarin immediately replied, ‘But why? What do you know that someone else wants?’
What could the woman possibly know that would make someone want to kill her? Had it been her ex? Or was it because she was meeting with her? Tarin pressed her hand to her head as a headache threatened. Frustrated there were no answers, she logged out and hacked into Stephen’s account. More than sure that he was behind the attempted abduction, she forwarded quite a number of his emails to herself. Just to make sure he got it and knew she meant business, she set up a private webpage and posted all his pornographic pictures and then sent him the link. Wanting to ensure he’d read her note sooner than later, she pulled out her old cell and sent him a text.
‘You threaten me or Chance again, you touch him again and I’ll send your pretty little porn pictures to your boss, your father and all of the staff. If you doubt me, check your emails, I have a copy of them. Here’s a link where you can check them out on the internet.’
Anger and fear pushed and shoved as they warred within her like a volcano swelling and rumbling before it erupts.
To distract herself, she logged into her company email to find that Graham had sent her over two hundred more emails to check through. She wondered if Graham had forwarded them before the meeting the day before, and if so, she was quite sure he didn’t want her snooping through them anymore. The list was long and she felt exhausted just looking at it. Something was way off. Why was someone doing this? What could they hope to achieve? Could she find her answers there?
Doubting it, she did something she was certain she’d regret. She pulled out the thumb drive with the information she’d stolen. She started with the Knights Associates files. She quickly scanned through several folders only to realize there was no rhyme or reason to what and how Graham had labelled or stored files. She opened the first three files and found a jumble of special events they’d held, an employee list and some background information, types of wines, articles and more that she didn’t have time to read. Glancing at the clock and then the door, she realized if she was going to get any answers, she had to do some speed reading. She opened another two when it dawned on her the one labelled CWA might be Caspian Winery account.
After opening it, she scanned through it. Invoices to the company had begun about three years before, causing her to wonder why they’d needed private investigators.
After meeting Dorothea, it didn’t surprise her that she would do anything to help her family succeed. Had Dorothea invented a reason to hire Knights Associates? Opening one from almost three years ago, she frowned as she read it.
Search for Cassidy LeFevre.
It made her wonder who that was. Closing that out, she opened a few more. At some point she realized she had stopped looking for answers and was simply snooping. After opening and closing a dozen bills, she realized what puzzled her about the receipts. For each paid invoice, a receipt upon payment had then been sent. It was the code that was included in the statement that caught her attention.
CW 08 14 2012
Jesus... that code. It’s what he said to me. Someone at Caspian Winery is behind it. But who? And why dammit? Why?
~~~~
“I quit Dorothea. I’ve had it!” Oliver rushed through the door and stopped on the other side of her desk, startling her.
Before she could respond, Tom sailed in. “I don’t know what he’s told you but it isn’t me. I don’t even know what he’s talking about. I quit. I’ve had it with his backstabbing games.”
“Me? What the hell—?”
“Yeah, you’ve done noth—”
Dorothea brought her cane down hard on her desk. Both men’s heads jerked around to look at her. Each man was breathing so hard they reminded her of bulls snorting before a fight.
“It’s—”
“I didn’t—”
She raised her hands, palms forward. “Stop. Both of you take a deep breath. I won’t accept either resignation. Oliver was here first, so tell me what’s going on.”
At one point, she wanted to place her hands over her ears and bury her head. What they were telling her was unbelievable, yet she should have known something like this would be next. Each man said they’d been contacted by the media to ask what their part was in the wine hijacking, and of course, the reporter had indicated that the other one was the source. Someone was out to ruin her business and would use any dirty trick in the book, and she knew who was very good at that. It was time to have Graham and Guy get to the bottom of this... and then it was time to retire.