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I woke up the next morning to my phone going off. I was terrible about carrying it with me here in the States since I didn't use a cell phone when traveling. The caller ID showed my mother’s number, but I hit the ‘ignore’ button, rolled over and pulled the covers up over my head. The ringing started again. I didn’t ignore the call this time. I let the ringing continue until it rolled over to voicemail. No sooner had that happened than the ringing started again, but it wasn’t my phone this time. Gray picked up his phone and answered.
Without saying a word, he handed it to me.
“What are you doing?” Mom asked.
“Mom, it’s too early.”
“It’s ten o’clock.”
“In the morning?”
“You are not a child of mine. I’ve been up since five. I’ve already eaten breakfast twice. When will you get here?”
Gray had called her yesterday while I slept and told her not to come to the show. He had explained about my foot, but not the other stuff. In return, he had promised that we would go to Indiana today to spend some time with them.
I groaned when the memory came back to me. The thought of more people was overwhelming. I just wanted to rest. Knowing my mother, she would demand that I come home unless I could give her a really good reason not to. I didn’t have one, but I did have something she wanted.
“What will I have to do not to come home?”
“You’re coming home,” Mom said.
“What if I do all your laundry next week?”
“You’ll turn all my whites pink.”
“What if I cook you a nice meal?” I asked.
“You’d burn down the kitchen doing it. Not a fair trade.”
“What if Gray and I got engaged?”
“Don’t tease me,” Mom said.
“I’m serious.”
“I’m going to need proof.”
“I’ll send you a picture of the ring,” I said.
“It could be any ring.”
“What will it take to convince you?” There was a long silence while my mom pondered the question.
“I’d believe Gray if he told me,” Mom said.
“But not your own daughter?”
“No. I knew you as a teenager.” Ditch curfew and you were labeled for life.
“I’m offended.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Okay, I’m not. Gray, wake up. I’m putting you on speaker phone.” Gray rolled over with murder in his eyes. It was definitely too early for my mother. I clicked the speaker icon and held the phone between us. “Mom, talk to him. He can hear you.”
“My daughter says you are going to make an honest woman of her. Is it true?”
“Yes, it is. Finally.”
“You took the word right out of my mouth.”
“Are you happy now, Mom?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“May I stay home now?”
“No,” Mom said.
“What?!”
“I’m kidding. Stay home. Just don’t lay around all day like a lazy person. Get moving.”
“Yes, ma’am. Anything else?”
“When’s the date set for?” I hung up. I love her. I do. I swear.
“It’s too early for that, Regan.” I could barely hear Gray. His head was buried under his pillow.
“Welcome to my childhood.”
Gray found my family endearing but exhausting. He grew up in a family that always smiled on the outside to hide the troubles actually happening on the inside. My family put it all out there. Whatever emotion we were feeling, we felt them, out loud. He said it was like traversing a minefield. He never knew when someone was going to blow. I felt the same about his family. For years, I assumed they were just happy people. I learned the hard way that I was offending them on a daily basis when I said whatever came into my mind.
“What are we going to do today now that we don’t have to go to Indiana?” I asked. Gray rolled over. There was mischief in his eyes.
“Detective work, Nancy Drew.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Gray and I got up and ready for the day. My foot was actually a lot smaller today. It still hurt to put any weight on, but I could move around much better. It was a nasty purple color though on the side. Gray had me call Peter to check in with him. I covered the purpose of my call by asking him if there was anything I could do for him today. What I really was trying to find out was if and when he would get home. I gave Gray a thumbs-up when Peter said he would be at the restaurant until early evening and then he was going to Anais’s house for dinner. This gave us a good five hours of freedom.
We didn’t waste any time heading down to his office. It looked the same as it had yesterday. I logged into Peter’s computer. Gray stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. I pulled up the file I found yesterday.
“Here it is.”
“Let me get a notebook. Go to each tab and check any dates listed for each of the girls that coincide with the last paycheck period.” He left the room.
I started by checking the four I actually processed a check for. Gray came back with a notebook and pen. I called out the dates and amount. He listed the girls by their initials, making a column underneath with the dates and amounts. He left the times off since we could easily see how long each one was by the amount.
After we had that information written down, I pulled up the next few girls. They didn’t have any dates that coincided with the pay period. It took us a few minutes to go through each of the other girls.
“They don’t have any listed for this pay period, but they have times for previous ones.”
“My theory doesn’t pan out about money laundering then.”
“Not from this angle.” I looked up at him, waiting for a suggestion on where to go next.
“Do you still have a copy of the last profit and loss statement?” he asked.
“No, but Peyton does.”
“Let’s total up for each girl’s amount earned for the whole period last month. Text her and ask the total. You said it was all listed under Miscellaneous Sales?”
“Yes, but so are any private parties, and I don’t have their sales numbers handy. I think there were three.”
“Is that information on this computer?”
“I’ll check, but I don’t think so. At least, back when I worked for Peter full-time he never had the computers linked. And the program isn’t cloud-based, so it can’t be logged in outside of the office computer at the pub.”
“We need to get into the office there, then.”
“Yep.” My nerves were frayed from being in here for so long. I wanted to get the information we needed and get out. Quickly. Gray handed me the notebook and told me to finish writing down all of the numbers.
“Can’t we just email this to ourselves?”
“I don’t want an electronic trail. It’ll be safer to keep the numbers on us in a notebook.”
“Isn’t there a way for Peter to look up any recent files accessed?” I asked.
“Yes, but we are going to erase the history. I’ll be upstairs. Hurry.”
“Wait. What are you going to be doing?”
“Trying to hack into the computer at the office.”
“You can do that?” I was shocked. He’d never mentioned this talent before.
“Probably not, but I’m going to try.” He kissed me and headed for the door. Before he made it through, his phone rang. He paused to check the display. His eyes me mine, and I knew instantly. It was his guy.
I turned back to the computer and hastily wrote down the information we needed. I wanted out of here. Gray talked behind me softly. His phone conversation was making me even more nervous. It added to the stress of being caught in here. I finished up the last bit and closed out the files, but I left the computer running for Gray to do his thing.
Gray motioned me to follow him. He didn’t show any physical signs of nerves, but I thought they were starting to get to him, too. Even though Peter said he would be busy, he might run home for any number of reasons. Or worse, Anais might stop over. She had a key to the condo and regularly liked to stop by while Peter was working. I only knew this because it irritated him so much. He used to complain frequently that he was too old for his ‘mommy’ to wash his laundry. I didn’t think Anais liked not having someone to care for, so she forced it on Peter.
Gray took me up to our room and closed the door. I followed behind him, forgetting completely about the computer I’d left up and running.
“I’m putting you on speaker phone. Tell Regan what you just told me.” He lowered his phone and pushed the icon. “Go.”
“What have you two gotten mixed up in?”
“We don’t know,” I said. I’d never met this person, but he was talking like we were old friends.
“Alright, this Liam fellow. Great reputation in the department. Closes cases quickly and above the national average for detectives. Known as a straight shooter when it comes to evidence.”
“Really?” I thought back to his possibly sending Ben to break in.
“Oh, yes. Well-liked. Moving up quickly. Parents still married. Seemingly happily.”
“Why does he have an Irish lilt to his voice?” I knew the question didn’t pertain to what we needed, but I’d been curious.
“American citizen. Army brat. Spent his first ten years in Ireland. I’d guess, he picked it up at a formative age and never quite lost it all.”
“Thanks.” Gray looked at me crossly. He didn’t like it when I get off subject. I mouthed ‘sorry’ to him. “What else?”
“I wouldn’t give much thought to that Liam fellow, it’s this Ben that is trouble.” He said Ben’s name with disgust.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Grew up rich and spoiled. Got into a couple of skirmishes when he was young. Nothing big, but his parents always sent someone to clean it up.” I heard papers shuffling through the phone. “About five years ago he opened a Security Firm. I have the name here somewhere. Security firm? That’s an overstatement. The guy might as well be a cleaner for the mob. No job is too dirty. He’s suspected in altering crime scenes across the US and twice in Europe. If he’s suspected in these, I will bet my left foot there are many more we don’t know about. The guy is trouble. If you two are nosing into his business, be careful.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“In San Diego, rumor has it he was working for some CEO up there. Guy’s son was accused of raping a girl at a party that got out of hand. It wasn’t him, but he knew what was happening. The actual rapist was left hog-tied in front of the police station beaten to a pulp, a taped confession on a thumb drive in his hand. When the police found him, he confessed and would never name who scrambled his brains.”
“What happened to the CEO’s son?”
“That’s where it gets hinky. Ben was hired to find the proof that his son didn’t do it. End of story. Ben found the perp, turned him in, son’s charges were dismissed.”
“But?”
“But the son was also beaten to a pulp for knowing the girl was being raped, but not stopping it. Ben has a soft spot for women.”
“Wasn’t the CEO mad? Ben wasn’t hired to assault the guy’s son.”
“I’m sure he was fit to be tied, but when you run in circles where Ben’s expertise is needed, you don’t question the actions.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I hope this helps. One question: Does this pertain to a woman in any way?”
“It may.”
“Then watch your back.”