Masquerade (Corporate Heat Book 3)

by Desiree Holt

  For a moment Lindsey wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “Take charge of Elite?”

  “That’s not a problem, is it?” Noah asked, his face expressionless.

  “Of course not.” She was stunned. “But what about Natalia? Won’t she inherit Craig’s share of Elite? She might not like having me around.”

  Taylor shook her head. “We prepared for that. In all the Arroyo subsidiaries, if the partner passes away, Arroyo does a buyout with the surviving spouse. If there’s no spouse, then with the estate. We can’t have unqualified people suddenly in charge of our subsidiaries just because they inherited.”

  “Makes sense. That means you’re buying the other fifty-one percent of whatever business it is, right?”

  “That’s correct. It then becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Arroyo, so you don’t have to worry about some idiot coming in and making a mess of things. It’s your baby, at least for now.”

  Lindsey didn’t know whether to be thrilled or terrified. “Thank you both for having such faith in me.”

  “Your reputation and history speak for themselves. That’s why we sought you out to begin with.” Noah rose from his chair and held out his hand. “We know you’ll do a great job, Lindsey. And now I’m going to leave you and Taylor to dig into what’s going on here and keep things running smoothly while I get on with my business. How about dinner at eight to recap the day and see where we are?”

  Lindsey’s head was spinning, but she managed to nod. “Whatever you need, I’m there.”

  “Good. I’m glad we got that settled.” Taylor grinned at her husband. “I knew we’d made the right decision.”

  “Okay, then. I’m out of here.”

  It said a lot that Noah Cantrell did not leave without kissing his wife goodbye. It was a good indication of the strength of their relationship and how comfortable they felt in their own skins.

  As soon as Noah was gone, Taylor refilled her cup. “Okay, Lindsey. Let’s get to work.”

  Chapter Two

  Lindsey scanned the faces of the staff gathered around the big conference room table. Their expressions ran the gamut from blank to stunned. Taylor had just laid out the facts of Craig’s accident, telling them that was all the information they had at the moment, and asking if anyone had any questions. Lindsey had felt the announcement was better coming from the chairman of Arroyo, and anything she said would have more impact. She was, after all, the head honcho.

  For a very long moment, no one said a word. Sarah Colt, Craig’s administrative assistant, was the first one to find her voice.

  “Dead? Craig’s dead? I don’t understand. What do you mean he’s dead? How is that even possible? I was just working with him in his office yesterday.”

  Her eyes were wide in her face which had gone pale. Lindsey knew just how she felt. Again, the silence in the room was so thick it was almost tangible. Then everyone began speaking at the same time.

  Lindsey held up her hand, calming the babble of voices. “Please. I know this has shocked everyone, but one at a time, please.”

  “Did he have a heart attack or something?” The question came from Jerry Ortiz.

  “We’re waiting for the final autopsy report to give us some answers there,” Taylor replied. “We’ll know more after that and I’ll share with you as much as I can. Does anyone know if he had health problems he was hiding? Was he suffering from more stress than usual?”

  Lindsey looked around the room. “Anyone? Any hint at all?”

  No one said a word, just looked at one another and shook their heads.

  “Jerry?” Lindsey prodded. “You’d have the best read on him. Did you notice something off lately?”

  Jerry shook his head. “Sometimes he’d be a little more uptight than usual, but when deadlines are approaching, I think we all get that way.”

  “Fine.” Lindsey referred to her notes. “The first thing we need to do is notify all the clients. If they hear it through the gossip grapevine, they will immediately suspect something is wrong. We don’t want that to happen. I’ll be drafting some guidelines,” Lindsey told them. “We’ll send them electronically to each of you when I have something.”

  “We’ll want to meet with each of you separately this afternoon,” Taylor added. “It would help if you could get your client lists and current projects together. I know Lindsey no doubt has a cursory idea of projects other than her own, but we’ll both need a working knowledge of everything.”

  Annie Balboa raised her hand. “Will you be switching account managers around?”

  “The only change we expect to make is handing most of Craig’s accounts over to Lindsey,” Taylor answered. “Otherwise there’s no reason to. If something’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.” She paused. “Another question. Do any of you happen to know why Craig would be in the area of town where he was found? Especially that late at night?”

  There was some head-shaking and more bewildered looks, but no one had an answer for her.

  “All right, then.” Lindsey looked around the table at everyone. “We have important projects in process and clients who expect them to be uninterrupted. It’s important that we keep things running here while we search for answers.”

  “I’ll be working out of Craig’s office while I’m here. If you have any questions, you should direct them to Lindsey, but I’m around for backup.” Taylor turned to the admin. “Sarah? It would be a huge help if you sat in with me. I’m sure your position gave you a good handle on the office operations. Right?”

  Lindsey noticed a slight hesitation before the woman nodded, and made a mental note to discuss it with Taylor.

  “Thank you.” Taylor surveyed the group seated around the table. “As soon as we have something to share with everyone, we will. Once the word gets out, we may get some calls from the media. I’m sure we don’t need to tell you all to stay away from them and also not to discuss anything outside this office.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Okay.” Lindsey let out a slow breath. “I’ll draft something as a guideline for each of you to use when you speak to your clients. It’s important we’re all on the same page. If you have a question, please don’t hesitate to check with me. Clients will have questions. Whatever you can tell them will be in the memo I give you. Nothing more. We’re still waiting for more information ourselves.”

  She rose from her seat, a clear indication the meeting was over.

  Taylor also stood, picking up her tablet.

  “Sarah, bring everything you have on Craig’s upcoming schedule and what he’s had you working on. We’ll have to split up his projects, but before that we need to get a handle on what each one was and how he was working it.”

  “Okay.” Sarah nodded. “Let me just get my things together and I’ll be right there.”

  Taylor started across the hall to what had been Craig’s office. Sarah moved toward the door as well, but Lindsey stopped her before she could leave the room.

  “You looked a little hesitant when Taylor asked you to work with her this afternoon. Is there a problem?”

  Sarah shook her head. “I just hope I can tell her whatever she needs to know. Craig didn’t always keep me in the loop on things, especially lately.”

  Lindsey cocked an eyebrow. “You mean he kept things from you?”

  The other woman shrugged. “It’s just a feeling I had. With some accounts, he didn’t always share the same details he did with others.”

  The funny little feeling flopped around in Lindsey’s stomach again. What on earth can Craig have been hiding? And why?

  “Don’t worry. If something weird turns up—and I’m not saying it will—none of this falls on your shoulders. You’re a real asset to Elite and I want you to keep that in mind.”

  “Thanks, Lindsey.” Sarah gave her a weak smile. “I appreciate it.”

  The morning passed in a blur. Once Lindsey had something put together and distributed it, everyone was busy making calls, even as they continued to take care of t
he details of business.

  Lindsey spent a lot of time reassuring her clients and Craig’s that nothing would disrupt anything that was in process. Everyone had questions, and of course they were concerned about their ad campaigns and other promotional activities.

  While Lindsey made her own calls, she fielded questions her account managers needed answers for. There were a lot of unhappy campers. All the clients they spoke with were shocked by Craig’s death and expressed sympathy for his wife, but they wanted to know if it would affect their account at all.

  It soon became obvious those clients were contacting other people to share the information, because the phone at Elite began ringing nonstop. Lindsey had Felice, her own admin, helping with the sheer volume of calls that came in to the main number, sifting out those that needed Lindsey’s personal attention and those that could be handed off to others.

  It was late morning before she managed to find five seconds to catch a breath. She had just leaned back in her chair when Taylor buzzed her.

  Lindsey picked up her phone. “Do you need me?”

  “Not yet,” Taylor said. “I just wanted to let you know I heard from Noah. We should get the final results of the autopsy later this afternoon. It might take until tomorrow for any lab results. And Natalia was definitely not pleased with that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She called this morning about getting the body released to the funeral home, and pitched a holy fit when they told her she’d have to wait until the autopsy was finished.”

  “I’m not surprised. She thinks the world revolves around Natalia. I’ll tell you, I only tolerated her because it was obvious she loved Craig and went out of her way to make his life pleasant. Has Noah spoken to her?”

  “He’s heading out there now, to see if he can help with the funeral arrangements. To let her know Arroyo has resources available.” Taylor gave a ladylike snort. “I can hardly wait to hear about that at dinner.”

  “Better you than me. I have a feeling she sees me as little more than the hired help, last night notwithstanding. Does she know yet she doesn’t get Craig’s share of Elite?”

  “Oh, she’s known all along. We discussed it at our first dinner meeting with them. But Natalia has her own money and plenty of it. I think without it, Craig would not have gotten to where he did.”

  “Good. I’d hate to be in the middle of a fight over it with her.”

  “Never happen.”

  At noon, Lindsey finally had the receptionist take over the phone and sent Felice off to lunch. She was about to fix yet another cup of coffee for herself when Taylor buzzed her and asked her to come to Craig’s office

  Taylor nodded at her when she entered the room. “Close the door, please. I assume you have the phone handled for the moment?”

  Lindsey dropped into one of the client chairs in front of the desk, pushed her thick blonde hair out of the way behind her ears and took a deep breath.

  “Yes, but it’s only a short reprieve. Craig was a very visible figure in the community and the industry, and Natalia even more so. I’m sure you know they socialized with the absolute cream of society in this area. Think those massive houses on the water. It’s a good thing Elite makes the money it does, or I think she would have pulled the plug. Still…”

  Taylor cocked her head. “Still what?”

  “Elite is a huge moneymaker, but not in the class with, say, Frank Podesta’s international shipping corporation. I sometimes wonder why Natalia funded this to begin with and encouraged Craig in his work. He was very good at it, but did she just want him to have a toy to play with so he felt useful?”

  “Strange situation,” Taylor agreed. She took a sip from the bottle of water on the corner of her desk. “I’ve gone through all Craig’s files, both print and electronic.” She pointed to a pad on her desk which was filled with notes. “I thought I’d find some answers but all I have is more questions.”

  Lindsey frowned. “About what?”

  Taylor sighed. “I wish I knew. Everything looks to be in perfect shape, but I just have a funny feeling about things. Maybe it all looks too perfect. Do you know what I mean?”

  “I do. I’ve had the same feeling myself, and I can’t tell you why, either. It’s just there, slithering along beneath the surface.”

  “Well. If two smart women have the same feeling, I’d say it’s not just chasing ghosts.”

  Lindsey raked her fingers through her hair. “I just keep asking myself, what could possibly be wrong? Craig had the major responsibility for the agency, but he was supposed to read me in on everything. Help make sure there were no glitches or problems, especially with the major clients. I thought that was what was happening, so why do we both suddenly have this weird feeling?”

  Before Taylor could say anything, a phone rang from somewhere deep in the desk, a strange double ringtone. She frowned and started opening drawers, searching for it. By the time she located it, buried in the bottom right-hand drawer and enclosed in a small mahogany box, the ringing had stopped. But as soon as she lifted it out, the sound began again.

  She pushed Accept then pressed the button for the speaker so Lindsey could listen. “Hello?”

  No one said anything on the other end, so she said hello again.

  “Where is Craig?” The voice was male, deep and with a slight accent. “And who is this answering the phone?”

  “Who is this?” she asked.

  “Let me speak to Craig.”

  Taylor exchanged a look with Lindsey. “I’m sorry, but he’s not available. Can someone else help you?”

  “It is important that I know where he is.”

  Taylor paused for a moment. “I’m sorry to tell you that Mr. Wainwright was killed in an automobile accident last evening.”

  Another long pause. Then the connection went dead.

  Taylor stared at the phone. “Well, that was weird.”

  “He didn’t even ask for any details,” Lindsey pointed out.

  “You’re right. As a matter of fact, he didn’t ask anything. I’d like to know what the hell Craig was doing with a cheap burner phone and why it was in a drawer. And why whoever who called did so on that phone instead of the regular number.” She hit Redial, but all she got was the fast busy signal that indicated an out-of-service number. When she tried again, she got nothing but dead air. Frowning, she stared at the phone. “What the hell?”

  Lindsey leaned forward. “Whoever that was, you know they took the SIM card out when they didn’t get Craig. And damn fast.”

  “No kidding. Listen. My antenna is wiggling like an earthworm. I want to call Noah about this and—no offense, Lindsey—I don’t want to do it from here.”

  “No offense taken. But I’ll be really hacked off if someone in this agency is into funny business.”

  “Starting with Craig. Come on. Let’s get out of here and get some lunch. Get your purse and meet me by the elevator. I’ll tell Sarah we’re leaving for a while and to take messages.”

  Strangely—and as luck would have it— they were the only two in the elevator car.

  “That call bothers the hell out of me,” Lindsey said as they rode down.

  Taylor nodded. “Me too. I’m going to reach out to Noah when we get out of the building. Give him a heads-up on it. Damn. I’d hate to think Craig was involved in something not quite kosher.”

  “Me too. Straight-arrow Craig? The thought of it boggles my mind. Still…”

  “Right. You wonder how well you really know someone.”

  As they exited the building, Lindsey again tried to force back the uneasy feeling creeping through her. The fact that Taylor had the same feeling didn’t help. Craig’s death and the questions surrounding it were bad enough. The last thing they needed on top of that was another disaster in the making.

  Chapter Three

  Arianna was shaking with a mixture of nerves and excitement. How was it possible this wonderful chance had come out of the blue for her, a girl with nothing, who har
dly knew anyone? A girl who had come to New York looking for success and excitement but who was reduced to working minimum wage jobs while she prayed for opportunities? And now one had popped into her life almost by accident. Chances like this didn’t come along too often.

  Drawing in a steadying breath, she waved at the man waiting for her in a booth in the high-end restaurant. Lips curving in a nervous smile, she slid into the seat opposite him. Although the man across from her gave her an answering smile, it did little to settle her shaky nerves. She had to make a good impression today. This could be her only chance.

  “You look lovely, Arianna.” His gaze rolled over her, taking in every detail of her appearance. “I knew you would make the perfect model.”

  “I’ve only done this for volunteer and fundraising events,” she told the man. “I never expected anything to come of it.”

  “It’s my business to spot real talent. We have a very particular clientele and they expect only the best from us.” He paused. “And I believe you have that talent.”

  She wet her lips, a nervous habit, then stopped before she licked off all her lipstick. “I was so surprised when you called me.”

  And wasn’t that just the understatement of the year. She had hoped but didn’t believe that her appearance in the last charity fundraiser would get her some real honest-to-god jobs. Her savings had dwindled, her roommate was engaged and moving out and it seemed the market was flooded with restaurant hostesses.

  She swallowed a sigh. Running off with Dwayne Goodlet right after her high-school graduation she was sure now had been one of the most stupid things she’d done, along with a whole host of others.

  ‘New York, babe. We’ll hit it big.’

  Dwayne had hit it big all right. Falling in with a gang, ending up in prison and leaving her with no money and no skills to fend for herself. Lucky for her she’d met some nice people, or she’d be living on the streets. She shuddered at the thought.