by Lisa Harris
Sienna nodded.
“Who was picking up whom to go to the airport?”
“We were going together.”
“From his house or yours?”
“Uh…” Sienna was stunned at what Gavard just asked her, even though she could not answer his question. There was no way she could tell him that they were at Binary Systems trying to read the USB drive from Dana.
“You finally have a boyfriend, and he’s already leading you down the stray path,” Gavard said. “I thought you were a Christian who doesn’t sleep with your boyfriend.”
“We didn’t. We talked half the night.”
“Right.” Gavard shook his head. He mumbled something that sounded like hypocrite.
Here was the thing with him. He was obnoxious, but at least he spoke his mind.
Sienna started writing on the paper on her clipboard, fully aware that her bracelet from the FBI and watch from Earl were also probably recording. She prayed that Agent Kimball would be able to get enough evidence out of these conversations. She also wondered if they would hold up in a court of law, since they were surreptitious.
“Sir, I’m sorry about your brother,” Sienna said.
Gavard nodded. “He lived a full life. His legacy will continue. We will carry on for his sake.”
“Yes, sir.” Sienna felt that GOOP had moved on from Mr. Ford, or at least his business partner here had.
“Did you send Finnegan’s speeches to Noreen?” Gavard asked.
“Yes, I did.” Sienna scribbled nonsense on the paper.
“She emailed it to me and I’ve printed them out. Here.” As Noreen handed the printouts to Gavard, she leaned toward him such that it would be impossible for him to not see her cleavage.
However, to his credit, Gavard didn’t look up. He was busy highlighting another printout. “Put it right there. We need to discuss this first.”
Such was the contrast between Gavard and Mr. Ford. Whereas the former preferred everything on paper, the latter had gone digital a few years before.
Then again, Sienna wondered if that might have opened doors to data fabrication. What if Mr. Ford hadn’t been the embezzler?
What if it had been Dana all along? After all, Dana had been the company accountant. She knew every transaction, and she could fabricate any transaction if she wanted to. With the help of Arun, they could make it look like Mr. Ford had been embezzling money from the company coffers. Since Mr. Ford had conveniently died of a heart attack, the truth died with him.
Well, Dana wouldn’t do such a thing to the father of her child, would she?
Sienna couldn’t imagine Dana breaking the law and thereby losing her certified accountant license. If she had broken the law, why did the FBI agree to a deal with her? Why was she in WITSEC now as a protected witness?
“Mr. Lee doesn’t like his villa because it isn’t oceanfront enough,” Gavard said. “He’s texted me five times, threatening to pull out of the deal. I want him to buy those two hotels on Fifth Avenue because he’s paying the highest prices for them. So make him happy, Noreen.”
Noreen shifted in her chair. She pouted. “I’m helping you with your speeches.”
Gavard looked directly at Sienna. “Can you take care of it?”
“Me?” Sienna wondered.
“Yes, you. It’s your last week here. Noreen is busy. I want you to take care of Mr. Lee.”
What did he mean by “take care of Mr. Lee”? Sienna’s eyes widened.
“Just get him an oceanfront villa.” Noreen waved her Christmas-red nails at Sienna.
Gavard put a checkmark next to the name. “Mr. Zhao needs a translator and an interpreter. His translator—who also interprets for him—has food poisoning and is sick in her room.”
“What language?” Sienna scribbled herself a note.
“Mandarin Chinese.”
Gavard stared at Sienna. “Can you make it happen? He’s representing a conglomerate that wants to buy more land in the Midwest, and I have three hundred thousand acres in Texas I want to sell. I don’t want Finnegan’s death to block this sale.”
“Monday?” Sienna asked. “That’s tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Oh, before you do all that, get us more coffee, will you?” Gavard pointed here and there. “And clear the table, please. I have a meeting with our real estate lawyers in half an hour. You know I don’t like a mess.”
“I didn’t know that, sir.” Sienna got out of her chair.
“You do now.” Gavard laughed.
Without a word, Sienna threw out the used napkins. Slowly, she picked up the coffee mugs and small plates with crumbs on them as she glanced over at the printout in front of Gavard. It had colorful highlights on it. She wondered if it was the list of all the attendees—investors—of the conference.
“Can you speed it up? We don’t have all day.” Noreen smirked.
“I’m trying not to spill,” Sienna said.
“Finnegan said you’re very careful.” Gavard looked at Sienna, but not at her face.
Sienna felt self-conscious, but she was modestly dressed, so she knew nothing was showing.
“Mr. Ford was a good man,” Sienna blurted.
Gavard laughed so loudly that Sienna nearly dropped the cups in her hand. “Finnegan? That monster?”
Noreen rolled her eyes.
“He used to bully me all the way through high school, did you know?” Gavard thumped the table with his palm. His wedding band hit the cherry wood hard, and Sienna drew back.
“I was always behind him in everything. Father thought the best of Finnegan. Fifty-five percent of GOOP, can you believe it?” Gavard’s eyes darkened. “I’m sorry he had a heart attack, but he did it to himself. He was always first in class, and now he’s the first to die. Celestia and I are going to outlive him by many years.”
“Yes, sir.” Sienna cleared the table. She turned to Noreen. “Where’s the coffee?”
“Down the hallway. Tell them to send a cart,” Noreen said. “And then you better get going. Mr. Lee has been unhappy since he arrived yesterday. Nothing I’ve done appeased him. Maybe you’ll succeed. You have a way with people.”
“I don’t know what that means, Noreen.”
“Oh, you do. People seem to trust you,” Noreen said just as the real estate attorneys showed up with two of GOOP realtors.
“Gentleman, you’re early,” Gavard said. “Noreen, we’ll have to work on the speeches after we’re done here.”
“Okay.” Noreen ushered Sienna out of the meeting room. She winked at the two security guards again. They barely smiled at her. “I’ll take you to the coffee nook.”
“Thank you. I’ve never been to this resort before so I don’t know where anything is.” Sienna laughed.
She had left her clipboard and pen on the table. She prayed that Gavard wouldn’t discover what they were.
“Tell me about Mr. Lee and Mr. Zhao. If I know more about them, I might be more helpful,” Sienna said.
“Is that how you’re so successful with people that Mr. Ford never went to meetings without you?”
Sienna ignored her remark. “Mr. Zhao doesn’t speak English, you say?”
“He speaks a little bit. He’s from Shanghai, but growing up, he learned Russian instead of English.” Noreen leaned closer to Sienna. “He’s not allowed in the USA for some reason. That’s why this year’s conference is in Freeport instead of Atlanta.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It was Mr. Ford’s idea to invite him.”
“Blame the dead who can’t defend himself?” Sienna asked.
“Mr. Ford wasn’t Mr. Perfect. He left a messy trail, like someone dragging a leaky trash bag across the carpet.”
Sienna wondered who Noreen was parroting. She wanted to walk away, but Noreen was talking.
“You’re saying that Mr. Zhao is Mr. Ford’s guest,” Sienna said.
“Yes.”
“How come I didn’t know about it? As his administrative assistant, I wou
ld have known.”
“Not if you weren’t in the office on Friday and he was working from his Tybee home.”
“Friday?” Sienna asked. “That late?”
“Uh-huh. So hurry along and find Mr. Zhao a translator and interpreter.”
“Is there one at this late hour?”
“Beats me. It’s your problem now,” Noreen said.
They stopped at the coffee nook. It was out of coffee. The attendant promised to get them more and have it sent to Meeting Room 7.
“What about Mr. Lee? Where’s he from?” Sienna asked.
“Originally, he was from Hong Kong, but he’s Canadian now. He wants to be a bigger partner than Mr. Gavard would let him. His company tried to buy the Empire State Building, you know?”
“I had no idea all these foreign investors are buying up land and buildings in the United States,” Sienna said softly.
“They’ve been doing it for years—decades.”
“And that doesn’t bother anyone in Washington?”
“Nope. You know how our real estate laws work. Anyone can buy land in the USA. You don’t have to be an American or an American company.”
Sienna nodded. “If the American economy tanks, foreign investors can buy up huge chunks of the country.”
“And we’d all sell. Money rules.”
“Money doesn’t rule for everyone.” Sienna tried to recall if Mr. Ford ever opposed any of the transactions.
“It most certainly did for Mr. Ford.”
“Are you sure?” Sienna could vouch for Mr. Ford, but right now, she wanted to hear what Noreen had to say.
“For instance, Mr. Ford wasn’t happy when he found out that Sweet Prairie LLC sold to an international conglomerate.”
“Sweet Prairie?” Sienna was surprised. She recalled Mr. Ford calling the CEO his friend. The company owned many properties all over the country. Farmlands, city blocks, golf courses, you name it. And yes, Mr. Gavard and Mr. Ford each sold five percent of GOOP to them, which effectively gave them the same number of votes as Celestia. However, they would greatly expand their business. “They’re still based out of Arizona, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, but as of Friday, while you were out of the office, they were bought out by Evergreen November LTD in Cyprus.”
“Never heard of it,” Sienna said.
“Well, Mr. Ford himself found out about the sale one day before he died. He flew back to Atlanta from Tybee, and marched right into Mr. Gavard’s house. You should have seen his face—uh…”
Silence followed.
Awkward.
“Only when Celestia isn’t there,” Noreen whispered. “Okay?”
Sienna wondered how Noreen could justify that. However, it wasn’t her place to judge. “That’s between you and God.”
Someone exited the elevator. He was pushing a trolley with coffee and pastries on it.
“I better run.” Noreen followed the trolley. “Meeting Room Seven.”
Sienna wondered whether to retrieve her clipboard and pen from the meeting room. She texted Agent Kimball, who was supposed to be somewhere in the resort. Kimball texted back instantly.
Leave it.
Sienna nodded to her phone. She took the elevator down to the lobby to find a way to move Mr. Lee to a better oceanfront villa. And she prayed for a miraculous solution to Mr. Zhao’s language problem.
Chapter Sixteen
About an hour later, Sienna walked out to the pool and found Earl where he had said he would be. Under the shade of a giant umbrella, he was stretched out in a tee shirt and swimming trunks on a patio chaise lounge, chatting up none other than Celestia Gavard on the poolside lounge next to his.
Sienna hadn’t seen Celestia since the GOOP Christmas party last December. At fifty-five years young, she looked spectacular. Trim and tanned and athletic. A runner, the wife of Mr. Gavard could put everyone at GOOP to shame on the track.
Celestia made Sienna feel like she needed more exercise.
“Hello, Sienna,” Celestia said. “You look pasty like you need some sun. I’ll tell Zach not to work you too hard, especially now.”
“I’m on my way back to the meeting room,” Sienna replied. “Feels like I need to take a nap though.”
“It’s the heat.” Celestia fanned herself. “I’m sorry about Finnegan. Such a dear man, gone too soon.”
Sienna nodded.
“I was talking to your boyfriend here about how Zach and I met, and he was telling me how y’all met.”
Sienna turned to Earl. “And what did you tell her?”
“Your Uncle Tabbebo set us up on a blind date, and we’ve been kissing ever since.” Earl puckered his lips.
“Earl!” Sienna rolled her eyes. “Watch me not give him what he wants.”
“I like you, Sienna.” Celestia clapped her hands. “Come work for me. I need a good assistant. Finnegan told me you do great work. He gave you a raise every year.”
Still standing in the sun, Sienna felt hot in her blouse and pants. She could jump in the pool if she had brought her swimsuit, but she had made a deliberate decision to leave it behind. She could always buy a new one in the resort boutique.
“I could use someone like you,” Celestia said. “A no-nonsense type of worker bee.”
“No nonsense because I refused to kiss my needy boyfriend here?” Sienna asked.
“Needy?” Earl’s eyes widened. “I’m not needy. I’m quite independent.”
Celestia laughed again. She looked at Sienna intently. “I’m serious. Zach doesn’t need two assistants. I’ve read your yearly evaluations. You’re loyal and everyone at GOOP respects you.”
“Thank you for the compliments.” Sienna smiled. “Let me pray about it first.”
Sometimes faith could be a protective mechanism.
“You do that,” Celestia said. “Pray and let me know.”
Sienna respected Celestia more now because she did not mock Sienna’s faith.
“On Monday night, I’m having a private dinner and dance at seven o’clock,” Celestia said. “Would you two like to attend as my guests?”
Wow. Sienna had never been invited to any of Celestia’s private dinners. She wasn’t someone who invited non-peers to any of her events.
“Will your husband be there?” Earl asked.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Celestia said. She looked unbothered. “If he feels like coming, he will. If not, he won’t.”
“It’s nice that both of you have it worked out,” Earl added.
Sienna didn’t say a word. Although Celestia was a partner at GOOP, she did not hold a position at the office. Gavard attended most business events without her. In fact, according to Dana, Gavard often went on golfing trips without his wife. Somehow, they were still married after all those years of taking separate vacations.
“We both keep busy,” Celestia said. “We won’t miss each other.”
Sienna wondered if she would miss her significant other if they were apart a lot. Well, first, she had yet to have a significant other.
Except this fake boyfriend right here.
Earl was grinning at her for some reason. “Are you going to change and join us?”
“Too hot for me.” Sienna glanced at her watch. It was still afternoon, but she needed to go indoors where there was air-conditioning. “I’d better get back to the meeting room to see if they need me for anything else.”
“Break’s over, huh?” Earl asked.
Sienna nodded.
“I can’t believe Zach made you work on a Sunday,” Celestia said. “I’ll need to talk to him.”
“I’m not defending him or anything, but Mr. Gavard is making the two speeches that Mr. Ford was supposed to make, plus his own keynote address,” Sienna said.
“That’s just like him, that control freak.” Celestia frowned. “He could’ve asked me, and I would’ve gladly spoken on behalf of Finnegan. We go back many years, he and I.”
“You and Mr. Ford?” Earl asked.
Cele
stia nodded. “In fact, I knew Finnegan long before I met Zach. Finnegan and I went to the same college together. After college, I went to work for a PR firm, and Finnegan went to business school. When Finnegan turned thirty, he invited me to his birthday party, where I met Zach, and we hit it off. I can’t believe they’re half brothers. They aren’t anything like each other at all.”
Sienna knew bits and pieces about that, but she hadn’t been paying much attention to anything related to Gavard. Standing there, listening to Celestia, she wondered how the GOOP partner ended up owning ten percent of the company shares.
Actually, it would be more now that Mr. Ford was dead. As far as Sienna knew, his fifty-five percent would be redistributed in equal percentages among the rest of the partners.
“How about a kiss for the road?” Earl suddenly asked, throwing Sienna off-guard.
When she regained her composure, she figured that Earl was trying to keep up their appearance to convince Celestia that he and Sienna were a genuine couple. Otherwise, word could get back to Gavard that some sort of scam was happening.
Then again, as far as Sienna knew, Earl had a cover. He had taken on the persona of one Earl Patterson, whose grandfather had passed away, leaving him enough fortune to be jobless and to travel the world. That way, there was little trail to go on if anyone tried to dig into his past.
“One for the road?” Sienna laughed. “All I’m doing is walking down that path and back to the hotel building. Not far. You’ll see me tonight, Earl.”
Earl lifted his sunglasses.
Sienna could not read his eyes. No Morse codes there.
He stared at her.
“Ah, whatever.” Sienna stepped over to him. He smelled like sunblock. She lowered her face toward his, her hand on his shoulder. He reached out to hold her arm.
Under the umbrella in the hot sun, his lips were warm and moist. They tasted like lemonade. His full lips fitted perfectly over hers, and they savored each other for longer than Sienna expected.
Earl moaned softly. His fingers were in her hair.
Slowly, she pulled away. “I have to get back to work.”
“When do you finish?” Earl asked.
“I don’t think it’ll take long. There’s nothing much I can do. Noreen’s got it.”
