by Curry, Edna
Rosie’s hazel eyes widened as she looked at first one man, then the other. “So you really are Ken’s twin brother, Kirk? And Lester sent you here?”
Kirk said gently, “Yes, Rosie, I am. I woke up this morning with my memory back.” Well, most of it, anyway. Enough to take charge of this mess.”
Rosie looked confused. “But if you’re Kirk, where is Ken?”
“Good question,” Kirk said. “I remember flying to Minneapolis and taking a cab to the store. I don’t remember anything after that, but that must have been when the mugging took place. Apparently the thieves took my luggage, cell phone and laptop as well as my billfold.”
Rosie nodded, still looking disoriented. “You didn’t have anything with you when they found you.”
Melvin looked thoughtful. “There are several interesting possibilities on where Ken is, based on what I’ve discovered so far,” he said.
“Yeah,” Kirk agreed. And he didn’t like any of them.
Rosie gasped and turned pale. “Oh my God,” she said. “The overturned boat! What if Ken really did have a boating accident that day like his neighbor at the lake thought he did?”
“What’s all this?” Melvin asked, wrinkling his forehead and rubbing a hand over his hair.
Rosie explained, “Ken said he was going fishing that day. We had a dinner date in the evening, but he never showed up. The next day a man who lives near Ken’s cabin at Long Lake reported Ken’s boat capsized in the lake. And Ken’s Cadillac was parked there, too.” She gave Kirk an imploring look. “Maybe he did drown and nobody even looked for him!”
“It’s possible, Rosie,” Kirk agreed. “But I don’t think it’s very likely.”
“Why not? How can you be so callous? This is your brother who might be dead!”
Kirk said gently, “Rosie, if he had drowned, his body would have washed ashore by now. It’s summer. Tourists are out in force, all over that lake.”
Rosie blanched at the idea. “Oh, God. Of course. It’s been almost two weeks, hasn’t it?”
Kirk hated to tell her the rest, but he had no choice. He couldn’t let her go off the deep end and call the cops, starting a search for Ken and a big scandal for their company. The newspapers would have a field day and the resulting bad publicity would do more damage to their business than Ken had already done.
Kirk said, “I think Ken is alive and has disappeared on purpose. In fact, he probably set up that boat and car scenario to make you think he drowned.”
“Set it up? You mean, capsized his own boat? Ken wouldn’t do that. He loved that boat!”
“I think it’s very likely he did do that, though.”
Rosie rose and her hazel eyes spit fire. “I don’t believe any of this. I’m calling the cops to have them search that lake.” She turned toward the door.
Kirk rose and grabbed her arm. “No, Rosie. Stop and listen to me.”
She spun back to face him. “Let me go! I need to find out what happened to Ken.”
“Calm down and listen to me. There’s a lot more to this than you know about.”
“Yeah, right. Like what?”
He heaved a sigh but didn’t release her arm. He hated to tell her this, but now he had no choice. “Why do you think Lester sent me and Melvin here?”
She stopped struggling and looked from one man to the other. She seemed to understand from the looks on their faces that he was right. When she sank back into her chair, Kirk released her arm with a relieved sigh.
“All right then,” Rosie said, “tell me what’s going on here?”
Melvin smirked. “Why don’t you tell us?”
Rosie glared at him without answering.
Kirk sighed and said carefully, “There are a lot of problems with the finances of this store.”
Rosie frowned. “Yes, I know. Ken kept saying we had to cut expenses because we’d gotten over-extended somehow. Just a temporary cash flow problem, he said. But what does that have to do with his disappearance?”
Kirk eyed her and said, “Rosie, it looks like he was embezzling from the store.”
Her jaw dropped and her face went white, then red with fury. “Embezzling? Ken wouldn’t do that! He was part owner of the store. You can’t steal from yourself, can you?”
Watching her face, he sighed in relief. She wasn’t involved. Or was she? No, he’d bet on it. She couldn’t be a good enough actress to fake that reaction.
“Ken only owned shares in the store. He didn’t have the right to take out any money except his salary.”
“But how could he take out money? I wrote his paychecks myself. He only paid the store’s bills, didn’t he?”
“We think he took a lot of money from this store’s accounts. I’m not sure how he did it, yet, but I’m quite sure that’s why he’s disappeared.”
Rosie wet her lips and swallowed. “I don’t believe you.”
“Then can you explain why all of his personal bank accounts are empty? And why all of his credit cards are maxed out? Why all his bills are overdue?”
Rosie shook her head. “I don’t know anything about his personal finances. We… we didn’t have that kind of relationship. I mean, yes, we were engaged, but we hadn’t talked about any financial stuff yet.”
Kirk nodded. Naturally Ken wouldn’t have told her if he planned something like this. She wouldn’t have gone along with it. So he’d most likely done it on his own.
Why did that make him feel better about it? His own brother was still an embezzler. “None of that makes sense unless he planned it. I looked back in the history of his personal bank accounts. He normally kept a fair amount of money in them. Now they’re empty.”
“That just can’t be true!” Rosie’s voice dropped to a whisper as she stared at him. “It can’t be!”
Kirk said grimly, “I’m afraid it is. When I first got home from the hospital, I spent hours going through everything in his desk at his apartment and checking his bank accounts online from his computer as well. His bank accounts were all empty and his credit cards were all maxed out. Most of the charges were for cash ATM withdrawals. What did he need all that cash for, Rosie? Was he gambling again?”
“Not that I know of! We only went to business meetings or out to dinner, never to the casinos!” Rosie looked at Kirk as though she thought he’d lost his mind.
Kirk bit his lip, and said gently, “I think Ken took off with a lot of cash or moved the money to some account in another country. We’ll trace it, you can count on that.”
Rosie just looked at him, her face still pale. Then she asked, “So that’s why you’ve been using cash instead of credit cards like you usually did? Or rather,” she swallowed hard, “like Ken usually did.”
“Yes. None of Ken’s credit cards were good any more. He’d charged stuff or taken out cash to the limit on all of them.”
Melvin added, “Lester wants this kept quiet, Rosie. He stressed that to me.”
Kirk nodded. He and Melvin had rarely gotten along well over the years, but he was glad to have Melvin’s support in this instance. “It’s important to Latham Corporation that we do damage control. Lester wants this problem kept in the family. We can’t let the papers get wind of this.”
“So, Lester did know there was a problem before he sent you two here,” Rosie said woodenly.
Kirk nodded. “Lester suspected someone was embezzling, yes. Our job was to find out for sure, and to learn who was doing it.”
“But how will we find Ken if we don’t tell the police? What if he didn’t run, but is hurt somewhere? You know, shot or beat up by those guys who keep threatening? Or… or what if they really did drown him in the lake and buried his body? We need help finding him.”
“I’m pretty sure Ken planned to disappear and he’s fine, Rosie. Private detectives can find him without a police investigation or bad publicity for our business. Lester is already working on it from the home office. He’ll take care of it.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry,
Rosie. Leave it to Lester. We’ll find Ken and we’ll find out the truth. Melvin and I will keep trying to figure stuff out from the office records, okay?”
Rosie closed her eyes a long moment, then nodded. “Yes,” she whispered, “All right. I understand.”
Then she rose and walked out, her high heels wobbling a bit. She carefully closed the door behind her.
Rosie went to her office and locked the door. Woodenly, she walked to her desk and sat. She dropped her head onto her arms and closed her eyes.
Never in her worst nightmares had she imagined a situation like this. The man she’d fallen in love with had gotten his memory back as she’d hoped he would. Be careful what you wish for.
Fallen in love with? Oh, God, she had! And he wasn’t Ken, her fiancé, at all. Not “Mr. Perfect.” He was his twin, Kirk, The casual, down to earth guy was real, not Ken, having a personality change because of his head injury. And the feelings she’d had for Ken when she’d agreed to marry him were nothing compared to what she felt for Kirk now.
But Kirk didn’t love her. He thought she was a party to embezzlement. He and Melvin both thought she was involved in Ken’s scheme! She shuddered at the thought. She’d never done anything illegal in her life. How could they think that of her? Why did they? Because Ken had set it up to look like she was involved?
Why would Ken do that to her when he had claimed to love her? What did she really know about Ken at all? She felt like a fool. No, Ken had set her up as the fool, damn him. Had he planned for her to take the blame for this? Did he care if she went to jail for his crimes?
Those two men were in Ken’s office right now, looking for evidence that Ken was an embezzler, with Lester’s blessing! What if they were wrong? What if someone else was stealing from the store and had set up Ken as the fall guy?
Or maybe they’d killed Ken so he’d be blamed, and left evidence to incriminate Ken and to make sure no one ever knew the truth.
She shuddered and sat up and rubbed her eyes. No, she’d been watching too many crime shows where the guy most suspected always turned out to be the good guy.
It didn’t happen that way very often in real life.
Besides, who besides Ken had access to their finances which they’d have to have in order to embezzle money? Only she, Ken and Harry. Was Harry capable of that? She doubted he was that smart. And she handled all the bank deposits herself.
Karen handled the mail and telephone calls, of course, but had no control over cash or checks.
Getting to her feet, Rosie crossed the room to stand at her window and stare out at the rain beating down onto the parking lot full of cars. Customers with umbrellas and full carts hurried to their cars. The day seemed as dreary as her thoughts. If the culprit wasn’t Ken or Harry, then who?
That left herself. A cold knot formed in her belly. Oh, God, did they really, seriously suspect her? Did they think she and Ken were in this together? Maybe that’s why they’d been doing this alone, without asking for her help? She’d been feeling left out for days, and now she knew why.
Unless someone, somehow had access to their computers. Someone outside their company, even? Or an insider, like another employee? They would have to be very computer savvy, like those two guys Lester had sent to investigate them.
Or was it those two? Could they even now, be setting up Ken as the fall guy? Cooking the books, as the saying went?
Was it possible that the handsome wonderful guy she’d fallen in love with could do such a thing?
Rosie remembered how lost he’d looked in the hospital. How she’d felt sorry for him and helped him get oriented again, thinking he was Ken with no memory.
No wonder he hadn’t known where Ken lived or hadn’t remembered how things worked in their office. Or why he drank coffee constantly and it didn’t bother his ulcer. Or no longer dressed or acted like Mr. Perfect. Why he no longer criticized her at every turn.
The reason was clear as could be now -- he wasn’t Ken! He didn’t have an ulcer. He didn’t have Ken’s habits or personality because he was Kirk.
She’d thought the mugging and amnesia had changed her fiancé. But Ken hadn’t changed; he wasn’t even here. All the time it had been his twin brother.
And she’d returned his ring when he said he couldn’t marry someone he didn’t remember.
His ring! She’d given Kirk the ring Ken had given her. She had to get it back! Because if he wasn’t Ken, she was still engaged to Ken. And she knew now that she didn’t want to be.
She closed her eyes and her stomach churned in dismay. So now, she was back to square one where she’d been the night Ken disappeared. She still had to break off her engagement to Ken and when she did, he’d expect to get that expensive diamond ring back.
What a mess. She had to find Ken and straighten this out. And make him tell Kirk and Lester that she wasn’t involved in any crimes.
But what if he wouldn’t help clear her? What if Kirk was right and Ken had disappeared on purpose?
If so, where was he? Would he contact her? How could he just leave her in the lurch like this?
Kirk could like it or not, but she needed help. And her brother the police officer was the only person she could trust right now.
She picked up the phone and asked Lee to meet her for lunch, then went to the office ladies room to wash away the evidence of tears on her face and fix her makeup.
Chapter 11
Rosie sat across from her brother Lee in the corner booth of the restaurant, debating how to tell him about Kirk without compromising his policeman ethics. Finally, she just said, “Forget you’re a cop for a while and just listen to me, will you?”
Lee looked wary. “You haven’t done anything you shouldn’t have done, have you?”
She laughed and chewed on a French fry. “I’m afraid our company CEO and his experts think I have, but no, I haven’t done anything illegal. But I’m not reporting this to you officially, either, understand?”
“Not really, but let’s hear it. “ Lee took a huge bite of his quarter-pound hamburger.
She gave him a thumbnail version of what had been happening since Lee had gone with her to Ken’s apartment and found it burglarized. To his credit, Lee listened thoughtfully as he ate.
“So,” she concluded, “I’m pretty sure they think I helped Ken embezzle the company and set up this fake drowning to defraud the life insurance company. But, because Kirk arrived and we all thought he was Ken, no one looked for a body in the lake, or made a claim, so there was no insurance fraud.”
“But, it doesn’t make sense to suspect you. If you had known about Ken’s scheme, you wouldn’t have accepted Kirk as Ken,” Lee pointed out.
“True,” Rosie said, pleased that Lee saw that point. “And if they do say anything, I’ll be happy to point that out. But they haven’t accused me yet, it’s just a feeling I have, that they think I’m guilty, too.” Her smile faded.
How could Kirk think that of her after the way they’d made love? Hadn’t that meant anything to him?
“Are they going to file charges against Ken?”
“I don’t think so,” Rosie said. “Kirk said his uncle wanted to keep everything quiet. So, it may be more of an internal investigation. Everyone they believe is involved will be fired, of course, but probably not be prosecuted. I think. That’s not up to me.”
Lee drank his coffee. “But you’re worried about losing your job, because you were dating Ken, so they may not entirely trust you anymore?”
“I guess so. Though Harry is also a suspect, I understand. Only he, Ken and I really had access to the bank accounts.”
“Maybe I can check out Harry a little, too, then. At least see if he’s had any big income other than his job, or made any unusual purchases.”
“I suppose that wouldn’t hurt. But…also…” she hesitated. “Lee, what if they’re wrong about Ken? What if he’s not safely off in some foreign country? What if he is dead?”
“Why would you think that? Because of t
he mugging and the burglary of his apartment?”
She nodded and her fingers nervously twisted a strand of her long blonde hair. “And those guys haven’t given up. Remember I told you about the gunshots at my house that night? And the message on Ken’s answering machine about how a fake name wouldn’t save him? That they wanted their money?”
“Yeah, I know. And the message on his windshield after they slashed his tires and burned his apartment building down.”
“God, that fire was awful. It was so lucky that everyone got out of the building okay.”
“That’s for sure. But think about it, Rosie. If those guys had killed him, they wouldn’t still be bugging Kirk for the money thinking he was Ken, would they? If they’d settled the score, they’d be done with it. And usually a body turns up sooner or later. None has, so far.”
“That’s true. But could you try to find out the truth for me without filing anything officially?”
“I can try, but I’m betting the Lathams are right in assuming Ken’s off somewhere enjoying the money.”
“I hate to think he’s really a thief, but I guess that’s a better option than assuming he’s dead. Argh. What am I saying? Of course it’s better than being dead. But I really need to know for sure, Lee.” She gulped some water to try to soothe her parched throat.
“You know I wasn’t fond of Ken. I hated his gambling habit and I always said it would get him into serious trouble. But for you, Rosie, I’ll try.”
“Thanks, Lee.”
“However, you have to remember that if Ken was smart, and covered his tracks, I may not be able to find him.”
Rosie frowned. “What do you mean, ‘covered his tracks’?”
Lee shrugged. “You know, used fake ID and cash, not credit cards, that sort of thing.”
Rosie laughed. “Ken? I doubt he’d think of that. Ken lived on credit cards. I’ve never seen him pay for anything with cash.”
“Maybe, but most people know stuff like that just from watching TV shows. And if he’s using a new name, it’ll be hard to find out what it is.”
