“I’ll be sure to bring my checkbook.”
“That will make a good impression, and I’d like that because I want your art to be part of my plan. You’ll understand why as the party progresses.” Peter let the mystery hang between them. “Anyway, if you can go you’ll get a good idea of the type of art that will enhance the activity and fit the room.”
“You say the invitation is for two. Does that mean I can bring a date?”
“If you don’t you will probably be the only man without one, and trust me there will be few, if any, unattached women there to hook up with.”
“How can I say no when you make it seem so exciting? You’ll give me the details when we meet in Monterey?”
“Right. I’ll see you then.”
* * * *
Thia strode into the office around noon the next day. Holding up a bag from a favorite deli, she said to July, “I have lunch. Come on in. We need to talk.”
They sat at the conference table in Thia’s office. When the food was spread out before them, Thia started. “A lot has happened since yesterday. I saw the head of security for the building, Jim Jenson—do you know him?” July nodded as she took a bite of her sandwich. Thia held off eating. “He’s an ex-cop so I figured he’d have an idea of who might do some investigating for us. I don’t want anyone in the company to know what we’re doing. He’s worked with a company called Hawk Investigations. They’re reputable, he says. They do lots of work for the government. Jim knows the boss well so he said he’d call and make sure we get prompt attention.”
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting anything so soon. Where do we start?”
“We’ll know more when we talk to them. Jim says they know their stuff and I can relax. As if I could until this whole mess is cleared up. But it sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, good advice. At least they’ll have more resources than we do. I hope this works.”
Cynthia looked grim. “Me too, believe me. If it doesn’t, the end of C&H Accounting may be in sight.”
* * * *
Three days later, Thia stood at July’s desk when Michael Jackson, the representative from Hawk Investigations showed up, right on time. A large man with a weathered complexion, he wore his tailored pinstriped suit to perfection.
“Not the Michael Jackson,” July said when he introduced himself.
“Yes,” he answered, deadpan. “That other guy is using my name. It’s quite irritating.”
July laughed. “It’s good to have a sense of humor.”
His brows wrinkled in puzzlement. “Sense of humor?” This only made July laugh again.
While Thia made small talk with the investigator, July called Hawk Investigations to verify his identity.
That done, Michael and Thia went into her office.
“Ms. Williams, before we start, I’d like to assure you Hawk Investigations will do everything in our power to find the solution to your problem, and do it as unobtrusively as possible.”
“I appreciate that, Mr. Jackson.”
He nodded as though agreeing that of course she did. “I’ve thoroughly studied the information you sent over day before yesterday, and now I’d like to see the actual reports you’ve taken from the computer. I’ll review them for trouble areas and accounts. After I see what we’re working with, I’ll install software on your system that will produce more in-depth information. Do you have any questions?”
“Not at the moment. we’ve set up a work area for you. If you’ll follow me?” They left her office and walked past July’s desk to a cubbyhole of a space that until the day before had held supplies. Michael sat at a makeshift desk and July plopped a stack of paper in front of him.
“This is what we’ve gathered,” Thia told him.
His eyes shone as though thrilled with discovery of a treasure.
“If you need anything at all, just ask July.”
“Lovely, thank you. I’ll see you ladies in a few hours.”
Just like that, Thia and July were dismissed.
* * * *
True to his word, two and a half hours later, July knocked on the heavy mahogany door to Thia’s office. “Mr. Jackson would like to see you again.”
“Please ask him to come in.” Thia stood and walked forward as Michael came through the door. “Shall we sit at the table?”
“That would be good, thank you.” He set his briefcase beside a chair and then handed her a folder of papers.
“I’m curious about what you’ve found, but I’m afraid I may not like it.” She looked at him instead of the paperwork he’d brought.
“I imagine the results are what you expect. There is definitely something suspicious happening in your firm and now our job is to find who’s responsible. Can you think of anyone who’s out to get you, and who has access to your system?” He looked hopeful.
“Nobody comes to mind. We’re a small organization so the list of suspects won’t be long.” Thia smiled and tilted her head. “Of course, I could fire the whole bunch and start over again.”
“That’s an idea.” He nodded and looked into space a moment before regarding her again. “But training a new team is time consuming and costly.”
Serious Michael probably didn’t even have a small funny bone. She gave a little cough and scooted closer to the table. “That’s true. Let’s see what you have.”
He flipped open the folder in front of Thia. He moved his hand across the paper, pointing out several figures as he spoke, but he looked at Thia almost the whole time, glancing at the folder only to align his hand to the appropriate figures. She was impressed that he was so thoroughly familiar with her account in such a short time.
“What happens is a user with access to the system administration account starts a process in memory, which deletes itself when it completes. I need from you the list of people authorized to administer the system.”
“I’ll make sure you have it before you leave. Only a few people have access to that account, but they’ve all worked here for years and I don’t think any of them would do anything to hurt the company.” She frowned, mentally running through the list of people who worked in IT, trying to imagine one of them as a traitor to C&H Accounting. It wasn’t a happy thing to contemplate.
“Do you know of anyone who might hold a grudge against you personally?”
“Not a soul. I mean, I suppose there are people who were surprised that I took over after my husband died, but to do something like this? No, I don’t know of anyone.”
“I have to ask this, you understand.” He glanced toward the closed office door. “What about your admin? She’s certainly privy to the kind of information someone would pay for if they wanted to hurt you.”
For a second, Thia was shocked into silence. Then she calmed, knowing he had to explore every possibility. “I would trust July with my life. We’ve known each other for years. No, if July was the person doing this, I’d, well, I don’t know what I’d do. It’s not her.”
Michael made a notation in a small notebook. She stared at him until he looked up. She said, “It’s not July.”
He nodded. She thought he was trying to look reassuring. He missed.
“Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many times the person most trusted is the one least deserving of trust.” Thia started to say something and he raised a hand to stop her. “For the time being, July Barnett is outside the investigation.”
“Okay,” she murmured.
“How about someone who wants to prove your way of operating the business won’t work? Or someone who just wants to make a point for the point’s sake.”
“No, I don’t think so.” She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples to soothe the necessarily negative thoughts she was being forced to consider. “I just don’t think it’s someone who works for me.”
“I know it’s unpleasant to consider,” he said gently. He wrote in his notebook and then said, “Tell me about your competition. Is there any specific company that might do you or your business harm?”
<
br /> “Do you really believe this could be personal?”
“We need to keep an open mind.”
“I guess that’s true,” Thia said with resignation. “Well, my competitors would love to take my clients, and to that extent discrediting this firm would open some doors for them. We have a unique data entry service which has done very well, but we started it years ago. Why would a competitor wait until now?”
“Good question. Does any specific competitor stand out from the crowd?”
She thought for a moment. “We’re bidding against Bonaventure Services for a large contract. Currently they have the contract, but I think we’ll win the bid this time. If so, they stand to lose a great deal. I’ll ask July to get you a complete list of the firms we most frequently bid against. However, wouldn’t they have to break into our system through the internet or something? We show no evidence of that, unless you found something.”
“No, nothing specific, but there are other ways to access your system. They could bribe one of your employees, for instance.”
She shook her head miserably. “I’m not accustomed to thinking in such devious terms.”
“Let’s hope that’s what’s happening. If so, it might be relatively easy to get a lead.”
“I’m worried a big mistake will get through to a customer.”
“I have software with me that will help. It produces reports that will provide a record of your client accounts organized by nightly activity, and will help us pinpoint which accounts are accessed. We believe the intensity of the attacks will remain about the same because there seems to be some effort to minimize loss.”
“Why would they do that? If their intent is to hurt the company or me, why not play havoc with the books?”
“Probably to keep it under the radar, and so you’ll waste resources and not go after the real problem.”
“That sounds devious enough for my late husband to have thought it up. He loved playing what if games. ‘What if I wanted to break into Fort Knox?’ You know what I mean.”
He didn’t look as though he did. “Let’s get this software loaded.” He stood and took a CD from his briefcase. “Tell me a little more about this service of yours.”
She leaned forward eagerly, proud of what she and Henry had developed. “We assign each business a CPA. The CPA has a team of bookkeepers and assigns them in pairs to the clients. That way the standard division of powers exists to help prevent fraud without the business having to hire two bookkeepers. We let the business take care of petty cash.”
“That does sound good.”
When the installation concluded, Michael tapped the screen indicating a particular file. “See this? This is the file you need to retrieve every morning. Save it on your hard drive and print the reports from here. Once you download it from the server, you’ll be prompted to delete the file.”
“That seems easy enough.”
Michael grinned at her. “Easy as pie. Let me show you what the report will look like.” Crossing back to the folder on the table, he returned with several printouts and handed them to Thia.
“Oh, I see,” she said as she flipped through the pages. “This should help a lot if it catches all of the changes.”
“I want you to verify the figures with your current system, at least for a few days. Do you have any questions?”
Thia thought for a moment. “No, I don’t believe so.” She smiled at him. “Michael, you’ve made this as painless as such a situation can be. Thanks so much.”
He smiled back. A gorgeous smile transformed his whole body, not just his face. “It’s a pleasure working with you, Ms. Williams. Let me gather up my things and I’ll let you get back to work.” In less than thirty seconds he had briefcase in hand and was walking to the door.
“You have my number in case anything big happens, I’ll be looking for those reports every morning.”
“Thanks again. I’ll walk you out.”
* * * *
“Will you please come into my office?” Thia said as she passed July’s desk.
“Sure, I’ll be right there,” July said. Moments later she strode into Thia’s office.
“Close the door, I have something to show you.”
In a few minutes, Thia showed July how to use the new software and explained the significance of it. Together they looked at the sample reports in more depth, correlating what the new software generated compared to what they were used to.
“This should be a big help. Do you think it will work?”
“I sure hope so. We need to run our regular system reports and compare figures, at least for the time being. Will that be too much for you to handle?”
“No, it’ll be fine.”
“Then I guess we’ll get the first report in the morning.” Thia put the sample sheets back in the folder and locked the folder in her desk drawer.
July relaxed in her seat. “Now let’s get to the important discussion. He’s a hunk and not too young for you. Is he married? He’s not wearing a wedding ring.”
“I’m not interested in seeing anybody on a regular basis and he didn’t strike me as a casual dater. I can take care of myself, thank you.”
“When was the last time you went out on a date with a real man?”
“That would be the guy I met at the art gallery, weekend before last.”
“I’m not sure he counts and besides, you said you aren’t going to see him again. So, other than the art guy, when was the last time you got laid?”
“In spite of the fact that it’s none of your business, I have to admit it has been a while. But I’ve been giving the vibrator a work out.”
“Vibrators don’t count. After this case is over, Michael is a target.”
“Isn’t it time for you to go home and get out of my love life?”
July grinned. “Almost, but I need to finish a few things before I leave.” She stood, ready to retreat to her desk. “Good luck on getting me out of your love life until you find someone.” Heading for the door, she suddenly stopped and spun around. “Are you sure about that artist guy?”
“You have to be kidding. Not a chance I’ll ever see him again.”
“Okay, but don’t expect me to stop asking. That PI is a real looker.” With the flash of a smile, she swept from the office, pulling the door shut behind her.
Feeling better for having taken the step of calling in an outside investigator, Thia picked up her other work and lost herself in it.
Chapter 3
Finally, about seven thirty that night, Thia opened the door to her condo and kicked her shoes off. While sorting the mail, she pressed the message button on her answering machine. There were two. The first was a telemarketer but the second was a carrier company saying they had a letter for her and if she would call they would send it right over.
A few minutes after her return call, the carrier arrived. She tipped the delivery lady and took the letter. It was addressed to Thia Parker.
Very curious, she opened the letter, unfolded the paper and read,
Thia,
Meet me Saturday morning at 10:00 under the clock tower in front of the Ferry Building . Wear something comfortable and shoes for boating. Bring a bathing suit, and an overnight bag.
Derek
Thia made her way to the sofa, unsure her legs would support her.
How did he know where she lived? She used her married name at work, Cynthia Williams, but her maiden name for her personal life, a decision she’d made after Henry’s death.
Her mind replayed the night she’d spent in his studio. She’d thought of him often since then, but had known they’d shared a one-night adventure she wouldn’t repeat. She was an accountant, a profession not known for wild flings or trips on the wild side. She’d had hers. The excitement would have to last a long time.
Then again, maybe this was a mistake. She looked at the envelope. There was no return address. She picked up the phone and called the carrier company back. “You delivered a letter to Thia Parke
r on Lombard Street
a few minutes ago. There is no return address. Can you tell me where it came from?”
The man at the other end paused for a second, and then said, “It was dropped off here at three-ten this afternoon. There’s no name.”
“Thank you.” Thia slowly hung up the phone, consumed with dismay. “Oh, damn.”
This was too embarrassing. She didn’t know the man, yet she’d had sex with him—more than once. Fabulous sex. Better sex than she’d ever had in her life. Better than she’d ever imagined in her life.
But, still.
There was no way she could see him again. It was bad enough going off into the night with a guy she didn’t know. At least people at the gallery had seen her with him and the cab driver knew she’d gone to Third Street
with him.
She looked at the note again. Bring an overnight bag? That meant more than a quick tour past Angel and Tiberon Islands. Alone with a man on a boat, a lot could happen, and who would know?
No. No way. She absolutely couldn’t go. Not on a boat with a stranger, who no doubt would want sex again. Multiple times. Oh, God, what I’d give to—
No. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—go.
Thia sat quietly staring into space. By the time she realized she was thinking about which bathing suit to take, she knew the decision had been made. One more walk on the wild side wouldn’t hurt.
Oh, I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t.
She frowned and tapped her fingernail on her lips. But I think I will.
* * * *
Friday afternoon finally arrived, ending a work week that had been long and exhausting. Friday nights often were depressing, being the start of another lonely weekend. But tonight, a drink, some food and a hot bath represented paradise.
She Shouldnt, But She Will Page 4
