Texas Temptation

by Kathryn Brocato

  She returned to her desk early in hopes of searching Felix’s office for his password, but Concetta remained in her office with the door open, so that was out. Berry looked up the number for Wilburn and White, the law firm Cammy Osborne worked for. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to waste time after work meeting Cammy.

  “What name did you say?” the ultra-refined voice of the Wilburn and White receptionist asked.

  “Cammy Osborne,” Berry repeated.

  “I am so sorry,” the woman intoned. “There is no one here by that name.”

  “Maybe she’s new,” Berry suggested. This was weird. If Cammy claimed to know Daniel, that meant she had to have worked at Wilburn and White for longer than six months.

  “I can assure you,” the woman said frigidly, “that we do not employ so many people, we have lost one of them. Obviously, you have the wrong number.” She hung up in Berry’s ear.

  Berry replaced the receiver. Something was going on, all right. She just wished she knew what it was and who was involved.

  She flicked on her computer screen and accessed the bookkeeping files since she seemed to be alone for the time being. Concetta ran back and forth among the salespeople’s offices. Now was as good a time as any to do some snooping.

  Enter your name: the screen said, when she sought to enter the bookkeeping program.

  Berry typed in Felix Farley’s name.

  Enter your password: the screen responded.

  Berry thought a moment, and inside her mind she heard the word Topdog.

  That would be about right for Felix. She entered Topdog.

  The veil metaphorically parted. To her total amazement, the program accepted her login. She had tricked it into thinking she was Felix Farley.

  She sat there a moment in blank disbelief. Then she frantically began searching the screen for clues to financial data. This was not a time to pat herself on the back for her brilliant hacker qualities. She printed out page after page of anything she could call up, starting with pages and pages of inventory figures.

  Other than the inventory, Berry had no idea what was important data and what wasn’t. She printed out twenty pages of journal entries, several financial statements, and a few balance sheets. She just hoped Tyler and Corrigan could get something out of it.

  She printed out everything she could get to and slipped the papers, group by group, into the thin, leather briefcase she had prudently been carrying to work in hopes of this opportunity.

  She called up Accounts Payable and hit the print key. She was not meeting Cammy Osborne after work. She was taking these papers straight home to Tyler.

  “And just what do you think you’re doing?” Concetta demanded.

  Berry jumped and nearly knocked over Daniel’s paperweight. “Mercy! You startled me.” She reached for Mary MacGregor’s personality. “I’m searching for some facts Mr. Farley asked me to find. Unfortunately, I’m not really sure what I’m searching for, so I’m printing out everything for him.”

  Concetta came closer. Her brown eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Those are journal entries from the bookkeeping files.” A distinctly ugly look twisted her face. She reached for the set of papers Berry hadn’t yet transferred to her briefcase. “These are Mr. Farley’s private files. Who are you really? Did Walter hire you to spy on his brother?”

  Berry put her hand at her throat—where her heart had taken up residence—and looked shocked. “Walter? Are you saying Mr. Walter Farley?”

  “Don’t play innocent with me. You’re up to something. I knew it the day I met you. You’re no secretary. You’re a spy. Who are you really working for?”

  “A spy?” Berry let her jaw drop artistically. “Me?”

  “Yes, you,” Concetta mimicked her. She sorted through the papers in her hands. “These are the Accounts Payable entries for June. Just what are you up to?”

  Berry decided to go for broke. “I’m ‘up to’ doing my job as Mr. Farley requested of me.” She stood and snatched the papers out of Concetta’s hands. Several tore in half because Concetta refused to let go. “Now look what you’ve done. Mr. Farley is not going to be pleased.”

  “I’ll say he’s not,” Concetta sneered. “How’d you manage to get into his private bookkeeping files in the first place? Who’s your contact?”

  “I don’t have a contact. Mr. Farley gave me his own password. Check with him if you don’t believe me.” She put so much vehemence in her voice, Concetta paused and glared at her.

  “You’d better believe I will.” Concetta marched toward Felix’s office.

  “He’s at the Westheimer number two store,” Berry said sweetly. Concetta reappeared. “Mr. Corrigan called this morning and said he was going there because someone had discovered why there were big discrepancies in the inventory counts.”

  Concetta’s tawny skin whitened. Her brown eyes went wide with shock. “He what!”

  “Mr. Farley said exactly the same thing,” Berry said with considerable enjoyment. “He left this morning, and I haven’t heard a word from him since."

  “This morning,” Concetta said, almost whispering. “Oh, my God!” She rushed away.

  Berry gritted her teeth and swiftly ran through the accounts payable screens again, printing new copies of the entire file. When it was done, she put the torn stack on conspicuous display in the center of her desk and slipped the new set into her briefcase.

  She was probably going to be fired as soon as Felix and Concetta returned. She needed to get out with every piece of hard data she could. And if Tyler had what he needed, she just might not go back. Things were getting a bit too hot for Miss Mary MacGregor.

  She checked her watch against the computer screen. Shortly before five, she would walk out with her briefcase full of data she hoped would help Tyler prove Daniel’s death was the result of his uncovering company fraud.

  Now that she had Felix’s password and was probably about to be fired, she cruised through every program she could get into. The password worked on the company personnel files, much to her delight. Daniel’s file was still intact. She printed it out. Maybe the killer had entered something that would turn out to be a clue.

  At ten minutes before five, neither Felix nor Concetta had returned. Berry decided to take a chance. Since she couldn’t reach Cammy Osborne, whoever she really was, by phone, she’d leave early and avoid the woman.

  She picked up her stuffed briefcase and walked to the door. No one was interested in her. In fact, without Concetta at her post on the front desk, most of the salespeople had already left.

  Outside the door, Berry sighed and leaned against the wall, then rubbed her aching forehead. Lack of sleep, she supposed, along with taking a tumble down a long flight of concrete steps really took it out of a woman.

  But she had succeeded. Now Tyler would use her data to find out what Daniel had discovered that got him killed. She pushed herself upright and tried to conjure up the sense of triumph she’d expected to feel when this moment arrived.

  “Miss MacGregor! Wait, please. See there, Kel? I told you she was the type to make it out the door ten minutes early. I’d like a word with you, Miss MacGregor.”

  Berry turned so swiftly, she almost toppled over on her high red heels. Debra Reid hared down the hall toward her, giving her usual appearance of elegant disarray, and with Kelley Reid, trim in jeans and a sweater, at her heels.

  “Sorry,” Berry said in her sweetest tones. If she didn’t get out fast, Cammy Osborne might show up. “My lover is expecting me. Gotta fly.”

  “If you mean Tyler,” Debra said, “you ought to be ashamed of yourself. In spite of what you may think, he isn’t rich.”

  Berry observed the stunned and slightly envious way Debra eyed her red linen suit. It was an eye-catcher, all right, and worth every penny she had paid for it.

  “He isn’t?” Berry mimed surprise and tried to find a way to get past the sisters. “Why, he told me he had an inheritance. A big one. Do you mean to tell me he was ly
ing to me?”

  “Give it up, Deb,” Kelley muttered. “While you still can.” To Berry, she said, “That’s the hottest-looking outfit I’ve ever seen. Where’d you find it, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “She isn’t getting out of this little talk,” Debra said. She sounded like a woman speaking through gritted teeth. “Now, see here, Miss MacGregor—”

  “Do call me Mary,” Berry said sweetly. “I feel so sisterly toward you.”

  Debra, temporarily speechless, looked nauseous.

  “Take that,” Kelley said, clearly amused.

  Berry cast Kelley a suspicious glance.

  “Mary! Oh, Mary!” Cammy Osborne trotted down the hall at a rapid pace. Dismayed, Berry noted absently that although Cammy came from the direction of Wilburn and White, she hadn’t come from the Wilburn and White office. “Are you ready? You haven’t made other plans, have you?”

  Saved, Berry thought. She’d leave the building with Cammy then find an excuse to avoid having a drink. “Not at all, dear. I’m just coming. Good day, Miss Reid. Sorry to run, but you understand how it is when one is so popular.”

  “Miss MacGregor! Wait, please.” Celia Reid approached from the Wilburn and White direction. “I’d like to speak to you, if I may.”

  “Mom, what are you doing here?” Debra stepped around the corner and into her mother’s view.

  Celia Reid looked from Berry to her daughters, clearly shocked. “I came to speak to Miss MacGregor. What are the two of you doing here?”

  “Looks like we all came to speak to Miss MacGregor. As she said, she’s a very popular person,” Kelley said.

  “Sorry to disappoint all of you,” Berry struck in, “but I promised to meet my friend for a cocktail after work, and that is what I’m going to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

  “You aren’t going anywhere.” Debra blocked her. “You’re going to listen to us. You don’t want Tyler. You just want to use him. Promise us you’ll give him up, and we’ll leave you alone.”

  “What makes you think I don’t want Tyler?” Berry tossed her head back. “He’s a very handsome man, in case you haven’t noticed. And so rich,” she added, recalling abruptly that she was still Mary MacGregor as far as the Reids were concerned. “And I think you’re lying to me about his fortune. I’m going to ask him.”

  “He is not rich!” Debra snapped.

  Cammy Osborne fidgeted. She glanced from Debra to Celia and looked more than ever like a rabbit facing the barrel of a hunter’s rifle. “Let’s get out of here, Mary. Who are these people?”

  “What the hell is going on here?” a new voice demanded.

  It needed only this, Berry thought. Tyler approached from the other end of the hall, with his father beside him. She observed with a sinking heart that his frown was absolutely ferocious.

  She smothered a groan. Tyler was not going to thank her for wreaking havoc in his immediate family. She had no doubt that Mason Reid had gone to tackle Tyler while his wife saw to her. Of all people, she should have realized the value of family ties.

  She searched her mind frantically for something to say that would defuse the situation before Tyler reached them. She came up with nothing.

  She should have taken the Reids into her confidence. Now it was too late. Tyler had a full-fledged scene on his hands, and he was not pleased about it at all. From the way he looked at her, he didn’t find her sexy red suit much to his taste.

  He still wore the cheap clip-on tie and short-sleeved, white cotton shirt he wore that morning. Judging from the expressions on his family’s collective faces, they noted his departure from his usual sartorial elegance and were drawing their own horrible conclusions.

  “Would someone mind explaining to me exactly what is going on here?” Tyler said upon reaching the small group. “Is this some sort of family meeting I wasn’t invited to? Should I go away?”

  He knew very well what was up, Berry realized, and he had decided to play it for all it was worth.

  “What’s wrong with wanting to stop you from making the mistake of your life?” Debra said. “Whether you know it or not, we care too much about you to let you throw yourself away on this—this—”

  “Careful, Deb.” Tyler sounded amused behind his stern demeanor. “You’re about to heap aspersions on my tastes.”

  “What is all this? A family pow-wow?” Cammy Osborne looked both annoyed and nervous as she stood beside Berry and fidgeted with her purse. “Let’s get out of here, Mary. It’s got nothing to do with us.”

  “Good idea,” Berry said.

  “Hold it right there, Mary.” Tyler snagged her arm and dragged her against him. “Mary and I are getting married, you’ll be happy to know. She’s agreed to let the two of you be bridesmaids.” He scowled at his sisters. “Although that may change if Deb keeps shooting off at the mouth.”

  Berry suppressed a gasp. Now Tyler was going too far in teasing his family. She shot him a warning glare and poked him in the ribs with her elbow for good measure.

  Cammy Osborne took a cell phone from her purse and looked at it. Sweat had broken out on her upper lip. Berry thought she looked like a rabbit in a fit.

  “Look, Mary, I have to be someplace in half an hour,” she said in a high, breathless voice. “Let’s go, or we won’t have time to talk.”

  Berry tried signaling Tyler with her eyes. “Tyler, I’ll meet you later. Okay, honey?”

  “Sorry, sweetie,” Tyler said. “We’re going to straighten this out right now.” He studied Cammy, clearly unimpressed with her. “I’m sorry, but my fiancée and I have a few things to settle. She’ll have to take a rain check.”

  “Tyler, maybe it would be better if I left,” Berry whispered.

  She wished she’d been able to consult Tyler about the fact that Cammy Osborne had lied about working at Wilburn and White.

  “Mary promised to meet me here after work,” Cammy said on a furious gasp. Her pale eyes glared at Tyler. “You have no right to interfere.”

  Tyler’s suspicious gaze focused on Cammy. Cammy fidgeted with her purse and backed away.

  “Is that right?” Tyler asked.

  Cammy Osborne’s hand suddenly appeared from inside her purse. She pointed a black revolver at Tyler’s chest.

  “Get back.” The gun shook in her hand. She was visibly falling apart. “You. Beryl Challoner. Come with me.” Her voice had gone peculiarly flat.

  Berry stood rooted where she was. “You know who I am.”

  “Damned right, I know who you are. Come with me. Now.”

  “I knew this was a bad idea,” Kelley whispered.

  “Beryl Challoner?” Celia whispered. “Daniel’s sister?”

  Debra made a peculiar choking sound. “Daniel’s sister?”

  “She isn’t going anywhere with you. Would your name happen to be Mary MacGregor Campbell, by any chance?” Tyler held Berry behind him.

  “Looks like you were right, Tyler.” Mason Reid stepped forward. “It wasn’t about fraud at Farley Brothers at all.”

  “That’s right, Dad. Daniel was killed for the oldest reason in the world. Money, in the form of a big inheritance.” He tightened his grip on Berry. “In the meantime, why don’t you get Mom and the girls away from here before someone gets hurt.”

  Berry felt as if the floor had just vanished from beneath her feet. “Mary Campbell? That’s my cousin, the one named after—” The briefcase fell from her numb fingers. “You killed Daniel?”

  She jerked against Tyler’s hold, but he snagged an arm around her waist and held her behind him.

  “Come with me, Beryl,” Cammy rasped. “I can tell you what you want to know. I didn’t kill him, but I can tell you who did. Come with me, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  Cammy’s pale blue eyes darted from Tyler to Mason, then back to Berry. The gun shook in her grasp, but the desperation on her thin rabbit’s face kept both men at bay. Cammy might shoot accidently, judging from her white-knuckled grip on the revolver.

/>   From the corner of her gaze, Berry saw Kelley edge behind her sister and tap something into her cell phone with one finger.

  “Forget it,” Tyler snapped. “She’s not going anywhere with you, and if you didn’t kill Daniel, then you helped in some way. Did your husband put you up to this? It seems pretty clear that he married you because you were supposed to inherit your great-aunt’s money, but old Aunt Mary was too clever for him, wasn’t she?”

  “Shut up!” Cammy screamed. “You don’t know anything about it! Beryl, come with me, or I’ll kill them all. Now!”

  “You have five bullets and there are six of us,” Mason said. “Spread out, everyone.”

  “You succeeded even better than you planned, Berry.” Tyler kept a ruthless grip on her, as if he sensed she wanted badly to jump Cammy. “It seems your great-aunt Mary has made a few major changes in her will. She left everything to you, and that’s why they had to kill Daniel. If you died, everything would have gone to him, and that would have foiled all their plans. You were next, but you foiled them by leaving Austin and moving in with me. By the time they managed to catch up to you, you were rarely alone.”

  Cammy snarled. She looked absolutely wild. “Come, Beryl. Or I’ll kill you where you stand.”

  “Why do you have to kill her?” Tyler asked reasonably. “Even if she dies, your great-aunt has specified that you are not to inherit one penny of her holdings. Your best bet is to leave now, while you still have a chance to escape.”

  Berry had forgotten she had left work about ten minutes early, and that only a few minutes had passed. She thought she’d passed through hours of tension. In another few minutes, the halls would fill with people heading home.

  “No!” Cammy clenched her teeth, shaking all over. Berry thought suddenly she looked like a drug addict in desperate need of a fix. “I can’t leave without Beryl Challoner. If I have to kill you to get her, I will.”

  “Go ahead,” Tyler invited. “Because that’s the only way you’re going to get her.”

  “You bastard.” Cammy raised the pistol, gripping it with both hands.