Finely Ground

by Jennifer Templeman

  “Yes,” he replied, equally quiet. “I wanted to handle this right, and my uncle wasn’t in his office, so I came straight to you.”

  It only took them a couple of minutes to get down to where their visitor was waiting.

  “Mr. Murphy.” George walked into the meeting space and immediately took control. “This is Agent Ellie Michaels, and she’s going to be joining us today.”

  “Thank you.” Murphy seemed genuinely happy about having someone else looking at the case. “I got in touch with our accounting team and got copies of the invoices and contract like you asked.” He slid the folder in his hand across the table and began explaining what was in it. “It was three years ago, but when we began to grow by purchasing other affiliates, we reached out to a programmer at a security firm to create a program that would capture and safeguard the security feeds from all our locations on a central server. We don’t review them unless there’s an issue, but we can centrally access the video because of the capture-and-store program this guy created for us.”

  “Are you still associated with the programmer?” Ellie asked.

  “No. After I came on board as the head of security, I thought it was too big a risk to have one company able to control all that, so after they finished the program, I switched monitoring companies to a smaller supplier and changed all the passwords to the system so they couldn’t gain access.”

  “That was probably a good idea,” Ellie agreed, before adding, “but a good programmer wouldn’t be hindered by a different password. If they literally created the system, there’s probably a backdoor way for them to get in.”

  George handed the folder to Ellie and shrugged, as though the information wasn’t helpful. Ellie glanced at the invoice that seemed simple, with a logo shaped like a lock. The address was a post office box, and the bottom of the black-and-white printout held a signature that was so hastily scribbled, it was impossible to make out. It may have been illegible, but that didn’t mean Ellie didn’t recognize the scrawl.

  “Did you work directly with the programmer?” Ellie wondered, hoping to get confirmation.

  Mr. Murphy shook his head no and looked away, as though hiding something. Ellie felt like the evidence was all pointing in one direction, but she understood what George might have been picking up on when he said this man seemed guilty of something. “Whatever it is,” Ellie warned, “you’d be much better off to disclose it now than have something come out in the course of the investigation.”

  “I didn’t deal with him because he’d already been hired when I came into my position and he seemed to be doing a good job.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Plus, I was afraid he might not appreciate being forced to work with me.”

  “Why would that matter?” Ellie asked.

  “I was having an affair with his wife.”

  “Can we keep these?” Ellie held up the file. When the man nodded his agreement, she stood up and held out her hand. “Thank you for coming in and bringing this so quickly.”

  “Of course.” He rose and shook her hand. “If there’s anything else I can do, please let me know. I need these thefts to stop before people make the connection to our truck stops.”

  “There is one thing,” Ellie prompted. “What’s your first name?”

  “It’s Stewart,” he answered.

  “Like the mouse,” Ellie mumbled, remembering Janice’s gossip about the children’s book character who stole John’s wife. It looked like it was a good thing Mack had cleared her for field duty, because after a little more research to tie the ends together, somebody definitely had another visit to make with Mr. Pemberton.

  ****

  Ellie was just about to serve herself a bowl of the potato soup she’d made for dinner when there was a knock at her door. She looked at the pot and knew there was plenty to share, and she wondered how Phillips had the uncanny ability to know when she was about to eat so he could time his visits across the hall.

  She opened the door and held back the insult to her neighbor for constantly begging food from her when she realized he wasn’t alone. Phillips had a very active social life, so it wasn’t unusual to see him with a woman at his side, but it was a bit out of the ordinary for it to occur on a weeknight.

  “I just talked to Joe, and he said you’re coming to lunch this weekend,” Phillips began.

  “He invited me,” she replied, not sure where this was going.

  “If you want, I can pick you up and we can go together,” he offered, apparently boring his date, who began to look at the stairs like she was eager to identify an exit.

  “I think that’s fine,” she answered, not sure why Joe wasn’t picking her up himself. “Enjoy your night out,” she prompted, nodding at the woman, who was trying to act like she wasn’t listening.

  Phillips looked at his date and then turned back to grin at Ellie. “I think that’s guaranteed.”

  Her phone ringing allowed her to put an end to the awkward conversation at the door.

  Joe’s familiar voice came through the phone. “You sound happy to hear from me.”

  “You saved me from an uncomfortable conversation with Phillips,” she explained.

  “I was hoping I’d reach you before he did.” Joe sounded disappointed. “We’d been talking about this weekend, and I told him Mama had asked me to bring over some chairs from the shop because most of the cousins were coming. Since I was going to be across town already, he volunteered to bring you with him so I didn’t have to come back, but I wanted to talk to you before he brought it up so he didn’t make me sound too lazy to drive over.”

  That was about as close as Ellie had ever heard Joe come to rambling. “It’s fine,” she assured him, glad there was such a practical explanation for his cousin bringing her to meet their shared family.

  “While we were talking, his date showed up, so he got off the phone quickly. I figured he wouldn’t drag his date across the hall, so I thought I had time,” Joe said, finishing his confession.

  “It was strange for him to be setting up bringing me with him to a family dinner while his date stood there silently,” Ellie said. “He doesn’t usually go out on Thursdays.”

  “She called him up out of the blue and asked him out,” Joe volunteered. “I guess Garrett had tried to pick her up last weekend and she wasn’t buying it, so when he slipped her his card, he didn’t think she’d ever call.”

  “I’m glad to hear his business cards from the Bureau are helping his social life,” Ellie teased, wondering if Phillips was eager to take her out because she’d turned him down. There was a competitive edge to her neighbor that wouldn’t have appreciated being unsuccessful.

  “You’ll enjoy Sunday’s lunch,” Joe told her with a chuckle. “All the aunts and my grandmother will be after him to settle down with a nice girl and start a family.”

  Ellie couldn’t stop the laugh at that image from coming out. “I can’t picture Phillips with a baby in his arms.”

  Joe made a noncommittal sound. “He’s good with kids, but I can’t picture him managing diaper duty either. That doesn’t stop everybody from giving him a hard time about it.”

  “How about you?” Ellie wondered. “Do they give you the same pressure to start a family?”

  “No,” Joe answered quickly. “When I joined the Army, I think I was written off as a lost cause, but Garrett has a steady job that they think would make him appealing to a woman.”

  “I don’t think appeal is his problem,” Ellie remarked, picturing the line of different women she’d encountered in the hallway the morning after one of his conquests. There was silence for a few seconds, so Ellie added, “And I’m glad they haven’t been pressuring you.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because they might have succeeded, and then we wouldn’t have met,” she confessed, finding it much easier to be honest over the phone than in person.

  “You mean you appreciate me for more than my coffee?” he teased.

  “I do,” she admitted.
“But I can’t say just how much more I might appreciate because I think you’re holding back for some reason.”

  “Really?” He seemed surprised by her forthrightness. “So you’re saying slow and steady isn’t necessary?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Then what should my approach be?” Joe asked.

  “You were a sniper… Didn’t you have extensive training in strategy?” Ellie tried to put it back on him.

  “Yes, but I was a good soldier too, one who knew how to follow an order.”

  “I’m not a superior officer,” Ellie cautioned, not wanting to have the responsibility of leading what would happen next.

  Joe’s low laughter was a pleasant sound and kept her from worrying about this topic of conversation. “So as my equal, do I have your support to move things forward with a more direct and targeted strategy?”

  “Hit me with your best shot,” Ellie suggested, hoping he’d pick up on just how sincere she was with that suggestion.

  “Aww, Ellie… You need to understand a guy like me can’t turn down a challenge like that,” Joe said.

  Ellie smiled. “I’m counting on that being true.”

  Chapter 17

  “Quit squirming,” Phillips demanded after they’d only been in the car for ten minutes. “You’re going to wear out the leather on my seat.”

  Ellie would have liked to have responded with something sarcastic, but he was right; she’d been in constant motion since they left for dinner with his family. She decided to change the subject since there was nothing she could say in her defense. “I couldn’t help but notice you had the same girl stay over twice.”

  “I didn’t realize you were keeping tabs on my guests,” he answered, not seeming to take offense. “Are you jealous?”

  That idea was worth a laugh. “Hardly, but I did notice this one seemed to be sneaking out without your usual routine of sending her away.”

  “She’s…different,” he commented, as though searching for a word that would fit the situation.

  “Different as in she’s odd or just that she isn’t like the usual women you bring home?” Ellie wondered, happy for the distraction.

  “I guess the second, although there are things about her that are odd too,” he answered. “Like she shot me down time after time in the bar and then called me up later to meet for dinner. I offered to pick her up, and she insisted on driving to my place so she’d have her car. It’s like she is controlling everything about our time together. Even this morning…” He stopped midsentence.

  “You’re not leaving it there,” Ellie warned.

  “She left before I was even awake,” he replied, as though this were unthinkable in his universe. “There was no suggestion we have breakfast or any expectation that we’d spend the day together. She just left me a note thanking me for a good time, along with her phone number at the bottom, and walked out without me knowing.”

  “So you’re upset that she’s taking her own safety seriously and that she’s one step ahead of you?”

  “She’s not ahead of me,” he defended. “She’s just not like most women.”

  Ellie tried not to laugh, but the idea of her neighbor being so unnerved by an in-control woman was too funny to hold inside. “I like her.”

  “You’ve barely met her,” Phillips reminded her, glancing over quickly. “And this isn’t funny.”

  “It is to me.”

  “Look…” Phillips turned unusually serious and looked her in the eye while they were stopped at a red light. “I guess I can see why you find this amusing, but I’d appreciate it if you’d not mention this to anyone today. If Mom hears about me dating, she won’t leave me alone, and the idea of finally having grandchildren will overrule every conversation for the rest of the day.”

  “I might be persuaded to selectively forget this discussion…for a price.”

  “You’re enjoying this too much, Ellie,” he warned. “What do you want?”

  “You’ve got to help me navigate your family today so I don’t do something stupid and embarrass myself or Joe.”

  This time it was his turn to laugh. “It would be completely impossible for you to embarrass my cousin,” he assured her. “And you usually get all quiet and closed off when you’re out, so I can’t picture you saying much of anything, much less something stupid.”

  Ellie pointed out what she thought should have been obvious. “Don’t you think it would be strange for me to come out to a family lunch and not talk to anybody?”

  “Why does it matter so much?”

  That was the heart of what had her so nervous. She’d spent twenty minutes standing in front of her closet, staring at her clothes and hoping inspiration would strike and something better than the black slacks and white, fitted, cotton blouse would present itself. It was only because time was running out that she finally gave up and put on the clothes she’d laid out the night before. By the time she’d finally settled on some modest pumps and simple silver jewelry, she only had twenty minutes to curl her hair and throw on some makeup. Fortunately, her hair cooperated, so she’d managed to wear it down with loose curls. Joe hadn’t seen it like that, and Ellie worried that he preferred her in jeans to this buttoned-up version she was at the moment. She might not have a word for what she and Joe shared, but she knew he was important, and she didn’t want to mess it up, which brought her back to being nervous about the impression she was about to make.

  While Ellie was caught up in her head, Phillips had taken advantage of the wide shoulder on the side of the street they were on and parked. “You need to calm down,” he said forcefully. “I don’t know what my knucklehead cousin has told you about today, but it’s going to be complete chaos, with kids running everywhere, four generations in a small house, and lots of noise. It’s possible you could be there for hours and no one would even notice because of how many people will be crammed into that space. Joe and I are still single and tend to hang together at these demand performances, which means we get less attention than everyone else. So if you want to just blend in and observe, that’s completely okay. But in case someone actually speaks to you, you need to know that Joe’s told them about you. They know you and I work together and that Joe and I both think highly of you, so unless you find my aunt’s stash of whiskey and hit it hard, I can’t imagine a way that you could do anything wrong.”

  “What do they know about me?” Ellie wondered what she needed to live up to.

  “That you make Joe happy and you’re great at your job.” Phillips shrugged. “That’s all they care about.”

  “Is my working going to be a problem?” Ellie was worried knowing if his family was anything like Janice, she was doomed.

  Phillips made some unidentifiable sound and pulled the truck back into traffic. “My mom is a school teacher and didn’t give it up just because she had kids. Joe’s mom is a nurse and did home visitations when her kids were little, but when they were in school, she went to work at a skilled-care facility. If you’re thinking they’re going to give you grief about being successful and enjoying what you do, then you’re coming to the wrong house. If anything, they’d be more suspicious if you didn’t work or have some kind of career plan.”

  For some reason, that made her feel better, so Ellie smiled, hoping Phillips would understand she appreciated him taking the time to explain their family.

  “Can I lay it on Joe for not preparing you better for today when we get there?”

  Ellie slid her hands under her legs in an attempt to keep from moving so much.

  Before she could respond to his question, Phillips parked once more and announced, “We’re here.”

  She reached out to open the door, but Phillips stopped her by placing his hand on her arm. “You’ll be fine, I promise. And if it’s too much, come find me and I’ll take you home, no questions asked.”

  Ellie nodded, wishing she was better at having serious conversations with the man who was quickly becoming one of her closest friends.

 
; They walked side by side down the little paved driveway to a simple red-brick ranch house. The yard was framed with red-tipped bushes, and the sound of children squealing from the backyard gave credence to what she’d been told about the chaos level.

  Just before they climbed the three steps leading to the small porch, the front door opened and Joe stepped out, smiling at her. “Thanks, man,” he said to Phillips, who took the hint and left them alone by slipping inside and shutting the door behind him.

  “You look wonderful,” Joe spoke as soon as they were alone.

  Ellie used her hands to flatten out the shirt over her stomach, as though she could iron out the invisible wrinkles that might have appeared on the drive over.

  “Please don’t be nervous.” He took her hand to keep her from continuing to fidget. “We can leave anytime if this gets to be overwhelming. In fact, it’d be nice to have an excuse.” He took a step closer and tightened his hold on her hand slightly. “When we leave, we’re going to spend some time somewhere a little quieter than this house so we can talk.”

  Ellie wasn’t sure how she felt about the sound of that. “About anything in particular?”

  “I believe last night you challenged me to hit you with my best shot.”

  She nodded that he was right.

  “I intend to do just that,” he promised, bringing their hands up to his lips to place a soft kiss on her fingers.

  Before he could say any more, two kids came flying around the side of the house, running as though their lives depended upon it. Before she could ask if they were all right, Phillips came charging around after them, claiming to make them pay.

  “Should we help?”

  “No.” Joe didn’t seem overly concerned. “As long as their mom isn’t involved, everything’s okay.” He tugged on her hand, indicating she should follow him inside. “There are a few people who want to meet you.”

  Inside the house, the smell of food was mouthwatering. There was a low hum of the television on in the living room, where four middle-aged men sat around watching a college football game. The kitchen had three younger women sitting on bar stools, with two older women being directed by a tiny elderly woman with soft-white curly hair, wearing a half apron tied at the waist and holding a wooden spoon. Every spare inch of the kitchen counter was covered with food of one sort or another. When they drew close, Joe reached over to pick up a cookie from a tray near the edge. Before he could claim his treat, the old woman reached out and smacked his knuckles with her spoon. Its purpose as a protective weapon became clear as Joe shook his hand, proving she didn’t hold back with the blow.