Stratagem

by Robin Caroll

  “My stalker … from college. I thought he was back, but he’s not. It’s not him. It’s Grayson. It has to be.”

  “Honey, you aren’t making any sense. Calm down.”

  “I saw him outside my room last night. And then he was in the hall, but I couldn’t be sure, but now I am.”

  “Who was outside your room last night?”

  “I thought it was my stalker, but it’s not. It has to be Grayson.”

  “Grayson was outside your room last night?”

  “It has to be him.”

  “You don’t know? Anna Belle, I’m trying to follow you, hon, but I’m confused. Was Grayson outside your room last night?”

  “I think so.”

  “Did you recognize him?”

  Anna Belle shook her head, even though she was on the phone. “No, he had the mask on.”

  “The mask? What mask?”

  “The Mardi Gras mask, just like the one my stalker wore, which is why I thought it was him, but it’s not, and Grayson knows what the mask looks like.”

  “Slow down. So that’s what Grayson knows—what the mask looked like?”

  “No. Yes, he does, but that’s not important. He knows. He left the brochure here with the right date and everything. Why would he do that?” Her mind raced. “Oh, oh, oh. I’m in a game. That’s what this all is. It’s a game. And he knows and is using it to let me know he knows what I did.”

  “Anna Belle, you’re losing me again. Slow down and explain it to me.”

  Bam! Bam!

  “I have to go. Someone’s knocking on my door. I can’t. Just … I’ve got to go.” She disconnected the call.

  This couldn’t be happening. No, no. A game. Why hadn’t she figured it out last night? The dinner. All of them. The fire. The snake.

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  Probably the next phase of the game. No, she could do this. She’d beat Grayson at his own game. She knew how he played. Knew how he operated.

  She shoved the pamphlet into her purse. Oh, he thought he’d use this to mess with her mind. She’d show him. How dare he?

  Squaring her shoulders, she jerked open the door.

  The man in the Mardi Gras mask loomed in the doorway.

  Her heart clenched.

  TWELVE

  “We certainly appreciate you seeing us.” Brandon nodded at Tim Dubois as he took a seat across the desk from the man. Brandon knew from the file that Tim was forty, but his face was lined with wrinkles that added years to his appearance.

  “Of course.” He sat back in his executive leather chair and rested his hands on his desk. A rather large and ornate mahogany desk. Was the company really so successful, or was the elaborateness of the office for show? “We’re all just devastated by Anna Belle’s death.”

  Brandon took in the man’s gaunt expression and hooded eyes with streaks of bloodshot. “I understand how hard this must be. Losing a valuable employee is always hard.”

  Tim sat back in his chair, its worn leather creaking familiarly. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’m sure you’re well aware, Detective, that Anna Belle was more than just an employee to me.”

  Well, well, well. It wasn’t very often that people were so forthcoming. It was … refreshing. “Yes, Mr. Dubois, so we’ve been told.”

  “Please, call me Tim. Since we’re discussing my personal life, I believe that’s more appropriate.”

  Brandon nodded his head. “So, why don’t you tell us about your relationship with Anna Belle?” He pulled out his Field Notes notebook and flipped the page from his notes of their interview with Emmi Dubois.

  “Anna Belle started working for the company about six—no, seven, years ago. She started at an entry-level position, working under account representatives.” Tim let out a slow breath. “Not only was she beautiful, but she was brilliant. I’m sure you know she graduated at the top of her class from LSU, but she had a natural way with PR. She could come up with slogans and ideas that would really speak to the customer base. It was amazing.”

  Brandon let the moment linger because clearly Tim needed to retell at his own pace. After another beat, he tapped his notebook with his pen. “I’ve heard she was very good at her job.”

  “She was.” Tim nodded. “Soon she was promoted to account rep. Not a single complaint from any client. Every client she handled loved her. She produced quality work, and they were satisfied.”

  “When did you start the affair?” Danielle interrupted.

  Brandon shot her a look, but she just rolled her eyes.

  Tim blinked at Danielle. “Um, I guess it was a year or so ago. It was around the holidays. We had been working on seasonal campaigns, and the hours were long and tedious. By this time, Anna Belle had a lot of accounts as a junior rep and was still knocking it out of the park with every campaign she put together.”

  “So you were working late. Alone?” Danielle pushed him back on track.

  “Not at first, but soon, yes.” He licked his lips and looked at Brandon. “Soon, one thing led to another and … well, we were attracted to each other. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t just her looks. Her mind and the way she thought were completely sexy. She was brilliant.”

  Brandon nodded, all the while feeling ill at ease.

  “But you both were married, right?” Danielle asked.

  Tim looked at Brandon’s partner. “We knew it was wrong, Detective, but it felt right. And then we fell in love. The heart can’t be denied, no matter who you’re married to.”

  Except Anna Belle had been married to Brandon’s friend. “So what was the plan after you fell in love?”

  “Well, at first we fought it. Of course. But once Anna Belle was promoted to senior account rep, we were together a lot more often. On trips to pitch to clients. Hotels. Restaurants.”

  Brandon didn’t even bother mentioning that her promotion sure made it easy for them to be alone together in those hotels and restaurants.

  “Who made the promotion decisions, Mr. Dubois?” Danielle asked.

  “I did.” Tim shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, and I didn’t give her any promotions. She was brilliant and earned them. You can ask anyone.”

  Somehow, Brandon didn’t think others would see it that way. “Did you two discuss divorcing your spouses and getting together?”

  Tim shook his head again. “We didn’t plan that, not exactly, but soon she told me she had asked her husband for a divorce.”

  “I bet that made you happy.” Danielle stared at him.

  “It did, but I was sad. I knew it would be hard to lose a woman like Anna Belle, so naturally, I felt sorry for her husband.”

  “Not your wife?” Danielle blurted out.

  “Of course, my wife. I love Emmi. We had just … well, I guess we had just grown apart. Drifted from where we had once been. Anna Belle was everything Emmi wasn’t. Emmi was wanting to start a family, and I just wasn’t at that part in my life. I’m still not. I don’t know if I’ll ever want a family.”

  Brandon bit his tongue to keep his opinion to himself: that most people had such an important discussion before they got married.

  Danielle didn’t. “You and your wife didn’t discuss a family prior to getting married?”

  “We did, but we didn’t.” Tim ran a finger along the side of his nose. Brandon didn’t miss it and recognized the meaning of the gesture. “We had talked about having kids, but I wanted to wait until we were settled, financially most importantly. Emmi was ready as soon as she got her LPN license. Either way, she became focused solely on getting pregnant. It began to … well, it just took the excitement out of the bedroom, if you catch my drift.”

  “We do. So you were having problems and Anna Belle was getting a divorce?”

  Tim nodded, back on track. “Yes. I thought things were going well until Anna Belle told me it was over between us.”

  “When was this?” Brandon asked.

  “Right before her divorce. I assumed her attorney had advised her not to be wit
h me for the sake of her settlement. I know she was worried about her infidelity working against her in court.”

  Well, duh.

  “Anyway, I tried to get on with my life, but I’ll be honest—I was miserable. Emmi was begging me to stay and see a marriage counselor. I didn’t really want to, but she begged. The attorney I spoke to said I should.”

  Of course he did.

  “So we started counseling, but my heart wasn’t in it then. I’ll be honest, I’d planned to be with Anna Belle as soon as her divorce was done and we could be together.”

  “But that didn’t happen?” Brandon asked. Twice the man had used the same phrase, I’ll be honest, which usually meant deception.

  Tim shook his head. “No, it didn’t. After her divorce was final, I went to her, excited that we could be together, but she told me she wasn’t interested. She said she wanted to be alone, to just be free. She said she’d been under constraints for long enough and wanted to be herself.” He shrugged. “What do you do when someone you love wants to go?”

  Maybe he should’ve asked Grayson that. But Brandon didn’t say that. Instead, he smiled. “You let them go.”

  Tim nodded. “I did. It hurt to see her going out and doing things, but it made me take a good, hard look at my life and what was important. And that’s when I began to throw my whole heart into the counseling. To restoring my marriage. To loving Emmi the way I’d loved her once.” He smiled. “It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t quick, but together, and with the help of a great therapist, we managed to get back to that love that consumed us. I’m so happy now.” He frowned. “But not about what happened to Anna Belle. I never wanted anything bad to happen to her. Especially not like this. Not dying.”

  “Why don’t you tell us about your hiring Game’s On You?” Danielle prompted.

  Tim nodded and the hardness of his jaw softened. Much more comfortable with this line of questioning. “When the position of executive account rep came up, I’ll be honest, my first instinct was to give it to Anna Belle. Then, after discussing it with my wife and the board, we decided that a much fairer way would be to take all the senior account reps who qualified and were interested, and evaluate them.”

  Brandon could imagine how that conversation had gone.

  Tim smiled. “But after we narrowed it to the top four, we realized that it would be almost impossible to choose since their records were impressive and very balanced.”

  Brandon shot Danielle a look that clearly meant to keep her mouth shut. This line of questioning was critical to the case, and he didn’t want Danielle’s attitude to affect Tim’s statement.

  “We—the board, began discussing ways to make a determination. We talked about asking them to submit a campaign for a brand-new potential client, but then we realized that would be just a one-time instance. We needed to see who would consistently deliver the best results.” Tim leaned back in his chair and let his hands assist in the talking.

  “Everybody’s seen the reality TV shows about which person performs the best under extreme circumstances and ends up being hired or being promoted or given a big bonus. It seems to really work, and we were tossing around ideas like that. Then one of the board members mentioned a recommendation for Game’s On You. I knew what it was because we’d gotten a flyer for the business about a month before. So, I set up an initial meeting to discuss what we wanted, what we needed, and what it would cost us.”

  Brandon flipped the page in his field notes. These were the types of details they didn’t have yet.

  “I met with Colton York, the owner, in his office. I explained what we were looking for: a way to determine which of the four employees would be the best suited for the position. He asked a lot of the questions, which I thought was thorough, then explained that their games weren’t just templated, but were custom created for each client. That his partner was a psychologist and did a complete profile on every person in the game: emotional, psychological, financial, medical—everything. His pitch really blew me away, to be honest.”

  Tim lifted his pen from his desk and began to twirl it between his fingers as he spoke. “We explained that those participating would need to be kept from knowing they were in a game. Colton said they’d have to have their legal team adjust their standard waiver to cover the company against liability claims. Our board understood that, and I guess I do now.” He dropped the pen to the desk.

  Brandon could almost touch Tim’s grief hanging in the office. The man might have had to let Anna Belle go and return to his wife, but it was obvious his heart was broken. By her leaving him, or her death?

  Or was it guilt?

  “Anyway,” Tim continued, “we worked out the details and set up the game. Our part was easy—rent a house that could accommodate our players as well as what Game’s On You required. We hired a Realtor to find one with the specs Game’s On You sent over, and within a day or so, she found the perfect house that was available.”

  “What did you tell your employees?” Danielle kept her tone conversational.

  “The board and I decided to tell them enough to get them to play but not realize they were playing.”

  “I don’t follow,” Danielle said.

  Tim nodded. “We told them that they were up for promotion, but we wanted to see how they worked under pressure, alone, and as a team. If they wanted to be promoted, they had to sign the waiver, fill out the in-depth questionnaire—both of which were provided by Colton, and submit the requested documents and forms.”

  “What, exactly, were the requested documents and forms?” Brandon asked.

  “Access to their medical files—releases because of HIPAA laws and such, financial statements, psychological forms—those types of things.”

  “Did Game’s On You provide all of these forms for you?” Danielle asked.

  Tim nodded. “Colton delivered a large packet and said he needed all forms and documents completed for every person participating, so we got information from all four of them.”

  “But not you or your wife?” Brandon asked.

  Tim stiffened. “No. Of course not. Why would we? We weren’t playing. We were just there to observe and be the liaison between Game’s staff and our players.”

  Brandon raised his brows at the man behind the desk.

  “Well, to be honest, Emmi didn’t need to be there, but you can understand why she wanted to be with me. And I wanted her there too.”

  “Of course.” Oh, Brandon knew exactly why Emmi Dubois was there, but did she have more than one reason to demand to be there?

  “So you compiled all the information on the four of them and turned them in to Game’s On You?” Brandon moved Tim back to focus.

  Tim nodded. “We gave the employees three days to turn everything in to be eligible. All four of them had everything in on time.”

  “I’m assuming you looked over the information they filled out?” Brandon noticed Tim’s rapid blinking. “To make sure everything was complete before you sent it to Game’s On You?”

  Tim let out a low breath. “Yes. Of course. I took them home and read over them the night before I turned them over to Colton.” He smiled, but he wasn’t fooling anyone with the lack of sincerity. “To be honest, I couldn’t tell you much of what was in them. I basically just made sure all the blanks had something filled in.”

  Right, and Brandon was just promoted to detective this morning. “How long after you turned in the packets to Game’s On You did they have the game ready?”

  “It felt like a really long time, but in reality, it was only a couple of weeks before Colton called and told me they were ready. I called the Realtor, and that afternoon we had a lease on the place and we were all set.”

  Now was a good time to knock Tim Dubois off his balance. Brandon leaned forward to the edge of his chair. “When did you know that Anna Belle’s ex-husband was one of the owners of Game’s On You?”

  “Ah.” Tim sat up straight in his chair, stiffening. He blinked. Again. And again. His Adam’s app
le bobbed rapidly. “Well, I knew what he did of course. From Anna Belle.” He licked his lips.

  Brandon stared at him, not blinking, not looking away.

  Tim shifted in his chair. “I mean, I guess I knew from the beginning, but to be honest, I really didn’t think about it until I saw him at the rental house.”

  Ah, that one sentence was so much more telling when combined with his manner.

  “You saw him at the rental house?” Danielle asked.

  Tim nodded. “He arrived with Colton and the rest of their team.” He licked his lips again. “I don’t mind telling you, I was a little nervous when I saw him.” He stared at Danielle as if she was his lifeline in the room. “I mean, he’s a pretty muscular man. I knew he worked out, and he’s a little scary intense, if you know what I mean.”

  Brandon did. He’d worked out with Grayson many times, and the man was one strong guy.

  “Did he say anything to you? Threaten you in any way?” Danielle asked.

  Mentally, Brandon rolled his eyes, but he waited on Tim’s response.

  “No. He didn’t say a word to me. Actually, he acted like he didn’t know who I was and basically ignored me.”

  “Actually … basically…”

  “He and his assistant, Pam, oversaw the rest of the team setting up things while Colton met with me and gave me a layout of what they planned and how they had worked in the campaign request the board needed in the game.”

  “Did Emmi sit through that with you?” Brandon asked.

  “Of course.” Tim turned back to Danielle. “They told us who all would be staying, and I’ll admit, I was relieved that Anna Belle’s ex-husband wasn’t one of them.”

  “But he didn’t say anything to you, right?” Brandon wanted to make sure Danielle got that loud and clear.

  “Right, but he was still intimidating.”

  Maybe he wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t been having an affair with his wife. Brandon bit back the retort.

  “Their team decided who would be in what bedroom upstairs and where everything would be located. We walked through the entire house, and they pointed out where props were, where the cameras were, and where their staff would be at certain times.”