Suspect Lover

by Stephanie Doyle

  “If something happened to Steven, then his share of the company reverts to Dominic. I would get a payout, but I couldn’t own the company. Unless we had children. Then they would be entitled to their father’s shares. I guess Denny and Dominic had a reason for it. And to buy in, Steven had to agree. I suppose they wanted to protect the business from moneygrubbing wives. Or maybe they just wanted to make sure that their vision was respected. Either way, the partners can only pass ownership to their children.”

  “…I can give you what you want.”

  “What I want?”

  “A child. Your profile said you wanted children. You told me you considered having a child on your own…”

  The conversation came back to her immediately and she felt her stomach roll with nausea. When he told her that he had a legacy to leave his child, she had no idea how literally he meant it. Dominic wanted a child so he would have someone to inherit his company. Not because he wanted to be a father.

  “You can’t think…” Anne started, then stopped. Caroline registered the woman’s sheepish expression and knew exactly where she was headed. Like a stewardess wordlessly pointing out the exits with two fingers. “I mean, it’s not like he married you just for children. I can’t see him being the type. Besides, if that was his only purpose he would have picked someone…”

  “Younger.” Caroline said calmly. “If Dominic wanted a guarantee of children, he could have found someone much younger than I am. He might have even insisted on fertility tests first. But he didn’t.” She wondered who she was trying to convince. “Besides, his reasons for marrying me have nothing to do with his supposed motives for killing Denny or for embezzling money from his own company. In fact, they contradict each other.”

  “That’s why none of this makes sense,” Anne agreed. “Nobody wins here.”

  “What happens if he does get caught?”

  “If he gets caught, he goes to jail. He should have the sense to turn over his shares to Steven,” Russell interrupted. The men, it seemed, had returned from their inspection of Dominic’s office. Russell stood with his arms crossed over his chest, obviously unashamed by his comments.

  Steven appeared embarrassed. “It’s not going to come to that, Russell. Dominic is innocent.”

  “Innocent of murder or embezzlement? Financial statements were altered.”

  “But the money wasn’t stolen,” Steven said to Caroline directly. “I checked our accounts. It’s all there. Almost.”

  Caroline pounced. “Almost.”

  Steven pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to stem a horrible headache. “Except ten thousand dollars. We had a petty cash account we kept on hand for miscellaneous expenses. Dominic withdrew the money that morning. After I told him what happened to Denny.”

  “There,” Russell stated emphatically. “If that doesn’t signal his guilt, I don’t know what does. He planned to run. The bastard! He’s put a viable company at risk. The jobs of a hundred people at stake.”

  “Oh, please, Russell,” Steven stopped him with a raised hand. “You don’t care about the employees of Encrypton. You care about your investment.”

  “Damn right I do. This is your future. And my daughter’s, if you haven’t forgotten. I’m not going to see everything I’ve risked ruined because of some convict who got it into his head to take the money and run. If he gets caught, he should give you the company. If he doesn’t, you need to take legal action. We can still get that government contract. The product is good. The best on the market. Everything can be saved. But you need to act. And if you don’t, I will.”

  “Daddy,” Anne interjected, placing a hand on her father’s arm. “Please. We’re not there yet. Dominic will contact us. Soon. I know it.” With her other hand, she reached out to touch Caroline’s wrist.

  Caroline looked down at the hand that held her. Anne was trying to offer comfort but Caroline didn’t feel comforted. Looking at Russell’s red face and Steven’s clenched jaw, she realized that each of them had their reasons for being with her. And none of those reasons were concern for her welfare. Or for Dominic’s.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered falling back against the counter feeling as if all her strength had left her.

  “You?” Russell huffed. “Well, really, there’s nothing for you to do. You don’t have any vested interest in this company. Hell, you barely have any time invested in your marriage.”

  “That’s enough, Russell,” Steven snapped.

  “I’m being practical. The marriage isn’t legal. She has no say in what happens with the company.” Russell faced her directly. “If I were you, I would leave. Cut your losses and go home.”

  Caroline thought about her house waiting for her back in Virginia. Her quiet life. Her small group of friends. How easy would it be to leave, to run home. Just like a coward.

  She pushed herself off the counter and moved away from the three of them. “I am home. And I think you should leave.”

  “Caroline, Daddy didn’t mean…”

  “I know what he meant. I’m not even saying he’s wrong for thinking it. You believe Dominic is guilty.”

  “Damn right I do.”

  “Then we’re at odds. I believe he’s innocent. You should leave.”

  Russell took a step toward her, his gaze suspicious. “If you think that there is any loophole, any way for you to get your hands on this company, think again, little lady.”

  “I don’t want the company,” she said quietly, unflustered by Russell’s threatening tone. “I want my husband back.”

  “Let’s just go,” Steven said. His shoulders slumped and Caroline could see the exhaustion in his face. It seemed he hadn’t slept any more in the last few days than she had. Steven stood back as Russell took Anne’s hand and led her out the front door. When they were beyond earshot he grasped Caroline’s hand.

  “We’re not at odds. I don’t think he’s guilty, either.”

  Caroline said nothing.

  “But if he contacts you in any way, you have to let me know. He has to come back from wherever the hell he is hiding and make this right. My father-in-law is a greedy money-hungry bastard, but he’s got a point. We still have a chance to save this contract. More than that, this company needs Dominic. It is Dominic. Without him, I don’t know.”

  “Okay.” It was an easy reply that answered nothing. But Steven must have seen in her face that she wasn’t going to say anything else. After a moment, he left and followed his family outside.

  The door closed behind him and for a while Caroline stared at it, thinking about what came next. The funeral was over. The murder investigation was proceeding. Dominic was out there somewhere…doing what? Hiding? Or maybe searching for Denny’s killer on his own.

  What was her next move? She could look for him. Drive around Half Moon Bay calling out his name as if he were a lost dog but what was the point?

  Suddenly feeling as exhausted as Steven looked, she climbed the stairs and found Munch waiting for her on the bed. The dog lifted her head as if to offer an invitation and Caroline took her up on it. She dropped down on Dominic’s side and tried to remember what it felt like to lie next to him. To smell him. To hear him breathe.

  Tears rolled into her hair, but before she could work up the energy to wipe them away she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

  The sound of a loud ringing woke her up. Startled, she jerked into consciousness. A second later, she recognized the sound of the phone. The room was dark, dusk having long since passed, but she had no problem finding the phone on the bedside table. It was the same one she’d picked up when Steven called her that fateful morning.

  “Hello?” she answered as she sat up. Her voice was rusty with sleep so she tried again when she got no answer. “Hello?”

  “Go home.”

  Confused by the response, it took a second for Caroline to recognize the dark voice.

  “Dominic!”

  “Go home.” Click.

  The dial tone echo
ed in her ear. Then later, the sound of a busy signal indicating the phone had been off the hook too long shook her out of her daze.

  It was him. His voice. His words. His order. There was no way to mistake it for anything else.

  Go home.

  She wanted to scream at him. If he’d been standing in front of her, she would have chucked the phone at him.

  Go home? She was home. This was home. This was where she was supposed to be! Wasn’t it? Cut your losses. That’s what Russell had said. And if Dominic didn’t want her to stay…

  What was the point of hanging on if the person you were hanging on for was willing to let you go?

  “Munch,” Caroline said calmly. “We’re leaving.”

  Chapter 9

  “I’m leaving.”

  Caroline stood in the area marked off in the San Jose police headquarters as Mark Hernandez’s office. An area that consisted of a desk and a chair.

  “When was the last time you slept for more than three hours?”

  It wasn’t the response she was expecting.

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  “I heard it. I just don’t get it.”

  “I talked to my lawyer back home. I’m from Virginia. He said you can’t hold me here if I’m not a person of interest.”

  The detective shrugged. “He’s right. But why now? Last time we talked, you seemed pretty convinced your man was going to come back and that he was innocent.”

  “He is innocent.”

  “So why are you leaving now?”

  Because even though he was innocent, he wasn’t coming back. At least not for her. “I…I just have to,” she stumbled.

  “Caroline, I’m going to ask you a question and I need you to answer me honestly. Has Dominic Santos been in touch with you?”

  “No.” She didn’t feel guilty about lying to the police-she felt stupid. Stupid that even though Dominic had crushed her heart with his brief order, she was still doing everything she could to protect him. She took out a card and passed it to the detective. “That’s all my information if you need to get in touch with me for any reason.”

  “You’re leaving?” Caroline turned around and saw the FBI agent from the other day walking toward her. Again she was struck by a sense of familiarity that she couldn’t place.

  “I am.”

  “Don’t do this, Caroline. He’ll turn up. Eventually.”

  Caroline tried to smile through the crush of tears. “That’s not good enough. I can’t think. I can’t stop worrying. How did this happen? I had no one. And I took this chance. Then suddenly I was happy. One phone call and it was all gone. I have no idea if he’s coming back. Should I get over him? Fight for him? I haven’t a clue. You don’t know me. I’m not brave enough for any of this.” She took a deep breath and then another. “You can’t make me stay.”

  “Nobody is forcing you to stay, Caroline,” Nora said. “I just think you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re going to worry less or be less sad in Virginia. Also I think you’re wrong. Maybe I don’t know you very well, but you seem pretty brave to me.”

  “I have to go.” She turned back to the detective. “You know how to reach me if he does come back.”

  “I’ll call.”

  Nora watched Caroline turn and leave the station. Walking so carefully, as if she had to concentrate on each step or else she would stumble and fall.

  “Something happened.”

  “Yep. That’s my guess, too. But she wouldn’t cop to it. It’s probably for the best she’s leaving,” Mark commented.

  “How do you figure?”

  “Why get dragged down with him? The guy lied to her. The marriage wasn’t legal. And she only knew him for a couple of months. At this point she can cut her losses and move on with her life.”

  Nora shook her head at him, clearly disgusted. “Can’t you see that she’s in love?”

  Mark laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  Nora scowled at him. “No, I’m not kidding. What’s so funny about that?”

  “Love at first sight. Bullshit. Hormones at first sight, I’ll buy. But nobody should be shackled with a criminal for a husband for the rest of her life just because of hormones.”

  “Would it be terribly cliché of me right now to huff, stomp my foot, and say, Men!”

  “Yep.”

  “Then I’ll pass. Tell me about the money. The ten thousand dollars.”

  Back to business, Mark acknowledged. Actually, it’s part of what he liked about Nora. She had the same no-nonsense approach to work as he did. She knew when to play, but she also knew when to get serious. Unlike most federal types who were always just serious.

  The other part he liked about her was that strange and intriguing mark on her nose. What the hell was that? Oh, and her lips. They were big and full and made a man want to bite them. But he would keep that information to himself until after the case was wrapped up.

  Business first. Pleasure right after that. It was his personal motto.

  “Bank records show him withdrawing ten thousand dollars from the company’s checking account at exactly 9:02 on the morning he learned of Denny’s murder. Seems like a pretty suspicious thing to do, doesn’t it?”

  “Not if you think you need to run. Dominic is a smart man. If he was going to run, he knew he’d require money to do it. The real question is if he is innocent, why did he think he needed to take off?”

  “How do you know Santos is a smart man?”

  Nora blinked. “He owns a multimillion dollar software company. It’s not a job for dummies. He figured out how to lose his past. Also not easy for the mentally challenged. This is a smart guy we’re dealing with. You’re dealing with. It’s why you haven’t found him yet.”

  Mark snorted. “Right.”

  “What did you think I meant?”

  “I don’t know,” he said casually. “Sounds like you’ve gone from cheerleader to gaga over this guy. Almost like you know him.”

  “I read an article about him in Software Digest once. He seemed…interesting.”

  “So that’s what this is,” Mark said telling himself he was not jealous. No way.

  “What?”

  “You’ve got a crush on this guy.”

  Nora rolled her eyes. “You’re a jackass.”

  “Not disputing that. But I’m right. So you’re a computer geek…”

  “Watch it,” she growled.

  “Computer lady?”

  “Better.”

  “And he owns a software company. Is he, like, your idol? Tell me, do you carry his picture around in your wallet?”

  “Drop it, Detective,” Nora told him. “My point is still a valid one. He’s smart, he’s on the run and now we know he’s got enough cash to hide out for a while.”

  “He’s got enough cash to be in Mexico right now drinking mai-tais on a beach. He didn’t get his hands on the two million, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some other money stashed away. Hell, he’s probably got bank accounts all over the damn world. We’re never going to find this guy.”

  Nora plopped herself down in the seat across from him. She crossed her legs, which made the slim navy skirt she was wearing ride up her legs slightly. Mark stared at the three-inch heels stabbing into space and wondered how she walked on the suckers without falling off. Jeez, she turned him on.

  “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “It makes perfect sense,” Mark insisted.

  “If this is just about the money, why settle for two million when he’s worth considerably more?”

  “Maybe he was tired of the rat race.”

  “So why not sell his share of the company?” Nora said.

  Mark thought about that. “Maybe there is something wrong with the company. Santos knew and he was jumping ship before it all came crashing down around him. Figured he’d leave it to the partners to clean up the mess.”

  “I suppose that could work.”

  Mark’s smile was feral. “I’m good
.”

  “If you’re so good, then tell me this. Why does a man, who knows his company is about to crumble, who is prepared to embezzle money and ditch, suddenly decide to get married? You know about the partnership agreement?”

  “The what?”

  “The three partners. I talked to the company’s attorney regarding Denny’s assets. He told me that his share of the business reverts back to Santos and Ford. He said that in the event of something happening to any of them, only their children would inherit. Children none of them has. Seems to me like a man who decides to get married is thinking about the future.”

  Damn.

  Nora lifted her hands in the air. “Sorry. You can’t have it both ways. You already said he couldn’t have married for love.”

  “He could have married for hormones.”

  “He could have just slept with her to satisfy his hormones. He didn’t have to marry her. No, he wanted something with her. A future. Kids. Somebody he could leave everything that he’d worked for. Doesn’t sound like he thought his company was in trouble. Which gets us back to why a man in his position decides to embezzle from his own business.”

  “Unless he didn’t do it,” Mark finished.

  “Unless he didn’t do it,” Nora repeated. “Let’s consider another option.”

  The phone on his desk rang and he scowled at her, mostly because he hated to be wrong.

  “What?” he snapped into the phone. “Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Okay.” He hung up the phone and considered the information he’d just heard.

  “So?”

  “We got the security tapes from the office the night Haskell died.”

  Nora waited for a beat. “And you’re building up the suspense here because…”

  Because things were starting to get all sorts of murky. Mark didn’t like murky. He liked nice and simple. Bad guys, good guys. Innocent. Guilty. You find the guy who did it and you put him in jail. Then you win the girl and take her to bed.

  “The tapes show that Santos showed up about midnight. Then about an hour later, Haskell left alone. The camera in the garage shows him getting into his Porsche and driving off. A few minutes later, a Mercedes, same model as Santos’s, with tinted windows, drives past a camera and leaves the garage.”