Telling Gretel was a risk and the odds weren’t good. Even if she saw it as no big deal and was amenable to getting Madison replaced, there was no guarantee what the next journalist would be like. At least I knew Madison Shore liked me enough to sleep with me.

“I’m going to take Madison to see the call center tomorrow,” Gretel said.

I nodded, not wanting to meet Madison’s eye. I needed to speak with her alone to figure out this mess. I wasn’t sure if it was the scent of summer blossom clouding my brain or the fact I was going to have to try to convince a woman I’d just slept with that I wasn’t a womanizer. I couldn’t see an obvious way forward. When we were alone, we’d have to figure out this mess together.

Nine

Nathan

Three pieces of paper weren’t going to prove anything. “This is all you got?” I asked Audrey. We’d agreed to meet in the basement of a coffee shop by Euston Station. I was hoping a combination of it being the middle of the day and a very public location would mean people wouldn’t notice us, or if they did, they wouldn’t misconstrue our meeting as clandestine. Unless someone was following one of us, we wouldn’t be making the gossip columns this time.

Audrey nodded while biting down on her lip. “I heard him go into the bathroom upstairs. I didn’t want to risk printing anything else off in case he found me.” She picked up her coffee cup and set it down again before taking a sip.

I’d managed to escape from my own personal hell for an hour or so. Despite risking Gretel’s wrath, I’d skipped out when Christine was in the loo and slipped off to meet Audrey. Apparently we both had to sneak around when people used the bathroom.

“It’s just a list of clients and their investments,” I said. “It doesn’t say much.”

“But that’s got to be the start, right?” I could tell from the red rims around her eyes and the chipped manicure that Audrey wasn’t herself. Mark might have been married to his wife for over a decade and joked that they were like ships passing in the night, but even he was going to notice if Audrey didn’t learn to put a brave face on it.

“Well yes. But it doesn’t prove he’s stealing from them.”

“Why else would he have over a hundred million dollars in a personal Cayman Islands account that he hadn’t told me about? It’s not even in our joint names. Just his.”

When Audrey first told me the police had questioned her about Mark’s business dealings, she’d assumed the police were harassing him. Or so she said. I didn’t press her but wondered whether or not she had the feeling in her gut that what was inevitable had finally come to fruition. Not that I went around thinking my friend was corrupt or a liar—it just didn’t surprise me when the police told Audrey that’s exactly what her husband was.

“Have you told the police about the account?” I saw it as a good thing that the account was in Mark’s name alone. The police still needed convincing that Audrey wasn’t in on whatever scheme Mark was running.

She shook her head. “Not yet. Of course I’ll cooperate with them but I can’t help thinking I should give Mark a heads-up.”

I reached across the table and squeezed Audrey’s shoulder. “Promise me you won’t do that.” The police had been clear with her that if she had any hope of immunity from prosecution herself, she wasn’t to tell Mark anything. Only cooperation and discretion would keep her out of prison.

I’d advised Audrey to see what she could find in Mark’s office. Any evidence could be a useful bargaining chip that might save her.

“You think he’s planning to fly to some island and leave me to deal with the consequences of him stealing from people?” she asked, her voice wobbling.

Audrey had far more questions than I could answer. Especially today. My focus was split and I didn’t know left from right. “Does the amount invested match the amount in the offshore account you found?”

“No, the amount in the account is a lot less. But that would make sense. I imagine from time to time people want to withdraw their investments. And he wouldn’t take everything.”

She was right, the discrepancy did make sense. But if the numbers had matched, it would have been a coincidence the police couldn’t ignore.

“Maybe I should just turn over what I have to the police,” she said.

“You need to think about yourself. Protect yourself. If the police haven’t arrested Mark it’s because they’re waiting for something damning. Use this time to ensure your safety in all this.”

“There’s something else,” she said, taking a deep breath as if she were summoning courage. She handed me her phone.

Tags: Louise Bay Romance
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