Blind Trust

“Good.” He hurried to the basement and found a board large enough to nail over the broken window. When he finished the task, he made a call to Wade Yost.

“I need a few minutes of your time,” he told the manager of the guide dog training center. “I need to ask you about Malina.”

“Okay, but not in front of Eva.”

Finn glanced at Eva, who was scratching Abernathy behind the ears. “She already knows something is up with her sister,” he told Yost. “I don’t think you need to worry.”

“I can’t afford to lose her as a trainer,” Yost argued. “She’s the best I have.”

“I understand, but you need to trust me on this. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Fine,” Yost agreed in a resigned tone.

“Don’t forget I have to pick up Mikey by five thirty,” she reminded him.

He nodded. “Okay.”

Eva was quiet as he drove to the training center and Finn knew she was likely thinking about her sister and the missing package. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake including her in the conversation with her boss, but he needed Eva to think hard about what her sister might have been up to.

Wade looked distinctly uncomfortable when they walked into his office, as if he was dreading what was to come. “Hey.”

Finn greeted him with a nod. “We have reason to believe that Cocoa was taken by someone Malina was acquainted with.” He was being vague on purpose, not wanting to give too much away. “I need to understand what happened before she left your employment.”

“Uh, sure.” Yost cast a furtive glance at Eva. “Uh, Malina worked as a receptionist and also did some of the bookkeeping for me. But I, uh, noticed she’d made several mistakes and that her behavior had grown erratic. She was late or left early or didn’t show up at all.”

“For how long?” Finn asked.

The manager shrugged. “A couple of months.” Yost glanced at Eva, his gaze pleading. “Please don’t be upset with me, Eva. I’m really sorry—I had no choice but to let her go.”

Eva sucked in a harsh breath. “You fired her?”

“I had to!” Yost looked distressed. “I didn’t want to because I respect you so much. But Malina changed. She messed up my bills, caused me to be overdrawn at the bank. I was getting pressure from the owner to take control of the finances or I’d be fired. I needed to do something, so I let her go and took over doing the books and being the receptionist myself. Please, don’t quit. I need you.”

Eva didn’t say anything, but he knew she wasn’t happy about what she’d learned.

Finn put a reassuring hand on Eva’s arm. “Don’t take this out on him. It’s not Wade’s fault.” He kept his tone soft and soothing. “He cares about you. And Malina, too. But your sister must have got herself in trouble, doing something she shouldn’t have been.”

Eva bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears. As if sensing her distress, Abernathy nudged her with his nose. “I don’t blame you, Wade, but I wish you’d confided in me! Maybe I could have done something to help her.”

Understanding she had a right to be upset yet doubting that there was much Eva could have done to rescue her sister, Finn kept his hand on her arm. “And Malina could have come to you, too.”

Eva didn’t have a response to that.

Finn glanced back at Yost. “Anything else? Did she have her own office?”

“No. She sat up front or used mine.” Yost’s face was pale, and he sent worried glances at Eva. “I’m really sorry, Eva.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” Despite the slight edge to her tone indicating she was still angry, at least she hadn’t quit.

Erratic behavior, bookkeeping errors and not showing up for work all pointed to one thing in particular.

Drugs. He was fairly certain Eva’s sister had got herself hooked on drugs. Worse, she’d likely stolen some from her supplier.

The impact of her poor choices had not only caused Malina to be killed but had reached Eva, as well.

He needed to figure out who Malina had taken the package from, and soon.

Before anyone else ended up hurt or, worse, dead.