Page 12 of The Sheik's Kiss

“Of course,” Zahir replied, taking a long sip of his own coffee.

Jim lifted the silver covers off of several serving plates. “Enjoy, Your Highness,” he said, then looked at Mandy and added, “Ms. Sullivan.” He backed away a few steps. “If there is anything you need, please ring for me.”

And then he was gone. Mandy couldn’t resist one of the fluffy biscuits sitting in a basket between their plates. “My father used to make biscuits every Saturday morning,” she announced, then frowned slightly, startled by that admission.

“What was your favorite topping?” he asked, taking a biscuit himself and spreading butter over half of it.

“Honey,” she replied, then popped a bite of the flaky pastry into her mouth. “My mother’s favorite was strawberry jam. But my dad and I preferred honey.”

“I’ll ring for honey,” he said, starting to reach for the call button.

“No!” she gasped, straightening in her seat. “Please don’t bother the man. This is all so wonderful. I rarely have time in the morning for breakfast, so this is a special treat.”

He pulled his hand away from the button and reached for the plate of eggs instead. When he started spooning eggs onto the plate, then set it down in front of her, she automatically lifted her fork to eat.

“You were telling me about social media and your investigations.”

“Right,” she replied, then continued to explain how people revealed the extravagant vacations they took or showed off their new car or furniture, perhaps their home renovations. “Once I know what to look for, I can dive into the cost of those extravagances. It’s amazing how easy it is to find the true amount that a person paid for a new car or a kitchen renovation. One person I looked into even posted a picture of his new in-ground pool, which had cost him more than twice his annual salary.”

“How do you eliminate any money that a person might have received from an inheritance?” he asked.

She shrugged and spread some jam on her biscuit. It was an unfamiliar, but delicious flavor and she almost moaned at how good it tasted.

After a taste, she set the biscuit down on the edge of her plate and wiped her hands carefully on the linen napkin. “That’s also pretty simple. When a person dies, there are records for that passing. Almost everything is online these days. A simple fee for the right records gives me the information I need. So if a relative passed away, leaving someone with an unexpected amount of money, then I can easily discover that. However, usually, it’s even easier than that since most people brag online about an inheritance as well. Sometimes on social media and sometimes just in their emails. It’s amazing what people tell each other online.”

“So, you don’t hack into their bank accounts and other personal data?”

She grinned. “So far, that hasn’t been necessary. But keep in mind that most of my clients are companies looking for embezzlers. They give me the person’s salary and from there, it’s easy to do the math and figure out if someone is spending within their means. Or if they have a gambling habit or a drug problem. It’s all pretty simple, really.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “If someone is good at their jobs, then they don’t understand how another person would consider their tasks complicated.” He put another biscuit onto her plate. “How did you decide to specialize in forensic accounting?”

“Well, I sort of fell into it after my father’s death.”

He paused in serving her some sausage. “How do you mean?”

She took another bite of eggs, surprised at how good they were. The carbs and excellent coffee must have dimmed her inhibitions, because she rarely spoke about her father. But sitting here, in a luxurious plane traveling who-knows-how-high above the clouds, Mandy didn’t feel the need to hide her past.

“My father died in a suspicious manner. I was only ten at the time, but my mother kept getting these letters from the construction company he’d worked for. The letters were concerned at first, offering sympathy. But after a couple of months, they were asking for documents and invoices that this person said were missing from my father’s office files.”

“And did your father have those files?”

“Yep,” she replied. “I helped my mom go through my father’s desk to find them. And as soon as I saw them, I knew that something was off. I’d already gone through my dad’s online files, looking for utility company login information and bank information after my dad’s funeral. At the time, my mother was overwhelmed with funeral costs and other details. And since I was good with numbers, I started to sift through the information. I realized that the numbers didn’t make sense. Plus, there were documents that my dad had brought home from work. I just…read through everything as a way to distract myself from my grief. I was so devastated by his death and searching for answers seemed to help me process everything.”

“And you figured out…what?”

“I accidentally found the invoices that my father had brought home. He’d stuffed everything into a small drawer in his desk. I was going through it one day, looking for anything I could find that would take my mind off of the sorrow I was feeling for a moment. It worked because I realized that the invoices in that drawer didn’t match the invoices from the same company. The dates were the same, but this set of invoices had different amounts. The second batch was too big for the same construction materials on the initial invoices I saw.” She was silent for a moment, letting the sadness from his passing ease over her. For some reason, talking about it with Zahir didn’t hurt as badly as it used to.

“So, you discovered that the company your father had worked for had…?”

“They’d bought inferior products,” she finished. She tilted her head. “Could we talk about something else?”

Mandy looked over at him, surprised to see the compassion in his eyes. Since that made something in her heart lurch, she pushed forward with her explanation. For the next hour, he asked her questions and she answered. It was both exhausting and exhilarating. She had to think quickly to explain some aspects of her job, wanting to give him a complete explanation. The man was paying for her expertise, after all. But it was also amazing to have someone care. Someone who actually listened to her.

When she realized how long she’d been talking, she blushed. “You’re very kind to be so interested in my accounting system. Most people find numbers and accounting quite dull.”

“I find you fascinating,” he told her.

His comment made her feel all warm and soft inside, but she wasn’t sure why.

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