Page 50 of Shephard

I’d accepted I’d made a huge one prior to packing up my shit, but seeing my two brothers bickering about who was taking which office had brought me to the point of walking out.

“Stop. Just fucking stop,” I told them, controlling the volume more than I thought possible.

Jagger was the one to realize the two of them were acting like children, but he remained unhappy and surly as usual.

Meanwhile, Hunter was having fun goading him.

As usual.

Hunter moved to the edge of the credenza in the office I’d chosen. Not that I cared. I didn’t plan on spending but so much time here. My father had established an executive hallway, which included areas for the restaurant and hotel managers. Itwas pompous in my opinion, but I continued to remind myself this was just for a year.

“I checked out the financials,” Hunter said.

“You’re not handling the accounting,” Jagger argued.

“Cut the crap. All three of us are responsible for what’s happening. I assume you noticed what I did?”

Hunter nodded. “Not easy to pick out how.”

I’d never had an interest in numbers, math not my best subject all through school. However, it had taken a little digging to realize some numbers were off.

“What?” Jagger demanded.

“It appears someone is embezzling funds,” I said absently.

“Motherfucker. Let me take a look. I’ll figure it out. We’ll have the asshole arrested.” Jagger was still irritated.

“It’ll take you a significant amount of time digging through more than a few sets of financials to try and determine if there’s a pattern. You’re too busy searching for a bed buddy.”

Of course, Jagger was thrown by Hunter’s toss out of information. And his nasty accusation.

“Fuck you. I had some things to contend with back home,” Jagger said and for the first time since our little reunion, he’d dropped his arrogance.

I gave Hunter a look, hoping he’d read my face. The twisted game the three of us played was getting old. “There could be money missing, Jag,” I told him. “Enough that it’s considered grand larceny.”

“Or it could be nothing more than creative accounting,” Hunter added. “But it’s going to take some time to get into it. If it’s intentional, it’s cleverly done.”

Jagger huffed and looked out the huge picture window. “Well, time I have. I’m finally settled into the cabin. I’ll put the financials on a disk and take them home with me.”

“Yeah, do that. The last thing I want is for any of the employees to think we don’t trust them.” I wasn’t cut out to do this, but I also was smart enough to know alienating the workforce wasn’t in anyone’s best interest. “I also need a list of upcoming events. The fucking reception caught all three of us off guard.”

“The staff handled it from what I could tell,” Hunter chided. “Other than the massive cleanup this morning.”

“Yeah, I guess it was a hell of a party.” I turned my thoughts to Denise as I had far too many times that morning. We hadn’t parted on the best of terms, her determination to run her life and her job her way just like mine.

Still, it was as if her intoxicating scent remained embedded in my skin.

“You’re not the fucking boss, Shephard, no matter how much older you are.”

Jagger had a way of jerking me from whatever task I was doing with a nasty innuendo or comment. He’d done that since he was a kid, acting like everything was a damn competition. I was exhausted and not in the mood for his crap.

“Get over yourself, Jagger. You have a chip on your shoulder the size of a boulder.” I jerked up from the desk, finished with our conversation and with the day. It was close to four and I’d beenhere since six this morning. I’d had no desire to remain at the cabin alone. Not after the night and the experience.

I wanted to laugh given the banter I’d exchanged with Denise the night before. She had a way of keeping me fully aroused. I also realized there was a nightmare that was edging toward the daylight hours.

What troubled me was that what little Denise had told me about the recent murders sounded familiar. Only my brain couldn’t wrap around from where or when. It would bug the crap out of me until I was able to figure it out.

“Look who’s talking.” He was far too confrontational for this to be about who read financials first. I also was no shrink, which he’d been told he needed more than once.

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