Page 62 of Hidden Chance

“Why don’t you knock him out and kidnap him like you did with me?”

“I only did that as a last resort. And if I could go back, I would have handled it differently.”

“Lucky for Pike.” The onions sizzled in the pan, and Hannah stirred them.

“You’ve got something on your mind,” Robby said. “I can see it.”

“It’s this sudden interest he’s taken in Burma. Why now? If he’s been involved all along, why change things now?”

“It could be as simple as a way to get closer to you. Is it Burma he’s interested in? Or just you?”

“I don’t know, but he asked me for the reports I put together for my presentation. All of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s the stuff I shared in the meeting, but he asked to see everything I have.”

“Sounds to me like he wants to know what you know.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

She dumped the ground beef into the pan and stabbed at it. “I can’t believe this is happening. What if the whole fundraising committee is in on this? What if most of TreadCraft is? I’ve been here supporting them and championing what they’re doing.”

“There’s no way you could have known. You did what you thought was right at the time.”

“And what about the donors? All that money they’ve given to help kids, and Pike said they’ve made plans for another—that’s it!”

“What?”

“I know whose handwriting it is on that paper. Henry Burns.”

“The CEO?”

“Yeah. Let me see it again?”

He laid the sheet on the counter, and she studied the writing.

“Come here and stir this. I need to look at something.”

He moved around to the stove as she pulled out her phone. “You know those giant checks that get made for promotional pictures?”

“Yeah.”

“Henry made a big deal about writing out the whole thing himself. Usually it’s printed by a machine—here, see?”

She held up the zoomed-in picture of a gray-haired man holding up a giant check.

Robby lifted the page next to the phone. “Yeah. That looks like it could be a match. I’m no document expert, but I’d say they’re written by the same person. By the way, your water is boiling.”

“If Henry is involved, that means the whole board could be.”

“If you can finish up dinner, I’ll start doing some searches of my own.”

“You want my laptop?”

“Thanks, yeah.”

He moved to the couch, and she set her computer on the coffee table in front of him. “What is it you’re looking for?”

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