Page 57 of Bad Seed

She went back to her spreadsheets and started putting in the numbers of quantities ordered by the hotel for the past six months, then used the cost from the website as what the invoices should have reflected, and started to smile. Bingo!

She began running a background check on the owner of the wholesale business, and then repeated the process for the meat wholesaler as well, and found that the discrepancy of his meat costs to other customers versus what he was charging the Serenity Inn was huge.

If she could find a link between them and Larry Beaumont, then she’d know he was getting some kind of kickback. She just needed to prove it. Right now, everything depended on what the background checks revealed, and that was all still in progress, so she returned to the spreadsheets. No matter what else she uncovered, Ray was still expecting the profit-and-loss statement and his audit.

***

It was well after 6:00 p.m. when she finally stopped for the day. Her eyes were tired. The numbers were beginning to blur, and her neck and shoulders were sore. She needed to make a massage appointment at the spa downstairs. But she was starving, and she hadn’t heard a word from Brendan since this morning, and it bothered her that it mattered.

He’s a heartbreaker, Harley. Mind how you go.

She picked up the room service menu, scanned the options, and then picked up the phone and gave them her order. Cheeseburger with fries. A Coke and a chocolate tart. Harley’s version of health food. Her mother would be appalled.

Time passed, and with no word from Brendan, she assumed work had interfered and thought no more about it. Nearly an hour later, a knock at her door, and a voice. “Room service.”

She peeked through the peephole and sighed. It was him.

He wheeled in the food cart, kicked the door shut behind him, and then paused. “I have invited myself to supper. Is that okay?”

Harley laughed. “Very okay,” she said, and began clearing a spot at the far end of her table. As soon as the food was laid out, they sat, this time with the ease of old friends.

“Did you have to work late?” she asked.

Brendan was already chewing a fry and nodded as he swallowed.

“Somebody didn’t show up for their shift, and we all had to pitch in to cover the lack. It wasn’t bad. There have certainly been worse times. How was your day?” he asked. “Did my brothers show up?”

“Yes, and the police chief. He’s very nice. He’s going to make some calls to see where the feds are on the case, in the hopes they’ll know something we don’t. I pulled up my notes on that case, thinking since time has passed, I might see something I missed before, but I keep going in circles.”

“Talk to me about it if you want. If it’s not privileged information or anything, I’m a good sounding board.”

Harley paused. “Really?”

“Absolutely, lady. I’m your man, remember?”

“Give me a sec,” she said, took a quick bite of her burger, then bolted out of the chair and sprinted across the room. She was still chewing when she came back with her laptop and opened it.

“Okay, here goes. After it all went down, a man named Maury Paget was the only Crossley employee involved in the gang that I could identify. During questioning, he agreed to testify for a reduced sentence, but was killed in his cell. Obviously, to silence him from testifying.”

“Right,” Brendan said.

“And, I get why the federal agent was murdered. In the hopes that the case he was working would wind up in a slush pile. What I don’t get is why I’m being targeted. I turned over everything I knew to the authorities. Iwasn’t a threat. I didn’t have a horse in the race. I’m just a numbers woman.”

Brendan had been eating while she was talking, but so far, he saw the logic in everything she said, until she questioned her part.

“So, what if it’s not about the usual revenge, but simple payback for being bested by a female? It wouldn’t be the first time a man’s ego controlled his behavior,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “Okay…I can see that, but the warehouse fire doesn’t add up. Why burn down an insured warehouse and all the contents? That loss is going to yield millions of dollars in insurance benefits for Crossley Imports, which would benefit Wilhem Crossley, not punish him.”

“Maybe that was just a random incident, completely unconnected to the raid,” Brendan said.

“Maybe so,” she said, but kept staring at the notes, scrolling down, then back up to check the timelines as she ate.

“So, what about this?” Brendan asked. “What if the fire wasn’t about punishing Wilhem, but about recouping losses from what he lost that was being funneled into the trafficking ring?”

Harley nodded. “I’ve thought of that, but it doesn’t ring true for the man I knew. Remember, he’s the one who realized something was wrong within his company. He’s the one who hired me to find out where his money was going. He’s been dead honest with mefrom the start, and when he found out about the countless women being funneled through the warehouse, I thought he was going to pass out.”

“Okay,” Brendan said. “Then if it wasn’t Wilhem who’d committed arson, who else benefits from the insurance payout?”

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