Page 78 of Hunted
Arnold introduces them, breaking the weird tense silence that had fallen around the room. “This is agent Stavros.” He points to the dark-haired man. “And agent Hartvik.”
Reece steps forward and shakes both their hands, introducing himself as Arnold leaves us alone with them. “Maurice Benson. Call me Reece.”
“Reece, thank you for calling us,” Hartvik says, clearly the leader of the two.
Reece nods as he turns and points to the rest of us, finishing the introductions. “That’s my father, Richard Benson Senior, Bower Riggs, Kingsley Voss, Weston Callahan, and Darla Danvers.”
Their eyes move around to each of us as Reece lists off our names. Once he’s told them who I am, they both keep staring at me silently. My eyes dart to Reece’s in worry when they just stare without saying anything.
“Is something wrong?” Reece asks, moving to stand by the back of the couch, placing himself between me and the agents, forcing them to look at him instead.
Weston places his hand on my thigh and gives it a small squeeze, once again reminding me that he’s right here beside me.
“Sorry, Mr.Benson—”
“Please, call me Reece.”
“Right, sorry, Reece. We didn't mean to stare. It's just that after what you told us on the phone about Miss Danvers, we looked up a photo of her from when she was thirteen, and to be honest, I thought you might be trying to fake her identity.”
My spine tingles with unease.They thought we were lying?I lean backwards and luckily Weston takes the hint, his arm banding around my waist as he pulls my back flush with his chest.
“And unless Darla had a sister, it’s clear she is who you say she is. Luckily, her fingerprints are on file so it will be easy to verify.”
“Why were her fingerprints on file?” Kingsley asks from where he and Bower are standing close to me.
“It’s something both me and her father did,” Richard states. “It helps protect them and their assets and identities. It’s common in the circles we run in.”
Weston huffs an unamused sound next to my ear. “In rich circles, he means.”
“Anyway, our apologies. We should have introduced ourselves. I’m Special Agent Hartvik, you can call me Sven. This is Special Agent Stavros. We’re part of the Financial Crimes Task Force. It sounds like you have quite the story to tell us.” He glances around at each of us before settling his gaze on me.
“Where would you like to begin?”
Chapter twenty-two
Kingsley
Laying everything out for the agents takes us much longer than I anticipated. They pepper us with detailed questions, slowing the speed of our stories. By the end, we’re all exhausted and I can see Darla is feeling overwhelmed.
She did way better than I expected, telling her part. I thought she might break down, especially when they asked her to explain what happened to her father. After making them confirm multiple times that this report would be kept completely private, she explained how the Somalian pirates had arrived on the island, that they assaulted her and killed her father. Those were her exact words, and we were all grateful that they didn't ask her to elaborate. I think the death glares they were getting from West and Reece were enough to keep their questions short on that part of the story.
We took over after that, explaining how we came to be on the island, and Reece explained how he found us. Then we took turns talking about what happened after we left. When we get to the part about the warehouse, they start hammering us with the hard questions.
“And Richard, you are in charge of this charity division, are you not?” Agent Stavros asks, as his partner silently takes notes.
“No, it was being run by Frank Hayes. He lives in Australia, where Darla’s grandfather lived,” Richard replies calmly from where he’s seated in the armchair.
“But that’s still a branch of the Danver’s Group, which you own, do you not?” the agent pushes.
I’m honestly glad he’s putting Reece’s dad on the spot. I have the same question myself. How was he completely blind to this happening under his nose? Although Reece himself admitted to reading the annual reports every year and not seeing anything out of place.
“Yes, but after Edward died, his remaining family, Donald and Darla, were already presumed dead, so the Danver’s Group came to me, as written in his will.”
“You have to understand Donald and Richard were friends,” Reece cuts in, trying to defend his dad. “Our families have been close for generations. My dad may have been their attorney, but it made sense that they both named him their beneficiary, since they had no other family and they were really close. Both of their wills left all their assets to their only children. But since Darla had been declared dead as well, it went to the next person listed on the will. Which was my father.”
“Yes, and when it came to me, I decided to not make any changes to the charity division, as I knew how much it had meant to Edward and Donald,” Richard says sadly, as if remembering his old friends. “Frank had been running it for as long as I could remember. I didn’t see a reason to alter anything. I keep asking myself when it changed,” he says with a sigh.
“When what changed?” I ask in confusion.
