Page 15 of Furever Loyal
“Is there any part of you that believes I could be innocent?” he asked, turning off the main road and into an industrial area. They were nearing the docks.
“The chances of that being true are extremely small. They exist, but right now, everything says you’re guilty of stealing money from Ursa.”
Kincaid tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. She watched his knuckles go white, and for the first time, she grew nervous about what he might do.
“Answer me this question then.”
“Okay. If I can. I’m not an expert on espionage though, Kincaid. I’m an accountant.”
“Just use your brains, you’re a very smart woman. Tell me, why I would have the money transferred back into my own account? Why would I risk that? If I already had it out, why put it back in?”
She snorted. “Because you think you could get away with it? Most criminals are like that, especially when it comes to monetary crimes. They get caught because they’re arrogant and make mistakes. Not because those after them are geniuses or some such.”
Kincaid shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. I’m smart enough to know better. On top of that, can you imagine that a, um, company, like Canis, would be open enough to implicate themselves in the theft, without taking a cut? It’s their company that put the money into my account. Until then, they weren’t linked at all. Why do that?”
Haley thought about it. “I don’t know. But I have a question for you then.”
He motioned for her to ask away.
The SUV moved through a turn and slowed even further as they started passing by rows of commercial offices, one- and two-story affairs. They must be getting close. She hadn’t paid much attention to the map, which she regretted now. Knowing where they were going and how to get out of the maze of streets that made up the docks were probably things she should have been aware of ahead.
“Let’s say that you are innocent,” she said, returning her attention to the conversation. “That you know absolutely nothing about how the money got there. Someone’s framed you for the robbery from the corporate account.”
“Which they have.”
“We don’t know that. But for right now, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt in this scenario. If theyaretrying to frame you, thenhow did Canis know exactly how much money to put in your account?”
Kirell rocked back as she dropped the biggest obstacle to proving his innocence that she’d been able to come up with. It wasn’t ironclad proof he was guilty, not even close, but it certainly made his theory a whole hell of a lot less believable.
“You see?” she asked when he didn’t respond. “Someone had to tell them. Unless you expect me or anyone else to believe the idea of a lucky guess.”
Shaking his head, Kincaid turned left into a parking lot. She scanned the business names but couldn’t find the one they wanted. Nowhere on the sign did it say Granted Holdings Company.
“It’s not here.”
“I know, it’s across the street.” He chose one of the parking spaces that faced that direction and shut the vehicle off. “We’re going to watch it for a bit. See who goes in or out.”
She spied the baby-blue sign that had the company name on it. It was the end unit on the left of a u-shaped building, with parking in the middle. A big rolling garage door was just to the right.
“Great. A stakeout. Did you bring blankets and hot chocolate?” she asked.
“There’s as much of a supply of that as there is of you and good jokes.”
Biting her lip, Haley slumped down into her chair and glowered at the business, wishing she could direct it at him. But she wasn’t going to let herself drop to that level of pettiness with the jacked criminal.
Not yet, but if he keeps this up…
8
Her patience didn’t last very long.
“I’m starting to think it’s closed.”
They had been sitting in the car for almost forty-five minutes. The ambient heat from its operation was fading and a chill was starting to set in. Kincaid didn’t seem bothered by that in the least, even without a jacket, but she was starting to get chilly. Being cold made her cranky, and she was about ready to start taking that out on Kincaid if he didn’t make the decision that this had been a waste of time—and make it soon.
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
Sighing in relief, she pulled on her seatbelt to do it up at the same time Kincaid pulled on the door handle.
