Page 41 of A Match Made in Coven
Chapter Twenty-three
Hostile Witnesses
SARAH MICHELLE
He was wearing glasses. Hexing “bring me to bed and do as you please” glasses.
Sarah Michelle gaped at how the dark-rimmed glasses perched on Lorcan’s nose transformed his already handsome face into something irresistible. The frames accentuated his chiseled jawline and drew attention to his piercing eyes, ever more intense as they focused on the laptop screen before him.
A stray lock of his golden hair fell across his forehead, and Sarah Michelle itched to brush it back. The soft glow of the fire did nothing to help.
And don’t get her started on how the casual clothes he was wearing made everything worse. Couldn’t he match the stuffy decor of the house and wear something unsexy like tweed? A sweater vest she could’ve handled, but a soft hoodie and sweatpants?
Nuh-uh. They were doom to her ovaries.
Lorcan leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. The movement caused his hoodie to ride up, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of his toned abdomen—whose ripped glory Sarah Michelle had had an unwelcome reminder of when she’d arrived and he’d opened the door not wearing a shirt.
Sarah Michelle tapped her forehead with the pad of her palm to clear the inappropriate thoughts from her mind. She was here to work, not fantasize about Tall, Blond, and Focused.
Because, unlike her, Lorcan seemed completely engrossed in their investigation. He was frowning in concentration as he scrolled through document after document on his laptop.
The steady rhythm of his typing echoed alongside the crackling fire. Every few minutes, he’d pause, scribble a note on the legal pad beside him, then dive back into his research.
He pulled up financial records, property deeds, and meeting memos from the town council. His gaze darted back and forth, absorbing information at a dizzying pace. Occasionally, he’d mutter something under his breath, a habit she found endearingly nerdy despite her best efforts to remain professionally detached.
After a while, Lorcan turned to Sarah Michelle, his eyes alight with excitement. “Look at this.” He pointed to a series of data points on the screen. “The councilman’s opposition to the project created market uncertainty, which had several contractors drop out of the bid.”
Sarah Michelle leaned in, the scent of his cologne enveloping her as she studied the numbers. The muted crackle of the fireplace rang louder in her ears, and she ignored how her pulse quickened at the closeness, focusing instead on the information he presented. “So, the councilman was manipulating the market?”
Lorcan nodded, his blond hair falling into his eyes. “Exactly. While publicly attacking the project, he must’ve always been aware that it would get approved, regardless. He was strategically opposing it to scare the competition.”
Sarah Michelle sat back, her mind whirring with the implications. “Could Elijah have uncovered the councilman’s involvement?”
“It’s possible,” Lorcan mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe he was threatening to expose him.”
“But why?” Sarah Michelle wondered aloud. Her eyes widened as a thought struck her. “Or, or… what if Elijah was blackmailing MacGregor? He needed the money to repay Silas, right?”
Lorcan’s gaze sharpened. “He wouldn’t.”
“He was desperate.”
“There was nothing in his accounts that suggested he was getting money from someone, only that he was being scammed out of it.”
“If someone was blackmailing you, wouldn’t you pay them in cash?”
“You’re right,” Lorcan agreed reluctantly. “But the cash must come from somewhere. Can Andromeda hack into MacGregor’s accounts?”
“I prefer to refer to it as an expedited background check.”
She whipped her phone out and texted Andy, then Malatesta, asking her colleague if Silas’ logs had a record of the payments the thug had received from Preston.
After an excruciating half an hour of waiting, during which Sarah Michelle’s only occupation was to look anywhere but at Lorcan, both sources came through.
She forwarded the docs to Lorcan. He moved to his desk, and Sarah Michelle followed, rolling a chair around to sit next to him. She watched, fascinated, as he whipped up a program to search through the records and compare amounts. The results populated the screen within moments, and it became eerily obvious how MacGregor’s regular cash withdrawals from various accounts added up to the same sum Elijah would pay Silas with precise one-day delays.
“This proves Elijah was getting hush money from MacGregor and using it to repay Silas.”
Lorcan’s brow furrowed. “And that was reason enough for MacGregor to kill him?”
