Page 41 of A Simple Mistake
“He still won’t sleep,” Daniel said, eyes glued to Gareth’s phone.
Gareth wanted to get up and hug the two, all brittle and glitter, and braver than many grown men he knew.“Not surrounded by a bunch of strangers, no.But you know you can text him, right?”
“He has to turn his phone off.”
“If the plane has Wi-Fi, he can get texts.We chatted when I came back from Turkey, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, we did.”Nico brightened at the prospect.
“I’m going to help Nico research Mrs McTavish,” Daniel said, halfway through his porridge.“We agreed it last night, but I haven’t told Jack yet.Do you think I should?”
Gareth blinked.“I don’t see why not.Unless…do you have a reason to keep it secret?”
Daniel shook his head.“I don’t want to distract him.It’s just until Rachel needs me in the deli.But Nico thinks we can get it done during the first week of the holidays.”
“Knowing Jack, he’ll like to hear what you find.He hates being out of the loop.”
“Then he should have stayed here.”
Seeing Daniel so sullen was rare, but Gareth didn’t find it in himself to reprimand him.Not after he’d battled his own sullen thoughts.And not when he agreed so very much with Daniel’s sentiment.“Skylar needs help,” he reminded them all.“Can you imagine Jack leaving him hanging?”
Seeing Jack’s empty desk as he walked into Nancarrow Mining’s corporate security office gave Gareth a moment’s pause.He’s on a job, he reminded himself.End of.
He went through his routine of making tea, checking on his row of potted herbs, and sorting the contents of his in-tray.When nothing required his urgent attention, he stuck his head out of his door.
“Janet.Don.Come see me.”
He’d started the coffee machine and pulled the biscuit tin from the bottom of his desk drawer when the two trooped in, notepads in hand.
“Is Jack late?”Frazer asked.
“No.He’s off on a job and had no time to brief me before he left.Tell me where we are with things.”
Janet and Frazer shared a glance, then Janet nodded.
“I’ll start, then.I’m tracing corporate structures of the companies filing the competing claims, and the path of the funds used to lodge their rival applications.”
“And how’s that going?”
Janet shrugged.“Like treacle.The usual Russian doll setup of shell company inside shell company.”
“And the money?”
“Offshore accounts.Or hopscotch around the globe.”Her grin was wry.“We’ll get there eventually, but this stuff takes time.”
Gareth had known her long enough to hear something in her voice that made him sit up.“Tell me.”
“I may have a bit of a hunch, but—” She doodled on her notepad.“I don’t want to shoot my mouth off just yet.It’s only a hunch.”
Gareth narrowed his eyes.“Okay, but tell me one thing: does your hunch land anywhere near our dear neighbours?”
“No.”Janet shook her head, curls flying.“That’s part of what’s confusing me.Corporate structures are all wrong, and the names I’m finding in the filings don’t belong to any of theirs.”
“Frazer?”
“I’m going through names as quickly as Janet gives them to me,” the Scot said promptly.“And she’s right.None of the lawyers we’re used to trip over.None of the firms they use regularly.”
“Keep at it, both of you.”Gareth was making notes on his own pad.“I hate having unidentified opponents in the mix.”
