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“I wouldn’t like to think anyone I know is capable of that.”
He rummaged around in a kitchen drawer until he came out with a pen and pad of paper, then leaned on the counter and waved an encouraging hand. “Come on, start with the biggest assholes you work with, and we’ll go from there.”
“You’re making a list?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No, but I don’t think there’s enough potentially murderous assholes to warrant a whole list.”
“Eloise.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “I guess the first person that comes to mind is Sarah’s boss. His name is Dwayne and he’s an asshole.”
Ethan nodded and wrote the name down on his list. “What kind of an asshole? Strict about deadlines kind of asshole or?—”
“The sexist kind of asshole,” she clarified. “The kind that is always saying something inappropriate and touching you in ways that make you uncomfortable.”
Ethan wasn’t writing anymore and the look on his face was hard and cold. “He did this to you?”
“He’s done it to everyone.”
“Well, let’s mark that down here.” There was a forced note of lightness in his tone that made her shiver. “Even if he’s not a murderer, it sounds like he needs an explanation on how to treat people.”
“We’re only worried about the possible murder part.”
“You’re only worried about that part,” he argued. “I’m worried about you. So, does this guy have the ability to get into trouble with the auditing department?”
“Yeah, he does. He handles a lot of accounts and is responsible for moving a significant amount of money around.”
“Sounds like an ideal suspect to me but we should keep going and see if there’s anyone else that comes to mind. The more thorough our list is, the more help it’ll be to the detective.”
“I know you’re probably not too thrilled about the idea of working with the police. Not after what happened when you were a kid and, well, to be honest, I’m pretty convinced you get up to some shady things when you’re with Dylan?—”
“Hey, I’m?—”
She held up a hand to ward off his denial. “Don’t lie to me. I think we’re a little beyond that now. I just wanted to say thank you, for what you’re doing to help me.”
“I’m going to keep you safe.” He kept his eyes steady on hers and he looked calmer and more determined than she’d ever seen him. “You know that, right?”
She covered his hand with hers, linking their fingers and holding on tight. “I know. I don’t think there’s anyone else I’d trust more to get me through this.”
He kissed her softly, mouth tender and full of what might have been promises he wasn’t ready to make out loud, and then leaned his forehead against hers. They stayed that way, taking solace in a brief moment of connection, until he cleared his throat and reached for the pen again.
“Okay, let’s finish this up and see what we’ve got to work with.”
She spent more than an hour going over every person she worked with, or at least all the ones she could think of, rating them on proximity to Kim and how likely they were to have access to something that might have raised a red flag for her. There were many possibilities, but even after an exhaustive listing, none seemed as promising as Dwayne.
“I can call Detective Chen back and let her know,” Eloise told him as she picked up the list and scanned the list of names. “It might at least give her a place to start, though she’d still have to go over all of Kim’s files and see if she can match it to any kind of suspicious activity.”
“Do you think the bank is going to cooperate?”
“Knowing what I do about the company?” She paused for a moment and shot him a disgusted look. “Absolutely not. They should, obviously, but I don’t trust the higher ups to do the right thing. There’s a lot of restructuring right now and downsizing rumors have been going around for a while. We weren’t given an official explanation but people are getting suspicious that the company isn’t doing so well. I think whoever makes those decisions is going to be more concerned about someone coming in and revealing possible discrepancies than they will be with helping to solve Kim’s murder. If something illegal was going on right under their noses, that can’t look good to our shareholders, right?”
“That’s pretty heartless.” He looked surprised, his brow furrowing as he considered her explanation, and something inside her twisted uncomfortably. Ethan didn’t exactly run with the most empathetic crowd and it was eye opening to see him respond critically to her prediction.
They all knew how little an individual employee meant in the grand scheme of company profit and it was odd to see that questioned when for how long it had been simply a fact. Just another unpleasant reality in the midst of so many others. Had she grown numb to being treated as though she were disposable? She didn’t know how to respond to his observation so she nodded silently and looked away.
“She’ll need a warrant, then,” Ethan continued. He looked like he had wanted to say more about the company but had decided against it. “Which will take time because they’d have to have enough evidence to convince a judge the murder is likely connected to her job. They need more to do that than just suspicion or our gut instincts so it’s assuming a lot that she can get one at all.”
