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Ethan picked up his tablet and scrolled through a document. “To break the code, we need to find corresponding missing money amounts, which would mean a complete accounting overhaul of the company.” He tapped at the screen and then turned it around, showing me a large number.
“Two billion dollars?” I asked, reading the bottom line out loud.
“Two billion, four hundred and sixty-one million, five hundred eighty-three thousand, two hundred and seventy-one dollars and thirty-one cents.” He wiggled his tablet at me. “I know every penny. I need to find out where each one is.”
I touched my fingers to my forehead, trying to wrap my brain around such a huge number. I couldn’t fathom it. If that was what was missing, then what did he actually have in the bank right now? “That’s quite the chunk of change.”
“I know,” he said. “It’s a lot to ask. He couldn’t have done this on his own, though. There’s too much money flowing through different accounts. The company accountants are either blind, stupid, or have been bribed to keep quiet. I need to get to the bottom of this quickly.”
“Why now?” I asked. “What’s the hurry?”
“Because if it’s bad, which I suspect it is, the longer it goes on, the longer the Feds have to find out and then everything goes under.” He sat back, crossing his leg over his knee, and rocked his foot. “And if I’m wrong, then at least we looked into it and fixed any issues that have popped up. I don’t deserve the help but there’s thousands of people in my employ, people who are innocent and need their jobs. I want to bring the right people to justice, but I don’t want to get companies shut down that are truly legitimate.”
That made sense. I hadn’t considered there might be employees who would be out of a job if the government came in and froze everything. The economy was bad enough. If Ethan Murdock’s company was as big as he claimed, that would be a lot of people out of work and adding to the problem.
Ethan dipped his head and sighed again. “I didn’t want to ask you back. I know you’re probably trying to forget. But...but I’m...”
Avery sat forward, and focused on Ethan with a sympathetic smile. “It’s a lot of work,” Avery said. “It’s not your fault.”
“I was an absentee boss,” Ethan said.
“You trusted your father,” Avery said. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“I was blind, but not anymore.” Ethan redirected his attention to me. “I hope you’ll help.”
It seemed like an honest request. Billions of dollars of unaccounted for money. How do you trace it? Maybe Corey could help with that, but then... why would they need me? “I wish I could,” I said. “I can try, but I’m not exactly sure how I can help.”
Ethan held both of his hands up in a stop motion. “I don’t expect miracles,” he said. “I just need trusted people by my side, doing what they can. And I’ve got a great idea as to where to start. Every year, my father has a little get-together on this ship, with various accountants and CEOs from across his many corporations and those he partners with. I could use the extra help onboard.”
“And you want us to do...”
“Just listen to them,” he said. “I need a lead on these numbers. Anything you might overhear, any gut feeling you might have about someone. We’ll do this quietly, and investigate anyone involved. I just don’t want to waste time on anyone less likely to be connected.”
“Can I see your numbers?” I asked.
He passed the tablet over to me. I scanned through the spreadsheet that had rows and rows of large numbers, but not a lot of it made sense to me. There were notes about dividends and profits and expenses, dates and code numbers. I’d need time to sit through it, not that I was any sort of accounting expert. “How do you know these codes aren’t just account numbers?”
“They could be,” he said. “But I’d like to know for sure before I start digging around an actual bank. If you start fishing around for account numbers at a bank, trust me, there’s going to be a lot of red flags. I’d have one shot at a bank once I make a connection, and that’s if we manage to secure enough information to actually retrieve what’s there. I looked for routing numbers, but he might have these in another location. I don’t know which bank, or even which country these might be associated with. So we’re fishing in the dark until we can dig up more information. We need to find one of his partners who might be willing to talk.”
I scratched lightly at my eyebrow, looking up again at the television. It sounded like something the guys would be interested in. Helping people seemed to be their thing. They had helped Ethan before. “So you want me to talk to the guys?”
“They’ve been pretty closed off since the incident,” he said. He stretched his arm across the back of the settee, settling back. “I couldn’t even call you after.”
I put the tablet in my lap. “I didn’t realize you had.”
Ethan nodded slowly. “I’m not the only one.”
I looked at Avery on the other couch. He nodded as well. He’d mentioned it before, and yet with Ethan saying he’d been blocked... That was disconcerting. How long had the boys been stopping phone calls to me? And how? I suspected Corey had something to do with it. I understood why they would have in the beginning, when I was sick in the hospital. I hadn’t felt like talking to anyone, but that was a couple of weeks ago.
And why suddenly did they let Fancy talk to me? And why...
“They cut everyone off.” A smooth, Charleston-accented voice behind us startled me enough that I knocked my knee into the coffee table. The tablet slid onto the couch. I caught it before it fell to the floor.
I turned, shocked to find Blake Coaltar coming around, weaving his way around the couches and settees to join us. He wore designer jeans and a grey sweater with the sleeves pushed up his forearm. His clothes flattered his shoulders and chest, and his slim hips. His blond locks of hair were styled around his face. He was unshaven enough to make him look sexy, like when I’d first met him. He walked forward, the
gold flecks in his eyes reflecting the lights around him.
My insides vibrated with something I hadn’t felt in a while. Excitement. Suspicion of danger. Regret. Despite my mixed feelings, there was no doubt about how absolutely beautiful he really was. He could have been an actor or model. The fact that he was smart and had helped me out of jams, even if we didn’t agree on everything, just increased all the feelings I had for him. Including the regret.
In that moment, I felt overwhelmed by disgust in my appearance. Had I gotten so comfortable around the other guys that I could lay about looking like a slob? I’d been sick and the clothes I’d stolen from the others had given me comfort. Now I just felt out of place. It embarrassed me that I looked this way in front of Blake.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to stop the words from tumbling out. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.
“Ouch,” he said, a small smile picking up on the side of his mouth. He strolled forward and walked around until he was in front of the television. “Missed you, too, sweetheart.”
“Mr. Blake stayed behind,” Avery said. “After everything settled, he came back to help us clean up, and then when I discovered the secret accounts, he started working on how to get to the bottom of it.”
“It’s kind of my specialty,” Blake said and bowed his head toward me, winking.
“Blake’s been kind enough to help us assemble a team,” Ethan said. “He brought in Fancy and works well with Avery. Then he suggested we bring in you.”
My lips parted and I stared at Blake. Technically, I owed him favors, as much as I owed Avery and Fancy. So it was Blake that called in Fancy from Florida. Why her? Why drag her into the middle of this?
I put the glass of water down on the coffee table. I bit back the surge of anger I felt at learning about the boys keeping phone calls from me. “The guys might not be so willing to do this,” I said. “If they blocked calls, they probably want to be left alone.”
