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“Exactly how did you persuade Mr. Newman to give up the vacation of a lifetime?”
“Eric ran a background check on him. Apparently, Newman isn’t the smartest rooster in the barn. Seems he’s been convicted of grand larceny and is out on parole. One call to clue in his probation officer that he’d booked a flight out of Texas without permission, was all it took.”
“So you took his place. Have the owners seen you?”
“Yup. Newman is tall, with dark hair and eyes. I look enough like his picture to pass.” Logan carried the glass of wine to her. “You must have written one hell of a letter to win the contest. What if you’d lost?”
“T
hen my credit card would have suffered.”
“Now that we know the owners are Ethridge’s mark, I have to come clean with them.”
The thought of being disqualified from the contest stoked her building anger. “If you and Eric mess up my chance to prove Ethridge is a crook, I’ll never forgive either of you.”
“Will you at least listen to what I have to say?”
Too upset to speak, she waved her hand.
“You’ve put a full-court press on the investigation into Ethridge Investments. Then all of a sudden, you drop everything to go on vacation. That was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Eric knew you’d be pissed, so he asked me to come.”
“Why’d you say yes?”
“That’s not a question you should have to ask. We’ve been friends too long for me to say no.”
“So, you’re here to help me?” The word friend stabbed her in the heart.
“To keep you out of trouble.”
Elle sipped at the wine. Eric had gone too far. “I’m not backing off just because you’re babysitting me.”
“After overhearing that Ethridge plans to scam the Fitzgeralds, I’ve changed my mind.”
Elle let his statement sink in before she spoke. Her mind started churning. “Great. You can help me prove Brandon Ethridge is a criminal.”
“There’s one condition.” Logan sat in the chair across from her. His muscular legs strained against his slacks. “I call the shots.”
“For sure,” she lied, keeping her gaze locked on his. “You’re the expert.” Every nerve cell in Elle’s body was on high alert. Brain synapses continued to fire. Logan brought years of experience as a cop to the table.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “That was too easy. Ethridge is smart enough that the Feds haven’t been able to gather enough to arrest him. If he has millions of dollars tucked away somewhere safe, you can bet your sweet ass he’ll do whatever it takes to protect it. He’s not going to turn the other cheek if he figures out what you’re up to.”
“I’ve done my homework. Nothing in his background suggests he’s violent.”
“He’s a criminal. We don’t know what he’s capable of doing.” He smiled when she held her hands up for a timeout. “Okay. It’s my turn to listen.”
His dark eyes peering over the rim of his wine glass was distracting. Elle breathed deeply, gathering her composure. She’d parlayed her degree in business into her own management search firm. Necessity had taught her how to deal with executives and people with inflated egos. She could handle this situation.
“I’m not stupid. My original goal was to gather evidence to present to the proper authorities. Now that we know why he’s here at Castle Alainn, I’m open to a change in plans.”
“Good to know.” He lifted one eyebrow. She hadn’t won him over yet.
“We still need his records. If you broke into his room and ran a memory dump of Ethridge’s laptop onto a flash drive, it wouldn’t be admissible. I don’t have those restrictions.” The nerves in Logan’s jaw twitched, but he remained silent. Elle forged ahead. “I’ve spent weeks looking into Ethridge’s background and learning his habits. Where he goes. What he eats. He loves lobster bisque, by the way. I’ll bet you didn’t know that he and that spoiled daughter of his live in a multimillion-dollar house.” Logan had leaned forward. His steady gaze meant she had his attention and had surprised him with her detective work. “I learned a lot from his neighbors.”
“You didn’t.” Logan’s eyebrows pulled together. Again.
“You’d be amazed how willing people are to talk. Especially after I explained I was a reporter for Business Tycoon Monthly. I may have hinted that Ethridge was being considered for the Man of the Year Award.”
Logan emptied his glass and placed it on an end table. “You are treading on thin ice.”
