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“Good. I want to bring him on board as soon as possible. In
the meantime, I’ll need free access to correspondence, telephone and e-mail records, and financial accounts, both personal and professional. When can that be made available to me?”
“Right away,” Blake answered for his grandfather. “I’ll log you in with my password. That’ll give you access to pretty much everything.”
“Including the high-security stuff? Blocked personal and/or confidential material that’s protected by extra security passwords? Because I’ll need access to all that, too.”
Blake remained silent, deferring to his grandfather.
“Fine,” Edward replied. “Blake will give you everything.”
“Then I’ll be in his office at eight A.M.”
Before Blake could reply, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the number, a pensive expression crossing his face. “Excuse me a minute.” Rising, he walked over to the panorama of windows. “Hi,” he said quietly into the phone. “Are you all right?”
Edward eyed his grandson for an instant, then turned back to Monty. “What did you think of Philip Rhodes?”
“I just scratched the surface.” Monty responded to the question on autopilot. He was straining to hear Blake’s conversation. “First impressions? Rhodes is dedicated to his job. He’s loyal to you. And he’s got something he doesn’t want to talk about.”
“Now’s not a good time,” Blake was saying. His words were low, but Monty could make them out. “I’m in a meeting. I’ll check in with you later.”
He punched off the phone, just as his grandfather reacted to what Monty had said about Rhodes.
“What do you mean, something he doesn’t want to talk about? Something about Frederick?”
“Don’t know. Could be something totally unrelated. But whatever it is, I intend to figure it out.” Monty studied Blake as he rejoined the group. “Woman problems?”
Blake’s brows rose. “Pardon me?”
“Judging from your tone, I assumed that was your girlfriend, and she was giving you a hard time.”
“No hard time. And no girlfriend. Just a friend who happens to be female.”
“Ah. Those can be high maintenance, too.”
“Yup.” Blake didn’t bat an eye. “Sure can.”
IN HER LUXURIOUS apartment on East Sixty-eighth Street, Louise Chambers hung up the phone and gritted her teeth in frustration.
A meeting. One he wouldn’t excuse himself from. Not even to come by and offer her a shoulder to lean on. That didn’t bode well.
Dammit. She wasn’t going to let things fall apart. Not after all her planning, all her careful orchestration and infinite patience. She hadn’t endured all she had just to lose out in the end.
Damn Frederick. It had been first one obstacle, then another. Now he was dead.
This was her last chance.
And no one was robbing her of it.
CHAPTER 12
The Gedney Grill was a little more subdued than usual, most likely because it was a Monday night. Which was fine with Devon. The less boisterous the atmosphere, the easier it was to talk.
She and James had been here long enough to polish off a glass of wine, eat their salads, make a dent in their entrées, and cut through the niceties. During that time, Devon had spotted a grown-up street kid whom, after careful scrutiny, she’d determined was James’s “bodyguard.” He’d been watching them nonstop from across the room. So if Edward Pierson didn’t already know about this date, he’d know by tomorrow.
“How’s your steak?” Oblivious to his lookout, James was focused totally on Devon. He wrapped her up in his gaze, concentrating on every word she said, saturating her with attention. At the same time, he spoke freely about himself, emphasizing all the right things, downplaying all the flaws.
The center of the universe, Monty had said. Well, he was dead-on.
