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“We should go find Lennox,” she said.
After a productive meeting with Lennox,who was thrilled to hear of Terrence’s interest, Veronica stayed in the kitchen with Andie, finding herself much too wound up to be in her officealone. She would say she was helping, but that would infer Andie was receiving some benefit from her standing nearby and peppering her with questions. Instead, Andie graciously answered everything Veronica asked while they waited for Terrence to call and discuss everything with his manager.
“I don’t think his manager will be shocked at all to hear what Terrence is planning,” Andie said, looking up from the sandwiches she was packing for Fulton and the work crew. “Not that he’s said anything to me, but I don’t think he’s as content as he once was. He seems different this summer. More pensive, maybe?”
Andie should know. She had known him longer than anyone else on the island. Before Veronica could ask her anything further, Terrence walked into the kitchen.
Something had happened on the call with his manager. When he’d finished talking with Lennox, his excitement had been palpable. That excitement was now gone, replaced by a look of confusion and, possibly, anger.
“Terrence?” Veronica asked.
He shoved a frustrated hand through his hair. “The call didn’t go the way I thought it would.”
“Obviously,” she said.
“I’m going to take these down to the lighthouse.” Andie picked up the box she’d packed. “I plan on eating there as well. You two take as long as you need here.”
Terrence hurried to Andie’s side and took the box out of her hands. “Let me carry this.”
Andie rolled her eyes. “It’s not heavy, and I’m driving the golf cart which is parked right outside. I’m perfectly able to carry it that far.”
“I know, but humor me,” he said. “Not only because you know there’s no way I’d ever stand by and let a pregnant womancarry a box while I watched, no matter how light it is, but also because you know Fulton would kick my ass otherwise.”
Andie relented, and Terrence shot Veronica a quick glance. “I’ll be right back.”
Apparently, Andie hadn’t been lying about having the golf cart right outside because Terrence made it back to the kitchen less than three minutes later. His expression hadn’t changed.
“What happened with your manager?” Veronica asked. When Terrence glanced around the kitchen, she added, “No one’s here. You can talk.”
He took a deep breath. “He thought it was a great idea. He knows I’ve been struggling for the past year or so and believes this would be a good opportunity for me.”
So far, so good. Veronica braced herself for thebutsure to come.
“I gave him the numbers Lennox and I had been kicking around, and asked if he could find out how long it would take to get a transfer together. That’s when he found it.”
“Found what?”
He grimaced. “Inaccuracies in my accounts. He’s having his people look over everything to find out what’s going on, but most of the accounts have considerably less than they should.”
“What’s considerably less?” she asked, and her eyes bugged at the number he gave her. “How could that much money be gone and you don’t know how it happened or where it went?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
“Where does this leave your purchase of the island?” she asked, afraid she knew the answer already.
“On hold until I can figure out what’s going on.” He placed his hands on the countertop and dropped his head. Sadness filled his eyes when he looked back up. “I can’t believe someone on my team has been stealing from me. That I’ve been played by someone I trusted.”
She wanted to tell him that maybe he’d discover it was a clerical error or a miscalculation and everyone working for him was as trustworthy as he’d always thought. Unfortunately, life experiences had proven to her over and over the exact opposite. Some people weren’t trustworthy, and most of the time you wouldn’t find out just how untrustworthy they were until it was much too late and the damage had already been done.
She knew Terrence had relatively low turnover rates with those employees who worked the closest with him. That had probably been one of the reasons why he’d been so hesitant to fire his agent. If his accounts were being mishandled by one of his employees, odds were it was one of those employees closest to him. Not only did that make the betrayal much more painful, but it also meant whoever it was could have possibly been stealing and lying to him for years.
Her heart ached for him, and she hoped against hope they were all wrong about his accounts.
“If there’s any good news to be found in this entire mess,” Terrence said. “It’s that Lennox hasn’t gone public with the selling of the island and academy, so at the moment I’m not competing or in a bidding war with anyone.”
“Plus,” she added, “from what I’ve gathered, it’s not as if he’s in a rush to sell. He doesn’t have to, after all, so I’m willing to bet it won’t be a problem for him to wait and give you the time needed to figure this all out.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Based on how happy he was earlier today when you discussed buying from him, he doesn’t want anyone else to have the property.”
She expected him to say something in response or at least to agree with her. But he was silent, almost dumbstruck, and she couldn’t figure out why.
