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“Yes, because he wanted your father to call you.”
Pieces started to fall into place. “He knew my father would call me to gloat over the fact that he wasn’t going to do anything to stop him. He wanted me to know my father basically gave him permission to do anything he wanted with those pictures.”
“Yes,” Terrence said. “And I can guess where they will pop up next.”
“Here,” she said. “He’ll send them to us and threaten us with blackmail.” She frowned. “But why me? I don’t have any money. What could I possibly have that he wants?”
“I don’t think he wants your money,” Terrence said. “I think he might want mine.”
Another piece fell into place. “Or more of it,” Veronica said.
“More of it?” Terrence wrinkled his forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit coincidental that you finding out about a possible thief on your team happens around the same time this photo’s going around?”
“I have to view it as coincidental,” he said. “I can’t imagine how the two could possibly be related.”
“That’s because we haven’t found the common thread yet, but I bet it’s there. And I bet we’ll find it if we look. We’ve bothbeen around the block enough times to realize that very little in this world, whether you’re talking about politics, Hollywood, or John and Jane Doe living on Main Street, is actual coincidence.”
“I can’t decide if I want you to be right or wrong with that statement.”
“That’s because you’re only in the beginning stages of experiencing the worst of people, whereas I’ve had over five years to live with it.”
“Does it get any easier?” he asked, although she had a feeling he’d known the answer before he asked the question.
“I wish it did, but no.”
Chapter 28
TERRENCE
Terrence wasn’t sure what his next course of action should be. In his perfect world, it would place him one step ahead of whoever held the photos of him and Ronnie. Without any details other than they’d contacted both his agent and her father, however, it was impossible to get in that position. At the moment, he felt their only option was to wait for the unknown entity to contact either him or Ronnie and hope they were able to find something that would point them in the right direction.
He’d just finished saying as much to the MacLures and the Matthewses. He and Ronnie had asked them all to meet together in his villa, and they were currently sitting in his living room. The hope being that between the six of them they’d find something, some overlooked detail, offering a hint of who they could be dealing with.
“I admit,” Terrence said, “I’d rather do just about anything other than sit here and wait. We’re fairly certain whoever it is will reach out to one or the both of us. I’d like nothing more than to uncover the bastard before he has a chance to get that far.”
“Let’s start with what you know,” Fulton said. “The first time you noticed anything out of the ordinary was when you were at the cottage and Veronica saw the men outside. What we’remissing is how they knew you were going to be there in the first place.”
“From what I was told, no one knew it was Terrence and Veronica; they just knew it was someone,” Lennox said. “But the more I think about it, why would that alone be enough to convince four men to drive here and basically camp out, waiting for something to happen?”
“What are you suggesting?” Terrence asked.
“I’m saying that I believe whoever called my contact in Seattle knew exactly who was here.”
“But how did he know?” Fulton asked.
Lennox grimaced. “That’s the part I don’t know.”
“What’s the possibility of whoever alerted your contact to have more evidence than an overheard conversation? What if they followed us?”
“I’m not sure how that could happen,” Andie said. “They would’ve had to have been following you for some time that day. Think about it. You weren’t even driving your car. You were driving mine.”
“True.” Ronnie looked more defeated than Terrence had ever seen her, and it killed him knowing he carried most of the blame for that look. “Someone would have had to have been waiting at the dock’s garage and watched us.”
“You were driving my car,” Andie repeated in a whisper.
Terrence wondered why she felt the need to repeat the sentence. He wanted to ask Ronnie—
