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“You think we’ve got everything we need?” I mentally checked back through the contents of my small backpack — cell phone, flashlight, notepad, pen. Just who the hell did I think I was? Nancy Drew? “And we’re agreed? We’re starting with the warehouses?”
They nodded.
“Seems sensible,” Wes said. “After all, if we don’t look, we’ll never know.”
“And we’ll always wonder.” Charmaine nodded like she was trying to convince herself. “You always regret the things youdon’tdo, right?”
Coming up with the idea had been one thing, but actually doing it was another.
“Right.” I spoke before any of us could chicken out. We wouldn’t be alone, after all. We had our own team of pack soldiers to accompany us everywhere. And we had each other.
I led the way out of the front door, and Girard turned from his position right outside it. So far, none of them had come into the house, but they were never far away.
“We’d like to go out,” I said.
He nodded. “Nearest coffee shop?” But the way he looked us up and down conveyed his suspicion that wouldn’t be the case at all.
I laughed. “Maybe later. But right now we want to go to one of the Gold Moon warehouses.”
He started to shake his head. “That doesn’t seem like such a great idea. And Patrick wouldn’t like…”
I set my jaw and he didn’t finish that thought. While part of me cared what Patrick thought, Gold Moon wasn’t his company, and it wasn’t his responsibility. He didn’t get to tell me what I could and couldn’t do.
“You really should leave any matters like this up to the police, you know? They’re equipped to go and investigate suspicious things.” He swallowed as he spoke, and I got the impression Patrick wasn’t really a guy to wait for the police to solve things on his behalf.
I laughed at his suggestion and shrugged. “What have I got to say to the police without sounding like a damsel who can’t run her own company? It’s not like I can give them a call and tell them that my company loses packages every time they get sent to specific warehouse addresses.”
Wes chuckled.
“And I can’t exactly ask them to go and look for my stuff. I will sound irrational and hysterical — or at least, that’s how they’ll write me off.”
It seemed everyone was happy to label women with those words, and I wasn’t about to give the local police the excuse to apply them to me. Not so close to when I’d just taken over the company. I might really need them one day soon.
“They’d just ask us to find our own stuff, right?” Charmaine said, fully back on board with the project as she strode toward one of the SUVs. “So we’re going to do it. What’s the worst that can happen with all of us there, anyway?”
Girard looked as though he was about to answer her, and probably whatever he said would make us all reconsider.
I reached out and touched his forearm briefly. “I need to look into this. The police aren’t a viable option. They aren’t going to just go and check for lost Gold Moon stuff. That’s not a criminal matter on its own. And it probably doesn’t rank too highly on their scale of importance, right? How long would I even wait to talk to someone about it? No, I’m a new business owner and easily discounted because I’m a woman in a man’s world. So I really don’t mind checking into this myself rather than relying on people who probably won’t take me seriously in the first place.”
So far, the police hadn’t turned up anything on Dad’s death. As far as they were concerned, it was more a tragic accident than any great mystery. I just couldn’t trust that was true.
Girard still didn’t look convinced. Doubt and indecision played at the corners of his mouth like he couldn’t work out who he needed to answer to in this sort of situation — Patrick or me.
“Hey,” I said and grinned at him, hoping to reassure him that I had all of this in hand, and wasn’t asking him to do anything unreasonable. “If we get to a warehouse and find a dead body, of course I’ll call the police.”
“Well, shit, I hope we don’t find anything like that.” Wes shivered, but he chuckled. “I’m just coming along because you said the next stop was the coffee shop.”
Girard rolled his eyes. “Well, if coffee is on the line…”
“I’ll treat you to a cup, too,” I promised him. “Look, I just want to have a quick glance around and see what we can see. If there’s nothing there, fair enough, but we’ve checked it off the list.” I shrugged. “It’s my company, and I have to see for myself.”
I’d inherited a lot of responsibility from Dad, but I had to see it through. I didn’t really trust anyone else to do the job properly.
“Okay.” Girard’s agreement was obviously reluctant. I felt kind of bad for wearing him down, but I didn’t have a lot of time to waste.
Patrick had given me a time limit for my company audit, after all. My stomach flipped at my brief thought of Patrick, and I struggled to conceal the smile that wanted to appear at even the thought of his name.
It was starting to feel less and less like this was just business.
