AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please don’t make me regret this,” Angel said.
“You won’t. I promise.”
When they ended the call, Rae was floating. She went over to Lily and lifted her from her crib. She nuzzled her baby’s head, breathing in her sweet, powdery newness.
Holding Lily felt like holding a dream made tangible. Like she had accomplished the most important thing she’d ever do in life, and it was exhilarating but also terrifying. She thought of her mother, of whether she’d felt the same way holding her after she was born, so full of love. A love that wasn’t enough. She kissed Lily’s head, and she couldn’t imagine ever abandoning her.
She held Lily close and walked over to the huge window to enjoy the last of the November sunset, the gold-and-russet leaves mesmerizing.
“This is the beginning of good things for us,” she whispered to her sleeping baby. “Just you wait.”
CHAPTER 60
RAE
2024
Concentrating the next day was impossible, in part because Rae kept replaying the night before, when Dayton submitted to her, giving her the best orgasm she’d ever experienced. And from the intensity of Dayton’s, she knew he’d be open to playing with her again. Flutters stirred in her chest when she thought about being in an actual relationship with him and getting to play out her fantasies with someone she cared about, not simply someone paying her.
In between clients, Rae checked her phone, wishing Dayton would call to update her on what he’d found out. She was nervous as hell for him. Even if he did discover where Thomas had been transferring the funds he received, she didn’t know how the information would protect him or his family from the Coulters when he hadn’t destroyed the rape evidence like they’d demanded.
It was close to three when he finally called her.
“Please tell me you have good news,” she said.
“I don’t know if I’d call it good, but it’s news.” Dayton paused a beat. “That company depositing funds to Thomas’s account, Uroboros Inc., is one of Pearson’s businesses. Supposedly an accounting firm, one with an offshore account. They transferred funds to Thomas, and then Thomas transferred the funds to an investment account run through the Coulters.”
“So, you found the tie to them.” Rae sank back into her office chair, the smallest bit of relief relaxing her body somewhat. “Do you think the funds from the Uroboros place were from the parties?”
“Yes. And I don’t think Thomas was the only one cleaning the funds.”
There was something that bothered her about what Dayton said. “Why isn’t this good news?”
“It is, but ...” Dayton went quiet. “I learned the real reason why Thomas was fired from Arkana Oil and Gas. He skimmed $4,800 from their accounts over the course of four months before he stopped, but they caught on. I looked over Thomas’s bank account information again, and it looks like he also started skimming on the amounts he was transferring to the Coulters’ account two months before he went missing. The amounts totaled $2,400. So, $7,200 total that he skimmed.”
Rae didn’t need Dayton to tell her what it meant. The total added up to six months’ worth of weekly sessions with her at $300 a visit, the length of time she had him as a client. “They killed him because he was taking money from them to pay me?”
“We don’t know that, Rae.”
But she did.
“I believe he went to the party that night at the Coulters to beg his way back into their good graces,” Dayton said. “He knew he fucked up, but I don’t think he realized how deep he was in. After they knew he was fired from Arkana, they didn’t have a safe way to launder the money through him, and Thomas was in heavy debt. A man without a job can’t very well be transferring money to an investment account. Hewas no longer valuable to them,andhe stole from them. Basically, he was screwed either way.”
Rae’s stomach twisted with the idea of Thomas taking such a risk for her services. He made good money. She knew that from her vetting, but she didn’t check people’s credit, only their criminal history. “What if Bobby and the other guy who was with him met with Thomas at the Skirvin to encourage him to go to the party that night and beg Pearson for forgiveness? Then they had him where they wanted him and killed him. Makes sense to me.”
“I agree,” Dayton said. “It seems the most plausible. And at this point, I’m almost positive the other guy was Benson.”
“When are you taking this to your chief?”
“I’m meeting with him here in about ten minutes. I’ll call you later and let you know how it goes.”
They ended the call, and Rae was ready to go home. She had the strongest desire to see Lily and hold her. She’d been doing too much running around with the investigation and work, and she needed some mother-daughter time. She cleaned up the dungeon and front lobby and drove home, stopping by Starbucks to get Lily her favorite drink as a treat. When she got home, she expected to see Lily in the kitchen, grazing for snacks after school. She called out for her, but Lily didn’t answer.
She texted her. No response, so she called Lily’s cell phone, and it went to voice mail. She knew Lily never checked her voice mail, but she left a message anyway. “Hey, honey, I just got home. Where are you? You said you were getting a ride home with Ella. Call me. I got you a drink.” She waited a few minutes and still no response. She called Ella’s number. “Hi, Ella, it’s Lily’s mom. Is she with you? She said you were taking her home today.”
“I dropped her off like twenty minutes ago.”
“Okay, thank you. If you hear from her, please tell her to call me.”
