Chapter 10 - THE EMPTY OFFICE
Leo’s office had three people with regular access: Leo, Mateo, and his longtime bookkeeper, Harriet Shaw.
Harriet had worked for him for eleven years. She remembered Lily’s birthday and sent soup when Elena died. When the investigators called her, she agreed to meet them.
She never arrived.
Her desk at the company was empty. So was the apartment where she lived alone. A neighbor said a man had driven her away early that morning. The neighbor recognized the man from a photograph: Owen Price.
But Owen was in custody.
The neighbor studied the photograph again. “Same build,” she said. “Different face.”
Investigators reviewed the building camera. The man was Graham Kensington’s driver.
Leo paced the guesthouse kitchen while Dana took the call. “He’s moving people now.”
“Harriet may be cooperating with him,” Dana said. “We don’t know.”
Mateo checked the invoices Elena had saved. He found a pattern Harriet would have noticed: small changes to shipping dates, followed by transfers approved from Leo’s office when both Leo and Mateo were away.
“I gave her my login once,” Mateo said quietly. “Years ago. I was sick, and a payment had to go through.”
“Did you change the password?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have a way back in?”
“I don’t know.”
Beatrice came into the kitchen carrying two mugs of coffee. Leo looked at her bandaged hand and lowered his voice.
“Lily asleep?”
“She’s reading. She says Mr. Hops wants the ending before bedtime.”
May you like
Dana’s phone rang again. Harriet had called the investigators herself from a pay phone near a bus station.
She would talk, she said, but only if they helped her son.
