Betrayal (15 page)

Her cell phone rang at midnight, and it was Hunt. She didn’t know whether to answer it or not, but she missed him so much, she took the call.

“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as she picked it up. He sounded worried about her and unhappy. Angela had been thrilled when he showed up the night before, particularly since she was expecting his baby, but Hunt was sad. Not sad enough to want to come back and give up Angela, but sad anyway. Angela was his future now, and Tallie was his past. She had become ancient history in his life overnight. It had all happened so fast.

“No, I’m not okay,” she said, deciding to be honest about it. “I’m falling apart.” She started crying again as soon as she said it. “How would you be if you found out all those things about me?”

“Homicidal. Or suicidal. I’m not sure which. But I don’t think I’d be as decent about it as you are. Tallie, I’m so sorry.”

“You should be. It was such a rotten thing to do to me, for the whole time we were together,” she sobbed, and he felt like a total bastard.

“I don’t know what happened. Things got off on the wrong foot,
when
I got involved with Brig. I swear she did it on purpose. She wants to
be
you, Tallie, even if that meant sleeping with me. I never knew what hit me after that first time, and I couldn’t get away from her. She got me in her web.” He portrayed her as someone evil and himself as her victim, and Tallie still couldn’t see her that way. Hunt was absolving himself from all responsibility and blaming Brigitte. Tallie thought he should have had more balls than that, and never gotten involved with her in the first place. She hadn’t held a gun to his head after all. And she said as much to him.

“No, but she threatened to tell you if I stopped, and I didn’t want her to do that. I thought I’d lose you, and I did anyway.”

“That doesn’t explain why you got involved with someone else after her. Did Angela blackmail you too?”

“No, I was just a fool, and she’s a sweet girl. This isn’t her fault, or Brig’s, I guess. It’s mine. I did the wrong thing all the way.”

“Yes, you did,” Tallie agreed.

“Did you tell your father?”

“Yes.”

“He must hate me.” He was embarrassed to have Sam know how badly he’d behaved.

“He’s pretty pissed.” And he was right.

“Did you tell Max?”

“Not yet. She’s going to be heartbroken. She loves you,” Tallie said, crying. “So did I.”

“I do too. I love you both … I told you that … I love you and Angela … and Max, and your father. This is such a fucking mess.”

“Yes, it is,” Tallie agreed. And he was having a baby, which
added
insult to injury. Tallie wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t. She was just crushed, and he felt like a total heel. “I’ll pack your stuff up and send it to you next week,” she said sadly. It was the end of an era for both of them. He was embarrassed to tell her to send it all to Angela’s, although he had just agreed to move in with her, because of the baby. And Tallie didn’t want to ask, so she told him she’d send it to his office, and he said that was fine. There was nothing left to say except goodbye after that.

Tallie had never stopped crying during the entire conversation, and Hunt felt like a monster by the time he hung up. He didn’t know how he had expected it to end, but he realized now that if you were involved with two people and lied to one of them, this was what happened. He felt terrible about what he’d done to Tallie, and now it looked like he was jumping from one woman to the next, which was in fact what he was doing by moving in with Angela right away. But he also wanted to protect her from her ex-husband now that she was carrying his baby. That was a new concept for him too since he had never had kids nor wanted them before. And now he would have two almost immediately, since she was already four months pregnant. She had waited to tell him until it was too late to have an abortion, because she wanted his baby so much. Hunt was feeling overwhelmed too.

Tallie went on packing his things until two o’clock in the morning. She had cleared two closets and some of his books by then. He had a mountain of stuff. She wasn’t even sure she could pack it all before she left for Palm Springs. And she went back to work on it at nine in the morning on Sunday. She wanted to get it done, so she didn’t just stand there and cry every time she opened a closet
and
saw his things. It took two boxes just to pack everything in his bathroom. She had never realized he had this much stuff.

She was working on his office when the doorbell rang and it was Senior Special Agent Jim Kingston from the FBI. She found herself looking up at a tall, dark-haired man with blue eyes and a pleasant face, wearing a shirt, tie, blazer, and gray slacks with loafers. He had come dressed for work since it was an official visit. He introduced himself immediately and she invited him in. There were boxes everywhere. She apologized, and he could guess what they were for, but he didn’t comment.

She took him into the kitchen and offered him a cup of coffee or tea. He said he was fine, and didn’t want either. They sat down at the kitchen table, and she handed him the spreadsheet she had retrieved from her father. He glanced at it for a minute and then found himself looking into her big green eyes. She looked sad, and he could see that she was in pain.

“Let’s talk about the three possibilities here, about who might be taking your money,” he said calmly. “What do you think? What does your gut say?”

“My gut says that I’m an idiot for not suspecting it before,” she said, looking unhappy. “Apparently, a lot went on around here that I never suspected.”

“People who embezzle money are very clever about it. They know just how far to go, how much they can take, when, and how to get away with it, under the radar. And if it makes you feel any better, in most cases it’s the person you trust most, who has been there the longest time. If it were obvious, they’d get caught the
first
day. And usually schemes like this go on for a long, long time,” he said to reassure her.

“Maybe it’s my accountant. If it isn’t, he should have figured it out.”

“If he didn’t do it, then whoever did knew how to get by him too. Believe me, this is the kind of thing we see every day. But I’ll talk to your accountant too, and we’ll get you forensic accountants to look at your books and your general ledger. We’ll do an investigation on the accountant and your assistant, and the man you were living with.” Tallie nodded. They were the only three people who could have been ripping her off, and she really didn’t think it was Hunt. She said as much to Jim.

“Meg Simpson said that too. Your assistant actually fits the profile of the most likely suspect,” he said calmly.

“Why?” Tallie was puzzled by what he said.

“Because you trust her implicitly. That gives someone a lot of leeway if they’re dishonest, and she’s already lied to you once that you know of.” They both knew about what, and didn’t need to go into detail, much to Tallie’s relief.

“I’m going to fire her tomorrow,” Tallie said sadly. She had thought about it all night, and decided when she got up that morning. She couldn’t keep her after what she’d done.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Jim said quietly, and Tallie was surprised. She thought the FBI would expect her to move quickly, although Meg had told her to be cautious too.

“Why not?”

“Because if she’s a serious suspect, I’d rather she not realize that
we’re
suspicious of her, and see what she does. Have you confronted her about the money yet?”

“No. I asked her, and she told me it was Hunt, and I believed her.”

“Have you spoken to her since you got the report from Meg?”

“No, she doesn’t know about that. And I just got it Friday.”

“If you think you can pull it off, I’d rather you not tell her anything you heard from Meg. Your assistant told you about your boyfriend’s other woman. You could tell her that you broke up over that, without telling her you know the rest. And you can tell her you’re suspicious of him and your accountant about the money. If you can deal with it, I’d like to give her some room, and see what she does, although she can’t blame the ex-boyfriend for money that disappears now, so she might be more careful for a while. But it gives us a big advantage if she doesn’t know we suspect her. She’ll relax. If we find strong evidence that it’s her, you can fire her then. Right now we’re not sure, and what we need is time.”

“How much time?” Tallie didn’t look enthused about his plan. It also meant that she couldn’t confront her over Hunt. As far as Brigitte knew right now, Tallie was upset that she hadn’t exposed Hunt’s crimes earlier, but Tallie had never suspected her of taking the money, she had only asked, not accused her of it, and Brigitte had no idea at all that Tallie knew about her and Hunt, and their affair of three years. All of that was new.

“It could take us a month or two to get what we need, or longer. I actually think we might know in a month. We can reassess the situation then. But until then I’d like you to give her the impression that you’ve forgiven her, and let’s give her enough rope to hang
herself,
while we conduct the investigation. We can keep an eye on her, and your money going in and out, and we can interview your accountant and Mr. Lloyd to see if they are viable suspects or not. I’d like to save the most likely one for last, if you agree.” Tallie nodded her head slowly. What he was asking of her sounded difficult and uncomfortable, and it would be unpleasant to keep an enemy close to her for that much longer. But it made perfect sense too. “Do you think you can pull it off?” he asked with a look of concern, and she smiled ruefully.

“Yes. I was an actress before I was a director. I can do it. It just sounds unpleasant to have to act like everything is fine.”

“It might give us the best results in the long run. And I don’t want you to tell her you’ve contacted the FBI about the money nor went to a PI.” He warned her then that they might have to turn it over to the police in the end, if there was no wire fraud or bank fraud committed and no federal offenses, but they could assess that later on. He sounded infinitely professional and interested in her case. She was glad that he’d come to talk to her, and so was he. Tallie felt somewhat reassured that she was in good hands, and he thought the case was worth pursuing. She had been betrayed by two people she loved and trusted, and he wanted to figure out who was stealing money from her.

“Thank you, Special Agent Kingston,” she said with a look of relief. She felt safe with him handling the case. He had a very sympathetic, comforting style about him, which put her at ease.

“Jim. Please. If you’re patient with us, we’ll solve the problem. Sometimes these things move slower than the victim likes.” She winced at the word.

“I hate to think of myself as a ‘victim.’ It sounds so awful.”

“It is awful. But you’ve been the victim of a crime, and sadly often people in your position are a very appealing target.”

“Yeah, I’ve always relied on her so much. And after all this time, I don’t question what she does. I trust her totally.”

“And she, or someone else, has taken full advantage of that. If this goes to trial and she’s convicted, her sentence will be increased because of the abuse of trust. Judges take a dim view of that in situations like this. Abuse of trust is a serious offense.” She thought wistfully that that applied to Hunt too, and he hadn’t committed a crime. Just breach of promise, and trust, and all her faith in him. “I’ll get the investigation started tomorrow.” She gave him Hunt’s and Victor’s contact information, and he was planning to ask for interviews with both of them. He was going to leave Brigitte alone for a while, to see what she did, and if Tallie lost money at the same rate. She’d have to be more careful now that Hunt was gone, and she could no longer blame him. She’d have to be even more cunning, if it was her. If it was Hunt, it would stop entirely now that he was gone. And if it was Victor, it might continue at the same rate, though in different ways.

Jim Kingston stayed for an hour and a half, and then he stood up, and she thanked him again for coming.

“I’m sorry to eat into your Sunday,” she said apologetically, and he smiled.

“It’s fine. I had nothing else to do. I spend Sundays with my fifteen-year-old son, and he had better things to do today than hang out with his dad. That seems to be happening a lot these days.” He smiled ruefully as he said it.

“My daughter’s eighteen, in college in New York, and it’s pretty much that way with her now too. When she’s home, she’d rather be out with her friends.” Tallie smiled as they chatted about their kids. It established a friendly link between them, which was his style.

“I have a son at Michigan State too,” he added. “Once they’re gone, they don’t belong to us anymore. I’m hanging on to my fifteen-year-old for dear life,” he confessed, and they both laughed. She wondered if he was divorced. He somehow made it sound like he didn’t have a wife, just his kids, or maybe she was wrong. He seemed like a pleasant man to her. He was wholesome, intelligent, and clean-cut. She felt like her case was in good hands. He seemed mildly impressed with her Hollywood status, but not overly so. He referred to it but didn’t have stars in his eyes. And he apologized again for not knowing who she was when she called.

“I don’t mind at all,” she assured him. “It’s a lot better that way.” She looked as though she meant it, which he found refreshing. There was nothing pretentious or Hollywood about her despite how famous she was.