Lucky Charm (20 page)

Those other eyes weren’t reassuring. It was an odd and uncomfortable feeling to sense someone watching her all the time but she tried to ignore it. She only had to hang on for a few more days. If she acted normal and did nothing else suspicious or unusual, it would be okay, she would be gone. If she gave them nothing else to wonder about, nothing to suspect, soon enough she could put it all behind her.

She couldn’t help but wonder,
What was going on?
It was increasingly clear something was. No matter how hard she tried not to, she wondered how Matthew was and what he was doing. She didn’t doubt it was something to do with Marathon and Marathon didn’t want him to find whatever it was he was looking for.
What was it they were so afraid she’d see or learn?
She was beginning to regret some of the questions she’d already asked, except she couldn’t not ask them, there were too many anomalies. Too many numbers didn’t add up. The answers they gave her either sounded like excuses, or subtle criticism of the software.

Fortunately, there were few problems with the software installation and the one glitch they found during training she and Birmingham’s tech managed to resolve. The rest went very smoothly. The training, too, went well, at least partly because of southern manners. They were almost too polite. She went to lunch with the staff each day and enjoyed it. Unlike Fort Lauderdale no one offered invitations for afterward and she found she wasn’t sorry about it. It was better to keep a little distance. It had been a mistake to let anyone get that close.

By the time Thursday arrived, she was grateful to be moving on to New Orleans, if only to escape the weight of those watching eyes.

Birmingham was a smaller office than many of the others, so they hadn’t needed her for as many days. She’d managed to get the extra day scheduled as a travel day without drawing undue attention from the home office. There they thought she was flying home for the weekend. It was what she normally would have done. With hour-long layovers between flights, it would have taken nearly all day to get there.

Instead, she would spend the extra day in New Orleans and she needed it. She worked on commission so it was her time to spend. A little relief and relaxation. The air of tension in the office, both in the offices here and in D.C. had worn on her. That and all the watching eyes.

She’d rented a car and planned to drive to Louisiana. The weather was supposed to be beautiful so she’d splurged and gotten a convertible on her own dime. Damn the cost, she’d eat it if she had to but it should be offset by the lack of airfare to and from. The convertible reminded her of Matthew but the feel of the wind in her hair and a great car to drive was worth it. Not that the memory of him was really unpleasant. Something about the excitement of it had stirred feelings she hadn’t been able, or hadn’t allowed herself, to feel for a long time. She had a sense of reawakening, of a coming back to life.

From a vantage point in a nearby coffee shop Matt had a clear view of the main entrances to this Marathon office. He was still trying to find a way past their security. It didn’t seem promising but he hoped for more success than he’d had with the others. There was a delivery door at the back of the building but it was locked and guarded. Open the door and the alarm would go off. There were enough entrances and plenty of places to hide inside but a limited number of exits from the floor once he was inside.

That day and every day, he watched Ariel leave with the rest of the Marathon staff for lunch. They seemed to accept her, laughing and joking with her. She seemed more at ease, lighter. She had a warmth about her that drew people to her. As hard as he tried not to, he found himself envying their time with her.

He watched each evening, too, to be sure she reached her hotel safely. She might believe herself alone but she wasn’t, not as long as he was nearby.

He was no closer to finding a way past Marathon’s security, though. Not legally. He wouldn’t blow the investigation by doing something stupid. As simple as it was, a guard at the elevators, a scanner for employee badges, it was effective.

He’d have to be more careful, too. They clearly knew his face. That made it more difficult.

There seemed to be no way around it, not without bringing another person into it to provide a distraction or a diversion. He knew some of his people would be more than glad to help but he couldn’t bring them in on this, couldn’t ask them to take the risk for what was essentially a far more private investigation than usual. He wasn’t just walking the edge but going right over it and he knew it. Trespassing at the very least, pushing the boundaries of breaking and entering. It was a chance he was willing to take but he couldn’t ask it of someone else.

Matt had considered trying to take the guards out. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about it. One on one, he could probably do it but it was dicey. If only one proved to be tougher than he expected he’d find himself in trouble again. He’d already learned his lesson there. With no backup if he made a mistake there would be no one to stand for Bill. No one but Darrin, who’d have another grief laid at his doorstep. Matt wouldn’t do that unless he had no other choice. If he could find another way, though, he might have to chance it.

Even if he was successful, he’d have limited time for discovery, and he didn’t know exactly what he was looking for. All he had were suspicions, a phone call and a dead friend.

In every city he visited Marathon was considered a paragon, the one sure place to invest, as safe as houses, some said. That bothered him. Nothing was that good, not in the current economy. Look at the housing market, the basis for that old saying. There was no such thing as a sure thing, investing always held some degree of risk and the last ‘sure’ thing had proven it. From Enron to Madoff to Stanford, not to mention the dozens of other minor scams and cons, there was always someone ready and willing to take advantage, to try to game the system.

Some of what he’d heard from Carly and the others in Fort Lauderdale had definitely raised red flags for him but nothing specific, nothing actionable. Nothing he could go to the authorities or even the Securities and Exchange Commission or the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with.

He’d found ways to socialize with Marathon employees in most of the cities he’d visited and heard the same vaguely disturbing hints of unusual business practices. Again, nothing concrete.

Yet somehow Bill had discovered something that someone at Marathon considered important enough to kill to keep secret.

Watching Ariel walk back to her hotel, he wondered once more what it was she did for Marathon. Could he use her? Put her at risk? Considering Bill’s fate?

For all she seemed somehow solitary, alone, and on the surface didn’t seem uncomfortable, underneath it all he knew differently. He’d felt the joy and the passion, the tenderness, had heard the longing and felt the need.

He was getting desperate but he wasn’t so desperate as to put Ariel at risk. Not yet.

Lovell looked at the picture on his computer screen. Such a pretty little thing with that curly black hair and blue eyes. She was, however, becoming an issue.

According to Genardi Mayfield in Birmingham said her interference in the situation with Morrison appeared to be a coincidence. None of Lovell’s own people had reported any contact between the two. At least they hadn’t seen any.

It might be perfectly innocent. Still, there was the chance they were under investigation and she was deep undercover. Unlikely or his connections in Washington and elsewhere would have informed him of it, but the probability existed however low it might be. If the probability existed then it needed to be addressed.

According to Genardi she was already asking questions. There was simply too much danger she might notice something she shouldn’t. Especially with Morrison wandering around loose. That concerned him. As did the chance that her actions in regards to Mr. Morrison hadn’t been mere coincidence. She needed to be reminded to keep her mind on her work and not to interfere in things she didn’t understand. She was a woman and women could be nosy. Perhaps a warning was in order. Somewhere away from Marathon. Enough to impress on her that the world was not always a safe place, especially for a woman traveling alone.

Nothing that would draw attention to the company and what went on in those offices.

According to the front office everything was going well, profits were rolling in and no one suspected a thing. It was his job to make certain that continued. Hence the warning.

They needed to find Morrison, too, and quickly.

Lovell was waiting for a report back from his people on Morrison. Contrary to Genardi’s assertion, there was much more to that man than just an accountant. He was extraordinarily persistent, for one thing. Sooner or later, he might get lucky. Someone would make a mistake, let down their guard to slip out for a smoke or he might catch someone napping. Lovell had little faith in Genardi’s people, mostly hired for muscle and intimidation to keep complainers or questioners quiet. In that they’d been successful. He had even less faith in Genardi. Whether he would understand anything he found was questionable but it was a risk Lovell had been hired not to take.

He had the sense things were spiraling out of control and that he did not like.

It was time for Genardi to prove his usefulness.

This time, perhaps, he wouldn’t screw it up.

If he did, it might be time to start seeking a replacement.

It was a relief for Matt to watch Ariel load her luggage in the car, even if he did feel a pang of lost opportunity. The Sebring wasn’t a great car but it wasn’t a bad one for a rental, especially with the top down. It was probably as much car as she could afford. Matt watched her drive away, her dark hair bound up in a scarf. A few tendrils escaped to curl around her face. He kept telling himself it was better this way, although he felt an odd sense of loss.

She was away and she was safe.

It was clear she worked for Marathon in some capacity but she stayed in hotels and had only been here for a few days. What was it she did? What was it that kept her there so late at night some nights? Was she going to another Marathon office?

For a minute he considered having Darrin run a check on her but it was probably better if he didn’t. It was better if he just let her go…for now.

As he watched the car disappear into traffic he knew it was likely he’d never get the chance to ask for her help and he regretted it as he regretted not trying to find some way to contact her again. Maybe when all this was over, he would try to find her. It wouldn’t be that difficult.

No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. She kept creeping into his thoughts when he didn’t expect it. The memory of how her body felt against his, fitting so perfectly, when he had kissed her. It was a distraction he didn’t need right now but later? After all this was over?

Somehow he would find a way past Marathon’s security without using her. Not if he could help it. There had to be a way. He would find it.

Then maybe he’d find her.

Confining her hair with a scarf, Ariel slid behind the wheel of the car and set the GPS for her first stop. The mechanical voice directed her out of the city. Sometimes technology was a wonderful thing. Birmingham had been a pleasant city to visit but she wasn’t sorry to put it and all the tension behind her. She’d get a few hours driving done that night without fighting through too much rush hour traffic and finish the next day at a leisurely pace. She had plenty of time.

The open road lay ahead of her and at the end of it New Orleans. She’d never been there before and was looking forward to seeing it even after Katrina and sans Mardi Gras. The city itself, with its combination of old and new, still resurrecting itself like a phoenix from the aftermath of the hurricane, promised to be interesting enough without that excess. She felt a little thrill of excitement as she left Birmingham behind her.

The sky was a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color as the setting sun bathed everything in warm amber light. Ariel hadn’t intended to drive so long, it was later than planned but she’d enjoyed the warm, nearly liquid air flowing over her skin and that incredible sunset. The first glimmering stars appeared as darkness spread across the sky.

Cheap but comfortable, the hotel was one of the highway chains. It met her requirements, having both a gym and an in-house restaurant. She was looking forward to a good dinner and a quiet evening doing nothing more challenging than watching TV. The gym was for the morning. It had been a while since she’d had a good workout. As usual there were a lot of cars in the lot, so she had to drive around a bit before she found a parking space. She parked, got her overnight bag and started across the lot.