“The manager’s busy. Something about a plumbing emergency down on the third floor. I have a feeling we’d both rather deal with this privately, anyway. Got a name?”
It became glaringly apparent that neither he nor the dog was going to get out of her way. She was forced to halt in the middle of the room.
“Of course I’ve got a name,” she said crisply. “But I don’t see any reason why I should give it to you.”
“Let me take a wild guess. Leonora Hutton?”
She froze. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. The easy movement drew her attention once again to the impressive width of his shoulders. The fact that they fascinated her was worrisome. Normally
she was not the least bit attracted to male muscle. She preferred the intellectual type.
“Meredith didn’t have a long list of friends,” he said. “Mostly she just had marks, from what I can tell.”
“Marks.”
“Marks. Targets. Victims. Dupes. Whatever you call the people she used, conned or fleeced in the course of her scams. But unlike most of the people in her email address book, you and she went back a ways from what I can tell.” He paused a beat. “Assuming you’re Leonora Hutton, that is.”
She set her teeth together. “Yes, all right, I’m Leonora Hutton. Now, who are you?”
“Walker. Thomas Walker.” He glanced down at the dog. “This is Wrench.”
Wrench tilted his broad head and grinned in response to the sound of his name.
She looked at Wrench’s impressive array of teeth. “Does he bite?”
“Nah.” Thomas was apparently amused by the question. “Wrench is a real sweetheart. Very nonconfrontational. Probably a miniature poodle in his former life.”
She did not believe that for one moment. If Wrench had had a former life he had no doubt lived it as a giant medieval hunting mastiff. But she decided not to make an issue of it.
“We’ve been waiting for you to show up, Miss Hutton,” Thomas said.
She was aghast. “
Waiting
for me?”
“Three days now. Spent most of the time in that coffee shop across the street.” He angled his jaw toward the window and the partial view of a block of small shops. “You were the one who claimed the body and made the burial arrangements last week. Figured you’d come to clean out her apartment sooner or later.”
“You seem to know a great deal about me.”
He smiled. It was the kind of smile that made her want to take a couple of steps back, turn and run for her life. But that would be the worst thing she could do, she told herself. She knew enough about animal behavior to know that predators only got more excited by fleeing prey.
“Not nearly as much as I’d like to know about you, Miss Hutton.”
There was nowhere to run, anyway. He had her cornered in this small, barren room. She stood her ground.
“How did you get hold of Meredith’s email address book?” she asked.
“That was easy,” Thomas said. “I came here and helped myself to her laptop just as soon as I heard the news about the crash.”
The casual admission left her speechless for a few seconds.
“You
stole
her computer?” she finally managed to ask.
“Let’s just say I borrowed it.” He gave her another one of his chilling, humorless smiles. “In the same spirit that she
borrowed
one-point-five million bucks from the Bethany Walker Endowment Fund.”
Oh, damn. This was bad. This was very, very bad. Embezzlement had been one of Meredith’s favorite sports but her preferred victims had been other cons and scam artists who had not been in a position to complain too loudly. And to the best of Leonora’s knowledge, she had never gone after a score of this magnitude. Trust Meredith to go out with a bang, not a whimper.
And trust her to leave me with the mess to clean up.
“Are you a cop?” she asked warily.
“No.”
“Private investigator?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Not the law. She didn’t know if that was good news or bad news.
She cleared her throat. “Did you know Meredith personally?”
“Oh, yeah, I knew her,” he said. “Of course, like a lot of folks who had that privilege, I wish I had never met her, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty, isn’t it?”
Understanding descended with the inevitability of a shroud.
“I see. You were one of her—” She broke off, searching for a diplomatic turn of phrase. “The two of you were, uh, acquainted socially?”
His mouth was a flat line. “Not for long.”
He had been one of Meredith’s lovers, then. For some reason that news was oddly depressing. Why should she care whether or not this man had had an affair with Meredith? He certainly wouldn’t have been the first. It occurred to her that he might have had the distinction of being the last, however.
“I’m surprised,” she said, without stopping to think. “You’re not her usual type.”
Oh, jeez. What in the world had made her say that?
It was the truth, though. Meredith had had a long-standing policy of sticking to men she could manipulate. Something about Thomas Walker sent a message that he wouldn’t play the puppet-on-a-string game for long, not even for a woman as savvy and sexy and as skilled in manipulative techniques as Meredith.
If she could see that stark truth, Leonora thought, Meredith, who’d had preternaturally acute instincts where the male of the species was concerned, had almost certainly seen it also. Maybe that was why the relationship hadn’t lasted long.
“Meredith had a type?” Thomas looked mildly
surprised by that information. Then he nodded in a thoughtful way. “Well, hell, I guess you’re right. She did have some distinct preferences when it came to her social life, didn’t she? Far as I can tell she only dated men she figured could help her further her own agenda.”
Leonora wondered if the real problem here was that Thomas had been badly hurt when Meredith’s true nature was revealed. A broken heart could generate a lot of pain, and pain could produce anger. Maybe he was grieving in his own macho, masculine fashion.
She offered a sympathetic smile.
“I’m sorry,” she said very gently.
“Yeah, me, too. More than sorry. When I found out that she had embezzled the one-point-five mil I was kind of pissed off, if you want to know the truth.”
Okay, he wasn’t exactly prostrate with grief. He was mad.
“Uh—” Inspiration failed her.
“What about you?” Thomas asked much too pleasantly. “Any fond memories of the deceased? How far back did you two go?”
“We met in college. We’ve kept in touch all these years, but—” She swallowed and tried again. “I didn’t see much of her in the past few months.”
Not since I found her in bed with my fiancé,
she added silently, but she saw no reason to bring up that dismal subject.
“You should probably consider yourself fortunate,” Thomas said. “Meredith Spooner was bad news. But, then, I’ll bet you already know that.”
Old habits were hard to break. The instinct to cover up, defend and make excuses for Meredith kicked in, just as it always did when crunch time hit.
She raised her chin. “Are you absolutely certain Meredith embezzled that money?”
“Positive.”
“How did she manage that?”
“Easy. Took a job as an alumni endowment fund development officer at Eubanks College. As the person in charge of the money on a day-to-day basis, she had access to all the accounts and to a lot of wealthy alumni. Add in the fact that she had the morals of a con artist and great computer skills and you have the recipe for embezzlement.”
“If what you say is true, why are you here? With that kind of money involved, I would have thought you’d have gone to the police.”
“I’m trying to avoid the cops.”
“When there’s more than a million dollars missing?” She saw a chance to go on the offensive and grabbed it. “That sounds very suspicious to me. It certainly casts some doubts on your story, Mr. Walker.”
“I want to avoid the cops because that kind of bad publicity can really hurt an endowment fund. Undermines the faith of potential donors. Makes them question the integrity of the folks entrusted with the responsibility for managing the money, know what I mean?”
She’d had enough experience with the delicate politics of academic endowment fund-raising to realize that he had a point. But that was no reason to let him off the hook. Besides, he didn’t look at all like the kind of person who got involved in college endowments. That business was run by suave, cultured types who wore good suits and who knew how to make nice with wealthy alumni.
She gave him her most polished smile. “I think I’m getting the picture here. My turn to take a wild guess. Could it be that you haven’t reported the missing money to the authorities, Mr. Walker, because for some reason you think you might be a prime suspect?”
His dark brows rose in silent appreciation of the direct hit. “Close, Miss Hutton. Not quite on target, but very, very close.”
“I knew it.”
“Meredith left a trail that would point to my brother, Deke, if the embezzlement is exposed.”
“Your brother.” She digested that slowly. “Where exactly is the headquarters of this Bethany Walker Fund?”
“It’s part of the alumni endowment of Eubanks College. It was set up to support research and teaching in the field of mathematics.”
“Eubanks?” She frowned. “I’m not familiar with that institution.”
“It’s a small college in a little town called Wing Cove. About an hour and a half’s drive north of Seattle.”
“I see.”
“The fund is named for Deke’s wife, Bethany, a brilliant mathematician. She died last year. Deke is the head of the board that oversees the fund’s operations and investments. In three months there will be an audit. If that money turns up missing, he will look like the guy responsible for making it disappear, thanks to sweet Meredith.”
A typical Meredith operation, Leonora thought. Make sure the victim of the scam won’t call the cops.
“I realize how upsetting this must be for you and your brother, Mr. Walker. But I must say, for a man who wants to keep the situation low profile, you seem to be quite chatty on the subject.”
“That’s because I have a strong interest in recovering the money. I want it back in the fund’s account before that damned audit.”
“I understand,” she said. “But why are you talking to me about this?”
“Simple. You’re my best lead.”
She stared. “I beg your pardon?”
“Let me put it this way, you’re my
only
lead.”
Panic shot through her. “But I don’t know anything about that missing money.”
“Yeah?” He looked unconvinced. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that you’re telling me the truth—”
“I
am
telling you the truth.”
“Even if that is the case, you’re still my only lead.”
“Why?”
“Because you knew Meredith better than anyone else, as far as I can tell. I’m really hoping that you can help me out here, Miss Hutton.”
In your dreams, Leonora thought. “I just told you, I didn’t have much contact with her this past year. I wasn’t even aware that she had a job at Eubanks College. I didn’t know she was living here in this apartment until the authorities contacted me after the accident.”
“No kidding. According to the manager, she used your name on the rental application.”
Leonora said nothing. It wasn’t the first time Meredith had borrowed her good name and credit references.
“I doubt that she intended to stay here long.” Thomas surveyed the room with its bare-bones furnishings and uninspiring view. “Probably just needed a staging area and an address she could use while she set up her next scam.”
“Look, I really don’t know what to say. I can’t help you, Mr. Walker. I’m only here to pack up Meredith’s belongings. I intend to donate most of her stuff to a local thrift shop. When that job is done, I’m going straight home. I have reservations on an evening flight. I’m supposed to be at work in the morning.”
“Home is Melba Creek, right? Outside of San Diego?”
She tried to ignore the unsettling sensation that trickled through her. “Okay, so you know where I live. Is that supposed to scare me?’
“I’m not trying to scare you, Miss Hutton. I’m trying to work with you.”
“Uh huh.”
“I’ve got a business proposition for you.”
“Give me one good reason why I should listen to it.”
“I’ll give you a couple. The first is that if you cooperate with me and help me locate the money, I’ll see to it that you get a finder’s fee.”
“Let me get this straight. You’ll bribe me to return the money?”
“Beats going to prison for embezzlement, doesn’t it?”
“Prison?”
She did take a reflexive step back at that. Wrench shifted a little in response and looked interested. She froze. “Why would I be arrested? You said your brother was the one who would appear guilty if that money isn’t found.”
“I don’t intend for my brother to take the fall for Meredith’s embezzlement scam,” Thomas said softly. “If that money isn’t back in the account before the next audit, I’m going to make sure the cops look real hard at you.”
“How?”
“Deke is a wizard when it comes to computers. I’m pretty good on the financial side. Shouldn’t be too difficult to create a trail from Meredith to you.”
“Me?” She was dumbfounded. “But I had nothing to do with Meredith’s embezzlement.”
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll even be able to prove that in the end. But I can arrange to make life damn miserable for you in the meantime. Tell me, how do you think your employer would react if it got out that you were being investigated for embezzlement?”
“How dare you threaten to drag me into this mess!”
He took one hand out of his pocket. It was a very large, powerful, competent-looking hand, the hand of a man who worked with tools or climbed rocks. Not the soft, manicured hand of a businessman.
He spread his fingers in a fait-accompli gesture.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Miss Hutton, you’re already in this mess. Right up to your very nice ears.”
“How can you say that?”
“You’re the closest thing to a friend that Meredith had, as far as I can tell. In my book that makes you the closest thing she had to a partner.”