Nick’s lips set in a thin line and he shook his head. “No.”
“Stop it,” I hissed, returning his belligerent look. “If you want to be included in the search, then you need to give them a reason to doubt Austin’s innuendos about you. Muddy the waters a little.”
Nick said nothing as he tracked Jonothon Wright’s movements through the kitchen. The man could be an arsehole of the highest order.
“Nick,” I insisted, his name sounding more like a growl than anything else. “They might be important in finding Chloe. You don’t know.”
“Okay, okay,” he blustered, getting to his feet. “Detective?”
Wright turned.
“You might be interested in taking a look at the printouts on the dining table. Chloe took us by her bank yesterday.”
Jesus, Nick. I groaned at how that must’ve sounded. The man was as subtle as a sledgehammer some days.
Sure enough, Wright was suddenly very interested. “She what?”
Nick huffed. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist. It was all above board. You can check with the teller. No forms were signed or any withdrawals or transfers made. Chloe had asked me to consider accepting power of attorney over her affairs. I said I needed a lot more information as to what that might involve, so we went to the bank to take a look at her finances. I’m an accountant and I worked in the financial crimes unit for over two decades. My brother-in-law is a sergeant in Auckland’s marine division.”
Jonothon Wright’s eyes bugged. “Goddammit, I thought I recognised your name. You were the two idiots involved in that fuck-up in Australia a few months back.”
I snorted. “If by fuck-up, you mean helping to break a major sex trafficking ring while rescuing two of its victims, then yes, that was us.”
The detective’s glare turned steely. “No, I mean fuck-up. Word is they’re still trying to unravel the bureaucratic nightmare your actions caused.”
I caught his gaze and held it. “You’re welcome.”
Wright sighed and crossed the kitchen toward the table. “Why didn’t you mention these earlier? Belinda said you took Chloe to the post office, not the bank.”
I shrugged. “Because Chloe didn’t want Austin to know that Nick was her son. Not yet. And because Austin has signing rightson those accounts and changed the password and took her cards so that Chloe has no access anymore.”
The detective looked up, the wheels turning in his brain. “Is that right?” He returned to flipping through the printouts. “So, what am I supposed to be looking at?”
Nick walked him through everything we’d learned and what we suspected but couldn’t prove. Wright listened without comment. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking—he had that inscrutable cop expression down pat—but I thought I saw the seed of doubt in his eyes for the first time.
“This is hardly a smoking gun,” he said, shuffling through the printouts again. “There could be any number of legitimate reasons for those changes and transactions. And it wouldn’t be the first time a password has been changed so that a forgetful or confused relative can’t access funds.”
“True.” Nick closed the distance between them and looked Wright in the eye. “But it’s not like you have a smoking gun with us either.”
“Just the word of someone who might have a vested interest in getting us in trouble,” I added.
The constable walked back into the room and looked from us to his boss. “Nothing.”
I tried again. “All we’re asking is that you consider there might be other agendas at play here and please let us help you find Chloe.”
Wright held my gaze for a long moment before looking to Nick and nodding. “Fair enough, but I’m taking these.” He waved the statements.
Nick shot him a look. “Ignoring the fact you can’t actually do that without a warrant, I’ll agree to let you.” He turned to me. “You took photos, right?”
I kept my eyes on the detective. “I did.”
Wright rolled his eyes and handed the statements to the constable. “Come on then. We’ve based the search out of the riverside car park closest to Chloe’s townhouse. But if I hear one more thing about either of you that I don’t like, I’ll pull you from the search so fast you won’t know what hit you. Got it?”
Nick and I answered in unison. “Got it.”
“Good.” Wright flicked his hand at Nick. “You’re coming with us. Your friend can follow. On the way, you’re going to tell me everything you know about Chloe, Austin, and how you came to be here. Then you’re going to show me this scrapbook, understood?”
“Understood.” Nick lifted his chin. “But I’m going to need your full names and badge numbers in return.”
