Chapter Eight
Darrell had drasticallychanged since the last time I’d seen him during the pirate show.
His green velvet derring-do Robin Hood costume had vanished, along with his silver glasses and clipboard, and he was now wearing a far more badass ensemble of a black leather shirt, pants, and boots. Soft, glossy black feathers trimmed his black cloak, adding to his dark, ominous look. A largesilver pin shaped like a cawing bird with ruby eyes hooked the front of the cloak together just below his throat. Not just any bird, I realized.
A rook.
“You’rethe Black Rook?” I asked.
He lifted his chin and gave me a cold, razor-thin smile. His clothes weren’t the only thing that had changed—so had Darrell himself.
Gone was the nice, polite accountant who volunteered at the faire, and inhis place was a much harder, more confident man. His body seemed bigger and stronger, his hazel eyes were brighter, and even his previously shaggy sandy-brown hair had been slicked back into a smoother, more menacing style. I felt like I’d just seen a snake shed its skin, and I got the impression that I was finally seeing the true Darrell Kline, or Black Rook, or whatever he was calling himself.
Darrell held his hands out wide, preening and showing off his costume. “Well, I imagine my outfit gave it away, but yes, Gin.Iam the Black Rook. Just like you’re the assassin the Spider. Only today, you got caught in my web. Ha-ha-ha-ha.”
I rolled my eyes at his bad pun, but Darrell ignored me and turned to Celeste, who came over, leaned forward, and pressed a loud, smacking kiss to his lips.Darrell grinned and slipped an arm around her waist, careful of her two swords as he hugged her close. Celeste let out a little giggle and kissed him again before stepping away.
So not only did Celeste work for Darrell, but the two of them were involved as well, like an evil, ren-faire Maid Marian and Robin Hood come to life. Terrific. Just terrific. As if this wasn’t weird enough already.
Darrell reached into his pants pocket. I tensed, thinking that he was grabbing a dagger or some other weapon, but he only pulled out his phone and started swiping through screens.
“I thought volunteers were supposed to turn off their phones,” I sniped. “In order to add to the magicalatmosphere.”
Darrell shrugged. “Normally, I would do that, but you can’t steal millions of dollars just by brandishinga sword at someone. These days, you need computers for that sort of thing.”
Owen glanced over at the two giants still typing on their laptops, then focused on Darrell again. Owen’s violet eyes narrowed in understanding.
“This is about the Harrison account, isn’t it?” he accused. “I knew there was something wrong with the numbers. Iknewit.”
Darrell shrugged again. “Of course there’s somethingwrong with the numbers. I’ve been cooking the books and siphoning money from that account and a few others for months now. Five thousand here, ten thousand there. Not too much at one time, but it started to add up. I was hoping to get a few more weeks and paydays out of the accounts before slipping quietly off into the night, but then you announced that you were bringing in that outside forensicaccountant to go over everything on Monday.”
He shook his head as though he was deeply disappointed in Owen’s thoroughness. “I knew the game was up, but instead of taking a few more thousand dollars and disappearing, I decided to double down and go for one last big score. Besides, why just steal from a few measly accounts when I can clean out everything you have?Allthe accounts,allat once.”
“You bastard,” Owen growled. “You’re nothing but a damn thief.”
Despite his harsh tone and fierce words, worry still filled his face. Owen was a successful businessman with stakes in mining, lumber, and other operations in Ashland and beyond, and he had access to accounts and assets that were worth millions of dollars. If Darrell stole all that money... Well, bankruptcy wouldn’t be the worstpart of it. Owen’s reputation would be ruined, and a lot of people who worked with him or for him could also lose everything.
“Why?” Owen asked the inevitable question. “Why are you doing this? Why are you stealing from me?”
“It’s been obvious for quite some time that I’d gone as high in your company as I could and that I was never going to get out of middle management.” Darrell stabbed hisfinger at me, as if that was my fault. “Something that became crystal clear after you and Gin hooked up. You started taking more and more of your business to Finnegan fucking Lane and askinghisadvice about various accounts and investments instead ofmine.”
So this was all about money. It usually was in Ashland.
Something that Owen had said in Jo-Jo’s salon this morning popped into my mind.“Wait a second. You were at that charity auction a few weeks ago, weren’t you? Owen said he didn’t even remember bidding on the faire tickets. That’s because heneverbid on them.Youdid. You just needed Owen to supposedly win the tickets in order to get him here.”
Darrell grinned, as though he was pleased that I’d figured out his scheme. “Exactly! I needed to get Owen out of his comfort zoneand into mine. Of course, I expected him to bring Eva today—not you, Finnegan Lane, and your sister the detective. But I knew that my plan would still work. I just had to get you out of the way first.”
So that was why he’d posted the giants outside the Pork Pit food truck: to keep me busy and stop me from interfering while the rest of his men kidnapped Owen.
“I wasn’t paying and promoting youenough, so you decided to steal from me?” Owen growled again.
Instead of answering Owen’s accusation, Darrell shifted on his feet and adjusted the silver rook pin at his throat. I focused on the bird’s ruby eyes and reached out with my Stone magic. The rubies were whispering about how pretty and expensive they were, just like the jewels embedded in the hilts of Celeste’s swords still were. Theiroutfits had both cost a pretty penny too, as had all the fancy gaming equipment and the diorama.
“You’re broke,” I said. “That’s why you’re really doing this.”
Owen frowned. “What do you mean?”
I held my hands out wide. “Look at this place. All the monitors and gaming equipment, all the paint and art supplies for the diorama. None of that stuff is cheap. Neither are their costumes and weapons.”
