“Sure. But she avoided taxes for nearly two decades and forged state documents for three different names. That’s a crime that carries a hefty jail sentence.”
“I can make all this go away.” The first words Brenda ever spoke to me come rushing back with horrible clarity. Bile burns in my throat.
“You are not going to blackmail her,” I snap, shooting up from my chair with such force that I send it flying backward. My muscles tremble with barely leashed rage. Whatever she’s done to me, she will not put shackles on Tessa, too.
Tessa flinches.
Brenda grins at me, clearly ecstatic to have gotten a response.
“We don’t care about the name changes,” Jack says, clearly frustrated. “The only thing I want to know is who murdered the Bensons.”
“Then you should talk to the other employees. I never even saw them again after that initial meeting. All contact was through email.”
“None of their employees have seen them since they went missing. Their assistants received emails from them saying they were taking a last-minute trip and would be back in a few months. Then, they were told to onboard you as a new secretary.”
“I don’t understand why they would hire me then. Nothing out of the ordinary happened while I was working there.”
“That’s the piece we can’t figure out.” He crosses his arms and studies her. “You sure you don’t know them? Seems awfully handy that you were struggling and just so happened to catch a break like this. Surely it ended all your financial troubles.”
Before I can even respond, Tessa pushes up from her chair. “I would never hurt another person. I would rather starve to death. I’m telling you the truth. The two people who hired me looked nothing like these two.” She points to the picture. “I worked directly with Genevieve Logan during the time I was employed there. Up until my apartment was ransacked and someone attacked me when I tried to run.”
Jack’s gaze narrows. “Someone attacked you?”
“Yes.”
“She showed up with a stab wound in her thigh, as well as multiple bruises and defensive markings.” I cross my arms, trying to read his expression. Either he’s a great actor, worthy of an Academy Award, or he’s genuinely surprised.
“What was taken from your apartment?” he questions.
Slowly, Tessa takes her seat again. However, I remain standing, although I do pick up the chair. Anastasia will chew me up and spit me out if I damage the furniture she restored herself. “I never looked.”
“You said you were escaping an abusive family situation?” Jack asks. “Care to elaborate?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Is it possible that’s who was after you then? Who tossed your apartment?” he presses.
“Given that he died two years ago, no.” Tessa crosses her arms.
“It seems probable that they were after her because she could ID them,” I offer.
“That’s what I’m leaning toward, too,” he replies.
“Add to that what happened right after she arrived, and what happened last week, I’d say it’s more than probable,” Brenda says.
Considering the fact that Jack doesn’t ask for clarification on either event, I’m guessing Brenda took the liberty of filling him in.
“What is your involvement in this?” I ask her. Brenda Leroy does nothing without an ulterior motive.
“A member of my team has been at the receiving end of bullets twice since she came back to town. That makes this my business.”
“I’m hardly a member of your team,” I retort. “I thought your preferred term was ‘asset.’”
She glares at me. “Either way. You’re my business. And you’ve had nothing but trouble since Little Miss Small Town decided to return home.”
“No,” I reply, letting the bite of her words wash over me so I don’t lose my head to the anger trying to root within me. “That’s not it.”
Brenda reaches into the briefcase on the ground beside her and holds out a folder, so I cross and take it from her. “You’re being activated,” she says. “One of the employees, who was hired a few months before Tessa, has opened their own private company a few blocks away from the original building.”
