I spent another three minutes grabbing anything in Outlook that looked useful: emails involving Victoria Ames, Kincaid, and Blackstone Capital. I wanted to keep going, but as the last files were transferring, there was a knock at the door.
“Mrs. Beachum?” Beth called out. “How are you doing in there? Do you need anything?” The doorknob jiggled.
My pulse spiked.
“I’m busy!” I shouted, hoping like I sounded like an entitled rich woman instead of someone who was up to something. “I’m on the phone.”
The knob jiggled again. “Can I get you anything?”
“I said I’m busy!”
The final email transferred and I decided I couldn’t push my luck any farther.
I disconnected the hard drive, closed Outlook, then shut down all the folders I’d opened. I maximized the PowerPoint again—exactly the way Harlan had left it—then scanned the office to make sure nothing look disturbed.
I couldn’t believe this had gone so well. It had been entirely too easy. But we weren’t out of here yet. We still had to leave without raising Harlan’s suspicions.
Then I realized Beth had just given me the perfect excuse.
I slid the hard drive back into my purse and stormed down the hall, stomping like I was one inconvenience away from suing someone.
I walked past Beth. Her startled gaze snapped to me. “Mrs. Beachum? Is everything okay?”
Ignoring her, I headed around the building and stopped at the corner like I owned the place. “Jeff,” I said in a sharp, clipped tone. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Harlan was sitting in the driver’s seat. He leaned around the open door, eyebrows lifted. “Amber, is everything okay?”
“No,” I said, my nose lifted in the air. “It is not. I asked for privacy, and your assistant interrupted me.” I held up two fingers. “Twice.”
I let the word hang there for a moment.
“If this is how you do business, Mr. Harlan, then your company isn’t suitable for our needs.” I gave James a pointed look. “Jeff. Let’s go.”
James’s look of disgust was enough to make Harlan shrink back into the car, but as soon as James headed toward me, Harlan seemed to realize thirty million dollars was about to drive out of his parking lot. He hopped out of the car and hurried after us as we stormed toward our car.
“Wait!” he called, his voice full of panic. “I’m sure there was a misunderstanding! We can work this out!”
I just gave him a single disapproving look, then climbed into the passenger seat.
James slid behind the wheel, and as we pulled away, Harlan jogged behind us. He followed until we turned onto the street, still shouting.
As much as I’d tried to make our getaway look natural, it still might make us look suspicious. We’d brought up Knox. That alone might be enough to rattle him. Would he report back to Knox? Or would shame and fear of admitting to a potential mistake keep him quiet?
Chapter 28
“Did the receptionist really walk in on you?” James asked in a low tone.
“No. The door had a lock, but she tried to come in.”
“Do you think she was suspicious?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I think she was trying to be courteous. But it gave us a good excuse to leave. Hopefully, it didn’t raise their suspicions.”
“So you got the files?”
“Yeah. That’s the good news. The better news is I already found the lease. Blackstone Capital is the tenant. We just need to tie it to Knox. The bad news is there are thousands of files to comb through.”
His jaw tightened, and he kept tapping the steering wheel.
