She reached across and grabbed my hands.
“I will fix this,” she said, looking me dead in the eyes. “Whatever it takes. I will help you get back every dollar he stole.”
I squeezed her hands and nodded.
She left an hour later with a list of tasks and the fierce energy of a woman on a mission.
Graham was quiet after Denise left.
We straightened up the office together, stacking statements, closing the laptop, putting the legal pad in the desk drawer. When we finished, he leaned against the filing cabinet and looked at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“You have a face.”
“I always have a face.”
“You have athinkingface. You want to say something?”
He was quiet for a moment. “Do you believe her?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. “She was devastated. You saw her.”
“I saw her.”
“She cried. She blamed herself. She immediately started figuring out how to fix it.”
“She did all of those things.”
His tone made me stop. “You don’t believe her.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” I crossed my arms. “Graham, Denise has been here almost since the beginning. My best friend. She has no reason?—”
“I know.” He held up his hands. “You know her better than I do.” He stopped. Shook his head. “Forget I said anything.”
I studied him. He looked like a man swallowing glass.
“Okay,” I said quietly.
He pulled me into his arms and held me, and I let him, because the day had been long and terrible and he was solid and warm and he smelled like woodsmoke and clean skin and something I was starting to depend on.
“We’ll figure it out,” he murmured into my hair.
“Yeah,” I said. “We will.”
I firedTaylor the next morning.
I’d asked Denise to be there. She’d arrived early, a folder of access logs and system records clutched against her chest like armor. Graham leaned against the wall near the door, not part of the conversation, but present. I’d also asked him to stay. He hadn’t questioned it.
Taylor walked in expecting a meeting about the security system update he’d been working on. He saw the three of us and stopped in the doorway.
“Sit down,” I said.
He didn’t sit. His eyes moved from me to Denise to Graham and back, and comprehension dawned across his face like a slow bruise.
