“Just dinner, Cassie. According to your uncle, you need to eat. I need to eat. It’s just a meal between two hungry people. We can talk about the new exhibit coming to the Hirschhorn Museum. Please, I need to make it up to you after my misdirected phone call. And perhaps you can save me?”
“Save you?”
“Yes. My sister-in-law is doing a Life and Style photoshoot for the fall issue. The estate looks like Casper threw up. My brother is leaving town, which makes me a candidate for the background. Please, pity me?” Ian asked in a boyish tone.
She giggled. “Okay, I will save you from Casper. Just dinner, Ian.”
“Good. I will pick you up at home at seven.” Ian returned to his business tone.
“I’ll see you later.” Cassie hung up before realizing she hadn’t given him her address, then she warded off a bubble of anxiety by cataloging everything in her line of sight.
* * *
Ian swiveled back to read her file. He tried to dismiss his invasion of Cassie’s privacy, reminding himself his legal team would insist on a background check if he developed feelings for her. That rule was unbreakable. Cassie awakened something he hadn’t felt in a while—interest.
Cassie Modine, born 7/7/87, age twenty-eight, single. Born Cassiopeia Maia Ellis. Daughter of William Ensworth Ellis and Sarah Bethany Modine, deceased 2003.
Why did she take her mother’s maiden name?Ian opened an e-mail to Tiki for his questions.
Sister of Thomas, deceased 2003. Causes of deaths, helicopter crash in the Hudson River 7/7/2003.Her sixteenth birthday.Accident investigation: mechanical malfunction (preliminary report).
Ward of retired Lieutenant Commander USN, now Deputy Assistant Director Luke Paulsen and his wife, Rachel.
That explains, “niece.”
She attended Georgetown Day School through 6/2003. Homeschooled until high school graduation in 2004.
Ian drank his black coffee and sorted through the attached medical records. He grimaced at the reports of the traumatic injuries and the psychiatric report. PTSD.
George Washington University, undergraduate degree with a 4.0 GPA. Double majors in economics and fine arts and art history in 2008. Masters: Finance. 2009 Joint degree program at the University of Maryland, Ph.D. art history and archeology. 2012 Dissertation: The Depiction of Women in Renaissance Art: Madonna or Whore.
Fellowship at the National Art Gallery, 2012.
Engagement announcement to Garett Whitman, 2008.
Ian’s lips tightened into a taut line. The irrational thought of Cassie near any man was unacceptable to him.
Tiki’s handwritten notes stated:The day after Ms. Ellis defended her dissertation, she was admitted to the Franklin Clinic on 5/14/2012 for unnamed injuries. No information. No medical records. Not encrypted, blank. Sanitized?
Ian read through a society page article about the wedding—canceled. There was a copy of her legal name change to Modine.
Another scrawl from Tiki:All references to Cassiopeia Ellis disappeared.
Post-it notes attached to a notation on a tax document:Five million contribution to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Cassiopeia Ellis’s name. (Drawn from a Whitman Trust). Address change to Coronado, CA. 7/1/12 Lease agreement for Coronado address signed by Lt. Commander Christian Paulsen. Corporation documents: Founder and benefactor of Tommy’s House in Coronado, CA, and Norfolk, VA.
Another note stated,The corporation is funded by investment accounts set up from her parents’ life insurance payout and accident settlement. Address change: Georgetown, DC. Property is a townhouse, two bedrooms — value: 1.2 million dollars. No mortgage. Liquid net worth: eight million dollars (see attached portfolio).
Ian ran a finger down the list.She is well invested.
Enrollment in the FBI Academy, 8/1/13. Performance review: top five percent of her class. Currently rated Special Agent. Assigned, Art and Cultural Crimes Division. Trust fund: $32 million. (Interest and investment income donated. No other activity. See attached list.)
Ian smiled as he read the list of charities. “You are sweet, Cassie.”
CEO of Ellis Art Finds. Fifty-one percent stock share. (Silent) COO Mark Devereaux. Company value $180 million.
Ian typed: “Follow the admission trail from Franklin Clinic. Search explanation of engagement cancellation. Obtain the final NTSB report on the helicopter crash. Copy of accident settlement. Copy of parents’ will. Request full FBI evaluation of Cassie Modine.”
Chapter Three
