“I know exactly how you feel,” I breathed.
Lovelyn angled her head, her focus coming to me. “Something’s been bugging me in how you described the trusted companies. It came back to mind because you said the top companies in Deadwater. They’re among them.”
Mila nodded. “With MH, they’re four among maybe fifteen that dominate employment and profit in the city.”
“Right. Dixie, you said your grandfather was meeting them to discuss joint ventures, but when I looked into them, there was no connection in finances.”
Mila glanced between us. “They weren’t in any way financially connected. Apart from what you uncovered with an unknown Marchant investing in one. But from the top down? Nope. Distinctly not. I can remember our grandfather stating not to mix business with friendships.”
I chewed my lip, memories flooding hard. “I don’t think that’s true. I remember being in a room when they talked about it. All four execs, the only one being different now is Sullivan, senior to junior. It stuck in my mind because our grandfather sent me out, and he rarely did that. He wanted me to learn it all.”
Mila stared back.
Lovelyn cut in. “Mila, can you still access company files?”
“No. It’s all still under the control of the holding company until after the vote.”
I asked, “Not even Austin’s backups?”
Mila’s eyebrows dove together. “What are you talking about?”
“He kept copies of all the most important files. He’d definitely have accounts going back years.”
Lovelyn clutched her laptop, her eyes wide. “I’m no forensic accountant, but imma need that access right now.”
My sister sagged. “They won’t exist anymore. Primrose eviscerated his office, and paperwork got handed back. All that’s left is furniture.”
Lovelyn said, “What about the lake house? Kane said they searched the place for electronics. Heretic had some kind of tool that could detect technology.”
I took up my phone and texted Tyler.
Dixie: Did your men find any data sticks during the raid?
His reply was almost instant.
Tyler: Half a dozen, stashed in a false drawer in the desk. Encrypted and with a password, so we haven’t got into them yet. Need them?
Excitement crept through me. I clutched my phone. “Who fancies a treasure hunt?”
In ten minutes, the sticks were ours. In less, I’d guessed the password that opened them all.
My birth name and year. How tragic.
We hung over Lovelyn’s laptop, gazing in awe at the neatly organised files.
Mila swallowed. “Dixie, you’re amazing. It’s like looking in a time capsule.”
Pride mixed with the hit of nostalgia at another tiny piece of help I’d been able to give. “I hope it’s useful. It’s not as if there will be receipts from trafficking, surely.”
Lovelyn was already opening folders and tapping away. “No, but it’s a link we didn’t know existed, and one that was hidden from you. Where there’s a monetary dependence, there’s the potential to protect those interests.”
“Meaning…” I trailed off, catching her drift. “A motive to do bad things.”
Leaning on the wall by the window, Genevieve, who’d delivered the files from downstairs, snorted. “Such as take control of a business they see as about to fail because the owner is unreliable. Mila, sorry to be indelicate, but was your grandfather unwell in the months leading up to his death?”
“Thinking back on it, yes. His death was a surprise to me, but I feel like I’ve aged a decade in terms of maturity since then. I saw him as healthy and well because he told me he was. But the fact was he regularly saw doctors and ignored their advice. I thought he was a rebel and they were overcautious. Hisassociates would’ve had more insight than me if he’d confided in them.”
Lovelyn gave a little squeak of happiness. “This first stick contains detailed accounts from five to seven years ago. I have a good feeling about this. Let me cook.”
