A jolly giant of a man, who resembled Santa Claus with his white beard and ruddy cheeks, stood by Shirley’s desk. Instead of a red suit, he wore an SL Trucking logo button-down, jeans, and cowboy boots.
“Who do we have here?” Santa asked.
Shirley beamed. “This here is Danielle. She’s fillin’ in for Connor and doin’ a fabulous job.”
“Welcome to the team, Danielle. I’m Silas Lochlear, owner of SL Trucking.”
“Nice to meet you.” She met his outstretched hand with a firm shake.
“And where are you?—”
“Silas, did you RSVP for the charity event?” A tall, trim man marched out of the manager’s office. He stood out against all the jeans and casual wear in his khaki slacks and striped tie. “You know Continental Transport likes a good representation from all the companies in the corporation.”
“I’ve attended every other save-the-endangered-whatnot event they’ve had. They’ll be okay if we miss one.”
The new guy didn’t look happy with Silas’s response. “Can we talk in my office?”
Silas sighed but followed him into the office.
As soon as the door closed, Dani leaned over to Shirley. “Who was that, and what are they talking about?”
“That was Judd Downey. The manager.” By the sound of it, Shirley wasn’t a fan of his. “There’s a fundraiser dinner our parent company is putting on. This one is trying to save the Javan rhino. Basically, everyone gets dolled up and eats expensive food and tries to show off how much money they have by outbidding each other in the auction.”
“Like a gala?” Dani’s silly daydream of going undercover at an upscale event roared to life. Not that she had any reason to go, but it was a good reminder to keep her focus on the prize. Get this case closed and someday…
“If by ‘gala’ you mean ‘fancy party,’ then yeah.”
“You don’t look impressed.” Dani chuckled. “Not an animal person?”
“Oh, I love animals. Just not the human ones that think they’re better than everyone else.” She leaned closer and whispered, “Like Judd.”
Huh. Now Dani really wanted to look at his personnel file and see what kind of man he was. But Shirley wasn’t done. “If you ask me, it’s all about flaunting their wealth. Now, Silas is a good man. He donates to worthy causes.”
“Like what?”
“He finances a charity for at-risk youth and ex-cons. He offers them training in trade jobs and trucking. His wife works for a prison ministry. They’re the real deal. And they still go to these galas and probably contribute quite a bit, but it’s more out of obligation to Continental.”
“That’s the parent company?”
Shirley nodded. She opened her mouth to say more, but Judd’s office door swung open. Shirley dropped her gaze to her computer and started typing furiously.
Message received.
Dani scrambled to her own office. She wasn’t supposed to investigate people, but Kumar couldn’t say anything about assuaging her own curiosity and pulling up the Continental Transport website.
Oh, wow. Continental was worldwide and owned a bunch of smaller companies. SL Trucking was only one of them. She scrolled down the list. They owned shipping companies, a railroad line, ocean liners, and other trucking outfits. She clicked on the page labeled Worldwide Community News. Multiple articles came up about the nonprofit branch and various events. Pictures from past banquets rolled across her screen.
If the Save the Javan Rhino dinner was like all the rest, this was no backyard barbecue fundraiser. Shirley wasn’t exaggerating about flaunting wealth. In all the photos, men stood in tuxes and women in evening gowns, dripping with jewels. She’d never been to something so upscale.
Maybe someday she could go undercover like Gal Gadot in Red Notice, wear a killer red dress, sip champagne…
Stop daydreaming, Kim.
The words, weirdly enough, sounded like Clarkson’s voice in her head.
And boy did that rankle.
She sighed and closed the tab. She had an embezzler to find, and she’d better get to it. And she’d have to ignore anything else happening right under her nose if she wanted to keep her job.
