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“Undercover?”

“Yup, as a makeup artist working backstage. That way he’ll be in the thick of what’s going on,” I answered, taking a bite out of the pile of greens.

She giggled. “Hmmm. I guess he’d pull that off, considering he does his own makeup as Onyx, right?”

“From what he’s told me, he’s only doing touch-up work when they need it. He’s not doing full glamor looks. It gives him more flexibility to investigate.”

I hoped there had been some progress in their investigation. Jonesy was tenacious when he and Sean worked cases. I was glad Sean was with him. Knowing Jonesy could take care of himself, having Sean as his backup helped ease my worry.

When we’d finished our salads, I pulled out my laptop and fired up Jonesy’s printer in his home office. I figured it would be easier if Chloe and I went through hard copies of the financials. After reviewing the electronic files, it would be best to divide the paperwork between us.

I began separating the paperwork into piles as they came off the printer. Bank statements, credit cards, investment statements, business records, and insurance policies. I also created a miscellaneous pile that comprised wire transfers, donations, and elements of their trust accounts. We had almost two hundred pages to go through.

I sent Chloe back to where the printer was to get the remaining pages. When she returned, the look on her face almost made me laugh.

“I’m glad there was another ream of paper next to the printer. It was almost out. I hope he won’t be upset about how much ink was used,” she said, shaking her head and plopping the pile on the counter.

“Yeah, knowing the Chandlers’ wealth, I figured there would be a lot to go through. You up for it?” I asked.

“Of course… I live for this shit,” she said as she continued to separate the papers. “I’ll take the bank statements, credit cards, and the insurance policies. You can dive into the rest. I’m interested in how much money they have.”

“We can always swap when we finish to double-check each other,” I replied, giving a heavy sigh. “Let’s see how far we get with these.”

After three hours and two cups of coffee, my eyes were glazing over. The numbers and transactions blurred together. Maybe having just gotten a concussion and attempting to do something like that was a bit of an overreach on my part. I glanced over at Chloe, who sat with a furrowed brow.

“Is that how you look when you’re concentrating, or did you find something?” I asked, finishing the last of my coffee and adjusting my posture.

“I’m not sure, but I found this insurance policy with a strange beneficiary name, and the beneficiary isn’t related in name to either Brooke or Raymond,” she replied, holding it up to look at the next page. “Do they have kids?”

“I-I don’t think so. I never asked, and Brooke never mentioned they had any. I did a light background check on them before I took her on as a client, and no children were listed as far as I remember.”

“Well… this is a life insurance policy for seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, taken out by Raymond Chandler on himself, with the beneficiary listed as Dashell Matthews,” she replied, handing me the policy. I frowned. That name sounded familiar, but where had I heard it before? Again, I wondered whether the concussion had affected my memory.

“I know I’ve heard that name before, but I can’t place it, Chloe.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” she asked pointedly.

“What? Should I know this person?”

“Boss, Dash Matthews. You told me he was Raymond Chandler’s lover, the one he’d been cheating on his wife with. You took photos of him with Raymond.”

The memory hit me like a freight train as soon as she shortened his name. “Holy shit. Raymond took out an insurance policy on himself for Dash? Well, there’s a motive we didn’t think of.”

“Uh-huh… one big fortune of a motive,” she replied. “Jonesy is gonna need to know about this.”

My eyes scanned the policy as I forgot about the other statements.

“We still have some papers to go through, boss. Are you doing okay, or do you need a break?” she asked as she got up to take our empty coffee mugs to the sink.

“My gut keeps telling me to keep going, but my head tells me I’ve done enough today,” I said, finishing with a yawn.

“Let’s call it then. I can take the rest of these home and go over them tonight. I’ll put sticky notes on anything I find out of place. If you’re good with that? I know this is confidential information, but it’ll be for my eyes only.”

“Take them. You can bring them back tomorrow. Just leave that life insurance policy here, and I’ll show it to Jonesy,” I replied.

“You got it, boss. You need anything before I head out?”

“I’m good, Chloe, thanks. I’m gonna rest before Jonesy gets home. Hopefully, he’ll have news about the missing contestant.”