Chapter Twenty-Four
Alayah leaned back in her chair to ponder the information she’d read from Mina’s sources.
Josh’s business was more than profitable, so why was he so deep in debt?
Where was the money going? He had a nice house and car, but otherwise owned nothing extravagant that would indicate a spending problem.
Maybe he was a gambler? There was a note at the bottom from Mina stating that he’d taken out a predatory loan by every definition.
When it came due in a few months, it would put him under.
Especially if Hugo’s app was released first and better appealed to consumers.
Since Hugo planned to release the app free, that put another big wrinkle in Josh’s plan.
Logically, the first order of business was to contemplate if the debt Josh carried had gotten him killed.
According to Derek, Hugo hadn’t told anyone that he planned to release the app for free.
At least not anyone outside of the company, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he had told Josh and that was why they were fighting backstage.
It was time to dig in and figure out what part of Josh’s life was the contributing factor to his death.
Gambling debts would make sense. If he owed money to the wrong people, he would probably do everything in his power to pay them off, even if it meant taking out a loan with less than favorable terms.
Head in her work, she began tracing his financials and his whereabouts.
Were the conferences he attended held at big casinos?
Were there rumors that he’d been invited to any behind-closed-doors, high-stakes poker games?
Every avenue she went down led her to a dead end in that respect.
If Josh had been gambling, it wasn’t blatant.
Sports betting was a possibility, but looking at his life, he didn’t have any interest in sports, so the knowledge to make educated bets probably wasn’t there.
Not that he couldn’t be paying someone to do it for him, but his financials didn’t reflect that either. They had to be missing something.
Blackmail.
The one word floated through Alayah’s head in such a way that her fingers froze on the keyboard.
Blackmail would explain why he was so far in debt with nothing to show for it.
The money was coming from somewhere, but since they couldn’t see all his business accounts, she couldn’t be sure if he was siphoning off the business funds or using his own.
She also couldn’t see if he was taking large sums at once or wiring funds in smaller amounts to someone.
She grabbed her phone, knowing Mina would still be awake.
She wanted to run it past someone else before she wasted too much time.
She glanced at the bedroom door and sighed.
Waking Derek by talking on the phone didn’t appeal, so she set the phone down again.
They had two dead tech giants on their hands for no apparent reason. What was the reason?
Almost as though whoever is behind this knows how not to leave any digital evidence behind.
Derek’s comment from earlier in the day slammed into her.
Someone was scrubbing the digital evidence.
It was there, but it was hidden just like when they’d made it look like Derek was responsible for Hugo’s death.
Someone had access to the hotel servers, both theirs and the one Josh was at.
Not surprising considering the virtual lack of security on these systems, but regardless, planting code to cover your movements was next-level diabolical and extremely purposeful.
Whoever was behind it was known in the industry and was attempting to hide behind a digital cloak.
Her phone rang, and she grabbed it instantly. “Secure Watch, Alpha,” she whispered.
“Secure Watch, Whiskey. Why are you whispering?” Mina asked as Alayah hopped down and walked to the balcony to step out into the cool night air.
“Derek is asleep and I don’t want to wake him. He needs the rest as he tries to process what happened today.”
“I heard Hugo left him the company. That had to be…jarring.”
“To say the least,” Alayah agreed. “He’s had a lot thrown at him in the last few days.”
“Derek is lucky to have found a friend in you at the time he needed you most, Alayah.”
Her entire system froze for a moment as her brain floundered for words.
It felt like a trap to her, and considering what happened just a few hours ago, she could never let Mina think it was anything more than friendship.
At least not until this was over and she was back in the safety of Secure Inc. ’s borders.
“I’m glad we’ve been able to help clear his name. He and Hugo were close, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like a criminal while trying to mourn his death.”
Alayah held her breath. Would that answer pass muster?
Mina cleared her throat. “About that. What I uncovered puts him back under suspicion.”
“How? We cleared him, Mina.”
“You know we’ve been waiting to get Hugo’s autopsy report, but had to wait for the toxicology screenings to return.”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with Derek?”
“Well, I just got Hugo’s autopsy report. Don’t ask me how. It may not have been entirely legal.” Alayah chuckled but waited for her to continue. “Hugo died of a massive heart attack from ingesting a large bolus of antifreeze.”
“We already knew that.”
“We did, but what we didn’t know was that the coroner notes evidence that Hugo had been being poisoned slowly with microdoses of ethylene glycol for at least a month.
It was only a matter of time before Hugo died, but for whatever reason, someone decided dying on stage would be a show no one wanted to miss. ”
“It wasn’t Derek,” she said immediately and without thought.
“You can’t know that, Alayah.”
“I can,” she said, vibrating with anger that, once again, the man she had fallen for was facing unfounded accusations. “He’s shown me who he is, and a cold-blooded killer is not who he is.”
“Unfortunately, all arrows point to him. He was the one who had access to Hugo at all times. That came straight from him. They were joined at the hip. I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s true.”
“He’s not the only one, though. Hugo worked in an office where plenty of people would have the opportunity to slip something in his coffee or food. If anything, it helps Derek’s case.”
“Okay, I trust your gut on this one,” Mina said, and Alayah could hear the sincerity in her words. She wasn’t placating her. “If you want my help, I’ll need the names of the top people he thinks have the chops to do something like this, so we can dig into their background.”
“Give me ten to wake him up and explain, and I’ll get back to you. Alpha, out.”
She hung up the phone and walked back into the room to puzzle out another twist in the game.
* * *
DEREK HAD WOKEN with a start when he heard a phone ring.
Immediately, he realized he was alone, so he threw on his clothes and opened the bedroom door.
The light was on by the desk, but Alayah was nowhere to be seen.
Panic spiked through him. Where was she?
Did their lovemaking scare her so much that she took off?
He suspected she would second-guess herself, but not to the point she’d leave in the middle of the night.
Then it filtered through his still half-asleep brain that her computer was on the desk and open.
She’d obviously been using it. Then he spotted her on the balcony, phone to her ear.
Her phone was what had woken him. With a relieved sigh, he leaned against the wall to wait for her so he could coax her back to bed.
The rest of her work could wait until morning.
After making love to her twice, he should be sated, but he’d quickly realized that might never be something he felt when it came to Alayah Heath.
Every time he touched her, he wanted more.
The idea of the “whole package” was a concept people floated around, but Derek had never experienced it until last night.
Alayah was the whole package. Small in size but mighty in every other aspect of life.
“Derek,” she said, and he realized he’d been daydreaming. “Did I wake you?”
He ran his hand down his face and shook his head. “No, I woke up and you were nowhere to be found. Come back to bed. Work can wait until tomorrow.” The look that crossed her face had him pausing halfway to her. “What?”
She motioned for him to join her on the couch, so he sat, leaning in for a kiss. It was simply too hard to resist those lips when he knew what they could do.
“That was Mina on the phone.”
“I figured,” he agreed. “She was looking at Josh’s financials, right?”
“Yes, and she sent me that stuff. He was in serious debt that would have destroyed his business if he didn’t do something fast.”
Derek tipped his head. “Why was he in debt? Virtual Scorpion Productions wasn’t the size of Black Marlin Technologies, but he did very well for himself.”
“I was in the middle of trying to find out when Mina called,” she explained. “She got her hands on Hugo’s preliminary autopsy report.”
“I’m sure there was nothing surprising, right? He died of antifreeze poisoning.”
“He died of a massive heart attack due to a large bolus of it, according to the coroner. However, there was evidence in his system that he’d been microdosed with antifreeze for weeks before his death.”
The blood whooshed through his ears as he tried to make sense of what she’d just said. “I don’t understand.”
“According to the coroner, someone had been giving him small doses of antifreeze every day. Probably in his coffee or vitamin water.”
“And Mina thinks it was me.”
“I assured her it wasn’t,” Alayah said, squeezing his hand to keep him grounded.
He fumbled for his phone, pulling it from his pocket and opening an internet tab. “What are the symptoms of antifreeze poisoning? Hugo had been sick for at least a month with concerning symptoms.”
“You mentioned that,” she said, snapping her fingers. “You said he was forgetful and generally not healthy.”
“Look,” he said, pointing to the phone. “Forgetfulness, stomach pain and vomiting, heart palpitations, red skin and confusion. He had all these symptoms, and they were getting worse.”
“As you’d expect to happen the longer he was exposed to the poison,” she agreed. “You may have had the opportunity, but so did a lot of other people. Mina would like you to make a list of people who had means and opportunity.”
“Curtis.”
“Curtis?” she repeated and he nodded. “You think Curtis is behind this?”
“He’s been angry at Hugo for refusing to take the company public.” But was he angry enough to try to poison his boss? That was a stretch even for him, which Alayah echoed when she spoke.
“What good would it do to kill Hugo, though? We already know that none of them knew who he’d leave the business to.”
“The only thing we know is that Hugo didn’t tell anyone he was leaving it to me. We don’t know—”
“That he didn’t lie about who he was leaving the business to.”
He gave her a nod, and she popped up off the sofa and hurried to the computer, jumping up into her seat and shaking the mouse to wake the screen.
“What are you doing?” he asked, walking over to stand beside her. He always wanted to stand beside her, even once this was resolved. All he had to do was figure out how.
“Before Mina called, I was tracing Josh’s financials to see if he had gambling debts or if he was being blackmailed.”
“What does that have to do with Curtis?”
“Well, if your business was in trouble, what would make you jump out of bed at three a.m. and drive somewhere in your pajamas without taking the time to get dressed?”
“Money,” he answered without thinking.
“What if he wasn’t being blackmailed, but he was doing the blackmailing? Theoretically, it would solve his money problem.”
“You think that Josh somehow knew that Curtis killed Hugo and wanted a payoff to stay quiet?”
“Would you put it past either of them?”
“Nope,” he answered with a shake of his head. “That would be well within both of their personalities. Unfortunately, we can’t prove it.”
“Curtis is a board member, but also the CFO of Black Marlin Technologies, right?” she asked, and he nodded. “If we dig into Black Marlin’s financials and see money being funneled to places it shouldn’t be, that would prove it.”
“It would prove that money was going somewhere it shouldn’t, but not where or to whom.
The only way to prove it’s Curtis is to find him in Duluth before Hugo’s murder, when he was supposed to be in California.
I don’t want to dig around in Black Marlin’s files without consulting Anthony.
It could screw something up with the transfer of the business. I can’t risk it.”
“You can’t risk losing the business, but you’d risk letting your boss’s killer go free?” Alayah asked, her jaw dropping open in shock and disappointment.
Rather than jump on her distrust, he took a moment to think about what he’d said.
He heard what she’d heard once he ran it back through his head.
With a caress to her cheek and then a finger under her chin to close her lips, he answered.
“What I meant is, I can’t risk you getting caught up in it.
I know Secure Watch has ways to go undetected, but not from your computer or this hotel, whether using a VPN or not.
Can Mina do it while we find Cal and bring him up to speed? ”
“Easily. By the time anyone realizes someone has accessed the system, she’ll already be out with the information in hand. Hang on,” she said, opening her Messenger app and typing.
He watched her work and wondered how he got so damn lucky to have found her at the worst time of his life. The bigger question was how he would keep her when the case ended.