Chapter 11
ALEX
He rose from his seat and stepped into the hall, wanting to vet the news privately before sharing it with Ava. He chided himself for it, but if they’d solved the case…if the police had identified the person and it connected to his workplace woes, their work would have been finished.
With their work finished, she’d make that dinner with her fiancé on Monday night like she predicted.
He couldn’t let that happen. The minute this case was resolved, she’d request the divorce and want to move on. He wasn’t ready for that.
He needed more time. He needed to lay more groundwork. He could see cracks in the facade of the relationship, but none were deep enough for him to delve inside and pry it apart brick by brick.
Instead, he was still seeking information. And it seemed it would come at a premium. She kept any Chris Clues close to her chest. It was bothersome the way she refused to talk about him.
He pulled the door slightly closed behind him. “Yes, go ahead.”
“Is this a bad time?”
“No, not at all. I’d rather know if you’ve found something.”
“Unfortunately, we haven’t found much. We’re reviewing the CCTV footage from around your area, and we did catch a glimpse of the car, but not the driver.”
“What came up when you ran the plate?” He threw the question out there not expecting much. He hadn’t been able to get a clear image of the plate, so he knew the police hadn’t, but he was curious to know how they’d answer.
“We’re still working on that. But in the images we’ve captured so far, it looks like the plate is obscured by something. Maybe one of those tinted vanity covers or mud.”
“So, what you’re saying is you have no information about who tried to break into my house last night?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” the officer said, the heat in his voice suggesting he was offended.
Too bad.
“What I’m saying is, we’re still working on things on our end. But I did want to let you know that we haven’t made much progress just yet. And I did want to update you that we’ll keep a black and white posted near your home through the weekend, at least.”
He rolled his eyes at the tiny bit of comfort, though a tiny part of him was pleased that they hadn’t found anything that could wrap this up.
“Thanks,” he said, not so much for the police protection, but more for the time their lack of results bought him with Ava.
“We’ll stay on this, Mr. Stone. We’ll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, if you think of anything else or have any other incidents, you give us a call, all right?”
“Yes, thank you.” He ended the call, narrowing his eyes as he let the information, or lack thereof, sink in. He had to tell Ava, but he should probably sound frustrated, not elated.
He swallowed hard, putting on his game face as he pushed back into the room.
She swiveled in her chair to face him, arching an eyebrow. “Someone special?”
“Huh?” he asked, immediately throwing his game off as usual. How she constantly was able to strip away whatever facade he tried to put up amazed him.
She eyed the phone in his hand. “You raced out of here when you got that call. Just thought maybe it was something…private.”
He offered a nonchalant frown as he shook his head. “No. Just…the police.”
“The police? Do they have any information?”
“No, they don’t,” he answered as he crossed to his chair and sank into it. “I didn’t think they would. I can’t get this license plate at all, so I know they can’t.”
“No luck with it at all? How did they avoid the cameras so effectively?”
He shook his head and tapped his laptop to bring the display glowing to life as he waved at it.
She rose from her seat, crossing to him as she squinted at the screen. “Is that…deliberately covered?”
“Looks like it,” he said. “The police had the same thoughts.”
She crossed her arms, cocking a hip as she stared at the unreadable plate. “I don’t like this. This is the work of a professional, not a random break-in.”
“You think it’s tied to what’s going on at StoneCorp?”
She nodded, a lock of her blonde hair popping from behind her ear to frame her delicate features. She finally flicked her gaze to him. “You don’t?”
“No, I think that makes sense. Unfortunately, though, this means we still don’t have any progress. Which means you still probably won’t make that Monday dinner with Chrispy Creme.” He slid his eyes sideways, offering her a tentative glance.
“Well, actually…” She grinned at him. Her excitement over whatever news she was about to gush was obvious, though it twisted a knife in his gut. Had she found something that would end their search?
“I found something.”
“You did?” He held back a wince as his voice sounded disappointed.
The smile on her pretty features fell flat, and she set her hands on her hips. “Why do you sound like you don’t believe me?”
“I believe you,” he said, holding his hands up. “I just…was thinking.”
There went that eyebrow again as she shot him a questioning glance. “Thinking about what?”
“Nothing. What did you find?”
She pressed her lips together, her arms flying back up to cross over her chest. “Thinking about what?”
Her sharp tone and that slide of her head back and forth sent an unspoken message that she insisted on knowing. Why was she always so terrifying when she looked at him like that?
Because he was hiding something. And every time he was hiding something, she knew it. And she’d dig and dig and dig until she got to the bottom of it.
But he couldn’t tell her how he felt. Not yet. She’d give him that pitying look, and she’d say, “Alex, I know this is a big change, but we’ll still be friends. And you’ll like Chris. He’s great.”
He couldn’t stand that. He had to make sure he could win her heart. And he couldn’t do that with Chris standing in the way. He had to find a way to make sure he could undermine their relationship first.
Even thinking that made guilt course through him. He hated this, but he couldn’t lose Ava.
“Uh, well, I was thinking about what you found.” He grinned at her.
“Really?”
“Okay, I lied,” he said with a shrug. “I was thinking about something that will make you mad, so I don’t want to say it.”
He expected a glare, but instead, her forehead creased slightly and her lower lip jutted into a pout.
“Avs, I’m just kidding,” he quickly covered. “What did you find?”
“I want to know what will make me mad.”
“Nothing, it’s nothing.”
The pout didn’t leave her doll-like lips, but she fluttered her eyelashes as she retraced her steps to her chair and plopped into it. He followed behind her, leaning closer to her laptop.
“Jordan Haynes,” she said, poking a finger at the screen. “No longer employed at StoneCorp after several incidents including unauthorized access attempts. Most of them were on accounts that were involved in the inaccuracies. He also had several unexplained absences before he was terminated.”
“Hmm,” Alex said as his mind whirred through possibilities. It added up, but he didn’t want it to.
She twisted to face him, their faces inches apart as he leaned close to her. “Do you know where he went? I’d like to track him down and follow up on this.”
“I don’t,” Alex answered, wondering if he could drag out searching for this guy to give him more time.
“Would there have been an exit interview with that information?”
“If there was, it would be in the file.” That was a small win if they hadn’t done one.
Ava focused her eyes on the screen again. “You should be able to track him down, right?”
His heart thudded against his chest. Ava would simply dial that number and find out where he was. Could he stall her in some way?
“Oh, you know who may know? Miranda.”
She glanced up at him as he straightened. “I don’t want to wait until Monday. This is a good lead, but it may not be the right one. We should rule him out or keep him in and move on.”
“I…could call her and ask.”
“Her cell?” Ava answered, her eyes narrowed.
“Yep,” he answered as he scrolled through his contacts.
He glanced up at her, noting the frown on her features. “What? I thought you wanted to follow up on this right away.”
“I’m just surprised.”
“About?” He returned his gaze to his phone as he found her name in his contact list.
“Do you have all your employees’ cell numbers?”
He snapped his eyes to hers. “No, I don’t. She gave it to me when this whole mess started in case I needed to contact her to follow up.”
He wanted to press her further and ask if she was jealous, a thread he could cling to if she admitted it.
“Of course, she did,” Ava said with a groan.
“Are you jealous?” he ventured, giving her a sideways glance.
“I don’t like her, Ace. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
He puckered his lips as he returned to his contact list. She hadn’t admitted jealousy, just a desire to protect him. A frustrating response, but at least she still cared. He could work with that.
“I’m not going to get hurt,” he responded.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You sound sure. But I don’t like–”
“I’m not going to date her, Avs. Relax. You don’t need to be jealous.” He shot her an amused glance as he pressed his phone to his ear, effectively cutting off any verbal response.
She leapt from her seat and tugged the phone away from his ear as a response sounded. She poked the speaker phone button, giving him a pointed glance.
“Hello?” Miranda’s voice called again.
“Miranda…Alex Stone. Sorry to bother you on the weekend.”
The woman’s voice turned into a warm purr. “Oh, Alex. No bother at all. What can I do for you?”
Ava plopped in her chair again, grabbing a notepad and a pen.
“Going through some of the information here on the financial sitch and stumbled across something that I thought you could help with.”
“Oh, of course. I’m happy to help. In fact, my entire afternoon is wide open. Why don’t we grab a bite to eat and go over whatever details you need help with?”