33. Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Ben studied the office that used to be his. Shelves. Paneling. A monstrosity of a desk. It didn’t feel like his space. Had it ever? From what he’d been told, the office had been decorated by his father, and for the most part Ben had left it the same. Without saying it point-blank, both Eric and Sienna had given him the impression that their father had been an SOB. So why not change it? Because he liked it? Because he didn’t care one way or the other?
Even if he had his memories back, Ben knew he still had a lot of emotional stuff to unpack.
Ben’s family filed into the office. Sienna came in first, followed by Eric and Megan. A minute later Marcus and his son, Jonas, walked in as well.
They sat down and Ben turned to Megan. “Is Tessa coming?”
Megan nodded. “She just got here. She’s raiding Marilyn’s cupboard.”
As if in response to his question, Tessa came into the room with a cookie in each hand. Megan shook her head.
“What? Marilyn wanted me to do some A/B testing.”
“With cookies?” Marcus said.
“Yes. Chocolate chip with or without walnuts. Don’t glare at me that way. You’re just jealous.”
Ben stopped himself from laughing. She brightened his day even with the heavy stuff they needed to discuss.
“Okay, let’s call this meeting to order before the sugar kicks in,” Eric said.
Tessa took another bite and smiled. “By all means.”
“Jonas?” Marcus said.
“Unfortunately I don’t have much to report,” Jonas said. “I have researched the names Evelyn gave me of people that were close to Mia in the past, but I haven’t found any recent connections to her.”
“We knew it was a long shot,” Ben said.
“I asked Carl to look into them as well.”
“Carl?” Ben asked.
“He’s a clan member who is also a deputy sheriff,” Eric said.
Jonas continued. “I’ve also been trying to find out information about Lily’s family. Since we don’t want anyone to know she’s here, I can’t just ask the other clans if they know about her. So I went about this another way. I asked the clans about their genealogy databases. Suggested we should start comparing them so that we can track all the dragons that we are aware of in the five North America clans.”
Marcus patted his son on the arm. “Good idea.”
Jonas gave his dad a small smile. “Thanks. I’ve been searching for birth records for girls in the past five or six years, and no one by the name Lily has been reported. I’ve searched on other names like Lillian and also names where Lily might be her middle name and nothing yet.”
“What about Lily’s parents?” Sienna asked.
“Yeah. Started down that path too. If Lily’s parents are dead, we should assume they would have both died in the past five years. There have been deaths in the clans during that time, but I haven’t seen anyone reporting a young couple. It makes it challenging since we don’t know if they were married or even part of the same clan. Most of the deaths that have been reported are for older dragons, not ones who are at the age to be having children.”
“I know it’s a lot to go through, but keep digging. We might find something that leads us to Lily’s family,” Eric said.
“Can we talk about the note?” Tessa said. “Who told Ben about the painting and also gave him John’s address and phone number? I keep going back to it.”
Ben reached into his pocket and pulled it out and unfolded it. “You’re not the only one.”
Tessa took the paper from him. “You reached out to John before the painting was sent to Megan at the museum, so it had to be someone who knew about it before then. We know it wasn’t John, and he wouldn’t have told anyone about it.”
Megan nodded. “And it’s not a well-known painting. It had never been shown in public before the museum exhibited it, so it wouldn’t have been through the art world.”
Eric sat forward. “Maybe it was someone Connor told. As an art appraiser and broker, who would he tell about the painting?”
“Prospective buyers, of course,” Megan volunteered. “But John didn’t agree to sell it.”
“Doesn’t mean Connor didn’t tell people. Maybe he thought he could convince John to sell after he finished the appraisal. And one of those people told Ben,” Tessa said.
Sienna held out her hand, and Tessa gave the note to her. She stared at it for a moment. “Someone didn’t tell him the address.”
“What do you mean?” Eric asked.
“The sentence ‘find Mia White’ is in Ben’s handwriting, but the rest of the note about John isn’t.”
“Are you sure?” Ben said.
“Positive. Marcus?”
Marcus studied the note. “She’s right. That’s not your handwriting.”
Tessa frowned. “So someone wrote it for you. Which means you met with them in person. I can’t imagine someone slipping this in the mail, but maybe I’m wrong. And we can’t forget about the money. Where did it come from?”
Tessa nodded. “Right. Is it money from the company or the clan? Or if someone gave it to Ben, then why?”
“Sienna and I can dig into our financials to see if we can find any large withdrawals around that time frame,” Eric said.
Megan spoke up. “I can call Connor and ask him if he told anyone about John’s painting.”
Tessa shook her head. “I can’t get over the feeling that this mystery hinges on something Connor knows. I think we should visit him and ask several questions. We need to look him in the face while doing so. You can do your art-geek speech with him.”
Megan blew out a breath. “You know I’m not a good liar, Tessa.”
“It’s a good thing I am then. We can both visit him this morning. Surprise is good for interrogations.”
“Did you learn that in imaginary PI school?” Marcus said.
Tessa laughed. “On-the-job training from surrounding myself with dragons, witches, and curses…oh my.”
Eric frowned. “I don’t want you or Megan alone with him.”
Tessa sighed. “He’s an art appraiser, not a Navy SEAL. I think we can handle him. If he acts aggressive at all, I’ll go for his junk and apologize later… maybe .”
Eric flinched. “Jesus. Are you telling me I got off easy when you threatened me with the golf club?”
“I wasn’t sure if Megan would want to keep you. I didn’t want to negatively impact any future swimmers.”
Megan groaned. “Tessa! Stay on point. I think she’s right—not about the junk and the swimmers.” Megan’s face blushed a dark red. “But about the two of us talking to Connor. You don’t need to be in the room growling at him. You can stay in the car while we talk to him.”
Tessa pointed at Ben. “And you are still considered dead, so we don’t need you waltzing in there either. You can keep Eric company in the car if you insist on coming.”
Before either he or Eric could respond, Sienna piped up. “I think that’s a good plan.” Sienna grabbed the laptop off the desk and sat down. “I’ll start checking the clan funds. Any large withdrawals are flagged by our software. I don’t remember seeing anything from back then, but it doesn’t hurt to check again.” She started typing.
“While you’re gone, do you want me to check the company’s financials?” Jonas said. “I can put in the same software I have for the clan’s balance sheets to find any withdrawals as well.”
“That would be helpful.” Eric sighed. “I guess I’ve been outvoted. Ben?”
Ben shook his head. “I’m with the decisive females in this equation.”
Marcus chuckled at his announcement, and Tessa awarded Ben with a brilliant smile. Good thing he was sitting down. She could bring him to his knees if she tried.
Tessa clapped her cookie-free hands together. “Excellent. Megs, I can be ready in a few minutes. I need to talk to Marilyn before we go.”
“Did you make a decision on the cookies?” Marcus asked with a smirk on his face.
“Not yet. With a serious decision like this, I’ll have to complete more testing first.”
Sienna chuckled. “Tessa. I’ve said this before. I love how you shake things up around here.”
Ben studied the denim-eyed minx. Tessa made it hard not to fall in love with her.