Her work was everything, p.23
Her Work Was Everything, page 23
He tapped her number and waited for it to ring through.
“Zachary?” Kenzie answered it almost immediately. “What took you so long?”
Zachary pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the screen to see if he had any missed calls or messages from her. Nothing. He put it back to his ear as she called to him.
“Zachary? Are you there? Is everything okay?”
“I’m here. What do you mean what took me so long? You didn’t call, did you?”
“No. But I thought I’d hear back from you a lot earlier.”
“Oh. I told you I’d get you the names of the suspects to check against the forensics.”
“Well, yeah, and I kind of heard that you didn’t need to guess who the perp was anymore, since he showed up at your door.”
Even though she wasn’t there, Zachary felt the warmth of the blush that traveled over his face. She had already heard the details from someone in the police department. Maybe Robinson himself.
“Oh, that. Yeah. He did.”
“So does that mean you don’t need the forensics now?”
“You’ll still need to test it to see if he did leave behind any physical evidence. Even though we have his picture and his confession, we need to tie it up as tightly as we can, with every detail we can get.”
“I’m teasing you.”
Zachary cleared his throat. “Okay. Yeah, you already know what I need.”
“Mmm-hm. Started on it today, but I’ll have more time for it tomorrow. Detective Robinson wants to push it through as fast as he can. As you say, tie it up as tightly as we can.”
“Thanks. I’m sure Lauren’s family and friends will appreciate it.”
“Have you talked to them yet?”
“No… just sent Barbara a message. I’ll have to follow up with her on the details.”
“Face-to-face is always better for that kind of thing.”
“Exactly,” Zachary agreed.
Kenzie was quiet. Zachary decided it was his opening and he’d better take it while he had the chance.
“Did Detective Robinson tell you that they broke down my door?”
“Seems to me he might have mentioned something about that.”
“So… I can’t stay in my apartment until the building guy gets it fixed for me. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“So you’ll be at a hotel?”
Zachary supposed that the hotel was an option. He was surprised that it was one he hadn’t seriously considered. He had immediately thought of staying with a friend. Especially Kenzie. When his apartment had burned down, he hadn’t even had a wallet or credit card to book a room at the hotel. He’d been forced to rely on the kindness of his friends. Mario had stepped up then, agreeing to have Zachary stay with him for a few days, which had ended up being a few months before he told Zachary that it was time for him to be getting out on his own again.
“Are you still there?” Kenzie asked.
“Yeah. I was just wondering… I mean, I could get a hotel room…”
“Or…?”
“I wondered if you had a spare room where I could crash for a day or two.”
“No. No spare room.”
“Ah. I guess I’d probably be in your way on the couch.”
“Yes. I don’t like people sleeping in my living room.”
“Okay. I might call Mario. Or maybe I’ll just book a hotel room.”
“Why don’t you come over? I might not have a spare room or a couch you can use, but I might be able to find somewhere else.”
A warm, tingly feeling washed from Zachary’s head to his toes. He was glad she couldn’t see him. She always laughed when he got red. Such a tough guy, turning to mush whenever a girl teased him.
“Yeah…?”
“Sure. You’ve never seen my house. After all of the times you’ve entertained me, I should probably return the favor.”
Zachary smiled. He’d never asked her why she didn’t invite him to her place. He figured that a woman just needed a safe, secure place to go. If she didn’t feel comfortable with him being there, then he could respect that. Maybe Kenzie had realized that he hadn’t been the only one holding something back in the relationship.
“Do you want the address?” Kenzie asked.
“I’ve got it.”
“Private detective. I should have known. How long will it take you to get here? You need to pack a bag?”
Zachary cleared his throat, giving a little laugh. “I’m already here.”
He waited, holding himself tense. Stalker behavior. Looking up her address and sitting in his car outside her house when he called her. He hadn’t meant it to be creepy, but sitting there waiting for her response, he knew it could be interpreted that way.
“Well then, come on in.”
37
Zachary had set up a meeting with Barbara before breakfast the next morning. Or maybe it was breakfast. They had coffee, and he never really had much else for breakfast, but he didn’t know if it was breakfast for her.
“So does this mean… you have something to tell me, or that you’ve gone as far as you can and you’re telling me that you’re done?”
“It means I have something to tell you. Are you ready for that?”
She looked at him, head cocked slightly. “I guess it depends what you have to tell me. You mean that you have a suspect? Is it like Deidre said? Is it Gordon Drake?”
Zachary hesitated and shook his head. “No. And it’s more than a suspect. I got a confession.”
She blinked. “A confession?”
“Her supervisor, Daniel Service. He followed her home. Broke into her apartment.”
“Why? Was it some sex thing? She rejected him?”
“No. He was afraid she was going to do or say something that was damaging to the company. He felt like it was his job to make sure that she didn’t.”
Barbara stared at Zachary for a disconcertingly long time. She shook her head. “This was… to protect the company from slander? From a bad reputation? I don’t get that.”
“You know how devoted she was to them… but I guess she had made the decision to make a break with them. It was affecting her health, so maybe she decided that she’d had enough and she’d better stop before it did any long-term damage. Maybe she knew that it would kill her if she kept going like she was without taking care of her body. But once Daniel thought that she was going to betray the company… I’m sorry.”
“So it really wasn’t an accident. He hurt her on purpose? It wasn’t… in the middle of an argument?”
“No. It looks like it was planned and premeditated.”
“Because… she had decided not to stay with the company?”
Zachary shrugged. “It’s hard to understand why other people do the things they do. Other people’s motives don’t always make sense to us. But yes… he felt very protective of Drake, Chase, Gould, and he wanted to make sure that she couldn’t do anything to harm it. He was set on it becoming a world leader. He wanted to rise to the top of the industry and to be a part of its success.”
“Unbelievable. And for that, he would kill someone like Lauren. Just for a job.”
“For him, it wasn’t just a job.”
“It never was for her, either. It was so important to her. It was everything.”
“Until she decided that it couldn’t be. For what it’s worth, I think she made the right choice.”
“Even though it got her killed?”
“That wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t have foreseen the consequences. Her decision was to have a life that wasn’t just focused on money and success.”
“And that was right.”
Zachary nodded. “Exactly.”
He wasn’t sure what to do about Blair Bieberstein and Gordon. He had fudged his answers as much as he dared with Detective Robinson, explaining that he didn’t know where Gordon was or if he had been involved. Leave that to Daniel to explain, because Zachary didn’t have the answers. He just didn’t know what Gordon had known or understood about Daniel. If Daniel could read other people as well as he claimed, did that mean that Gordon could too?
Could he tell when he looked at Zachary or Daniel or Detective Robinson what they were thinking? Or maybe not Daniel, since Daniel claimed not to have any tells.
The case was finished, his invoice to Barbara submitted and collected on, but Zachary decided to keep an eye on Drake, Chase, Gould, just to ensure that everything had settled down and that no one else had been in on the coverup. Had Gordon known? Had Bev? Was there someone who was supposed to review the security pictures? Did he know what had happened and just didn’t tell? Or had he been asleep on the job and not noticed those last few pictures?
Or had he told Gordon or whoever his boss was, and Gordon had told them to keep it quiet?
Zachary just wanted to watch the employees as they came and went and to be sure that they were alright. And hopefully to catch a glimpse of Blair Bieberstein returning to work. And Gordon? Did he want to see Gordon?
He didn’t want to see Daniel. If they released him on bail and he returned to Drake, Chase, Gould, Zachary didn’t want to know about it.
He sat in his car, watching people coming and going. There was one security checkpoint on the way into the building, which made it easy for Zachary, since everyone had to arrive through that one set of doors.
On his second day of surveillance, Zachary saw a familiar little man, not quite as squirrely looking, walking up to the entrance. Zachary jumped out of his car and jogged over to see him. Bieberstein drew back, startled, then took in who it was.
“Oh. Zachary Goldman. I’m glad to see you.”
“I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
Bieberstein’s head bobbed up and down. He glanced around to make sure no one was listening to them. “Sure. I’m fine. Just… had to take a couple of days to rest after the accident.” He indicated his cast and the bandage on his head. “You know.”
“Sure. You just disappeared so suddenly… I was worried about you. I wasn’t sure if something had happened.”
“Whether they got me?” Bieberstein gave a nervous laugh. “I guess I was talking a little crazy. Just lack of sleep or the side effects of the painkillers.”
“I don’t think it was crazy. Did you hear about Daniel?”
Bieberstein shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know what happened with Daniel… I don’t get it.”
“I don’t know if any of us do. He thought he was doing something to protect the company. But…”
Bieberstein looked around, his eyes fastening on something behind Zachary. Zachary turned, but he had a pretty good idea who he was going to see before he did.
Gordon.
“Zachary,” Gordon greeted with his trademark friendly smile, and a hand reached out to shake Zachary’s. “You came through for us again. You certainly have a knack for digging down and finding out the truth. This company owes you a debt of gratitude.”
Zachary hoped that was what Gordon really felt, and not what a disappointment it was to lose his avenging angel. He shook hands with Gordon as expected, pulling back when he felt like Gordon had held on for long enough.
“I just wanted to make sure that Bieberstein was okay,” he explained, motioning to the other man.
“I told you he was. I told you I just hid him away somewhere he could get a little sleep, and be away from any other threats. Since you unveiled the threat… he should be safe now. Shouldn’t he?”
“As long as you get control of these overtime hours.”
Gordon raised his brows. “I beg your pardon?”
“You need to get rid of all of these overtime hours and make sure that employees are getting the medical care that they need. Days off when they are sick. Not working so many hours that they are going to work themselves to death. Lauren’s death could just as easily have been karoshi. Her heart showed signs of stress. It was being damaged.”
Gordon took this in, frowning. He nodded slowly and patted Zachary on the arm as if comforting him. “You’re right. I’ll look into it. That shouldn’t be happening.”
Zachary breathed out. “Good. These people are very devoted to your company. You need to take care of them.”
“So many people to take care of,” Gordon said ruefully. “Bridget and the babies, and now… several hundred people who work for me. I thought that the structure we had set up would reduce my need to be quite so hands-on with everyone. But it would appear that I need to rethink that decision. I’ll consider what I need to do.”
He put his arm around Bieberstein and pulled him close, like a father with a teenage son, and talked to him in a paternal tone. “We need to take care of our families, don’t we, Mr. Bieberstein?”
Zachary watched them walk into the building, Gordon’s words echoing in his head.
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Preview of She Told a Lie
Chapter 1
Zachary tried to stay in the zone he was in, just on the border between sleeping and waking, for as long as he could. He felt warm and safe and at peace, and it was such a good feeling he wanted to remain there as long as he could before the anxieties of consciousness started pouring in.
The warm body alongside his shifted and Zachary snuggled in, trying not to leave the cozy pocket of blankets he was in.
Kenzie murmured something that ended in ‘some space’ and wriggled away from him again. Zachary let her go. She needed her sleep, and if he smothered her, she wouldn’t be quick to invite him back.
Kenzie. He was back together with Kenzie and he had stayed the night at her house. It was the first time he’d gone there instead of her joining him in his apartment, which was currently not safe for them to sleep at because the police had busted the door in. It would have to be fixed before he could sleep there.
Kenzie lived in a little house that was a hundred times better than Zachary’s apartment, which wasn’t difficult since he had started from scratch after the fire that burned down his last apartment. While he was earning more as a private investigator than he ever had before, thanks to a few high profile murder cases, he wasn’t going to sink a lot of money into the apartment until he had built up a strong enough reserve to get him through several months of low income.
Zachary had been surprised by some of the high-priced items he had seen around Kenzie’s home the night before. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, given the cherry-red convertible she drove, but he’d always assumed she was saddled with significant debts from medical school and that she would not be able to afford luxuries.
Maybe that was the reason that she had never invited him into her territory before. She didn’t want him to see the huge gap in their financial statuses.
Once Zachary’s brain started working, reviewing the night before and considering Kenzie’s circumstances as compared to his, he couldn’t shut it back off and return to that comfortable, happy place he had been just before waking. His brain was grinding away, assessing how worried he should be. Did any of it change their relationship? Did it mean that Kenzie looked down on him? Considered him inferior? She had never treated him that way, but did she think it, deep down inside?
Once he left her house, would he ever be invited back? He had only been there under exceptional circumstances, and while he hoped that it was a sign that Kenzie was willing to reconcile and work on their relationship again—as long as he was—he was afraid that it might just have been one moment of weakness. One that she would regret when she woke up and had a chance to reconsider.
With his brain cranking away at the problem and finding new things to worry about, Zachary couldn’t stay in bed. He shifted around a few times, trying to find a position that was comfortable enough that he would just drift back to sleep, he knew that it was impossible. His body was restless and would not return to sleep again so easily.
He slid out of the bed and squinted, trying to remember the layout of the room and any obstacles. The sky was just starting to lighten, forcing a little gray light around the edges of Kenzie’s blinds and curtains. Enough to see dark shapes around him, but not enough to be confident he wouldn’t trip over something. Zachary felt for the remainder of his clothes and clutched them to him as he cautiously made his way to the bedroom door and out into the hallway.
He shut the door silently behind him so that he wouldn’t wake Kenzie up. There was an orange glow emanating from the bathroom, so he found his way there without knocking over any priceless decor. He shut the door and turned on the main light. It was blinding after the night-light. Zachary squeezed his eyes shut and waited for them to adjust to the light that penetrated his eyelids, and then gradually opened them to look around.
Everything was clean and tidy and smelled fresh. Definitely a woman’s domain rather than a bachelor pad like Zachary’s. He needed to upgrade if he expected her to spend any time at his apartment. He’d used her ensuite the night before rather than the main bath, and even though it was more cluttered with her makeup and hair and bath products, it was also cleaner and brighter than Zachary’s apartment bathroom.
He spent a couple of minutes with his morning routine, splashing water on his face and running a comb over his dark buzz-cut before making his way to the living room, where he’d left his overnight bag when he and Kenzie had adjourned for the night. He pulled out his laptop and set it on the couch while it booted up, wandering into the kitchen and sorting out her single-cup coffee dispenser to make himself breakfast.
