Scandal Never Sleeps

  and the last person wasn’t even in accounting. In fact, I couldn’t find anything that would suggest he or HR intended to make a case to dismiss Valerie.”

  “He never failed to let go of someone who deserved it. Did you find anything else when you scanned his computer earlier?”

  Before he’d settled down with boxes of receipts, Gabriel had asked her to check the two computers in the house, a laptop and a desktop. Both top-of-the-line and neither yielding much. From what she could tell, he’d done a purge of both systems fairly recently. “Other than a surprising amount of pornography? I didn’t know the human body could do some of those things.”

  Gabriel chuckled. “I bet you got an eyeful. Mad always did enjoy the exotic. Sorry, I should have thought about that.”

  He stared at her with eyes full of warm regard. When he looked at her like that, Everly remembered how well she knew this man physically. She knew how it felt to have his arms wrapped around her, her body beneath his. She tried to shake the memories off.

  “Somehow I’ll survive, though I wouldn’t mind bleaching my eyeballs.” She gave him a wry glance. “But I also managed to check his datebook. He had a bunch of meetings but I didn’t see one with Valerie or anyone else who handled accounting for the foundation galas, so it doesn’t look as if he even questioned her about that receipt.”

  “The fact that it was front and center on his desk tells me he was keeping it close for some reason.”

  Silently, Everly agreed. “But he hadn’t acted. Any thoughts why?”

  Gabriel shook his head. “He was obviously interested in this particular transaction.” He filtered through a few more scraps of paper and scanned them. “And two others a lot like it. This one was attached to the receipts for the foundation parties for the previous three years. Unless Mad was suspicious, I can’t think of a single reason why he kept them in his personal space, rather than with the corporate files. Maybe he questioned Valerie off the record?”

  “That doesn’t seem like him. The Maddox I knew might not always share his agenda but he tended to meet things head on.”

  “Exactly.” Gabriel sighed. “I’ll have Connor peek into this woman’s financials to see if he can find any hint of her skimming money. I’ll also have him find out if she has an alibi for the night of Mad’s death.”

  “Will that really help? She could have planted that bomb days or weeks ago.”

  “No, the plane had been used by another Crawford executive the day before. One of the services the private airport we use offers is a nose-to-tail check between every flight. Dax looked at the records. He texted me to say that Kingston, the owner of the airport, and his head mechanic inspected the plane three hours before Mad took off. Jerry Kingston has been a family friend forever. He’s a nice old guy and had no cause to want Mad dead. If there had been a bomb on that plane then, they would have found it. So it was planted some time between ground check and takeoff. Mad was flying solo.”

  “Why was he going to DC?” That had been the destination listed on his flight plan.

  Gabriel sat back and massaged his forehead as though he had a headache coming on. “Right after the crash, Roman told me Mad had called the day before and asked for a meeting with Zack. Mad refused to say why.”

  “Zack. You mean the president?”

  Gabriel chuckled a little. “To me, he’s Zack. Or Scooter, when I want to needle him.”

  She had to shake her head in disbelief since Zachary Hayes was known for his serious demeanor. “You call the president of the United States Scooter?”

  When Gabriel smiled like that it was difficult to remember why she should stay away from him. “Absolutely, but I’m sworn to secrecy about how he acquired that nickname. I think he’d sic the Secret Service on me if I told.”

  It was so weird to think that the gorgeous guy in front of her not only knew the most powerful man in the world, but they’d grown up together. Gabriel Bond was the type of man who rode around in private helicopters and had dinner with the commander-in-chief. He was the type of man who was perfectly comfortable in limos and mansions.

  He was the type of man who would enjoy a woman like her for a few nights, then cozy up again with women of his own class.

  Everly had been raised in the middle of nowhere. She’d never actually owned a car of her own, just borrowed her dad’s because he’d mostly driven his squad car. Gabriel’s mother had been a debutante, while hers had left when Everly was six and took virtually every cent they had. She hadn’t even bothered to say good-bye. In fact, she hadn’t talked to her mother in years. She’d been forced to bury her father alone.

  She and Gabe were from completely different worlds. She’d do well to remember that.

  He sat back in his chair, stretching his big body like a lazy predator. “Do you want to order some dinner? I met with the housekeeper yesterday and gave her the week off while I sort everything out. But I can call Dax. He’ll bring us something.”

  That sounded awfully cozy. “I should probably head home.”

  Because she was fairly certain that, even though this place had six palatial bedrooms and over eight thousand square feet, it was still too small and intimate to hold both her and Gabriel if she wanted to keep her skirt on and her bed solitary.

  “That’s not a good idea.” He stared at her like he knew something she didn’t.

  “I can’t stay here. I don’t have a change of clothes. I don’t have anything.” Well, except her purse. But she hadn’t stuffed it with a spare set of undies or her toiletries.

  He shrugged. “The good news is, Mad has a whole closet of crap women have left here. I’m sure we’ll find something that fits. The bad news is, your building is very likely surrounded by reporters now. Apparently, they learned your identity this morning, and someone tipped them off that you came to the police station with me. So unless you’re desperate for your fifteen minutes of fame, I’m afraid you’re stuck here with me.”

  “Why would they have any interest in me?” Sure they’d caught her leaving a hotel a couple of days before, but . . . “I spent one weekend with you.”

  “Everly, you have to understand how gossip works. They figured out the name of my mystery date earlier this morning and started asking questions. You coming to the police station with me only added a spark to that blaze. I assure you, the minute I was taken in for questioning, the story got even juicier for them. I guarantee those reporters called every employee at Crawford and buttered up anyone willing to talk. Can you guess what they said?”

  She already knew, and it made her want to scream. “That I was Maddox Crawford’s mistress.”

  “Bingo. So, since they saw you leaving the hotel after our night together, I assure you they’re claiming you’re now my mistress. There may even be wild speculation about a possible ménage à trois or some conjecture that I killed Mad in a jealous fit. I have no doubt they’re also publicly wondering if you came to the police station today to provide me an alibi or the final nail in my coffin.”

  “Oh dear god.” Never mind this day being terrible. She wanted to scratch the whole week and start over. “What a mess.”

  “Yep. Don’t be surprised if you get called in for questioning, too. If that happens, Roman will go with you or he’ll have one of his former partners represent you. I won’t leave you alone in this.”

  Her jaw dropped. She stood staring at him, trying to process all he’d said. There was no way it could be true. No one could possibly think she was the mistress of one powerful man, much less two. “Who would ever believe that you would kill your best friend over me? It’s ridiculous.”

  “Maybe but it makes for a great story. Tabloids aren’t looking for the truth. They want whatever sells papers or gets page views. And they’re definitely staking out your place.” He snatched the computer from her grasp, hit a few keys, then turned the computer screen toward her.

  She read the headline in horror.

  AND A WOMAN CAME BETWEEN THEM . . .

  T
he article included pictures of Maddox and Gabriel through the years. They’d also posted the shot of her running out of the hotel again.

  Holy hell. It was really there. She turned to look at the gray shantung silk covering the window. The office was just below street level. With the curtains drawn, she couldn’t see out but wished now that more than cloth and glass separated her from the outside world. “Do you think they followed us here?”

  He gave her a short shake of his head. “No. Dax and I made sure of it. A decoy of me was seen going into my building, and Connor found an actress who looks enough like you to head into yours. She’s going to walk by your window every couple of hours to keep them there.”

  “There’s a strange woman in my loft? How did she even get in there? I’ve got my keys.”

  “Do you?”

  She walked back to check her purse. Sure enough, her keys were missing. “You stole my keys?”

  “No. Dax did that. He’s got fast hands, but if he hadn’t been able to lift your keys, I assure you Connor could have found a way in. If you’re going to be angry with someone, be angry with me. It was the best way I could think of to keep the press off our trail. Neither of us can go home now, so I thought this was a good compromise since I had keys to Mad’s place. He inherited a much larger mansion when his father died. He lists that as his address, but he preferred to stay here. It could take a couple of days for the reporters to figure out where we’re hiding.”

  But they wouldn’t be able to leave. How had her life turned upside down in a few short days? “I can’t believe I need someone to distract the press. I was never Maddox’s mistress.”

  Gabe’s eyes narrowed as he considered her. “All right. Let’s say I believe you. What was your relationship with him? Were you doing work for him outside of the office?”

  “Not officially, though we did discuss work. The first time he showed up at my loft, he claimed he wanted to go over my plans to convert to a new cybersecurity system. But after a few minutes, he changed the subject and we ended up talking about other things. We were just friends.” She wasn’t sure how else to put it.

  “Mad didn’t have female friends. He had lovers and employees.”

  Frustration threatened to boil her blood. “Before our weekend together, I hadn’t been to bed with anyone in a year and a half. Maddox and I didn’t have anything romantic or sexual going. When he started coming to my place, he seemed . . . lonely. Sad.”

  “He always came to your place? Sorry, I didn’t realize Mad knew how to get to Brooklyn.”

  Everly grinned. Sometimes he’d been a terrible snob. “Apparently he learned. His driver dropped him off. He certainly didn’t take the subway.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me you’ve never been here before?”

  “Not once.” He’d never invited her here and she’d never asked. He’d seemed to like her cozy loft.

  “Did he ever spend the night?”

  Maddox had been quite the night owl. He would often keep her talking until two or three in the morning, but he’d usually gone back to Manhattan. “Only once. He was drunk and he showed up at my place without calling. When he rang the buzzer to come up, I could tell that he wasn’t himself. He kept talking about some woman. I worried about him that night.”

  “Do you remember the name of the girl he talked about?”

  “He never mentioned it. I didn’t pry. He only said he loved her and he’d lost her.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “A couple of months ago.” She tried to remember an exact date, but couldn’t. “Anyway, all I did that night was put him to bed. I slept on the couch. The next morning, he apologized for any inconvenience and swore he’d take the couch next time. I asked him if there would be a next time and he gave me one of his wry smiles and a shrug. Do you think he was upset about your sister?”

  Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “The timing fits. If he felt guilty about what he’d done to Sara, he had good reason. But I seriously doubt Mad ever loved her. He couldn’t have and still treated her the way he did. Honestly, I don’t think Mad knew how to love just one woman. How did you come to work for Crawford? Who recruited you?”

  That was another mystery, too. “A headhunter contacted me and hired me away from my former employer. I was working as an IT department team leader in a company of about a hundred—much smaller than Crawford—when the guy called. He offered me a job on the spot. It took me a few days to actually wrap my head around the fact that the offer was genuine.”

  “You weren’t an executive at your last job?”

  She shook her head. “Hardly. I’d recently been moved up to project manager. I was on an executive fast track, but it still would have taken years to reach the level I’m at now. I got lucky.”

  “That seems like a whole lot of luck,” Gabriel remarked. “And this headhunter represented Crawford? Would you recognize his name?”

  “Of course.” She couldn’t forget the name of the man who had effectively changed her life. Her father had passed a few weeks before she’d gotten that call. She’d been depressed, and this had been an open door to a brighter future at a time she’d needed it.

  He nodded toward the laptop. “Hack into Mad’s e-mail and look for any messages he wrote the headhunter about you.”

  “Why?” What did this have to do with solving Maddox’s murder?

  “Because I don’t think your new job at Crawford had anything to do with luck. Mad never used headhunters. He had a solid HR department and preferred to promote from within every chance he could.”

  “He wouldn’t have dealt with the headhunter directly, I’m sure. As you said, he had an HR department. Maybe they couldn’t find a candidate with the right skill set in their own organization, so they went outside.”

  “Indulge me. I have a hunch and I’d like to see if I’m right.”

  Was he trying to prove that Maddox had hired her in order to sleep with her? She knew it wasn’t true, but she was worried about giving Gabriel anything that he could twist. “What makes you think Maddox would be so invested in hiring a security project manager? That’s the position I was initially hired for. A month later, a new, even larger team was being formed around international cybersecurity threats. The team needed a director, which was a perfect position for my skill set. Five months after, the previous VP of cybersecurity retired, and I was promoted into his job.”

  “No doubt, other people in the department had worked for Crawford longer and were just as qualified.”

  She could think of a few. “Maybe Maddox wanted someone younger, more versed in electronic means of security than my predecessor and his cronies.”

  “Even so, an executive position like that should have taken you years to attain . . . unless a very powerful person handpicked you for the role.”

  Gabriel was wrong. He had to be. There was zero reason for Maddox Crawford to have taken an interest in her before they’d even met. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know how Mad’s mind worked. Please check.” He pointed to Maddox’s laptop.

  “I’ve been through his business e-mail already. We’re lucky the IT folks hadn’t nuked the account yet. I didn’t see anything like that.”

  That made Gabriel pause. “What about his personal e-mail? Did you look through that?”

  Everly sighed and reached for the computer. He was like a dog with a bone. “I’ll do it now.”

  She opened her former boss’s private e-mail but found it password protected. She could get around that, but the first and easiest solution was to figure out the password. A truly smart person selected a random set of numbers and letters, but most people picked something personal. What would Maddox choose? He didn’t seem like the kind to get sentimental or obsessive about anything—with a singular exception. The night he’d come to her loft shitfaced he’d been absolutely focused on one subject.

  “What’s your sister’s name?”

  “Sara.” Gabriel spelled it for her.

&n
bsp; She typed the name in, and Maddox’s e-mail popped up. “I’m in.”

  Gabriel sat forward. “Sara was his password?”

  “Yeah. I know you think otherwise, but she must be the woman he talked about loving and losing that night. You know, he never seemed the same again. He hung around me a lot more, but he still seemed awfully alone.”

  Gabriel raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t understand. He broke things off with Sara. They were happy—at least I thought so.” He huffed. “Bastard. Sara had dolled herself up to go to a reception with him. They’d been planning to take their relationship public. While she was waiting for him to pick her up, he sent her a kiss-off text. How could he care about Sara and treat her like that?”

  Everly had no idea.

  She stared at the computer screen, clicking her cursor into the search field to type in the headhunter’s name. It popped up immediately, displaying a few messages. That surprised her. “You’re right about the e-mails. But why would a man as powerful as Maddox Crawford deal directly with a headhunter?”

  “What do you see? Was he looking for a specific set of skills?”