That got her attention. “You cooked.”
He chuckled. “I wish. You know that’s not my thing. But I did order you something from Mango Bay Restaurant.”
Immediately, her mouth began to water and she gave him a huge grin. “Curried goat? Escoveitched fish?”
He laughed as he led her toward the kitchen. “I won’t spoil the surprise.”
And as Melanie followed him down the hallway she released a sigh of relief. It was obvious that Sloane knew nothing about her business disaster with Rapid Films and she planned to keep it that way.
***
To Sloane’s relief, the days passed without any further sign of Zena and no indication – so far – that Melanie was in any danger. Still, he was not taking any chances so, despite her objections, he had the security detail covering her day after day. After a week he began to breath a little easier but he knew that neither he nor Melanie could afford to relax their vigilance. And, in the meanwhile, he would have to find some way to regain contact with Zena and set some sort of trap for her. If he wanted to get the police involved he had to come up with evidence.
Then one day, a couple of weeks after his conversation with Melanie, he came home to find her sitting in the sofa, her feet up, arms wrapped around her legs, her chin on her knees. This seemed to be her favorite position when she was deep in thought. There was a deep crease in her brow, the worry visibly stamped on her face.
“Melanie,” he said softly. “What’s the matter?”
Her head jerked up and it was as if she were noticing his presence for the first time. “Oh, hey Sloane. You’re home early.”
“No, actually it’s late. How long have you been sitting here?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Since six o’clock?”
“And it’s now way past seven. What’s on your mind?” He went over to sit beside her.
“Uhm, nothing important. I was just thinking.”
“Yes, about something very important, or else you wouldn’t be sitting here in a dark room staring off into space.”
“Yeah, but it’s not about anything you’d want to hear about.”
“Melanie, I’m your husband.” Sloane’s voice was brutally stern. “If there’s something worrying you I need to know about it. Now talk.”
“But it doesn’t have anything to do with us,” she said, obviously determined to hold her ground. “It has to do with business. My business.”
“And your business is my business. Don’t let me have to ask again.”
It was only when he said those words that Melanie began to look like she was considering talking, and it was a good thing because he was not going to move until she opened up to him.
“I…it’s nothing.” She breathed in, then let it out slowly. “Well, actually, it’s something but it’s sort of embarrassing.”
“I’m listening.”
She looked down at her hands and when she spoke her voice was quiet and low. “I made a bad business move a few months ago and now it’s coming back to bite me. I needed an infusion of new technology so I gobbled up a film company, hoping that would bring in some new investors. Instead, it’s been nothing but a big hole in my film division's already leaky bucket.” She sighed. “I thought I was rescuing the company but it was the worst business decision of my life.”
Sloane frowned. “But you have deputies who should have been advising you on the transaction. I know the final decision is yours but what about the analysis? Didn’t your team assess the potential of this acquisition before you put money on the table?”
She looked up at him then, her eyes cloudy with confusion. “That’s the really puzzling thing. It was my COO who first identified this company as an opportunity. I hadn’t even heard of them. Then my VP of finance checked it out and they both gave me the all clear.” Then she shook her head. “It wasn’t until after the deal was done that all the rotten details started coming out. It was the financial controller who first brought it to my attention but by that point it was too late.”
Sloane shook his head. “This sounds fishy to me. You had your top guns review this business and come back with positive feedback, and it took a subordinate of theirs to figure out that this was a mistake? Bull.”
She gave him a quizzical look. “You think this was deliberate?”
“Any possibility they’re trying to sabotage your company?”
The question made her look away, obviously deep in thought. “I…really don’t know.”
“I suggest you look into it. Your greatest enemy may be right there on your team.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Son of a bitch.” Sloane slammed his fist down on the desk and scowled at the private investigator. “She trusted him.”
Mark Danvers, looking more like a bouncer than a P.I., shrugged as he lounged in the chair across from Sloane. “And that was what made it so easy for him. He manipulated her trust.”
“But what about the VP of finance? He was in on it, too?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Looks like he was intimidated by the COO who’s his superior. The operations boss probably told him to leave the decision to him.”
“Goddamn wimp.” Sloane snorted in disgust. “I should have both of them thrown in jail.”
“Now hold on a minute.” Danvers put up his beefy hand. “Let’s not jump the gun. I want to dig into this some more. I still haven’t figured out how all of this would benefit the perp. All he’s succeeded in doing is making your wife’s life miserable.” He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “There’s got to be more to it than that. What does he get out of this?”
“He probably owns shares in Rapid Films, saw it was sinking and wanted to dump it,” Sloane snarled. “And he dumped it on Melanie. I’ll kill the bastard.”
“Not until I do what you’ve paid me for,” Danvers drawled, looking unimpressed by Sloane’s tirade. “You can commit all the murders you want after I’m done my job.”