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He blushed and it was sweet. “Would you say yes if I did?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Good.” He heaved another sigh of relief. “I’m so glad that’s over with. I’m out of practice. I haven’t had a relationship since Heather—my wife. I haven’t even been tempted. But you caught my interest the first time I saw you last summer at that party at Gabe Hebert’s house. And...” He swallowed hard but didn’t break his gaze. “You tempt me.”
Merciful heaven. Her body clenched and Val pressed her palms to her heated cheeks to cool them. “For someone who claims to be out of practice, I think you’re doing just fine.”
He grinned abruptly, making him look carefree. “Really? Excellent.”
She laughed, her heart suddenly light. “So we table this—whatever it is—until Elijah is safe and you no longer need me, right?”
He sobered. “Until Elijah is safe.”
She noticed that he didn’t repeat the part about no longer needing her. She liked that.
He pointed to her laptop. “Show me what you got from Antoine. Now that it’s quiet, I think I’ll be able to give it my attention.”
She opened the laptop and tilted it so that he could see the screen. “I told you this afternoon that Aaron used to work at Cunningham and Spector, the same company Van was working for when he died, but then Aaron quit and hung his own financial advising shingle.”
“Right,” he said. “And?”
“And I’ve been reviewing the loan and debt statements from his background check. He continued making deposits into his and his wife’s joint bank account from his business up until last week. Then all of a sudden, his bank account is cleaned out.”
“Well, he was paying for drugs.”
“True, or at least he was last week when he was high. Did he show signs of repeated drug use?”
“Track marks all over his arms, and the jail infirmary doctor said that the violence of his detox indicates prolonged drug use—both heroin and meth.”
“So he’s been using for a while. He was paying for drugs all that time, but suddenly his bank account is empty. Don’t people usually do that when they’re getting ready to run?”
He nodded. “That was my conclusion, too. Neither he nor his girlfriend, Sandra Springfield, would talk about their plans, but they’re both in detox and not really coherent. So NOPD interviewed Dianne Gates, Aaron’s wife, and she said that Aaron and Sandra were planning to go to the Bahamas together. She was quite bitter about that fact, so we might be able to get more out of her if we ask the right questions.”
“Okay, good. Hold that thought. I’m also wondering about his reported income. I inherited Van’s house when he died. I’m also the executor of his estate. As such, I had to do his taxes for the year he died. Van was a superstar at Cunningham and Spector, but Aaron, working alone, claimed nearly three times Van’s income.”
“You’re thinking that Aaron inflated his income.”
“Exactly. Hold that thought, too. Finally, I’m wondering about his relationship with Dewey Talley, a known drug dealer. Did NOPD ask Dianne Gates about him?”
“They did. She said they were friends and that Dewey worked on their cars.”
“They might be friends, but it’s more likely that Dewey was Aaron’s dealer.”
“Agreed. And?”
“Well, Sixth Day’s business was very good before Rico Nova went to prison for killing my brother and before Talley went under. Back then, they focused on lower-socioeconomic areas and students—middle school through university. According to Burke’s pal in Narcotics, Talley’s rumored to be supplying upper-class clients and society wives. Aaron’s clientele from his financial advising business were also upper-class clients and society wives.”
Kaj’s dark brows lifted. “You think that Aaron was sending clients Dewey’s way?”
“It’s possible. It would explain the inflated income numbers. He could have been laundering drug money through his legit business. I think they’re in a partnership. It might also explain why Sixth Day is going to such extremes to try to get him back, although that whole angle still doesn’t make sense.” She frowned as she organized her thoughts. “Sixth Day signed that note and they gave up Rick Gates, but Aaron hasn’t been charged with drug dealing, just the murder. Yet they’ve tried, in a very public way, to free him. It’s like a neon sign declaring his guilt, even though Aaron had never been tied to Dewey.”
“That’s been bothering me, too. Unless they knew that we had the photo of the two of them together. It’s incriminating, both because Dewey is a wanted felon and because Sandra hid the images.”
“So it’s not out of the question that Dewey and Aaron were working together.”
“Not out of the question at all.”
“Who knew about the photos that you retrieved from Sandra’s house?” she asked.
