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Erica was still wrestling with Gail’s assessment of Allison. Erica didn’t know Peter’s wife very well, but from what she’d seen, she was handling an incredibly difficult situation with a lot of grace. Gail seemed to be looking for the worst.
“Illegal things?” Erica asked, striving for a normal, friendly talk-to-me tone.
Gail nodded. “That’s when I found he was keeping two sets of books on certain clients. Plus, I saw him putting lots of cash into a safe he’d had installed. We don’t handle cash—not ever. He got nervous and snapped at everyone. I knew something was up.”
Erica suddenly understood what had happened. “You’re the one who turned him in.”
Gail stiffened, color rising on her cheeks. “What? Why would you think that?”
“Oh, I’m not saying I disagree with your decision,” Erica lied, wanting to get to the truth. “If Peter started down a dark path, you’d be the one to know.” She feigned concern. “How hard this must have been for you. You’d known him for years, trusted him, enjoyed working with him. Then he turned on you.”
Gail nodded vigorously. “It was exactly like that. I felt so betrayed. And to do it for her! He told me once he wanted to give her a better life. A big house and fancy cars. I wanted to say that wasn’t the important part of life, but it wasn’t my place.”
She picked up her tea. “And I didn’t state the obvious—that you were the only reason he had those things in his other life. You’d owned the house before you two married and there was a prenup on Twisted. You convinced him to start his own business, then paid all the up-front costs. He owes you everything, and then he left. Just like a man.”
Erica was more caught up in the fact that Gail knew so many personal details about her marriage. Had Peter told the other woman or had Gail used her trusted position to snoop into their private files?
Questions she wasn’t likely to get answered, she told herself. And they weren’t the point of the conversation.
“You mentioned Hillary was still doing some of the accounting work? Do you have her contact information?”
“I do.” Gail’s tone was grudging. “With the computers gone and the office shut down, there’s not much she can do.”
“Isn’t everything in the cloud? She can access it from there.”
“I suppose but I don’t know why she’d bother.”
Erica felt Gail was being difficult on purpose, but there was nothing to be done about her attitude. Erica needed to get in touch with Hillary and Gail was her best option.
“You and me both,” she said with a smile as she picked up her phone. “Her number?”
Gail gave it to her. “She’s not going to work for free, you know. The bank accounts are all frozen. There’s no way to get any money.”
“We’ll figure something out.” She rose. “Thank you, Gail. You’ve been very helpful. I look forward to your feedback on the facial.”
“I’m sure it will be nice.”
Erica walked her to the reception desk and checked her in, then excused herself. Once back in her office, she quickly called Hillary.
“Hello?”
“Hillary, this is Erica Sawyer, Peter’s first wife. I was hoping I could talk to you.”
“About what?”
Erica couldn’t read her tone, so had no idea what the other woman was thinking. Did she like Peter? Hate him? Hate her for reasons that had nothing to do with reality?
“As you know, there’s been some trouble at the office. I was told you’re still trying to work with clients, which is just amazing. Thank you for that. Peter has asked me to step in and help with the business as best I can.”
“Peter wants your help?” Her tone turned a little more friendly. “I didn’t know. Actually I don’t know anything. One second we were working, the next, the police were everywhere. They took everything, then they searched the place. I was afraid they wouldn’t let me leave with my handbag. I had to empty it and show them.”
“They were probably making sure you didn’t take a thumb drive with you.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Are you able to access the business accounts remotely?”
“Yes. I’m doing that from home. My little laptop is old, but I’m doing my best. It’s hard with the kids around, but I’m making it work.”
