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She rolled her eyes, looked up at the roof as if asking God for understanding and patience.
A car slowly came up the winding road and Tess leaned forward. A lone driver, male. Jack already had his camera in hand and had taken several shots of the late model white Tesla.
“Model X,” Jack said.
Tess knew next to nothing about cars. “Is that good?”
“Expensive.”
The Tesla turned into the driveway of the target house. Jack kept the camera on the vehicle and continued to shoot photos as the driver got out.
The man was approximately six feet tall, slim, with sandy blond hair that touched his collar, dressed in khaki’s and a light blue polo shirt.
“Bingo,” she said.
In order to catch Jennifer White red-handed, they had to identify the man she met with. This would allow them to compile a more detailed report and hopefully uncover what White was up to. The stakes were high; the CFO had to decide whether to fire her or prosecute her for stealing company secrets. Although the evidence was circumstantial, Tess was confident they were building a solid case. The most important thing was to identify the buyer and document the money trail.
Another car came up the road less than two minutes after the Tesla. Tess first thought a resident, though there were only a dozen houses up the road from them before the street dead-ended into the mountain. There was no maintained trail access from this road, though someone fit could hike into the preserve if they cut through a yard or used a drainage ditch.
The black Jeep looked familiar. It did a one-eighty in front of the house, the faded Army decal on the rear window telling Tess exactly who was driving. Jack swore under his breath at the same time as Tess said, “What the hell?”
Their sister Margo parked two houses down, her Jeep barely visible from their vantage point.
Tess glanced at Jack. “You need to find out what she’s doing.”
“Let’s see how this plays out.”
Margo had intentionally turned her back on Angelhart Investigations three years ago. Their paths rarely crossed in business, and Tess only saw her sister at family functions, where Margo usually arrived late and left early. Her choice, Tess thought bitterly. She chose to walk away, and Tess wasn’t going to feel bad about it.
Even if she missed her irritating, compassionate, stubborn, smart, spontaneous, independent, distrustful sister.
“Hey,” Jack said.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled.
He shot her a knowing look, then said, “She’s walking around back.”
“Why is she here?”
Jack didn’t respond because, of course, he didn’t know. No one knew exactly what Margo was up to these days.
Margo struggled because she worked too often for free, but when she did make money, it was either taking a dangerous bounty assignment or an adultery investigation. Through the family gossip chain, word was that Margo was on retainer for one of the big divorce law firms in Phoenix. Fit right in with her sister’s cynical view of family and marriage. A view completely unjustified, in Tess’s opinion. They had everything they needed even if they didn’t always have what they wanted, and never felt unloved. And their parents had been married for nearly forty years and still loved each other.
Even though their dad was in prison.
Margo circled the house, a camera around her neck. What a miserable job, taking sex pictures. Was the man married? Did his wife hire Margo? Jennifer White was single, twenty-six. Maybe she was dating a married man, giving him company secrets.
Tess wished everything had been different. That she could just pick up the phone and call Margo, go out for drinks and talk like they used to. But three years ago Margo had burned the bridge. Tess could forgive her—that was how they were raised—but Margo would never ask for forgiveness because she didn’t believe she’d been in the wrong.
Margo suddenly started running toward the back again, a determined look on her face. Tess lost sight of her.
Jack said, “Something’s up.”
Five
Margo Angelhart
I recognized the house as soon as I saw it. Logan Monroe had lived here before he married Brittney, then converted it to an exclusive short-term rental.
