Page 72 of Married to Lies

She didn’t sound relieved.

“Hey, I’ll be there for you, okay?” I said. “No matter what happens.”

I knew it was small consolation compared to the family she’d known most her life, but her responding tone seemed a little comforted. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she brightened a bit. “On the plus side, you’ll get to meet Lulu, my niece. She’s the sweetest girl ever.”

“Hard to believe, knowing you already are.”

Rei cackled, and it brought a smile to my lips. “You’re good,” she said. “I’ll text you the information and try not to have a panic attack. Okay? Okay.”

I smiled softly. “If you need me today, for whatever reason, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “Really, that means a lot.”

“You’re welcome.” We hung up, and I held my phone for a moment. This evening clearly meant a lot to Rei, so I made a new call to Daniel. “Hey,” I told him. “I’m not sure what you bring to a little girl’s dance recital, but I have one tonight, so I need you to make sure I’m prepared.” I thought of Daniel with his red mustache and suspenders and felt a little doubtful. “Can you do that?”

“I’ll call my sister. She’s a pageant mom.”

“Perfect,” I said, and then we hung up.

I went into the office, prepared for a long day of work, but when I arrived there, Daniel was standing right by my door with a grim look on his face. He passed me a mug of coffee and a water bottle mixed with creatine and said, “A detective’s here. He wants to speak with the founders about Simon’s case.”

My shoulders tensed. “Does he have any leads?”

“He wouldn’t say.” Daniel frowned.

I nodded and turned to go to the conference room, drinks in hand.

When I got there, I saw Bryce and Jude sitting at the table silently. Aaric was on the screen at the head of the room, an evening glow on his face. Cruz hadn’t arrived yet. And a man I didn’t recognize stood toward the front of the room in a dull-brown suit.

“Detective?” I said.

He looked up from his watch and nodded. His hand extended as he walked toward me. “Officer Craddock, FBI” he said.

“Quentin Thomas, CFO,” I replied. “I believe it was the police investigating before.”

With a nod, he said, “This case grew a little more complicated. When your colleague arrives, I’ll debrief you.”

I was about to ask where Cruz was when Jude offered, “He’s on his way. Traffic.”

It tracked. Cruz was in his car more often than not, going from one meeting to another, but the delay in information annoyed me. I got out my phone to check my emails and grunted. Bryce had requested another pay raise for his head IT guy.

With the detective here, I couldn’t say anything out loud, so I sent Bryce a text.

Quentin: If your IT guy keeps getting “other offers,” maybe it’s time to let him go for someone who won’t be swayed so easily by money.

Bryce looked at me from across the table, then back at his phone.

Bryce: A disruption in IT would be more costly than a raise, and he knows it.

Quentin: Then train a backup.

Bryce: I’ll loop Aaric in on that when he returns.

I nodded and moved on to the next email. Each email made me feel like a piggy bank waiting for the hammer. Everyone wanted something from finance and didn’t always understand the rejections because they didn’t see the whole picture like I did.

The door opened and Cruz came in, wearing a charcoal suit with a deep-red shirt. “Got here as fast as I could. What’s the headline?”

Officer Craddock cleared his throat. “We found out who was behind poisoning Simon.”