AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Gennessey Croft pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger as her client continued to drone on about his concerns with the quality of her work. She’d put off the phone call for a couple of days because she expected this, but she finally pushed aside her dread in order to be finished with this case — especially with this client.
“Are you sure?” He finally paused in his tirade to catch a breath.
“Yes, sir. I assure you our investigation was very thorough as you can see by the detailed report I emailed. I also forwarded our findings to the authorities to include in their files. There’s no indication of anyone on your staff embezzling funds from your company.”
“But it has to be one of them. Who else could it be?”
Gennessey forced back the words on the tip of her tongue. From her conversation with the police detective yesterday, the “who else” was likely a member of the man’s family who gained access to his company’s financial accounts for the purpose of bleeding them dry a little at a time.
The man was a terrible accountant, and the discrepancies had been discovered by an auditor he’d decided to hire. His dreams of retiring on the hefty sum he’d receive from the sale of his company were disintegrating, and though her investigation had only helped to shed light on what was going on, he refused to believe the culprit was someone he was related to.
“And you checked my sales manager’s background closely? He’s been acting suspiciously lately. I just know he has something to do with this.”
Gennessey swallowed a sigh. She had no doubt the sales manager was acting shady, but it had nothing to do with his work and everything to do with keeping his wife and mistress from finding out about each other.
If her client would review her findings, he would figure it out for himself, but she decided against enlightening him. The man was in denial, and nothing she said would change his mind. She’d done her job well, so it was time for her to leave the case in law enforcement’s capable hands.
“Everything is provided in detail in the report. Why don’t you read through it carefully? If you have any more questions, you are welcome to reach out to Mr. Colter to discuss where to go from there. Good luck to you. I hope you find what you’re looking for very soon.”
She ended the call before the man could question her work further. Since being hired at Knight Security and Investigations, she’d never been one to pass the buck when she had a disagreeable client, but in this case, she was more than willing to let the company’s CEO, Jay Colter, handle the client’s doubt about the results of her investigation.
Jay lacked the finesse in dealing with clients that the company’s owner, Tristin Knight, possessed, but since taking over the reins when Tristin stepped down from the company, Jay had his own brand of subtlety which served him well in the job.
She was grateful the cases like this were in the minority. Most of the time the cases were enough to keep her from being bored, and she felt she helped people in some small way. There were even occasions when the job fed her desire for excitement. Danger occasionally came with the job, but contrary to her work with the CIA, she was never without backup when risk was involved.
If someone had told her when she was in her twenties that she would yearn for a job without danger and adventure, she would have laughed. The desire was the very reason she enlisted in the Army after deciding college wasn’t for her. It pushed her to train and one day be a part of the Delta Force. The only reason she stopped her training was because the career move offered to her by the Central Intelligence Agency seemed even more exciting than her military service.
Even knowing what she knew now, she couldn’t regret her time with the Army or the CIA, but she may have made different choices. So much of her actions had been fueled by rebellion against a family who never approved of her.
Now at KSI, she found a new family who made her feel needed. She fit not just in the traditional role of the company, which was providing standard security and private investigation services for clients who could afford their fees, but also in the other side, the more convert operations which involved cases law enforcement and government agencies couldn’t resolve. KSI employed two teams, Alpha and Delta, to handle those cases, but sometimes the investigators were called upon to provide back-up for the two teams.
It was the best of both worlds for Gennessey, and it was a life she loved.
Reaching for the file folder at the edge of her desk, she placed a hard copy of her report inside and walked it from her office to the receptionist desk down the hall. She reached over the counter to place the folder on the desk just as a sharp curse came from somewhere beyond where she could see.
With a grin, Gennessey crossed around the counter to stand behind the desk, her sight lining up with the open doorway leading into the workroom just off the lobby.
Sarah Perkins glared at the copy machine as she lifted the top only to drop it closed once more. When the machine beeped in protest, another curse escaped the petite grandmother’s mouth, and Gennessey had to stifle a laugh.
Standing at only five feet and two inches tall, Sarah placed her delicate hands on her wide hips, her brow dipping in an angry scowl. Even upset, the grandmother of three exuded class. Her shock of white hair curled softly about her face and neck, the perfect contrast to her brown skin. Her thin sweater was a soft pink and topped a pair of white slacks and sensible shoes. A statement necklace adorned the neckline while simple gold earrings decorated her lobes.
“Everything all right, Ms. Sarah?”
The eyes looking her way flashed with irritation a moment before they softened in recognition. “Oh, Gennessey, you sweet thing. Did you need something?”
Gennessey stepped closer to the open doorway. “I brought the updated file on my case to you. I called the client a few moments ago to let him know we were closing the case.”
Sarah nodded, and her hair remained unmoving. Knowing the receptionist never used any type of hair product on her simple hairdo, Gennessey never understood how the woman managed to keep every hair in place no matter what her day was like.
“Thank you, dear. I’ll get the invoice in the mail and add the folder to our files. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“You can tell me why you’re mad at the copy machine. I can get my gun and shoot the damn thing if you want me to.”
Gennessey’s sarcastic humor brought a smile to the older woman’s lips. “Thank you for the offer, but if I thought shooting it would help, I would do it myself. I know this new copier is supposed to be more high tech and user friendly, but I have yet to see any evidence of it. The screen keeps telling me there is a paper jam, but I can’t find any paper to clear out. I’ve opened every door to this thing twice and nothing.”
“Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?” Gennessey hated offering the simplistic solution, but in her experience, the technique often rebooted machines out of whatever had them stuck.
