Page 57 of Forging Caine
Not that it mattered.
“I’m more interested in the meeting she was holding in the Oaks.” Harry hadn’t appeared bothered when he interrupted us, but his tone made it clear he was. “You actually going on vacation, or is this a cover?”
Shit.
Quinn didn’t slip out of the sly mode. “I thought I saw that Special Agent here. Elliot Skinner, right?”
Matt sat up straighter and turned to me. “Is this about my father’s trial? Should I know what’s going on in my family’s company?”
As far as I knew, Elliot hadn’t taken on Roger’s case, except where Olivia Scott had been involved. “Yes, I’m going on vacation with Antonio. Yes, the FBI had some questions for me about the Scotts because they’re still working that case. Yes, I met with them in the Oaks boardroom so I wouldn’t be late for this meeting. And no, Quinn, before you ask, I don’t know when the wedding is going to be.”
The depth of the lines on Matt’s forehead could have competed with the Grand Canyon.
“Matt, I swear. It had nothing to do with your father.” Our current meeting, on the other hand, had plenty to do with him. “I met with IT last week, and the last of the safeguards I’d proposed have been implemented. No one should be able to override any of the fraud flags in the system without at least one other person authorizing it. Not even Matt or one of the software architects should be able to.”
Matt got that same look as he did every time we discussed his father—who’d defrauded the company by manipulating a loophole in the software system—like someone had pinned him down and forced him to eat pineapple on his pizza.
“I wanted to finish reviewing the claims I suspect Jimmy filed fraudulent police reports for, but I have one more for when I get back.”
Taking advantage of the change in subject, Matt pointed to Quinn. “You take that claim.”
She nodded, scribbling in her notebook. “Most of the claims Sam flagged for Jimmy’s case turned out to be fraud. I expect it’s just a matter of going through paperwork?”
“I’ll review my progress with you before I leave. But the focus of that investigation has shifted.” I’d been pulling more than double-duty on those cases, searching for signs of fraud both for Foster Mutual and for the cases against Jimmy, Parker, and possibly the people behind the pawnshop. “Jimmy died, so that part of the—”
“When? How?” Harry dropped his notepad on the couch and pulled out his phone. He maintained close contacts inside the Brenton Police Department, which he put to frequent use during our SIU investigations. News like this rarely surprised him, and the scowl on his face made it clear he wasn’t happy.
“I heard about it Saturday. They’re calling it—”
Matt stood from the couch and we all watched him stroll the length of the bookcase lining the wall beyond the couches.
This company had been in his family for generations. Roger hadn’t been a good father-in-law, nor a very good father. Matt never said anything about it, but given some things Roger said to me after Matt and I got divorced, I couldn’t imagine what he said to his son.
Now every time we had this meeting, when I updated him on the status of repairing the company after his father almost destroyed it, at some point he sank into this mood. Hearing about Jimmy couldn’t help, considering he was also awaiting trial.
Who knew what was going to come up in court, but my instincts told me that Jimmy was going to factor into Roger’s case.
Harry’s phone pinged and he returned his focus to it. Someone must’ve had news about Jimmy.
Quinn looked pointedly at me and inclined her head toward Matt.Go say something to him, that look said.
Feelings. Yeah, that was what I was good at.
I got up and crossed the twenty feet until I stood next to Matt. “Do you know when your dad—”
“I haven’t talked to him since January. I wanted to assure him that the company was in good hands and that I’d negotiated a deal with the reinsurers.” He pulled a framed photograph from one of the shelves. His grandfather and the Board of Directors when he took over. “But when I told him you were the one the board insisted on, he lost it.”
They’d chosen me because I was the one who figured everything out. If Cass hadn’t gotten sick, and I hadn’t come home and taken a job at Foster Mutual, and I hadn’t taken on Olivia Scott’s burned Chagall claim, Roger could’ve kept doing what he was doing.
One more thing for Roger to blame on me.
“All he cares about is himself.” Matt put the photo back on the shelf but didn’t take his hand off of it. “He even started in on me about Ty again. As thoughIwas the colossal disappointment because I married the man I… Sorry, Sam.”
I put my hand on his back and lowered my voice to keep my words as private as I could when there were two other people in the room. “Don’t hold back to spare my feelings. I’m engaged to an amazing man now. If you and I had stayed married, neither of us would be with the partners we belong with.”
“You were always a good friend. I’ve missed that.”
Better friend than a wife. At least for Matt. “But an even better investigator.”