Chapter 96

ARTHUR

Monday morning, I got up while Doris was still sleeping. Despite a wonderful weekend with Doris and Mia, I hadn’t slept well.

It had been a month since the fire, and I hadn’t made any progress in finding out who did it.

I had my driver take me out to the pharmaceutical company. I stood in front of the charred remains of the original office building, lab, and factory.

I had chosen to rebuild on another part of the property, leaving the destroyed buildings as they were as a show of what could happen when I let my defenses down.

The sight of the blackened buildings filled me with grief and also a vile rage. The anger was almost too violent to control. My stomach felt like a volcano had taken up residence there and was churning, ready to explode.

I had worked so hard on this pharmaceutical business. It wasn’t just the money that I lost having to rebuild that angered me. It was all the people who would have to wait longer before they could get treatment.

It was the fact that formulas were gone.

When I had a rival in business, they met me in the boardroom. They didn’t torch my business in the middle of the night.

In my gut, I knew who was responsible: my enemies, Dr. John and Jeff Wasserman.

They were jealous of my success. They were jealous that Doris was with me, not with them. They wanted to see me fail.

I needed to find a way to prove their guilt.

Ethan, the P.I., hadn’t found any evidence. I slowly walked one long lap around the property.

Finally, I got back into my limo. The rest of the day, I couldn’t work. I was restless, tired, irritable.

After work, I went to my favorite steak house, ordered a steak, and just stared at it morosely.

“You’re still looking like you are having the best day,” Nathan said sarcastically, coming up to my table.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I put a tracker on your car.”

“What? Really?”

“No. Not really. We’re best friends. I know where you go when you’re upset. What’s eating you?” Nathan asked. He sat down, pulled my steak over to his side of the table, and cut a big bite.

“I can’t stop thinking about the arson,” I said. “Ethan’s not making any progress. I need you to find out who started the fire at my company. I know it was Dr. John and Jeff, but I need proof. I want you to find proof."

Nathan nodded. "Sure. I’ll just pull that out of my butt," he said.

I stared at him.

“Right, Arthur. No problem. I’ll be the CEO of AmeriCapital and find proof that your private investigator couldn’t find. Piece of cake.”

Nathan put a huge piece of steak in his mouth and chewed. He pointed at the steak with his fork. “At least it’s still warm this time.”

“Help me out here, Nathan.”

“Okay. Nina and I will talk to all the employees who were there when the buildings combusted. Maybe someone saw something. It’s possible an employee might talk to Nina, who wouldn’t talk to a P.I. Nina is amazing at getting people to talk.”

“You really like her, huh?”

“More than you know.”

“So it’s serious?”

“At least on my side. How does Nina feel? Who knows? The woman is a mystery.”

I smiled at my best friend. “But one you wouldn’t mind finding out more about.”

Nathan pointed at me with his fork. “Exactly. And as I’m officially her boss, I have no problem ordering her to come with me on an investigation.”

“I feel better knowing you two are on the job.”

Nathan motioned to the waiter to pack up the rest of the steak for him. Then Nathan looked at me. “You can count on us.”

Nathan and Nina spent the next two days investigating the fire. They interviewed witnesses, collected evidence, and followed leads. It wasn’t until Nina had the idea of checking who might have resigned right before the fire started that we finally got a break in the case.

It was Thursday afternoon, and Nina, Nathan, Doris, and I met in Nathan’s office in AmeriCapital.

“Check this out,” Nina said, putting a few sheets of paper on Nathan’s desk and motioning us all to look at them. “Cathy, your Cathy,” Nina paused to look pointedly at me. “Was listed as an employee until a week before the fire. Then she quit unexpectedly and look.”

Nina shifted another paper to the top of the pile, showing Cathy’s bank account. “Mysterious fifty thousand dollar deposit the day she quit and another fifty thousand dollar deposit the morning of the fire from the same off-shore account.”

We were all quiet while we took in the implications.

“How did you get this info?” Doris said, picking up the sheet with Cathy’s bank balance.

Nina looked embarrassed. “I actually put myself through college with my computer hacking skills.” Nina put her hands up in the ‘I surrender’ pose. “I’ve only ever used my hacking skills for good.”

Nina put her hands down. “I know this was a violation of Cathy’s privacy, but when I saw she got a job as a secretary at the pharmaceutical company and then quit unexpectedly, I dug a little deeper.”

Nina took the bank statement paperback from Doris.

“And look what I found,” Nina said, waving the bank paper around. “That desperate pregnant woman sure looks guilty.”

“This is bad,” Doris said. Doris looked at me with an expression that was full of many emotions. Sadness, anger, disappointment in Cathy, and faith in me that I would fix it.

I put my arm around Doris’ waist. “Don’t worry, my love. I’ll fix it.”

Doris put her head on my shoulder. “I know you will,” she said softly.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing that crazy bitch in jail,” Nina said. “Someone could have gotten hurt. Also, think of all the sick people who are going to have to wait longer to get medicine. She’s mean and greedy. Cathy should be bending over backward, thanking you, not making more problems.”

“Hhmn,” Nathan said. “This is proof that she got money from somewhere.” Nathan stroked his chin. “She could say a long lost relative gave her money. Or it was an advance on a record contract. It’s not rock-solid proof of arson.”

“What we need is to find out who paid her,” Doris said. “And get definite evidence of wrongdoing. How are we going to do that?”

Nina put one hip slightly to the side and struck a sexy pose. “I have an idea.”

We all looked at her, but it was clear from her expression she wasn’t going to tell us all of her plans right now.

“Your private investigator. What’s his name again?”

"Ethan,” I said.

“Ethan,” Nina repeated, holding out her hand. “I need his number.”

Her grin was devious, and I couldn’t wait to hear what was on her mind.

Nina and Doris left, and I looked at Nathan. He shrugged.

“I didn’t know she was a hacker. She’s full of surprises. Whatever Nina has planned, it’s bound to be good.”

My eyebrows lifted up high. I had no idea what was going through Nina’s mind. I couldn’t wait to find out.