“I’m not positive but I suspect that the sender is probably Nyla Witherspoon.” Grace set the mug down on the desk. “I’ll bet she came across the password for Sprague’s email account. It’s not like Sprague treated it as top secret.”
“Now she’s pissed and sending you those emails because she thinks you embezzled money from Sprague Witherspoon that should have come to her.”
“Assuming Nyla is behind the emails, I need to remind everyone that she started sending them before it was discovered that a lot of money was missing. She was jealous of Sprague’s office staff because we worked so closely with her father. But she fixated on me.”
“Because you were the one who did the most to elevate his career,” Irene said calmly.
“People keep saying that, but it’s not true.”
“There’s no maybe about it. Your cookbook and the blog are what put Witherspoon into the big time.”
“I keep trying to explain that it was Sprague Witherspoon, himself, who was the force behind his own success. I just helped him market his concepts.”
“Bull,” Irene said. “It was the cookbook and the related blog with all those dippy daily affirmations that made him famous in the motivational guru business. You’re the one who wrote all of that stuff.”
Grace raised her brows. “Dippy daily affirmations?”
“Sorry.” Irene winced. “As a branding technique those affirmations were nothing short of brilliant. But getting back to the emails, who else might have the password to Witherspoon’s account?”
“Any number of people, including me,” Grace said morosely.
“I’ll bet Nyla or whoever is behind the emails is hoping the cops will assume that you are sending those emails to yourself.”
“That possibility has occurred to me,” Grace said. “Why do you think I didn’t mention them to Devlin? I figured he would jump to that conclusion.”
“No,” Irene said. She said it very firmly.
“Whoever is emailing me from Sprague’s account has been very careful to make sure the contents are not overtly threatening. I think that indicates that the sender doesn’t want the cops to look too hard in that direction.”
“But the emails are definitely intended to rattle your nerves,” Irene said.
“Oh, sure.” Grace drank some more coffee and lowered the mug. “I must admit the sender has had some success in that regard. I’m not sleeping well these days.”
“I wouldn’t be sleeping well, either, under the circumstances,” Irene said. She paused a beat and then softened her tone. “Do you really believe that Julius thinks you’re naive and maybe not too bright?”
Grace started to say yes but she hesitated and then shrugged. “Maybe. But he’s hard to read. I also have to face the fact that there is another possibility.”
“What’s that?”
“He might still be wondering if I did kill Sprague Witherspoon.”
Irene set her mug down with a bang that reverberated through the office. “I’m sure he doesn’t believe that.”
“Do you know him well enough to be able to tell what he’s thinking?”
“Well, no. As you just said, he’s hard to read. But Julius and Dev have been friends for years. I’m sure Dev would never have gone along with the dinner date last night if he wasn’t convinced that you and Julius made a good match.”
Grace managed a grim smile. “And everyone thinks I’m naive.”
Irene glared. “I beg your pardon?”
“Get real. You know me well enough to trust me but Devlin doesn’t. Furthermore he’s a cop—one who happens to have an old pal in town, someone whose instincts he probably does trust. So he goes along with your little matchmaking scheme because he figures it will give him the perfect opportunity to get Julius’s take on me.”
Irene opened her mouth to protest but after a few seconds she closed it again. She drummed her fingers on the desktop.
“Hmm,” she said.
“Don’t worry, I’m not taking Devlin’s distrust personally,” Grace said.
Irene’s brows rose. “That’s very gracious of you.”
“I’m serious. Dev’s first priority is to protect you. I can see it in his eyes every time he looks at you. The possibility that your best friend might be a murderer—and/or an embezzler—is naturally of considerable interest to him.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t believe that you killed Witherspoon or stole the money.”
“I didn’t say he believed all that stuff. I just said he’s concerned—in part because I’m now living in his town but mostly because of you. He’s a good cop. He’s also a good husband. He’ll do what he thinks he has to do to protect you.”
“Yes, but I still can’t believe that he went so far as to ask Julius for his take on you,” Irene said.
“Seems like a logical move, when you think about it.”
Irene eyed her keenly. “You know, some people might be quite annoyed upon discovering that what they thought was an innocent blind date was actually an undercover sting operation.”
“Turns out I’ve got bigger problems,” Grace said. “As we at the Witherspoon Way would say, Today I will focus on priorities and ignore the unimportant crap.”
Irene looked pained. “You just made up that affirmation on the spot, didn’t you?”
“Yep. Has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?”
They drank their coffee quietly for a time. The silence between them was the kind that could be generated only by a long friendship. After a while Irene stirred in her chair.
“Let’s reverse this process,” she said. “What’s your take on Julius Arkwright?”
“He’s bored,” Grace said.
“What?” Irene stared at her, startled. “Devlin and I have been wondering if Julius is sinking into some kind of low-grade depression. He hasn’t even dated very much since his divorce a couple of years ago.”
Grace shrugged. “He’s drifting. With some people, boredom can look a lot like depression.”
“When did you get a degree in psychology?”
“Okay, you’ve got me there. But if you will recall, Mom made me spend a lot of time with a shrink after the crap that happened up at the old asylum. I learned a lot. What made you and Devlin think that Julius was depressed?”
“Dev told me that Julius is thinking very seriously about selling his venture capital company,” Irene said slowly.
“So? A lot of people build companies and then sell them. It’s a dream come true for most businesspeople.”
“Dev says he doesn’t think that’s the case with Julius.”
“Why not?”
“Julius built Arkwright Ventures from scratch,” Irene said. “He poured his heart and soul into it, according to Dev. Julius loves the venture capital business or at least he did at one time. He’s made a fortune because he’s very good at what he does. But about two years ago his wife left him for another man.”
Grace squared her shoulders. “I repeat, so?”
“Wow.” Irene blinked. “Aren’t you the hard-hearted woman today?”
Grace tightened her grip on her mug. “Don’t look at me like that. Divorce happens.”
“Well, yes, but you’re usually a little more sympathetic about such things.”
“Maybe Julius poured a little too much of his heart and soul into his business,” Grace said. “Maybe he should have saved some for his wife.”
Irene nodded slowly. “You may be right. Dev did say that Julius was married to his company. It’s entirely possible that the wife felt neglected. But, really, she didn’t have to run off with Julius’s vice president and trusted friend.”
Grace thought about that. “Okay, you’re right, that’s cold.”
“Dev says Julius has seemed sort of numb since then, like he’s running on autopilot. He keeps makin
g money but the thrill is gone.”
“There are problems in the world and then there are problems,” Grace said evenly. “Frankly, the ability to make money without even trying doesn’t strike me as a huge burden to bear.”
Irene smiled briefly. “You really are not inclined to be sympathetic to Julius Arkwright today, are you?”
“He doesn’t need sympathy. But if it makes you feel better, I can tell you that this morning I hired him to consult for me.”
Irene’s mouth fell open. “You what?”
“Last night when he took me home he told me that I needed to draw up a strategy designed to help me find a new career. This morning I hired him to show me how to go about making the plan.”
“You hired him?” Irene said. Now she looked blank.
“Technically speaking, it was a bribe.”
“Either way, you’re joking. You can’t afford Julius Arkwright.”
“I already gave him the bribe. He took it. We have a deal.”
Irene’s eyes widened. “Please don’t tell me you’re sleeping with him. At least not yet. I like Julius, yes. I think the two of you would make an interesting couple. But it’s way too soon—especially for you. We both know that jumping into bed with a man on the first date is not your style.”
“No, of course I’m not sleeping with Julius Arkwright.” Grace brushed that aside with a wide, sweeping motion of her hand and beetled her brows at Irene—making it clear that she had no intention of hopping into bed with Julius. Unfortunately she could not be sure if she was trying to reassure Irene or herself. “But I think he’s got a point about me needing some kind of career path plan,” she continued hastily.
“You do?”
“I’m certainly not getting anywhere on my own. I can’t seem to focus. He appears to be an expert on planning and strategy. So, when he ran by my house this morning I intercepted him with a picnic basket full of breakfast goodies and told him it was a bribe for his services as a consultant. He accepted.”
“Did he?” Irene tapped the pen lightly on the desktop. “So the blind date was not a complete disaster.”
“Not if it keeps me from ending up as a street mime out in front of Nordstrom.”
Irene looked at her. “Well, at least you’d be working in front of Nordstrom. You wouldn’t be just any street mime.”
“You know what I mean. I want to find out what it is that I am meant to do in life, Irene. My calling. My passion. I haven’t had any luck with the online questionnaires that are supposed to guide you to an appropriate career path. So I figure I have nothing left to lose by getting some planning advice from an expert.”
“In other words, you do like Julius,” Irene said with a smug air. “At least enough to ask for his advice.”
Grace smiled a crafty smile. “Some people would say I’m using him.”
Amusement lit Irene’s eyes. “I seriously doubt that Julius would let anyone use him. He has been known to do the occasional favor, however.”
“Really?”
“Who do you think arranged the financing I needed to start Cloud Lake Kitchenware? Who do you think helped me find a website designer to take the business online? Who do you think guided me through the tax and accounting issues and taught me how to do a profit-and-loss statement?”
“Ah,” Grace said. “I see.”
Irene’s expression turned serious. “Like I said, I’m rather fond of Julius and grateful to him. Furthermore, I know that Dev would trust him with his life. In fact, that is what happened when they served together in a war zone a few years ago. Dev also trusts Julius with our retirement fund investments. But if you’re going to get involved with Julius Arkwright, I think there is something you should know about him.”
“I’m listening.”
“The vice president who married Julius’s ex is Edward Hastings. He’s one of the Seattle-real-estate-empire Hastingses. Fourth-generation land developers. His family’s company owns a huge chunk of downtown Seattle real estate, including a few office towers.”
Grace considered the information briefly and then raised one shoulder in a dismissive little shrug.
“Why does that matter to me?” she asked.
“Shortly after Edward Hastings left Arkwright Ventures he not only married Julius’s ex, he also became the president and CEO of the Hastings family empire.”
“Still waiting for the other shoe to drop, Irene.”
“There are rumors that under Edward Hastings’s control the firm has stumbled a few times in the past eighteen months. Major deals have slipped away to competitors.”
Grace watched Irene over the rim of the coffee mug. “What does that have to do with Julius?”
“I’m a small-business person who swims in a very small pond here in Cloud Lake. I admit that I don’t know a lot about the shark pool in which Julius does his hunting. But I try to keep up with the Pacific Northwest business news, and because of Dev’s friendship with Julius, I sometimes hear bits and pieces of gossip.”
“What have you heard that is worrying you?” Grace asked.
Irene leaned forward and folded her arms on the desk. “Hastings is in real trouble. Some people are predicting that under Edward Hastings’s leadership we will see the downfall of a family-held company that has been around for nearly a century. The business world is like a small town—once a rumor starts, it can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Grace reflected briefly. “What does this have to do with Julius?”
“The gossip is that the downward slide of the Hastings family empire has been caused by one man—Julius Arkwright.”
“They think he’s out for revenge? That he’s somehow sabotaging Hastings?”
“Yes.”
Grace gave that some thought. “And this has been going on for how long?”
“Nearly two years. The timing is significant.”
“Because it coincides with the timing of Julius’s divorce?”
“People are saying that Julius intends to destroy Hastings. Dev tells me that when Julius sets his sights on a goal, he doesn’t quit. Like a heat-seeking missile, he just keeps going until he reaches his target.”
“I can’t believe you set me up on a blind date with a man you feel compelled to describe in military terms.”
“That’s Dev’s description,” Irene said. “I just wanted you to know about the rumors before you got any more involved with Julius. If it’s true that he’s plotting revenge, there may be collateral damage.”
“You’re the one who set up the blind date. Now you’re trying to warn me about Julius?”
“I really do think that you and Julius would be good together. But I will admit that Dev and I were also hoping that if you two hit it off, Julius might be . . . distracted from whatever it is he’s doing to Hastings.”
“Stop trying to make me feel sorry for Julius Arkwright.”
Irene blinked. “That is not exactly what I’m trying to accomplish here.”
“Yes, it is. You’re trying to make me think that he’s depressed and obsessed with revenge and in need of fixing. But as far as I can tell, Julius is more than capable of taking care of himself. I just told you, I have other priorities at the moment. I’m trying to get a life, remember?”
“Right. A life.” Irene sat back in her chair. “And you’ve hired Julius Arkwright to help you come up with a plan to get said life.”
“That’s it,” Grace said smoothly. “Just a business transaction. You can move along. Nothing to see here.”
“Don’t give me that. What happened when Julius took you home last night?”
Grace pursed her lips. “Among other things, he asked me flat-out if I murdered Witherspoon.”
“Oh, jeez,” Irene groaned. “Not exactly a great conversation-starter.”
“Nope. But it sure was a fine way to end
one, which is what happened. Sort of. I kicked him out of the house. On his way out the door he assured me that he believed me.”
“But you kicked him out, anyway.”
“Of course.” Grace swallowed some coffee and lowered the mug. “But then he called me.”
“Did he, now?” Irene said very softly.
“I ended up telling him about the weird emails and the next thing I knew, he was ordering me to tell Devlin about the emails, which is why I went to Devlin’s office today, et cetera, et cetera. And there you have it. A complete portrait of a blind date gone bad but possibly a good sign for the future of my career planning.”
Irene tapped the pen on the desk again, very thoughtful now. “Is there any way that call last night could be described as phone sex?”
“Absolutely not.”
Talking to Julius on the phone had been a strangely intimate experience, Grace thought. But she refused to describe it as phone sex. Not that she’d ever had phone sex. It was simply that, after getting hit with the latest email from the stalker, she had felt a need to confide in someone. It just so happened that Julius had been the one to call her at that moment. Serendipity. Or coincidence. Or chaos theory. Something like that probably explained everything.
“I’m not sure what to say.” Irene shook her head. “Like Dev, Julius is a little deep in places.”
“Now there’s a startling revelation.”
Irene ignored her. “I guess it comes down to the fact that I think you can trust him. And, like I said, he’s the kind of man who will do favors for friends. He took a chance on me when no one else would.”
“Any investment is a risk but you and Cloud Lake Kitchenware are as close as it gets to a sure thing.”
“Cloud Lake Kitchenware is working,” Irene said. Pride and satisfaction brightened her expression. “It’s actually going to turn a nice profit this year. But it will never make the kind of money that Julius is accustomed to raking in with his big investments. This particular project is petty cash for him.”
“As it happens, Julius told me that he’s got enough money.”
Surprise lit Irene’s eyes. Then she smiled. “Did he say that?”
“Yes.”