But really, what the hell had Rosemary been thinking? Or had she even been thinking at all?
She’d invited Aleksei on impulse last night after Sage called, apologizing, saying she and Ryker wouldn’t be back for a few more days. She’d been disappointed but not surprised. There had been complications with Christian’s appendectomy, so the doctors had to do it the old-fashioned way instead of laparoscopically. Ryker was a lot like Sage when it came to his sibling—way overprotective. Even though Christian was a grown man who worked in the FBI cybersecurity division, Ryker wouldn’t leave his brother’s side until he was fully recovered.
Rosemary would feel the same way if their roles were reversed, but that didn’t mean she was canceling her vacation. Sage said it wasn’t safe for her to be alone in the woods for five days. Easy fix. Invite Aleksei. But instead of being content, Sage had lost her goddamn mind.
Do you want to die?
She knew her sister hadn’t meant it. Sage was low on sleep and high on stress, worried sick about Christian, and freaked out about the possibility of Rosemary traveling with a man she barely knew. Still, her sister’s text had cut deep.
She did not want to die. Had never wanted to die. It was hard for her to believe anybody wouldwantto die. But she knew what it was like to be given a death sentence. When she was diagnosed, there was no cure for her cancer, so the goal had never been her recovery. It had been to use every treatment possible to extend her life as long as possible.
Remiza had cured her cancer, but her cancer had taught her to accept the reality of death. Death would come for her eventually. Death was inevitable. It was what she did in the time she had that mattered. That was why she had invited Aleksei.
She wanted this time with him, but now Sage’s words had planted a seed of doubt in her mind. She wasn’t worried about rape or murder, but her sister was right. She’d known Aleksei for barely a week and had dumped a lot on him in a short period of time. Doubt nipped at her mind, flipping her empty stomach. What if he was having second thoughts about her being bald?
He’d said he didn’t care, but he’d had a few days to process her confession, and their texts had been sporadic over the weekend. He was visiting his sister and busy with her kids, but maybe that was an excuse. What if he had changed his mind? What if he said he would come to Ricketts Glen because he didn’t know how to nicely refuse? What if he ghosted her? Or worse. What if he was doing the mature thing and coming on the tripso he could tell her in person that he didn’t want to pursue a romantic relationship with her? What if he gave her the dreaded “I’d like to be friends” talk?
Maybe she should tell him not to come. Five days alone hiking and fishing would be great. Just great.
“Did you find any more elevator invoices?” Armando interrupted her reverie.
Heat flushed her cheeks. She had the feeling it wasn’t the first time he had asked the question.
“No, and I don’t think I will. Whoever’s doing this is smart.”
Armando grimaced. “I agree. We’ve run company names, addresses, and deposit instructions for invoices we pay via ACH, and every duplicate has checked out. We’ve had three people working for close to seven hours, and other than the elevator invoices you identified for Penrose and Girard, we’ve only found what we think might be a duplicate sprinkler invoice on one property and duplicate lighting expenses on another.”
“Or maybe they actually needed two different companies to work on the sprinklers and the lighting for those buildings?” Rosemary lifted her palms and shrugged. “That doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m no construction expert. Of course, I’m not a fraud expert either.”
She let her words hang in the air. They were looking for needles in haystacks without the personnel or expertise to find them. What they really needed was a team of forensic accountants to go over each of the Moresco company files, line by line. Armando had to know that, but for some reason, he hadn’t suggested it. Maybe he was worried Sal would judge him. Or maybe pride was holding him back.
Maybe he’d feel better if she suggested it.
“Should we call a few experts and see if there’s fraud detection software we could use? There are more than one hundred separate Moresco businesses. It will take us monthsto review all those files in enough detail to see signs of fraud. Maybe longer. And there’s still a chance we would miss something because this isn’t our area of expertise.”
“You know we can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
Armando peered over the reading glasses perched at the tip of his nose. “You know why.”
Embarrassment warmed her skin.
“I don’t think she does,” Dante offered, looking up from his laptop and meeting Armando’s stern stare with one of his own.
“She has to.” Armando’s tone was implacable.
“Only if Davis told her, and I don’t think he did. Would you trust that bastard to tell anyone the truth? Think about it. Think about her. Who would choose this?”
“He’s her father,” Armando responded in a tone that sent a shiver down Rosemary’s spine.
It didn’t seem to faze Dante. “Stepfather. He’s her stepfather. And a pretty shitty one, I think. He threw her to the wolves and didn’t tell her a fucking thing.”
“Wolves?” Armando scoffed. “We are not wolves. And watch your language. You know I don’t permit foul language in my office.”
Rosemary looked from Armando to Dante and back to Armando again. They were talking about her as if she weren’t there.
“What am I supposed to know?” she demanded. “What was Davis supposed to tell me?”