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It was more contemporary than their previous logo, but still retained the statelywe’ll take care of your moneyappearance. The classy serif font had been replaced by an equally classy but less rigid serif font.
McMann Cohn
C r a w f o r d
A thin line separated the original partners above my name, but my name was spread out so that there was balance on both sides of the line.
A second image was for the landing page on our website, which incorporated the new masthead, but included our areas of expertise: Financial Advising, Estate Planning, Tax Preparation
The color scheme was the same banker’s green and black, but they’d added a gold accent that popped in a professional way.
My mouth dropped open. This was happening. Could I even say nonow?
I was in shock, seeing my future laid out so clearly. I closed the message without responding.
My vibrating cell phone jolted me back to the present. Amanda’s home number lit the screen.
“Amanda?” I answered, confused and surprised.
“Braden,” my assistant said. “Why are you surprised? You just sent me an email.”
“It’s after eleven. I didn’t expect you to get it until tomorrow.”
“It’s ten here in humid and rainy New York City.”
I hadn’t accounted for the time difference.
“Why are you emailing about work on your vacation?” he asked.
In the background, Amanda called out, “Why are you working, Mia?”
“I’m not,” I said before Braden could repeat Amanda’s question.
When I hired Braden three years ago, I knew he was not only perfect as my assistant, but perfect for my best friend. We had developed a symbiotic relationship because we had the same fiscally conservative investment backbone, and I trusted him implicitly. And if I was made a partner, Braden would be given a promotion and raise, which would benefit both him and Amanda as they wanted to start a family.
I had another person’s fate and livelihood to consider as well as my own. I had to take the promotion.
“Mr. Cohn said no work while you’re at St. Claire,” Braden said.
“I’m not working.”
“Then what’s this about Trevor Lance and his company, Lance & Wong? And Parker Briggs—I think I’ve heard that name.”
“It’s not work,” I insisted. “I can’t explain in detail. This is sort of a pet project?” I said it as a question because I didn’t knowwhatto say. I had planned to send the email, have Braden do the research, and email me back data. I didn’t want to explain myself.
Would Braden help me if I said,I think a woman was killed because she was blackmailing someone, and Lance and Briggs are two of my suspects?
“You don’t want to tell me?”
He sounded almost hurt.
“I’m helping a friend. Please?”
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll get you the information by noon tomorrow. My time.”
“While I have you on the phone, can I pick your brain about something else?”
“What do you need?”