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"Me too. Have you looked at it yourself?"
"Not in detail. I usually just wait for the SEC to do its thing. If I followed every lead they had, I'd waste half my time with it."
"Do you have a few minutes?" I asked.
He paled. "Sure." He sat right next to me. “Hit me.”
"Look at the dates," I said.
I scrolled so he could look at the transaction dates. I didn't need to spell it out for him. He was a bright guy. He would’ve remembered their share price crashing.
"One time would be a lucky guess," he stated as if reading my mind. "But this?"
I scrolled down. "It lookstoosuspicious for me. Like it was meant for the commission to catch it."
"Most people who do shit like this aren't smart enough to try to cover their tracks," Duncan said.
"True," I replied. "But this feels deliberate."
He glanced at me. "Look, I know for a fact that Chase is coming down here in a few minutes. He's been talking about taking you out the whole day."
“I know.”
"Do you have something planned tomorrow evening?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No."
"Good. Why don't you and I sit together and look at this. But not here. In my office."
I nodded. "Sure. If we're staying late, no one's going to see us anyway. You think I'm onto something?"
"It doesn't hurt to take a closer look." He paused. "Don't share it with my brother until we're sure of it. We don't need more of us wasting their time with this in case it turns out to be nothing."
"Sounds good. I don't want to worry him unless it's necessary."
Then Duncan gave me one of those rare smiles. "I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm glad my brother tracked you down and then convinced you to apply to Sterling Investments. Maybe I should trust the idiot more often."
I laughed. "What do you mean? You usually don't?"
"Well, sometimes he's—" He stopped abruptly and then cleared his throat again. "Sometimes he can be impulsive and reckless, but just know he always means well."
I minimized the window completely, so just in case anyone else passed us, they wouldn’t catch on.
"Okay," I said, but it sounded more like a question because I wasn't sure why he was telling me this at all.
"Duncan, have you—Hannah, you’re still here?" Chase asked. "Tell me someone didn't dump all their work on you."
I laughed. "Duncan came here saying the exact same thing. Rest assured, they didn't."
"Then what are you still doing here?" he asked me.
"Well, we were meeting at eight o’clock, so I thought I’d hang around.”
Duncan let out a breath of relief. He might be broodier than Chase, but his heart was in the right place. I respected him for not wanting to worry his brothers unless it was necessary. There was still a chance this would turn out to be nothing.
"All right then, let's all head out," Duncan said.
Chase and I walked side by side, but he didn't attempt to take my hand. To my surprise, we were joined by a few others in the elevator. They got in on different floors. Sometimes I forgot that a lot of companies were in a flurry around the end of the quarter.