Page 17

***
Jess took a deep breath and wiped her palms on her gray wool slacks. These calls were never fun, and this one would be worse than most—possibly the worst yet. She might as well get it over with. She opened her videoconferencing app. English Cream and Punisher were already on.
Punisher spoke first. “You messed up. Badly. You disappoint me.”
Jess winced but kept her voice cold and professional, with just a hint of sarcasm. “Nice to talk to you too. How’s the weather?”
Punisher cursed. “You’re lucky we’re not in the same room.”
Jess wouldn’t let him intimidate her. “That makes two of us.”
English Cream’s polished veneer cracked for an instant. “Enough!” He paused and went on with his normal smoothness. “You should have foreseen and accounted for this possibility and you didn’t. Do not let that happen again. Now, how do you propose to fix the problem?”
Jess chose her words carefully. “By keeping a very close eye on it, which will be much easier now. You remember the old adage ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’? Better still to keep your enemy close and make him think you’re his friend.”
Punisher scoffed. “The lawyer thinks you’re his friend?”
“For this purpose, yes. He thinks we’re on the same side, that our interests are aligned when it comes to business matters.”
“That’s a fair point,” English Cream acknowledged. “How close of an eye can you keep on him and the, ah, other individual?”
Jess leaned forward. If she could persuade English Cream, Punisher might fall in line. “Very close. Our offices will all be on the same floor. I’ll make a point of dropping in on both of them unexpectedly. We’ll meet regularly, maybe even daily. Any financial questions they have will come to me first. I’ll know the instant they suspect anything.”
Punisher grumbled something unintelligible. “Unless they suspect you.”
English Cream spoke before Jess could respond. “Do you have a better solution?”
“Yeah, I do,” Punisher shot back. “We were gonna act while those positions were empty, right? Make them empty again.”
An icy dagger stabbed Jess’s heart. “No! We can’t just kill them!”
English Cream backed her up. “Agreed. More suspicious deaths at this point will simply draw more law enforcement scrutiny and make our lives harder.”
Punisher was silent for a moment. “Well, if either of them looks in the wrong place, they’re dead. Remember that.”
Chapter 10
The president’s office had been cleared of every stick of Abernathy’s furniture and personal belongings when Savannah stepped through the door. Her great-grandfather Luc had been a master woodworker, and he’d built the quartersawn oak bookcases attached to the walls on either side of her. The faint scent of carnauba wax mingled with the stronger overtones of the new creamy-white paint on the walls. Light streamed through the wall of mullioned windows and heightened the patina on the gorgeous old marble floor.
Devoid of its furniture, the office felt massive the way it did when she was small. It still held the whisper of her grandfather Andre’s presence. He hadn’t been flashy like her father but steady with a kind voice and gray eyes that saw the fear she always carried with her as a little girl. If only he were here now to answer her misgivings and calm her feelings of inadequacy. She was about to be the first female president to occupy this space. Proving her worth to take the helm of this place she loved was a huge undertaking.
She bit her lip. “You can do this, Savannah,” she whispered.
“Where do you want the rug and the library table?” a gruff voice said from behind her.
She turned to see two deliverymen carrying the piece of furniture. “Right there.” She gestured to the spot where her grandfather used to sit with one bank of bookshelves behind him. The table matched the bookshelves and wasn’t nearly as grand as the desk Abernathy had used, but she’d been thrilled to find it in storage. Her grandfather had told her the simplicity of the table had been chosen to highlight the beauty of the wood itself. He’d always positioned it so he could see out the window into the small garden spot, and she wanted to do the same.
A third man came in behind them with the new rug, and it only took a few minutes for the room to take shape. She balanced the wide room with her library table and comfortable chairs on one side and a seating area with a leather sofa and coffee table on the other. Both had a beautiful view of the garden.
Savannah placed her briefcase on the table and turned at the familiar staccato of Jess’s heels on the marble. She braced herself for the confrontation with her sister.
Jess’s eyes widened as she took in the new decor. “I-is that Grandpa’s library table?”
Savannah caressed the smooth wood. “It’s still gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“But why? How can you maintain discipline and authority in a space that looks like a parlor instead of an office?”
Savannah’s smile withered. How did Jess always manage to puncture any joy she felt? She pulled herself to her full height and gestured to the chairs on the other side of the table. “Have a seat. Hez should be here any minute.”