Page 66 of Little Hidden Fears

“Owen has been stealing money, writing checks to himself and cashing them,” I said.

Clark looked at me, his expression like I’d just made a joke. When he realized I wasn’t joking at all, he ran a hand along his jaw, his body language indicating he had no knowledge of Owen’s misdeeds.

“How can you be certain?” he asked.

I initiated mywhite liebutton once again, saying, “Noelle suspected Owen was embezzling money from the club. And before you ask, I don’t know how she first came to suspect him. All I know is, she made copies of some of the company’s files in his office. Here, let me show you.”

I handed him a copy of the copy of the files Annie had given me, then I crossed my arms, resting them on the table as he went through them.

Once he finished, he said, “How could this happen without me knowing about it? And if Noelle suspected him, why didn’t she come to me?”

I could think of a solid reason why he hadn’t noticed.

In his quest to keep Alexander happy, Clark left Owen unchecked.

“Did Alexander tell you what I’m supposed to do with this information?” he asked.

“He wants you to keep it to yourself, for now. He said something about staying quiet if you want to keep your job.”

“Got it.”

“As I was leaving his house, he said he would deal with Owen.”

“What am I supposed to do with him until then?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you know how hard it’s going to be to act like I don’t know this information?”

“Maybe do your best to avoid interacting with Owen—as much as you can, at least—until Alexander gets in touch with him.”

“How long do you think Alexander will wait before talking to Owen?”

“I can’t say, though after meeting the man, I’m sure he’ll want to deal with all this right away.”

“What if more money goes missing in the meantime?”

Having delivered Alexander’s message, I had a lot of stops to make.

I stood, offering Clark a parting word of advice.

“What’s important right now is that you don’t let on that you know what’s happening,” I said. “I have no doubt Alexander will deal with it in his own way and in his own time, and I suggest you let him do just that.”

CHAPTER 25

“I need to ask you a strange question,” I said.

I was sipping on a latte in Whitlock’s SUV, outside 2 Little Figs coffee shop.

“In my opinion, there are no strange questions,” Whitlock said. “What’s up?”

“Dominic and Noelle had a balcony off the side of their bedroom.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“When you searched the house, did you find anything there, aside from a couple of chairs?”

Whitlock gave the question some thought. “As a matter of fact, we did. Why do you ask?”