Page 5 of Out of the Shadows (Angelhart Investigations)

Margo read Jack’s text messages with information he had about Charlie Barrett. It wasn’t much. She sent him a series of questions

she wanted answers to; he responded that he’d get back to her.

She pulled up to Brittney Monroe’s house in a pricey North Scottsdale neighborhood. It was neighborhoods like this that gave

Scottsdale the nickname “Snobsdale.”

She took a sip from her Yeti, still groggy after a long night playing Call of Duty with three of her Army buddies—two still active. They met online every month to battle it out and catch up. When she crashed

at three in the morning, she hadn’t expected Jack to call before seven asking for help.

Margo rang the bell, waited ten seconds, then rang it again and again and again until Brittney answered.

“What?” Brittney shouted as she swung the door open, then took a step back when she recognized Margo. “Oh, fuck. What the

hell do you want?”

“Just a chat,” she said with a fake smile. “Like old friends.”

“Go away,” Brittney said and would have shut the door if Margo hadn’t already blocked it with her foot.

“Five minutes, and I’ll go. I’m asking questions for your ex-husband, who you are not allowed to be within a hundred yards

of, so if you don’t give me the time, you’ll be brought down to the police station for questioning.”

Margo doubted she’d be able to get a cop to arrest Brittney, but since the woman had spent a night in jail two months ago

when she was involved with the man who had tried to kill Logan, Margo thought she could play off that.

She detested this woman. Brittney had tried to set up Logan in a honeytrap so she could divorce him for more money. She’d

been having an affair their entire marriage with the jerk she’d broken up with in order to date Logan in the first place.

The jerk had embezzled money from a friend of Logan’s, and then tried to kill Logan once he was discovered.

And nothing happened to her other than a single night in jail because there was no evidence that she’d been involved with

the embezzlement. Margo still couldn’t believe that Logan had given her the house and money.

“Is Logan saying I violated the restraining order? I did not. ” She looked both indignant and worried.

She was up to something. But Margo didn’t know if it involved breaking into Laura’s house or running her off the road or something

completely different.

“Can I come in?” Margo asked.

“No.” Brittney stepped out and shut the door, chin up. “We’ll talk here.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Margo said.

“You ruined my marriage,” Brittney snapped.

You ruined your marriage , Margo thought, but didn’t say. Instead, she said, “Last night, Logan’s sister was run off the road. Hit-and-run. Know anything

about that?”

“What?” She looked confused, and Brittney wasn’t that great of an actress. “Laura?”

“At approximately 10:00 p.m. Where were you?”

“I don’t have to tell you that,” she said.

Margo lied smoothly. “Logan doesn’t want to send the police here to interview you, so he asked me. You don’t answer, the police

will come and ask the same questions. Only they’ll have a lot more information about the reasons Logan divorced you in the

first place, because that’s motive.”

Brittney was processing Margo’s words, and it took her just a beat before she understood. “Fine,” she said. “I was out.”

“Where?”

“It’s really none of your business, but I don’t want the neighbors talking any more than they already do after that little dispute in May.”

Little dispute. Her boyfriend had shot at Logan and it was a little dispute. Margo kept her face blank, waited for more information.

Brittney said, “I was at Mastro’s for dinner.”

Mastro’s was one of the nicest, most expensive restaurants in Scottsdale. Margo had never been there. She couldn’t fathom

paying nearly a hundred bucks for a steak when she could buy and grill a decent cut for less than ten bucks.

“Time?”

“Reservations were at seven thirty, we were there until about quarter to ten.”

Not enough time to get up to Carefree Highway before ten, but liars lied.

Still, it was easy enough to check out.

“With?”

Brittney didn’t want to tell her. “Do not talk to him.”

“So a date.”

“I am legally separated, and our divorce will be final in—”

“I don’t care if you’re dating anyone. Laura’s car was totaled, and you threatened your ex-husband.”

“The kids weren’t there, were they?” she asked, which surprised Margo. She sounded... genuine.

“Yes.”

“Are they okay?”

“They were lucky.”

“I would never hurt anyone,” she said, “ especially Laura and her kids. I liked them.”

Margo believed her. For all Brittney’s faults—of which there were many—she appeared to be telling the truth now.

“Do you have anything you can show me to corroborate your statement? A receipt maybe?”

“I didn’t pay,” Brittney said. “Really, I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. Phoenix has the world’s worst drivers,

it must have been an accident.”

She wasn’t wrong about the drivers, Margo thought. Born and raised in Phoenix, she knew the driving reputation was well-earned.

“Her house was also broken into.”

“Why are you investigating and not the police? Isn’t that what the police are for?”

“Brittney, I just need to tell Logan you had nothing to do with it, and we’re done.”

“I had nothing to do with it! Why would I want to hurt Laura?” She paused. “I’m sure the valet at Mastro’s will remember us.

We were in a Mercedes Roadster, and the valet commented on it. It’s a beautiful vehicle.”

Margo would follow up, mostly because she wanted to know who Brittney was dating and if she should warn him about her boyfriend

who was currently in prison.

“See, that wasn’t hard,” she said.

Brittney opened her door and stepped inside. “I don’t want to see you again.”

“Keep your nose clean and you won’t.”

Brittney shut the door in her face. Margo smirked. She did enjoy getting under her skin.

Margo didn’t have information from Jack yet, so she drove to Logan’s office in the Scottsdale Quarter, fifteen minutes down

the mountain from his former residence.

There was plenty of street parking because it was only nine. Most businesses wouldn’t open until ten, restaurants at eleven,

leaving just the Apple Store and a coffee shop operating. She took the elevator up to the third floor where Logan kept a small

suite of offices. Part of the ownership group for the Quarter, he used the space to oversee his various ventures. Margo didn’t

fully grasp what Logan did—he’d explained once that he funded promising ideas—but that hardly explained the resort, properties,

and multiple businesses he owned, all stemming from a single software program he created at twenty.

Logan’s team was small: a financial advisor Margo had never met, and Veronica, an assistant she’d only spoken to by phone.

The office layout was open with a central hub, Logan’s large office overlooking the Quarter, and three bright street-facing

offices. From one of them, a tall, impeccably dressed woman with black hair and striking blue eyes rose from her desk. She

looked between forty and fifty and wore no jewelry except a massive diamond on her left ring finger. “Hello, do you have an

appointment?” she asked.

“I’m Margo Angelhart. Logan said he’d be here?”

She smiled warmly and visibly relaxed. “Margo, so good to meet you in person. I’m Veronica Van Owen, Logan’s admin. He told

me to wake him when you got here, but he’s only been sleeping for an hour.”

“Give him a couple more minutes. In fact, you might be able to answer most of my questions.”

“Absolutely.” She motioned for Margo to follow her to her office, then shut the door. “Can I get you anything?”

“I’m good.” Margo pulled out her phone and brought up the Notepad app. “I assume you’re aware of what’s been going on with

Laura?”

“Yes. Logan called me early this morning, asked me to come in to help Laura secure her financial and personal information,

contact the insurance company, and hire someone to install an alarm system.”

“How long have you been with Logan?”

“Since he set up his office here in Scottsdale—nine years ago now. Bob—Bob Greyson, his CFO—and I started the same week.”

“No disgruntled employees?”

She laughed lightly. “No. There have been no other employees to be disgruntled.”

“What about at the resort? Do you work on that project?”

“On the periphery, since I keep Logan’s schedule. I know the firm we hired to manage the renovations.”

“Any problems there? Anyone upset about changes or job losses?”

“Not to my knowledge. You’ll want to talk to Annette DuBois, the resort manager. She was his first hire. She’s competent and

has her finger on the pulse of the business.”

“I’ll do that.” Margo made note of the name. “Charlie Barrett. You know him?”

“Yes.”

“Laura couldn’t reach him last night, and he hasn’t returned her call. I’m trying to track him down.”

She turned and typed on her computer, then wrote on a slip of paper. “His address, the code to the building, and his supervisor.”

“Do you have a key too?” she said, half joking.

“It’s the building code, plus the last four digits of Logan’s cell phone.”

Margo mentally ran through Logan’s properties. “Charlie lives in the condo Logan owns in Old Town Scottsdale?”

Veronica nodded. “Logan leased it to him after the divorce.”

“Charlie lost everything Laura and he had, yet Logan gave his ex-brother-in-law a place to live?”

Margo didn’t know why she was surprised. After all, he paid his cheating ex-wife millions and gave her a house.

“Logan wanted to ensure that the kids had a safe, comfortable place to stay when they visited their father.”

“Okay, but I know the property in that neighborhood. The condo is worth at least a million.”

“One point three million last appraisal,” Veronica said.

“And Charlie’s paying rent? What’s that look like?”

Veronica hesitated, then said, “You can ask Logan for the details, but suffice it to say, he’s not charging market value.”

That didn’t surprise Margo, either.

“Logan said to assist in any way I could, but why are you asking so many questions about Charlie?”

“Because he hasn’t returned Laura’s call, and Laura is a low-risk target. Meaning, there’s no clear reason why anyone would

break into her house and not steal valuables. We’re also looking into friends, neighbors, colleagues of Laura, but ex-husbands

are usually high on the list for trouble.”

“Charlie is trouble,” she muttered, then put her hand to her mouth. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Trouble how?” When Veronica hesitated, Margo added, “Logan would want you to share.”

“Logan moved to Arizona because of business and stayed primarily because of Laura and her family. Charlie has had one wild

idea after another. When I say trouble , I don’t mean trouble with the law, as far as I know. More trouble with responsibility. He couldn’t keep a job. Had a hundred

excuses. Logan hired him onto the maintenance staff at the resort earlier this year, when he lost his last job.”

“And how is that working out?”

“I couldn’t say. I sense that the staff doesn’t want to share any problems they’re having, so they work around them.”

“Is he incompetent?”

“No, he’s fully capable. People like him. He’s simply... a daydreamer. Pie-in-the-sky ideas. Always has the next greatest

idea, if he only had this financing or that financing. I think... I would say he’s not reliable.”

“Would Annette at the resort know him?”

“Yes. She would be able to give a more accurate assessment.”

“Could you give her a heads-up that I’m coming by and it’s okay to talk to me?”

“Certainly,” Veronica said.

“And as you go through Logan’s businesses and correspondence, if anything jumps out at you as odd, an overt threat or something

that feels wrong, let me know.”

“Have you spoken to his ex-wife?”

Margo sighed. “Unfortunately. She was evasive as usual, but I don’t think she was involved. I’ll dig around a little more,

but she seemed genuinely surprised.”

“I don’t trust her,” Veronica said. “I’m glad he saw the truth, even if it took being hit over the head to realize it.”