Page 33 of The Facilitator, Part 2

Although I kept my chin up, I shook inside.

I fumbled with the key to the back door lock and refused to look over my shoulder to see if he had followed.

When I got the door open, I rushed in and quickly shut and relocked it.

I stood to one side of the window, hoping the drape would hide me.

I could see he had, indeed, followed me.

He stood at the bottom of the steps to the veranda.

I watched as he brought the dress to his nose as if smelling it.

He then hung it over the banister before leaving.

My skin goose bumped as fear crept over me, yet I wasn’t entirely sure what I should be fearful of.

I didn’t like him, instinctively. Forget what he had done with Addison, his cousin, he was creepy.

I hadn’t heard a car and it worried me he could be lurking around.

I took the stairs to the bedroom two at a time, but not before making sure the front door was double locked.

I grabbed my phone and sat on the bed. I rang my mum.

We chatted about the weather in both the U.S.

and Cornwall. I told her all about the house, Mackenzie’s dad, and that he was poorly.

We talked about Sebastian, and Mum thought he needed to see the GP; he’d had a cold that just didn’t seem to want to leave him.

Despite the nature of our conversation, it was nice to chat to her.

I started to settle down against the pillows.

We continued our conversation for an hour until she panicked it was costing me too much money.

She cut off the call without so much as a goodbye.

I also suspected she was about ready for bed.

I startled when I heard someone bash on the front door. I crept down, holding my phone in my hand in case I needed to call Mackenzie. Someone knocked again, forcibly.

“Who is there?” I called out.

“Lauren, it’s me. The door is locked, or jammed shut maybe,” Mackenzie called out.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and unlocked the bolt.

“Why was the door locked?” he said.

“I got spooked. Sorry. How did your meeting go?”

“Spooked, by what? As much as I love you in your underwear, why are you creeping around the house like that?” Concern laced his voice.

“I was on the beach. I took my dress off thinking no one was around. Daniel came and...”

“Daniel came?” he said, loudly.

“Yes, Daniel came to the beach. He was being stupid and held my dress. He wouldn’t give it back so I told him he could keep it. He left it over the banister, but I locked myself in the house, just in case,” I said.

“Just in case of what?” his voice was low and he spoke slowly. I could feel the anger building up inside him.

“I don’t know. I just didn’t want him to come in here, so I locked the doors. Now, I’m fine, nothing happened. I told him I’d punch his lights out or something similar and he left.”

I placed my hands on his biceps, feeling how tense he was. “Mackenzie, nothing happened. I’m fine. He was a dick and I dealt with it. Your dad came by as well, we had a lovely chat,” I said, diffusing the situation somewhat.

Mackenzie leaned forward and kissed me. “I will punch that fucker one day,” he said.

“I’m sure you will, and I’m sure he will deserve it, assuming you’re talking about Daniel. But not tonight. Don’t spoil it for Gabriella, no matter how much he’ll try to bait you. Make me that promise?”

He shook his head. “For you only, okay? Now, I need a coffee, you can tell me about your day, and I’ll tell you about mine.”

I unlocked the back door to retrieve my dress, remembered he’d sniffed it and decided it was only fit for the bin. I rushed upstairs to grab another.

Mackenzie was sitting on the sofa when I returned. “I made you coffee,” he said, and started to rise.

“I can get it.” When I returned, he asked me to tell him what his father said.

I repeated the conversation, as much as I could word for word. I also told him I thought he really should make the time to sit with his dad and chat, just them, without Sandra or me around. He nodded, but he didn’t seem quite with me.

“So, your day?” I asked.

“Not good at all, Lauren. First, it seems Daniel has managed to get Vivienne to sign a document allowing him access to funds. Both Gabriella and I think, either the signature is a forgery or she was duped. She would never have done that. Second, and the worst part, he has filtered off all of his half and most of Gabriella’s.

Some has gone into this fucking Grand Cayman account; most, we have no idea where it is.

I suspect lost on shady deals, drugs, and gambling. ”

“Oh, Mackenzie. What did Gabriella say?”

“She sobbed. She doesn’t care about the money—she’s earned herself a nice pension and she has investments—but we’re not sure that Vivienne can continue her lifestyle as is.

She lives off the interest. I need a second meeting with the accounts team, but that house costs a fortune to run, and we don’t want Vivienne to know. I think it will devastate her.”

“Is there a chance of getting any of the money back?” I asked.

“Only if we can prove the signature is a forgery or that Vivienne was duped into signing a document. And we can only trace a small amount of it. Most is gone, Lauren.”

“You have to tell Jerry these are the kinds of people he’s dealing with. Maybe he can help. He might know more than he’s telling you, other deals or something,” I said.

“Possibly. Right now, I just need to find out what money we can get back. Gabriella always had a dream, one day she’d raise her children in that house.”

Mackenzie sounded so sad when he spoke. “Can she buy it from the trust?” I asked.

“That’s what we’re working on tomorrow. To do that, though, we’ll have to either lie to Vivienne, or tell her the truth.”

“The truth, Mackenzie, I don’t think she’d forgive you if you manipulated her in any way.”

He nodded in agreement. “What a vacation this has turned into, huh?”

“Aren’t you glad you are here, though? Imagine receiving that email from Jerry, discovering this while back in England. You’d be going nuts.”

“Which reminds me. I saw a notification from Jerry, but I couldn’t get enough signal to open my emails.” He walked to the kitchen and I followed him. While he opened his laptop, I refreshed his coffee cup.

“I knew it,” he said.

“You knew what?”

“He doesn’t believe me. He says he has it on very good authority, from an insider at the business, this contract is going to be awarded. It’s bullshit. There isn’t anyone in that business who knows what I said. I’m not stupid enough to have even made it known it was me who leaked the information.”

“How much has he invested already?” I asked.

“I can’t be completely sure; the shares aren’t being bought in individual names but off-shore companies from what I can see. I’ve checked out the companies, not one has an address that’s traceable, no trading or accounts, so they are start-ups, and I don’t believe any of the names are real.”

“Can they have done that?”

“Anyone can set up a business, Lauren.”

Mackenzie began to type. Once he’d sent his email, he read what he’d sent.

Jerry, I know the company well. I think you’d do well to investigate a little deeper, check out the holding company, follow the very public trail.

You’ll find it comes back to me. I own this company and I can tell you now, you’ve been misinformed.

Sell those shares, buddy, or you’re about to lose your money.

I don’t know who is advising you on investments, but I’d fire them for sure.

“How about that?” he said.

“Thank you, I know you didn’t want to tell him you owned that business, but it’s going to be pretty obvious to Addison and Daniel soon that you’re on to them, isn’t it? Surely, the trust is frozen?” I asked.

“It is. I need to work fast to prove theft, then I can get those accounts in the Grand Cayman frozen as well.”

Mackenzie’s mobile rang a few seconds later. Jerry’s name flashed on his screen. He answered.

“Hey, you got my email?”

He listened. “Buddy, you gotta do what you believe is right, but as the owner of that holding company, the one that owns Danton, I can honestly tell you there is no contract in the pipeline.”

He was silent for a little while. “No, I’m not sworn to secrecy, you can go online and see what government contracts are awarded to which company. There is nothing more than me selling simple navigation equipment for military aircraft.”

He finished with, “Okay, do what you’ve got to. I wish you well, of course. And no, there are no seats on the board on offer, you didn’t buy enough shares.” Without saying goodbye, he finished the call. Before I had a chance to speak, he started another.

“Dave, buy all remaining shares in Danton… I know it’s a waste of time, but can you do it for me, please? I need to stop someone else buying them. Let me know when it’s done.”

For the second time he disconnected the call without so much as a goodbye.

“According to Jerry, I can’t talk about the impending contract because it’s top secret, he seems to think everything I’m saying is code for something else. I honestly didn’t take him to be this dumb. I can’t do anymore to help him,” he said.

“What was your second call about?” I asked.

“There are some shares still for sale, I told my broker to buy them. It will be a complete waste of my money, but it will stop Jerry, or Addison and Daniel, from getting hold of them.”

He hadn’t needed to do that and I had no idea what that cost him. I knew he had done it to limit Jerry’s loss, but if he was, as Mackenzie called him, dumb enough to not believe Mackenzie, then there was nothing more that could be done.

“The problem I have now, is Jerry is likely to tell Addison and Daniel about our conversation.”

“Will he, though? I’m not so sure. I think he will do his homework, and I’m hoping he’ll try to get some of his money back before he goes after them. Addison is here, isn’t she?” I asked.

“I believe so. She’s not with Jerry, I know that.”

I didn’t want to ask how he knew, it wasn’t important in the scale of things.

“Is she likely to be there this evening?”

“She isn’t on the guest list, but you know Daniel is just as likely to have her as his plus one without telling anyone. And she’s dumb enough to turn up anyplace she’s not welcome.”

“Great, an evening to look forward to,” I mumbled.

Mackenzie turned in his chair. I had been standing beside him. He stood and cupped my face in his hands. “We don’t have to go, baby,” he said gently.

“Of course we have to, and I want to. It’s one night. They leave tomorrow, and I don’t know when I’ll see them again so, no being a chicken. We’re going,” I said.

“Okay, I have no idea what chickens have to do with anything, but we’re a team, baby, no one is going to disrupt that, okay?”

“Okay.”

“How about you come and sleep with me, and I do mean sleep. I didn’t get much last night and I could do with an hour or two.”

I took his hand and led him to the bedroom. I slipped off my clothes while he did, and we climbed under the sheet. It was nice to just be naked with him, and we did sleep…a little.