“I’m staying here!” Sonia said excitedly into the phone. “Adela offered my Dad the barn manager job.”
“That’s great,” Christopher said, genuinely pleased. “My Dad told me what happened with Jose. In fact, he helped out with the arrest.”
“How so?” Sonia asked.
“It’s a bit of a long story, and you were involved. Remember that afternoon before the fire, when he chewed you out about picking some flowers? By the way, I hope he wasn’t too awful to you.”
“It really wasn’t anything,” Sonia said. “Just a misunderstanding. But Mr. Rios was really upset with your father.”
“He was,” Christopher agreed. “He took my Dad up to his office and told him that he had hired a private investigator to make an audit of the expenses at the barn. The investigator had discovered that someone was embezzling, but he didn’t know who it was. Mr. Rios was angry that my Dad hadn’t noticed what was going on. He ordered him to find out who was responsible. But the next day the fire came. After that my Dad wasn’t able to do anything more about it. Then last night Adela called him at home to say that it was Jose. Adela told him about the plan to arrest Jose and my Dad agreed to help out by opening her front gate for the police, so they could come on the property unnoticed.”
“That explains a lot of things,” Sonia said.
“You know, Sonia, before today I was concerned for you.”
“Whatever for?” Sonia asked.
“My Dad told me about the audit. He said that he suspected your father, because Jose kept telling everyone that he was spending too much money.”
“You’ve been awfully nice to me then, considering you thought my father might be a thief,” Sonia said.
“I think my Dad told me about his suspicions because I was getting to know you better. It was his way of waving me off being friends with you,” Christopher explained. “But I don’t judge people by their family.”
“Since you’ve been honest with me,” Sonia said, “I’ll tell you that I was concerned for you.”
“Why?”
Sonia told Christopher about Detective Mori’s interest in the incident in the rose garden. “It crossed my mind that your father might be in some kind of trouble,” she confessed. “I even wondered if he had something to do with Mr. Rios’ death.”
“Wow,” Christopher said. “I’m surprised you were willing to hang out with me at the Fairgrounds.”
“I don’t judge people by their family either.”
The taxi approached the airport. Georgina began to unwind. She reached into her purse for her cell phone. She was ready to call Nick.
Adela’s timely intervention had not only spared Georgina from Mark’s wrath, but it had a fortuitous side effect—it cleared the way for her to tell Nick a sanitized version of events. She would simply say that the ZIFIX deal was signed and she was on her way back to him. He would assume that she had gone through with the original deal, and she would let his assumption go unchallenged. He would apologize for accusing her of being interested in Nate and she would gracefully accept his apology. They would go on. Whether it was together as a couple in New York, or in a distance relationship if he moved to Washington, they would go on.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mark knocked on Georgina’s open door. She had not seen him since he had returned from California the previous day. “Is this a good time to talk?” he asked. Without waiting for her response he entered her office and sat down. He cleared his throat. “I have good news,” he said. “Adela wants to keep the Rios Capital account with us.”
“Congratulations,” Georgina said.
Mark shifted slightly in the chair. “As it turns out, you are the one who is to be congratulated,” he said. “Adela will keep the account with us on one condition. She wants you to serve as her liaison to the bank. She appears to have taken quite an interest in you. Since the Rios Capital account is a major one, I told the partners that the best way to handle the situation is for you to start up your own group and they have agreed. Your promotion is effective immediately.” Georgina stared at Mark. “This is where you thank me,” Mark said.
“I don’t know what to say,” Georgina stammered. “Of course, Mark, thank you. Am I really going to head up my own group?”
“Yes, you are,” he said. “You will have the same job title that I have.”
“Are you sure that you’re OK with this?” Georgina asked. “I need you to level with me, Mark. Tell me if you’re going to resent me.”
“I don’t resent you at all,” Mark said evenly. “The client must be kept, and therefore the client must be kept happy. Actually Georgina, I’m proud of you. You impressed the right client at the right moment, and now the bank has kept an important account. That makes you a star at this firm. Remember, I promised to make you a star.”
“So you did,” Georgina agreed.
Sam put on athletic shoes and a wide-brimmed hat and slung a daypack over her shoulders. She walked for a stretch along the beach and then followed a steep trail that wound its way up a bluff. By the time she reached the top she was thirsty. She got a bottle of water from the daypack.
The view from the crest of the bluff extended for miles in both directions. Ocean waves rolled endlessly towards the shoreline, their whitecaps glittering in the noonday sun. Surf crashed on the rocks below and seagulls called out to one another as they circled above. Sam scanned the built-up area that lay due north of the beach, looking for the apartment complex where she was going to live. Seeing it, she smiled.
She reached into the daypack and pulled out the Geisha doll’s tiny red silk parasol. With a sweeping motion, she released it into the air.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends