Restore My Heart (28 page)

His gaze locked on hers. “And we’re a threat because we can produce evidence of fraud.”

“I guess I’m just feeling antsy about being here.”

“You have a point. Let me shut down here and check out Vic’s.”

“Vic’s?”

“I promise to hurry.”

The ordinary office building took on a sinister air in the shadows. Tall file cabinets hid lurking murderers. Lingering odors of cigarette smoke masked the arsonist’s torch. The soft drink cooler kicked on, intruding on the eerie silence, drowning out noises of breaking and entering. Sally clenched her jaw, listening at the window, her stare fused to the parking lot outside.

Vic’s computer yielded little. Joe ran a hand across his face and sighed.

“Nothing?”

He shook his head. “Vic either doesn’t take advantage of technology, or he stores everything on removable storage devices.”

“Like that thing you bought tonight?”

“Possibly.”

“Those are tiny.” Moving from her surveillance at the window, Sally leaned against the desk. “Where would they be?”

“Let me try the desk.” He pulled open each drawer, searching for any sign of a computer disk, CD, or USB drive. The desk wasn’t locked, which indicated Vic had nothing stashed.

“Is there any kind of a safe?”

“I’ve seen it. There’s nothing there but a little money for the cashier to make change.”

“Where else would these things be stored?”

“It could be stored on something as small as a razor blade. And it could be anywhere.”

He leaned back, stretching the tight muscles in his shoulders. Sally moved behind him. “Let me help.”

Her fingers kneaded the knots between his shoulder blades, at first rough and painful, then easy and soothing. Joe closed his eyes against an onslaught of sensation. He envisioned her last night, giving him a massage of an entirely different nature. His body hardened in an instant.

“Uh, thanks.” He shrank from her ministrations. “That can wait until we’re finished here.”

Her hands stilled. “Okay with me. I want to get out of here. Where’s the bookkeeper’s office?”

“The cubicle at the end of the hall, across from the cashier window. Barbara often doubles as cashier and bookkeeper.”

“Would she have a computer and diskettes?”

“Yes.” Joe needed to leave the room before Sally noticed his erection. “Tell you what. To save time, why don’t you check here for any books or files where a diskette, USB drive or memory stick might be hidden while I look at Barbara’s hard drive?”

“Deal. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can get out of here. This is giving me the creeps.”

Sally started pulling out books and folders stuffed in the bookshelves. Joe made his escape to Barbara’s cubicle. It didn’t take long to see that nothing out of the ordinary was on the bookkeeper’s computer. Joe found an orderly system of spreadsheets, files just like the paper copies Barbara had reviewed with him and his mother.

Just as he reached for the power button to shut down the power strip, Sally scuttled through the door. “Could this be something?”

Joe inspected the USB drive in Sally’s hand. “Where did you find this?”

“In the bottom of Vic’s tummy drawer. It was mixed in with a bunch of key rings, sort of hidden in plain sight.” She handed the device to him. It was about the size of a pack of gum, yet held sixty-four megabytes of data.

“Damn. I missed that.”

Sally’s face beamed with excitement, although her eyes held a mix of fear and worry. “Can you see what’s on it?”

“Sure can.”

Joe inserted the device into Barbara’s USB port, accessed its only file, then whistled as a spreadsheet filled the screen. A different spreadsheet than any he’d seen in the bookkeeper’s files. His heart lodged in his throat. Consumed with a sense of urgency, he decided not to spend any time reviewing the data. They needed to get out of here.

Now.

Quickly, he copied the data to one of his own USB drives, then shut down Barbara’s computer, taking care to arrange her desk exactly as he’d found it.

“Sally, put this back where you found it. I’m right behind you.”

They moved to Vic’s office. Tidying up evidence of their search, they returned the USB drive to its hiding place, then scurried to the door to lock up.

“Was that the file you were looking for?”

“I didn’t take time to look. I’ll check it out later on my laptop.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

Outside, the cool air was a welcomed relief from the stale cigarette odor in Vic’s and Barbara’s offices. Joe had parked the Dodge beside the dumpster so it wouldn’t be seen from the street.

He opened the door for Sally, taking her arm to help her inside, when she hesitated.

“Joe, look. What are those?”

He followed her gaze to the litter at the base of the dumpster. “Trash?”

Sally leaned down for a closer look. “That’s part of a crushed hypodermic. Is either Barbara or Vic diabetic?”

Joe frowned, trying to remember if he’d heard such a thing. He wanted only to get out of there, not dumpster dive. “What difference does it make?”

“Just try to find out, will you? I’d like to know why someone here at Bloom Desalvo would toss needles in the trash. You may have a drug problem here.”

Joe jumped behind the wheel, slammed the door, then started the engine. Personnel problems weren’t his worry right now; escaping with what could be a secret file took priority.

After they’d rejoined the Shelbyville Road traffic, Joe relaxed a fraction. “What makes you think the hypodermic isn’t for a legitimate use?”

“Trust me. I spent enough time in the hospital. There are strict guidelines for the disposal of bio-hazard waste. You don’t just throw a needle in a waste can or dumpster.”

Joe shrugged. “I’ll report it to Mom. Now, where would you like to dine, Miss Clay?”

“How do you feel about Chinese take-out at your place? I know you’re dying to see what’s on that file.”

“You are a rare jewel of a woman, Sally.”

She laughed, but he was serious. He’d never been with a woman so attuned to his moods and needs, so comfortable to be with. Sally could be both his best friend and his lover, if only—He stopped that thought in its tracks.

Those damn fantasies again.

Sally gathered up the empty cartons spread over Lucinda Desalvo’s kitchen table while Joe booted up his laptop. She’d hidden her disappointment when Joe suggested sharing their food with his mom in the house. Not that they didn’t have a surplus of Chinese dishes to share. But Sally’d had other plans. She’d hoped to share dinner and more in the privacy of Joe’s room behind the stable.

She smothered a yawn as she carried the trash to the wastebasket under the sink. As she settled back in her chair, she yawned again.

“Joe says you worked today, after a late night at the ball. You must be exhausted.”

“I think I’m just winding down.” Sally held out her cup for a refill of the hot tea Lucinda offered. “Thanks.”

“Joe’s spying expeditions are stressful, too. I wish he wouldn’t take chances.”

While they’d eaten, Joe had related their prowling at Dan Alsop’s Thursday night and their after-hours search of Bloom Desalvo Motors.

Sipping from her tea cup, Lucinda stood behind Joe, peering over his shoulder. “Is that the file?”

“Yeah. Let me scroll through and see what’s on here.” Silence filled the kitchen as Joe searched the file. Then he leaned back, giving his mother a better view. “Take a look at the bottom line.”

Lucinda gasped. “That’s nearly a million dollars! There’s nothing like that on the books.”

“Maybe Barbara doesn’t know about it. Sally found this hidden under Vic’s desk.”

“No wonder there wasn’t much on Vic’s computer,” Sally said. “He keeps it in his secret file.”

“That’s a lot of money, Mom.”

“You don’t think your father knew about this, do you?” Lucinda steadied her tea cup with both trembling hands. Her pale face growing white, she sank down into a chair. “Or he found this file and was killed for it.”

“May I look at the file?” Sally asked.

“I need you to look at it.” Joe turned the laptop so that the screen faced her, then showed her how to use arrow buttons to view different cells of the document.

Sally wasn’t proficient with computers but could follow Joe’s directions. The spreadsheet was a long list of collectible automobiles, with the purchase price, expenses, selling price, and buyer’s name for each one. “None of these came to my shop. But I think they were on that list you printed out for me.”

“But with a different set of numbers, right?”

Sally nodded. “This can’t be right. The purchase price is way low for classics like these.”

“If original,” Joe said.

“Can you make more copies of this file?” Sally rubbed at her temples as the magnitude of their discovery penetrated her tired brain.

“I intend to.”

Sally looked first at Joe, then Lucinda. “We don’t want anyone to know we found this file, especially if it cost Leo his life. If we can put this together with other evidence, the FBI can put Vic Bloom in prison.”

“The FBI? Not the police?” Lucinda asked.

Sally had to get a copy of that file to Special Agent Ferguson. “One of the cars on here is a 1954 Kaiser Darrin, sold to a Howard Steele in Carmel, Indiana. That makes this interstate fraud, and that’s just for starters.”

“Yeah. Vic Bloom is the one person whom Dad would’ve trusted. He could’ve gotten close enough to set up a fake suicide.”

Lucinda began shaking her head before Joe finished. “I’ve known Vic Bloom too many years to think he could’ve killed Leo. He may be crooked, but—”

“How well do you know Dan Alsop?” Joe interrupted. “He seems to be at the heart of all this.”

“I just met him yesterday, although I’ve heard plenty about him. He keeps to his own shop except when he wants Vic to sell a collectible he’s found.”

“The guy has put a serious dent in Sally’s business since moving to town.”

“What’s he like?” Sally asked.

“You’ve never met him?” Lucinda frowned.

“I figured I’d have to sooner or later, but haven’t had the
pleasure
yet.”

“He’s in his mid forties, I’d say, and seems charming enough. But that was before you told me you’d found suspicious equipment in his garage.”

“A metal press and photography supplies aren’t suspicious by themselves. But we’re looking for forgery tools.”

Sally shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Vic has admitted to Joe that Dan Alsop has supplied these great finds. We know of two on this file that were misrepresented to the customer.”

“Two?”

Joe shot Sally a warning look she didn’t understand. He’d kept nothing from his mother about his investigation. But he hadn’t mentioned their call on Ellen Kennedy, had he?

“We found another customer who bought a Packard this week as all-original. Sally looked at the engine and it’s not the right one.”

Sally nodded, but said nothing more. For some reason, he didn’t want his mother to know the details surrounding the Packard Caribbean.

Joe pulled out the new USB drives he’d stuffed in his coat pocket earlier. “I’ll make several copies of this. Then Monday, I’ll copy the spreadsheets on the classics from Barbara’s computer files. I can run a comparison to see just how much of this money is bypassing Bloom Desalvo Motors.”

“What bothers me, son, is the reflection on the business. Your dad prided himself in running an ethical and honest operation. If so many of these fakes have been funneled through Bloom Desalvo, it could ruin us when it’s exposed.”

“If Vic Bloom is working shady deals, Mom, you’ll want to change the business name, anyway. Or liquidate.”

The laptop hummed as Joe copied the file. Sally stifled another yawn, but not well enough to fool Lucinda.

“Joe, you need to take Sally home. She’s exhausted.”

Joe’s gaze met Sally’s. “Sure thing. I’m almost finished here.”

Joe and Lucinda placed a USB drive in the wall safe upstairs in the home office, then hid another in the kitchen. Pocketing one himself, Joe handed Sally the fourth USB drive. “Can you stick this someplace safe as a backup?”

Someplace safe like with the FBI, she thought, remembering Special Agent Ferguson’s promise to arrive Monday. She nodded while yawning behind her hand.