Chapter 22

Who was Peter Cardin, and what was he up to?

He shook his head and muttered, "Focus!"

Cardin was the key. Hez was sure of it, and his certainty grew as he worked. The personnel file Jess sent over contained a very interesting résumé. Cardin had an accounting degree from Northwestern and three years' experience in PwC's education group—one of the best accounting practices focused on colleges and universities—but his employment there ended two years before he started at TGU. Where had he spent that time? Prison, as Hez soon discovered. Searches of a couple of legal databases revealed that Cardin pled guilty to embezzling from clients and spent a year and a half behind bars.

Bruno was a semiretired San Francisco software genius who had founded and sold two companies before he was thirty. He spent most of his time skateboarding now, but he sometimes took on criminal cases that interested him. Hez managed to hook Bruno with the words "Willard Treasure" and reel him in with tales of Willard's exploits and Abernathy's murder. By the end of a thirty-minute call, Bruno had agreed to run his custom facial-recognition software on the TGU security camera video, culling it down to only clips that showed Cardin.

Another rumble. "Okay, okay," he told his abdomen.

He froze with his hand on the mouse. The video showed Cardin arguing with a man in the parking lot behind the history building. The time stamp was July 27, 7:34 p.m. The same day Hez arrived on campus—and the day Savannah unwittingly picked up the forged provenance documents. He didn't recall the exact time, but he remembered the hot late afternoon sun on his back as he walked out of the building alone, and he'd had dinner reservations at Billy's at 7:00. Had Cardin accidentally left the documents, realized his mistake a few hours later, and come back looking for them? The biggest piece of info in Hez's view was that Cardin was wearing a gray hoodie. A strange thing to wear on a humid summer evening. Was he the man who'd attacked Savannah in the warehouse?

Hez was sure he'd recognize the man if he could only get a glimpse of his face. "Turn around. Come on, turn around."

***

She should have been glad he'd taken the decision out of her hands, but she wished she'd been able to tell him how she felt.

He turned from the display case and spotted her. The skin around his blue eyes crinkled in a warm smile that curled her toes. "Good morning." Heat flooded her cheeks, and she checked the impulse to press the iced caramel latte to her face.

He took a step toward her. "Do you have some papers for me?"

"Want me to take the lead, or do you want to do that?"

"She's always prickly with you, but you're the one who knows more about Cardin. I'll jump in if she pushes back."

Savannah crossed the office to hand her sister the iced latte. "Early morning?"

"I was here at five." Her gaze went past Savannah to Hez. "I don't have much time."

"I understand," Hez said in a calm voice. "One more thing and we'll let you get on with your day. Can you think of any reason why Cardin and Andersen might get into an argument?"

"Any ideas?" Hez asked again.

Jess took a sip of her latte, then set it on her desk. "No idea. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work."

"Fair warning—Augusta will need to hear what I've discovered," Hez said.

"Augusta might agree with you, but we'll let her decide."

"I'll soon find out. I'll go see her right away and turn over the video. Something's there, Savannah. I'm sure of it." He held her gaze for a long moment. "Be careful. Things may heat up if Augusta pokes in deeper."