Chapter Fifteen

Margo Angelhart

Trident Security Group was located in the pricey Biltmore area. Everything was expensive—houses, commercial property, retail. Miriam Endicott's secure building also included a bank, a major insurance company, and several lawyers. Miriam's white Mercedes was parked in her assigned slot, so I went up to the Trident suite on the fourth floor.

Miriam's bread and butter was corporate background checks. They had secured contracts with multiple major employers in order to score the nice digs. Ninety percent of the work could be done with a computer and a phone, and Trident employed six full-time researchers who worked in cubicles and did the bulk of the work. Anything that needed to be verified in the field went to Frank Sanchez or Justine Young, both licensed PIs who I knew and didn't love. Andy Drake must be a new guy or a temp.

I knew enough about Roger and Miriam Endicott—and their history with my mother—to know that they played dirty. That didn't actually bother me—sometimes doing the right thing meant breaking a few rules. But motive mattered, and the jury was still out on that. Miriam was a hard woman to figure out.

Sherry, the young office manager, raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow when she saw me. "I don't have an appointment on the books for you, Ms. Angelhart."

Her voice was high, almost childish. She was twenty-two with a boob job to take her perfectly acceptable C cups to DD, and regular lip filler to plump out her already full lips. Her makeup was perfect as any beauty store employee, her long hair naturally blond with excellent golden highlights. In the two years she had worked for Miriam, she had dated three baseball players, the son of a major sports team owner, and a neurosurgeon twice her age. I'd once made the mistake of thinking Sherry had no brains in her too-pretty head; now I knew better than to doubt the calculating woman. Sherry might be looking for a rich husband, but she had done a few jobs exceptionally well for Miriam. It helped when people saw what they wanted to see and assumed an airhead guppy when they were really dealing with a corporate shark.

"Nope, but I'm going in."

Sherry knew better than to try and stop me, but she picked up the phone and buzzed Miriam.

By the time I reached the corner office, Miriam was hanging up the receiver and had a smile on her weathered face.

"Margo. You could have called."

"So could you when Frank realized we were working parallel cases."

Miriam may have once been attractive, and she certainly was what someone might call handsome in a woman, but too much time in the sun had given her skin an unnatural permanent tan and wrinkles that had been only partially smoothed out with regular Botox treatments. Her gray hair was short, well-styled, and she dressed impeccably. But she looked older than my mom, despite being two years younger.

"Sit, please."

I did, after closing the door.

"What were you doing at Logan Monroe's rental property?" Miriam asked.

"What were you doing at Logan Monroe's rental property?" I countered.

Neither of us spoke. I wasn't in a rush, but I didn't want to dance around with Miriam all morning. "I saw Frank. Nearly a hundred degrees and they were in the boulders above the property, with binoculars. When I saw them, they bolted. Why would Frank run when he saw me?"

Miriam said, "They weren't running, they were leaving."

Not accurate, but I didn't argue.

"So you were hired to watch an empty house and when it was occupied, your men left."

"The house wasn't empty."

Frank left because he had spotted the ambulance, I'd bet my license on it. He would have known police would be next and he didn't want to answer any questions.

All night, I'd run through possibilities about who could have hired Miriam, but nothing had made sense. I'd thought for a brief second that Brittney Monroe may have hired them, but she didn't bite last night when I was feeling her out on the subject.

She could be lying. I suspected Brittney Monroe lied about a lot of things.

More likely that Desert West brought in a second investigator, but why hide up among the boulders? So that didn't quite fit, either. Unless someone at Desert West was involved in some sort of political shenanigans, something that Miriam always found herself in the middle of. Was Miriam involved in some sort of opposition research program? For who? Nothing in my research gave any hint that White or Monroe were running for office.

Could Jennifer White have hired them? Why?

Logan Monroe was an extremely wealthy man with a lot of friends...and more enemies. Maybe Miriam was gathering dirt on him for someone else, someone other than his wife. Like a business investor, a competitor.

Nothing felt quite right, but with Miriam's standard clientele of business and political movers and shakers, maybe it was some sort of opposition research on a rival. I didn't outright dismiss the idea.

"For the record," I said, deciding to give Miriam a small truth. "I've found no evidence that Logan Monroe is cheating on his wife."

Miriam laughed heartily. "I should have figured that's why you were there. Margo, dear, you're too good to be chasing cheaters around town."

Miriam didn't mention Jack. Could be that Frank hadn't seen him.

"Your case is over?" Miriam questioned.

"Not yet. Need to dot the i's, cross the t's, yada yada. Track down Ms. White and just confirm she's who she says she is."

A flash of surprise crossed Miriam's face, but she was good, didn't give anything else away. She knew White, and she hadn't known I'd identified her.

"I suggest," Miriam said carefully, "that you focus on your business, and I focus on mine. We've had a good working relationship over the years. I would hate to have something come between us."

"Did you know when I arrived at the house both Ms. White and Mr. Monroe were unconscious?" A flicker in her eyes. Surprise that they were incapacitated? "The house was leased by Monroe's company, but sent to Ms. White's email. I deduce she was the likely target. If she's in danger, I should offer my services. Maybe even bring in the police."

Miriam turned angry.

"Stay out of it, Margo," she said sharply. "You have no idea what's going on, and you're going to create more trouble for everyone—including yourself."

"Trouble's my middle name."

I walked out.

So... Jennifer White. That was Miriam's interest. And she had been surprised that they were unconscious. That relieved me. I couldn't be certain Miriam had nothing to do with it, but that seemed to cross a legal line I didn't think Miriam would cross.

I wanted to know why Miriam was following Jennifer White, especially in light of yesterday's events.

After I started my Jeep, I called Tess. Her voice came through my car speakers. "Tess Angelhart."

"Found White yet?" I asked.

"Nope. Hasn't picked up her car in Paradise Valley, hasn't been back to her condo, but she called in sick for work."

I wasn't surprised. "Do you think White knows that her boss is investigating her?"

"Maybe. She told Monroe that she thought someone was following her. I don't think she spotted us. Jack, Nate, and I rotated shifts, different cars, different times, and I think it would be unlikely...but we can't rule it out."

Jack was too experienced to be caught tailing, but there was always a chance if the target was paranoid. And right now, everything Tess had told me—and what I had witnessed—showed Jennifer White to be both paranoid and scared.

"Miriam didn't spill everything," I said, "but she's tracking White. I don't think she was behind the drugging—she seemed genuinely surprised when I told her—but I can't discount it. What I know is that Miriam was hired to find, follow, or track White."

"She's certainly become popular this last week," Tess muttered.

"She called Monroe and wanted to show him something on her computer. She didn't plan to stay in the house—if she had luggage with her, she left it in her car. No food to prepare, and if she was in hiding, I think she would have bought groceries. So I'm thinking the computer is the key."

"All evidence points to her downloading the software. I think this meeting is proof, but Jack says it's not enough."

"Other people could want the information."

"There are easier ways to steal a laptop."

Much easier. "I have to check in on Monroe's whereabouts and dig into a few other things. Call me if you need me. And if you get a line on White, she hasn't seen me, so I can track her for you."

"I'm looking deeper into her family—our standard background found nothing suspicious, but there really wasn't much there. Also, she has no social media footprint."

Definitely odd for a twenty-six-year-old computer expert, I thought.

"No Instagram, no TikTok, no Facebook," Tess continued. "Even her personnel file is bare bones—high school in Miami, college in Austin, Texas. And she never had social media, even in college."

"Maybe Jennifer White isn't her name," I mumbled.

"What?" Tess said.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing."

"No footprint, minimal background...maybe she changed her name." I thought of Annie and her new name. Running from her abusive spouse. April Carra would never have a social media platform. "Did you look into that?"

"No," Tess said. "I had no reason to believe she changed her name, but I can check court records."

Unless she did it illegally. If she was running from someone or something, she wouldn't have used legal channels.

"She interned for ComOne for a semester," Tess continued. "A tech company that at the time was owned by Logan Monroe, so that confirms his statement from yesterday. He lived in Austin then—six years ago. From there, she took a full-time job at ComOne for two years after graduation, then went to a Silicon Valley company—no ties to Monroe—for two years. That's where she made her money, I think—her position paid $250,000 a year plus stock options."

"Wow, we're in the wrong business," I said. "A quarter million for computer nerds? Wow, Lulu is going to support all of us when she graduates."

"True." Tess laughed. "Jennifer landed at Desert West just over a year ago and took a pay cut—making $150K a year. That's weird to me. Sure, cost of living here is cheaper than California, but not that much cheaper."

That was interesting. Why take a substantial pay cut?

"Did you check into her previous employer?"

"They had nothing but positive things to say, gave her glowing recommendations, but I did get one thing—when she gave two weeks' notice, she left. Said she had a family emergency and would take her sick and vacation time. Never came back to the office. There was a two-month employment lapse between when she left California until she signed on with Desert West."

"For a lot less money." Though $150K a year was nothing to sneeze at. "Do you have any idea where she was during those two months?"

"Nada. It's like she disappeared completely, then showed up in Phoenix with the job at Desert West. She bought the condo the same week she was hired. And the other weird thing—her references are all business. Even her personal references for the condo were related to work."

"Can you get a copy of her high school yearbooks?"

"I suppose, if it's important," Tess said. "But what would that accomplish?"

"The more information, the better," I said.

Maybe the odd behavior from Monroe was because he was helping his former intern, not that he was cheating on his wife.

"How'd she leave the hospital?" I asked.

"We think she used Uber—her private account, so we can't get into it." Tess paused, then asked, "Do you think that Logan Monroe might have another place for her? Let's assume for a minute that she's in trouble or danger or helping Monroe steal from his old company. He gave her access to that rental—maybe he has another."

"I have a list of all his properties."

"How many are there?"

"A dozen."

"You can send me half."

"Theo is already checking them out. Just recon. But if you want to dig into the property records, that might help—which are rentals, short or long term, commercial, co-owners."

"Easy. I'll get on it."

"He could have put her up in a hotel," I mused. "Or at his resort. I'm following Monroe now. We'll find out what's going on."