“That sounds nice,” I said.
Lillian stepped forward and shook my hand. “Good to see you again, Troy.”
“Good to see you too.”
Kayla’s lips turned up at the corners, and she brightened all of a sudden. “By the way, Troy’s not my bodyguard anymore.”
Lillian’s eyebrows lifted. “No?”
“I stopped services. Didn’t want to be indebted to Robert.”
“But I’m still watching out for her,” I said. “I’m just doing it as her boyfriend now.”
Lillian clapped her hands together, clearly pleased by the news. “That’s wonderful! And I called it.” She glanced at Kayla and winked. “Didn’t I tell you he had his eye on you?”
“Yes, but to be fair, that was his job.”
“Lillian is right,” I said with a chuckle. “I had my eye on you, and it wasn’t just about the job.”
Kayla blushed and when she looked at me, I grinned.
Lillian took a seat, and pulling a ledger and file out of her bag, she set them down on the table. “Okay, I’d love to talk about vacations and new relationships and so many other things, but we agreed to look at the numbers.”
“Yes, we did,” I said.
There was dread in Kayla’s eyes, so I took her hand and laced our fingers together. “It’s okay.”
“I feel like I’m betraying a friend. We’re going behind his back…”
Lillian gave Kayla a grim expression. “If it makes you feel better, I’m the one who betrayed him by snooping, not you. But now that it’s done, you owe it to yourself to consider the evidence.” She smiled sadly. “It doesn’t help to keep your head in the sand, honey.”
Kayla’s expression crumbled, and she nodded slowly. “You’re right. Let’s just get this over with.”
For the next hour, Lillian took us through the bookkeeping as well as Greg Bishop’s file. As it turned out, Greg received funds that were supposedly made from several investments. But in the bookkeeping, there were data entries made on the same day as an initial down payment from a new client. That information would have been circumstantial at best if there hadn’t been a note beside it. Down payment from client #345 to be transferred to Greg Bishop.
That wasn’t the only instance that happened. Lillian went line by line, and there were a few other times money had been transferred from client to client and reported as income from investments. Robert was deceiving his clients. Robbing one to pay another.
“Now do you believe me?” Lillian asked, glancing at Kayla.
“Yes.” Her shoulders fell and her expression remained worried. “What are we supposed to do with this?”
“I’m staying out of it,” Lillian said. “I just wanted you to know that Robert is not the man he says he is.”
I grimaced. “We have to report this to the police. We have an obligation to his clients, now that we know.”
“And if he files bankruptcy, a lot of people will lose money.” Kayla folded her hands on the table and looked at me and then Lillian. “He says he’s not in danger of bankruptcy, but how can we trust his word?”
“We can’t, and I’m glad you’re finally seeing to the core of his true character,” I said. “He may have done a lot for you over the years, but I would be willing to bet his good deeds were self-serving.”
“In what way?” Lillian asked.
“He’s in love with her.”
Lillian winced and looked down. “Oh, dear. That makes things uncomfortable, but I’m not surprised. He always had an eye for her.”
Kayla blew out a breath. “But I’ve been completely upfront with him. He knows Troy and I are together, and he said he’s okay with it.”
“But is he really?” Lillian asked.
Kayla shrugged, but we all knew the answer to that.
I cleared my throat and tapped my fingers on the table. “I hate to bring this up, but it needs to be said.”
“What’s that?” Kayla asked.
“Daniel uncovered something he wanted to share with the police. It makes sense that he probably found out what Robert was doing. And if that’s the case, it’s possible Robert is behind Daniel’s death and maybe even the secondary attack you experienced after the concert.”
The blood drained from Kayla’s face, and her eyes flickered with fear. “I’ve been thinking the same thing, but I’m having a hard time believing he hired someone to harm us. Why would he try to hurt me specifically if he supposedly likes me? Plus, he’s the one who insisted I get a bodyguard, and he paid for it. If he was involved, why would he pay for services to protect me from himself? That doesn’t make sense.”
“You have a point,” I said. “Maybe Victor is behind Daniel’s death, but we shouldn’t dismiss Robert as a possibility.”
Lillian shook her head. “No. I can’t see it. Like I said earlier, Robert might be involved in white-collar crime, but he wouldn’t resort to murder.”
I didn’t say what I was thinking, but Daniel was a threat in two different ways. He may have known of Robert’s illegal business practices.
And… He was married to the woman Robert loved.
I needed more information. “Tell you what. I’ll set up a meeting with Greg Bishop. See what he has to say about all of this. Maybe we’ll learn something we can take to the police.”
Lillian snapped her fingers. “Good idea.”
Kayla took my hand and squeezed it. “I want to be at that meeting.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
***
Mr. Bishop’s contact info was in his file, so I gave him a call to set up a meeting. He agreed to meet with us but said he only had a few minutes of his time to spare. He asked if we would come to his place of work, and when I found out he was an attorney, I nearly lost it. We
