Friendship on Fire(46)

Mia nodded, and guilt swallowed Josh. Mia had been a loyal and dedicated employee, and he valued her friendship. He should have told her that he was seeing Riley, even if under the veil of confidence.

“I’m sorry for not telling you about me and Riley, Mia. She didn’t want to come under scrutiny and gossip.”

Mia smiled and sipped her coffee. “Yes, you should have, so I could have protected her. Remember, part of the world’s greatest assistant’s job is to fix problems before they occur.”

“You would have protected her?” He lifted his drink. “Of course you would have. I’m sorry. It was shortsighted of me. But you know you couldn’t have stopped Claudia.”

“No, but I could have watched her more closely and maybe caught her in the act so things didn’t escalate so fast or so far.” She sipped her coffee. “So, this is it? She’s the one you’ve been hoping for all these years?”

Taken aback by the directness of her inquiry, he answered, “I haven’t exactly been waiting around,” Josh said.

“Right. Out of the last eighteen dates, you have returned phone calls for exactly two, and of those two, you have seen one of the women one more time, and that was to take her to an event. She went right home afterward, and you had me end it after that. As I recall, you had me send her an outfit and tell her thank you on the phone, but no thank-you card. I think you were waiting around, even if you didn’t know it.”

“You kept track of my dates?” Josh already knew the answer. Mia kept track of his entire life. It was Mia who’d called him before six a.m. to warn him about the media, and it was Mia who brought him dinner when he didn’t ask. “Okay, you win, Mia. Maybe I have been waiting around, or hoping, for Riley to appear. But even still, it took me by surprise.”

She kicked back in her chair and crossed her arms and legs. “I’ve been thinking about this whole thing. Claudia’s really clever. If she stole all of Riley’s original drawings, then Riley doesn’t have a leg to stand on. What can she possibly do or say that would substantiate that she was the original designer of that dress? Then I started thinking. If Claudia really did do this, then she had to do it here, right?” Her eyes grew wide. “You know where I’m going with this, right? Security cameras. We have them all over the place. Even if we didn’t see anything, it would be recorded. Mr. B., I think Riley might just catch a break.”

“I’m one step ahead of you. Come with me.” He led her to the security room, where Reggie stared at a blank screen, his face a block of stone. “Reggie, this is my assistant, Mia. She’s aware of the situation.”

Reggie spun around and pushed to his feet. “I think you have a very wise thief on your hands.” His eyes darted to Mia, and he extended a hand, his sharp stare softened to an appreciative gaze. “Pleasure to meet you,” he said.

Mia shook his hand. The attraction that sparked between them practically burned Josh. He cleared his throat.

“Wise?” Josh said.

“Wise, yes.” Reggie pulled his attention back to Josh, his eyes darting to Mia with every few words he spoke. “The security camera schedules have been tampered with. Over the past four weeks, the cameras have been set to roll until eleven thirty in the morning. Then they’re off until after nine in the evening. Weekends are off altogether. Whoever is doing this has access to the schedules.”

Josh shot a look at Mia.

“That would be anyone with a master key, as opposed to a front-door key. The cleaning people, me, you.” She nodded at Josh. “Claudia, and I think Clay has one. I think that’s it. But we check the videos daily to see that they’re running. I personally check them every morning at eight.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Of course they are. They’re turned off later in the morning.”

Josh swallowed hard. He’d given Riley a master key as well, and he’d failed to report it to Mia.

“Well, that nails it, right? It’s got to be Claudia,” Mia said.

“That’s circumstantial at best. This could be a completely separate issue from the design theft.” Reggie crossed his thick arms over his chest and planted his legs in a determined stance. “I’ve seen it a dozen times. We find a secondary issue while searching for the primary. I’m going to look into the files on their computers. We’ll see what else we can turn up.”

Josh bristled at his use of the word their and the implication that Reggie still thought Riley might be part of this whole scheme. No matter how much he loved her, he remained true to his ethical and moral standards and reluctantly admitted what he’d done. “I gave Riley a key. The only spare I had was a master.” He shrugged.

Mia arched a brow.

“It was the one from the safe,” Josh said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mia asked.

“I forgot, and she’s never used it.” Josh saw the disappointment in her eyes, and knew he deserved every bit of it.

Mia arched a brow.

“I’m with her, Mia, morning and evening. She’s never here alone.”

“A run of the electronic keys will tell us when specific employees entered the building. You do have a list of the employees and their key codes, right?”

Mia nodded.

“Does this door stay locked?” Reggie asked.

“Yes,” Mia answered.

“Then unless the key records have been tampered with, we should have a few more answers. And key records are ten times harder to falsify than cameras. Josh, I’ll need you to complete that paperwork I gave you so we can request it all on your behalf.”

“No problem. I’ll get it done now.” Josh answered without thinking, his mind still stuck on the fact that Riley had a master key.

“Depending on what we find, we may need to consider that other employees could be involved with these security tapes. I’ll let you know when we wrap up this end of the investigation,” Reggie said.

“I’ll take you over to their desks,” Mia offered. She turned on her heel and walked away.

Josh’s legs were rooted to the floor. Could Riley have done this? He sank into the chair Reggie had just vacated and covered his face with his hands. He had phone calls to make. Another round of inquiries to the people he trusted. Clay, the cleaning woman, Wella…and Riley.





Chapter Thirty-Nine


THE EVENING BREEZE blew across the front porch of Riley’s parents’ single-story home. Riley watched the sun dip behind the trees and hunkered down in her thick sweater, anticipating the chill it would bring. She heard the front door creak open and turned to see her mother joining her on the porch. Her once dark brown hair now laced with plentiful threads of silver hung just above her shoulders in thick waves. She wore a barn coat over her sweater and carried a bottle of wine and two glasses, which she set down as she seated herself in the rocking chair next to Riley.

“How’s my girl?” her mother asked.

Riley considered herself lucky to have always enjoyed a strong relationship with her mother, Arlene. Her mother had always used a tender tone, even when Riley knew she’d deserved a strong reprimand, and because of that, she’d always felt comfortable seeking her advice.

“I’m okay, Mom. It’s good to be home.” Riley had been thinking of Josh all afternoon. She wondered what he was facing back in New York. Was the media hounding him? Had he found any further evidence of Claudia’s guilt? Was he having doubts about her? About them? She was still wrestling with the harsh reality that by being linked to her, Josh’s reputation would be tarnished.

“We’ve missed you, but we all knew that one day your time would come. You’re too talented to be wasted at Macy’s,” her mother said.

“Thanks.”

“Do you enjoy the work as much as you’d hoped you would?”

She knew her mother was dancing around the subject of Claudia’s accusations, but she, too, was not ready to jump in and discuss it. “I’m only doing assistant work right now, but yeah. I do like it, and I like New York in general—or at least I did.” The porch boards creaked beneath her rocker’s rhythmic motion.

“That’s good,” her mother said. “You’ve always been able to adapt to change easily. Even when you were a little girl, when we’d travel to see Aunt Betty or to go on a summer trip, you never had trouble sleeping in new beds or adjusting to new schedules.”

“I remember.” Riley smiled at the memory of her aunt’s gingerbread cookies. She always had a batch ready when Riley arrived.

“There’s not much you can’t handle, Riley.”

Her mother looked at her then, her hidden meaning exposed in the glint in her eyes and the nod of her head.

“I’m not so sure,” Riley admitted. “Mom, how did you know Dad was everything you’d ever want?”

“I didn’t,” she admitted. “I’m not sure he is now, either.”

Oh no. Please don’t tell me any more bad news. She fixed her stare on a knot in the railing and set her rocker into motion.

“I love your father. He’s a remarkable, caring man who would do anything for you or me. But, honey, we never know today what we’ll want tomorrow, or why.”