Love Is Patient and A Heart's Refuge (14 page)

As they left, her heart fluttered in her chest with a
mixture of nerves and anticipation. She hoped what they discovered would prove Gabe’s innocence and not his guilt. And that Dara hadn’t changed Gabe’s password.

D
ylan turned off the street and slowed the car over the speed bump straddling the entrance to Matheson Telecom’s parking lot. He glanced sidelong at Lisa, who hadn’t said anything during the entire trip over. A few times he’d thought of asking her about the memo.

He didn’t want to know what she had to say. He preferred to think of the time they had spent in the study that morning. Holding her in his arms. Kissing her. And most important, reading the Bible with her.

Those things were real. And those things were part of Lisa, as well. He had to believe that. His questions about the memo could come later. Once they were in Toronto they would be away from all this. And they would have a chance to pursue their changing relationship.

Where it would lead, Dylan wasn’t sure. But he knew that for now they shared a common faith, and that was the best place to begin any relationship.

He swung the car into an empty space beside his
father’s parking stall. Alex’s silver car gleamed as it always did. His father had always taken good care of the things he owned. Stewardship, he called it. Dylan wished Alex had spent the same time and care on his company the past few years as he had on his material possessions.

He couldn’t help but wonder about his mother’s advice. Was confronting his dad about Ted’s appointment the way to solve the current dilemma?

And even more so, did he want to be in charge?

One thing at a time.

“So, you ready to go?” he asked Lisa as he shut off the engine.

She nodded, and as soon as he had his own door open, she was out of the car.

As he followed her into the office he wondered again at her intensity, her desire to get to the bottom of this whole matter. She was the only one who seemed to really care. Other than Dara.

They didn’t even bother stopping at the receptionist. Instead they went straight to Dara’s office.

She sat at her desk, ramrod straight in front of her computer. Her gray suit was crisp—not a wrinkle in sight. The white shirt peeking out from the vee of her suit coat was immaculate. She wore her hair down today, softening the sharp lines of her face, but her overall appearance was one of a woman in charge, giving her the same air of control he knew all too well from the brief time he had dated her.

Except lately he had seen a few fissures in her iron restraint.

Dylan knocked lightly on her open door to announce himself.

Dara looked up, and her eyes grew wide. “What are you doing here?” Her frown deepened. “And what is
she
doing here?” Dara angled her chin toward Lisa, not even bothering to use her name.

“Last I checked, my name is still on the Matheson Telecom letterhead,” Dylan said lightly, surprised at her anger. “And Lisa is helping me with this little problem.”

“But we don’t need any help…” Dara sputtered. “It’s over. I found the money. That’s why I phoned you.” She pushed herself away from her desk with an abrupt movement

“I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing for myself,” Dylan said easily, forcing himself to stay calm as Dara stormed around the desk.

“Everything…is…fine,” she said, leaning toward him, enunciating each word with harsh emphasis.

“Then it won’t matter if we go looking, will it?” Dylan asked. “Just to double-check. I hauled myself all the way here from Toronto at my father’s request, no less. I don’t think it would be so bad if I checked things out myself.” He gave her a casual smile, but his interior radar was on full alert. He’d been going through the motions to appease his father. But Dara’s behavior struck a warning chord he couldn’t ignore.

Why the anger? Why was she so upset? If things were truly over, as she so emphatically stated, why should she care if he checked for himself?

He thought again of the memo. Wondered at her involvement in what had happened.

Dara’s eyes flicked over Lisa, then narrowed. “And you need to take her along?”

“Lisa has been gracious enough to help me. In fact, she was the one who encouraged me to finish what I started.”

“And why should she care?”

Dara’s question fed Dylan’s niggling suspicions.

“She probably cares because she’s spent quite a few days helping me. She has a time investment to consider, as well.”

“But she’s been compensated for that.” She gave Lisa a sly glance. “Quite adequately, I’m sure.”

Dylan bristled at the unpleasant insinuation threaded through her comments.

“Dylan is a generous boss,” Lisa cut in, her tone full of innocence. “As I’m sure you know for yourself.”

Dylan suppressed a smile. Lisa could hold her own. He caught her eye and winked. Pleasure spiraled within him when she returned his smile.

Without another word Dara turned to her desk and pulled a key out of one of the drawers. “Here’s what you’ll need to get into his office. It’s two doors down.” She scribbled a notation on a pad of paper and handed it to Dylan, but her eyes were on Lisa. “And here’s his password. No promises it works. I just lucked out when I figured it out, so I may have written it wrong. I was going to get a tech in tomorrow to clean the files off it—that’s why I went through it once more to see if I could find anything else. Just drop the key off here when you’re done.”

“Thanks, Dara,” Dylan said, taking the paper and handing it directly to Lisa. “You’ve been most cooperative.”

She didn’t say anything—just kept staring at Lisa. “You live in Toronto?” she asked all of a sudden.

Lisa gave a start, but nodded.

“East York?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just curious” was her cryptic comment. She turned to Dylan. “Happy hunting,” she said with a faint smile. “Just close the door on your way out.”

Gabe’s office had been emptied of everything but a desk and his computer, but it still held a faint musty smell of papers.

“We may as well get started,” Dylan said, fidgeting while Lisa booted up the computer. He thought of the promise he had made his brother, then wondered why Ted was so anxious to have him back off.

“We’ll start with that bank account,” he said, pacing around the desk. “Try to see if you can find it somewhere.”

He stopped behind her, then started pacing again.

“Dylan,” Lisa said, glancing up at him, “why don’t you get a coffee or something?”

Dylan held her gaze. Smiled at her. “You trying to get rid of me?”

“Your prowling is making me nervous.”

“Do you want anything?”

She shook her head, looking back at the computer. She glanced at the paper Dara had given them and punched in the combination of letters and numbers, frowning in concentration.

“Okay. I’ll leave you to it. Be back in a bit.” He paused, waiting for some kind of sign that things were still the same between them, but she wasn’t looking at
him. As he walked down the hall to the coffee room he wondered again at her desire to get to the bottom of this.

Relief swept through Lisa when Dylan finally closed the door behind him. Now she could work in private.

Dara’s password hadn’t gotten her in. That was no surprise to Lisa.

She carefully slipped Gabe’s password out of her pocket, then punched it in. The pattern seemed vaguely familiar, but she didn’t have time to puzzle it out. She hit Enter.

And she was in. She put the paper back into her pocket.

She thought she’d start with the easy stuff. On a hunch she clicked the icon showing her the most recently used documents. And there they were. One labeled Wilson Engineering, Dara’s father’s company. The other was a number that she suspected was the company account.

Lisa highlighted the files she thought she needed, and while she copied them to the disk drive she flicked through the properties. From what she could see the files had been accessed just this morning. And the numbered account looked as if it had been created after Gabe left.

Exhilaration pumped through her. This information, combined with the memo, could be just what she needed to clear Gabe’s name.

Seconds later the disk in the drive was whirring, saving the information she had found. She pulled the diskette out of the drive and slipped it into her purse just as she heard a light knock on the door.

She quickly restarted the computer. Thankfully the speakers weren’t connected, so no little ditty gave her actions away.

“How’s it coming?” Dara swept into the office and came to stand beside Lisa.

“I’m having some problems logging on,” Lisa said, making a show of glancing at the paper Dara had given her. “I’ve tried this one a couple of times.”

“I may have written it down wrong.” Dara took the paper from Lisa, but she didn’t look at it. Instead she looked at Lisa more closely. “You know, I’ve said this before, but you look very familiar.”

Lisa shrugged the comment off, uncomfortable under Dara’s relentless scrutiny. “I’m fairly unremarkable.”

“That’s not very complimentary to yourself, is it?”

“I know who I am.”

“Do you? I wish I did. Know who you are.”

Fear tingled up her neck, but Lisa held Dara’s gaze, projecting innocence. “Why? I’m only around for a short while. Soon Dylan and I will be going back to Toronto.”

“Yes. And Dylan will be leaving Matheson Telecom.” Dara’s smile held no warmth. “And it would only be fair if I added, ‘and leaving you.’ Dylan is like that, you see. Has never held on to a girl for longer than a few weeks.” Dara scribbled something on the paper. “Try this one.”

Lisa glanced at it and forced a polite smile. Another useless password. “Thanks for this.” She looked back up at Dara. “And the advice.”

Dara waved a careless hand at her. “Think nothing of it.”

I’ll try not to think of you at all. Lisa waited until Dara closed the door behind her, then folded up the piece of paper and slipped it into her pocket. She wasn’t going to waste any more time playing Dara’s games. She hoped she had what she had come for.

She turned Gabe’s computer off, looking around his office.

What hopes had he brought to this job? she wondered, trailing her hand over his desk. He had been so excited when he phoned her to tell her about the job. All the hard work and sacrifices she had made had been worth every moment.

She slipped her purse over her shoulder and got up. Once she showed Dylan what she suspected, Gabe’s name would be cleared.

And hers would be mud.

She thought of the wondrous moments with Dylan in the study. When he had read the Bible to her.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

Would he be patient with what she had to say when she finally dared tell him the truth? That afternoon on the sailboat he had spoken so strongly of how important trust was to him. How it had hurt when his father had broken trust with him.

Could he forgive her for what she had done to him? Would he understand?

She pressed her fingers to her aching forehead, praying, unsure what to ask for. What to say. Now that she had proof that her brother was innocent, she felt cu
riously deflated. She wanted to help her brother, but the cost had been too high.

Why had Dylan come into her life this way? Why couldn’t they have simply met under normal circumstances? A man and a woman who were attracted to each other.

But it hadn’t happened that way. She had sought him out. Had used him and his family.

How could she face them?

She drew in a deep breath. She had made her own decisions. She had made her own mistakes. She knew what God required of her and what she had to do. When she and Dylan got home she was going to show him what she had discovered. And then she was going to tell him the truth.

She strode out of the office, looking for Dylan. One more step and this would all be over.

There was no fresh coffee made in the coffee room. Dylan pulled a face at the dark brew sitting in the glass pot.

He should go back to Lisa, but was strangely reluctant to do so. He would have thought the moment they had shared in the study would have brought them closer together. And it had.

For a while.

And then she had retreated.

And he had read the memo that she had lied to him about.

The thought stuck in his mind, like a dirty stick that wouldn’t be dislodged. Why hadn’t she shown him right
away? He didn’t quite believe her excuse that she’d thought it unimportant. Lisa was thorough and diligent.

Restless again, he walked over to his father’s office. His secretary was gone, but the door to Alex’s office was open. To Dylan’s surprise, his father was inside. Dylan knocked lightly on the door.

Alex stood by the window, his arms crossed. His suit coat hung crookedly on the back of his chair, and his tie was undone. Dylan was taken aback. At the office, his father always presented nothing less than a professional appearance.

Alex glanced back over his shoulder, and when he saw Dylan he gave him a tired smile. “This is a surprise, Dylan. What brings you here?”

“Dara phoned this morning,” Dylan said. “She said she found the missing money in a bank account set up by Gabe.”

“I heard that.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck with a slow movement as if even that was too much effort for him, staring out the window again. “Is that why you came?”

Dylan carefully closed the door behind them, but didn’t bother to sit down himself. He was here now. Might as well get straight to the point.

“The night of your anniversary Ted had a talk with me, Dad. He asked me to back off this investigation. Why would he do that?”

Alex slowly turned to face him, sorrow lining his face. “Ted and Dara have been under a lot of pressure the past few weeks. Actually the past few months. This whole business with the accountant has made things
even more difficult for them. Ted feels threatened by your presence here, Dylan.”

“Why should he, Dad? From what I understand he doesn’t even want to be in charge of the company.”

“I know.”

Dylan thought of the conversation he’d had with his mother just that morning. Could she be right? Was his father waiting for some kind of direction? Some kind of leadership?

“At the risk of bringing up old history, it makes me wonder again why you gave him the job you promised me.”