Scandal Never Sleeps (17 page)

She read the headline in horror.

AND A WOMAN CAME BETWEEN THEM . . .

The article included pictures of Maddox and Gabriel through the years. They’d also posted the shot of her running out of the hotel again.

Holy hell. It was really there. She turned to look at the gray shantung silk covering the window. The office was just below street level. With the curtains drawn, she couldn’t see out but wished now that more than cloth and glass separated her from the outside world. “Do you think they followed us here?”

He gave her a short shake of his head. “No. Dax and I made sure of it. A decoy of me was seen going into my building, and Connor found an actress who looks enough like you to head into yours. She’s going to walk by your window every couple of hours to keep them there.”

“There’s a strange woman in my loft? How did she even get in there? I’ve got my keys.”

“Do you?”

She walked back to check her purse. Sure enough, her keys were missing. “You stole my keys?”

“No. Dax did that. He’s got fast hands, but if he hadn’t been able to lift your keys, I assure you Connor could have found a way in. If you’re going to be angry with someone, be angry with me. It was the best way I could think of to keep the press off our trail. Neither of us
can go home now, so I thought this was a good compromise since I had keys to Mad’s place. He inherited a much larger mansion when his father died. He lists that as his address, but he preferred to stay here. It could take a couple of days for the reporters to figure out where we’re hiding.”

But they wouldn’t be able to leave. How had her life turned upside down in a few short days? “I can’t believe I need someone to distract the press. I was never Maddox’s mistress.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed as he considered her. “All right. Let’s say I believe you. What was your relationship with him? Were you doing work for him outside of the office?”

“Not officially, though we did discuss work. The first time he showed up at my loft, he claimed he wanted to go over my plans to convert to a new cybersecurity system. But after a few minutes, he changed the subject and we ended up talking about other things. We were just friends.” She wasn’t sure how else to put it.

“Mad didn’t have female friends. He had lovers and employees.”

Frustration threatened to boil her blood. “Before our weekend together, I hadn’t been to bed with anyone in a year and a half. Maddox and I didn’t have anything romantic or sexual going. When he started coming to my place, he seemed . . . lonely. Sad.”

“He always came to your place? Sorry, I didn’t realize Mad knew how to get to Brooklyn.”

Everly grinned. Sometimes he’d been a terrible snob. “Apparently he learned. His driver dropped him off. He certainly didn’t take the subway.”

“So you’re trying to tell me you’ve never been here before?”

“Not once.” He’d never invited her here and she’d never asked. He’d seemed to like her cozy loft.

“Did he ever spend the night?”

Maddox had been quite the night owl. He would often keep her talking until two or three in the morning, but he’d usually gone back
to Manhattan. “Only once. He was drunk and he showed up at my place without calling. When he rang the buzzer to come up, I could tell that he wasn’t himself. He kept talking about some woman. I worried about him that night.”

“Do you remember the name of the girl he talked about?”

“He never mentioned it. I didn’t pry. He only said he loved her and he’d lost her.”

“How long ago was this?”

“A couple of months ago.” She tried to remember an exact date, but couldn’t. “Anyway, all I did that night was put him to bed. I slept on the couch. The next morning, he apologized for any inconvenience and swore he’d take the couch next time. I asked him if there would be a next time and he gave me one of his wry smiles and a shrug. Do you think he was upset about your sister?”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “The timing fits. If he felt guilty about what he’d done to Sara, he had good reason. But I seriously doubt Mad ever loved her. He couldn’t have and still treated her the way he did. Honestly, I don’t think Mad knew how to love just one woman. How did you come to work for Crawford? Who recruited you?”

That was another mystery, too. “A headhunter contacted me and hired me away from my former employer. I was working as an IT department team leader in a company of about a hundred—much smaller than Crawford—when the guy called. He offered me a job on the spot. It took me a few days to actually wrap my head around the fact that the offer was genuine.”

“You weren’t an executive at your last job?”

She shook her head. “Hardly. I’d recently been moved up to project manager. I was on an executive fast track, but it still would have taken years to reach the level I’m at now. I got lucky.”

“That seems like a whole lot of luck,” Gabriel remarked. “And this headhunter represented Crawford? Would you recognize his name?”

“Of course.” She couldn’t forget the name of the man who had effectively changed her life. Her father had passed a few weeks before
she’d gotten that call. She’d been depressed, and this had been an open door to a brighter future at a time she’d needed it.

He nodded toward the laptop. “Hack into Mad’s e-mail and look for any messages he wrote the headhunter about you.”

“Why?” What did this have to do with solving Maddox’s murder?

“Because I don’t think your new job at Crawford had anything to do with luck. Mad never used headhunters. He had a solid HR department and preferred to promote from within every chance he could.”

“He wouldn’t have dealt with the headhunter directly, I’m sure. As you said, he had an HR department. Maybe they couldn’t find a candidate with the right skill set in their own organization, so they went outside.”

“Indulge me. I have a hunch and I’d like to see if I’m right.”

Was he trying to prove that Maddox had hired her in order to sleep with her? She knew it wasn’t true, but she was worried about giving Gabriel anything that he could twist. “What makes you think Maddox would be so invested in hiring a security project manager? That’s the position I was initially hired for. A month later, a new, even larger team was being formed around international cybersecurity threats. The team needed a director, which was a perfect position for my skill set. Five months after, the previous VP of cybersecurity retired, and I was promoted into his job.”

“No doubt, other people in the department had worked for Crawford longer and were just as qualified.”

She could think of a few. “Maybe Maddox wanted someone younger, more versed in electronic means of security than my predecessor and his cronies.”

“Even so, an executive position like that should have taken you years to attain . . . unless a very powerful person handpicked you for the role.”

Gabriel was wrong. He had to be. There was zero reason for Maddox Crawford to have taken an interest in her before they’d even met. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know how Mad’s mind worked. Please check.” He pointed to Maddox’s laptop.

“I’ve been through his business e-mail already. We’re lucky the IT folks hadn’t nuked the account yet. I didn’t see anything like that.”

That made Gabriel pause. “What about his personal e-mail? Did you look through that?”

Everly sighed and reached for the computer. He was like a dog with a bone. “I’ll do it now.”

She opened her former boss’s private e-mail but found it password protected. She could get around that, but the first and easiest solution was to figure out the password. A truly smart person selected a random set of numbers and letters, but most people picked something personal. What would Maddox choose? He didn’t seem like the kind to get sentimental or obsessive about anything—with a singular exception. The night he’d come to her loft shitfaced he’d been absolutely focused on one subject.

“What’s your sister’s name?”

“Sara.” Gabriel spelled it for her.

She typed the name in, and Maddox’s e-mail popped up. “I’m in.”

Gabriel sat forward. “
Sara
was his password?”

“Yeah. I know you think otherwise, but she must be the woman he talked about loving and losing that night. You know, he never seemed the same again. He hung around me a lot more, but he still seemed awfully alone.”

Gabriel raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t understand. He broke things off with Sara. They were happy—at least I thought so.” He huffed. “Bastard. Sara had dolled herself up to go to a reception with him. They’d been planning to take their relationship public. While she was waiting for him to pick her up, he sent her a kiss-off text. How could he care about Sara and treat her like that?”

Everly had no idea.

She stared at the computer screen, clicking her cursor into the search field to type in the headhunter’s name. It popped up
immediately, displaying a few messages. That surprised her. “You’re right about the e-mails. But why would a man as powerful as Maddox Crawford deal directly with a headhunter?”

“What do you see? Was he looking for a specific set of skills?”

She had to stop because what she read didn’t make a lick of sense. “No. He was looking for
me.
Why would he ask for me by name before we’d ever met? He gave the headhunter all my personal information—no idea where he got that—and said to hire me, regardless of my demands. I should have asked for more money.”

Gabriel stood and walked around the desk to peer over her shoulder. When he leaned in, Everly felt the heat of his body. “Open the attachment Mad sent.”

She clicked and got another shock. “It’s a complete file on me. My driver’s license, social security number, school records. What the hell is going on?”

“I’m not sure, but he was definitely interested in you.” He moved away, pacing across the floor. “None of the e-mails spell out why Mad wanted to hire you?”

She skimmed the rest of the messages. “No. Maddox simply told him to get it done and that there was a bonus if he could get me on board within six weeks.”

“But he only wanted to be your friend,” Gabriel said, his disbelief evident. “Who the hell are you, Everly Parker?”

“No one,” she whispered back. “I was raised in the middle of nowhere by a cop. I went to a state college and worked almost full-time to put myself through. I got a decent job when I graduated but it’s not as if I know any classified secrets.”

“Maybe not but you know how to hack a system.”

“Anyone in my business can hack a system.” Though secretly, Everly suspected she was a bit better than most. Lots of practice had ensured that.

“Have you hacked any systems you shouldn’t have? Besides ones involving Peter Jackson trailers.”

“Not in years. I will admit I’ve hacked into some places that could get me in trouble, but that was in college. Why would Maddox care now? I never did it to hurt anyone, merely to prove to myself that I could.”

“Maybe you saw something you don’t realize is important.”

Maybe she had, but she didn’t see how any of this helped them figure out who had killed Maddox and why. If someone who worked at Crawford felt slighted that they hadn’t been promoted when her predecessor retired, sure, they could have killed him in rage. But it made far more sense for the disgruntled employee to off her and hope that Mad chose him or her to backfill the position. Besides, she’d come here with Gabriel to get some answers—and he’d begun asking all the questions. She was a little sick of feeling interrogated.

“I don’t think so,” she told him. “Let’s come back to that later. Tell me what you didn’t tell the police.”

He stopped pacing, and his face went stony and blank. “I told the police everything relevant.”

“So that’s how this is going to go?” She sighed in exasperation. “You only brought me here to figure out my role in all this. You had no intention of sharing what you know.”

“I don’t know anything.”

She stood and headed for the stairs. Destination: front door. “Then I don’t think we have anything else to say to one other. I’ll take my chances with the press.”

Everly didn’t care that there were reporters in front of her building. She would find a hotel. Or better yet, she would take a few days off and get out of the city. She had college friends scattered a few hours away. Her father’s sister lived in Connecticut. She could visit her father’s grave and figure out where to go while she decided what the hell to do with her life now.

Gabriel wrapped his arm around her middle, hauling her back against his steely body.

“Don’t go,” he whispered against her ear.

With those two low words, he transported her back to the intimacy of their weekend together. She remembered how it felt to be under him, his body working to bring them both to climax. She also remembered how safe she’d felt in his arms. When he’d held her, he’d surrounded her, kept her breathless.

Why couldn’t she stop thinking about that? Damn him.

“Don’t touch me like this,” she insisted. “You’re my boss now. That’s it.”

He wrapped both arms around her, holding her tight. “When I hold you, it’s like a balm. You’re the first person to make me feel good in so fucking long. Don’t make me stop.”

It felt good to her, too. But she knew this heady sense of intimacy only lasted as long as the arousal. Later, he would push her away again, and she would be devastated. No matter how much she loved being with him, the pain wasn’t worth the momentary pleasure. She’d let him talk her into coming here because he’d promised to be honest with her.

“You have to. I’m not going through this with you again, Gabriel. If you can’t trust me, then it’s time to walk away.”

“I was at the airport that day.”

She stilled in his arms. No wonder he’d been reluctant to spill that. “You’re telling me you were at the airport when Maddox flew off?”

“Yes.” His gruff breath ruffled her hair.

“Why?”

“I had to talk to him again. I went there to try. I’d walked through the park for hours. Once I’d cooled down, I knew I couldn’t leave things the way they were between us. We’d been friends for most of our lives. I realized I had to salvage what I could and hope he would eventually seek some kind of relationship with his child.” He sighed behind her, the action pressing them closer together. “Mad would have been the first of us to be a father. That day, I couldn’t imagine him not knowing his own kid. We . . . how do I put this without sounding like a poor little rich boy?”