Taming the Carefree Billionaire - Marie Higgins Page 0,68
toward the office building. They went through a private door and then up the back stairs to his office.
“Thomas, I can’t believe you kept this secret from me.”
Confused, he glanced down at her twinkling eyes. “What?”
“Your secret passages. I didn’t know you had these.”
He laughed. “I suppose I take after my magician cousin. Aaron Powers likes secret passageways, too.”
Inside his office, he booted up his computer and logged in before allowing Morgan to take over. She slid her flash drive into the USB port and her fingers flew across the keys as if they had eyes of their own. Soon, she had three different screens pulled up, all of them were pictures of different fires. The pictures were mostly of onlookers who came to watch the fires. She moved the mouse around and zoomed in on the three pictures.
“What am I looking for?” Thomas asked.
She pointed to a man in the bottom corner of her screen. “He’s here in this shot, and in this one below, he’s over here,” Morgan said. “The same guy is at all three fires.”
Thomas pulled up a chair to the desk and peered at the screen, studying the man’s profile. “That looks like Antonio.” Thomas looked closer. “No... that is Antonio!”
“Why is he at the fires?” Morgan asked.
“I don’t know. This one here,” he pointed to the fire that started just the other day, “I knew he was there. I drove my own vehicle, and I remember seeing him. He knew some of the workers there, and that’s why I thought he was there. To help.”
“You don’t think he could be the one starting the fires, do you?” Morgan asked. “I mean, I’ve heard that arsonists like to watch their work.”
“I’ve known Antonio for a while, he’s a good guy. He’d never do something this careless.”
“Darn.” She sighed. “I really hoped that I’d found something of importance.”
“Look.” Thomas pointed to another person in the photo. “That’s Garth.”
“A woman is next to him,” Morgan said as she tried to zoom in on the picture. All she could see was the back side of a woman with blonde hair. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Not that I know about, but I don’t care enough to check up on him, so maybe he does have a girlfriend.”
“He just seems to be standing pretty close to this lady.” Morgan moved her mouse around a bit as if she was searching for something. Then she clicked the exit program button.
She leaned her head back on the executive chair. “That’s all I have.”
“Maybe it was Garth.” Thomas patted her knee gently. “That jerk would do anything to get ahead in this business.”
Morgan lay her hand on top of his. “Do you think I should take these pictures to the police?”
Thomas stood and pushed his hands in his pants pockets. “It won’t hurt.” His finger brushed across the bead he’d picked up in the charred ruins. Curiously, he pulled it out to study it again.
“What’s that?” Morgan asked, standing next to him.
“I found it in the field, near the gate.”
Morgan took it from him and studied it closer. “That looks like one of the rhinestone beads that Joslyn has on one of her fashion jackets.” Morgan kept looking at it. “Why would it be inside the vineyard?”
“Not sure. I know I didn’t invite her in.” He paused briefly. “Was she wearing her jacket that day I took you both on a tour?”
Morgan frowned. “No, I don’t think so, but I honestly can’t remember.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I’ve got to get back to work before I’m fired.”
“Let me walk you back to your bike.”
“No, I’m fine.” She pointed to his chair. “You have surveillance footage to watch, remember?”
“Yes, dear.”
Laughing, she left his room. And two seconds later, he missed her already. He needed to figure out a way to keep her by his side always.
TWENTY-FOUR
After an hour of watching several different surveillance videos, Thomas’ vision was growing cloudy. He had walked away from his desk a few times. He even added eye drops to his eyes. Everything had the same result. He couldn’t find anything!
Growling, he paced the floor, rubbing his temples. He wouldn’t accept that there was absolutely nothing that showed him who started the fire, or even who hit his father over the head. A vital piece was missing, and he couldn’t figure out where it was hiding.
Now, more than ever, he needed his guardian angel. But apparently, Percy had gone home.