Amounting to Nothing by Karis Walsh

Author:Karis Walsh [Karis Walsh]
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Merissa walked into the barn the next morning wearing a blazer and gray slacks, with her portfolio tucked under one arm. Billie was in the central aisle, grooming Legs after their trail ride, and Jean-Yves was next to her putting a saddle on Juniper. Billie took one look at her in her business attire and gave a long-suffering, eye-rolling sigh.

Merissa held up one hand. “Spare me the dramatics,” she said, hiding a grin at Billie’s exaggerated annoyance. Well, maybe it wasn’t exaggerated, but it was still amusing. “I was going to sneak out while you were riding, but I didn’t this time.”

She had considered doing just that, and until this morning she hadn’t been sure whether she would tell Billie she was leaving or run off like she’d done the day before. Last night, after they’d gone through Dennis’s files, she’d spent hours lying on her quilted bedspread and staring at the ceiling while she thought about Dennis, their past, and her uncertain future. She wasn’t sure what to do with the information she’d gotten yesterday, but she needed to know more before she could make a decision. When she’d called Karen about the missing files, she’d asked a few vague questions about Dennis and the company, but Karen hadn’t given her any more information. She’d sounded unfazed about the files, and asked Merissa to drop them at the front desk of the office whenever she was in Tacoma.

Merissa had immediately called both Kensington and Lemaine and told them she was thinking of buying the business. She asked for meetings this morning and both eagerly accepted, despite the short notice. Of course they would. The amount of money they’d make from an alliance with the Morgan Group, whether she or Dennis was leading it, was worth an impromptu meeting or two.

Since she’d already gotten Billie involved in the file theft, something Billie clearly wasn’t happy about, she had originally planned to leave her behind again. But the guilt of dragging Billie along with another scheme was outweighed by the betrayed expression she’d likely see on Billie’s face when she finally came home. She’d be up-front about her meetings, and Billie could decide whether to come with her or to stay behind. Either way, Merissa was going.

“I have appointments with Kensington and Lemaine today,” she said, trying to look anywhere but at the pulsing beat near Billie’s jawbone. She must be grinding her teeth with frustration. “Both are in public places, and I’m just getting a feel of what our relationship will be if I buy the firm. This is a completely reasonable and expected course of action given the amount of money I’ll be expected to pay for Dennis’s company. It would almost look more suspicious if I didn’t meet with them.”

Her logic had sounded infallible last night, when she was alone, but Billie didn’t look swayed by it. “What’s your end goal here, Merissa? Are you going to accuse them of killing Dennis and hope they confess?”

“No.” Merissa was telling the truth.

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