Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“What’s up?” Griffen said in response.
Finn pushed the door all the way open, and we entered. Griffen and Hope sat behind Griffen’s wide desk, Royal on the other side, his laptop open in front of him. Papers were spread across the desk between them, an uncapped pen on top.
Hope’s eyes lit up when she saw the bins just outside the door. “The housekeeping documents?”
“We’re bringing them down to my old apartment,” I said. “Which I guess is now the staff lounge. I thought I could spread them out on the table so we can take our time going through them.” I shot a look at Finn, and he jumped in.
“We dropped the bins.” He paused, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head at me. “Someone was trying to carry both bins at once and wouldn’t let me help.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then someone else grabbed them, and everything ended up on the floor.”
Finn shook his head as if I were the idiot in this scenario. Hope’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Anyway,” I went on. “We dropped the bins, and they spilled all over the place, and I found this.” I held out the open briefcase to Griffen. “It looks like it was your father’s. There are contracts inside. Way too recent to belong with the housekeepers’ records in the bins, and what I looked at was for Sawyer Enterprises. They were signed after you left, so—”
“Thanks, Savannah,” Griffen said, setting the briefcase on the desk in front of him and opening the lid all the way. “This was my dad’s briefcase. I remember it from when I was a kid. He replaced it. I can’t remember when. Maybe when I was in high school.”
He opened the first file folder, Hope leaning in to read over his shoulder.
“Partnership agreement,” he said under his breath, flipping to the second page, stopping when his eyes caught a handwritten note in the margin. “That’s Ford’s handwriting.”
“You’re sure?” Royal asked, leaning in.
Hope nodded. “I recognize it too. That’s definitely Ford’s handwriting,” she confirmed.
As I had, Griffen flipped to the signature page, his eyes narrowing on the date. “2012. Well after my time with Sawyer Enterprises.” He flipped back and re-read Ford’s notes. “These are notes to himself.” His finger hovered over one. “Check source of funds.” He flipped back to the signature page. Even from across the table, I could see that Ford had three question marks under one of the company names, the ink dark and thick, grooved into the paper as if he’d been pressing especially hard on his pen.
Royal pointed at the company name marked by question marks. “Isn’t that—?”
“I think so,” Griffen said.
“Isn’t that what?” Finn asked, clearly as lost as I was. I ran Heartstone Manor, but I had nothing to do with Sawyer Enterprises.
Griffen looked up at us. “Yawhood Properties. We think Dad did business with them a few times, but we haven’t had any luck tracing anything about it. It probably doesn’t matter at this point, but we’ve been trying to track down loose ends. It’s odd to have a party to an important contract just disappear.”
“Or possibly not have existed in the first place,” Hope said under her breath.
Hope pointed to the other company name. Chiapas Co. “I’ve seen this somewhere.”
She closed her eyes, maybe digging in her memory for the name, as Royal shook his head. Opening her eyes, she said, “I know this name. I can’t remember if I know it from years ago or if I’ve seen it in one of the contracts we’ve gone through in the last six months.”
Royal added, “I’ve been focused on current business, and I don’t remember seeing that company anywhere.”
“I don’t recognize it either,” Griffen said to Hope. “So it must have to do with business from back when you and Edgar worked with Ford and Dad.”
Griffen moved on to the next folder, scanning the contract inside. “These are some big numbers, but it doesn’t say what it’s for. Just mentions ‘Product.’ Same two companies as the first contract.”
“That’s not sketchy at all,” Royal added.
“That’s Dad for you,” Griffen said with a grim smile. He moved to the next folder. “Another contract. Six months after this last one. Same deal.” I could see notes scribbled in Ford’s handwriting on this one too. Griffen picked up a manilla envelope and unwound the string sealing it shut. He pulled out a single piece of paper.
“This one isn’t a contract,” Griffen said absently, scanning the page. Looking over his shoulder, Hope drew in a quick breath and sat up.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
“It has Finn’s name on it,” Hope said.
Finn stepped back, his shoulders rounding forward, shrinking in on himself. If my name had been on a hidden document, I would have grabbed it to see what it said, but Finn had retreated. Did he already know what Griffen was reading? How could he?