Bert, Johnny, Sebastian, and I sat in the back of the limo as Armin drove. Eve’s texts continued to flash onscreen as we talked to the phone.The limo driver’s is the only cell that’s still active. That’s why I was able to pull GPS coordinates off it. “That’s great!” I said.He’s somewhere on the Jersey coast. There have been a few incoming calls that went straight to voicemail, but no calls out. He’s been there the last week, not moving – probably holed up.“Or dead,” Johnny said.Or dead, the text message screen agreed.I felt a little nauseated, but I ignored it. “Anything on Mr. Templeton’s phone?”I’m sorry, but I can’t find it. Can’t find the bodyguards, either. They seem to have gone underground, too. “That’s an ironic choice of words,” Johnny said.Sorry – no pun intended.“How do you know they went – ‘underground’?” I asked.I tried searching their bank accounts for credit card or ATM activity, but there was nothing. Nothing on their phones, either.“Please tell me I’m not
This was a disaster.I dialed my contact’s number.“Yes?” said a man’s voice.“They found the limo.” I could barely contain my anger. From the sound of my voice, a stranger might have thought I was merely annoyed – but anyone who had dealings with me would know their life was on the line.The man sounded stunned. “Shit. My men told me they made sure it would never be found.”“They were stupendously wrong.”“Miranda… look… I’ll eat the cost on this. I’m sure it was an honest mistake – ”“We’ll decide the appropriate actions to take later. I don’t have time to deal with your men’s incompetence right now.”The voice turned pleading. “Miranda, these are good guys – except for this one wrinkle, they did an A+ job. Don’t make me – ”“LATER. Activate the contingency plan.”Stunned silence. Then – “Are you kidding me? You really want to go through with that?”“It’s why we developed it in the first place.”“It’s going to look highly suspicious, doing it the first day he’s in Rikers.”“Your me
To distract myself from the horrific scene on the shore, I walked away and placed a second call to Mr. John Koffitz, the lawyer Mr. Templeton had called after he left the penthouse. I’d left a previous message while we were waiting for the dive team, an hour before.I got his voicemail. “This is John Koffitz of Koffitz Crane Berkley and Jones. Please leave a message.”I didn’t want to identify myself as Connor’s fiancé, in case he thought Connor was guilty of the murder, so I just kept it vague. “Mr. Koffitz? Hi, Lily Ross again… I really need to talk to you about Augustus Templeton. It’s urgent. Could you please call me?” I said, and left my number.I knew that if he Googled my name, he would find out all about my connection to Connor thanks to my nude photos and Miranda’s blackmail from a year ago – but I couldn’t help that. And if he weren’t mixed up in the conspiracy, there was no reason he wouldn’t call me back.He never called me back.When I returned to the crime scene, Bert an
There were two bedrooms in the cabin. One had been turned into a makeshift office, with a laptop and printer.Koffitz brought up a document on his laptop and printed out a copy. “The only problem, of course, was that he didn’t get to sign the papers. So it’s worthless in court. BUT… he fully intended to sign it the following day.”I looked through the papers. I didn’t understand some of the legalese, but even to me it seemed clear that Mrs. Templeton and Vincent split every physical asset and bank account, but Connor got control over the company itself.“This makes no sense,” I said. “Mr. Templeton had dinner with us once. That was it. He wasn’t going to sign over everything he’d worked decades for just because of that one dinner. Even if he was trying to mend the relationship, he wouldn’t have done that.”“You’re thinking Augustus wouldn’t have given Connor control because of whatever bad blood existed between them. But the truth was, he immensely respected Connor. Connor was the one
From the moment the judge denied me bail, two thoughts kept me going: holding Lily in my arms again… and getting revenge on Miranda. Both were excellent ways to keep my mind off the nightmare my life had become.My reference points for prison were Hollywood movies, so I can’t say that I was totally prepared for what came next – but there were a bunch of moments that felt vaguely familiar. First there was the transfer from the jail in Manhattan to Rikers. They put me in an armored van for the trip.Let that sink in for a second.An armored van. Like a Brinks truck, the kind they transport millions of dollars in.Why? In case I’d hired a bunch of mercenaries with rocket launchers to break me out?I think the New York judicial system had seen one too many bad action flicks.There was the check-in, where my belongings were inventoried in front of me and put into storage. Then there was the shower and de-lousing powder. (That was an unpleasant first for me.) Then a new orange jumpsuit, s
Our car sped away from Sylvan Beach through the tree-lined country roads of upstate New York. Johnny drove, and I sat next to him in the front seat.“So how much of that did you hear?” I asked Eve over the phone.All of it.“Do you think you can find anything on Miranda?”Already on it. By the way, Bert’s about to call.“What?” I asked, and then suddenly the phone rang.I checked the screen: it was Bert.“Weird,” I muttered, and answered the call. “Hey Bert.”“Anything turn up with your field trip?”“Yeah, a lot – but Eve probably doesn’t want me discussing it over the phone.”There was a ping! in my ear, and I held it out to see a text message from Eve:Definitely NOT. Do it in person.“Do you have to listen in on my phone calls, too?” I asked, annoyed.Yes, came the immediate text.“What?” Bert asked.“Nevermind. Just thinking out loud.”“If you can’t tell me the details, then tell me this: good news or bad news?” Bert asked.“Good news, but not the smoking gun we were hoping for. W
Bert said goodbye to us in the prison parking lot. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he cautioned me. “Give it 48 hours. The system will work.”“Right,” I said sarcastically. “Because it’s worked so well so far.”Bert gave me a scolding look, then nodded at Sebastian and Johnny. “Gentlemen, I’ll be in touch,” he said, then got in his Mercedes and drove off.“What do we do now?” I asked Sebastian and Johnny in despair.“Apparently, we go home and wait,” Sebastian said, sounding almost as hopeless as I felt.As we all got in the car, I heard my cell phone chime. Eve had sent me a new text message:Screw waiting. Want to do something crazy?An hour later, Sebastian, Johnny, and I sat around my phone in the penthouse, staring at the screen.I used your document on Miranda as a starting point. I thought you were exaggerating how secretive she was.“I wasn’t,” Sebastian said.I figured that out pretty quickly. She’s good – I’ll give her that. I searched high and low, and I finally found several
“I cannot fucking believe I am going to fucking Tanzania,” Sebastian groused.It was almost midnight as we stood on the tarmac at the airport. Two private jets owned by Connor were fueled and on the runway. Johnny stood there with an overnight bag; Sebastian had a decidedly larger one.“There’s no fashion show in Tanzania, Sebastian,” I teased him.“Do not say a thing to me,” he sniffed, then muttered to himself, “I could be going to Venice…”“Be careful, okay guys?”“We’ll be fine,” Johnny said.A head popped out of the open door of the Africa-bound plane: Stan, one of Connor’s four bodyguards. “You ready to go, Sebastian?”“I’ll be right there,” Sebastian called, then turned back to me. “Do NOT do anything stupid while we’re gone, Lily. I mean it. Johnny and I are doing this as part of a deal. Your end of the deal is that you’re going to lay low and be there for Connor and not do anything crazy.”“I know, I know,” I muttered.“Do I have your word?”“I already told you yes!”“I want