Kerry’s gaze dropped.

Ceci tucked her hand into her companion’s elbow and tugged.

“C’mon.” She guided the very quiet Kerry to a set of empty seats across the big aisle from where her family was gathered. She sat down and watched them from the corner of her eyes, seeing the younger woman and man spot Kerry and lean their heads together, whispering.

The woman, she realized, was very pregnant. Behind her sat a tall, distinguished looking man and a younger man with blond hair and gentler eyes.

Kerry kept her gaze forward, still smarting from the coldness she could feel coming from her mother and the refusal of her siblings to meet her glance.

Did they know? Kerry suspected they did know that she’d been the one who released the information to the press, proving herself a traitor on a level nothing she could ever do or say could relieve her from. At the time, she’d been angry and had felt justified. Maybe she still did, but there was a part of her that wished she hadn’t done it, even though the chances of her reconciling with her parents were slim even then.

It hurt. She studied her hands, folded in her lap, her thumb playing idly with the pretty ring that circled her finger.

“That’s a beautiful piece,” Ceci commented softly. “May I see it?”

With a pensive smile Kerry tugged it off and handed it over, turning her head a little to watch Dar’s mother examine her gift, admiring the intricate, lacy design. “Dar surprised me with it.” Ceci’s eyes widened a little and she turned the ring to one side, peering at the inside band.

Then the gray eyes lifted to meet hers, with a look of intense understanding in them. It was, Ceci sucked in a breath, like coming out of a dark room into the light.

She had wondered for thirty years what drove her daughter, and it had been right in front of her the entire time.

Dar had only wanted what she and Andrew had.

Goddess.

“What’s wrong?” Kerry asked leaning closer. “Mrs. Roberts, are you all right?”

She sighed and handed the ring back. “Oh, yes.” She gave Kerry a wry smile. “Just having a personal revelation.”

“Really?” Kerry slid the ring back on, the cool metal warming to her skin immediately. “Do you have those often?”

“Not nearly often enough,” Cecilia admitted quietly.

Kerry was about to pursue that line of questioning further, when the buzz around her lowered and chairs scraped. Then they all rose as the Eye of the Storm 295

examining council walked in and then they sat down after the six people behind the elevated table got to their places.

“All right.” The man in charge shuffled some papers and put a pair of half glasses on his nose. “Let’s get going.” He looked at the special prosecutor. “Mr. Dileko?”

“Thank you.” The lawyer, a dapper Democratic political appointee stood and studied his legal pad. “I’d like to call Kerrison Stuart to the stand, please.” He glanced up into the crowd expectantly. “The bailiff tells me she’s here?”

Oh boy. Kerry was completely not ready to face the crowd. She gathered her shredded confidence and stood, then looked down as a hand patted hers. “Wish me luck.”

“Hang in there, Kerry.” Cecilia smiled. “Anyone who could tame my daughter shouldn’t have any trouble with this bunch.”

Kerry returned the smile gratefully, then straightened her shoulders, edged out of the row of seats, and went to the front of the room. She clenched her hand and felt her ring bite into her palm, lending her a measure of strength as she passed her family’s seats and sensed their eyes on her.

Then she was on the stand and had to turn and face the room, a myr-iad of expressions looking back at her. She lifted her hand and repeated the words the clerk muttered, then sat down and turned her face towards the lawyer and waited.

And tried to pretend the most hostile of the looks directed at her weren’t related to her by blood.


Chapter

Thirty-two

“WE HAVE SOME serious issues to discuss with you, Ms. Roberts.”

Dick Beresen folded his arms. He was a deep pockets, mostly in the back-room kind of board member, with a deep scar running across half his face and thin, mostly missing gray black hair.

Dar waited, her hands resting lightly on the chair back. One dark eyebrow lifted and invited him to go on.

“We’re about to close the quarter and these reports are frankly not only disappointing, they’re unacceptable.” Dick stood up. “Four accounts were total losses and three others are just barely making their numbers.”

Dar remained silent, lifting the other brow.

“And then there’s Allison Consulting.” A murmur rose. “Care to explain that?”

“Should I have to?” Dar asked mildly. “The operations team report was very extensive.” She folded her arms across her chest and moved away from the table. “Their management falsified information and is facing criminal charges.”

“Why wasn’t it caught before we laid out two million dollars for them?” This was from Alan Evans, a CPA whose family represented twenty percent of the outstanding stock in ILS.

“Ask the auditors,” Dar replied. “I have no explanation for that. I can just tell you what my team reported during the integration.” She shook her head. “They were uncooperative.”

“That’s not what we found.” Evans pulled a folder over and opened it. “According to the interviews I had commissioned, their staff reported that your representative was inexperienced and didn’t understand their systems and they were unfairly dismissed by yourself.”

For an answer, Dar removed her laptop from its case and booted it. It brought up her desktop and she opened a database program, then selected a record. “The last six bids they won were forced through black-mail on the individuals making the decision. According to the police report, two of their senior management had over five hundred thousand dollars of unexplained funds in their bank accounts. Searches of the property of twenty employees turned up company equipment still in boxes piled up in their garages. And one of their clients has turned over tele-Eye of the Storm 297

phone records and tapes of their chief accountant giving instructions on where to leave a cash payoff of over twenty thousand dollars or face embarrassing personal pictures being released to the local press.”

She clicked the box to close it. “The integrator in question was our Operations Director, who had successfully integrated twenty accounts prior to theirs, so that leaves their last statement.” She paused. “Which is half true. I fired them.” She shook her head. “I don’t consider it to be unfairly.”

“How do you explain this then?” Evans tossed a picture towards her, an unpleasant smirk on his face. Dar glanced at it, expecting it to be the doctored one of Kerry in the bar. Instead, she found herself looking at an excellently focused shot of herself and Kerry in bed together—completely naked.

Fifteen years of troubleshooting came thankfully to her rescue. She gave her breathing several beats to relax, then glanced up at him, with the most amused, deprecating smile she could muster on her face. “Are you asking for an artistic opinion, or would you like a graphic demonstration of my technique?” She tried not to look at Alastair’s shocked face, though, and she knew this was going to be uglier than she’d forecasted.

“Are you admitting that is you in that picture?” Evans leaned forward.

Dar looked at the shot, then plucked her shirt out and glanced down the opening. “Yep, that’s me all right,” she agreed amiably. “A perfect example of what I was talking about with Allison Consulting.”

“Ms. Roberts, is that not your assistant in that picture with you?”

Grab the gonads time. Dar folded her arms. “Yes, it is.”

Evans picked up the shot, then let it fall, and dropped his glasses on the table as well. “That’s enough for me.” He glanced across the table at a smiling David Ankow. “I don’t think that suit’s near enough to cover this.”

“Oh, there’s more.” Ankow stood and stretched, very obviously enjoying himself. “Let me just read it out.” He picked up his pad and walked to the head of the table, opened the leather cover, and set it on the wood surface. “Then if you gentlemen agree, we can proceed accordingly.

I have security already standing by.”

Dar stole a glance at Alastair, who briefly met her eyes, then let his drop, letting her know she was really on her own for this one. She felt a sinking sensation, then she lifted her head and put the regrets behind her, focusing on the here and now and gathering her thoughts and resources, ready for Ankow to start in. “I think security is a very good idea,” she remarked, giving him an unexpected smile. “But you go first.”

She saw the momentary doubt in his eyes and widened her grin.

No, Daddy. You didn’t raise me to be no quitter.

“All right.” Ankow cleared his throat. “What we’re establishing with this suit is a systematic and deliberate use of company property, resources, and funds to further your personal ends and those of your live-in lover, the Operations Director of this company, Kerrison Stuart.”


298 Melissa Good

“Partner.” Dar interrupted him.

“What?”

“Partner. Kerry is my partner.” She cracked her knuckles. “You might as well get the terminology of that right, since I know you won’t get the technical parts anything close to accurate.”

Ankow stared at her. “Point one.” He glanced at his pad. “During the integration of Associated Synergenics, the accused caused a position to be created in the Operations ORGID, which she filled with Ms. Stuart, disregarding all company policy and ignoring over thirty qualified candidates for the job.”