Free Devious Minds by Colleen Helme

it,” he said, smiling. “I have the world’s leading forensic accountant at my disposal, and I have no doubt that he’ll find everything you need to catch this killer. I can put him on it right away. If this man was embezzling money, my forensic accountant will find it. He’ll uncover how it was done, where he got the money, and what he did with it.”
    After that declaration, Chris and I just stared at each other, not knowing what to say. Chris thought it might be the break we needed, but was it enough to shift the focus to Oliver as the murderer? “Finding this evidence won’t exonerate my client,” Chris said to Blake.
    “Maybe not,” he answered. “But it will cast a reasonable doubt on your client’s guilt.” He was thinking that any lawyer worth his salt should be able to get his client off with that information, and if Manetto trusted Chris as his attorney, he had to be good enough to do it. Now, we’d have to agree to his terms.
    “How long do you need her?” Chris asked.
    “Just a few days... three at the most. Hell, she might even be back before your trial’s over.”
    I didn’t detect any deceptive thoughts from Blake, so he was probably telling the truth. I knew Chris was ready to agree. He could hardly pass up Blake’s offer, not when it looked like it was the only thing that would save Victoria.
    Still, thoughts of sending me off to Paris with Blake made his stomach hurt. He knew my odds for staying out of trouble weren’t good, because... well... it was me, and Paris was far away. Could he trust Blake to take care of me... in spite of myself? Maybe he should just hire a forensic accountant on his own.
    Blake sensed Chris’ hesitation and sweetened the offer before he changed his mind. “I can have my man work on it all night. He should have the information you need by tomorrow afternoon.”
    Chris glanced at me with resignation. How could he pass that up?
    I nodded. “You should do it. I’ll be fine, right Blake?”
    “Of course,” he agreed, heaving a mental sigh that he’d won. He needed me more than he let on. “I promise she’ll come back... before you know it.” He was thinking in one piece , but decided not to say that since it didn’t instill a lot of confidence.
    It was on the tip of Chris’ tongue to ask Blake what the mission was about, but a knock at the door interrupted us. Chris opened the door to find Chase with the thumb-drive. After inviting him in and introducing Blake, Chris quickly explained Blake’s offer of a world-class forensic accountant to Chase, who happily placed the thumb-drive in Blake’s outstretched hand and left.
    “You won’t regret this,” Blake said, pocketing the thumb-drive.
    It gave Chris a moment of unease to see Blake taking his most important piece of evidence, but Chris trusted that if I thought Blake was lying, I’d tell him. He glanced at me, and I nodded to let him know Blake would come through.
    “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at eight-fifteen sharp,” Blake said. “Pack enough for three or four days, and make sure to bring a dress to wear to the opera.”
    “Okay,” I said, a little awestruck. I was going to Paris tomorrow? Then it hit me. He’d said the opera. The Paris Opera House? As in, The Phantom of the Opera, opera house? Whoa. Little shards of excitement ran down my spine, and I shivered. “Anything else I should bring?”
    “Just your passport. You have a current passport, right?” He thought he could get one expedited for me tonight, but he had more important things to do, like take care of the thumb-drive and make sure everything was in place for the meeting in Paris the following night.
    “Uh... yes, I do.”
    “Good.” He glanced at Chris. “I’ll be in touch.” With that, he walked out the door, leaving an empty space in his wake.
    I glanced at Chris. “I guess I’m going to Paris.”
    “Yeah,” he agreed, then shook his head. “What have we done?” I shrugged, but he continued. “Why