Free Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 03 - Money is Murder by Carolyn Arnold

again.”
    “Edward Cranston?” Her eyes scanned his, locking with them. “We did mention him before.”
    “I know. I just wonder. I mean, he held back the fact she was married, but he hasn’t hidden the fact he doesn’t like Robert West.”
    “You think he killed Cindy, or had her killed?”
    “Or maybe, he sincerely believes Robert did it. I’m not sure exactly.”
    “All right, what would his motive be? If he thought Robert did it, why not just put him behind bars? And Adam? He figures in because he’s Edward’s brains behind the operation—or has he been paid to cover things up too?”
    “I don’t know everything yet. Let’s first see if we can figure out what Robert was looking for.”
    Sara laced her hand in Sean ’s as they headed back into Cindy’s home office.
    “That’s another thing—Adam said Robert was downloading the files at home. How could he get from there to here that quickly? ” she asked.
    “Good question.”

 
     
     

     
    Questionable Intent
     
    SARA SURVEYED CINDY’S OFFICE, SOMETHING she never had the time to do before, with Robert ’s gun pointed on them and Sean in a struggle for his life. It was decorated in minimal fashion with a mahogany desk and matching lateral filing cabinets.
    Framed pictures were showcased on top of them—Cindy in various poses, and in every one, she had a large, sincere smile on her face. In a couple she was with girlfriends, in another it looked like the photo had been taken at a lunch business meeting and Cindy must have closed the deal because she was beaming. On the wall, an enlarged photo of Cindy with her dad was on display. They had their heads butted together, both of them smiling and there was such pride in their eyes.
    Sara ran her hand down the side of the brushed-aluminum frame, her mind being yanked into the past, imagining what Quinn’s life had been like. Had he devoted so much time to building his businesses that he’d failed to take time to enjoy life? He had made sacrifices for his daughter, and following generations. How sad that his familial line ended with Cindy, but he had made it possible for thousands to have jobs. He had made her and Sean ’s dreams come true.
    “Well, I think I found what Robert was looking for.” Sean held up a file labeled Reid Incorporated . “It still has paperwork in it. We must have stopped him.”
    “I don’t remember seeing that name on her laptop.” Sara angled her head and went over to the closest cabinet. Its second drawer was ajar. She opened it the rest of the way and found numerous folders labeled with business names.
    She rooted through them and noticed a pattern. “ I think Robert got what he came for. Is there a USB stick there?”
    He looked down to the file. “Nope.”
    “He’s got the one belonging to Reid then. All of these files are businesses and they have pages like the one there, but they also have a data stick.”
    “I wonder why Cindy wouldn’t keep Reid on her laptop, and by extension, I would assume she didn’t keep it on the company server. Let’s think about this. We know that Cindy excelled at buying and selling businesses.”
    “Yes, so much so that other executives were upset by it.”
    “Enough to kill for?”
    “We still have to answer that with certainty.”
    Sara ’s eyes went to the file Sean held. “What does it say about this company?”
    “Let’s see.” Sean sifted through the sheets and, after a few minutes, gave the summation. “According to Cindy’s notes, Reid was on the verge of bankruptcy. She put ‘steal’ in the margin, the word both accented by an exclamation mark and double underline.”
    “Okay, so let’s say somehow Reid ties into the reason Cindy was killed. How? Why?”
    “Questions we need answers to, that’s for sure.”
    “I think we need to get back to our condo and revisit all the evidence we have so far. Did Jimmy say when he’d have the results?”
    Sean shook his head. “He just said to leave it with