Seducing the Heiress (16 page)

Chapter 26

“A
ll right, I admit that seems suspect, but I still really think it's a leap,” Robert said.

“What's a leap?” Farrah asked, walking into the interrogation room and coming to a complete halt when a familiar figure in the chair focused an angry glare her way. “And why did you bring Butch Johnson here?”

The rest of the men in the room turned to meet a surprised-looking Farrah. Robert rushed forward, grabbed Farrah's hand and pulled her to his side. It was a move that she happily complied with and one that didn't seem to bother Meeks or Charles.

“That's what I've been trying to figure out for the last fifteen hours,” Butch complained, his raspy voice laced with anger again.

“We needed to clear up some additional concerns we had,” Meeks said, checking his watch. “Unfortunately I can't stay. We can finish this in about an hour. I have to get upstairs. Francine's expecting me.”

Farrah threw up her free hand to stop his advancement. “I know. But I think you need to hear this.”

“It can't wait?” Meeks questioned.

“What's going on?” Robert asked, frowning down at her.

Farrah looked at both men. “No.”

“All right,” Meeks said, but quickly pulled out his cell phone and clicked a few keys. “What is it?”

“I've figured out who's behind all this,” she declared.

“That's funny. So have they,” Butch chimed in.

Charles gave Butch Johnson the evil eye. “What do you want me to do with Big Mouth here?” he asked, shifting his gaze to Robert.

Robert felt Farrah squeeze his hand. He pushed out a breath and said, “Make him comfortable.”

“I'd be very comfortable back home,” he replied, taking a few steps toward the door before stopping. “About that money you mentioned.” His eyes scanned the men in the room.

“We'll get you back to New Orleans as soon as we can with a little something in your pockets for your
inconvenience
, but in the meantime, please enjoy our hospitality in one of our empty apartments,” Robert offered.

“Now you're talking...you got any beer?” Butch asked, following Charles out of the room.

“What did he mean, you two figured out who's behind all this?” Farrah asked, passing a glance between Robert and Meeks.

“You first,” Robert insisted.

Everyone took a seat at the table and Farrah shared what she remembered and explained her theory. She had just gotten to the point where she was about to reveal the results of the background check when the door opened.

“What's going on? I understand you have the results of Ms. Ruthie's background check,” Francine stated as she entered the room.

Meeks went to his wife's side and helped her into the only vacant chair.

“How do you know that?” Farrah asked.

“I went looking for you, sister dear, after I got Meeks's text telling me to start the interview without him. So I asked Paul where you were,” she said to Farrah. “When he did that avoidance thing he does by pretending his lips are sealed, I knew then something was up.” Francine looked up at Meeks. “There's no way you'd let me interview any of our nannies without you. So spill...what's going on?”

“It seems the guys think they, too, may know who's behind all this craziness,” Farrah explained.

“And Farrah was just about to share the results of her search,” Meeks added.

“Well, let's hear it. Somebody say something,” Francine said, her eyes skimming the room.

“Baby, you okay?” Meeks asked, reaching over to rub her stomach.

“I'm fine. Our children are just trying to get my attention,” Francine reassured Meeks.

Robert brought Farrah's hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of it. Their eyes met and her gaze held him captive. Robert knew the next few moments would be difficult, no matter which theory was correct. He wanted Farrah to know that no matter what, he was there for her and that they'd get through whatever came next together. Farrah lowered her gaze and gave him a single nod.

Francine turned her attention to Farrah. “All right, sis, tell us what you've figured out.”

* * *

Farrah leaned forward slightly. “I know you and Paul thought I was reaching with my theory. Secretly, I was afraid I might have been, too. That I could be looking for any reason to clear our name.” She squeezed Robert's hand. Farrah could almost feel Robert willing her some of his strength and support. She looked up at her sister. “So you know how I figured out that Ruby Lee aka Lee Rugby was actually Ruthie Lee Rutherford, the temp working in the admin pool? Paul was able to fill in the rest of the story about her history. The history he thought he knew, anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Meeks asked.

Farrah reached behind her back and retrieved several pieces of paper from her back pocket. “I ran a background check on Ms. Ruthie and the results were surprising. The background check revealed that Ruthie Lee Rutherford had, in fact, been married before...to a Walker Blackwell. They had one child together, a little girl. It seems Mr. Blackwell had trouble keeping a job, so Ms. Ruthie went to work for a temp agency that placed her here.”

“Let me guess,” Robert said. “That's when she met the love of her life—Ted Jefferson.”

Farrah nodded. “Not long after she was hired full-time here, she was working as Ted's executive assistant. They had an affair and she left her family to be with him.”

Francine gasped, her hands protectively covering her stomach. “She left her family...her
child
,” she said, frowning.

“You sure about this?” Meeks asked.

Farrah handed him the report. “That's a summary of the background check. The full report is upstairs. As you can see, their marriage license and daughter's birth certificate are attached. I also have a copy of their divorce decree upstairs.”

Meeks dropped the attachments on the table and scanned through the report. “Okay, I still don't see what any of this has to do with what's going on here,” Francine said.

“Skip to the last paragraph on the last page,” Farrah said to Meeks.

Meeks complied, flipped to the last page and began to read. “Ruthie Lee Rutherford has been residing at a senior rehabilitation facility for the past three years as the result of a massive stroke.”

“My God...poor thing.” Francine closed her eyes briefly. “Wait, so she couldn't have been behind any of this.”

Farrah shook her head. “No,
she
couldn't, but someone has been using her name and information.”

“You're thinking identity theft?” Robert asked Farrah.

“Maybe, but whoever's doing this had to know about Ruthie Lee Rutherford's history and her connection to our organization.” Farrah's gaze moved between Meeks, Robert and Francine. “It has to be related somehow. This all can't be a coincidence.”

“I agree, but why involve Ruthie Lee Rutherford in the first place? What could she possibly have to do with any of this?” Francine questioned.

“Let me see those,” Robert said, reaching for the documents that lay before him. He first studied the marriage license and then the daughter's birth certificate. “Meeks, man, you need to take a look at this.”

“What is it?” Farrah saw the color drain from Robert's face.

“What?” Meeks took the documents from Robert's hand. “What do you...?”

“Meeks...” Francine hedged.

“You see it, too, right?” Robert asked Meeks.

“Yes.”

“What the hell's going on?” Farrah demanded.

“The child's name on the birth certificate is Jasmine Lee Blackwell,” Robert said, squeezing Farrah's hand again.

Farrah took a couple of seconds before things fell into place for her. “As in Jasmine Black. Blackwell was her name before she changed it.”

Chapter 27

R
obert could feel the slight tremble that Farrah's body made at the sound of Jasmine's name. The sisters shared a look before reaching for each other's hands. Robert released Farrah's right hand and cupped her face. “Baby, no matter what Jasmine's involvement may be, she'll never hurt you,” Robert reassured.

“I'm not the one she tried to kill.” Farrah turned to find Meeks making a similar declaration.

“You're safe. You know that, right?” Meeks asked as he slowly ran the back of his hand down the side of Francine's face.

Francine covered his hand with hers. “Of course I am. Between you and all the security around me, not to mention that Jasmine was denied bail and is in jail—probably somewhere trading secrets with Alexia—I'm perfectly safe.” Meeks gave Francine a quick kiss before turning his attention back to Robert and Farrah.

“So Jasmine Black is Ruthie Lee Rutherford's child. The child she abandoned for a man who never left his wife for her. Is that what we're saying?” Farrah asked.

“Yes,” Robert said.

“Are we sure about this? I mean, I know we don't deal in coincidence, but...”

“Farrah's right. We have to be sure about all this,” Francine said, looking at both Meeks and Robert.

A knowing glance passed between Robert and Meeks, which was followed by an accepting nod from Meeks. He sighed and kissed Francine on the cheek. “When I first met Jasmine, she was estranged from her father and she told me that her mother died when she was a child. After a year together she told me the truth about her parents, at least her
version
of the truth.”

“Which was?” Farrah asked.

“Jasmine's father was a brilliant, unemployed artist. He worked odd jobs to make ends meet, and they did for a while...” Meeks scratched his chin with his thumb “...until they didn't. Her father got sick and her mother just left. Jasmine said she didn't know anything about her mother or where she was and she wasn't interested in finding out, either.”

Robert nodded, adding, “Meeks told me what was going on and I offered to help find her mother, but she refused.”

Farrah released Francine's hand, stood and started pacing the room. “So Jasmine's mother came to work for
our
company, where she met Ted Jefferson. They started having an affair and she left her family to become his—what? Full-time
mistress
?” Farrah said, tilting her head slightly.

“Sounds like it.” Francine adjusted herself in her seat. “Ted Jefferson never married her. Even after his wife divorced him. She kept all his secrets and even defended him to anyone that spoke bad about him when Dad found out all the things he'd been up to. Hell, I'd be pissed, too.”

“Me, too, but at him, not the company he worked for,” Farrah said as she continued to pace the room.

Robert ran his hands through his hair. “Ted Jefferson would have a better motive but he's been dead for quite some time. Besides, whoever's impersonating Ruthie Lee Rutherford—”

Farrah stopped pacing. “That's it! She has the perfect motive,” she said, staring down at her sister.

Francine raised her head slightly and crossed her arms. “She'd kill multiple birds with one stone—”

“And manage to keep her hands clean at the same time,” Farrah added.

Meeks crossed his arms, mimicking his wife's move, and said to Robert, “They figured it out.”

“They always do,” Robert huffed. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

Farrah turned to face Robert. “It's Jasmine. She's done it again. She set this whole thing up. Jasmine's been controlling things, even from behind bars. She's used other people to do her dirty work. Jasmine took her mother's name, so if anything went wrong, she'd take the fall. She hired Alexia for the hands-on sabotage work, while she supplied her with all the access codes and bogus documents that she needed.”

“But how did she get the codes to your safe?” Meeks asked.

“I haven't figured that part out yet,” Farrah admitted.

“I have,” Robert said, getting up from his seat and going to stand next to Farrah. “Remember, this is Jasmine we're talking about. She may be crazy, but she's brilliant, too. If she was hell-bent on seeking revenge against all she believed wronged her, she would've found her mother, reconnected with her and somehow got her to share all the information, including intimate details that she needed to make her plan work, and get that backdoor code.”

“Backdoor code?” Francine asked, her brow knitting together.

“Most programmers leave a backdoor for themselves so they can get back into any system they've worked on. And remember, Ted Jefferson programmed all the safes in the early days. It's safe to assume that he kept a list somewhere that Ruthie would have access to.”

“But how would Jasmine know that Ms. Ruthie would even know the code—or backdoor code—to the safe in Farrah's office?” Francine questioned with a doubtful look on her face.

“Because that wasn't always Farrah's office,” Meeks reminded his wife.

“It was Richie's office first. When we upgraded the security systems, we changed out all the safes after you both joined the company,” Robert explained, glancing between both women. “Your offices were the only two that
didn't
get replaced.”

“Why?” Farrah asked.

“Your dad didn't want to replace those antique safes, so for additional security, we just added a ten-digit key pad to the safe. However, it could still be overwritten by a backdoor code,” Robert said.

“Dad and his antiques,” Francine said, shaking her head.

“All right, so let's say Jasmine was behind everything. What's her motive?” Francine looked up at Meeks. “I know she wanted me out of the picture so she could have you, but this goes way beyond that.”

“I agree,” Meeks said. “Jasmine may have hated her mother for leaving her, but she would have hated Ted Jefferson more if she thought he'd only been using her mother, especially after she'd given up everything for him. If she thought that his loyalty lay not with her mother, but with a company that she believed had done them both wrong—”

“Yet he continued to do business with us and remained a friend to the company until he died,” Francine reminded them.

Farrah nodded. “If she had the opportunity to hurt the people she thought were to blame for her lot in life, including breaking up her family, she would—without hesitation.”

“Add the benefit of destroying our company in the process, and that would be too good an opportunity to pass up,” Robert added.

“So, how do we prove it?” Francine asked, scrutinizing the faces in the room.

“We show Alexia a picture of Jasmine and have her confirm and sign an affidavit stating that Jasmine Black aka Ruby Lee is the person who actually hired her to plant the false documents,” Farrah explained.

Francine's forehead creased. “I wonder why she wouldn't just use her mother's real name if she was going to set her up to take the blame. Why use an alias...one so personal, at that?”

“She's twisted,” Farrah said, with a smirk.

“No...well, yeah, but she's also a sociopath. Caught or not, she'd want
me
to know she was behind it all and why,” Meeks said, shaking his head.

“Hell hath no fury...” Francine said, reaching for her husband's hand.

“Alexia's signed statement, along with the affidavit that Butch Johnson agreed to sign, should be good, right?” Robert asked Farrah.

“Yes but we'd really be in the clear if we had the forger,” she said.

“Jasmine could've forged those documents herself. She has the experience,” Francine said as she reached for Meeks's hand.

Meeks helped Francine to her feet. “No, she can handle basic documents, but nothing as intricate as Robert's designs. That would take an artist's touch.”

A wide smile spread across Farrah's face and Robert could almost feel the pride that he knew she felt. Robert's right arm seemed to snake around her waist of its own accord. “All right, then who?”

All eyes turned to Meeks. “There's only one person that she'd trust to do it, too.”

“Who?” Farrah and Francine chorused.

“Her father.”