“Martin? The fellow who was just in here?” Agent Moretti took out his pad and began scribbling in it. “What’s his relationship to you?”
“I’ve known him practically my entire life. He was my father’s right-hand man when he was alive. After his death, Martin stepped in to temporarily run the company before I decided to leave the navy and take over.”
“And how did Martin feel about that?” His interest piqued, he put his notepad back into his pocket, his attention devoted to Alexander once more. “It must have been difficult for him to hand things over to you, don’t you think? Hell, if I had been working for someone for years, essentially being groomed to run things, and someone who never exhibited any interest in having anything to do with the day-to-day operations suddenly came back and took over, I might get a little upset. In fact, I’d be fucking livid.”
Alexander opened his mouth, bewildered at how this agent seemed to know all the tiny details of his life. Things very few people knew.
“Like I said, I did my research on you.” He gave a contemptuous smile.
“Martin’s not like that,” Alexander explained. “He never wanted to run the company. He just stepped in for the time being while my mom convinced me that my father wanted the business to stay in the family. Martin was the only one who could fill my father’s shoes at the time. He was the only one who knew where all the bodies were buried, so to speak. To this day, he’s still the only one, besides me and my brother.”
“So you and your brother both run the company now, correct?”
“More or less. We have different skills. Tyler is more interested in expanding our humanitarian presence in areas that need help…” Alexander trailed off, thinking how much his brother reminded him of Landon. They both bent over backwards to help some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Tyler devoted endless resources to people whose countries had all but forgotten about them. Landon opened Alexander’s eyes to the potential impact his company’s vast resources could have. Now, Tyler carried on that legacy.
“It’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?” Agent Moretti cut through his thoughts.
“What’s that?”
“Some of the people you try to help could be running from the very same armies your men have trained.”
“We never get involved in areas of internal conflict,” he insisted. “We provide resources after armed conflict to help stabilize the region.”
“That may be true, but your company’s contractors have trained armies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa, just to name a few. There’s always conflict.”
“What does any of this have to do with finding my daughter?” Alexander asked, losing the little patience he had left.
“It could all be related. Now back to your, well…Martin. What’s his official title with your company?”
“Operations Vice President.”
“And what does that entail?”
“Everything, really. Whenever I need something, he’s the person I go to.”
“Including a ride?”
Alexander shot his eyes to him. “What do you mean?”
“Operations Vice President sounds like a rather embellished title for someone who seems to be just a chauffeur. To go from being interim president of the company to driving around the new president must have been difficult.”
“He’s not just my chauffeur,” Alexander hissed. “If he were, do you think he’d be the only one who knows everything about the company? He’s the only one who has full access to everything — files, cases, even this house! He’s more than just my driver. He’s more than just my right-hand man. Martin is family. When I came back to take over the company, Martin showed me the ropes. He helped mold me into the leader I am today.”
“Still…” Moretti shrugged. “Sounds like he could be hiding some resentment. I know I would be.”
“Thankfully, with all due respect, Martin is a bigger man than it sounds like you are, Agent Moretti.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he retorted, everything about him condescending. “So your secretary and Martin could both vouch for your presence in your office from the time you arrived until the time you left?”
“Yes. Well, not the whole time. My secretary left at five. I fell asleep a little bit after that. I was tired from having been up most of the night. When I woke up, it was after ten.”
“At which point you decided to continue working instead of come home,” he said, very matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” Alexander agreed, bending the truth. He did go back to work. That he left the office to search for another ghost of his past was none of Moretti’s business.
“And what time did you arrive home?”
“Around seven this morning.”
“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“Not at first. I parked my car in the garage and entered the house through the kitchen.”
“The entrance from the garage has the same security as the other exterior doors, correct?”
“Yes. It has the same keypad and thumbprint scanner as the other doors. The house was quiet. There were a few ornaments scattered on the floor, but that’s usual around here. We have a cat who thinks Christmas ornaments are toys.”
“My ex-girlfriend had a cat. I’m convinced the thing tried to kill me in my sleep on a nightly basis.”
Alexander gave him a congenial smile, not surprised he was single. He pictured him treating everyone with the same respect he gave him, which was none.
“Anything else appear out of place?”
Nodding, he continued recounting the morning’s events. “If you recall, just past the living room is a large rotunda entryway. Olivia always keeps a floral arrangement on a table in the center. It was knocked onto the floor, as were some of the pictures from the smaller entryway table. As I headed up the stairs, I saw Melanie’s bear in the hallway outside her room.”
“And none of that raised any red flags with you?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow and cocking his head.
“It wasn’t until I pulled the covers back on her bed and saw it was empty that I put two and two together. Until that point, I just thought our cat had decided to cause a ruckus and that Melanie had left her bear in the hallway. She’s a typical eight-year-old who tends to leave her things all over the house.”
“And your wife didn’t hear anything?”
“This house is over eight thousand square feet. It’s not her fault she didn’t hear any sort of commotion,” Alexander said defensively. He didn’t want to say anything about Olivia taking some cold syrup to help her fall asleep. Then Moretti would pry into why she had trouble sleeping to find another reason this was all Alexander’s fault.
“When you realized Melanie was missing, what did you do?”
“After searching every inch of this property, I called Martin.”
“How did he react when you told him what was going on?” Agent Moretti asked, his intrigue increasing.
Alexander eyed him with renewed skepticism. “Why does it matter?”
“Humor me.” He smirked.