Smoke in Mirrors

references.
    “I doubt that she intended to stay here long.” Thomas surveyed the room with its bare-bones furnishings and uninspiring view. “Probably just needed a staging area and an address she could use while she set up her next scam.”
    “Look, I really don’t know what to say. I can’t help you, Mr. Walker. I’m only here to pack up Meredith’s belongings. I intend to donate most of her stuff to a local thrift shop. When that job is done, I’m going straight home. I have reservations on an evening flight. I’m supposed to be at work in the morning.”
    “Home is Melba Creek, right? Outside of San Diego?”
    She tried to ignore the unsettling sensation that trickled through her. “Okay, so you know where I live. Is that supposed to scare me?’

    “I’m not trying to scare you, Miss Hutton. I’m trying to work with you.”
    “Uh huh.”
    “I’ve got a business proposition for you.”
    “Give me one good reason why I should listen to it.”
    “I’ll give you a couple. The first is that if you cooperate with me and help me locate the money, I’ll see to it that you get a finder’s fee.”
    “Let me get this straight. You’ll bribe me to return the money?”
    “Beats going to prison for embezzlement, doesn’t it?”
    “Prison?” She did take a reflexive step back at that. Wrench shifted a little in response and looked interested. She froze. “Why would I be arrested? You said your brother was the one who would appear guilty if that money isn’t found.”
    “I don’t intend for my brother to take the fall for Meredith’s embezzlement scam,” Thomas said softly. “If that money isn’t back in the account before the next audit, I’m going to make sure the cops look real hard at you.”
    “How?”
    “Deke is a wizard when it comes to computers. I’m pretty good on the financial side. Shouldn’t be too difficult to create a trail from Meredith to you.”
    “Me?” She was dumbfounded. “But I had nothing to do with Meredith’s embezzlement.”
    “Who knows? Maybe you’ll even be able to prove that in the end. But I can arrange to make life damn miserable for you in the meantime. Tell me, how do you think your employer would react if it got out that you were being investigated for embezzlement?”
    “How dare you threaten to drag me into this mess!”
    He took one hand out of his pocket. It was a very large, powerful, competent-looking hand, the hand of a man who worked with tools or climbed rocks. Not the soft, manicured hand of a businessman.

    He spread his fingers in a fait-accompli gesture.
    “In case you haven’t noticed, Miss Hutton, you’re already in this mess. Right up to your very nice ears.”
    “How can you say that?”
    “You’re the closest thing to a friend that Meredith had, as far as I can tell. In my book that makes you the closest thing she had to a partner.”
    “I wasn’t her partner.”
    “The two of you have a history. You’re the only person she kept in touch with through thick and through thin. I’m pretty sure that with a little help from Deke, I can make you look like her accomplice.”
    “My God, you’re serious, aren’t you?”
    “With one-and-a-half million, plus my brother’s reputation on the line? Yeah, Miss Hutton, I’m damned serious. Cooperate with me. Help me find the money and we can both walk away from this without anyone having to hire a lawyer.”
    “Just where do you think I would stash that kind of cash?”
    “At this point, all I know for sure is that it’s not in your personal bank account.”
    She felt her jaw drop. “You checked?”
    “First thing after I found your name in Meredith’s email address book.”
    “How?”
    “I told you, my brother is good with computers.”
    “That kind of invasion of privacy is illegal. I could have you arrested.”
    “No shit. I’ll have to remember that for future reference.”
    She glared. “And you have the nerve to accuse me of criminal behavior.”
    “Go figure.”
    “I don’t believe this.” She felt dazed. “It’s beyond bizarre.”

    He looked almost amused. “Be grateful. You’ve got the easy part. All you have to do is help me find the money.”
    She watched him warily. “What’s the hard part? Getting it back into the endowment fund?”
    “No. That will be simple. The hard part is going to be convincing my brother that Meredith Spooner wasn’t murdered.”
    She felt the air leave her lungs in a rush. Stunned, she gazed at him, her mind a