Page 32 of Wired Fear

“Three seventy-five. And yeah. I got distracted. Too caught up in my head.” Jake took a sip of water from his squirt bottle. “Didn’t know you came to this gym.”

“Didn’t know you did.” Felicia glanced at the clock. “And we’re both due in the office in forty-five minutes. You’ve got a meeting with Ilima Cruz, the lady in charge of the Merrie Monarch Festival. Sophie’s supposed to be there too.” She put her hands on her hips. “Do you know where Sophie is? I called her phone, but it went straight to voicemail.”

“Yeah. She had an early meeting with Hamilton at the corporate plane. They have some special project they’re working on.”And he shouldn’t be jealous of that, either.

Being in love with Sophie was making him crazy—when it wasn’t the best thing in the world.

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you at the office. Be sure to grab something to eat, old man. You need to keep up your strength.” She bounced away across the gym.

Ilima Cruz worea Hawaiian-print flowered dress and her hair was braided like a crown. She swung a sandaled foot in an impatient arc as she waited in his office.

Jake had taken the time to run back to the condo for a quick shower and clean work outfit. His hair was still damp as he extended a hand to the lady, and then sat down behind his desk.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Cruz.”

“I’m here for an update. It seemed like your investigation was getting off to a good start, but we haven’t heard anything since that first day when you came around to inspect the facilities and I met you on the grounds where the Festival is held.” Her large brown eyes held impatience and something else—worry.

“You’re right, you are overdue for an update. However, I’m not sure I should be reporting to you.” Jake smiled, hoping to take the sting out of his words. “We report to our client.”

“Tell me who your client is. You wouldn’t tell me the day we met.” Cruz’s lips thinned and her brows drew together. “I’m in charge of the Festival. Everything that goes on regarding it is my business. I need to be kept in the loop.”

Jake sat back and considered. “Let me call our client right now and see if we can just do an update via phone that you can listen to on speaker. We’ll kill two birds with one stone. However, if the client is not comfortable with that, I will have to ask you to understand the confidentiality obligations we’re under.”

Cruz nodded her head stiffly. Jake heaved an internal sigh of relief and exited. He phoned Kim from the privacy of Sophie’s office. She answered on the third ring, and once he had oriented her on the situation he said, “I’d like to give you an update with Ms. Cruz listening in on speakerphone, if that’s all right.”

“Sure, that would be fine—unless you’ve got anything indicating Ilima is involved?”

“Not so far.”

“Then that’s fine. You’ll save me a phone call to her, anyway.”

Back in his office, the women greeted each other as Jake put the phone on speaker and set it down. Cruz visibly relaxed in the chair in front of his desk, chatting with Kim, as Jake pulled out the case file. He flipped it open and proceeded when there was a break in the women’s conversation.

“So. Our investigations have pointed us to the public relations and advertising firm, Coconut Wireless Advertising & Marketing, run by Penny Chang. We went to her office, posing as new clients looking for PR for an upcoming launch event and citing the sign outside of town at the airport as an example of what we were looking for. Ms. Chang was unhelpful.” Jake set down the folder and put his fingertips together. “She cited various reasons why the Merrie Monarch Festival did not need to spend as much as we would have to as a startup. While not definitive, Sophie and I were left with the impression that Penny has justified herself in doing something else with the money given her to spend on the Merrie Monarch.”

Cruz’s dark brows lifted in surprise. “I know Penny. She always has to overcome being associated with her lousy relatives. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t run a good business. And really? That is all you were able to obtain as far as investigating? An impression?”

“No, there’s more. Ms. Ang has the money trail mapped out, and Coconut Wireless appears to be the leak, but she will have to go over the details with you herself.” Jake looked down at the file and pulled his thoughts together. “Our recommendation is that you ask for an accounting of the exact spend of the advertising budget, with accompanying documentation of where the money went. I think we have gone as far as we can with this. Doing anything else will likely alert others to our digging, giving whoever’s involved time to cover their tracks.”

“Do you think we have enough that we could go to the police?” Kim asked, her voice thin and fuzzy over the speakerphone.

“I’m sorry, Kim. It seems clear that the PR firm has had something, if not everything, to do with the missing money. But how exactly to proceed to track it down legally, let alone get the funds back, is another matter. I think you need to do the steps I recommended first. Perhaps there’s some explanation we’re not aware of. Your board, or other governing entity, should meet and discuss our findings. I’ll type up a report for you, but I’ll need a little time, and Ms. Ang’s detailed input.”

Cruz leaned forward and spoke into the speakerphone. “Kim, why don’t you get hold of your rep from the Tourism Authority, and I’ll contact the Festival bookkeeper and a couple of board members I know that can keep a confidence. Let’s put our heads together and see if we can come up with a plan and try to get the money back privately. We don’t want a public scandal that will make folks lose confidence in donating to and supporting the Festival.”

“That sounds good,” Kim replied. “There are still three weeks until the event. Maybe we can get the funds back and still put them to good use. If not, the money can roll over to next year.” They wrapped up the call, and Jake escorted Ms. Cruz to the door.

When the event coordinator had been seen on her way, Jake turned back to face Felicia.

His erstwhile gym buddy had completely transformed herself. Her hair was scraped into a bun anchored at the back of her neck. She wore a calf-length, dirt-colored pencil skirt, clogs, and a man’s white shirt that hung on her like a tent. Black glasses he’d never seen before hid her eyes.

“Going with the frumpy librarian look today, I see,” Jake said.

Felicia shot him an annoyed glance over the top of the glasses. “I have to counteract the fact that you have seen me wearing pigtails and butt shorts, old man.”

Jake advanced upon her desk. “An unforgettable sight, for sure. What’ve you got next for me?”

“We have a possible new client. Some dot-com guy, inventor of the MiracleApp, out in Hamakua. The dude works from home. He wants a new security system and likes the idea of the AI software. Wants to see if it will integrate with his app, which is some kind of smart home service aggregator. I have an appointment for you to go out and meet with him and do an assessment for a full system install, and whatever other services you can upsell—he seems a little paranoid, so you should have fun with that.” Felicia handed Jake a file containing the intake forms and the address. “Probably take you a couple of hours. You’ll still have time to type up the report for Ms. Kauwa and Ms. Cruz on the Merrie Monarch situation when you get back.”

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