Finding Her Son(61)

William hurried toward his car, his cheeks flushed. “I found out a man who works for me is involved with some shady dealings—adoption rings, murder. I should’ve known when I saw the gang tattoo—”

“Wait a minute. He had a tattoo? Describe it.”

William pursed his lips for a moment. “Ugly thing. A red and green devil, but with a pink ribbon around it. Not the sort of thing we should have at the office,” he said distractedly.

Emily swayed. “That’s the tattoo I remembered from the night of the accident. Of the man who took Joshua. His name is Frankie.”

“Frank Mangino,” William said, lips pursed. “I think Eric found out he was stealing from us and threatened to fire him. Frank retaliated by trying to kill all of you and stealing the baby for his sister who couldn’t have kids. I didn’t know Eric was trying to deal with this alone, Emily,” William said earnestly. “I swear I didn’t know.”

Could that have been why Eric had become so distant? He’d discovered a man embezzling from the company? She leaned against William as he escorted her to the car. The cold whipped her cheeks. She glanced back to the police station. Was this why Victoria hadn’t wanted Emily in the room?

“May I borrow your phone? I need to text Mitch and let him know where I’m going,” she said, her voice faint. “He can meet us.”

“Sure,” William said, his smile eager. “But I’ve got a ton of passwords. Can’t be too careful these days. Give me his number and I’ll program it.” He opened the door of his BMW for her.

Emily slipped into William’s vehicle and waited impatiently as William slid in beside her and set up Mitch’s number. Her hands shook as she took the phone and tapped out the message.

She tried to hit Send. A password request popped up. She passed the phone to him, and he gave her a small smile. “Sorry.” William typed in a few keys. “Okay, done.”

Emily wriggled against the plush leather seats. She couldn’t believe it. If what William said was true, she was going to see her son again. William seemed so convinced. She wished Mitch were here, but she couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw her with Joshua in her arms. Everything would be okay. “William, thank you for what you’ve done.”

“Father and the adoptive family should be arriving at the Wentworth corporate airport about the time we get there.” William smiled gently and patted her hand. “Let’s go find Joshua.”




MITCH LEANED BACK AGAINST the wall and stared in exasperation at Victoria. “No more games. Who in the family business could authorize that type of money transfer, Mrs. Wentworth? Could you? Your name is listed on a lot of corporate accounts and checks. Why?”

Victoria rubbed her temple. “I received my MBA before I married Thomas. I was the Chief Financial Officer when we first started out.” She looked up at Mitch. “When the company went through a rough patch about fifteen years ago, my husband pushed me out of my position, but I’m still a partner.”

Mitch picked up the records Victoria had provided and poked at one of the highlighted numbers. “You do realize you’ve given us enough information to arrest your husband and son.” Mitch studied the woman whose elegant persona had started to crumble. Shadows rimmed her eyes. Her makeup looked caked on, not the perfect mask he’d noticed the last time they’d met. “Why are you really here?”

The woman sitting in front of him lifted a devastated gaze. “Eric.” She shook her head slowly. “I was certain Emily had killed him. She had the account. I was going to prove it, but I discovered Eric had money stashed away that no one knew about. He opened the account in her name, just before his death. He probably didn’t have time to tell anyone before—” She dabbed her eyes. “Then I found the ledgers.” She placed her finger next to one of the numbers. “Do you see that mark? That’s Eric’s mark. He knew about the money transfers.”

“So Eric was involved?”

She shook her head vehemently. “My Eric would never do such a thing. But my husband and William, they would do anything to keep the business successful.”

Mitch glanced at Tanner, who gave him a slight nod. They were thinking the same thing. Eric Wentworth had known or found out about the money laundering and wanted to stop it. His call to Tanner, as lead detective for white-collar crime, likely had gotten him killed.

What didn’t make sense was the connection to Joshua’s disappearance.

Mitch leaned forward. “Mrs. Wentworth? Do you know anyone with a red and green tattoo, perhaps with a pink ribbon? It would stand out.”

“Why, yes.” Victoria’s gaze widened. “The young man who works as my son William’s right-hand man has a tattoo on his wrist. William makes him wear long sleeves to cover it, but sometimes it shows.”

“What’s the assistant’s name?” Mitch snapped.

“I’ve only met him a few times,” she said, pausing. “Frank. Frank Mangino.”

“Frank,” Mitch whispered. “Gotcha.”

A knock sounded at the door, and a cop stuck his head in. “Sir,” he said to Tanner. “You’ll want to hear this.”

Mitch and Dane exited the room.

“Two bodies just turned up downtown,” the cop said quietly. “One had a wrist tattoo.”