The Naked Truth by Natasha Rostova

scratched his head and examined his notes again. ‘I’m not sure, to be honest with you. Her records show that she has been making deposits twice a month. The same amount of money each time.’
    Logan tried to think. He’d never been particularly concerned about money where Callie was concerned. She didn’t have extravagant tastes like her sister, so he had never bothered to keep track of her purchases unless he was straightening out their finances. Now he wondered if she’d been taking money from their account and putting it into her own.
    He opened a drawer of his filing cabinet and pulled out a folder of bank statements. ‘When were these deposits made?’
    ‘Around the first and fifteenth of every month.’
    Logan frowned. ‘That’s when pay cheques are usually issued.’
    He shuffled through the bank paperwork of the last few months. As far as he could tell, there had been no withdrawals or transfers that corresponded to Callie’s deposits into her account.
    ‘She made a withdrawal yesterday of forty dollars,’ Adam said. ‘So obviously she’s still alive.’
    ‘Well, of course she’s alive,’ Logan said, suddenly realising that he hadn’t even considered the alternative. What if something sinister had happened to Callie? He shook his head to clear the thought from his mind and reached for the telephone. No way. She’d left him of her own free will.
    ‘Go and find out where those deposits came from,’ he told Adam. ‘And do it quickly.’
    ‘Yes, sir.’ Adam closed his notebook and hurried from the office, closing the door behind him.
    Logan stabbed out a series of numbers on the telephone keypad and waited as the phone rang at the other end.
    ‘Hello?’ Gloria Harper’s voice flowed breathlessly over the line.
    ‘Gloria, it’s Logan. Do you know if Callie has been working somewhere without my knowledge?’
    ‘Hello, sugar,’ Gloria said delightedly. ‘I’m fine, thank you. How are you?’
    Logan’s fingers tightened on the receiver. ‘Don’t fuck with me, Gloria. Has Callie been working?’
    Gloria laughed. ‘Oh, I’d love to fuck with you, darling, you know that.’
    ‘Never mind then.’ Logan almost slammed the telephone down, but then Gloria’s voice came over the receiver again.
    ‘All right, all right,’ she said. ‘But you know, Logan, there’s nothing wrong with basic pleasantries.’
    ‘I never said that there was. Now would you please answer my question?’
    ‘No, as far as I know, Callie was not working anywhere,’ Gloria said. ‘Why do you ask?’
    ‘It appears that she had a separate bank account that I didn’t know about,’ Logan replied. ‘I’m wondering where she got the money to deposit.’
    ‘You poor dear,’ Gloria murmured. ‘I’m so sorry that Callie is putting you through such nonsense.’
    ‘Have you heard from her yet?’
    ‘No, but I’m sure that she’s fine.’
    ‘Of course she’s fine. She’s probably holed up somewhere in the city, laughing about this whole situation.’
    ‘Well, she wasn’t exactly gleeful about it when she came to see me,’ Gloria said. ‘Look, I hate to think of you rambling all alone in that big house of yours. Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?’
    ‘No, thanks. I have work to do at home this evening. If you hear from Callie, I’d appreciate it if you would let me know immediately.’
    ‘You know I will, sugar. Good luck.’
    Logan hung up the telephone and glanced at his watch. He had to be in court tomorrow, which meant an evening of preparation. With a sigh, he packed up his briefcase and headed out to the car park. He admitted to himself that he’d been hoping Callie would at least call by now to let him know that she was all right. Of course, she probably assumed that he’d had tracers put on his telephones. And that would be an accurate assumption.
    When he got home, Logan took a quick shower and tried not to think about either his wife or the letter he’d received earlier that day.