“Give it to me. I don’t want you to open it.” He held out his hand.
“What do you think it is?” she asked, handing it over.
“I don’t know, but I don’t want you to touch it if it’s dangerous.” It didn’t weigh a thing, and he couldn’t feel anything hard inside.
“Maybe you shouldn’t open it, either. We could wait until we get back to town and let the sheriff deal with it. Technically, that man was trespassing.”
He was too curious to wait. He slid the zipper open and discovered some folded papers. “It’s a note.”
Sylvie sank to the rocking chair. “Good. Someone probably borrowed supplies and they left a note about it.”
He opened the paper and his heart sank. And a kernel of rage sparked. He was staring at his company letterhead. “It’s our bid for the Lowestone job. They’re a banking chain and they’ve been a client for years. Our contract was up and we have to place a bid on the job. This is our bid.”
“Why would it be . . .” She stood again, her arms crossing her chest and a hard look entering her eyes. “Charles has been coming out here on weekends. Is he supposed to be here tomorrow?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a good bet.” It was good to know his wife caught on quickly. “I’ll check the schedule when I get back to town. But I’m sure he’s not going to admit that this was for him. He’s careful, and he’ll point out that you and I were the only ones here at the time.”
“He’ll have a thousand excuses.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe he’s doing this to you. He would wreck the company so he can take the CEO job?”
A weariness threatened to overtake Rene, and he sank down to the rocker where his grandfather used to sit and watch the water. This place had been his grandfather’s space to relax and recharge, as he’d called it.
Now it would always be the place where he had to face the fact that his cousin would do anything to take him down. “It’s more about me than anything else. He’s always hated me.”
“I know you didn’t get along as kids, but you weren’t mean to him.” Sylvie sat down in the rocker beside him.
“I didn’t have to be. His father was mean enough, and he held me up as the example,” Rene explained. “I was the golden boy who could do no wrong, and Charles would never live up to me. I got better grades and I was better at sports.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter to Charles. His father’s gone, and he still has to prove to everyone that he’s better than me. I’m the villain in his personal story, and no amount of trying to make it right can change that.”
“He’s never worked for the company?” Sylvie asked.
“He did the same summer internships almost everyone in the family has,” Rene explained. “I think he got his law degree with the idea he would take over legal eventually, but my father didn’t trust him. Of course, Charles blamed me for that, too.”
“Isn’t what he’s doing illegal?”
“He’s smart enough to know I can’t bring the police in. It would be terrible press, and he could use that against me, too. There are going to be people in the family who won’t believe it no matter what proof I give them. This is what I have to deal with. This is the line I have to walk.”
Sylvie seemed to think about that for a moment. “So he’s working with another firm? Is it always the same firm that underbids you?”
“It’s been the same so far. I have to wonder if he’s got a backup plan in case he doesn’t get the votes. Becoming our competitor’s legal counsel would make me look bad and cause a lot of talk.”
“They would probably be angry with him if he gave them the wrong information,” Sylvie said, a sly tone coming into her voice. “They wouldn’t like that at all.”
He looked to his wife, who was far sneakier than he gave her credit for. “You want to switch this for a higher bid?”
She nodded. “Because our friend was wearing those headphones and you smartly hid our boat, he has no idea anyone was here this morning.”
He smiled her way. The problems that had seemed huge before suddenly weren’t unbearable. “Is that spin you’re putting on our situation, Madam Mayor?”
She nodded. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s how to turn a negative into a positive. Yes, we don’t have a boat, but that means no one’s seen it tied to the dock. We could be on any of the islands. Depending on who comes to find us, we can control this narrative.”
He liked it when she was plotting. She was awfully sexy in her big fluffy robe, plotting how to outmaneuver his cousin. “So we put out the word that we rode out the storm anywhere but here, and then at some point before Charles comes to the cabin, we come back and replace the bid.”
“You could even ask Charles to send you a report on the cabin since he’ll be the first one out here,” Sylvie mused.
He knew exactly how to get to his cousin. “I’ll ask him if he wants me to check on the condition of the place before he comes out this weekend. See what he says.”
He would say no. Charles would say he didn’t need any help, and didn’t Rene realize it had been his grandfather’s cabin, too? He would point out he spent far more time here than Rene did.
And then he wouldn’t think for a second that Rene knew anything.
He could use Charles’s arrogance against him in this case.
If he could get them off the island.
“Do you have letterhead back at the house?” Sylvie asked. “We should get it done as soon as possible. I’ll make the switch since I’ll have to come back later this afternoon and check on the families out here. You need to be seen back at the office as soon as possible. Call him from there so he knows exactly where you are.”
“I would rather come with you.”
She shook her head. “I’ll have one of the deputies with me. I do this after every big storm. It’s part of being the mayor, and it would be odd if you were with me. Now let’s get our stories straight about where we’ve been.”
“Have I told you how sexy you are when you’re being ruthless?” His leg wasn’t aching now. It was an entirely different part of his body that wanted attention.
“Am I? You know I love a good plan,” she said, her voice going low.
That was when he heard the sound of an outboard motor approaching. He wasn’t going to have time to play.
Sylvie frowned. “Can you see who it is?”