Double Vision by Fiona Brand Read Free Book Online Page B

been twelve years since they had worked at Bessel Holt. It was a long shot by anyone’s standards that Dana still carried out the same bad practice and hid the access codes beneath her keyboard.
    The gleam of a coffee machine in the corner of the reception area released some of her tension. There was a coffee machine. If there hadn’t been coffee, she would have faked a dizzy spell and requested water.
    Making a beeline for the machine, Esther half filled a foam cup, not bothering with either sugar or milk, and strolled to the nearest couch.
    A woman exited an office, pausing to engage the security lock before she continued on to reception. Esther recognized her almost immediately. Dana was a small, elegant blonde, forty if she was a day, but she looked closer to thirty. When she’d worked with Esther, she had been an established banker, with a solid, although unremarkable, track record. Despite twelve years, she hadn’t progressed in the banking world, slipping sideways and, in Esther’s opinion, down. RCS had always been known as an “untidy” offshore center. They had moved up a few notches, but the preliminary research she had done into their client base had informed her that, respectable facade or not, RCS was still trading on the fringes.
    When Dana saw Esther, her expression was surprised but pleased. She had never shown any particular warmth toward Esther in Bern, but Esther was hoping that Dana was still ambitious enough that the carrot of snaring a chunk of Morell investment capital would smooth over the past.
    Her own smile felt tight and forced as she rose and shook Dana’s hand. She kept the chat light, and in the vein that she was researching short-term investment opportunities and since she’d heard Dana was with RCS, she’d decided to start here.
    Dana’s gaze followed Esther’s hand as she lifted the coffee to her mouth and sipped, or more correctly, she followed the flash of her ring. Esther had worn it for effect. It was a rare pink diamond that matched her Chanel suit, a totally off-the-wall gift Cesar had given her when Rina was born. The ring was four carats and usually resided in a deposit box in the bank, but it was perfect for this. No banker in their right mind would have a discussion in a reception area with a client whose clothing and jewelry alone totaled seven figures. Dana’s career may have flatlined, but she had been trained by the best, and Esther knew that she loved jewelry. If the status value of the ring didn’t get her into Dana’s office, she didn’t know what would.
    Dana gave her a direct look. “We can’t talk out here. I don’t have any appointments scheduled in the next half hour. How about we adjourn to my office and I can take you through some options.”
    Seconds later, Dana pressed the security code for her door. Automatically, Esther watched her fingers, but they moved too rapidly for her to get all of the code. Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes at the ridiculous notion that even if she got the door code she would be in a position to do anything about it, she followed Dana into her office. A little spying was her limit, not B and E. If they had to physically break into the bank to get the codes, then that was in Xavier’s ballpark, not hers.
    Esther preceded Dana into the room. The office was small but nicely appointed, with an original painting of the Bay area on the wall and a glossy plant occupying one corner. A large L-shaped desk took up most of the space, with two comfortably padded chairs positioned near the desk. The bad news was that even if one of the chairs was pulled up as close as possible to the computer, the keyboard was still inaccessible. To reach it, Esther would have to lean diagonally across the desk, and there was no way she could do that without Dana noticing.
    To minimize the distance she would have to reach, Esther pulled her chair up as close to the keyboard as she